SoundMan.EXE VS Anyis.EXE

As the Navis jack in, their Net Operators are shown a 3-D model of the arena their Navis will be fighting in with various features labeled and highlighted as the presentation runs. At the end of the presentation, the environmental statistics for this arena are displayed for reference.

Quote (The Underworld)

The center of the arena itself is a flat, circular plane, with a few small walls and columns to use as cover, or as vantage points. The columns are simple rounded rectangles, standing up lengthwise about 8 feet in height. They are not secured to the floor and can be knocked over, unlike the few small walls. At the walls of the arena are four pits. The walls of the upper arena are covered in a large netting that allows it to be grabbed onto and clung to, but is otherwise un-noteworthy.

The pits surrounding the center of the arena drop down into a second, lower half of the arena that is exactly as wide as the first, but is much taller than the upper arena. Close to the edges of this 'underground' arena are four small, circular platforms; these send a navi flying directly upward to ground-level, and are placed below the four pits. They must be specifically triggered, however, and do not trigger when navis enter the lower arena by dropping from above.

At the far walls of the underground arena are four additional, angled boosters which catapult a navi up to one of four horizontal platforms on the walls of the lower arena; these four small platforms each have two hand grips on the wall next to them that will pull a navi to the next platform over, either to the left or right.

---Terrain---
Upper Level: Normal (96%), Hole (4%)

Lower Level: Normal (88%), Spring Panel (4%), Booster Pad (8%)

Note: Hole Terrain means you can fall through it to reach the lower level. Hole Terrain cannot be changed.

Note 2: Breaking the panels of the upper level means creating holes Navis can fall to the lower level through. These are Broken Panels, and can either regenerate in a couple of tuyrns or be repaired/changed into something else, unlike Hole Terrain.

---Objects---

Hematite Column (300 HP) [4 ea. on upper level]
-- Can be knocked over, and rolled.
-- Can be stood upon.
-- Can be used for cover.
-- Too heavy to lift, throw, or send flying with microburst.

Hematite Barricade (150 HP) [4 ea. on upper level]
-- Can be used for cover.
-- Immovable

Hematite Cube (300 HP, extremely heavy) [4 ea. on lower level]
-- Tethered to the ceiling by ropes, which can be cut with a single slashing attack.
-- Can be stood upon, even while tethered.
-- Cannot be moved other than cutting them loose.
-- Immovable once on the ground, and may be used for cover.
-- Deal 100 Null Damage if they fall upon a Navi, and break instantly.

For Reference: The upper area is approximately 15 feet high. The lower area is approximately 45 feet high. The platforms on the lower level are 25 feet from the ground, as are the hanging cubes.

The Navis, on the other hand, appear on the upper level of the arena, a moderate distance from each other, and are not given any of the data their Operators received. The Navis would be given a few moments to themselves before the match actually began....

Seeing as how Trenn was already *in* a lounge in the Colosseum, Soundman's appearance inside the arena moments after it was created was less than a surprise.

Seemed his opponent wasn't here yet...

Soundman walked to the center of the arena, hopped over a hole, and began to wait.

"The lights, the cameras, the intensity... I think I could get to like being in the spotlight." grinned Anyis as she landed in her fight's arena. One glance at her surroundings was all Anyis needed to tell that this was going to be fun. "How are things looking on your end, Mill?" she asked.

"This place is crazy. I've never even seen something comparable on the open Net..." muttered Mill as he worked his way through the provided data. Obstacles, multiple levels, booster pads... How was he supposed to form a strategy around all this? "Where to start..." he sighed in frustration.

"Simple. Find the opponent, and hit him." responded Anyis.

"... Do you honestly think that'll work?" asked Mill in disbelief.

"No, but it does make a point that you're overthinking this. You can't predict what SoundMan is going to do, so don't try." stated Anyis wisely.

"Roll with the punches, huh...? I suppose you have a point." nodded Mill after a moment. "Speaking of which, where is SoundMan? The match is about to start."

"I don't k- Oh, there he is." said Anyis in a surprised tone as she stepped past the pillar she was standing near to see that it was obstructing her view of SoundMan, who looked like he had been waiting for a while. "Well then, I guess I'm ready to fight." laughed Anyis.

"Alright, let's get started then." said Mill in response as he readied his folder.

(Ready)

There were speakers built into the upper parts of the surrounding walls. This fact was made apparent when they suddenly bellowed, "CONTESTANTS ARE READY. SOUNDMAN DOT EE ECKS EE VERSUS ANYIS DOT EE ECKS EE WILL COMMENCE IN THREE, TWO, ONE--"

Something very much like an air raid siren went off.

Terrain: 96% Normal, 4% Hole

Soundman.EXE: 180 HP
Anyis.EXE: 140 HP

[[b]Tournament match one! Who will move on? HERE WE GO![/b]]
BATTLE ONE, FIGHT!

The moment the signal went off, Soundman was on the move. With a small, skipping step backward, he hopped into the hole behind him.

The sudden whooshing feeling, Soundman guessed from the now immediately-visible floor not too far below, would not last very long. He would have to make the most of his time on the way down.

As if flipping a switch, an uproarious, almost obnoxiously loud beat began pouring out of Soundman's speakers. Unlike the normal tune that played when he used this signature attack, this sounded more... frenzied. Desperate. There was also the fact that, rather than just his "backpack", sheet music seemed to be pouring out of every speaker he had. This quickly made Soundman look, from afar, like some kind of oddly musical musical meteor as the sheet music whipped upward, forming a strange 'tail' behind him as it struggled to create a complete sphere.

Soundman hit the floor hard, landing with a loud WHUMP on the booster panel. The sheet music hit the floor harder than he did, making a sizable "splat" mark around him. A second later, however, the system recovered, and the usual protective sphere was quickly formed, then made invisible.

Soundman moved quickly to a part of the wall without a hole above it, and then held his right arm pointed upward, bracing it with his left hand. It would only take him a moment to fire... if, that is, Anyis came down after him. He'd probably need to move out of the way of what would likely be something deadly thrown or shot his way...

Soundman's legs tensed, ready to move at a moment's notice.

1: Step back into pit. (Dodge)
2: While falling: Restez (80 HP Barrier @ Soundman)
3: Whine @ Anyis if I get a clear shot; if not, it's not used. (80 damage)
4: Prepped dodge.

"Jeez, why did they have to use such an obnoxious sound as the start signal...?" moaned Anyis as she tried to shake the ringing sound out of her eardrums. After realizing that the ringing wasn't going away any time soon, Anyis gritted her teeth in frustration and began her attack. She couldn't see it due to the enclosed arena, but Anyis had a feeling she would still be able to make a connection to the River, and sure enough, a sense of awareness in a much higher altitude soon gripped her mind, telling her that her connection went through. With her main resource available and ready, Anyis drew a current down to the battlefield, letting packets of data seep through the arena's ceiling and onto the ground. Suddenly, though, the flow was cut, and the data on the floor began stagnating and hardening, becoming thicker and thicker until it had all turned into a large sheet of ice.

Upon seeing this, Mill took it upon himself to guess what Anyis was plotting. This was a pretty foreign battlefield for the both of them, so he could understand that she might be wanting to adapt the terrain to her own tastes. "Hey Anyis, need some chips now?" he asked after picking a few chips out of the folder that would best support this strategy.

"Eh? What was that? I can't hear you!" Anyis shouted in response, having only been able to make out a very muffled voice that she figured was Mill. "Wait... Damnit!" At this point, she had realized that her ears were still ringing from that blasted start signal, and it was making her unable to hear her Operator. Hell, she might as well be legally deaf at the moment. "Just send me what you want! I'll work from there!"

Oh great... Just fantastic, even. Here Mill was in his first Netbattling tournament, and his Navi went deaf from the freaking announcer. "Argh, whatever..." grumbled Mill in defeat, knowing that stressing over it won't help. With a quick series of motions, 3 chips found their way into his PET, leaving Mill to only hope that Anyis managed to capitalize off of them.

The first chip soon found its way into Anyis's hands, in way of an ice crystal that formed out of the air in front of her. Not being really sure what to do with it, Anyis just gave it a heave, only to be surprised as it began weaving and twisting its way through the air as it chased its target. As soon as it reached as far as it could, the crystal crashed to the ground and produced a single fierce wave of ice to finish its attack.

As soon as the second chip arrived, Anyis knew what Mill was thinking. Removing the MagBolt from its data packet was like opening a Christmas present to her right now. With its pulling power and the ice on the ground... This could be fun. Anyis wasn't presumptuous enough to just rely on the chip, though, so she decided to give it a little help. Without much of a signal or command, a gust of wind found its way towards SoundMan and made an effort to push him as close to Anyis as possible, at which point she took over. With an electrical current coursing through it, Anyis activated the MagBolt, sending a powerful magnetic field out into the battlefield in an effort to draw her opponent onto the ice and into some serious pain.

With her attack expended, the last chip took center stage in her hands... in the form of a certain yellow shield that was easy to recognize. The Guard soon found its weight as it deposited itself in Anyis's grip, almost making her stumble before she regained her balance. "Wow, I forgot how heavy this thing could be..." she grunted and she lifted it up to a more suitable defensive position... only to have it freeze up completely in a case of ice. "What the... Oh god, I thought I had gotten over this..." she whimpered in annoyance, a little depressed that her uncontrolled freezing had resurfaced. It was a really embarrassing habit to her, and having it happen in a public battle... Her mind suddenly snapped to attention and told her to play it off as a planned move, and so she did. She lifted the frozen shield once more and met it with the icy ground, trying to find some sort of assistance from the like-elemental features.

Actions:
1) River Slide (Large-Area Ice Terrain Effect, 1TCD) in center of upper area
2) IceWave1 (80 + 10 damage, Aqua, chance to Freeze on Ice terrain) @ SoundMan
-- Gust (Blow SoundMan towards self)
3) MagBolt1 (90 x 2 damage, Elec, Terrain Bonus, Stun, Magnetic Pull) @ SoundMan
-- Ice Bleeding (Imbue Aqua to:)
4) Guard1 (1 Hit Shield, Reflect 60 damage, Aqua)
-- Ectopatcher (Heal 15 HP) @ Self

Cooldowns:
River Slide - 1 turn

A lot of things went wrong.

It was Soundman's fault, really. He dropped into the nearest pit and vanished from sight. Soundman tossed up his nearly impenetrable barrier as he fell. He landed and turned his head back up towards the hole from which he had came, waiting for his opponent.

Anyis never showed up.

Soundman had gotten out of there just in time. Just a split second later, Anyis had turned a significant amount of the arena's upper floor to ice. She hurled an Icewave across the frozen surface, but there was no target for the attack to hit. Even the Magbolt that followed soon after crackled across the rink and had absolutely no effect. Thoroughly dissatisfied with the way her first salvo had proceeded, Anyis brought up a Guard. Its programming would hold for at least a little while longer. If Soundman reappeared and tried to get the drop on her, she'd have a defensive answer.

The two combatants were at a stalemate. One was above, and one was below. If things stayed like this, they wouldn't get any fighting done.

UPPER LEVEL: 50% Ice, 46% Normal, 4% Hole

Anyis.EXE: 140 HP (Guard up!)

LOWER LEVEL: Normal (88%), Spring Panel (4%), Booster Pad (8%)

Soundman.EXE: 180 HP (80 HP barrier!)

"Uhh..." stuttered Anyis as she lowered her Guard to a rather... empty sight. Look left... Look right... "Well damnit." she swore as she realized SoundMan was nowhere to be seen, let alone even slightly affected by her big assault. That punk must've hopped down to the lower floor while she was creating her ice, Anyis thought. She was so focused on getting the attacks off in quick succession that she hadn't really payed attention to what she was targetting, which, as it turned out, was nothing.

"Guess that didn't work as you wanted it, huh?" noted Mill in true smartass fashion.

"S-shut up..." mumbled Anyis in embarrassment. God, she couldn't believe she made such a big show in front of the cameras only to screw up. She knew she was better than that! Didn't help that her ever-understanding Operator was rubbing salt in the wound. "Anyway!" Anyis shouted, forcing her mind onto a fresh track as she issued a challenge, "I'd like to see you do better!"

"Better than nothing isn't that hard to manage." muttered Mill under his breath as he forwarded to Anyis a plan he had been writing up in the meantime. "So... what do you think?" he asked as the data uploaded itself into Anyis's mind.

"Jeez... You talk big, and then you throw me this kind of gamble? I want to say I hate you..." Anyis grumbled, only to be betrayed by a smile cracking on her face, "... But I really can't help but like it. It's pretty gutsy for you."

"Well, playing it safe here probably isn't going to work as well as it does against viruses. If we can end this sooner rather than later, then it's for the best." said Mill matter-of-factly. "Think you can pull this off?"

"All in one go, huh..." pondered Anyis. "Well, I won't know until I try. Just send me the chips and start praying." she laughed, at least partly to play down her nerves. With no words left to say, a trio of new chips found their way into Mill's PET and compounded themselves on Anyis's code. With her arsenal reloaded, Anyis took a deep breath, readjusted her grip on the still unused Guard, and activated her first two chips in unison...

And so it began, as an AreaGrab chip dislocated Anyis's body to its new location: airborne just a few feet above SoundMan's head. As is the case with most rapid transit, Anyis's vision had yet to adjust to the new surroundings, making her effectively blind for this mere fraction of time. Still, she knew what she needed to do... Down! Down! Throw it down! Damnit body, listen to me and throw it! Her thoughts were racing, her pulse quickening, yet her body remained quite reluctant to heed Anyis's mental signals with nothing but a word of faith to go on. All this internal conflict was happening to Anyis with in but a single second, but for her it seemed like an eternity. Finally, through what could only be described as unnatural force of will, Anyis's arm moved in a swift jerking motion, sending down to the floor next to SoundMan's feet the item which she begged so dearly to do: the SeaSeed.

Honestly, it was like throwing a delicate glass ornament to the dirt. The SeaSeed utterly shattered on contact, but instead of just leaving behind a troubling mess of glass, gallons upon gallons of water gushed from its core, making one wonder where exactly all that water came from. Anyis's curiousity, however, was not so insatiable as to harass her with such questions in the heat of battle, so, with time not on her side, she continued as her sight finally oriented and the water ate away at the field, creating a deeper and deeper pool as it went.

Not sure of how long the AreaGrab's propulsion would allow her to stay afloat, especially with the weighty Guard still on her body, Anyis rushed her finisher, although she had the luck of Mill's assistance having deposited her last chip in her free hand as soon as the SeaSeed was on its way. The grand end to her rapid attack was... a Minibomb. It was converted to a smokebomb by Mill, but that was hardly a groundbreaking maneuver by any means. Anyis had some tweaks of her own to make, though, and that became apparent as, like the Guard was last time, the Minibomb iced over in an instant, almost as if had been fully submerged in liquid nitrogen. Since this happened automatically, as a rather bittersweet convenience to Anyis, it gave her just a slight moment to cast her next move: wind.

She had used Gust plenty of times before, so controlling the wind to do as she wished needed not much more than a passing thought from Anyis. Her instincts told her to blast herself to keep her afloat, but, while that was a logical thought, it wasn't what she needed right now. Keeping on the assault, Anyis send her allied turbulence downward and chasing after SoundMan, giving it as many commands as she could before leaving it on its own to try and drive the opposing Navi into the newly formed water.

Now! This was the time to throw the Minibomb! With any luck, SoundMan would have been driven into the water, and with this frozen smokescreen... Well, neither Mill nor Anyis were entirely sure of what would happen, but this could be big. There's no way her aerial status could last this long, and she knew she was falling. Without any more pause or hesitation, the Minibomb went on its course, traveling down in a respectably fast pitch until it hit the water, at which point it exploded in a thick cloud of cold, icy fog. With loud cricks and cracks echoing through the arena, Anyis heard the water freezing into a hard ice, although she could only pray that the fog was cold enough to completely ice over the water. Finally, with a heavy thud, Anyis landed on her feet, using her Guard as a sort of third leg to support herself with as she hastily reassumed a defensive position, well aware that this gamble of a move might not pay off.

Actions:

1) AreaGrab (Warp a few feet above SoundMan's location, Dodge, Accuracy Boost)
2) SeaSeed (Medium Area Sea Terrain) thrown at SoundMan's feet
-- Gust (Downward blast to drive SoundMan underwater)
-- Ice Bleeding (Imbue Aqua to:)
3) Frozen Minibomb Smokescreen (0 damage, Aqua) to freeze over Sea Terrain into Ice.
4) Guard1 (1 Hit Shield, Reflect 60 damage)
-- Ectopatcher (Heal 15 HP)

Cooldowns:
River Slide - Ready

Soundman waited with baited breath, pointing his arm roughly toward the hole he figured Anyis would come through, if she would come through any at all.

And he waited...

And waited...

But she never came.

Soundman put his arm down, and with a flick of the wrist dispelled the static that was collecting in it. "Well, that didn't work too well," Trenn piped up, "but at least you didn't get blasted. Anyis dealt out a lot of nasty things after you jumped down."

Soundman looked up at the 'roof' of the underground arena, past the hanging crates. "Did she? That would've been bad to get hit by, most likely." Soundman scratched his chin. "Trenn, send me a Minibomb, I'm going to go back up and try to bean her with it while she's not looking."

"Roger that." Trenn replied. The usual click-whirr-clunk of the PET processing the chip sounded out, and Soundman began his dash for the far booster. Soundman's jingling steps rang out as the navi dashed, trying to get to the platform before he missed an opportunity. As he stepped on the booster and slid to a stop, he was suddenly catapulted upward.

Soundman twirled around in the air for a few moments, disoriented, before he finally managed to control his spinning. A wire-frame formed in Soundman's hand as he hurtled upward-- a sphere-- and began to skin itself with the usual colors of the minibomb as he cleared the hole. Soundman threw the small bomb just as he began to fall downward.

Yet... the explosion went unnoticed, Soundman's gaze firmly held by the sight below him; water was beginning to flood the arena below, and, sure enough, there was Anyis where he had been moments earlier. Another near-miss, from the looks of things... but he still had the problem of falling toward the water.

It seemed Trenn had the same thought Soundman had-- an Airshot quickly found its' way loaded into his systems, and Soundman glanced about wildly for something he could get to in order to avoid the water as he fell. His eyes locked onto one of the platforms on the wall.

Soundman flailed about so he was facing away from the platform as he rocketed downward at an increasingly lethal pace, and leveled his arm, Airshot still forming over his outstretched hand and wrist, toward a far platform. Closer and closer to the water...

Soundman braced his arm with his other hand, and fired the Airshot.

His downward momentum all at once seemed to turn horizontal, the massive kickback power of the Airshot thankfully seeming to do the trick; Soundman flew toward the platform...

...wait.

Wait wait wait wait wait wait wait wait crapcrapcrapcrapcrapcrapcrap--

Soundman grasped hard for the edge of the platform as his arc took him just inches away from being able to grab onto it. As he fell toward the water, Soundman realized he was probably screwed now. Anyis was probably an Aqua navi if she was pulling all these tricks, so Sea terrain would not help him at all.

Soundman hit the face of the water with a loud splash, and immediately skyrocketed toward a far platform at an angle. He had- did he- Soundman's head whipped backward to look at where he had landed moments before, and he caught a glimpse of a boost platform just as it was consumed by the waves.

He flipped around in midair as he neared the platform on the wall, and as he skidded to a stop upon it, static had already begun to build in his right arm. Soundman thrust his arm toward Anyis, who was on the floor of the arena- and noticed the cracked remains of the Airshot chip too late. He had forgotten to clear it from his systems! Soundman paled as his Whine signature attack activated, wave after wave of harsh, screeching sound blasting out of his palm-speaker toward Anyis...

And taking the ruined husk of his Airshot with them.

Huh.

1: Move to booster pad corresponding to the hole behind Anyis, and jump on it.
2: Chuck an Energybomb1 at Anyis at the top of the jump. (40x3+Blast1 @ Anyis)
3: Airshot 1 (Used to catapult Soundman toward platform on the wall, but ending up hitting the boost platform on the floor.)
4: Take a shot at Anyis with Whine. (80 @ Anyis)

One second, Soundman was alone on the bottom level. The next, Anyis had teleported in no more than twenty feet above his head. Soundman took off towards the nearest spring panel. He heard something break behind him, and what seemed like an entire ocean came rushing out of one little glass seed. The water lapped hungrily at Soundman's heels as he ran.

He hopped onto the spring panel and went shooting upward. Soundman hauled himself around in the air and hurled an Energybomb at Anyis. As a rule, such chips were notoriously inaccurate, and all the spinning and flying he was doing did nothing to help with the Energybomb's precision. It spiralled wide, splished into the pond, and experienced a submarine detonation. Gouts of water fountained up and showered the combatants with a brief but driving rain.

Soundman switched tactics as Anyis fell towards the sea terrain. So did she. His Airshot provided the horizontal movement; her Gust provided the vertical. Soundman propelled himself back over the water just in time for Anyis's control over the wind to shove him down into it. Sensing triumph, Anyis threw her modified Minibomb down into the sea. It began to hiss, crackle, and fog.

As he dropped towards the water, Soundman had the presence of mind to discharge the Signature Attack still in his system. The shrill screechings of his Whine rent the air between him and Anyis. She still had her Guard on hand. Its curved face soaked up the brunt of the audio attack, but since it was not particularly adept at the reflection of noise, the Guard could not return the damage upon Soundman.

Soundman hit the water just a moment before Anyis. His body broke through the fragile skin of ice. Fortunately for him, the sea was only about chest-deep; unfortunately, it was absurdly cold. The ice closed in around him with a threatening crackle. Within an instant he was trapped like a fly with half its body frozen inside an ice cube. His upper arms, shoulders, and head were still free. However, a heavy rime had formed atop his arms, and would require a significant amount of effort to break. Soundman would have to liberate himself to some extent before he could continue with his attack.

Anyis touched down just after the water had frozen itself completely. She landed hard on her feet, slipped, lost her balance, and toppled embarrassingly onto her end. Obviously, the ice was giving both of the combatants their share of problems, but the distinction was clear: one had been trapped by it, while the other had not.

UPPER LEVEL: 50% Ice, 46% Normal, 4% Hole

LOWER LEVEL: Normal (70%), Ice (20%), Spring Panel (3%), Booster Pad (8%)

Soundman.EXE: 180 HP (80 HP barrier!) (Arms frozen down! 1 action to free each arm!) (Body frozen in place! Will require heat to melt free!)
Anyis.EXE: 140 HP (On her butt! 1 action required to get back up!)

((I would like to formally request an extension until tomorrow for the both of us-- my inspiration is shot, and it would appear Bomber has not yet posted. Also, I am about to pass out and if I go to sleep, I won't be awake until after the deadline, of that much I can assure you.))

(I'm fine with giving Twi an extension. My inspiration isn't shot, though. I was just lazy, so post away!)

"Owww..." moaned Anyis, having, in retrospect, made the poor choice of landing a 20 foot drop on a bed of ice, and her bum paid dearly for that. Here she was, an ice-wielding Navi, slipping on the ice that she herself created. What an embarrassment... However, protecting her pride was not the goal of this match. Realizing this, Anyis asked, "Did it work, Mill? Did I get him?".

Mill took a moment to scan the immediate area around Anyis before answering, "Yeah, looks like it. SoundMan's frozen from the chest down. Good job." A rare compliment from Mill, to be sure, but one well earned. It was probably one of the, if not the most, complicated plans with the largest margin of error that Mill had ever concocted. Yet, aside from a few traction problems at the end, it worked. At this point, he couldn't help but think that maybe, just maybe, there was some synergy between him and Anyis after all. "Anyway... The battle's not over yet. For all that, you still haven't actually damaged SoundMan. You ready to fix that?"

Anyis responded by pushing herself upright with a gust of wind and giving a curt nod. Beating up a frozen opponent seemed a little mean, but she figured she wasn't here to pull punches. "Mill, give me some stuff to cause some pain with." she said as she reconnected with the River and began picking and choosing ghosts to power up her attacks. Just like the last time she used it, a sharp surge of pain ran through her body, although her repair program immediately took to addressing the minor damage she had dealt herself. Either way, she really wanted Mill to recalibrate that technique when he had the chance...

Never afraid to stick to his guns, Mill slotted in a fresh pair of Aqua chips, and the first took an immediate effect as Anyis's right gauntlet was coated in a thick sheet of ice. Her channeling took an immediate response to the new weapon, and a misty aura of data began swirling around the frozen fist. "Now we're talking!" Anyis laughed as her fist reached its peak power. Just as she was about to make her dash for SoundMan, though...

"Wait!" shouted Mill, making Anyis fidget wildly as she attempted to keep her center on the ice. "There's no way SoundMan's Operator would just let him sit like that. That's just too convenient for us."

"Then you think you know what they'd do?" asked Anyis, making her remark sound a bit sarcastic, but bit her lip when Mill actually had an answer.

"Well... Every one of these provided folders has an AreaGrab. We've used ours, but they still have it. If you were trapped, that'd seem like my first thought." he explained rationally. "He might not do it, but still... Check the upper floor. If he does do it, he'll definitely escape to the upper floor. If he's not there, you can just fall back down to the bottom before he finishes thawing himself. Either way, I don't think there's much to lose."

"Alright, alright..." sighed Anyis in resignation. "We'll do it your way, if only because there's just not any time we can afford to waste arguing about it. Just sit back and let me handle my end of this." With that, Anyis finally did start her run, but instead of rushing her frozen block of an opponent, she was moving to the nearest Spring Panel. With a leap, she landed on it, and as promised, a great thrust send her straight upwards, high enough for her to land on the upper floor of the arena. Rather than plant her feet immediately, though, she scanned her eyes hurriedly for any trace of SoundMan or the shard of ice that would be bound to teleport with him. If he was up there, she'd land and attack. If not, she'd fall back down and attack. Either way, she was itching to unload this fist of hers into his chest and draw this match to a close.

For all its power, though, Anyis's ColdPunch wouldn't be enough to defeat SoundMan, courtesy of that darned barrier her had put up around himself. Thus, Mill had given her an AquaNeedle to give a follow-up attack. Conveniently, Mill actually had one of these for his own, and he had spent part of his first few days with Anyis going over what was in his folder, so both of them knew what to expect from this chip. It'd just rot if she didn't use it, so regardless of whether or not she connected with her ColdPunch, Anyis had every intention to unleash a trio of needles on her opponent. This high-powered offense came at the heavy cost of no defense, so Mill and Anyis could only help that the ice around SoundMan would buy them enough time to strike...

Actions:
--Gust (Stand self upright)
1) Channel Surf (100 Strengthen, 15 HP Sacrifice; 2TCD)
--Ectopatcher (Heal 15 HP)
2) Activate Spring Panel, try to find SoundMan on upper floor (Movement)
3) ColdPunch ((70 + 10 damage + 100 Strengthen, Aqua, Impact, Knockback) x 2 (Impact Multiplier vs. Barrier) = 360 damage @ SoundMan's Barrier, (280 overflow / 2 (No Impact Bonus)) = 140 damage @ SoundMan)
4) AquaNeedle ((20 + 5) damage x 3 hits = 75 total damage) @ SoundMan

Cooldowns:
Channel Surf - 2 turns

Soundman would've shivered if he was human, or if he had left those sensors turned 'on' after falling toward the water. As it was, he was... pretty stuck. He reflexively tried to move his arms-- no dice, they were held solid. And he was certainly not going to be moving anything from the chest down.

Wait... he thought. "Trenn! Do we have an Areagrab?"

"Yes, but I'm not sending it just yet. They'll be expecting that, I think."Trenn instead slapped a trio of chips the tournament staff had so helpfully provided him after taking all his powerful chips away. "Instead, try hitting Anyis with these two first-- before she can get up."

With what output...? Soundman thought, still firmly stuck. He turned his head to look at Anyis while running a check. None of his speaker outputs were facing toward her...

...except one.

Soundman began to move his jaw almost like he was chewing something, then, taking a deep breath, he let loose the loudest, longest, highest note he could muster from his mouth, releasing a wave of sonic energy toward Anyis. The sound shook the ice encasing him, the decibel level high enough to make Trenn turn his PET's volume off.

The invisible wave tore through the air like a man possessed, the speed of sound proving to be just as fast as always as it wove its' way through the digital air.

But Soundman was not done. Finishing the held note with a flourishing jerk of his head, he closed his mouth and began to focus. He reached out, his mental realm of thought extending like so many invisible, grasping arms, searching for the right panel...

He felt various places around the arena within the span of the chip's ability, touching the walls, the floors- there. One of the invisible sensors touched Anyis' code like an invisible flame, the sensation being transmitted directly to Soundman. He focused all his mental effort on the spot directly below Anyis, directing the grasping power of the chip to yank the panel Anyis was perched upon directly upward as hard as it could-- and, if possible, to chuck it at her.

The 'mental' interface closed at about the same time Soundman activated the third chip Trenn had sent, the Areagrab-- and instantaneously his status sensors reported that a significant amount of the ice that had been holding him was gone.

This, of course, was caused by his position changing instantly from within the ice to atop one of the crates held firmly aloft by ropes... within the lower level. It would take some doing for Anyis to get up here, if she even managed to find him that quickly.

Thus, it was perfect for a sneak attack.

Trenn slotted in a Minibomb; Soundman already had an idea of what to do with it.

He peered over the edge of the crate, scanning the area for Anyis. He then cocked his arm back, tensed for just a moment, and let the Minibomb fly with a swing of his arm. Soundman quickly ducked back out of line of sight once he had let the Minibomb go, and it twirled its' way through the air as it sailed at a downward arc.

The sound of its' characteristic explosion moments later was not missed by Soundman's ears-- but it was still unclear if that same explosion hadn't missed his target.

1: SonicWave (80+Piercing+Line+Ground Attack @ Anyis)
2: PanelShot @ The panel UNDERNEATH Anyis to send her flying. (80 Aqua)
3: Areagrab to one of the hanging crates
4: Minibomb (60+Blast1 @ Anyis)

IGNORE THIS POST
QUOTED FOR REFERENCE PURPOSES

Quote ()

While Soundman wriggled around ineffectively in the ice, Anyis was able to sweep herself back to her feet. She used her opponent's predicament to her advantage. A massive spike of power channelled itself into her fist. It was more than enough to annihilate Soundman's barrier.

So she ran away.

Anyis leapt for the nearest spring panel, and not a moment too soon, either; a Sonicwave roared across the place she had been a moment ago, and a hurled panel whizzed by her head. The booster made an absurd springing sound as it hurled her up onto the upper level of the arena.

However, Soundman seemed not to have gotten the memo. He was still stuck down in the ice, and Anyis' latest move had taken her well out of his attack range. Out came an Areagrab, but the ice had overridden any kind of escape mechanism that Soundman could conjure. His body turned to raw data, thrashed around in its frozen prison, and re-materialized in the same place. Trenn noticed too late, and by the time he had realized that the Areagrab had failed, the Minibomb was already in Soundman's systems—

It fell to the ice and exploded. Cracks spiderwebbed across the glacine surface. Soundman's barrier took a terrible hit. If he hadn't been protected by his barrier, he most likely would have lost his arm. Now he was left with the tattered remnants of his shield, but at least the Minibomb had blown his arm free. The integrity of the ice had been compromised by the blast, too. Maybe if he poured enough damage into it, he could break himself free...

Soundman was distracted from that train of thought by Anyis pouring Aquaneedles down on him from above. The needles slashed through the rest of his barrier and hacked up some of his integral coding. He'd have to get himself out of this fix right away if he wanted to survive much longer.

UPPER LEVEL: 50% Ice, 46% Normal, 4% Hole

Anyis.EXE: 140 HP (Channel Surf'd Coldpunch ready to use!)

LOWER LEVEL: Normal (70%), Ice (20%), Spring Panel (3%), Booster Pad (8%)

Soundman.EXE: 125 HP (Left arm frozen down! 1 action to free!) (Ice around body is slightly cracked! 50 damage to break self free!)

((I'll be taking over this thread but I have to read over the recent posts and I also have some personal junk to deal with so please be patient. Thanks.

I'll also be redoing the last post EN made.))

As she picked herself up with a small gust of wind and diverted some spiritual energy into a Coldpunch, Anyis anticipated an Areagrab and tried to head Soundman off by activating a spring panel. Unfortunately for her, Soundman had thought ahead and countered by attacking from his icy prison with a Sonicwave and Panelshot. Both attacks barely missed as Anyis soared upward through the gap in the levels, finding herself on the top floor, completely alone.

Soundman, focussed on teleporting away onto a swinging block hanging from above and managed to escape and continued his attack on Anyis's position by chucking a Minibomb straight down onto the spring panel. The explosive landed hard on the special circular emblem etched into the ground, damaging it. When the smoke cleared, the panel was sparking and leaked exposed code, rendering it inoperable.

From above, Anyis could hear the explosion alerting her to Soundman's position from below but she had no idea of what he could be doing down there. Similarly from below, Soundman could hear three distinct splashes coming from the top floor and could guess it was an Aquaneedle going off. Now separated by an entire level, the two navis could no longer see each other, raising the tension and wariness of both combatants.



UPPER LEVEL: 50% Ice, 46% Normal, 4% Hole

Anyis.EXE: 140 HP [Channel Surf Coldpunch (80 aqua + 100 null damage)]

LOWER LEVEL: Normal (71%), Ice (15%), Broken (5%), Spring Panel (2%), Booster Pad (8%)

Soundman.EXE: 180 HP [80 HP barrier]

Look left... look right... look behind... and sigh. "I'm getting really tired of playing cat and mouse with this guy, Mill. If you had just let me run up and punch him like I wanted, we wouldn't be having this problem." complained Anyis in exasperation as her search for SoundMan on the upper floor yielded nothing but the pillars, barricades, and ice that was already there. The ColdPunch possessing her right gauntlet was still trembling with power, as evidenced by the light wisps of data fog emanating from its frozen grip. Having all this power just stagnating around her was driving Anyis nuts, and she was itching to just get down there and beat the living daylights out of her opponent.

Mill just shook his head at his Navi's impatience before responding, "If you hadn't done what I said, you'd have been hit dead on by that shockwave attack. It may have not worked like we expected, but you weren't damaged, so it's not a total loss." Now that he knew what to expect from her, Mill realized that Anyis was very... predictable. She really had a bad habit of wanting to show off, regardless of the risks. If they were just picking off some simple viruses, he wouldn't be too concerned about it, but they were fighting a Navi. Strategy was key here, and Mill took it upon himself to make it so. "If you two keep chasing each other like this, I don't think the match will end any time soon. At this point, wouldn't it just be better to build up our defenses here and let SoundMan come to us?"

"That sounds so weak..." grumbled Anyis, "... but I guess running around in circles is weaker. Alright Mill, you win. First things first..." As she said that, she repeated the same action she had performed here at the start of the battle. A simple connection with the River was established, and, uncaring about what kind it was, Anyis began drawing data down from it and pouring it out onto the battlefield. Icing over ice really didn't do much for her, though, so Anyis made an effort to redirect the data to the parts of the upper floor that hadn't been frozen already. "I can't think of a better advantage than playing on home turf, and ice is definitely it for me." Anyis laughed as she finished coating the ground. "Now what, Mill?"

"Well, we can set up defenses all we want, but if SoundMan comes up earlier than we expect, it won't do us much good." explained Mill matter of factly. "Just keep an eye out and Gust at the ready. With all the ice around, maybe you can make him slip and screw up an attack."

Anyis scratched her head for a moment, then said, "Well, okay... Is there anything I can do now, though? Sitting around and waiting for SoundMan doesn't exactly like 'shoring up my defenses' to me."

Mill paused to think, and returned with, "Hmm... Okay. The listing for this arena that the officials gave us says that these huge pillars..." Mill made a quick motion to the Hematite Columns standing around the area before continuing. "Can be knocked over with enough force. If we do that, we roll it over and cover up one of the holes to the lower floor, lowering our number of openings to be attacked. And hey, if we get lucky, SoundMan might pop up just in time to get crushed." Mill gave a slight chuckle at the sheer unlikelihood of that happening, but cut that off quickly and refocused. "You'll need some serious push to knock that pillar over, so... Ah, an AirShot. These default folders really have some convenient things in them..." Mill noted in surprise as he slotted the chip into his PET.

The AirShot's data reached Anyis without much conflict, but the gauntlet on her left hand was less than willing to give up its place, and the resulting clash turned her hand into a bizarre silver airgun. "Huh..." mumbled Anyis, staring at the mutated amalgam of a weapon. She had forgotten after being asleep for so long that her gauntlets didn't take well to transformations. Sure, now Anyis remembered that she normally materialized chips as hand-held devices, but oh well... This "AirShot" should still work. Anyis lifted her arm up, pointing the metallic airgun at the top of a pillar, and fired, sending a highly-compressed blast of air towards her target. Unless her aim was really that bad, Anyis figured she'd hit, but... Damn, this pillar looks so, so heavy. It'll probably crash really loudly and alert SoundMan, not to mention that pushing it's going to be hard... Maybe the ice will help reduce the pillar's traction, but I wish Mill would have made this easier on me. Whining thoughts echoed throughout Anyis's head, yet she didn't really have much choice but to ignore them as she awaited her task of pushing the pillar. She made sure her footing was solid, thankful for her lack of traction issues on the ice, and decided to wait just a moment in case a chance to attack SoundMan popped up. Slim as that chance was, she wouldn't wait long and would proceed to push her weight against the pillar, and attempt to drive it over the nearest Hole. While she was pondering/doing all this, Anyis couldn't help but escape a nervous feeling that was plaguing her mind. Not one to take chance, Anyis jumped back once all her tasks were completed, awaiting any incoming strikes in hopes to avoid them.

Actions:
1) River Slide (Large Area Ice Terrain, 1 TCD) - Change the rest of the upper floor's Normal panels to Ice
--Prepared Gust (Try to trip up SoundMan and make him fall on the ice if/when he comes to the upper floor)
2) AirShot (Microburst) @ top of Hematite Pillar, knock it over
3) Push Hematite Column into SoundMan (300 damage), push over nearest Hole if he doesn't come
4) Dodge

Cooldowns:
Channel Surf - 1 turn
River Slide - 1 turn

Close..., Soundman thought. Those splashes... an Aquaneedle? That would've hurt.

While Soundman was musing, Trenn found himself busy with what they were going to do next. Hm... if that Coldpunch hits us, we're done for on the next shot. What we need is something that can kill Anyis faster than she can kill us. But... Trenn looked over the tournament folder. There's nothing like that in here! ...Or... is there?

A few calculations and a quick prayer for luck later, Trenn began slotting in the chips.

Attack+10...
Attack+10...
...and a Varitails.

The two Attack+ chips entrenched themselves within Soundman's memory as they were slotted in, that much he understood-- it was the prompt for the third one that caught his attention. Soundman activated the chip with a thought.

On cue, the speaker in Soundman's left palm disappeared, instead replaced by a flurry of A/V cables shooting outward. They seemed to have a mind of their own, flailing about as Soundman stood there, studying them... but jeez, they'd make a good weapon. Now all he needed was Anyis.

So he sat there, on top of the box. Crouching, honing his senses... looking around for any signs of movement.

There!

Soundman leapt when he saw movement out of the corner of his eye, lashing out with the cords as he landed. With a spin, he struck again.

...Wait, just what was this he had hit?

Soundman's eyes gazed toward his target...

1: Attack+10
2: Attack+10
3: Varitails1 (30x9 damage per swing, lasts for 9 swings) (swing 1)
4: Varitails1 (30x9 damage per swing, lasts for 9 swings) (swing 2)
((Bah, lazypost. We're not going to hit each other anyway.))

((EN did some bad math so I got rid of an excess 1% of the Normal terrain on the lower level.))

Anyis converted the remaining normal panels of the top floor to ice and took aim at one of the enormous Hematite columns with her Airshot. Soundman made his own preparations by applying a pair of damage increasing chips to a Varitails while still perched on his swinging block. He waited patiently for Anyis to drop back down with wired tendrils at the ready.

Anyis fired a compressed bubble of air that exploded against the side of the stone cylinder with just barely enough force to topple it over. It landed hard, shaking the entire arena with a thunderous crash. It was especially surprising on Soundman's end, who wasn't nearly as prepared for the impact as Anyis was.

Meanwhile Anyis was growing impatient and attempted to roll the column over one of the holes and try to crush Soundman under it. Facilitated by the slippery ground, the column slowly began to pick up speed and headed for one of the holes leading to the lower level. The rough ridges along its surface rumbled along, heavily amplified by by the arena's shape, pounding throughout the underground like a titan's growl. The sound raged against Soundman's sensitive systems, causing massive disorientation and confusion. In his shock and overstimulation, he let loose two swings of his Varitails but cut through nothing but air. As the column finally reached its destination over the hole, it hit the wall and shook the arena one last time as the sonic resonations soon came to a halt. Soundman quickly regained his composure, and noticed one of the holes had been suddenly blocked off, but the spring panel beneath it had already been disabled by his own bomb. Meanwhile, Anyis watched from her vantage point wondering when Soundman would appear.



UPPER LEVEL: 96% Ice, 3% Hole, 1% Blocked Hole (300 HP)

Anyis.EXE: 140 HP [Channel Surf Coldpunch (80 aqua + 100 null damage)]

LOWER LEVEL: Normal (70%), Ice (15%), Broken (5%), Spring Panel (2%), Booster Pad (8%)

Soundman.EXE: 180 HP [80 HP barrier] [Attack +20 Varitails (9 x 30 damage) (7 uses)]

While pushing the pillar over the hole did provide a pretty solid end to any passage through there, the concept of a round plug going into a square hole didn't mess, even on the Net. As such, there was still at least a small gap for Anyis to look through as the pillar smashed up against the wall, and she saw two things: one, the Spring panel beneath had been destroyed. Various profanities swept through her mind momentarily at the discovery of her wasted effort, but that only caused a moment's pause before her second realization came to mind... SoundMan was still down there. "Good god, this is getting so boring..." groaned Anyis under her breath as her limited field of vision gave the impatient Navi just a passing glance of SoundMan, who seemed to have been a bit started by the pillar slamming against the wall. It looked like he was swinging around some weird weapon she hadn't seen before, though...

"Well, that was pretty useless..." sighed Mill, frustrated that, while his plan did what it was supposed to, nothing productive at all came from it. He ran his fingers through his hair as he attempted to prod an idea out of that brain of his, but all Mill was drawing was a blank. "Damn, how am I supposed to make a plan if I don't even know how to get the enemy in range?" he grunted irritatedly.

"If you'd pay attention," Anyis retorted, "you'd notice pretty quickly that SoundMan has a close range weapon on him. Don't you think that'd mean he'd want to come find me and attack?" To emphasize her logic, Anyis pointed a finger at the small opening under the fallen pillar that she had been spying through earlier.

The hand that had been combing through Mill's hair now found itself square on his forehead, as the hapless Operator had just smacked himself in self-punishment for missing something like that. "Alright... We'll assume he's coming up now to attack. If he'd come up to you just to use that weapon, though, there's probably a really good reason why. What's the best defense is to make him lose that weapon, and I think we were given something that could do just that..." pondered Mill as he shuffled through the tournament folder until he found what he wanted and promptly slotted it in.

Click, click, click, click, click... One by one, long and sharp nails attached themselves to the fingers of Anyis's left gauntlet like large, bladed rings until she had a full assortment of claws from pinky to thumb. She wiggled her fingers around a little to get a feel for the new appendages before saying, "RageClaw? That seems like... such a 'beginner' chip."

"Maybe, but I've used it enough with Magna to know its potential. If you need to tear something away, I can't think of a better choice than that RageClaw." stated Mill proudly, omitting the fact of how much trial-and-error had played into his experience with the Battlechip.

"Alright, alright, fair enough." surrendered Anyis, not really wanting to get into a debate over the value of a RageClaw during the middle of a match. With the necessary gear on hand, Anyis walked over next to the fallen pillar to get a better view of the floor, unaware of which of the three remaining holes SoundMan might pop up through. Since her opponent was the unknown variable here, she had little choice but to keep on her toes, feinting left and right every so often just to keep in motion, which would cause her heels to clack against the ice rather sharply. Just as she had done before, Anyis began stirring up the air around her, readying a gust of wind to aid her when SoundMan came up swinging. Anyis wasn't one to just sit, wait to be attacked, and hope for the best, however, so she decided that it'd be best to try and make a strafe around SoundMan when he attacked. After all, taking a bull by the horns was rarely a good idea. Once she got behind him, she'd use her RageClaw to rip that weapon from SoundMan's hand, and it'll all go her way from there... Or so Anyis hoped. She could only wait and see for now whether her opponent would even show up.

Actions:
1. Position self by Blocked Hole, get better view of the upper floor (Movement)
2. Dodge
--Prepared Gust (Blow back SoundMan's Varitails, mess up an attack if/when SoundMan shows up)
3. Strafe around SoundMan, evade attacks (Movement)
4. Take away SoundMan's Varitails with RageClaw (Disarm)
--Ectopatcher (Heal 15 HP)

Cooldowns:
Channel Surf - Ready
River Slide - Ready