Army of Five

[From: Yoka]

A telepad blinked red somewhere in the middle of the Yoka network, and from it, a pillar of light emerged from its mechanisms. From the pillar walked out the aquatic form of Eternalis.EXE. He flexed his limbs around a bit, scouting the surroundings for a bit.

"So, I guess we'll just wait for a bit for the others, then?" Aurora said, half to herself, half to Eternalis.

"That sounds okay," Eternalis replied, standing around on guard just in case some virus decided it was funny to ambush him.
With a thunderous crash, Validus warped into the Yoka Network, sparks flowing off everywhere as he brushed himself. "You know, I'm not even an electric navi, and you still give me these electric spark effects."

"It looks cool. That's good enough for me," Tsujsa said as he shrugged his shoulders.
"Whatever. Let's... let's just wait for the rest of the team"

There was a brief flash, and Rhea materialized into cyberspace, slowly raising herself from her original crouching position gracefully. She eyed the two that have already arrived-- both that she had already met. "I hope we can cooperate well this mission," she said to both, giving a small, quick bow before returning to full height (which wasn't really tall at all).

She briefly wondered if Djinni and Broadside/Unknown Woman A had gotten her message of jacking in. Whichever the case, all she can do now was to wait.
Djinni appear in the dive she had started in the real world and spun around in the air, then landed graciously on her feet. While walking over towards the others she moved her hand over the ruby embedded into her left hand and pulled out another ruby which she then tossed over her shoulder. "Hey guys," Djinni said with a playful smirk, "Glad to see you're so eager to get started."

From the ruby Djinni had tossed over her shoulder appeared two golden rings and three floating golden bracelets from each appeared a hand. The ruby surrounded itself with a fiery aura while the golden rings started to spin to keep it moving. Fhyre then floated over towards Djinni and wrote 'HI' in large fiery letters to greet the others.
A trio of blue light beams shot from the sky one after another. As the first one struck the ground, the energy pooled and formed the glowing blue silhouette of a Navi. The form solidified, and the image resolved into that of a female Navi that was modeled just like a customized white armored Official Navi. The second beam struck the ground just after the first, and deposited what appeared to be another custom Official Navi on the Net. This one, unlike the first, was male. Neither had been seen by anyone else in the group prior to this point.

The third beam struck the ground after the second had fully resolved. Upon striking the ground, the beam widened considerably. The column of energy then contracted in upon itself, and a large blue glowing form, easily larger than any other Navi present, took shape. The silhouette's form solidified, and the image resolved itself into the five meter tall Mecha form of Broadside.EXE. Once jack-in was completed, Broadside turned his head to look upon the others. "Greetings, Programs. Broadside.EXE reporting for duty."

The female custom official Navi, who seemed fairly energetic, spoke next: "S'up, people. I'm Nadia.SP. And that guy..." she hiked her thumb to indicate the other custom official Navi. "...is Ro.SP."

Ro nodded. "Yo."
Validus was about to say something when the entire team arrived, only that he got extremely distracted by the size of Broadside. Especially that huge ass gun that navi was packing on it's shoulder. It as like a dream weapon come true. Nothing could hold back th joy and envy Validus was facing right now. It was an absolutely gone case of "Gun Envy"

It took a while before Validus realized Tsujsa had been calling out to him. Snapping out of his trance, he acknowledged the captain. "Hey, don't go blanking out on me right now. We've got a mission to do."

"...Right. Sorry sir." He said as he tore his stare away from broadside's gun. Moving up, he decided now would be a good time to introduce himself to the rest of the squad. "Validus.exe, at your service." He said as he unslung the rifle and pulled the lever mechanism.

He seemed to really love doing that.
The navis had been through a long period of introduction and were now hopefully comfortable with the challenges they would be facing. One thing that must have discomforted some of them, however, was that the so-called "army of navis" surely would be visible if they were on the net in the coordinates that the group had been assigned. Even a cursory glance around themselves would reveal to the navis that there was no such army currently jacked in.

The problem of the missing army was soon rectified as literally thousands of jack-in beams began to fill the area, coming down like a rain around the small group. A massive wall of beams surrounded them and one-by-one those beams revealed the forms of navis. The navis were all dressed similarly, wearing short red robes over black undersuits, but each of them was armed with his own pole-arm weapon. Broadside and Djinni with her flight were the only ones that could see the end of the navis; to the others, the army seemed to expand infinitely outward from themselves.

"The GNA's sending guys to try to take us down now. Let's show them we're not afraid! If we want the Neo-Shogun Empire to rival the Netpolice and the Netmafia, they have to be made aware of our power!" one at the front of the crowd yelled to the others, readying his spear. The other navis cheered, raising their weapons into the air and releasing a vicious war-cry.

Beams were still crashing down around the area. In a flash, four large structures materialized around the edges of the battlefield. It was apparent that they were towers of some kind, but only Djinni and Broadside could see the real threat: archers perched, bows-ready, at the top of each tower. "Ready men? Attaaaaaack!" the leader cried out again, charging forward with his spearhead extended outward.

The navis being charged noticed that the area was sloped into a valley, leaving them dead center while all of their enemies enjoyed the benefits of higher ground. It also made their numbers more apparent and more intimidating. An enemy spear-charge was a pretty poor time to think about the landscape, however, so they quickly realized it would behoove them to think about how to ward off the enemy.

--Surrounding Valley (3 moves away)--

Archer Tower A: 200 HP
Archer Tower B: 200 HP
Archer Tower C: 200 HP
Archer Tower D: 200 HP

---Surrounding Valley--

Near-Infinite Amount of Navis: ??? HP

---In Valley---

Eternalis: 160 HP
Aurora: 40 HP
Validus: 120 HP
Rhea: 140 HP
Djinni: 180 HP
Fhyre: 70 HP
Broadside: 200 HP
Ro: 70 HP
Nadia: 40 HP

Terrain: 100% Normal (valley)

--MISSION BATTLE START--

((Guard Towers are on opposite corners of battlefield btw))
Upon receiving Camillia's instructions, Rhea got to work-- initiating her Parried Charge, she used the energy output to get into propulsion position which is linear with the targetted tower of choice. "Get ready, Validus," Rhea said quickly, directing the next section of her processes to a microburst towards the ground she was standing on, angled in a way that she would fly top speed towards the tower. With her left hand placed on the ground beneath her, her right at the ready to parry, she launched herself across the battlefield at her destination: The archer tower.

She didn't know whether this crazy idea will work or not; but she tried anyway. Sailing through the air, swordarm raised to brace against any projectiles that might be flying at her way, Rhea reached out in an attempt to land onto the tower.

As soon as she lands, she will draw Validus over to her with gravitational processes-- once again modified to suit the situation at need. That is, however, if she did land on the tower. Reserving the strengthening add-ons from the processing, she readied herself to drag the marksman-based Navi across the battlefield, following the line of sight

Summary of actions:-
1) Parried Charge (2TCD) - 2-hit shield, Tactical Movement - position self linear with Archer Tower A
2) Fury - 10DMG, Slashing, Stun (forfeited?) - Microburst as propulsion - Towards Archer Tower A
3) Lull of Battle - Gravity, Strengthen 20 - Validus.EXE
[[TURNSPLICE]]
Validus slung the rifle across his back. It wasn't going to serve the purpose he had in mind. Instead, he pulled out the Revolver and loaded bullets into it. The plan was simple enough: Get onto the tower, throw buggers off, continue by sniping from that vantage point. When Rhea told Validus to be ready, the navi nodded. Staring at the entire mass of navis, he braced himself, before feeling his body yanked off into the air by Rhea's gravitational pull. It felt weird as he soared across the air, and also extremely vulnerable.

Tsujsa found a way to compensate it. Slotting in the guard chip, a shield materialized in Validus's arm. It was kind of small, and couldn't cover the body, but Validus found a rather unique way to do so. Detaching the shield, he placed his own feet on it and used the gravitational pull as though it was an ocean wave, and he surfed across the air, on his shield.

As he approached where Rhea had landed, he readied his revolver. Time to go to town.

Summary:
1. Guard Chip (Used as surfboard)
2 and 3: Turnsplice
Looking around, it seemed that all was well, and his allies were all gathered. Some people had brought along their support programs, as well, and this fact was heartily acknowledged by Aurora. Wow, there's sure a lot of people! With you and me, there's nine altogether! her thought echoed through Eternalis' mental processes. Eternalis merely gave a chuckle at this, surveying around the place. Djinni had a... crystal-golem-thing. Rhea had nothing, as did Validus.

And Broadside.

Broadside seemed to have completely transformed, from his sling-wearing nondescriptness into hulking fifteen-foot battlemech. Eternalis was taken slightly aback at this revelation, rethinking his earlier thoughts about the Navi. Wow. I guess like this'll be an interesting battle after all, Eternalis thought, his eyes going over the massive armaments of the five-meter-tall mecha Navi. A tower shield on one side, and a gigantic fist of death on the other.

To be honest, he felt kind of envious. Crap, I want to be like that.

Then, before he could continue with the train of thought, he was interrupted by the familiar sound of a jack-in beam. Except this time, it was multiplied by a few thousands. His eyes were blinded momentarily by the immense amount of Navis jacking in, and he began to reel backwards. However, locking into his systems, Aurora kept him from doing so, supporting his legs for him. Elly! Stay strong!

But.. they're everywhere. Everywhere... his thoughts replied.

Then, a familiar voice interrupted him. "Et, I've talked with Jared, Broadside's operator a bit. We might get a chance if we take over that tower in the corner over there," he said through video feed, the operator's face more serious than Eternalis had seen before. He steeled himself, assisted with Aurora a bit. He drew a breath, not so much for the air as for the mental effect.

"What do you want me to do?" the aquatic warrior finally asked, after moments that seemed like hours.

"I'm not sure if you can see them, but atop those towers are archers. I've talked to the others, and I want you to teleport up to the archers and take over the tower. I think I saw Validus or Rhea en route there as well, so you should have some help. I'm sending in WindRacket and RageClaw." Pausing for a bit, Harke added, "Oh, and have Aurora transfer this AirShot to Broadside. It's Jared's. His chip queue's apparently full."

With that, the familiar sounds of chips being slotted in were heard, and Eternalis felt the data assimilate silently into his systems. At once, Aurora began the chip transfer to Broadside, which ended pretty quickly. He needed not tell the mecha Navi, as he figured the operators would have it all covered on the side of communication. All he needed to do now was concentrate on his part of the plan.

However, a stray thought nagged at the back of his mind, about Aurora, shielded from her assimilation into his systems. Aurora... if this is going to end this way, I'd rather not have you suffer any longer. Not again, the thought said. His heart fluttered a bit, as he initiated the Support Program's force ejection sequence. Immediately noticing the untriggered process, Aurora was alarmed. Elly! What are you doing? Don't leave me!

Sorry, Aurora. I don't want you to get hurt again. Once was enough, but twice... The words felt heavy to him, even though they were merely blurbs from his mental processes. His heart ached to say it, but he felt it was necessary. A silence ensued, protracted by the sequence slowly doing what it was assigned to do. Aurora's thoughts were more removed as she spoke at last. ...All right, Elly. I understand. You just want to... protect me.

With that, the Support Program returned to the PET. Eternalis crouched into a readied position, feeling more than a little empty inside. He threw off the disturbances by clamping his eyes shut, humming a low tone to concentrate. Activating his vapor process, his armor turned pure white, and his watery body began to dissipate into the surrounding air. Soon, the armor faded into nothingness, and the body left only a trace of superheated steam.

In the energetic vapor form, Eternalis wasted no time in getting to the tower mentioned by Harke earlier. He saw the determined faces of the archers, all poised to fire on the group. He snickered, a little of his playful spirit back again, as he touched down behind the bowmen. Rematerializing with a savage burst of heated steam, he announced his arrival loudly. "Gooooood morning, gentlemen! I shall be your host today, and please try not to remain seated!"

With his, er, battle cry given, Eternalis let the RageClaw data flow to his right hand. The arm-output rattled slightly as small valves opened in the forearm part. The sound of water flowing through the transparent tubes could be easily heard now, akin to rushing waterfalls. Spikes appeared from the little valves, and the fingers of the hand elongated considerably, forming claws of fearsome length and sharpness. He drew them up to his face, admiring their beauty.

Then, he pointed the claws in front of him, and roared mightily. At his command, a gale began to blow, and circled around in Eternalis' outstretched claws. The winds formed a sphere of contained fury, with the claws struggling to keep the forces at bay. Then, just as he reached his critical limit, the claws opened up, releasing the savage wind creation towards the archers. The sphere shot towards them, then stopped short in the air. It spun around briefly before exploding in a flash of high-speed winds.

The burst of wind was over as soon as it came, and Eternalis straightened himself up, the claws at his side. Scanning the tower for any more archers, he kept himself rigid and ready to pounce. He barked a challenge to all that were listening. "Who wants some more?!," he taunted.

= Eternalis.EXE =
[Aurora] Transfer AirShot1: Broadside
(1) Unsummon Aurora
(2) Vapor Reassimilation: Top of Archer Tower A (Teleport, Take Aim, Dodge)
-- Equip RageClaw2 to Right Arm
(3) WindRacket: Any archers on tower to blow them off (Null 100, Wide, Microburst, Gust) (Take Aim)
(4) RageClaw2: Prepared to throw off any remaining archer (Null 35, Impact) [5/6]
(5) RageClaw2: Prepared to throw off any remaining archer (Null 35, Impact) [4/6]
Djinni remained calm once the enemies appeared, a silent smile spread across her face and she moved her head around to look at all her allies and then her enemies. "Is this all?" she asked out loud and gently lifted herself into the air, the flames of the rings on her back shifting to point downwards. "Fhyre!" she exclaimed and landed back on the ground while kneeling down with both legs.

Fhyre dug his hand into the ground and flung himself to Djinni's side, immediately grabbing one of her legs and slammed the other hands onto the ground. As Djinni jumped up into her flight, Fhyre also forced themselves away from the floor in a fierce push. Keeping one hand tightly around Djinni's slim leg, he let his other hands below the two in case of an attack from below.

"People of the Neo-Shogun Empire!" Djinni bellowed from high above the others as she held her arms spread as if welcoming someone, "You made the wrong decision to reveal yourselves! Bring out your leader so that we can avoid unnecessary deletions!" She waved her left hand to the ruby embedded in the back of her right hand and pulled out energy which took the solid form of her handgun, quickly imitating the motion with her right hand to her left ruby. The rings around her wrists glowed for a short second and generated a second pair which encircled the weapons. "Final chance to flee," Djinni said as she flung her guns to the sides, causing the rings around her wrists to shine again. The handguns stopped their motion, suspended in the air, and turned around to face downwards. Letting her left arm hang by her side, she raised her other arm into the air and pointed at the sky. "Rain from the sky, my bullets!" she shouted and swung her arm downwards with one finger stretched. Not a second later the guns started to blaze a rain of bullets at the enemies. The bullets were larger than usual bullets due to the abnormal size of the guns and Djinni could see the upwards force of the ground whenever a bullet hit home.

Fhyre, being connected to Djinni, realized what the next chip was Djinni had received and lifted his two hands in front of her chest. Keeping them close to each other, small flames started to transfer between the two giant fiery hands and, as Fhyre moved them away from each other, eventually form a fire ball. His other hand was still occupied with keeping Djinni's leg company.

Djinni raised her hands, then slammed her hands, which she had clenched into fists, on top of the fire ball which then shot towards the surface. Once it reached the surface, it exploded in a line of flames into a direction away from her companions.

Djinni.EXE [Fire/Cursor] [AirShoes/FloatShoes]
1. Fly into the air.
2. Machinegun1 [30 DMG; 9 Shots; D Accuracy; Ranged] + Cursor [+1 Rank Accuracy] @ Neo-Shogun Empire
3. Machinegun1 [30 DMG; 9 Shots; D Accuracy; Ranged] + Cursor [+1 Rank Accuracy] @ Neo-Shogun Empire
4. FlameLine1 [70 FIRE; Line Attack; Ground Attack; B Accuracy; Ranged] @ Neo-Shogun Empire

Fhyre.SP [Fire/Shield]
1. Hold onto Djinni's leg.
As the first jack-in beams began raining from the sky, Broadside's automated defensive systems came online. A set of external armored plates appeared to cover most of Broadside's chasis, while the Aegis Defense system pretty much did what it always did... which was whatever it wanted. This time, the barrier system cycled up, and the generator pulsed a defensive field around Nadia.

"Bring it, people." Nadia said confidently as she watched the first few dozen beams fall from the sky. However, once the rain became a deluge.... "Oh for the love of the programmer!"

"I think they heard you." Ro observed dryly as he took his cue from Broadside and activated his Riot Shield's defense field projector at full power.

"Good to know." Nadia smirked while noting that the Navis that had already jacked in were forming a series of fronts around them at the top of the basin slopes rather than attacking immediately. "Look at 'em organize..."

Ro nodded silently.

"Holy--!" was all Broadside, Ro, and Nadia heard Jared say over the com-link.

Broadside, meanwhile, had a much better vantage than the rest of the crew. He could see the depth of the ranks of Navis forming around them. The enemy held the high ground, certainly, but they all carried spears. Were he alone with Nadia and Ro, that may have been enough to give him an advantage in range just long enough to better his situation or thin their numbers, even though they surrounded his position completely. However, Broadside wasn't alone, and neither were the legions of spearmen. The appearance of old wooden archery towers around the periphery of the field with full compliments of composite longbow equipped archers turned what could have been a ranged holding action into a turkey shoot. "Be advised: they have ranged fire support. Four towers." Broadside said as he sent Jared a live video feed.

"...Knew it." Nadia added, sounding a little frustrated.

"What?"

"Organization gave it away." Nadia explained. "If I had this many troops, I would arrange for proper ranged support..."

Ro looked up at Broadside's mechanized form, and added: "I'm sure you would...."

Just then, one of the thousands of Navis gathered around the rim of the basin raised his spear and called out to the rest of the soldiers. This drew the attention of both SPs, who couldn't quite see the speaker, and of Broadside, who could. Ro was a little bit concerned about what he was seeing and hearing. Broadside merely noted which enemy to smite first, for maximum morale crushing effect. While Nadia on the other hand.... "Hey, punk! Why don't you get your sorry miscompiled code down here and show us what you're made of, huh? Or are ya afraid I'll kick your--"

The enemy charged.

Nadia froze, and uttered a very unsteady sounding "Oh crap."

"Girl, you really need to learn when to shut up." Ro sounded a little upset as he gave Nadia his best 'look what you did' look... understandable when thousands of Navis were rushing at them with spears.

"I really should." Nadia said as she tapped into the battlechip pipeline, snagged an ElecKnife out of it, and transfered the data to Ro.

Broadside frowned at their current situation. He was just about to try contacting Jared when a veritable flood of chip data filled his memory banks. The voice of his Operator followed soon after. "Broadside, try and make your way over to the tower southeast of your position. We're going to try to take and hold that tower. It's the only way any of you guys have a chance."

Broadside nodded as he responded with the usual "Affirmative." He'd already come to a similar conclusion, but hadn't considered taking one of the towers for their use. He had been more focused on how to neutralize or intercept threats to himself and his allies at the time. And Broadside still planned on doing just that as the Mecha Navi selected Poltergeist from his memory banks, designated the other three towers as targets, and activated it. He received an unexpected transfer of AirShot1 chip data from Aurora just after, but by the time he looked in her direction to comment upon it, the SP was in the process of jacking out. I wonder what that was about?

----

A trio of what appeared to be giant tops with faceted sides appeared high in the skies above the battlefield, and proceeded to fall towards the towers. As they fell, the four faceted surfaces on the bottom side of the objects opened like petals as they swung out on previously hidden arms, locked into place, and began to rotate around the saucer-like main body. This caused the devices (known as Guardians as Jared understood it) to slow their descent dramatically and even bob back up a few meters as their anti-gravity drives kicked in.

The Guardians folded their petal like arms inward, forming what looked like a giant crane claw, and proceeded to dive at the towers. As soon as they were close enough, the petals stopped spinning, the arms extended outwards, and the claws closed upon the structures. The Guardians then reversed direction and wholesale lifted the towers, Navis included, into the air. They began to spin again once the towers were clear of the ground, and started flying towards their drop points....

----

Broadside, meanwhile, turned towards the southeast tower, and prepped his second battlechip, a DashAttack, for use. The shoulder mounted cannons canted forward while their barrels folded up and back over the cannons while heavy metallic thunks could be heard from the H/K hangar below. This served to move them far enough out of the way for the now-unlocked H/K docking hangar mounted on Broadside's back to swing slowly upwards.... "Get on."

The two SPs looked at each other quizzically, then back up at Broadside. They understood immediately when they saw the bank of exposed plasma transfer ports radiating generator heat directly into the atmosphere. Nadia whistled and added "This looks like my kinda ride," before igniting her suit's thrusters. She boosted up and away, followed by an amused Ro a moment later. The two SPs landed on the up-canted H/K hangar behind Broadside's head just after the hangar locked into place. They promptly sat down with their backs to the hangar, situated between the two sets of shoulder cannons, and waited.

With the SPs aboard, Broadside opened the valves sealing off the plasma ports. The level of heat exhaust given off by the ports increased dramatically, and excess electrical energy began to flow across the Mecha Navi's chassis in places. As Broadside began to increase the generator's output, the air behind him ignited. He fed most of the output into various capacitors, building up as much reserve as he could for what would come next.... Once the capacitors were full, Broadside redirected 75% of the generator's total plasma output and all of the capacitors to the ports on his back. The instant he opened the inner valves at the generator and dumped the capacitors was the instant the space behind him exploded into plasma annihilation. Broadside gritted his teeth in a snarl as he shot forward like a jet fighter launching from an aircraft carrier's catapult.

Unfortunately for the Imperial Neo-Shogunate Army, the 5 meter tall, 120 ton, plasma coated mass hurtling towards them on an impressive plume of nuclear fire was no aircraft....

----Split Summary----
--Broadside-- [20 HP Casing]
-- Refresh Armor: 20 HP Casing on Broadside
-- Aegis Defense EX: Project 25 HP Barrier on Nadia
1: Poltergeist @ Archer Towers B, C, & D (Telekinesis(3))
-- Archer Tower B @ Neo-Shogun Empire & Archer Group B (???)
-- Archer Tower C @ Neo-Shogun Empire & Archer Group C (???)
-- Archer Tower D @ Neo-Shogun Empire & Archer Group D (???)
-- AddBreak: DashAttack
-- Imbue Elec: DashAttack
2: DashAttack @ Neo-Shogun Empire (90 Elec + Impact + Break + LineAttack(5))
-- Move to stand beside Archer Tower A (will RP the result later)
3: ----
4: ----

--Ro-- (Equip: ElecKnife(6)/G.R., Shield(2)R)
-- Type-E Riot Shield (1 Hit Shield)
-- Reinforce @ Type-E Riot Shield (+1)
-- Equip: ElecKnife
1: Climb aboard Broadside. (RP/Movement)
2: ----

--Nadia-- [25 HP Barrier] (Equip: H.G., H.G.)
-- T.C.T.: ElecKnife to Ro
1: Climb aboard Broadside (RP/Movement)

---Signatures---
Towering Guard: Ready
Missile Barrage L: Ready
Missile Barrage R: Ready
Bunker Buster MK-II: Ready
The five panned out from the center, each finding new ground or otherwise escaping being entrapped in the center. "Ha! Fools, look at them! They think they're gaining an advantage by closing themselves in with our spears! Everyone, don't let them through!" one especially loud man voiced over the roaring crowd. The soldiers stabbed away with their spears, making dashing through them a nightmare like squeezing through a forest of thorns.

Everyone managed to get where they were going, at least, and the good advice of the soldier was soon drowned out by chaos as archer towers began to be lifted off the ground by Broadside's claws and dropped into the enemy ranks. The one tower remaining was soon rid of its archers by Eternalis and the team of five managed to secure the location for themselves.

The army's disarray had grown, but the numbers were still overwhelming. The force had taken obvious hits, but their devotion to their leader was surprising and they didn't back down. "Ha! You're asking to face Neo-ShogunMan himself? Don't be a fool, woman!" one of the men laughed, pointing a spear at Djinni as she levitated into the air. "The likes of you has no chance of going toe-to-toe with our leader!"

Only a handful of about nine archers seemed to remain from the original group and only Djinni and Broadside could spot them. Nodding to each other, the archers seemed to agree that the best course of action was to aim for targets they might be able to hit even without the aid of their tower. Firing off shots, Broadside and his allies felt their protective shielding being dashed by a barrage of arrows and spearblows.

The soldiers seemed to have no qualms towards taking down their own tower and attacked the structure with their spears, trying to topple Eternalis down with it. "You five had better give up before the Neo-Shogun army's generals arrive! Once our aces hit the field, you all will weep at the futility of your struggle!" a voice called out from the crowd, full of smugness. Cheers accompanied the shout, resounding almost as strongly as they had before.


--Surrounding Valley (3 moves away from center)--

Archer Tower A: 160 HP
Archer Tower B: DESTROYED
Archer Tower C: DESTROYED
Archer Tower D: DESTROYED

Eternalis: 160 HP (in tower)
Aurora: LEFT!
Rhea: 130 HP (1-hit shield)
Validus: 100 HP (1-hit Guard)
Broadside: 170 HP
Ro: 70 HP (1 hit shield)
Nadia: 40 HP (5 HP barrier)

---Surrounding Valley--

Near-Infinite Amount of Navis: ??? HP

---In Valley---

Djinni: 160 HP (high altitude)
Fhyre: 70 HP (high altitude)

Terrain: 100% Normal (valley)

----Morale----
Archers are severely demoralized! Morale is very low.
Soldiers are demoralized! Morale is still high.
Generals have not yet entered the battlefield...
Commander has not yet entered the battlefield...
"Aha, so they DO have generals"
"Well, they don't seem to be here yet, so keep your focus on keeping the damn tower up." Tsujsa remarked. The navi shrugged and instead focus his attention on the crowd below. Landing onto the tower with a thud, he pulled his revolver up and looked below. "God, that's a damn high height..." The navi whispered to himself. Shaking his head, Validus tried not to think of his vertigo and focused on keeping the enemy off his allies back.

Broadside seemed to be having the hell of a time. His giant frame plowed through the enemy soldiers and sent the navis flying around like ragdolls. It was both an amusing and also disturbing sight. Djinni on the other had floated above the air and rained down a hail of bullets with her twin handguns.

The rest of the three other towers fell like matchsticks, adding more worry to Validus's fear of being at such a height without any support. Still, as long as he kept the enemy at bay there shouldn't be any problems.

It's going to be no surprise that the entire area is going to be flooded with the buggers soon. Validus aimed the sights of the revolver down, and fired his shots at any navi dumb enough to try and reclaim the tower by climbing up.

Summary of Actions:
2. NormBust - Any Navi climbing tower - 8 dmg - Knockback
3. Shield - Protect self from enemy.
Once Validus had securely landed on the top of the tower, Rhea was about to proceed to her next task-- defending it-- when Camillia spoke into her audio feed. "Perhaps you should patch up?" the operator asked, which prompted Rhea to check out the damage. ... It was worse than she had initially thought. "I will manage for now," she mumbled, positioning herself at the entrance to the tower, ready to strike at anything that might be climbing into their personal tower space. Camillia delivered the classical Rageclaw chip; one Rhea haven't utilized in a while. "May I inquire the wisdom behind the battlechip of choice?" the Navi asked, though knowing fully well what the answer would be.

"Er... well... There's countless enemies and there's like another horde coming soon filled with aces... So I'm thinking of leaving the best for the last?" Camillia replied, unsure. Rhea pulled a small, rare smile, and summoned a huge claw for her to paw at any hostile Navi that attempted to come through the entryway.

==========
Rhea.EXE
==========
Active: Strengthen 20

Summary of actions:
[/TURNSPLICE]
4. RageClaw1 [6/6] - 20DMG, Impacting - Throw any enemy Navi back out
((OOC: I lost my original post when my internetz went down. I really don't feel like writing it all over again. It was long.))

After plowing through the enemy ranks, Broadside killed the plasma feed to the opened ports on his back and began slowing down with retro-thrusters. His feet hit the dirt, and the big Navi ground to a stop next to the tower. He turned around to face the army he'd just escaped from, and had just begun looking for targets when a hail of arrows rained down upon him. Well, that simplifies things, doesn't it?

Broadside raised his weapon arm, and the very tip opened to reveal an enormous square-barreled cannon. He pointed the business end in the direction of the remaining archers, and fired. The cannon issued a thundering boom accompanied by an impressive barrel flash as it sent the TankCannon round hurtling towards the enemy. The shell's warhead was configured to produce a high-yield explosion the moment it struck something...

The enemies around the tower were also a concern, and one Broadside dealt with by loading shotgun data into an H/K and sending it after them. The H/K launched, took to the air, and swooped down upon the enemy spearmen. Once it was close enough, the forward section of the remote weapon opened, and the H/K fired a claymore's spread of tungsten projectiles down at the tightly packed group of enemies. It then pulled away, and returned to the hangar while Ro stood up on Broadside's shoulder. The SP waited for the H/K to move out of the way before raising his rifle and firing a couple of shots at a spearman who looked like he had a better idea than just trying to knock the tower over.

----Split Summary----
--Broadside--
3: TankCannon1 @ Archers (primarily) & Spearmen around archers (80 Null + Blast(3))
4: Super Shotgun @ Neo-Shogunate Army around tower (50 Null + Spread(3))

--Ro-- (Equip: ElecKnife(6)/G.R., Shield(1)R)
2: Double Meason Shot @ Neo-Shogunate Army (10 Elec x 2 Shots)

--Nadia-- [5 HP Barrier] (Equip: H.G., H.G.)
N/A

---Signatures---
Towering Guard: Ready
Missile Barrage L: Ready
Missile Barrage R: Ready
Bunker Buster MK-II: Ready
Validus dropped his Guard, scaling up the tower to acquire a better sniping position. Rhea and he then worked collectively to keep off a few soldiers who recklessly attempted to take the tower back. Their attempts were successful, and no soldiers managed to begin a successful climb. Rhea was nearly jabbed by another spear, but managed to deflect the hit with her parry.

Broadside and his SP went to work thinning out the ranks of soldiers and archers; by the end of his attack, the few archers that were left didn't seem to want to pipe up and make themselves known. The threat of bow attacks was gone, but the spearmen were still attacking fiercely. Broadside felt another one bash into his side and splinter there.

A shudder seemed to run through the army suddenly, which initially seemed to be in response to the fallen troops. However, as four multicolored beams shot down from the sky, it seemed that that was no longer the case. Bizarrely, the beams actually hit down on top of the soldiers, causing the new fighters to materialize standing on the shoulders of the soldiers. Despite this fact, none of the soldiers seemed to mind being used as footstools...

The new figures each stood with their legs apart, balancing perfectly upon the soldiers' bodies (one of them was wearing a long gown, which the navis noticed was covering the eyes of the soldier she'd mounted). The soldiers all quieted down to allow the new "generals" to speak.

Refusing to pose any farther than her legs, the first to call out was dressed like a ninja in black and yellow; the color choice did not seem terribly effective for a ninja. She kept her arms crossed across her chest and looked out from beneath shaggy black hair in an unenthusiastic glare. Her small body didn't look terribly dangerous, but she was armed with an excessive strap of kunai that circled across her upper body. She mumbled something that was too difficult to understand over the remaining hum of the crowd. Despite her lack of enthusiasm and volume, the soldiers responded uproariously, raising their spears in the air and shouting, "VEE-CHAAAAAAN!" That was probably her name.

The second, a taller and more muscular women dressed in a very immodest red armor skirt and chestplate, gave an enthusiastic pose and held forward a long, heavy red halberd. She shook her similarly dark hair and then shot forward one palm dynamically. "Superbly Destructive Blazing Dynamo, Flame Samurai Lee!" she cried out vigorously. The crowd gave another excited cheer. As the man beneath her whispered something to the man next to him with a lecherous grin, pointing upward beneath her skirt, Lee stomped one foot down on his shoulder with a bashful shriek. The man struggled to keep holding her up, his eyes teared up and his body started trembling underneath the powerful boot.

The third woman interrupted the silliness with a haughty laugh, waving a shimmering blue fan through the air and then stopping it to cover the lower half of her face. Tipping it down just a bit to project her voice, she did so expertly without the need to roar as Lee had just done. "Spellbinding Illusory Arch-Wizard, Aqua Sorceress Dee," she spoke eloquently; her sentence was quickly punctuated by another cry from the soldiers. Her busty body and low-cut dress seemed to greatly increase the morale of the men. Despite the fact that the man beneath her couldn't see, he still seemed to be cheering.

The final, a much more dangerous seeming woman dressed in green armor shaped in a bikini style, waved a long katana through the air and then leveled it towards the five navis. "Sky Severing Legendary Ronin, Natural Blademaster Yasu," she called out in an authoritarian voice, raising her katana into the air as she finished. The men cheered now most loudly now, giving three spear thrusts into the air. She had an altogether different aura about her than the other three; her body was fit with many scars and her eyes were cold and foreboding. "The enemy's juggernaut is our greatest threat. Topple him and the rest will follow," Yasu publicized her strategy amongst the men, singling out Broadside with her gaze.

"Our aces are here! The time for your surrender is now, fools!" a man at the front of the group cackled. Already, the men were attempting to circle around and re-surround the guard tower. Luckily, however, the elevation difference was no longer as intimidating as it had been. Djinni found that most of the focus had been taken off of her for now, which might allow her to focus on attack.

--At Archer Tower (3 moves away from valley)--

Archer Tower A: 160 HP
Archer Tower B: DESTROYED
Archer Tower C: DESTROYED
Archer Tower D: DESTROYED

Eternalis: 160 HP (in tower)
Aurora: LEFT!
Rhea: 130 HP
Validus: 100 HP (in tower)
Broadside: 160 HP
Ro: 70 HP (1 hit shield)
Nadia: 40 HP (5 HP barrier)

---Surrounding Tower (3/4 surrounded, back still open)--

Near-Infinite Amount of Navis: ??? HP
Yasu: 340 HP (standing on soldiers)
Dee: 100 HP (standing on soldiers)
Lee: 250 HP (standing on soldiers)
Vee-chan(?): 140 HP (standing on soldiers)

---In Valley---

Djinni: 160 HP (high altitude)
Fhyre: 70 HP (high altitude)

Terrain: 20% Normal, 80% Soldiers

----Morale----
Archers have withdrawn!
Soldiers are demoralized from attack but invigorated by generals! Morale is still high.
Generals have arrived! Morale is very high!
Commander has not yet entered the battlefield...
Harke looked on at the ensuing battle with a small smile on his face. It was going very well in their favour. The ranged support had been eliminated, or dwindled to inconsequential numbers. The main attacking force, however, was still strong as ever. The notebook in his lap registered the number of Navis in the area in a strange variable he didn't care to decipher, simply assuming it meant incalculableness or something. Harke didn't find the situation requiring any major panic session or anything. Besides, even though they had tiny numbers, the numbers they were facing were armed with what were essentially twigs and branches.

The arrival of the generals, however, peaked his curiosity. He chuckled at their ridiculous intros. The teenage boy also could not help ogling their rather immodest designs- with utmost discreetness, of course. Would never do to have a female see him in the act of such things. Instead, he simply took his attentions to strategizing instead.

Health analyses on all of Eternalis' teammates were displayed, and he relegated direct instructions to Eternalis' healing processes to a few members of the team. Silently, the damage done to their systems faded away and energy reinvigorated them. After that, a few readied chips in his hand slotted easily into the PET's battlechip input.

Eternalis then found himself plugged into a private comlink, his operator on the other side talking. "Et, I want you to implant this CountBomb into the tower. Afterwards, go after that Lee girl, she looks like a Fire-type. I'm sending in WaterLine, Bubbler and WideShot."

"All right, that'll do just fine," replied Eternalis.

The Navi looked over the edge of the tower, looking at the vast amount of Navis stationed outside. The spears looked pretty sharp to him, though looking at the state of his teammates down below, the spears could be likened to blunt toothpicks. He felt his recovery processes being rerouted, though to who he couldn't tell. He wasn't too alarmed, as he figured it was only Harke messing with his systems a bit, perhaps some autonomous setting.

Eternalis turned back, and bent on the wooden flooring. Lifting a hand, he placed his palm on the flooring, and focused. Water began to flow from his arm-output into the flooring, though the supply never seemed to dry up. Soon, there was a small circular puddle on the floor. Even though there were gaps between the wood, it stayed there for a while, held up by some unknown force that Eternalis was exerting.

A small sound could be heard for a bit, though indiscernable. After a while, it could be made out to an intermittent beep, heard only to those on the top of the tower. Then, the puddle of water swirled into a whirlpool and began to collect in the middle, washing away from the floor. It revealed a large black panel underneath. The water in the middle coalesced into a small cylinder and froze suddenly into a dark blue ice-cylinder. The frozen piece stood in place, on the black panel, beeping quietly and looking pretty ominous.

As he started to examine the bomb he had set up, he was interrupted by a small beam of light that flashed down on him. Stunned for a moment, he took a moment to realize that someone had jacked herself in again, and without any action on his part. He looked down, and the familiar gauntlets were on his hands again.

A-Aurora? What're you-

I don't care. I don't care what you say. I don't care what you're going to say. Just... let me be here with you. Please. I want to be with you.

You- I- ...All right. I can't refuse you now, can I, Aurora.

Defeated, Eternalis turned around, and surveyed the battlefield. Aurora's orange visor appeared over his eyes wordlessly, and statistics began to emerge in the heads-up display. Most of these were in microtext, but large words indicated the tags on various Navis, including his intended target.

The one with the halberd, eh. Aurora said at the back of his mind. The tone of voice was deadpan, hollowed. What was wrong with her, Eternalis wondered.

There is nothing wrong with me.

... Of course, she was in his mind, as well. Mental linking has its advantages, he supposed. He pointed his hands at the target, and began the attacking sequence. At once, his arm-outputs began to click and separate into small metal plates, exposing the raw semi-liquid substance beneath it that made up the forearm. Tubes from the upper arm-output jammed into the semi-liquid as the metal plates rearranged themselves around the arm.

After a short while, the transformation was complete, and his arms were now fully-upgraded water cannons, whirring in their operation. The feeling of power coursed through his mind, and it seemed that not only did he respond, but Aurora, as well. It resonated like some stray signal for some time, before it finally exited from the barrel of the water cannons.

Fire.

The business ends of the cannons began to glow blue, and the whirring of the cannons began to grow louder and louder. The glow grew brighter, the energy of the cannons filling up to maximum. Then, Eternalis fired the cannons, resulting in an impressive sonic crash and two blue energy beams being blasted out at top speed. One of the beams flew downwards, and crashed into the ground, creating a massive blue-energy shockwave. The other beam was a concentrated blast of blue, circled by a separate whirl of water around it, headed straight through the air for the 'Superbly Destructive Blazing Dynamo'.

===[ [color=cornflowerblue]Eternalis.EXE[/color] ]===
==[ [color=orange]Aurora.SP[/color] ]==

[*] Influx Aegis @ Allies (Heal 15 x5)
-- Broadside: Heal 30
-- Validus: Heal 30
-- Djinni: Heal 15
[1] CountBomb1 @ Top of Tower (50HP Anchored Object / Null 100 To-All after 2 turns)
[2] Summon Aurora.SP
[1] Oldskool Weapon Junction (Strengthen 20)
[3] WaterLine1 @ Lee (Primary) + Neo-Shogun Empire (Aqua 90 / Line / Ground) [x2 Elemental?]
[4] Bubbler @ Lee (Aqua 60 / Spread1) [x2 Elemental?]
[5] WideShot1 @ Lee (Aqua 70 / Wide) [x2 Elemental?]
"Generals, eh?" Camillia murmured lightly, brows furrowed from the pressure. She wasn't used to handling such a situation-- she felt like she wasn't in control of the situation. She hated not being able to project or predict upcoming activities of the sort. It wasn't because she was not up to the challenge or anything... Camillia loved challenges. The keyword was 'loved', however. ... It pained her to be reminded of her old life and hobbies. Looking towards her tiny box of neatly-arranged chips, the redhead took a steadied breath to calm herself down, reaching one hand into the box. "Well, considering they're generals... Defeating them would demoralize the army," she added as an afterthought.

"Indeed."

In the net world, Rhea was silently listening to the introduction of the commanders. While they were cheesy one point or another, to command the support of such a huge movement meant that they had some good tricks up their sleeve. Underestimation was out of the question, despite the flashy outfits they were donning. Eyeing a far-off, flying Djinni, however, gave Rhea a premonition to get off ground level as soon as possible. At that thought, a hand reaching for the tower ladder, she relied on her agility to reach the top where the others were gathered. As soon as Rhea had a secure footing on the tower, she turned, her eyes looking straight at the general's group before turning to her fellow allies with her. "Protect your ears," she announced briefly, before spinning 180 degree backwards, an object flung across the battlefield into the mass. As if attracted to the army, the object sped as it made it's way down to the crowd...

... Before a spew of gunpowder, smoke and explosion predictably enveloped all around it upon touchdown.

Her Rageclaw still ready to deflect anything coming at her way, Rhea conjured a tiny, grey boomerang that seemed ready to blend into the surroundings. It's sharp edges were evident as it gave sharp, tiny screeches when Rhea ran across them with a thumb. "Don't waste it on the others; go for the generals, Rhea," Camillia said through the communication link, and Rhea nodded. As soon as the smoke cleared sufficiently for her to see her targets-- mainly, the sorceress, the other woman with the katana, and the quiet, lots-o-fan ninja girl.

... Wait... They were all female. That was odd.

Smoke cleared, and the tiny boomerang was on it's way to reach it's destination.

[Rhea.EXE]
===========
Summary of actions:
1)Tactical Movement — Climb tower
2)LilBomb - 50DMG, Blast 2 - Lee's men that she's standing on
3)Take Aim
4)Boomerang - 60DMG, 3 targets - Dee, Yasu, Vee-chan(?)

Cooldown:
Parried Charge: 2 turns Remaining
Fury: 2 turns Remaining
Lull of Battle: 2 turns Remaining
"Aces...? Excellent. The targets have arrived." Validus said with a broad grin as he holstered the revolver and pulled up his rifle. Using the scope, he scanned the enemy, before realizing that was a completely unnecessary move, as they began to introduce them in the flashiest way pos-

Validus stared dumbfounded. What. The. HELL were those... and... oh god what was those outfits and what was that even and oh god what. The sheer audacity those... girls... had to wear such immodest clothing! Djinni was skimpy enough but... good lord.
The sniping navi practically had to smack himself in the head to keep his mind from wandering too far from the mission. It didn't help much, but at least it managed to bonk some of the professional sense back into him.

"Holy balls what ARE they weari- Validus... are you... nose bleeding?" Tsujsa's voice came in as he slotted in a Hi-cannon chip. The navi didn't realize that his nose WAS running red. Wiping it off, the navi ignored the operator, although it was as clear as day that his entire face was running red right now. The navi focused his hands to keep them steady, and drew in deep breaths to calm himself down.

"Targets of opportunity acquired. Shall I take them out?" The navi said as he looked through the scope, trying to focus his entire attention on the face of the enemy navis instead of their chests. Tsujsa nodded. "Take them out. That should send them into disarray."

Validus nodded as the scope trained on the green colored navi with the sharp katana, who barked orders to take out Broadside. Not gonna happen, lassie, Validus thought to himself. With a deep breath, and a focused eye, he squeezed the trigger, and a cannon shell was fired out of the blue-coloured rifle with a loud bang. Immediately after firing, Validus pulled back and drew his revolver again, returning to the duty of picking off any climbing enemies.

SUMMARY OF ACTIONS:
1. Take aim - Yasu
2. Hi-cannon - 80 DMG - Yasu
3. Normbust - any enemies climbing tower - Knockback