Blowing Off Some Steam

A thin beam of gray light shot down into the netscape, soon reforming itself into a humanoid shape. It only took ViralMan a few seconds to notice that he wasn't in Electown. "Zeo, where is this?" he asked, puzzled.

"You're in Yoka Net. I figured Electown might feel a little boring and samey if you were really raring to go," Zeo answered. "I can't remember the last time we were here, so it'll be more interesting. By the way, how are you liking the new look?" ViralMan glanced upward. "New look? What are you..." he trailed off, looking down at his hands and noticing two armored gauntlets. "What the heck are these supposed to be?" he asked. "And what did you do to my helmet?" Zeo took the questions in stride. "The gauntlets are for some new attacks I programmed, and the helmet's design is for something I'll probably do once we have the funds to buy more Process Upgrades. The rest of the appearance change is just something I threw in there for fun. Pupil-less eyes are way cooler."

"My eyes? What did you do to them?" ViralMan asked with concern, tearing off his helmet and staring in the visor's slight reflection. "Agh, you're going to get me laughed at. I look like I came out of some children's TV show!" the Navi complained. "We'll see what you think of them once you calm down. For now, just get going," Zeo ordered. ViralMan replaced his helmet and started walking, muttering something unintelligible as he did.

Kids really do mumble a lot these days, Zeo noted, laughing.

((Battle 1))
((Bump.))
One would expect to see lots of water in Yoka Net, presumably bath water rather than the kind that would typically serve as a home to various species of fish. This illusion of normalcy was quickly dispelled from the minds of ViralMan and his operator as a swarm of piranha attacked the navi out of nowhere. The piranha swam close together, but still weaved sideways as they moved. Rather than the real world scare of biting, however, these viruses threatened ViralMan with mouth-launched harpoons.

The net really is a wonderful place.

PiranhaA: 60 HP (on sea)
PiranhaB: 60 HP (on sea)
PiranhaC: 60 HP (on sea)
PiranhaD: 60 HP (on sea)

ViralMan: 180 HP (on normal)

Terrain: 20% normal, 80% sea (spreading out in front of ViralMan)

--BATTLE 1 START--
"Well, they look happy," ViralMan said dryly, watching the viruses approach. "I can think of several things that would make them happier. How about you, Zeo?" In response, Zeo grinned. "Battlefield filled with water and some fish viruses. I can't imagine." He selected a chip from his spread on the PC's desk. "But I get the feeling this might work." ViralMan heard the tone as the PET recognized the chip and dropped a perfect sphere into his hand.

ViralMan gripped the MagBomb tightly. "Yeah, this will do." With the Piranhas being fish, they were probably reasonably fast. Maybe even moreso around water. Keeping that in mind, a bomb was the best choice for landing a hit. ViralMan kept an eye on the viruses as he ran forward, looking for a good opportunity to toss the bomb. When he saw the viruses come within decent proximity of each other, he immediately wound up and threw the MagBomb at the ground where the Piranhas were. As the bomb exploded and unleashed a crackling burst of electricity, ViralMan moved back a bit to find a new target.

While he was looking, the Navi found himself armed with a new battlechip. "MarkCannon? I'm surprised you aren't throwing ElecReel at me," ViralMan said. Zeo scoffed. "That would be too easy. Besides, we can take these things out with plenty of other attacks. Like MarkCannon." ViralMan pointed the cannon in the general direction of one of the Piranhas and watched as a targeting reticule danced wildly across the water, eventually coming to a stop on one of the viruses. ViralMan braced himself and fired, the precision shot flying at the target. "For such a simple chip, that's actually pretty useful," he commented. Zeo agreed. "The lock-on and high damage will probably come in handy more than once in the future. But for now, let's try one more attack."

A moment later, ViralMan's right arm burst into flames. "Ah, it would be nice if you could warn me before you set my arm on fire," the Navi said. "Sorry," Zeo replied. "I guess I'd be a little surprised at that too. Not to mention that I'd probably be in extreme pain, too."

"I'm sure you would be." Clenching his burning fist, ViralMan started towards another Piranha. I've got less chance of hitting it with a punch than I do launching fire at it, so here we go... Directing himself at the virus, ViralMan jumped forward, landed on one knee and made a swift uppercut in the virus's direction. He then watched as the flames disappeared from his arm. "Hopefully that worked well. It still feels weird just punching the air." He turned back to where he'd tossed the MagBomb earlier and checked around to see if anything survived, still wary of getting harpooned.

1. MagBomb1 to PiranhaB (30, Blast 2, x2 due to terrain)
2. MarkCannon1 to PiranhaD (70, Lock-on, Seeking)
3. FireHit1 to PiranhaC (60, Impact)
4. Dodge
Passive: Data Absorption (15HP heal)
As soon as the MagBomb was thrown, the Piranhas dispersed away from one another before the bomb could explode. Taking in the fact that the virus had vast amount of water they could use to go around, the viruses was well dispersed and the bomb hit nothing but...water.

One of the Piranhas got a good look on ViralMan and the rest immediately followed as if everyone of them had telekinetic communication. Fortunately, the Markcannon and the Firehit took care of the two before they could really have the chance to attack, leaving only two to fire their three-shot tridents. All of the spears hit its mark as it lodged into ViralMan's body, but thanks to the navi's passive healing, half of them was easily shrugged off.

PiranhaA: 60 HP (on sea)
PiranhaB: 60 HP (on sea)
PiranhaC: DELETED
PiranhaD: DELETED

ViralMan: 165 HP (on normal)

Terrain: 20% normal, 80% sea (spreading out in front of ViralMan)
As ViralMan nursed a minor hole in his leg, he sighed. "Getting punctured really isn't fun. At least the projectiles are smaller than those arrows in Beach Net." Zeo remembered the shell viruses they had faced there. "Yeah, but at least we got a chip out of your misfortune." ViralMan wasn't as happy about that, considering that they hadn't even used the chip in question yet. "Speaking of that chip, what did it do?"

"Nothing that will help us here," Zeo answered. "It was an aqua type chip. Which is going to sound odd in a second, since I'm sending you another new aqua type chip." ViralMan glanced at his arm quizzically and was greeted by a wide mouthed weapon of varying blue colors. "And this is?" he inevitably asked. "Wideshot," his operator replied. "Try it first. If it works, great. If not, we'll follow it up right away and catch them off guard. Hopefully."

"I can see you're confident about that," ViralMan remarked, aiming the weapon at the first Piranha he laid eyes on. "Here we go." Firing the weapon sent a literal wave of water careening across the battlefield, which ViralMan watched with doubt. "Doesn't look like it would hurt too much," he said as the wave disturbed the sea panels it traveled over. "Anyway, send the ElecReel!"

ViralMan made a sharp turn to the right before charging forward after the wave as Zeo rushed to comply. The Navi placed his free hand under the weapon as it formed to support it and adjusted his speed to keep his balance, coming to a complete stop a ways away from where he'd been before. Dropping on one knee, he aimed the orange ElecReel device at one of the viruses and started the charge. The weapon crackled with built up electricity for a few moments before beeping to indicate a full charge. ViralMan made a swift change in target to the other Piranha and let loose with a wild bolt of electricity that shot across the panels towards the virus culminating in a loud crash.

As soon as the ElecReel disappeared from his arm, ViralMan retreated back, making sure to get off the sea panels in case the ElecReel's charge somehow reached him there. Man, would it suck if I got hit by my own overpowered electric attack, the Navi thought. "So, did that do it?" he wondered aloud, scanning the vast expanse of sea panels as his healing program did its job.

1. Wideshot1 to PiranhaA (60, Wide Attack)
2. Dodge
3. ElecReel1 to PiranhaA, B (80)
4. Dodge
-Passive: Data Absorption (15HP heal)
It turns out that ViralMan is kind of a lousy shot some of the time, as the WideShot attack he fired veered off to the side, instead hitting the intended target's comrade, which, admittedly, really wasn't such a bad deal. The Piranha then responded with a trio of needle-shots, which the Navi handily evaded. He then dealt out thunderous retribution, which made sure the Piranha was cooked to a light cinder.

Oh, and some passives did their work, yadda yadda.

PiranhaA: DELETED
PiranhaB: DELETED
PiranhaC: DELETED
PiranhaD: DELETED

ViralMan: 180 HP (on normal)

Terrain: 20% normal, 80% sea (spreading out in front of ViralMan)

-- BATTLE 01 VICTORY!! --

-- REWARDS --

480z
"Yet another battle ended with ElecReel," ViralMan noted in a monotone. "At least the situation fit the weapon this time." He checked what the viruses had left behind. "Looks like we got zenny for my impaling." Zeo confirmed the data transfer before speaking. "Hey, you're fine now, right? There can't be that many enemies with piercing attacks."

"If you say that, there probably will be." Walking a ways across the watery panels, ViralMan scanned the horizon. "Don't see anything else yet. I'm gonna keep going." "Alright," Zeo said before devoting his attention to arranging his chips on the PC's desk.

((Battle 2))
Moving further into the Yoka network, ViralMan came across a small incline. A bit of a climb took him to a small hill, where he could see fairly well across the network. Looking down revealed a group of viruses surrounding a small cylindrical machine which looked to be one of the heaters that serviced some of the hot springs around the area. A Fan virus stationed itself above the heater, with an Elebee hovering over it. Inside a pool that surrounded the heater were three viruses; two of them were blue Swordy chattering together, while one was a Lark sitting in the corner by itself. It didn't take long for the viruses to notice ViralMan, though they looked to be reluctant about leaving their general area.

-- VIRUSES --
VacuumFan: 100 HP (on top of heater)
Lark: 100 HP (front of heater) (onsen partial submerge)
Elebee: 90 HP (above heater)
Swordy-A A: 80 HP (behind heater) (onsen partial submerge)
Swordy-A B: 80 HP (behind heater) (onsen partial submerge)

-- OBJECTS --
Heater: 200 HP

-- NAVIGATOR --
ViralMan.EXE: 180 HP (normal, at top of slope)

-- TERRAIN --
65% Normal (sloping down, viruses at bottom)
35% Onsen (small pool surrounding heater)

-- BATTLE 02, READY? START!! --
"Found some more, Zeo," ViralMan relayed to his operator. "Looks like they're... taking a bath." A somewhat surprised utterance escaped Zeo as he turned to the screen. "Taking a bath? That's a new one. Then again, we haven't been here in a while." He looked at the spread of viruses. "Well... how do you want to start?" Zeo asked tentatively.

ViralMan stared out across the network from atop the incline for a while. "...they aren't really doing anything wrong." the Navi started, crossing his arms. "And they don't seem overly hostile, I guess." Finally, he sighed. "This isn't something I thought I'd ever say, but I guess I'll just keep going and let them be. If the onsen keeps them docile enough, attacking them unprovoked is just... evil, for lack of a better word. Assuming they don't come after me, I'll see if I can find another batch."

Zeo was also a little surprised at this, but nodded. "Fine by me. Let me know if anything happens." Muttering an affirmative, ViralMan turned to the side and started walking along the incline rather than down it.

1-4. Avoid viruses (Escape?)
Okay so he ran away. The viruses took no more notice of him and continued their bath.

... Damn, he forgot to take a picture of that hot Swordy. What a terrible loss.

-- BATTLE AVERTED --
After ViralMan covered a fair distance walking along the incline, it became clear that the viruses weren't interested in pursuing him. "That's good, I guess." He looked around and didn't see anything of interest nearby. "I wonder if it was alright to just leave them there," ViralMan mused to himself.

"Just because you're a Navi, doesn't mean it's automatically your duty to delete every virus on the network," Zeo interrupted. "There's nothing wrong with leaving a few viruses alone, especially when they aren't even doing anything harmful." ViralMan was silent for a few seconds. "Yeah, you're right. I'm going to go look around some more." "As you were," Zeo joked with a mock salute. ViralMan smirked from behind his helmet and continued on through the network.

((Battle 1, I guess.))
Making his way through the Yoka networks again, ViralMan soon stumbled on a small group of viruses near a body of water. There was one Handy virus with a readied bomb, a Dharma, and a tiny little Rush. The Handy teleported from its position, dropped the bomb in the middle of the pool, and went back. As soon as the Handy returned, the Dharma fired a puck towards the bomb, setting it off and causing an amazing pillar of water to rocket up. The viruses cheered as the spectacular display occurred. Then, their fun was spoiled as the Rush alerted its friends to ViralMan's presence, causing them to switch to full-on alert. Well, those two, anyway. The Rush looked ready to bolt any minute.

-- ENEMIES --
Handy: 80 HP
Dharma: 90 HP
Rush: 4 HP

-- FORCES --
ViralMan.EXE: 180 HP

-- TERRAIN --
30% Sea (Small lake in middle)
70% Normal

-- BATTLE 01, READY? START!! --
ViralMan watched as the viruses caused a giant tower of water shot up into the air and subsequently crashed down ostentatiously. The viruses didn't seem too happy to be interrupted. "Oh good, viruses I can destroy without my conscience bothering me," ViralMan joked, though the conscience bit bothered him anyway. "For the most part, at least. What's with that last one, Zeo?"

The operator took a good look at the virus before responding. "Looks like one of those rarer viruses that are harder to delete than normal. You can let it run, if you want." ViralMan bristled. "The last viruses got a freebie. I'm not letting these ones get away without a fight." The slightly harsher response elicited a confused glance from Zeo, but he didn't say anything about it. "Alright then, let's get the ball rolling. I guess we need to stop that virus from running if we can." He sifted through the chips sitting on the desk. "MagBomb. Assuming you land it within a reasonable distance, the explosion should catch it and stop it. Otherwise, it'll probably get away before you can do much."

"Thanks for the vote of confidence," ViralMan remarked, grabbing the bomb as it fell out of the air above him. "This is going to take some careful aim, most likely." ViralMan couldn't think of anything to improve his chances throwing a small sphere, though. "What else could help?" he mused, aware that he had to speed this up or lose the virus before he even did anything. "Speed this up... hm. Zeo, mind sending DashAttack?" "Not sure if what you're envisioning will even work, but alright," the boy replied.

With the MagBomb grasped firmly in his right hand, ViralMan held out his left hand in front of himself and waited for the weird green thing to manifest itself and send him flying. He kicked off as the "weapon" fully materialized on his hand and went flying straight toward the Rush. With his accelerated speed, he hoped he could reach the virus before it took off and maybe even hit it. The DashAttack's accuracy wasn't what he was currently worried about, though. As he got closer to the virus, ViralMan prepared to toss the bomb. His proximity to the Rush would hopefully improve his chances of stunning it.

When he felt he was close enough, he made an underhand motion with his free hand and released the bomb as he did, letting it sail toward the Rush. ViralMan heard the electrical explosion just before completing his DashAttack charge at the virus and landing a ways past it. As he whirled around, he heard the chime of a battlechip being inserted. "What now?" he asked Zeo expectantly. Zeo responded quickly. "Counter. Anything trying to attack you will be receiving a friendly punch in the face, courtesy of you. Watch out for the teleport, it'll probably be pretty sudden."

"Will do," ViralMan said, holding up his fists like a boxer ready to block a punch. Meanwhile, he felt his automated healing program preparing to kick in, just in case. Now, how'd that work out? the Navi wondered.

1. DashAttack to Rush (90, Impact, Line Attack)
2. Take Aim with MagBomb1
3. Close proximity MagBomb1 to Rush (30, Stun, Blast 2)
4. Counter1 (70, Impact, Break)
-Passive: Data Absorption (+15HP heal)
Quickly rushing the... Rush, ViralMan got an early hit in, but only barely. A glancing blow hit the little mole before it scurried around some more, leaving its comrades to deal with him. Unfortunately for it, ViralMan was not done, hurling a magnetic bomb towards it, causing it further grief and stunning it. Meanwhile, the other viruses started to get to work, with a Handy teleporting in the middle of the lake and placing a bomb there. The Dharma whacked its puck silly, which hit ViralMan. Fortunately, he was ready, whacking away the puck. Teleporting near the Dharma, he threw a mighty punch, but got too excited and missed.

-- ENEMIES --
Handy: 80 HP
Dharma: 90 HP
Rush: 2 HP (Stunned!)

-- OBJECTS --
TimeBomb: 100 HP [2] (Middle of lake)

-- FORCES --
ViralMan.EXE: 180 HP (Near Dharma)

-- TERRAIN --
30% Sea (Small lake in middle)
70% Normal
"Woah!" ViralMan exclaimed as his counterattack missed and caused him to stumble forward a bit. "That was fast..." he said. Smirking, Zeo voiced his contrary opinion. "You mean 'I missed horribly,' right?" he joked. ViralMan remained silent. Zeo laughed. "Come on, I'm just kidding. Mostly. Seriously though, looks like your tactic worked." He noticed the bomb. "And one of them left a present for you." ViralMan frowned.

"So they did. I'm going to go ahead and assume I don't want that thing blowing up," the Navi said. Zeo nodded. "But that number on it doesn't seem to be moving just yet. Let's capitalize on your previous success first. Wideshot on the way."

ViralMan received the Wideshot in transit, already on his way toward the Rush again. His charge also had the added bonus of giving him some distance from the virus with the ranged... hockey pucks. By the time the weapon was fully formed, he had gotten a little closer. "Ah, this is enough for a wide range attack," he reasoned, raising the Wideshot. The ensuing wave of H2O flew at the stunned virus at a fast clip, shedding bits of water off of itself as it did. The thing was hopefully wide enough to catch the Rush regardless of whether it tried to dodge.

Zeo broke him out of his wave watching reverie with a new chip. "Following it up with MarkCannon. If you miss this, I'm not sure what to say." ViralMan grunted. "The possibility isn't even worth mentioning. And even if it didn't have lock-on aiming and seeking properties, I could still hit with it." By the time ViralMan was finished with his retort, the fancier looking MarkCannon had finished loading up and was now swinging a glowing reticule around the battlefield searching for a target. He punched out the cannon-wielding arm toward the Rush and braced himself as the reticule locked on. Barely a second later, ViralMan's arm jerked back with the recoil as the cannon fired at the virus. "No time to stare at the results this time," ViralMan mumbled to himself, immediately turning to the bomb in the water.

"Try this one for your temperamental friend," Zeo said. "You might want to prepare yourself first." ViralMan heard the familiar tone of a chip being inserted and watched as a large hammer appeared just above him. He gripped it as it began to fall and struggled to hold it for a moment. Once he had it firmly in hand, ViralMan held the hammer off to his right side and began to run through the water. After splashing around for a few wet seconds, he planted down one foot and half-pivoted on his foot, swinging the mallet into the bomb with all of his strength. "Take that!" he grunted as he made impact.

After another quick warning from Zeo, ViralMan abandoned the BigHammer and grasped the newly sent Guard as it materialized. He was glad there were no electric viruses involved, or his position on the water would have been a lot worse. As it was, he simply raised the Guard warily toward the Dharma and waited as his healing program activated again.

1. Wideshot1 to Rush (60, Wide Attack)
2. MarkCannon1 to Rush (70, Lock-on, Seeking)
3. BigHammer1 to TimeBomb (160, Impact, Break)
4. Guard1 (1-hit shield, reflects up to 60 damage, Piercing, Line Attack)
-Passive: Data Absorption (+15HP heal)
ViralMan set up two more attacks for the Rush, with one watery attack and one targeted cannon attack. Even so, the Rush was like such a tiny little target that somehow, even with all that, he missed. The TimeBomb was well demolished with some mighty mallet mashing, after which a Guard was put up. The Dharma wasted no time in launching its hockey puck, but its targeting was still laughable as the puck shot around without hitting anyone. The Handy sat around, preparing to deploy another bomb to replace the last one. The lucky Rush that had all of the attacks miss on it recovered from its paralyzed status, and looked all ready to take off again.

-- ENEMIES --
Handy: 80 HP
Dharma: 90 HP
Rush: 2 HP

-- OBJECTS --
None.

-- FORCES --
ViralMan.EXE: 180 HP (Lake) (Guard1)

-- TERRAIN --
30% Sea (Small lake in middle)
70% Normal
"..."

"What was that about your aim?" Zeo said after a moment, trying to keep from laughing. ViralMan glanced upward and gave Zeo a displeased look that ended up hidden by his visor. "Just send me something else. I have no idea how that happened but it won't happen again." Zeo forced the smirk off his face and nodded. "Alright. How about a bubble assault? It's slow, but maybe it'll be harder to avoid three bubbles at once." ViralMan gave a quick nod and started chasing after the virus.

Along the way, he made sure to keep a firm grip on the unused Guard in case of another attack. Before long a pale starfish appeared, prompting ViralMan to stop next to it. He hefted the Guard and moved it to his side before laying eyes on the Rush. "Okay, attempt number one..." One dramatic point later, the starfish beside ViralMan spewed several bubbles into the air in the direction of the virus. ViralMan was doubtful about their chances of success. "Better than nothing, I guess." He continued moving toward the Rush, raising an eyebrow at how he could probably beat the bubbles to the virus.

"Given the way that virus seems to take damage and dodge attacks, it probably doesn't matter much as to how we go about this," Zeo said, frowning. "Sending you a Heatshot."

ViralMan lifted the Guard he was still toting and began holding it over his back instead, which made it a little less tedious. The Heatshot morphed onto his free arm while he did so, and by the time he was ready the weapon was too. He lugged the shield along while trying to aim the chip, finally giving up and kneeling after a few seconds. Making sure he didn't shoot any of the bubbles, ViralMan lined up the shot to the best of his ability and fired, sending a burst of flames flying at the Rush. The Navi wasn't too optimistic about the shot hitting, but he didn't bother saying so.

"What now?" he asked, looking at the results of his previous attacks. "There's always BlackBomb," Zeo laughed. "I'm not that desperate to beat this thing, and using that stupid bomb is cumbersome. Just send me a boring Shotgun or something." ViralMan ended up getting exactly that when his buster appeared on his arm without warning. "I wasn't really serious," he noted. "But fine." He readjusted the Guard's position on his back and pointed yet another gun at the Rush. "Ugh, this is really boring and really annoying," ViralMan grumbled. "Please just get hit already," he said in an irritated voice before firing the next shot at the virus.

"If none of that worked, I think I'm just going to let the dumb thing go," ViralMan sighed. Zeo was a little surprised. "After your initial outburst? You were pretty enthusiastic before." The Navi shrugged. "After a virus manages to avoid a wide-range wave attack and a lock-on sniper, it must really want to live. But even more important than that, while I'm busy bothering with this guy, that hand thing is dropping bombs over by the pond. Priorities, I guess."

Zeo agreed, but he still wondered what the Rush virus could offer in terms of data. "Alright, fine. We're running low on functional chips anyway. Make sure you keep an eye on that hand virus." ViralMan gave a nod and waited with his Guard readied while his automated healing system prepared to activate if necessary.

1. BubbleStar1 to Rush (3 bubbles, 20, trapped for one turn)
2. Heatshot to Rush (40, Spread 1)
3. Shotgun to Rush (50, Spread 1)
4. Dodge
-Passive: Data Absorption (15HP heal)
Firing a torrent of... bubbles to aid his Rush-killing venture, the mole sped around in a frenzy, trying to avoid the attack. Unfortunately for it, one of them caught it, and trapped it inside the bubble. His Heatshot later somehow missed the little guy- that thing was borderline hair-tearing- but his Shotgun hit a lucky spot and blasted the dude into oblivion (finally.) The Handy put a bomb somewhere behind it, unnoticed. The Dharma whacked around some stuff, which somehow hit the bomb the Handy placed earlier. Weird stuff.

-- ENEMIES --
Handy: 80 HP
Dharma: 90 HP
Rush: DELETED AT LAST

-- OBJECTS --
TimeBomb: 85 HP [2] (Behind Handy)

-- FORCES --
ViralMan.EXE: 180 HP (Lake) (Guard1)

-- TERRAIN --
30% Sea (Small lake in middle)
70% Normal
"Yes!" ViralMan shouted with a fist pump as the smoke cleared and the Rush was no longer there. "It's about time!" He glanced upward and directed his next words to his operator. "I guess fate really wanted that thing gone, seeing as I managed to beat it right before giving up on deleting it." Zeo smiled. "Or maybe you just got really lucky. Either way, I'm the one who sent you the BubbleStar," he said jokingly.

"Yeah, yeah. There'll be time for celebrating later. Right now we have another bomb to deal with, I think," the Navi said, trying to see around the Handy. "Like you said, we're running low on chips. What now?" Zeo opened a menu on his PET and selected something. "Now we try something new. Namely, your new attacks I programmed. This first one's going to require you to get physical, so free up whatever hand you plan on punching with." ViralMan obliged, shifting the Guard to his other arm and repositioning it over his back. After doing so, he heard a beep from the PET and watched with mild interest as the knuckles of his right gauntlet popped open and revealed several needles barely protruding past the fingers of his clenched fist. "Alright, I'm underwhelmed. You'd better hope this does something cool, Zeo."

While his operator chuckled at that, ViralMan started running toward the Handy hiding a bomb. The Guard held over his back hindered him a bit, but it didn't stop him from charging straight at the virus and jumping into the air. The jump wasn't as high as ViralMan had intended, but it was enough to let him deliver the full-force punch he desired. He sent his needle-adorned gauntlet flying straight at the Handy's palm before following through and attempting to maneuver around the virus on landing. He ended up stumbling while trying to keep balanced and instead continued running straight at the bomb. While he did, his gauntlet's needles retracted and disappeared, replaced by a glowing blue sword.

"This isn't new!" the Navi managed to complain seconds before abandoning that train of thought and delivering a diagonal slice to the bomb in front of him. Zeo argued back while he did. "I was sending you something to attack the bomb! If you want something new, hold on a sec!" ViralMan came to a stop a few feet past the bomb and hefted his Guard. "Fine," he replied, slashing the bomb again with irritation. "...that wasn't the most graceful landing."

"Maybe not, but that Guard will be a lot more useful than a perfect landing," Zeo said. "Now try this, and no complaints about the design." ViralMan held up his sword arm and watched as it transformed yet again, this time into his regular buster. He was about to complain anyway until he noticed this buster looked more like a crossbow complete with a weird looking arrow. "...I'll give you the benefit of the doubt," he said to his operator, aiming the weapon at the Dharma nearby. The crossbow apparently worked the same as a buster, so ViralMan pointed it at the other virus and sent the arrow flying. "Isn't the bow a little much?" he asked.

"Shush," Zeo responded as the Navi lifted the Guard into position again.

1. Debilitate I to Handy (50, Stun, Slow, Glitch)
2. Sword to TimeBomb (80)
3. Sword to TimeBomb (80)
4. Debilitate II to Dharma (30, Blind, Glitch)
-Passive: Data Absorption (15HP heal)