Mission: Area Exploration

Aera healed Machman while the latter aimed a blast downward and launched a wave of fire at two of his targets from the previous turn and the newly appeared FlashBomb. The hat virus managed to teleport out of hits hole just as the wave hit, causing it to be deleted along with its bomb. The Gaia meanwhile, still in its hole, was safe from the flames as they struck the surface and then disappeared.

It began to swing its hammer down, but stopped halfway as a vine reached out from the side of the hole, wrapping around the virus and crushing it until it shattered into bugfrags. Looking over, Mach could see Arachne removing one foreleg from the ground as the vine rope vanished, then crawl across the field toward the Sparkler.

Meanwhile, Aera sighted the cloudy that had been blasted away from the field and fired off a burst of electricity, which struck and deleted the virus in a burst of light and steam.

On that side of the field, the rain around Rainfall intensified, first giving off healing energy, then obscuring her from view and allowing her to fade away into the storm. She took full advantage of this as another strike from the Swordy missed completely and a tornado appeared through the clouds, over the frozen Cloudy, tearing it apart before vanishing just as quickly.

As Arachne reached the area where the Sparkler passed as it orbited, she spun another WhiteWeb chip and tossed the other end to Aegir's ship, where it stuck and formed a trap in the satellite virus's path.

"Hey, I didn't agree to this," Aegir growled, swinging his axe toward the web but deliberately missing.

"Oh, tough it out," the spider navi replied as the satellite came around and collided with the web. It pulled on it for several seconds, trying to break it and continue its path, but ultimately failed.

Around this time, Machman vanished from his pockmarked side of the field, leaving a cannonball as a gift for the remaining virus there. The Cragger didn't take too well to it...in fact, it was crushed. Machman, however, reappeared behind the Sparkler and activated a Magbolt chip. Acting against Arachne's web, the Magbolt pulled at the satellite, ultimately proving to be too much as the virus was torn apart.

"Can you get this thing off my ship now?" Aegir asked, swinging at the web again.

"Oh, sure," Arachne answered, tugging on the web and causing it to break apart instantly. Aegir took the opportunity to sail the ship toward the shore near the remaining virus duo and beach it. He held his axe aloft. The twinners faced him, as though expecting something dramatic.

Which they got, in the form of "BEHOLD, THE POWER OF THOR, GOD OF THUNDER!" Followed by more bolts of lighting ripping through the clouds and striking them. A third bolt reached out of the sky for the Swordy, but missed as it continued looking for Rainfall. Aegir, meanwhile, followed up his attack by jumping over the side and charging toward, then through, the remaining Twinner, bisecting it with his axe in the process.

Only one virus remained, the lone swordy.


That was, until in another example of localized intense rain, raindrops cut through the virus's armor and deleted it.
____

---Viral Hordes---
--To left (Near Arachne)--
Megalian-E: LOGGED
Megalian-E EX: LOGGED
Fishy EX: SELF-IMPALED


--To Rear (Near Machman)--
Gaia: VINE CRUSH
BigHatEX: BURNT ALIVE
CraggerEXA: DID NOT LIKE CANNONBALL
BlueUFO: SWISS CHEESE

--To Right (Near Aegir)--
TwinnerA: THUNDER GOD'S POWER
TwinnerB: BISECTED
CraggerEXB: HAMMER OF THE GODS
BasherEX: FROZE TO DEATH
BrushmanEX: CUT TO SHREDS

Sparkler: TORN APART

--To Front (Near Rainfall)--
Megalian-A EXA: LIGHTNING BOLT'D
Megalian-A EXB: LIGHTNING BOLT'D
CloudyEXA: STEAM
CloudyEXB: TORNADO
Swordy-A2: KILLER RAINDROPS



---Allies ---
Machman: 70 HP (Near viking ship)
-Aera.SP: 60 HP (Next to where UFO was)
Aegir: 155 HP (On right, standing on Ice)
Rainfall: 270 HP (At front, next to front Cloudy group)
Arachne: 150 HP (Near viking ship)

---Objects---
Viking Ship: 140 HP (On right, beached) (1-hit Shield)


---Terrain---
25% Sea (Under allies, centered under Aegir)
25% Ice (cone shape at right edge of Sea, panel under CloudyEXB)
20% Broken (pit at rear end of Sea terrain, where Machman was) (under BigHat, Gaia, and Cragger)
30% Normal (Everywhere Else)

VICTORY!
Get:
-Machman: 800z, FlashBomb1, +6FXP with Rainfall, +8FXP with Arachne, +7FXP with Aegir
--Aera: 37 Bugfrags
-Aegir: 1000z, +7FXP with Machman, +7FXP with Arachne, +6FXP with Rainfall
-Rainfall: 600z, AuraHead1, +6FXP with Machman, +6FXP with Arachne, +6FXP with Aegir
-Arachne: 800z, +8FXP with Machman, +7FXP with Aegir, +6FXP with Rainfall
Machman stood his ground and scanned the area for any other viruses, but luckily no more were to be found. It was only then that he started to calm down, and flew over to Aera.

[Good work, you two. Gather up whatever residual data you can find, and form up with the rest of the group.]

Understood.

Aera and Mach sifted through the high volume of viral remains, and managed to find not only bugfrags, but also a good amount of zenny and a new battlechip. After they retrieved the materials, they were sent into the PET. Mach and Aera then moved back over to the rest of the Navis.

Is everyone alright? We can probably take a minute or two to recover, but otherwise I think we should keep pressing on...

((Ready))
((Bump))
Aegir was the first to respond as his viking ship and the small sea that had been summoned in the battle faded. "I could stand for a bit more of that," he said. "Let's take a side trip and go conquer something." This, however, was met with less than pleasant looks from the others, so he shut up.

Arachne, meanwhile, was breathing heavily but didn't look too much worse for wear. "I say we keep going," she said.

"Agreed," Rainfall finished. "And since I'm leading this little expedition, that's all that matters," she added as a joke. "Kidding, of course, but if everyone's good then we should keep moving before more of them show up."

The void in the center of their vision ahead of them loomed much closer now. They were more than halfway there. Still, however, no real features of the darkness could be made out aside from the fact that the net just faded to black after a certain point.
Since the rest of of the group decided to continue forward, Machman looked over to Aera.

Let's try to stick together this time around, it will be dangerous if we get separated.

I was thinking the same thing.

[Alright then, switch to MachFighter and continue onwards with the group.]

Machman rose into the air as the outline of his body started to glow. He curled into a ball as he rolled forward and began his transformation. Large orange and blue metal surfaces emerged from his body, which slid and rotated into place like a moving jigsaw puzzle. His rapidly changing form somersaulted a total of 2 times before the newly formed MachFighter leveled out and rested on the ground, thanks to its landing gear. The upper panel of the cockpit opened with a wheezing noise, and Aera gracefully leapt into the cockpit with the help of her wings. The inner displays came to life as she settled into the ejection seat, and a set of safety straps crossed over her hourglass figure before they buckled in and kept her nestled in the surprisingly comfortable seat.

[[i]MachFighter.GMO online. All systems green.[/i]]

Machman lit his four plasma-thrust engines and rose off the ground. His landing gear withdrew and sank into his fuselage; not a single seam could be seen. He hovered with the help of his "free floating" engine housings and specialized vernier thrusters housed under the center line of his fuselage, all the way to the midsection of the cockpit. With a slight adjustment, he started to coast forward to stay with the group as they continued on.

((Ready for battle #2))
((Bump))
((Bump))
Within minutes, the group was close enough to the void that the "road" Rainfall had mentioned became visible.

"Well, you certainly weren't kidding about a 'road leading into darkness'," Aegir remarked.

Ahead of them, the void spread out to either side as far as the eye could see. Around the point on the ground where the light of the net behind them completely faded, the ground vanished completely, either completely obscured or simply dropping off. Ahead of them, however, a path stretched ahead of them and pierced much farther into the void before fading into nothing as well. There were no rails or anything similar, but assuming that the ground really did fall away everywhere else, the path was wide enough that they probably wouldn't have to worry about falling off. Not that that would be a problem for Machman in the first place...right?

Rainfall held up a hand for the group to stop again. "I don't know what we're going to find in there," she said. "That's why you're here after all. So I'd like for us to try and stick together. If we do get separated..." A set of four radio devices appeared in her hands. She tossed one to each of the other group members, hoping that Arachne and Machman's fighter form had some way of catching them. "...my operator finished coding these up while we were walking here. We'll be able to talk to each other with these."

As the attention of the group shifted away from her and back to the path into the black, they noticed more viruses had set up camp around the edge of the void, mostly of stationary types. More of the rogue net viruses that were inexplicable roaming the surface nets were among them as well. They didn't seem to have noticed the group yet, so the possibility existed of trying to sneak past them.

Of course, with Aegir in the group this possibility was lessened, but they still could.
____

---Virus Camp---
--Ahead, To left of path--
BasherA: 120 HP
BasherB: 120 HP
BasherEXA: 150 HP
SmasherA: 200 HP

--Ahead, To right of path--
BasherC: 120 HP
BasherD: 120 HP
BasherEXB: 150 HP
SmasherB: 200 HP

--Directly ahead--
Winger: 180 HP (High Altitude)
WhomperA: 150 HP (High Altitude)
WhomperB: 150 HP (High Altitude)

--To left--
CanoGuard2A: 150 HP (Guarding)
HardHeadEXA: 100 HP (IronBody)
HardHeadEXB: 100 HP (IronBody)
Vulgear: 160 HP

--To right--
CanoGuard2B: 150 HP (Guarding)
Swordy-A EXA: 120 HP
Swordy-A EXB: 120 HP
Kettle EX: 0/120 Degrees


---Allies---
Machman: 70 HP
-Aera.SP: 60 HP (In MachFighter cockpit)
Aegir: 155 HP
Rainfall: 270 HP
Arachne: 150 HP


---Terrain---
80% Normal (Area before darkness, start of path)
20% ??? (Where the ground disappears into the darkness)


<COMBAT HAS NOT YET BEGUN>
Machman's radar display lit up with virus "pings" as they approached the encampment of viruses. However, they seemed to be far enough away to have not triggered a response by the viruses. Rainfall tossed the radio towards Machfighter as his cockpit panel started to slide open. A trio of Overwatch sensor pods zipped towards the incoming radio com, and "caught" it by converging on the radio and holding it in place like a trio of firefighters carrying one of those obsolete and cliche'd "rescue trampolines." The pods slowly floated towards Aera as she peeked out of the cockpit, and she plucked the radio from the pods before they darted back to their original positions. She then placed the radio on one of the safety handles inside of the cockpit, where small, glowing tentacle-like cables hurriedly connected to the radio and integrated it into the MachFighter's systems.

Machman's voice came in over the radios.
[[i]*crackle* Thanks for the radio. Though we did do a good job against the viruses last time, I don't know if we'd be able to survive a full on assault on this rather heavily-guarded position. I think we should find a way to get past them without having to take every single one of them down. Maybe we can just clear the aerial viruses ahead and somehow disable or distract the camps on either side of the path. I recently acquired a flashbomb, which might be able to help us in disabling the enemy. Any suggestions?[/i]]
((Bump))
Two more radios crackled to life in response to Machman's.

"Arachne here. I've seen flashbombs in use before so I can vouch for their effectiveness. I'd like to mention though that we won't have much time to pull it off. Even if we manage to blind both groups, the other two on the ground will notice as soon as we do."

"Pfft, we can take them. Nothing but a bunch of cannon fodder before a group of warriors like ourselves." This was obviously Aegir.

Rainfall's voice came in over the last radio before a fight could break out. "No, I'm fairly sure they're actually cannons. Joking aside though, we were hit pretty hard in the last battle. Machman's right, we may not be able to survive a second one already, and we haven't even gotten in there yet."

"There is no greater honor than to die in battle!"

"You would have us fail the mission in the process AND kill our client, Aegir?"

Silence for a second, then the viking navi let out a soft growling 'hmm' that didn't come in over the radio. "Fine. Give me enough water and I could sail us right through them before the flash wears off."

"That won't be a problem. What'll it be, Mach? This is your idea."
____

---Virus Camp---
--Ahead, To left of path--
BasherA: 120 HP
BasherB: 120 HP
BasherEXA: 150 HP
SmasherA: 200 HP

--Ahead, To right of path--
BasherC: 120 HP
BasherD: 120 HP
BasherEXB: 150 HP
SmasherB: 200 HP

--Directly ahead--
Winger: 180 HP (High Altitude)
WhomperA: 150 HP (High Altitude)
WhomperB: 150 HP (High Altitude)

--To left--
CanoGuard2A: 150 HP (Guarding)
HardHeadEXA: 100 HP (IronBody)
HardHeadEXB: 100 HP (IronBody)
Vulgear: 160 HP

--To right--
CanoGuard2B: 150 HP (Guarding)
Swordy-A EXA: 120 HP
Swordy-A EXB: 120 HP
Kettle EX: 0/120 Degrees


---Allies---
Machman: 70 HP
-Aera.SP: 60 HP (In MachFighter cockpit)
Aegir: 155 HP
Rainfall: 270 HP
Arachne: 150 HP


---Terrain---
80% Normal (Area before darkness, start of path)
20% ??? (Where the ground disappears into the darkness)


<COMBAT HAS NOT YET BEGUN>
Machman heard his comrades comments and opinions, then responded to Rainfall's request. Machman then responded quickly, his voice was firm, confident in his idea.

[[i]Alright, if we want to get through without smashing against the wall of foes before us, we all need to perform our individual tasks effectively. Aegir, you are our ticket through this blockade, so put up as many defensive barriers up over and around your ship. Your primary duty is to protect your ship and crew, Rainfall and Arachne, and sail down the path and into the void. I am confident this will be no problem for your level of skill.

Arachne, you will be on board Aegir's vessel, and your task is to entangle and snare any incoming viruses, especially from above. You and Aegir will be working hand-in-hand to keep the ship afloat as we attempt to cruise through.

Rainfall, I want you to use your specialty and create one of the strongest oceanic squalls you can muster. The combination of wind and water should be more than enough to move the ship, with you on it, through the blockade at a high enough speed. If you are able to provide suppressing fire to help ward off incoming attacks, please do so.

Aera and I will be above you, and I will deploy the FlashBomb from a distance. Aegir's ship should already be picking up speed before the bomb explodes. We are still out of range, but shield your eyes momentarily during the blast. Once the bomb explodes, rush straight forward and pierce through their blockade. Aera and I will try to eliminate the viruses flying over the path. If I don't manage to take down all of them, I'm trusting you, Arachne, to prevent them from bombarding the ship.

Are there any questions?[/i]]
Mach's three comrades responded positively.

"None here.

"None here either. One tropical storm coming right up."

"I'm good." As Aegir responded, a section of ocean spread across part of the field, encompassing most of the area within the camps. The viking ship from the previous battle resurfaced as well, rising from the center of the lake under the viking navi. "Hurry up and board, you two," he radioed to Arachne and Rainfall. "Preferably before drowning us."

The other two complied, climbing onto the ship. Arachne mounted herself at the back of the ship, using webbing to tie herself to it and keep herself from being tossed off by whatever storm Rainfall came up. The rain navi herself, meanwhile, settled herself in at the front and looked toward the sky.

"Ready."

The rain began getting heavier.
As the rest of his comrades made their preparations, Machman started to warm up his engines. Mazer's voice came in through the comm lines inside the MachFighter.

[Mach, I have the FlashBomb primed and ready to go. Once the bomb reaches it's target, it will immediately explode. There are no second chances for this one Mach, so make it count! Try using a combination of your BubbleStar and Magbolt chips to draw at least one of them away from the path, while Aera can help do some serious damage while the others are trapped in those bubbles.]

[[i]Good idea, Mazer; will do. You ready, Aera?[/i]]

Aera, still partially out of the cockpit, had formed a large, patch-like white metal armor plate adorned with a glowing green cross. She turned towards the back of the MachFighter and released the plate, where it floated back a few feet before it gently rested on top of the Mach's metal body and secured itself in place with powerful magnets. This "patch" began to steadily administer recovery processes directly into Machman's frame. Aera turned back to the front and sat down in her ejection seat as the cockpit hatch closed. She gave a thumbs up as the harness automatically wrapped over her chest and waist, and fastened her into position.

All preparations complete on my end! Let's do it!

Machman's Overwatch sensor pods turned towards the void and silently darted forward in a wide spread before they stopped just outside of the viruses' sensor range, and scanned ahead. Mach's plasma-thrust engines roared to life as the engines themselves started to swing in their "floating" housings, and started to lift Mach into the air with the help of maneuvering vents underneath his fuselage. As he left the ground, his landing gear retracted into his body and sealed up tight. One could then see a lone missile attached under his frame. The missile was long, streamlined, and packed with enough fuel to travel twice the distance it was required to go. The warhead was slightly wider than the rest of it's "body," and seemed to be glowing through the barely visible seams separating the warhead from it's sensor-laden nose cone, and where it was connected to it's winglet-covered solid fuel engine.

Machman rose into the air and rotated towards the void, his body drew a straight line directly down the path to their destination. Aera started to get nervous, but Machman was too busy to be nervous; he was accessing all of the video feeds of all of his Overwatch sensor drones. With all of those "eyes" on the battlefield, he knew exactly where each and every virus was located, and since nearly all of them weren't moving at all, he knew where they were going to be when the bomb was going to go off. As he hovered above the Navis below, he patched all of the sensor data into one seamless battle grid, and calculated over a dozen different target areas, in an attempt to find the best area to disable the most amount of viruses in one blast. After a few seconds, one point stood out above all the rest. This point was just a few feet above the path, and several feet behind the end of the path. If the FlashBomb managed to detonate there, a large swath of viruses would be temporarily disabled, and leave an open path for the group to pass through.

Machman entered the data into his targeting computer, which then transmitted the information to the sensors in the missile's nosecone "brain." Machman checked his aim one last time, and then spoke into the radio.

((Commence Operation!!!))
[[i]All Navis...MOVE OUT![/i]]

The missile carrying the FlashBomb warhead dropped from Machman's body before it's solid-fuel rocket motor kicked on with a large plume of orange flames.

Missile away!

The missile darted forward and left a white contrail as it streaked towards it's target, straight as an arrow. Machman's engines swung back to their normal positions and climbed to full power. Machman quickly accelerated as he left 4 long cyan energy trails behind him, and took hot pursuit far behind the missile. Though he was accelerating rapidly, he would be nowhere close to the missile as it went off. The missile streaked to it's target in a matter of a couple seconds and exploded in an intensely bright flash and a deep, ground-shaking boom. A powerful shockwave surged from the blast zone immediately after the blinding flash and rocked the immediate area. Aera had closed her eyes just before the explosion, and opened them at the sound of the rasp roar of Machman's vulcan guns.

Machman had already opened the weapon blisters on the sides of his fuselage and brought his 30mm triple vulcans to bear. He targeted the pair of Whomper viruses and opened up with two bright streams of armor-piercing rounds as he rose towards them. However, instead of moving straight towards them, he strafed to the right as he climbed, which offset his position from the path. As his vulcans depleted their ammunition and slid back into their protective housings, a pair of missiles materialized underneath Machman's wings. Both were similarly shaped, but the missiles had completely different functions. The right missile was slightly wider than the other, because instead of holding a large, explosive warhead, it had a smaller concussive warhead, surrounded by a sticky, goo-like fluid.

Machman aimed directly in the center of the trio of flying viruses, and launched the fluid-filled missile. It rocketed ahead with a nearly identical white contrail and streaked towards it's target. As soon as it reached its destination, the missile exploded and drenched the area with a wave of transparent blue fluid. The fluid expanded around the explosion like a large bubble, and would wrap itself around anything caught in it's blast radius. Whatever got caught in the blast would have found itself covered in a highly conductive fluid, and unable to move.

Right on cue, Aera charged her body up with thousands of volts of electricity, and channeled it into the MachFighter's body. The conductive grooves in the cockpit were alight with electricity as it surged down to Mach's nosecone. Aera then used a magnetic "targeting beam" to construct an invisible magnetic "bridge" between the MachFighter and the first Whomper virus, exactly like the moment just before a lightning strike. She then released a burst of electricity that arced from the nosecone of the MachFighter and surged towards the target in a bright bolt. She then shifted the "bridge"'s position to the second Whomper virus, and sent the rest of her electrical power towards it in a bright flash.

It was then time for Machman's second missile to come into play. This missile had two coils of strong, but thin wire housed in two of it's fins, which were attached to Machman's wing. Normally one would guess this missile was "guide-by-wire" missile, like some older military munitions. However, this was not the case. The wires were not for guidance, but for channeling a magnetic current from the MachFighter to it's target, the Winger virus. The missile itself had an electrical warhead, but using the magnetic field from the wires would hopefully draw the Winger virus towards Mach, and away from the path (if it wasn't destroyed in the blast, of course). Machman aimed his missile directly towards the center of the Winger virus and launched it. The missile left no smoky contrails, but both Mach and Aera could see the barely visible wires as they lead towards the target. The missile exploded with a burst of electrical discharge and the magnetic field would have hopefully drawn whatever was on the other end towards Machman.

[[i]Don't blink! ♪[/i]]

Machman's forward-swept wings started to move even closer towards his body as they swept even further forward. His four powerful engines jumped to full power and rocketed him forward like a massive projectile towards the Winger. A protective energy veil stretched over Machman's frame as he accelerated and tried to shred the Winger to pieces as he passed by. With the Whomper viruses a bit further ahead, he didn't have to make any major directional adjustments fly straight towards them and hopefully tear them to pieces with his angular, blade-like fuselage and wings. With the only viruses over the path behind him, he should have had no one between him and the void ahead. He was still going supersonic, and decided to use this burst of speed to attempt to burst through the enemy lines and enter the void. Hopefully his comrades managed to successfully break the blockade and enter the void without sustaining too much damage. Mach and Aera might have been able to eliminate the aerial threat, but there were a lot more viruses on the ground.



ACTIONS:
-[Plasma Shield: Facing Forward]-
-[[color=ff6600]Repulsion Shield:[/color] Facing Downward]-
Aera: IV to Machman (Heals 5HP per action while equipped) [Located on top of MachFighter fuselage][/color]
FlashBomb1: Point on path between the guarding virus camps (40dmg Elec + Seeking + Stun + Blind + Blast4) [+Take Aim]
Rising Barrage: WhomperA,B (50dmg + Break + Strategic Action + 4TCD)
-[Strategic Action: Approach flying viruses at High Altitude]-
BubbleStar1: WhomperA,B,Winger (20dmg Aqua + BubbleTrap x3)
Aera: Attack WhomperA (35dmg Elec x2?)
Aera: Attack WhomperB (35dmg Elec x2?)
MagBolt1: Winger (90dmg Elec x2? + Pull enemy into melee range [and away from the path])
DashAttack: WhomperA,B, Winger (90dmg + Impact) [Pass into void]
Machman began to feel the effects of Aera's healing patch as he rose into the air and fired the already activated FlashBomb into the gap between the virus camps, in front of the path. It sat on the path, apparently unnoticed by the viruses, but not exploding just yet. Meanwhile, Machman took off toward the high altitude viruses, firing his vulcan gun at them as he approached. Both of the targeted viruses took notice of being hit, trying to call out in a muffled viral language while the third blasted a cone of electricity at the fighter before all three of them became trapped in bubbles. The electricity, meanwhile, took out the plasma shield but otherwise had no effect. Aera followed up from the cockpit by channeling her own electric power through the fighter and launching it at two of the trapped viruses.

Machman finished out the attack with a magnetically charged missile, which drew the third virus right into its blast range and blew it apart effortlessly. The fighter then accelerated, crashing through one of the remaining two and leaving the third badly shaken and heavily damaged. Mach, meanwhile, flew into the void, shaking violently as the storm around him began to pick up even more, but was otherwise unimpeded.


Meanwhile, on the ground below, Rainfall proved her claims of creating a 'tropical storm' to be more than just talk. As the rain picked up, it formed something of a wall of water around them, and Aegir's small patch of see quickly began to spread as the ground was flooded. Just as the flashbomb missile was completely submerged under the rising waters, it went off, cutting through the rain wall with a blinding flash. Aegir, in the middle of reinforcing his ship with shields of his own creation, managed to block the light from affecting the other navis before mounting the last of them on the bow. "Well," he said, his voice barely coming in on the radio over the storm around them, "Let's run ourselves a blockade."

The wind picked up behind them, propelling the ship forward while the rain got even heavier around them. Ahead of them, the FlashBomb proved to have worked perfectly, as about half of the magnum turret viruses fired on the ship but missed wildly, while the other half let off bright sparks from their frames but failed to fire. As the ship drew closer, however, the combined effect of the rising waters and the falling rain began to show, as all but the farthest from the path on either side sparked even more violently, then exploded.

"Watch yourselves," came Rainfall's voice, also barely audible. "If they didn't know we were here, they do now."

Sure enough, as soon as the blockade exploded, activity could be seen from the other viruses even through the blinding rain. The ship had picked up considerable speed, and had now cleared the two far camps, but the viruses themselves weren't ready to let them go. Two cannonballs fell near the ship, obviously poorly aimed, but close enough for the navis to feel the splash from their landing. Upon feeling the ship shudder, Aegir turned around and swung his axe at the air. Two bubbles appeared on the edge of his swing, each containing anchors within. None of the viruses seemed to be able to see well enough to hit them, however, and they continued drifting across the battlefield waiting for a stray shot.

The Swordies, meanwhile, had somewhat better aim as they appeared on the starboard side of the viking ship. Each raised their blades to strike at Aegir, but never got a chance as webbing sprung out of (from their perspective) nowhere, binding the two together. Arachne said something from the back of the ship as the two were caught, but it went unheard, drowned out by the storm. As the bound swordies fell behind, however, a spire of wood rose from the deep, piercing through both of them.

The last virus that tried to attack was the remaining Whomper, which dropped from the sky despite being badly beaten. Unfortunately, it fell right next to Aegir, and before it could attack it met his axe, which cut it in half and left it to fall into the depths. "IS THAT ALL?" the viking navi shouted over the storm. "YOU'RE JUST GOING TO LET US PASS THROUGH? JUST LIKE THAT?"

No response.

"Oh well," were his last words to the virus camps before the ship sailed into the darkness.
___

---Virus Camp---
--Ahead, To left of path--
BasherA: 20 HP
BasherB: Rained out
BasherEXA: Rained out
SmasherA: Rained out

--Ahead, To right of path--
BasherC: 20 HP
BasherD: Rained out
BasherEXB: Rained out
SmasherB: Rained out

--Directly ahead--
Winger: Fried puppet
WhomperA: Crash victim
WhomperB: Cut apart

--To left--
CanoGuard2A: 150 HP (Guarding)
HardHeadEXA: 50 HP
HardHeadEXB: 100 HP
Vulgear: 60 HP

--To right--
CanoGuard2B: 150 HP (Guarding)
Swordy-A EXA: Bound and skewered
Swordy-A EXB: Bound and skewered
Kettle EX: 0/120 Degrees


---Allies---
Machman: 100 HP
-Aera.SP: 60 HP (In MachFighter cockpit)
Aegir: 155 HP
Rainfall: 270 HP
Arachne: 150 HP

---Objects---
Viking Ship: 180 HP (1-hit shield mounted) (3-hit shield mounted) (Guard2 mounted)


---Terrain---
-Outside darkness:
80% Sea (Area before darkness, start of path)
20% Missing (Where the ground disappears into the darkness)
-Inside darkness:
???

BLOCKADE PASSED
Get:
-Machman: 200z, ElecShock, +7 FXP with all
--Aera: 17 BugFrags
-Rainfall: 1200z, +7 FXP with all
-Arachne: AquaKnife, +7 FXP with all
-Aegir: 400z, +7 FXP with all
____

As the navis entered the void, the light of the net behind them was quickly swallowed up by the darkness. Machman was able to see just far enough in any direction to see his companions pass through as well, only to stop as the sea met solid ground again.

"Seems this is as far as the floodwaters spread," he could hear Rainfall say from below before her voice came in over the radio. "We're through. Machman, are you there?"


The viking ship and the sea terrain both vanished into nothing, depositing the three navis on the ground of the path. The sound of wind and running water faded as well, indicating that the storm outside had subsided. It didn't matter, the viruses couldn't chase them now. In the air, Machman could feel some sort of force either pushing or pulling down on him. He couldn't tell which, but it wasn't strong enough to affect him. Not yet anyway.

The path below was a solid gray, only barely standing out against the black surrounding them. It continued deeper into the darkness, but just as before they could only see several feet of it before it faded. On either side, it became apparent, there was no ground at all. It simply fell away
Machman's engines swung upwards in their housings and caused him to do a flip from a complete standstill, to look back behind him. He saw Aegir's ship run aground past the gate, then heard Rainfall's voice through the radio. Machman breathed a smile of relief, and Aera smiled from ear to ear; they were both ecstatic to hear everyone got through.

[[i]Man, I'm glad to hear your voice. Aera and I went through without a scratch. Is everyone else alright?[/i]]

Machman approached the group and prepared to land vertically next to the ship. As he got around 20 feet from the ground, he started to flip forward rapidly as his body started to twist and fold down to his regular configuration. In a flurry of tumbling metal, Machman emerged with Aera in his arms; they floated to the ground with the help of his floating wings and glowing cyan thrusters. He touched down, and let Aera slide from his grasp and stand next to him.

I've never seen anything like this before... and before I landed, I felt some sort of force pulling on me. It was negligible, but I could definitely feel it.

Aera stood a little closer to Machman, and took his hand in hers.

I don't like the looks of this place, but there don't seem to be any viruses around here...
"No casualties," Rainfall reported. "Actually, no real injuries for that matter." She walked forward, scanning the darkness as she led the group deeper in.

"Didn't the mission briefing mention viral activity?" Aegir asked, looking around as well. "I don't see anything."

That...could have been said about the void in general. As they traveled deeper in, the net around them remained constant. In all directions, nothing but blackness. Ahead of them, the path continued for several feet before fading into the dark. Behind them, the same situation. And the downward pull Machman had felt was still present, still just strong enough to be felt without further affecting the group.

And then, the path changed.

Rainfall stumbled forward as her leading foot missed the path and dropped onto a step four inches below. She caught herself before falling off the path, but still managed to slide down several steps. "That's odd," she said, glancing up at the others. "Can I get a light over here?"

The reason she asked became obvious to the others as well just by looking at where she had stopped. The stairs curved as they descended. Aegir was the first to respond, chucking a large mass of burning wood not down the stairs, but over the side of the path.

They had reached a spiral staircase.

A MASSIVE spiral staircase.

Even from the light of the fire and the distance Aegir threw it, the other side was only barely visible at least fifty feet away. Down...well...

The firewood fell, and fell, and fell, and eventually was swallowed up by the dark.
Mach and Aera watched the burning wood fall into the darkness.

Wow, that's a looong way down. But I don't think we have much of a choice other than going down these stairs...

I think you're right, Aera. What do you all think?

Before anyone could answer, a small window opened up in front of Machman, which displayed Mazer's face.

[Hey Mach, if you decide to go down those stairs, your Overwatch Sensor Drones can help light the way.]

I see, thanks Mazer.

A pair of sensor pods darted towards Mach and Aera from their previous locations in the darkness, and hovered over their right shoulders before they shined a bright beam of light towards the ground in front of them.

Anyone need a light? I can have these hover next to you and help keep your hands free.

Three additional pods floated down towards the group, and each one stopped a few feet in front of Aegir, Rainfall, and Arachne as they awaited orders from Mach.
((Bump))
((BAMPU!!))