Sunshine in Yoka (EVENT!)

The portal opens to a series of hot springs--a trail of wet footprints still glisten!
Soulman's form soon emerges from the portal, "Hmmm... not too bright, are they? Their tracks are all over the place."

"Or maybe they want someone to follow them. They did steal a whole bunch of chips, they might want someone to test it on." Wes cautioned

"Well, I'll be careful then." The navi then began tracing the trail.

Something was bothering Wes, "Hey, why didn't you ask that girl to come along?"

"She already got into enough trouble at the party. It'd be unthinkable to ask her to come along with me here." came the simple reply.

"Whatever. If you say so." Majin Wes let out a sigh.
ShellMan tumbled through the portal, waving slightly but managing to catch himself before falling over. Maintaining his balance, he lifted his down-tilted shell lid to see if he had any allies already inside. Unfortunatley, there only appeared to be one, and he didn't look particularly powerful. ShellMan did recognize him, though as one of the people who had been at the springs, although his appearance was drastically changed. ShellMan coughed, wondering if he should approach the stranger. Deciding to do so, ShellMan headed in that direction, his shells clacking as he moved.

"Hello there!" ShellMan said, realizing his manners and bowing politely before continuing. Suddenly deciding that may have been too much, he straightened back up and pointed to himself nervously. "My name's ShellMan.EXE... I guess we're going to be on a team here in Yoka. Do you know how the viruses are in this area?"

Conjuring images of terrible beasts in his head, ShellMan added casually, "And, do you know if anyone else is showing up?" He glanced to his sides warily, as if vicioius Dominerds could attack at any moment.
"Anyone else?" Soulman shrugged, "Does it really matter? They stole a cart of chips that each strike all the enemies at once. Whether its one person or twenty, we'll all go down just as fast." He continued walking and sulking.
Winter emerged from the portal... And into a steaming MESS! It's way too warm here... Maybe I should head to another area of the Net. With this thought, she stepped back into the portal...
A black beam slammed into the network, quickly assuming a humanoid form as one, two, three, four colored orbs integrated themselves into the dark mass. A split-second later, a very confused looking pink-and-black navi stumbled out into the steamy paradise that was the Yoka network. Rass looked around and scratched his head. This doesn't *look* like Sharo... he thought, taking a few steps forward onto the glistening ground. "Suien, c-can you confirm my l-location?"

"All right, just a sec... Yoka?!" shouted Suien in disbelief, "What are you doing in Yoka? I thought we agreed that you were going to Sharo!"

"I... I... I don't know," stammered Rass, instantly becoming defensive, "I just kn-know that I went into a p-portal! I'm s-sorry, Suien! I'll just go b-back and go t-to the right p-portal!"

Suien sighed and shook his head. "It's okay Rass," he said, brushing his thick black hair backward and shooting a smile toward the class, "It looks like these navis could use the backup anyways, so why don't you go and introduce yourself? You'll be working with them for the duration, so you might as well get acquainted."

Rass shrugged, then turned around to face his two new partners. He recognized them both from the party, but didn't recall many other details about their capabilities or personalities. With a smooth shuffling motion, he moved forward and waved a dark hand in welcome. "H-Hello," he said in a slightly high-pitched voice, "I'm Rass.EXE, and it looks like I'll be w-working with you guys. Can I g-get your names?"
ShellMan tried to keep a chipper face in spite of his ally's thoroughly depressing mood. After sitting for a while, a noise told him someone else had appeared, but they seemed to leave quickly. ShellMan rested back on his snail shell and laid his head on his large armparts, waiting for anything that might break the silence between his ally and himself.

Suddenly, a small Navi seemed to fumble into the area, seeming taken aback as though it were an accident. ShellMan didn't recognize him from the group before... Had he just not been paying attention? In any case, the Navi seemed to be extending a friendly gesture. ShellMan figured he should accept.

"Why don't you go accept his friendly gesture?" Walden asked, affirming ShellMan's unacted-upon intentions. "After all, you're going to be working together. And come on!" Walden said, still believing his Navi would need motivation, "You two are a lot alike!"

ShellMan nodded, zoning out the unneeded persuasion and returning the strange Navi's wave with a wave of his own large conch arm. "My name's ShellMan.EXE," he told him. "... Uh, I think we're waiting to see if anyone else will show up... I dunno, since this guy was first," he said, patting the yet unnamed Navi's slumping shoulder, "he should be the leader of the group!"
'Ayumi' stepped off of the link to the Netsquare, and noticed the group of navis already sitting around. She walked over to Soulman, and smacked him on the back with an open palm.

"Hey there!" she said, in a teasing yet angry voice. "So, I guess we're all here to find the thieves, huh?" She turned and looked over the other navis. "Great... we have... a clam navi and an emo navi. This should be interesting..." she thought to herself. Not letting on what truly shot through her mind, she gave a cheerful and friendly wave towards the two other navis. "Hi there! I'm Ayumi~" She took a small step backwards and to the side after waving, and sat down on the ground nearby. She brought her knees to her chest and folded her arms on top, plopping her head down on top.

She sighed sadly under her breath. "Why can't I ever just have a normal day? One without my code being tweaked or having to go through tests?"
Soulman felt something strike the back of his skull. He rubbed the area as he turned around and found Ayumi, "Ayumi! What are you doing here? You're the one that ate the tainted pie, so are you sure you'll be okay?"

"Just let it go. Her netop should have control of the jack-out feature and you'll be there to watch out for her." Wes advised, "In all actuallity, you should be glad she should up here. If she had went somewhere else, I'm not sure she would have had anyone to look out for her."

"I suppose..." he turned back to Ayumi, "Well, I suppose if you just couldn't wait until after to see me, I can let you come along!" It seemed she was busy introducing herself to the other two. He sighed dejectedly, "Ah, man, she's already getting comfy with the other two... and what's with this~ tone?"
Rass smiled and walked over to Shellman. With a friendly nod, he said "n-nice to meet you! L-looking forward to working with you..."

"Hi there! I'm Ayumi~" interrupted a newly arrived female navi.

Rass was glad that his face was completely black, lest it betray the blushing that he could feel. For a moment, he struggled to find his voice, and only managed a smile nod before turning away. As he pressed his index fingers together while attempting to find something intelligent to say to the newly-arrived female, he failed to notice a patch of green and blue swirling around on his chest. Awww... said Argo, a false tone of adoration in his voice, Does Rassy-poo have a cute little crush? Haw haw haw! You'd better give up on that one, cause she's way outta your league!

Quiet, you, hissed Tem, a wry look appearing in her eyes, I think it's cute. I mean, at least it's conclusive evidence that our core system isn't a homosexual, right? What's wrong with him having a little crush? Furthermore... The patch of blue whirled over to his back, facing the sitting Ayumi. She is a cute one isn't she? If I were a guy... or a lesbian... I would totally be on top of that

Rass was so shocked he couldn't even *think* anything in response to his tactical subsystem.

Hmph, I still think it's a waste of time, grumbled Argo, Rasshole here doesn't have any charm whatsoever. He's the most awkward navi on the face of the planet, and his personality is about as attractive as Clam-man's over there. Besides, it looks like that tall guy over there is in the competition. There's no way that...

Wait, wait, look... interrupted Tem, eyes squinting to get a better look, She's pouting over something and I don't think the other guy noticed. Rass, increase your audio sensors to 400% and direct them toward her position. Rass, still surprised, was still able to quickly comply. He directed additional system resources to his left ear, boosting up its ability to pick up and discern sounds.

"...without my code being tweaked or having to go through tests..."

Rass perked up to attention at the girl's words, realizing with some surprise that she, like him, was the product of some degree of experimentation. As his subsystems argued over the futility of Rass' prospects, he plodded over and, with great effort he managed to work out a few stutter-free phrases. "Are you... okay? You look... down about something," he asked, albeit slowly. As he spoke, both of his subsystems stopped fighting and froze. Had Tem and Argo actual faces, they would have probably displayed a large degree of shock. "I know I'm not the most a...articulate speaker," he admitted, "but I'm willing to... listen if you're feeling depressed. My name is Rass and..."

Rass took a deep breath. Not stuttering is so difficult... he thought, "It will be a p-pleasure working with you."
As the awkward scene unfolds, a hand of pure water vapor drifts from below the ground, directly behind the clam-like Navi...
'Ayumi' looked up at Rass, smiling as she did. "Oh, it's nothing big. This was just supposed to be my free day, like my getaway vacation. And It was ruined by these idiot thieves." She sighed, looking down at the ground as she continued. "Just like the last one was cut short because of a virus outbreak, and the one before that because I lost control of a new upgrade, and the one before that..." she trailed off. She realized that she was ranting, so she quickly stopped and looked back up at Rass. "Anyways, nothing I'm not used to. It's just a pain when things don't work out how you want, you know?"

She looked past Rass for a moment to see what the other navi was up to. He was quite an odd looking one... make of all manners of shells. She thought she saw something weird behind him, but she couldn't be sure. It almost seemed like the steam was creeping up on him, but that would just be ridiculous. "Hey Rass... is there something weird behind that other navi, or are my eyes on the fritz?"
Soulman glanced back at the group, "What the hell...?"

"Baka! That looks like a MistConv attack! It's an Aqua attack!" Wes shouted.

"What? Damn it, Shellman, duck into your shell!" Soulman began to charge a shot, giving Shellman a chance to dodge. He then aimed his attack, firing at the watery appendage that had so threateningly appeared, "Well, instead of us finding him, it seems he found us. Now where is he attacking from..." He glanced around the area.

((1.) Charge
2.) Charge
3.) Charged Attack, 16, MistConv?
4.) Dodge/look around))
Rass nodded sympathetically, fully understanding the rigors of being an experimental navi. "I know what you mean," he said slowly, "But you have to keep going, y-you know? Look at the l-little pleasures that come from these s-situations. Besides, I'm s-sure that one of these days you'll have a restful v-vacation..."

Rasshole! Behind you! yelled Argo, his gruff voice reasonating within Rass' skull

Buh buh wha...?

Before Rass could fully grasp the situation, his dark, metallic boots shone a bright blue color as Tem assumed control of his leg circuitry. Rass nimbly leaped to his feet and launched into a backward flip, turning around in mid-air. Careful there, loverboy, cooed Tem, her eye appearing on his left kneecap, An incompetent core system like yourself should feel lucky that you've got subsystems like us around.

Rass landed heavily and wobbled slightly on his feet as his hand shot out, independent of his will. Instantly, a crimson flash bolted from the Garnet on his back to his right forearm, coloring the normally black hand a deep shade of red. INFATUATION IS A DISTRACTION, CORE SYSTEM! shouted Ishamel as two bursts of energy lanced forward from the palm of Rass' hand, PURGING IT IS STRONGLY SUGGESTED!

"Sorry, sorry" mumbled Rass, as his azure legs carried him toward Shellman. Before he could reach the conch-shaped navi, however, he realized that the other male navi had already given the order for Shellman to retreat - probably the safest thing to do in this situation. Rass swayed uneasily, unsure as to what to do as he glanced around, searching in vain for the source of the attack.

1: Normal Shot (4) MistConv
2: Normal Shot (4) MistConv
3: Dodge/look around
4: Dodge/look around
'Ayumi' pulled herself to her feet as Soulman and Rass began countering the attack on the other navi. "I guess it wasn't my imagination then..." she said, as she heard Soulman tell the other navi to get out of the way. "There's no way something that clunky can dodge that attack in time. I mean, he's huge!" She sprinted towards the navi, staying to his right side. She neared the navi just as Soulman was about to fire and tackled him, knocking both herself and the oddly shaped navi out of the way of Soulman and Rass's attacks.

'Ayumi' rolled off of the navi as they hit the ground, reaching down a hand to help it up. She didn't say anything, and didn't keep her eyes on it for very long... she was too busy looking for whatever hat launched the attack.

================
1. Woosh!
2. Tackle Shellman out of the way. 1 Dmg?
3. Offer to help Shellman up.
4. Look for the douche who attacked.
ShellMan screeched, recieving the order to dodge all too late, and merely drawing into his shell when the urgency finally sank in. Still very much in the way, he was luckily tackled out of the attacks' path by the new female arrival. SoulMan opened his lid as the two went skidding, blushing at the Navi's grip around what served as midriff. He was surprised that she'd decided to attempt and tackle his clunky frame, much larger than herself.

He accepted her invitation up, using the bottom tilted up slightly to cover the surprise showing obviously on his face. He stuttered a bit of thanks before talking to Walden. "I think I'm going to need a way to fight now... get ready to send chips, okay?"

"Will do," Walden told his Navi with concern. "This is your first fight. Remember what we practiced, and you'll do fine. Take care of yourself."

"Don't worry about me, I'll be fine," ShellMan told his operator. "... by the way, that female Navi there..." he said, trying to hide his eyes as he viewed her back, "... she's... c-cute, isn't she...?"

"Oh yeah," Walden said, suprisingly blunt and unmasked. "But don't you think that one guy's had his eye on her for a while?"

"Uh... yeah, I guess," ShellMan said, thinking. "... I'm going to protect her, all the same!" ShellMan said, rushing out in front of her and forming a shield from his left arm's shell, as opposed to his normal drawn-in shielding. "I-I'm going to try and protect you!" ShellMan managed to choke out, looking back at her with his bottom shell still tilted to hide his expression.

Shield to block damage from tackle
Get up, recover, discuss, get in front of Ayumi
Shield in front of Ayumi
The hand of Mist is swatted out of existance, as Ayumi gets intimate with Shellman. Who then returns the favor by becoming... a shell(meat)shield?

From a nearby hotspring, the HeelNavi springs out in an ambushy fashion--followed by some local help!

(Advancing!)
SlimerA:150
SlimerB:150
SlimerC:150
SwordyA:60
SwordyB:60

(Behind first wave!)
ShrimpyA:100
ShrimpyB:100
ShrimpyC:100
HeelNavi:300

Rass: 100
Shellman: 100
Soulman: 100
Ayumi: 140

Battle start!
"So, one group stacked right behind the other, eh?" Wes commented, "Looks like the perfect time for this."

"Follow my lead, you three!" Soulman brought his palm forward, firing a piece of energy from it. It was an attack that took advantage of situation like the one they were in now, stirking both the enemy and what lies behind. He turned to his allies, mouthing 'Shotgun' to them so that'd they get his plan. He then conferred with his operator, "Well? Now what?"

"Good question. Really wish I had some cool chips like Sensei." he muttered to himself, "Aquablade is so cool! He also had a Sunshine... what a coincidence. Either way, just use this."

"This? Pathetic." the navi sighed. He unehthusiatically pointed his hand at the previous Slimer he had fired on. This blast was similar to the last, only weaker and without any chance of hitting anything else. Ho hum.

"Now, use your special to hinder one of its friends." Majin Wes commanded.

Soulman then focused his energy, releasing it in a blast of light and sparkly-ness. That Sliimer would be seeing stars. He then glanced around, "Spread out, guys. Grouping just makes us a bigger target." He then followed his own advice, keeping himself close enough to help his allies, but keeping far enough away that two of them couldn't both be hit with a single blast.

((1.) Shotgun, 50+splash, SlimerC
2.) Cannon, 40, SlimerC
3.) Soul Flash, 40+lowered accuracy, SlimerB
4.) Dodge))
Rass gasped as he backpedaled slightly, staring in horror at the massive army of viruses that lay in front of him. As wave after wave of opponents rose out of the hot springs like a horde of monsters from some cheap horror film, Rass fumbled for his communicator and contacted his netOp. As his netOp's bespecticled face appeared on a screen in front of him, Rass began to hyperventilate. "S-S-Suien!" he whined, "Th-th-they're g-g-going to d-d-delete me! Th-there's s-so many v-v-viruses and they're all so s-strong!"

"Rass, pull yourself together!" shouted Suien, whipping out his PET keyboard and battlechips. Quickly seating himself in the teacher's desk at the front of the room before anyone could protest, he began a series of calculations on the oncoming viruses. "We're looking at a total of eight viral signatures and one Navi signature, all but two of which show HP at 100 points and over," he said, eliciting a whimper from Rass, "However, none of the viruses are EX-class, and you DO have three other partners to assist you in combat. Just calm yourself and do what you can to take things out one by one."

Rass gulped and nodded, flexing his fingers experimentally as he mentally prepared himself for battle. "I... I'll try, Suien. I'll do my best."

Suien smiled "That's all I ask for, Rass," he said, slotting in a battlechip and adjusting his glasses, "I know you're not the best shot with gun-type chips, even with Ishamel assisting you, so I've sent a program that'll allow Tem to fight more effectively alongside you. Rass, Tem, Ishamel, Argo! Battle Routine Set!"

The three gemstones on Rass' back glowed to life momentarily as all four voices shouted in unison.

Execute!

Rass felt both hands being thrust forward by Tem's movement routines, both of them becoming a deep shade of azure. As Rass stood there, arms fully extended, one of Tem's eyes materialized on each of his palms. Okay Rass, listen up, she said, a condescending undertone leaking into her voice, I'm going to perform a scan on the opposition and relay my findings to you. You'll be able to use them to boost your accuracy and efficiently eliminate your opponents. I know you have a tendancy to screw things up, but try not to waste the opportunity I'm giving you.

Wha... o-okay... thought Rass as a burst of blue light erupted from his palms, bathing the entire battlefield in an unearthly glow. A split-second later, Tem retracted into her gemstone and deposited the information packets into Rass' core processor. Several wireframes with a multitude of variables appeared on his viewfinder, detailing weak points and the location of core data. Rass marvelled at the detail until Ishamel tore out of his gemstone, snapping the recovery navi back to reality.

A swirl of red formed on Rass' right hand as the shotgun energy was transferred into the buster units embedded in his palm. As the pink-and-black navi steeled his legs to absorb the shock of the recoil, Ishamel's voice rang out through Rass' head. DATA PROCESSING COMPLETE, he said, TEM'S BATTLE SCHEMATICS UPLOADED. CALCULATING TRAJECTORY. Rass' hand steadied itself, aiming for the sword-wielding viruses on the front row. He held his breath and waited for Ishamel to complete his calculations, anticipating the coming blow...

FIRE!!

As the deadly shotgun energy tore forward in a destructive wave, Tem had already taken control of Rass' movement routines and sent the pink-and-black navi into a graceful spin to the side, designed to evade any attacks that might come his way as well as to absorb the recoil of the attack. Though Rass could not confirm any of the hits, he landed, planted both feet, thrust both arms forward once again, and allowed Ishamel to send two more thin beams of energy aimed at the critical functioning units of the (hopefully) damaged viruses. The weak buster fire lanced forward at a high velocity, leaving bright streaks of light in their wake.

As Tem took command once again and sent Rass spiraling away, in preparation for any counterattacks, Suien smiled slightly outside of the PET. It's not going to be an easy battle, he thought, but at least Rass has comrades he can count on... both inside and out.


0: Tem Scanner (+5 damage to all attacks, Increased accuracy, any enemies killed have their RP reward factor increased by 1 and are more likely to drop battlechips)
1: Shotgun (50+5) SwordyA, splash to SwordyB
2: Regular attack (4+5) SwordyA
3: Regular attack (4+5) SwordyB
4: Autododge
Both the Navi and his operator stood staring mouth agape at the wave of viruses and their leader. "I... I haven't even fought before!" ShellMan gasped, his voice a barely audible squeak. "There's no way I can survive...!"

"Come on, ShellMan," Walden said, reassuring himself and his Navi, "we can do this. Don't worry about anything other than surviving. We'll use your shielding program, and get attacks in when we can. Don't do anything reckless."

"Don't... don't worry about that..." ShellMan responded meekly.

"All right. I'll give you a Shotgun to start out with. Our friends seem to be smart enough not to rush in, so we'll attack from a distance as well."

"Roger!" ShellMan responded, his conch shell glowing white with the energy of the chipdata he'd recieved. He aimed the open tip of it at a slimy-looking virus that had not yet been targeted. "All right... I'm going for it!" ShellMan shouted, setting his aim and firing the shot, reeling back from the unexpected recoil as the shot flew from his barrel. "Wow..." ShellMan said, waving dizzily, "that's more of a kick... than I was expecting..." To clear his nerves, ShellMan drew up and taut connecting part like a catapault, releasing his head at the virus he'd attacked. After that, he closed up his clamshell lid as a new head formed inside of it, and raised his left arm's shell to defend. The Navi could feel himself shaking, and it almost seemed to be resonating in his armor... his eyes squinted, he prepared himself for the oncoming retaliation of the virus waves.

Shotgun to SlimerA [50+splash]
Catapearl to SlimerA [60]
Shield