High Pressure Relaxation

MeleeMan appeared on the net, still utterly baffled by several factors which were yet unexplained to him. "Dammit, Rania, I want some answers! Where are we? We'd better not be in Sharo again," he yelled into nothingness, as Rania had turned back off her monitor out of embarrassment. She turned it on once again, still with everything below her shoulders submerged under the misty water.

"This is Yoka Net, MeleeMan. It's way different than Sharo Net; I'm surprised you could get the two confused," she responded, trying to keep her usual logical and in-control look, although it wasn't working too effectively.

"Gotcha. Yeah, I thought it might be Sharo because of the moisture in the air, but now that you mention it, it's much warmer. It's actually kinda pleasant!" he laughed, breathing in a deep whiff of the onsen air. "Yeah, it's a great temperature. I don't mind the water at all so long as its hot!"

"Uh, I wouldn't go that far," Rania coughed into her fist, lacking confidence in her navi's ability to drop his elemental weakness by virtue of his preference of temperature. "Oh, before I forget, this is my friend, Amelie," she introduced her friend. Amelie bobbed her head in response, still gawking at MeleeMan while not staying quite as modestly underneath the water as Rania.

"Huh. She's got better arms then yours, you know. I think she's got a better ra-" he started, then coughed, "na-natural hair color. Yeah. That," he finished, congratulating himself mentally at his clever save. "You should probably go for that yourself. Red really is a bit too feral for your nature; it enrages the senses. Only a beast like me can proudly display that color."

"Your hair is brown too you know," Rania muttered irritably, having understood his earlier comment full-well, despite his attempts to cut it off. "At any rate, let's look for a link that can get us to my savings account. We can delete viruses on the way there."

((Waiting for Skyrender, no viruses yet, please.))
Let us consider the image of a coin, flipped through the air and allowed to land. A binary function seems to occur here, as all laws of probability, chance, and the empirical record point to the existence of one of two options - face up, or face down. In this, the most basic form of 50/50 chance, there appears to be a strong degree of predictability regarding what possible outcomes exist.

And yet, there are times when the proverbial coin does something spectacular, casting probability and logic aside as it balances precariously on its edge and proves that even the most far-fetched situation can, in fact, come to pass.


I... I can't believe it! muttered Tem in shock, The odds of them being HERE of all places are... practically nonexistent!"

ISHAMEL SPECULATES THAT THE INTERNAL PROBABILITY MATRIX OF OPERATOR UNITS SUIEN AND RANIA REASONATE WITH A FREQUENCY THAT ENABLES THE TRANSCENDENCE OF NORMAL PROBABILITY RANGES. IT IS CLEAR THAT SOME QUASI-MAGNETIC FORCE EXISTS BETWEEN THE TWO! replied Ishamel, IN ANY CASE, THIS IS AN OPPORTUNE CHANCE FOR ACQUISITION!

"I... I don't know, guys," mumbled Rass, peeking his helmeted head out from behind a large rock as he spied on MeleeMan from his cover. The pink-and-black navi had teleported in a short distance away from the powerful punching warrior, and as soon as MeleeMan's identification signal had appeared on his scanner, Ishamel and Argo had immediately forced him to find a hiding spot as they planned their strategy. "Is it r-really necessary for us to be so... secretive? I thought I'd go and you know, say hello..."

Are you kidding, Rasshole?! laughed Argo, This is the perfect opportunity for us to show Rania how much more awesome Suien is than MeleeMan! Ishamel agrees, right?

AFFIRMATIVE, SUPPORT SYSTEM! BEGIN THE OPERATION!

You idiots act like you're processing in 8-bits. interrupted Tem, Did you already forget that forcing Rass to choose between his operator and his friend is a bad, bad idea?

Rass gulped and slowly emerged from behind the rock as his support systems continued to bicker. He fumbled with his scarf and waved at MeleeMan with none of his normal enthusiasm. I know that Suien could really use a support unit like Rania, he thought, cocking his head to one side, But... MeleeMan and Rania really seem to love each other... how can I break something like that up?


((Battle 1))
As the two Navi locked eyes on each other, something wonderful happened....A bunch of viruses appeared! What looks like a quartet of viruses emerged before the dynamic duo, two shrimp like creatures and two knights. Oddly enough, the knights seem to be carrying drippy green shields. That isn't normal, right? Luckily, the two navi are standing on sturdy ground, though there seems to be a hole of some sort in the distance.

ShrimpyA: 100
ShrimpyB: 100
SwordyA: 60 [SHIELD'D?!?]
SwordyB: 60 [SHIELD'D?!?]

MeleeMan: 200
Rass: 100

Battle 1! Start!
Before any of the subsystems could protest, Rass had already cleared the large rock and had begun sprinting toward the opposing viruses. If I remember correctly, those shrimp things shoot water, and Tem always says that fire's weak against water! he thought, biting his lower lip, Whether or not he's a rival in love with Suien, I have to help him! Skidding to a halt a short distance away from the battlefield, he quailed slightly at the sight of the Swordy viruses and their curious-looking shields. After taking a few nervous steps backward, Rass gulped, squared his legs, and assumed an awkward fighting position. Raising one fluidlike black hand to his helmet, the fusion navi turned his eyes to the sky and opened up communications with his netOp. "S-Suien?" asked Rass nervously as he fiddled with his scarf with the other hand, "I'm er... I'm standing here with MeleeMan and we're fighting stuff. Do you think you can send a battlechip or two?"

No response. Frowning, Rass materialized a small neon panel in front of him and quickly typed in a few commands. A few short beeps later, a large window materialized onto the network, displaying a live video feed from the PET's camera. As Rass peered into the window to the real world, squinting through the steam until finally, he realized what he was looking at.

Geez, Suien! shouted Argo over the intercom, Put a freaking shirt on!

-*-

Suien Matsumoto nearly drowned in the Yoka hot springs that day. Until Argo's interruption, the dark-haired netOp had been reclining in the pool, gazing upward at the ceiling in perfect contentment. Thankfully, the steam and the bubbles had obscured his lower regions. Unfortunately, anyone watching the video feed would have gotten a full-on look at his torso and the rather humorous reaction shot of Suien sliding into the hot springs in shock and splashing about as the scalding water entered his mouth. Sputtering and coughing, the dripping-wet netOp made his way to his PET and shut off the visual contact. "Rass! What *cough* do you think you're *cough* you're doing?!" he sputtered, reaching for his chip folder, "I was about to get your battlechips! You didn't need to open up a video link to the network! Geez, I just hope that M..." Suien froze, and wiped his hair from his eyes. "Wait, did you just say MeleeMan was there with you?!"

"Y-Yeah! W-We need those chips so we can f-finish these guys off!"

Suien groaned and shook his head. I really hope she didn't see anything. I'm pretty sure that any NetPolice present would consider that soliciting to minors! he thought as he thumbed his way through his chipfolder. With a few more coughs, he removed a set of battlechips and slid them in one after another. When the last chip was set in place with a satisfying click, he stood back, and self-consciously examined himself. But then... if she did. he thought, biting his lower lip, Well... I'm not *that* bad looking, am I?

-*-

Rass was taken aback by the rather abrupt interruption of the video feed, but his attention returned to the battle at hand as he felt the chip data integrate itself into his systems. The chips were mostly familiar ones — the Areagrab, the Airshot, the Sword, the Thunder, the MarkCannon...

Wait... what?

Rass quickly counted off the battlechips on his fingers again, and was astonished to find that there were now five chips at his disposal. The fusion navi's eyes widened in surprise as he realized the cause of this newfound processing ability. Suien's latest purchases had increased his operating speed to nearly 150% of its previous configuration. Gazing at his body with the look of a kid at Christmas, Rass clenched his fists and smirked to himself. The luminescent blade of the sword battlechip sputtered to life in Rass' right hand, casting a harsh blue light across the battlefield. The moist steam sputtered against the electronic blade, causing the weapon to hiss and snap as the pink-and-black navi took another glance toward MeleeMan and gave him a friendly wave.

"Hey M-MeleeMan!" he said cheerfully, "N-Nice to see you again!"

You idiot! Concentrate on the battle! shouted Tem, allowing her presence to leak into Rass' legs Honestly, Suien gives you one little upgrade and you think you're his equal or something? It's not whether or not you HAVE power — it's how you USE it!

And with that, Rass was off, pulled across time and space by the Areagrab teleportation system and reappearing behind the nearest Swordy virus. With an uncharacteristically overdrawn movement, the pink-and-black navi plunged the blade forward, aiming to skewer the sword-wielding opponent from behind. Disengaging the blade in mid-motion, Rass whirled around, thrusting both arms forward and redirecting the chip data into his buster units. His subprocessors roared to life as Ishamel took his place within the palms of Rass' hands. Tinting them a distinctive red color and automatically adjusting for Rass' faulty aim. ALIGNING THUNDER BATTLECHIP WITH ENHANCED-ACCURACY MARKCANNON BUSTER! shouted Ishamel as a green cursor flashed red on Rass' viewfinder, STANDING BY.

Coils of golden electricity arced between Rass' fingers as an orb of pulsating electricity formed within his right hand. A split-second later, the fusion navi unleashed a high-accuracy burst of light from his left arm, sending him spiraling to the left with the recoil. Using the rotational velocity from the blast, Rass wound up and hurled the electric-element orb toward the shrimplike virus. With a resounding CRACK, the high-voltage volley launched itself forward.

Rass, slightly dizzy but otherwise unperturbed, quickly came to his senses and dashed toward MeleeMan. I... I can't believe it, he thought as he loaded the airshot chip data into his circuitry and took his place at the massive pugilist's side, Just a few hours ago, that sort of maneuver would have left me completely drained. Now... he leveled his palm toward the sword-and-shield viruses, I'm completely ready for anything they have to throw at us!

1: Areagrab behind SwordyA
2: Sword (80) to SwordyA from behind, attempting to bypass shield
3: MarkCannon (70) to ShrimpyA
4: Thunder (40, 80 Weakness + Stun) ShrimpyA
5: Move alongside MeleeMan/wait for MeleeMan's attacks
6: Airshot surviving Swordys into pit.
MeleeMan disengaged his visor momentarily, allowing it to slip into the sides of his helmet as if on a rail. His upper lip dropped in confusion as he rubbed his eyes with his two large metal gauntlets, thinking that perhaps he was hallucinating. "Woah... It's Rass! What are the odds, eh, Rania?" MeleeMan asked his operator, pointing a thumb in the navi's direction. "It seems like the heavens have some sort of divine direction for this carnival! Brothers destined to battle together will come together and fight once again! What sort of epic challenges await us?"

Rania largely ignored MeleeMan's rambling as she watched the pink navi awkwardly wave one hand toward his ally. "Th-The video feed! How do I turn it back off, Amelie?" she shrieked, fumbling around for the switch.

"Forget that, look at that! Ha ha! You can almost see that guy's junk!" Amelie laughed, pointing out Suien's feed on the monitor. "What a dummy! Doesn't he realize you have to watch out when you leave your monitor on in the onsen?"

Rania's face went red as she looked at the man on the monitor. "Waaah! I-It's Suien! I didn't even recognize him without his jacket on! He looks so scrawny without it," she muttered, forgetting to turn off her own monitor now that she was occupied with watching Rass's operator. She frowned as the monitor went off, then splashed deeper under the water. "Amelie, did you say you could turn off their side of the feed?"

"Okay, Rania. Don't be so uptight, though. Plenty of people keep their navi's side of the visual contact when they enter the bath. There's nothing to be ashamed about," she grumbled, pushing the button to switch off their image.

"Huh? Rania, where'd you go?" MeleeMan asked, his eyes darting from side to side as he re-engaged his visor. "You'd better still be out there. I'm going to need chips and all that mess to fight." His worries were dispelled, however, as he received a magbomb weapon. He fumbled with the round ball for just a moment, but barely caught it between his hands. "Geez, give a guy some warning!"

"Sorry, MeleeMan," Rania apologized, getting his other chips ready. "It looks like Rass is taking care of one sword virus and one shrimp, so you should get the other two. Use the magbomb on the shrimp, then follow it up with this markcannon. For the other, I'm sending you an elecsword. Try to break through his shield if you can! Your speed should be improved since our last busting session, so hopefully you can accomplish all of this without taking damage."

MeleeMan smirked, drawing back the bomb to throw it over-handed at the enemy. "Ha. As if I need fancy maneuvers to take out these chumps," he laughed, hurling the ball at one of the Shrimpies. Before the bomb could connect, he'd already readied his markcannon, briefly pausing to obtain a lock-on, then releasing the projectile towards his foe. "If you thought that was bad, sword-buddy, wait and see what I'm gonna do to you!" Sprinting forward, MeleeMan roared and raised his elecsword arm above his head, gaining momentum. With a powerful drop, he attempted to slam the sword down through the virus's shield, then destroy it with another fast slice.

"Oh! Tell Rass to say hello to Suien for me," Rania whispered to MeleeMan over the communications.

"Heh, he can probably hear you himself. He should be in the bath right next to yours behind a wall or something. Isn't that the way things work?" he smiled, crossing his arms across his chest as he dodged off to the side, attempting to avoid any enemy retaliation. Amelie laughed as Rania ducked back down into the water abashedly, not catching the "behind a wall" part of MeleeMan's comment.

1) Magbomb Shrimpy B [30 x 2 (elemental bonus) + stun]
2) Markcannon Shrimpy B [70]
*Add Breaking to next attack using subtype ability
3) Elecsword to Swordy B [80]
4) Elecsword to Swordy B [80]
5) Dodge
(D'oh.
I was going to mod this, then I noticed that this was a custom battle, and so probably locked.
Disregard this post.)
((Half hour early bump. I don't think P.A.'s post there forbids me from doing so, anyway.))
(Oh, right.
I can Slave this now.
EDIT: OH GOD. MY LUNGS ARE BURNING. M*o*d is now wordfiltered to Slave. *ROFL's*)

Meleeman slashes through the shield of the first Swordy, which falls to the ground as glop before falling apart in a cube of disrupted data. The enemy then floats back, dodging the second. The Shrimpy is fried and blasted.
Rass slashes a Swordy, who is deleted and who's shield... drops to the ground, perfectly unharmed.
Oo-kaaaaay...?
The Shrimpy is also fried, but the Swordy still living is not airshot blasted into the pit.
Suddenly, the discarded shield of the deleted Swordy springs to life, turning into a Slimey! Teamwork, I guess, is not restricted to navis.

ShrimpyA: 100 HP
ShrimpyB: 100 HP
SwordyA: DELETED
SwordyB: 40 HP
SlimeyA: 90 HP
SlimeyB: DELETED

MeleeMan: 200
Rass: 100
Rass blinked in confusion as the fluidlike Slimey virus plopped onto the ground beside the remaining Swordy. Looking none the worse for wear, the globular opponent shuffled forward, having defended the sword-wielding virus from attack. Rass, for his part, could only assume a defensive pose as he struggled to comprehend what had just transpired. Scratching the side of his helmet in confusion, he turned to MeleeMan and frowned, pointing a thin finger toward the opponents. "Hey uh... M-MeleeMan?" he asked nervously, "D-Do you have any idea w-what just happened?"

Rasshole! Shut the hell up with your moronic questions! We have to go, go, go! roared Argo, appearing in a flash of green on the fusion navi's chest and glaring upward with a pair of angry eyes, You've got this new power, right? Don't you want to help Suien land that redhead? You're not going to impress anyone if you're piddling around wondering about things that don't matter! Rass felt his hands clench into tight fists as he turned awkwardly toward the viruses. It doesn't matter how many opponents pop up, since we'll just crush em all!

Actually, quipped Tem, I am rather curious as to the methodology employed by those viruses. I didn't think that Slimies would ever have anything to do with Swordies. It could just be that our viral research data is outdated, but that degree of synergy seems... unnatural. A streak of blue circled Rass' midsection before coming to a stop just below the fusion navi's solar plexus. One way or another, Argo, I thought we decided that we shouldn't goad Rass into making decisions. It's bad for his brain.

Rass said nothing, but looked down at the ground somewhat dejectedly. It was, after all, pointless to argue. It's not like they listened, anyways.

-*-

Suien frowned as he fiddled with the controls of his PET. Never had he been in a situation that actually warranted a complete shutdown of the video communications link, so he wasn't entirely sure of the safest way to disable the feature. However, the fear of a statutory rape charge overrode the fear of damaging the PET, thus ensuring that the dark-haired netOp disable the feature posthaste. Beads of sweat formed on the ends of Suien's now-flat hair as he brushed his bangs aside for what felt like the millionth time. The sulfuric water stung his eyes as he shuffled through his stack of battlechips, eventually sliding a stack of five through the scanner and entering a series of commands into the small device. That's when he heard a distinctly female laugh from the other side of the onsen.

Suien froze, slowly grasping the situation as he glanced around the room. Thick steam clouded the entire area, making it difficult to see more than a few feet in front of him. Squinting his eyes even more and clutching his PET and battlechips tightly in one hand, he began exploring his small corner of the area.

"Uh... hello?" he asked, gulping. It was sheer chance that Rass and MeleeMan managed to meet up in the Yoka network he thought, But what's bothering me is that their jack-in address was so similar. I suppose it's possible for the two of us to be in the same location, but last I checked, this Onsen was supposed to be...

Suien sunk a little bit lower into the water, suddenly very self-conscious...

-*-

Suien? Suien, are you there? called Tem as she processed the quintet of battlechips, Since you have not issued any orders, can I assume that I have the command? Tem didn't exactly have a mouth, but Rass could tell that if she did, she would be grinning with unbridled glee. Don't worry about a thing, Suien. I'll take care of this little mess!

Hyahahah! Awesome! crowed Argo, thrusting Rass' left fist into his open palm, Now it's time to bring the hurtin' to those morons! Let's take 'em all down with one shot!

Rass nervously glanced between MeleeMan and the Shrimplike adversaries as his weapon systems began initializing one after another. He felt several pulses of destructive energy surging into his palm units, and the familiar sensation of Ishamel's auto-correct targeting function guiding his movements. Before he could discharge the shotgun bursts, however, the fusion navi did something that was, as Tem later put it, "exceedingly stupid." Thrusting one arm to the side, he sent a burst of his fusionist protoplasm crashing down on the panel adjacent to MeleeMan, creating a gigantic Rockcube as a defensive structure between the large fire-type and the Shrimpys. Tem shrieked something incomprehensible, but her voice was drowned out by the barrage of energy beams that lanced from Rass' palms, casting a blinding white light across the battlefield and surging toward the viruses at a high rate. Squinting his large pink eyes amidst the luminous flash, the fusion navi felt a dead weight materialize into his right hand.

Why on earth you would waste valuable resources like that, I'll never know, hissed Tem acidly, but I suppose there are more important issues at hand here.

Rass gulped and nodded obediently, clutching the newly-arrived boomerang chip and clamoring to his feet. With a fervor spurned on by a fear of the irate azure subsystem, Rass quickly wound up, spiraled counterclockwise, and heaved the massive green chip toward his opponents with all his might. The boomerang gave a high-pitched whir as it arced low to the ground, but before he could confirm the hit, the fusion navi felt a small metal object materialize in his hand. Looking down at the ElecSword in surprise, he nearly sliced his helmet in two as the charged saber activated unexpectedly. "Gah!" he shouted, fumbling the weapon awkwardly, but quickly regaining control of the humming blade, "What... What are you doing, Argo?"

What's it look like, Rasshole?! I'm taking the hurting to them while the hurting's good!

With that, Rass' body began to charge forward on its own. Before he could reach the epicenter of his previous assault, however, Rass steeled his legs and leaped backward, performing a neat backflip as he landed a fair distance away from the opponents. Argo roared something incomprehensible in protest, but Rass stood his ground, holding the shimmering weapon in a defensive stance.

I'll show them... he thought, I'll show them how good a thinker I am!

1: Rockcube between Shrimpys and MeleeMan
2: Shotgun (50, 50 Splash) to ShrimpyA, Splash to ShrimpyB
3: Shotgun (50, 50 Splash) to ShrimpyA, Splash to ShrimpyB
4: Boomerang (60) to ShrimpyA and ShrimpyB
5: Activate Elecsword/Dodge
6: Dodge
((Sorry, long weekend, Sky. I'll post when I get back.))
MeleeMan growled, noticing frustration that there were roughly three or four more living viruses remaining after his attack than he had intended. "Dammit, where's my aim today?" he asked himself, releasing a billow of smoke into the air from one of his gauntlets that mingled with the foggy air, certainly choking anyone unfortunate enough to be nearby and breath it in. The elecsword retracted as he prepared for a new attack.

"It wasn't just anybody's poor aim. Those viruses had a defensive strategy ready. What's more annoying, however, is that some of your attacks did rawly miss; those viruses are a bit tricky, even if they don't seem all that threatening," Rania remarked, watching her PET screen intently as she devised a strategy.

Interrupting Rania's train of thought, her navi suddenly jumped back as a rockcube flew down next to him from the skies. "What the-?!" he growled, noting that it had been placed between himself and the shrimp. "Rania, do you really think I'm afraid of some undercooked seafood? What was that for?"

Rania sighed, prepared to go into her usual lecture. "MeleeMan, that was a defensive strategy by Rass. You should be thankful that he has your best interest in mind, endeavoring to protect you from water based attacks that exploit your elemental weakness. You aren't really going back to that whole policy of not accepting help from your allies, are you?" she asked, tapping one of her fingers upon one of her crossed arms impatiently.

MeleeMan seemed to tilt his head slightly, as if distracted. "Uh...." he muttered, as if trying to look past Rania through the monitor she'd reengaged. "Is that....?"

"Put your petty pride aside, MeleeMan. That cube is an excellent defensive tool, long used by netbattlers to aid in defense. It's one of the most common protection maneuvers. We're just lucky Rass was here to back us up with one since we don't have any such thing ourselves. Furthermore-" she continued, keeping up her impatient glare.

"Hey, Rania, could you hold on just a-" MeleeMan interceded, cutting her off mid sentence.

His operator, in turn, cut him off, getting back to her point. "Furthermore," she stated, rising out of the water just slightly as she did so, "it was reckless of you to try to break though an enemy's shield like that. This sort of result will always come from hair-brained tactics that rely on might alone. Make a note of it for future use as I send you your chips," she commented, putting in the chips one after another quickly. "Now first use the shotgun to-"

"Dammit, Rania, isn't that Suien over there behind you? My sensors are specifically designed to help me see through smoke and fog, so I'm pretty certain that I-" he again interrupted, stomping his foot rudely as he did.

"MeleeMan, I'm trying to talk seriously to you about strategy!" she cried in response, rising a good bit too far out of the water, exposing the whole back side of her body from her hips on up to the rest of the sauna.

"Hey, calm down, no reason to argue with your navi!" Amelie reminded her, signaling for her to duck back into the water. "Who's Suien, anyways? I've never heard of anyone in our class with that name."

The point that MeleeMan had just made finally sunk into Rania, who stood paralyzed in the same position she'd risen into. Her mind raced frantically with awkward thoughts, though she couldn't move her body at all in response. What takes priority? Do I try to hide myself or do I try to explain to Amelie who Suien is? Can I just tell her? Do I have to make up an excuse? she thought, resolving herself to the final point. That's it, I'll pass him off for a teacher, she thought frantically, looking down at Amelie with a panicked look in her eyes. "Th-That-That's my t-teacher, S-Suita... Suien!" she lied, pointing in what MeleeMan had inferred was his position, too scared to turn around and see if it was true. Determined to see it out without thinking about the consequences of her actions, she began to turn to wave to her false teacher. "Good afternoon Mister-" she started, but was tackled into the water by Amelie.

"Woah, hold up there, Rania! I don't care about your navi, but if this guy's a teacher of yours, you don't want to go around flashing him!" her friend reminded her, causing her to blush heavily and bow repeatedly in gratitude. "What's he teach? I've never seen him before."

"Oh... uh... physics..." she started, unable to lie effectively. Fibbing had always been the worst of any of her weaknesses.

"Physics? But Mr. Clangor has always been our physics teacher, and you know that! You take classes with him, you know. Why, you're in the same hour block as I am!" Amelie laughed. "Who is that really?"

"No, no, f... fusionary chemistry! That's right! That's what he teaches! Fusion!" Rania babbled, coming up with a field entirely on the spot, knowing that they couldn't possibly have a fusionary chemistry class at their school. "Dr. Suien Matsu... Matsu..." she started, not knowing exactly what the last name was herself. "Masters! Dr. Suien Masters," she sighed.

MeleeMan released his visor, looking angrily back at Rania with one eyebrow raised. "Augh, for Pete's sake! Rania, are you through with all of that gibberish your mumbling yet? We've got viruses to kill! Finish giving me the chip data!" he shouted at her, reengaging the visor mid-sentence. Finally obtaining his long awaited data, the navi charged for his opponents, holding back his fist as he charged the slime and the sword virus. "You punks should have been dead already! Count yourselves lucky that you have my full attention now!" he shouted, moving in to deliver blow after sweeping blow to the enemy group. As embers lingered in the air from his furious attack, he readied a shotgun, smiling cockily. "Let's see you guys luck your way out of this one," he grinned, releasing two more powerful shocks toward his opponent.

"You didn't even use the magbolt? Ugh," Rania groaned, sinking further back into the water. Her face was so beet-red that she felt the heat of her flesh over the seething water of the sauna around her. She kept her eyes focused into the mist, searching for Suien's pale body. I sure hope maybe he wasn't wearing his glasses," she muttered, thinking about Suien while totally neglecting the idea that MeleeMan may have gotten a pretty good eyeful himself.

"Mister Masters! Hey, I want to talk to you! I haven't met you before!" Amelie shouted boldly out into the mist, increasing Rania's embarrassment.

"He won't answer to it anyways, right?" she whispered to herself, feeling the shock of embarrassment take over her normally calm face. "That's not his real name! Surely he won't respond!"

1) Firehit1 to Swordy B [75]
2) Firehit1 to Slimey A [75]
3) Firehit1 to Swordy B [75]
4) Shotgun to Slimey A and splash [50]
5) Shotgun to Slimey A and splash[50]
Everything dies.

ShrimpyA: DELETED
ShrimpyB: DELETED
SwordyA: DELETED
SwordyB: DELETED
SlimeyA: DELETED
SlimeyB: DELETED

MeleeMan: 200
Rass: 100

-VICTORY-
Both Get: 450z
FXP: 2 Static
1 for sharing defenses
Why the hell did you do that, Rasshole?! demanded Argo in a voice that caused the fusion navi to flinch, I was gonna smash that little punk into oblivion until you came along with your namby-pamby defense strategy! Anyone with half a brain knows that defense is for the weak!

Though I am loathe to agree with Argo's assertion, I have to question the wisdom of tossing a rockcube in the path of MeleeMan. sniffed Tem, Clearly a shortsighted strategic decision that ultimately had no bearing on the rest of the battle.

"H-Hey!" protested Rass, as he collected his share of the earnings, "I... I just wanted to sh-show you guys that I c-can make important decisions on my own!" The shimmering ElecSword exploded into bits of data as it dissipated into the network, and the fusion navi stood his ground, shooting a rather cross look at his midsection. "I'm not as useless as y-you say I am, remember? S-So stop judging me!"

Tem sighed as she slithered around to Rass' chest, forming a patch of blue. Glancing upward at Rass with a look that could only be described as condescending, she spoke. Rass, you already know what I think about your competence as a core system, but you have to understand. The issue here isn't your combat prowess, it's your maturity index. You're so dependent on us and Suien that we can't possibly put you in a position where you'd have to make a significant decision like that. Tem gave a small chuckle and advanced to Rass' shoulder. In all honesty, it'd probably melt your brain.

Before Rass could respond, however, Suien's voice broke radio silence and whispered into his audio sensors.

Guys, we have to get out of here. Now.

-*-

What? Suien, we barely jacked in. We can't just leave now, it's a complete waste of time!

"Look Tem," whispered Suien, bringing the PET close to his face, "I'm not entirely sure how to put this, so I'll be as forthcoming as I can. Rania's here."

Yeah, we figured that, right? MeleeMan's here, so Rania has to be jacked in from a nearby...

"I don't think you understand," interrupted Suien quietly, "Rania's here. In the hot spring. With me."

As he spoke, Suien heard a loud shout from nearby. The thick steam obscured his already-impaired vision, but he could barely make out a pair of figures on the other side of the room. Self-consciously dipping himself deeper into the hot spring, he fiddled with the dials on his PET as — one of whom, he deduced, must be Rania, judging by the proximity of the PET signal. Panicking, he tried to initialize a jack-out procedure. Unfortunately, however, his attempts were met with multiple error messages. The dark-haired netOp cursed under his breath as he continued to find the source of the problem... that is, until he was interrupted by a feminine voice from across the room.

Quote ()

"Mister Masters! Hey, I want to talk to you! I haven't met you before!" Adelie shouted boldly out into the mist, increasing Rania's embarrassment.


Suien froze. What on earth had Rania been telling her friends? Was that her nickname for him? She had always seemed like an odd girl, but he had no idea that she was into... well... that sort of thing. With a nervous laugh, he turned slowly toward the source of the sound and asked, "Ah... can I help you with something, miss...?"


((onward))
"Hmph. Pocket change," MeleeMan grunted, sending the zenny data on back to Rania. "See? That won't buy us much. We couldn't even get a mini-bomb with chump change like that."

Rania completely ignored her navi, watching her friend walk over toward Suien. I can just stay over here, farther away from Suien. Suien probably doesn't want me to embarrass him either! That's right. It's best for both of us if I don't go over, she convinced herself, nodding her head enthusiastically as she worked the situation over in her mind.

Amelie moved closer, remaining under the water modestly enough to cover what needed to remain hidden, but not humbly enough to avoid plainly revealing the fact that Suien had indeed entered a co-ed bath. "Say, Mr. Masters, why haven't I ever seen you at school before?" she asked, looking him up and down and circling around him as she did. "Don't you have a home room class? Nobody's ever talked about you either!"

Rania called back to Amelie, as quietly as she could manage, which was not quite as quiet as necessary. "Amelie! Come back! Don't bother him!"

"What, he's your teacher, right? You come over here, dammit!" Amelie shouted back, marching back towards Rania. "Don't make me drag you over there!" Deliberately, she reached out to grapple Rania.

Rania whimpered, hugging her arms around the fountainhead as Amelie grab her around the waist, trying to drag her backwards. The two fell over onto each other in the water, but Rania quickly splashed up to the top and grabbed the fountain head again. She was happy that even if Amelie was stronger than her, she was still far quicker. "Oh, look! More viruses! I'd better take care of these first!" she cried, rooting her eyes back on the PET.

Amelie resurfaced, bringing just her impatient eyes out above the water and blowing bubbles quietly.

((Battle 2 please.))
Drama Occurs! Therefore, more viruses!

CanondumbEXA: 90 HP
CanondumbEXB: 90 HP
CanondumbEXC: 90 HP
HandyA: 80 HP
HandyB: 80 HP
BagwormA: 150 HP
BagwormB: 150 HP
Aggravation Gill: 100 HP

MeleeMan: 200 HP
Rass: 100 HP

-IT'S SAUNATIME-
-BATTLE 2-
-FIGHT!-
You DISABLED the jack-out module? asked Tem incredulously, Can you please tell me how that can possibly be considered a good idea?!

Correction, Tem. I'll show you how this can definitely be considered a GREAT idea! laughed Argo, his voice abnormally light, At this very moment, our nerdy netOp is engaged in... an "uninhibited" situation with Rania Firebrand! The melee subsystem chuckled to himself at his not-so-subtle innuendo before continuing. Suien ain't going nowhere without us, so we're just gonna to make sure that he gets his fair share of "conversation," if you know what I mean?

AFFIRMATIVE, SUBSYSTEM ARGO! ISHAMEL IS CAPABLE OF RESPONDING CORRECTLY TO YOUR QUERY! THE CONNOTATION TO "CONVERSATION" UNDOUBTEDLY CONTAINS A HIDDEN SEXUAL SUBTEXT WHICH WILL SUBSEQUENTLY BE UTILIZED TO OBTAIN SUPPORT UNIT RANIA FIREBRAND!

I'm pretty sure that was rhetorical, Ishamel, replied Tem dryly, Although I understand the intent of your actions, I still fail to grasp the way in which this is supposed to benefit us. Last I checked, disabling core system functions was pretty high on the list of harmful things we could do to ourselves.

"Wait, you did WHAT to the jack-out systems?!" gasped Rass, somewhat slow on the uptake.

Relax, Rasshole, the EJO system is still fully functional. Ishy and I just thought it'd be a good idea for Suien to... "warm up" to those two lovely ladies out there. laughed Argo, In any case, don't you think we have more important things to worry about? Let's get a head start on these punks so Suien can have some "quality time" alone up there.

Rass felt his muscles tighten in response to Argo's innuendo. I swear, Argo, one more snide remark like that, and I'm going to murder you. muttered Tem as Rass assumed a crouched stance, Rass, it seems like Suien's going to be a little distracted at the moment, so send the viruses toward MeleeMan. Hopefully Rania'll be more on the ball.

With that, the fusion navi pressed off of the ground, sending his small body flying toward the group of viruses that had since assembled in front of him. Rass quickly traversed the field, zigzagging his way and rapidly closing the distance between himself and his targets. With a daring lunge, he sent himself diving between the suspended viruses, twisting his body in mid-air, as he rotated his lithe form so he faced back toward MeleeMan. The pink-and-black navi extended his arms outward, taking careful aim at the two Bagworms and aligning his shot carefully. As he did, he felt the fusionist protoplasm expand as air pressure began to build within his hands. Rass drew in a short breath as he completed the final adjustments to his maneuver, his palms aching from the effort. With a resounding crack, Rass felt himself hurled backwards as two high-velocity bursts of air tore toward the bagworms. Rass landed heavily on the ground, skidding a few meters on his back before coming to a halt and scrambling awkwardly to his feet.

"On the ball," right sniggered Argo, More like "on HIS balls."

1: Tactical Move: leap into the air past Bagworms
*Passive* - Knockback BagwormA toward MeleeMan
*Passive* - Knockback BagwormB toward MeleeMan

-*- Turn Splice -*-
"Alright! My kind of strategy!" MeleeMan guffawed, readying his elecsword out at his right side. "Think I can nail both of these things at once? I'll bet I can if the wind doesn't mess me up. If I don't get em both, it's definitely the wind's fault!" The sword that formed from his gauntlet began to glow with electricity as he ran forward strongly.

Rania was entirely unfocused on the battle, still thinking only of her own situations. She ignored the sounds coming from her PET as the navi ran towards the oncoming viruses. Soon shouting accompanied the thudding, then swearing. "Oh, right! Chips!" she gasped as she quickly fumbled the elecsword through the reader.

Rolling, he watched the viruses at an angle and sliced twice crosswise at them. "Alright now! Time for another amazing deletion!" he shouted, continuing to run forward with his sword creating a white trail of lightning behind it. "Don't think I'm done yet! No viruses are going to escape my wrath!" he shouted. His pace went on breakneck as he approached the cannodumb viruses. "Got more chip data?"

"Sorry, MeleeMan," she answered, swiping through the elecsword again. "Just use that, okay?"

MeleeMan frowned, looking back to the cannons. "Uh, I guess so. Do you have some kind of follow-up? Cause that ain't gonna be enough."

"And this thing!" Rania replied, absent-mindedly swiping through a guard. The chip almost fell in the water as her grip loosened, but she managed to save it and placed it back into her jacket pocket, reachable from her spot in the water.

"Dammit, Rania, that's a defensive chip! I need some more damage!" he growled back at her. "Give me something that I can use to finish them!"

Fumbling again through the pocket, Rania picked out a boomerang chip and slotted it in. "That'll do it, right?"

MeleeMan nodded gruffly, releasing another electric slice. Quickly, he switched to the clip from his elecsword, feeling his hair still standing on end as the electricity surged through the moist air around him. Making a shot for the viruses, he backed up and drew a shield for defense. "Now let's just see what else Rass has in store for these guys," he smirked, looking back at his allies. "Wait... Hold on, Rania, Rass just said his jack-out's non-functional. Is everything okay out there?"

Rania didn't answer, but kept staring in Suien's general direction, trying to keep Amelie in between her and a figure she assumed was him. "Hey, Amelie, uh... Do you know who all else is here?" Rania asked her friend idly, trying to make light conversation.

"Oh... uh... well, everyone from class, pretty much," Amelie shrugged. "Why do you ask?"

"No reason. If my current luck holds out," she gulped, "they'll probably all be here in a little while anyways."

1) Elecsword to BagwormA and B [80]
2) Elecsword to BagwormA and B [80]
3) Elecsword to CannodumbEXA, B, C [80]
4) Boomerang to CannodumbEXA, B, C [60]
5) Guard1 [Reflect]
Suien gulped as he surveyed his navi's present predicament. True, the fact that the dark-haired netOp was engaged in a potentially awkward situation would have, under normal circumstances, compelled him to continue fiddling with the PET in hopes of exiting the area as quickly as dignity would allow. However, MeleeMan.EXE was currently engaged in a battle against several viruses, and Rass would be of little help without a set of battlechips. Pausing for a moment to weigh his options, Suien fumbled his chip folder and withdrew a trio of chips. Bringing the PET speaker close to his face, he whispered into the small device as not to attract attention. "Hey Rass? Something's wrong with the Jack-Out procedures, so I'm going to need to do some maintenance. I'm sending you the swords and an areagrab for good measure. Hopefully you and the others can make the most of it," Suien took a nervous breath and made a motion to adjust his glasses, only to remember that he had left them with his costume in the changing room. Realizing suddenly that Rania would probably attempt to contact him, and in doing so, would probably only serve to further incriminate him, he quickly added, "Oh, and if Rania asks, just tell her that I'm... I'm..." he paused, Sick? Too cliche, what would I be doing out here? Gay? That's not something I'd want to have spread around. A serial rapist? ...I can't believe I actually considered that. Actually my evil twin? Hah, right. As if that would ever...

...wait a minute...


"Rass, tell her I'm Suitachi, and that you're here to test out new upgrades from the navi shop!"

-*-

"W-What?" stammered Rass as a pair of silver cylinders materialized in his palms in a burst of data, "B-But Suien, that's... that's..."

...Exactly what we're going to do, Suien. Glad to see you're just about the only male who isn't thinking with their reproductive organs. said Tem cooly, Suien and Suitachi look enough like each other that it's convincing, and it's not a very far stretch to say that Suitachi's looking to test a few upgrades. He looks about as nerdy as Suien anyways.

With that, Rass' twin sabers surged to life, cackling with energy as they illuminated the steamy battlefield. Rass opened his mouth to protest, but thought better of it as he shook his helmeted head, brushed his scarf to the side, and charged forward awkwardly, swords ablaze. His feet slapped against the moist ground as he tore across the battleground, watching his pugilistic partner wielding his electric-element weapon with ease. Allowing himself a small smirk before Argo's melee routines took charge, Rass leaped forward off of his right foot, propelling himself between the two giant hands and rotating counter-clockwise in a deadly dervish of energy. The light-blue blade crackled with electricity, leaving a luminous trail in its wake as the pink-and-black navi tumbled to the ground. As he rolled, Rass felt Ishamel's prickly red presence seep into his right arm. Discarding the charged sword in an instant, he quickly took aim at the final opponent — the elderly-looking virus with the flute — and fired a burst of compressed air. The recoil nearly knocked Rass backwards toward the Handys he had just engaged, but the fusion navi managed to keep his footing, brandishing the blue-green blade and...

...disappearing?

In a blur of motion, Rass was behind the musical virus, dropping the luminous weapon to his side and charging toward the opponent's unprotected back. The blade dragged along the ground, scarring the network and sending a high-pitched whine as he lunged forward. A pair of strikes later, Rass skidded to a halt, holding the sword battlechip outstretched in a dramatic pose as the wind lightly brushed his scarf to the side. It was all a rather compelling scene, and it would have been remotely awesome had Suien Matsumoto not bumped the PET videoscreen function in his efforts to repair the Jack-Out routines. Instantly, Rass' pose was interrupted by the sudden appearance of a soaked Suien on a nearby video window.

...Stupid thing! Why won't this work?! I thought that I had fixed this the last time... he trailed off as he realized his error. ...the last time I had looked... uh... at this PET! Yes! This is a great PET! Remember Rass, to always shop Suitachi, for all your NaviCust needs! He laughed, nervously shutting down the device.

----Turn Splice----
2: ElecSword (80) to HandyA, HandyB
3: Airshot (20) to Aggravation Gill
4: Areagrab behind Aggravation Gill
5: Sword (80) to Aggravation Gill, seek to slice as he passes in a badass combo of awesomeness
6: Sword (80) to Aggravation Gill, just in case
((<facepalm> XD I can't help but laugh out loud at both of your actions. It's... It's... It's too funny. XD))
...
Dammit, everything dies.

CanondumbEXA: SLICED
CanondumbEXB: SLICED
CanondumbEXC: SLICED
HandyA: ZAPDICED
HandyB: ZAPDICED
BagwormA: WEAKER-ELEMENT PWNED
BagwormB: WEAKER-ELEMENT PWNED
Aggravation Gill: BADASS FLURRY SLASHED

MeleeMan: 200 HP
Rass: 100 HP

-VICTORY-
Rass Gets: 450z
Meleeman Gets: 750z
FXP: 2 Static
1 for comboing
Rania gave a sigh of relief as the two navis defeated the viruses. "At least your netbattling's going well," she said aside to her navi, taking another nervous glance around her for any familiar faces.

"Or course! What do you mean, 'At least my netbattling?'" he asked incredulously, giving an irritated frown. "Am I doing something else wrong? Dammit, Rania, you've got to explain what all is going on here. You've been acting funny since I jacked into Yoka."

Rania sighed, trying to explain it to her navi, but finding it difficult to peace together everything that was happening herself. "Well, you see, MeleeMan, there are certain things that are making it very difficult for me to netbattle right now. You see, there's a certain someone here who's presence is making netbattling very uncomfortable. It's not that he's not doing his job or that he's not helping, it's just that now's a really bad time for him to be around, seeing as I'm-"

As Rania continued, MeleeMan started to piece together fragments from what she was saying to make a logical image. What the... What the hell? She's dissatisfied with my netbattling performance? Me, the most desirable navi of them all? Could she be... Dammit, it makes sense now! he said to himself, pounding one fist in the other, not listening to her as she continued talking. She thinks Rass is a better navi than I am!... Calm down though. It's not Rass's fault. No reason to be angry at him, he reminded himself. I've just got to let him down easy. I won't insult him or anything. I'll just... Yeah! I'll wait until he makes another mistake, then laugh about it and make it seem larger than it is! Then Rania will realize that he makes mistakes too, and all will be well! he thought to himself in his warped logic, nodding enthusiastically. "Ha ha! Bring on the next wave! I won't let you down, Rania!" he laughed, beating one fist twice against his chest and sounding far more dependent than he had intended to.

Rania gave him a puzzled look back, happy that at least he seemed to understand why she was upset. Suddenly, she picked up an interesting comment by the one holding Rass's PET. "Wait, that's not Suien at all! It's Suitachi! What a silly mistake!" she thought, giving a sigh of exasperation. "Well, there's no problem then."

"Wait, who? Suitachi? I thought you said it was Mr. Masters?" Amelie asked, raising one eyebrow. "Are you sure?"

"Oh... uh... well... they're..." Rania babbled, realizing that the man opposite them in the spring basically now had three identities. "He must be... Well, you see, Suitachi's last name is Masters! That's Suitachi Masters over there. H-He must just be holding it for Suien! Suien Masters!" she reeled on, motioning crazily with her hands as she tried to explain it. I think all of this lying might really be more trouble than it's worth...

((Ready for battle 3.))