Djinni.EXE VS MachMan.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 (Crumble Hill)



A ring of hard bedrock, 5 feet from side to side, encapsulates something not so hard: Crumble Hill. This precariously assembled mound of pebbles and rocks is stacked a tremendous 30 feet high with a colossal 100 foot diameter to match. Its massive size makes the hill's incline fairly shallow, around 15 degrees, but scaling it is no less daunting since the ground under your feet could give way with any step. Should you fall and be swallowed up by Crumble Hill, you'll soon be surprised to discover that the hill's core is completely hollow. Inside lies nothing but a flat plane that reaches all 100 feet from one side of Crumble Hill's walls to the other. Should the hole you fell through reassemble before you get out, you'll have to figure a way to dig yourself out.

It didn't take long for Crumble Hill's designers to realize scaling it unassisted was insane, and they remedied the situation thusly: 4 sturdy stone bridges arch up and over the sides of the hill, and come to a nexus right at its peak. There, where all 4 bridges meet, lies the crown of Crumble Hill: the Holy panel. It stands there alone in its majesty as it waits for combatants to bask in its glory, and is perhaps what allows the hollow hill it presides over to stand and regenerate so quickly. Outside Crumble Hill lies a lovely green landscape and blue, cloudless sky, but any who would try to reach for it would discover that tournament officials have placed an invisible area around Crumble Hill's circumference, making the otherwise far more appealing field mere eye candy to competitors. Entrants are initially set on the outer bedrock ring, with each fighter facing an opposite bridge.

Terrain: 38% Normal (Bridges, Arena Border, Inside Crumble Hill), 61% Cracked (Hill), 1% Holy (Bridge Nexus)
Special Effect: Re-Crumble (Cracked Terrain regenerates after only 1 turn)

Objects:

Arena Barrier (Immortal, Stationary, Invisible)
There are absolutely no signs that tell you this barrier is in place, other than the bleeding nose you might get from running into it.

Satellite Camera x3 (10 HP, Moving, Flying)
Cameras designed by SciLabs to record the events of the ONB Tournament for the entertainment of spectators. They are compact and fast, but fragile, although they were made with an expectation that some would get destroyed in the cross-fire. There are 3 cameras on-field at any one time, and a new one will be substituted if any get destroyed (at each modding).


Once the information is relayed to the Operators, they are given a few moments to strategize with their Navis before the match begins...
High above the stage, two flashes of cyan light illuminated the air as two figures streaked towards the ground below. The pair of blue and orange figures plummeted to the bridge covering the hill and stopped a few inches from it's surface. The cyan glow faded to reveal Machman and Aera as they floated a foot or so apart, supported by their thruster-laden wings. They both touched down, and looked around at the strange new arena.

Hm... Interesting arena. I guess Djinni isn't here yet.
I can't wait! This is going to be fun!

Crashing down from the sky, as if she were a meteor, came Djinni. With arms stretched she flew onto the battlefield with a dust of cloud rising from the ground as she landed just above the ground. "Fhyre!" she exclaimed and followed the procedure to summon her ally. With one hand on the ground and two in the air, Fhyre appeared next to Djinni and awaited the commands he would receive for the fight.

"This battlefield... I think we can use it," Na'im said, thoughtfully holding a finger close at his chin as he glanced over the battlefield's information. "We should start as soon as possible."

Djinni nodded and slammed her two fists against each other, quickly shaking them around as she slammed them together a bit too hard. "Ouch, ouch, bad start..." Djinni whined and immediately took her serious pose as her hands started to feel normal again.

[Fhyre.SP Summoned]
Mach and Aera watched as Djinni arrived in a ball of fire, and how she summoned her SP. Machman's expression was fixed at a steely stare as he examined his opponents.

{So this is Djinni and Fyre. Obviously fire types, as I suspected. She appears to be floating, so this terrain probably won't affect her much. She's probably more powerful than Splashman, and she has a SP to boot. This is going to be good.}

Aera remained silent as Machman looked over their opponents, she could practically hear Machman's thoughts in her head, and could feel Machman's excitement intensify. Machman walked up to Djinni, and extended his hand in greeting. The gem on the back of his hand flickered in the light as he attempted to shake hands with his fellow competitor.

Hello, My name is Machman.EXE, and my SP is Aera. My NetOp and I have been looking forward for this match. It's a pleasure to meet you.

Mazer's face appeared in a pop up window between Mach and Aera.
[I'm Mazer Patrovski. Nice to meet you all.]

((Ready when Shur is))
((Battle starts as soon as Shur posts Ready.))
Djinni looked at Machman and Aera, examining their outfits with her eyes, and nodded quietly as confirmation of the enemy being present. She remained quietly in her position, her eyes fixed on him until he started walking her way. Hearing his greeting and noticing the extended hand, she nodded a few times but then shook her head. Without accepting his hand, she started to talk to him. "I am Djinni.EXE, my friend here is Fhyre. My Operator is Na'im," she said, a visual window with Na'im in it appearing shortly after it, "And you..."

Fhyre swiftly lifted the hand on the ground into the air and held them close to his core, while Djinni and Na'im held theirs at their chest. A wide grin stretched over Djinni's face, as all of them extended all seven of their hands towards Machman, Aera and Mazer with their thumbs pointing down. A grin appeared on Na'im's face as well as he finished Djinni's last sentence, "Are going down. But no hard feelings."

((Ready, mate.))
From somewhere unseen, a small hole opens in the sky, and three metal orbs are deployed, that quickly unfold into flying cameras that will be monitoring the match. They are also equipped with speakers, which now crackle to life.

"AND NOW WE BEGIN THE SECOND ROUND OF THE ONB TOURNAMENT! THIS MATCH'S COMPETITORS ARE MACHMAN, THE LIGHTSPEED NAVI THAT RAN CIRCLES AROUND SPLASHMAN, AND DJINNI, THE SINGING SENSATION THAT BLASTED DNR SKYWARD! NOW WE'LL SEE HOW THEY'LL FARE AGAINST THE OTHER! MATCH... START!"


ONB Tournament, Round Two

Djinni.EXE: 180 Hit Points
--->Assisting: Fhyre.SP: 40 Hit Points

-VERSUS-

MachMan.EXE: 120 Hit Points
--->Assisting: Aera.SP: 60 Hit Points


((PM by: 6/3, 7:04PM,CST))
Machman closed his hand after Djinni didn't accept his greeting, and his hand clenched into a fist as he heard Djinni's confident statement involving her victory.
"But no hard feelings."
None taken, may the best team win.

As soon as he finished his statement, several blue metal sensors ejected from his backpack. The sensor-laden bits did not hit the ground, but stopped a few inches above the hard bridge surface, before they zipped away through the stage. After spreading out, Mach's "Overwatch" network activated to provide him multiple live feeds of the battlefield from several angles. He immediately opened up a few feeds that triangulated Fyre's position on the field, and predicted where he would move next. Just then, the camera orbs lowered into the stage, and the announcer made his introductions.

"MATCH..."
Here we go!

Machman already had his plan out in his head, and Mazer had all of the necessary chips already in his hands, ready to be slotted in at the drop of a hat. Machman's body was loose, but he started to build tension in his right arm.

"START!"

As soon as he heard the announcer begin the match, his right arm swung up and pointed towards Fyre. As his arm travelled up towards his target, his hand and forearm collapsed down into a rapidly forming MachBuster barrel. On his back, a nearly invisible shield of plasma formed in a wide dome to protect his "six." As soon as he lined up the fiery SP in his sights, he fired a large cannon round from his buster with a loud boom. Mach's movement was almost too fast to see, but the loud boom gave Aera the signal to leap back and away, further down the bridge on the hill. Mazer quickly slotted in and activated a barrier chip on Machman, summoned a weak energy barrier around his entire body.

The barrier was raised completely silently, and now with his entire body temporarily protected, he switched back to the attack and had his right hand return to normal as a large bracket jutted out of his right arm and a triple-barreled Vulcan gun materialized on the mounting bracket. Mach's wings kicked on as the Vulcan spun up. He aimed the gun directly towards Djinni and pulled the trigger on the Vulcan as he started to rise higher from the ground. The Vulcan opened up with a loud roar as it sent a glowing stream of 30mm armor-piercing rounds towards Djinni. Machman quickly shifted right and circled around Djinni as he burned through his ammunition. He continued to keep his crosshairs on the Navi, even if she moved around. In less than a couple seconds, he had spent 100 rounds of ammunition, and was then situated behind Djinni. As the Vulcan cooled down, Machman gripped a round metal bomb in his left hand. He quickly flicked the relatively light bomb towards the center of Djinni's back.

As soon as the bomb was away, his thrusters moved into full power and sent him up and away in a backwards strafing motion, hopefully drawing fire towards him, but remaining mobile enough to avoid any incoming shots. The bomb exploded on impact and created a relatively large explosion, capable of catching Djinni in the explosion, even if the bomb itself didn't directly hit her. Aera took the explosion as her cue, and she leaped into action. Her small but powerful wing thrusters propelled her towards Djinni. She used feints and other erratic movements to avoid incoming fire as he tried to get closer to Djinni. As he got closer, the gems on Aera's hands started to glow very brightly as her internal capacitors reached their limits. As soon as Aera got close enough to make it hard for Djinni to get out of range, she unleashed all of the electrical energy in her body in one nearly instant blast. Aera's body was covered in a shower of sparks and electrical discharges as a nearly visible pulse of magnetism coursed from her body and towards Djinni. The magnetic pulse would hopefully overload some of Djinni's sensory and motor subroutines, which would have her disorientated and less of a threat, at least temporarily.

ACTIONS:
Machman
-[Plasma Shield: Covering Mach's back]-
Cannon: Fyre.SP (40dmg + Knockback) [+Take Aim]
Aera: Dodge
Barrier: Machman.EXE (Summon 10HP Barrier)
Rising Barrage: Djinni.EXE (100dmg + Break + 4TCD + Strategic Action)
-[Strategic Action: Move Behind Djinni]-
MiniBomb: Djinni.EXE (60dmg + Blast1)
Dodge
Aera: Dodge towards Djinni.EXE
Aera: Tesla Pulse: Djinni.EXE (Confusion + 2TCD)
Following the blue metallic items with her eyes, until they were going too fast to follow, she nodded thoughtfully and looked at Fhyre from the corner of her eyes. "He's fast, so keep those hands at the ready," she said and held her hand out towards her loyal companion. Fhyre gave a nod and grabbed the bracelet that was on the wrist of the hand Djinni had held out, while his core just remained floating in the sky. "This'll be hard," Djinni said with her eyes slightly squinted, "I'm not build for speed..."

"START!"

With a fierce movement Djinni spun around once and swung her arm towards the hill's surface. "ORYAAAA!" she shouted out loud as she launched Fhyre straight towards the core of the aptly named 'Crumble Hill', "Fhyre Missile!" With her ally making the way free, she tossed herself into the air, released a small fire burst from her levitation ring and followed Fhyre into Crumble Hill.

Once the two had entered Crumble Hill, Fhyre swung his hands to the sides with a steady look at his surroundings within the hill. One to the front and two at his sides, he attained a triangle stance if one would look at him from above and draw lines between his hands.

"He's fast, so don't hesitate!" Djinni shouted as she spun to a halt close to the ground, a flaming bow appearing from her right bracelet and a fire arrow in her left hand. "Na'im!" she shouted as she readied the bow and pointed it upwards.

"The panel is precisely above you now. Be careful and miss it," Na'im said as he crossed his arms and kept his eyes on the PET's screen, keeping an eye on the enemy's movements for information on their fighting methods.

With a simple movement, she released the arrow and fired it into the air and hoping it would pass through the Crumble Hill's surface without problems. Slowly the flames of her bow died and she narrowed her eyes as she glanced in front of herself. "He has speed... But what do I have..." she muttered as she awaited Machman's moves within Crumble Hill.

Djinni [Fire/Cursor] [FloatShoes/AirShoes]
1. Toss Fhyre into Crumble Hill.
2. Follow Fhyre into Crumble Hill.
3-4. Heart Archer [90 FIRE; Homing; Charge Time; 4 TCD] through top of the hill, close to the Holy Panel. Hoping for Homing effect.

Fhyre [Fire/Shield]
1. Grab Machman if he enters Crumble Hill.
The teams leap (or float) into action! Machman quickly pulls out his cannon and fires at Fhyre who, mere seconds away from penetrating the surface of Crumble Hill, is blasted into smithereens. The Cannon blast shattered the ground under Djinni, who quickly drops down as Machman barrier-ed up and fired his massive minigun, totally missing the now-interior Djinni.

Realizing his opponent's new position, Machman dropped down into the same hole he created earlier. But even as he hurls his minibomb at her, those few precious seconds wasted chasing her was all Djinni needed, and she let fly with an arrow, though, as Machman was inside the hill now, it had no chance of hitting him any time soon. Aera, however, was not expecting an arrow to burst up out of the ground, and, as she was moving in to get to the hole as well, was caught in the side with the fiery projectile, a fire which quickly spread, burning away Machman's support, as well.

However, floating still didn't work out so well for Djinni, as the minibomb landed squarely at her... er, tail... fire... area, blasting her away.


ONB Tournament, Round Two

Djinni.EXE: 120 Hit Points
--->Assisting: Fhyre.SP: 0 Hit Points DEFEATED

-VERSUS-

MachMan.EXE: 120 Hit Points (10 Hit Point Barrier)
--->Assisting: Aera.SP: 0 Hit Points DEFEATED

(PM by: 6/10, 1:41AM,CST)
Machman pursued Djinni down the hole in the hill and attacked, but he wasn't fast enough to prevent her from firing a homing arrow towards him. It didn't hit him, but Aera didn't even see it coming. She shrieked in surprise as the arrow burst from the ground, and she was quickly EJO'd to the PET. Machman twitched as he heard Aera's shriek. His expression changed to a scowl as Mazer's voice came into his ear pylons.

[She's back in the PET, she's alright.]

His expression did not change, he continued to pursue Djinni as his plasma shield recharged and strengthened in front of him. His blue eyes flashed as the bomb exploded, and he quickly halted his advance. As Djinni was struck by the bomb blast, he tapped into his Overwatch network and raised his ready MachBuster. He quickly streamed 3 different visual feeds through his cybernetic brain, and promptly determined where Djinni would be in the next few moments. Using this information, he brought his Buster to bear, where he aimed steadily and fired. Instead of firing a bolt of energy or a solid projectile, he fired a nearly invisible pulse of air. The pocket of pressurized air had enough strength to send any obstacles (or Navis..) tumbling in the air.

[Keep up the pressure! Don't give her a chance to recover!]

Mach's braced himself in the air as the wings floating over his back started to open and mechanically expand. Several additional thrusters slid into place and began to warm up. He then blurred out of sight with a surprisingly quiet rushing sound. The silence was then shattered by a loud boom as he ripped through the sound barrier and streaked towards Djinni. As he traveled towards Djinni, his right hand twisted into a menacing claw of metal. He re-appeared next to Djinni, and his wings folded back down to their normal sizes. He quickly snapped his arm out towards Djinni, hoping to grab her arm, head, or any other solid part of her body.
Go down!

He swung his clawed arm downwards with all of his might, in hopes of driving Djinni into the ground, or hurling her down to the solid stone bridges over the hill. He looked down to where he attempted to send Djinni into the floor, and brought his left arm back. His arm quickly changed into a smaller version of his vulcan, and had 5 barrels instead of 3. He then moved his arm forward as the vulcan spun up. It fired 5 fragmentation rounds in rapid succession down towards Djinni. His left hand returned to normal after the vulcan spun to a stop, and his wings floated from his back and crossed in front of him. A large yellow guard shield appeared in front of him, centered on the wings.



ACTIONS:
Machman
-[Plasma Shield: Facing Forward]-
AirShot: Djinni.EXE (20dmg + Microburst) [+Take Aim]
SCRAM Boost: Warp Beside Djinni (Teleport + 2TCD)
RageClaw1: Hurl Djinni to the ground (20dmg + Impact)
Vulcan1: Djinni.EXE (10dmg x5 + Spread)
Guard1: Machman.EXE (Reflect 1 attack up to 60dmg)


Signatures:
Plasma Shield: Active
Overwatch: Active
SCRAM Boost: 2 Turns Remaining
Thrust Laser: Ready
Rising Barrage: 3 Turns Remaining
(( BGM ))

"Fhyre..." Djinni said softly as her tail swept around ferociously after getting hit by Machman's bomb, "Your defeat..." Slowly she lifted her head towards the ceiling, a shimmering of a red moon in her eyes as she became captivated by it and continued to stare. "Has drenched the moon in blood..." The red moon became now clearly visible in the air within Crumble Hill, its light slowly spreading across the room. With a fierce movement, Djinni grabbed her veil from the top and ripped it off of her audio receivers to reveal a wide and somewhat demonic grin at Machman. "How interesting!" she exclaimed as the moon sent forth beams of red light which pierced the insides of Crumble Hill, in turn turning the panels into boiling lava. As her tail still swept around she raised her arms in the sky and laughed out loud, produced with a somewhat mean sounding voice, until the light faded away. The moon faded from sight slowly, the lava's ominous light being the only thing within the hill.

"Got you," Na'im said as a smirk spread over his face as he glanced at Mazer over the NetBattle device, "This is now Djinni's playfield, Mazer. Machman's defeat will surely occur." Turning his eyes back to Djinni, he nodded and continued to speak, "Now... Get down."

Djinni quickly made a small jump into the air, making a pirouette as she reached the highest point and dove towards the ground. As she was turned upside-down and heading towards the lava, she grinned and softly spoke, "Won't you join me?" Quickly after those words, Djinni disappeared under the lava as she swam around a bit before spreading her arms to her sides.

Na'im nodded slowly as he crossed his arms while a faint grin appeared on his face. "Time to shoot the other bird out of the sky. Once we're done, his wings won't allow him to fly."

Making a small spin of her body, a small transparent red lighted dot appeared over Djinni's eyes which moved along the movement dramatically as she collected flames from within the lava to power her weapon. Eventually finished, the giant arrow rested on Djinni's shoulders and awaited the signal to launch. "Bye bye, birdie," she said jokingly and clenched her right hand into a fist, which triggered the mechanism to propel the weapon at her enemy. "Fly!" Djinni shouted as she looked up at it, paving a way through the lava and towards Machman. With her mouth opened, she playfully took a bite of the lava and grinned wide as she chewed on it while awaiting the results of her attack.

Djinni [Fire/Cursor] [FloatShoes/AirShoes]
1. Red Moon [Lava Full Stage; 3 TCD] @ The insides of Crumble Hill, including floor.
2. Evasively dive into Lava floor.
3-4. Pyreshot Ballista [110 FIRE; Break; Impact; Charge Time; 4 TCD] + Sniping [Added Seeking] @ Machman
MachMan moves at the speed of sound (lol) yet again and blasts Djinni with his Airshot. Djinni's Red Moon, however, prevents her from taking a crash landing, as she lands into the relative safety of a large pool of lava, quickly turning Crumble Hill into Crumble Volcano.

Warping quickly next to Djinni reveals to Machman that, holy jeez, he's in the lava now, too! Taking the heat (10 per action), he claws violently at her, anyway, dealing some token damage. (20) Being submerged in lava can mess with one's aim, and so Machman's Vulcan1 fires two wide shots before he can get it properly trained on Djinni, who takes the final three shots hard.

With that, Djinni FINNALLY counterattacks, and in a BIG way. Her powerful Pyreshot Ballistia attack screams toward Machman, who, due to close quarters, barely has enough time to pull up his Guard, only to watch it vaporize along with his plasma shield as if they were cotton candy and the attack smashes full long into him, sending him spiraling away at rapid speed. The only defense the shot didn't manage to break was Machman's Undershirt. The Guard still did it's job of dealing some revenge damage, which Djinni took due to her having zero reaction time at such close quarters. Sadly, this was not good, as, after being softened up a bit by her opponent, and having no Undershirt herself to fall back on, she was brought down to the safety limit of the match, and a loud buzzer echoed across the area.

"THIS GAME'S WINNER IS... MACHMAN! THE INTENSITY OF THIS MATCH WAS UNPARALELLED! I BLINKED AND ALMOST MISSED ALL THE ACTION! WHAT A MATCH, FOLKS!"

Two Progs swiftly moved into the hill, cleaning up the lava for safety as they went. One parked itself next to the crumpled form of Djinni, and the other the smashed MachMan. Each opened up a small case of data, in Machman's a ticket lay, and in Djinni's four knives and a moderate sized bag of Zenny lay. "Pick one!" The prog sang happily to Djinni.


ONB Tournament, Round Two

Djinni.EXE: 0 Hit Points DEFEATED GET: 3000Z -OR- FireKnife -OR- ElecKnife -OR- AquaKnife -OR- WoodKnife
--->Assisting: Fhyre.SP: 0 Hit Points DEFEATED

-VERSUS-

MachMan.EXE: 1 Hit Points WINNER GET: Quarterfinal Pass
--->Assisting: Aera.SP: 0 Hit Points DEFEATED
Machman was forced back by the powerful blast by Djinni, but remained functional thanks to his Undershirt program. Battered and disoriented by the lava, he raised his buster in an act of desperation to defend himself. However, he paused just for a moment as he saw the progs appear. His arm dropped and he slumped over from fatigue.

Wow... It's over. What a finish.

Mazer's face appeared on a pop up screen as one of the Progs approached.

[Good work, Mach! I thought you were a goner when she turned the whole mountain into a pit of lava...]

Machman picked up the tourney pass card, and it dissolved before getting warped up into the PET.

I'm kind of surprised myself.

Machman looked over to see another Prog with Djinni. Mach tried to stand, and wobbly staggered towards her. He tried to keep his composure under the strain, and not to completely fall over.
That was a great match! Your power is incredible! I don't think I've ever seen anyone capable of that kind of literal firepower, let alone facing one in combat.
"Djinni...?" Na'im softly spoke as he looked at his Navi after being defeated by Machman, "We'll get our chance."

With her back on the floor after having fallen down by the last blow, Djinni stared upwards and the only thought going through her head was the fact that she had lost. Slowly she closed her eyes and sighed, thinking about what had happened on the battlefield just now.

"Pick one!" she heard and she opened her eyes again, glancing at the Program immediately. Djinni's tail waved around furiously as she slammed her hands onto the ground, gritting her teeth as the pain of the previous attacks became clear as day, and got herself up. Softly she held her hand against the Program's head and moved him out of the way as she slowly, but surely, floated towards Machman with an expression on her face that was hard to read.

"That was a great match!" was shouted at her by Machman as she floated towards him, quietly listening to the other words while she kept shuffling with her tail towards him. The bracelet around her right wrist broke and fell onto the ground while several cracks became visible in the ring she used to keep herself into the air.

"Machman..." she muttered as she stopped in front of him, looking him straight at the face as much as possible while keeping one eye closed due to the pain she felt. Gritting her teeth, she raised her right arm and moved her hand towards him, forcefully grabbing his hand. "Great fight... Rival..." she spoke quietly to him, then disappeared without a trace.

After tapping a few buttons, Na'im opened a visual pop-up window close to the Program that had assisted Djinni and stared at it. "We'll take the money. That is all," he said and made the window fade away again.
"Great fight... Rival..."

Djinni faded away as she returned to her PET. Machman closed his previously grasped hand into a fist. He tried to crack a smile, but the fatigue and pain was too great.

[[i]Rival... Now I really need to meet them again. I know she will get even stronger, and I must do so as well.[/i]]

Machman glanced back to Mazer's smiling face in the pop up window, but then looked back to the ground and closed his eyes.

[[i]Splashman... Djinni... They worked so hard to get here. The least I could do is continue to climb to the top. That way they won't feel like they lost to some loser, but to someone worthy of competing against them. I must continue forward! It is my duty![/i]]

Machman looked back up to Mazer, his eyes glowed intensely.
I won't let them down, Mazer. I will make both of them proud!

Mazer seemed to understand what Machman was speaking of, since similar feelings filled his head as well. He never expected Mach, Aera, and him to get this far, so giving up or slacking off was no longer an option.
[I'm with you, Mach. We won't let them down. Now let's take a break and recover, so we can be at our peak for the next match.]

Understood!

Mazer initiated the log out sequence, and Machman beamed out of the arena in a pillar of cyan light. Mach logged out and back into Mazer's PET, directly into his recovery tube to have a well needed rest.