Balloon Partners

While Shisho had fallen to the ground, picked himself up and transferred the scattered data of the enemies, Djinni could only stare at him with big sparkly eyes. Turning away from him in secrecy, she opened an audio link with Na'im and excitedly moved her fists up and down in front of her chest for some time until she accidentally hit her massive chest and stopped. "Hey hey!" Djinni shouted over the private link, despite messing up her motions she was still excited, only she and anyone outside of the PET could hear, "Let's give him that chip again!" Bringing the spinning motion Shisho had made back into her thoughts she turned her sparkling eyes to him again, but her eyes had a sense of mischief and excitement in them that could've been seen as good or bad.

Fhyre crawled around the floor, picking up remnants of the viruses for team Djinni and was just being lazy. Once she was finished she dragged herself towards the remaining Meteor Knight. The knight raised its shield, bumping it against Fhyre's fist before vanishing in a flash of fire.

Na'im leaned over towards Rini in the real world, hoping it wouldn't be seen as an awkward gesture and explained to her what was going on on the screen of her PET. Guiding her attention to his PET, he showed a similar scenario was going on and showed her an empty chip. Having a few spare ones, he handed one to Rini and showed her how to get the chip data onto the chip. he had ignored Djinni's previous requests, figuring the scenario was not something Shisho wanted to repeat.

Happily Djinni jumped at Shisho and, after removing the flames from her right glove, took hold of his sleeve while dragging him forwards. "Let's play some more, student!" she exclaimed excitedly, holding Shisho behind her as she dragged. Without the possibility of Shisho having his eyes on Djinni's face he had no chance at seeing the malicious intent twinkling in her eyes.

[[Ready for Battle 2]]

Dragging Shisho along, Djinni progressed through the network for a while until they came across more viruses. They were located across a fair stretch of rough looking terrain, where a wary Moloko was investigating the cracked panels. Two more of the virus stood behind it, waiting as their friend tested the panels. A small virus sporting a hat and sunglasses strolled up behind the sheep and waited there as well. A moment later, the Moloko pawing the cracked panel let out a cry as the terrain collapsed and subsequently noticed the approaching Navis.

The virus's cry also managed to attract a pair of Volgears from the Navis' side. All of the viruses had now noticed Djinni and Shisho, but the Molokos and BigHat across the cracked terrain seemed somewhat reluctant to cross for the time being.

MolokoA: 60HP (Fleece: 10HP) (Across cracked panels)
MolokoB: 60HP (Fleece: 10HP) (Across cracked panels)
MolokoC: 60HP (Fleece: 10HP) (Across cracked panels)
BigHat: 100HP (Across cracked panels)
VolgearA: 80HP
VolgearB: 80HP

Terrain: 70% Normal, 29% Cracked (all in one large section dividing the area), 1% Broken

Djinni.EXE: 180 HP
Fhyre.SP: 70 HP
Shisho.EXE: 150 HP

Team Battle 2 Start!

The transfer over and done with, Rini was satisfied that she had learnt another new function of her PET today. Then she silently watched and observed the two Navi interacting, very interested to see anything related to Shisho, really. She watched the glint of excitement emitting from Djinni's eyes.... And thought nothing more of it, of course.

Shisho, however, was stumped.

"U-uh, aren't you getting a little bit too overenthusiastic about this?" he started, unsure how Djinni will respond. Before he could get an answer, however, he was cut short and was dragged off to another location. "Wait just a mo-" he was about to say, before being pulled along much like a floating cushion towards... wherever they were heading next. "I can move on my own, really!" he added, more like a reassuring statement for himself rather than for the more experienced Navi.

Thankfully (?) for him, though, he spotted virii during the dragged session, and so did Rini. "Are those..." Rini breathed, wiping at her mouth as if there was drool. "SHEEP! Fluffy fluffy sheep!" she exclaimed enthusiastically again. Apparently, the child was mistaking the network as a zoo. "D'awww they're so cuuuute! I wanna get one! Maybe be friends with one!"

Then a sheep pawed and something broke.

Rini squealed even more audibly.

Somehow knowing that Rini would have that kind of reaction, Shisho made a mental note to leave the sheep-like virii at the last. Perhaps even convince one of them to be Rini's pet, or something. ... Was Rini getting into his head? No wait, she's been doing that all this while already. What was he thinking?

Amongst the commotion, though, Shisho turned and saw the pair of Volgears approaching from he and Djinni's sides. Now, that wasn't really good news. Absently, he tried to see what Rini was doing-- apparently too busy squealing for the sheep-like creatures. "Well, at least I'm free now... right?" Shisho said, eyeing the arm where he was being dragged around with earlier. Once he was sure that they were free, he went into action. Both hands lifted and aimed at the nearest Volgear, the Navigator secured both his back cables to the ground once more, ready to send and receive terrain information.

The earth spoke, it's words soft.

'false security'

And the earth glowed beneath a particular Volgear's feet, gaining extra texture before giving way into a tiny pool of magma, welcoming anything to take a dip into it. Before the terra conversion glow died down, the familiar-looking magic circle appeared once more before Shisho briefly before disappearing. An icicle hovering before him, with a wave of a hand, it was flung at high speed to the lava-laced spot of the battlefield, it's target the Volgear that was within it's vicinity, hopefully.

Then Shisho turned back to the sheep-like virii, himself attempting to resist the temptation to pet them.

Summary of actions:
1) Conjuration: Terra [Lava] - Small Terrain - Panel beneath VolgearA
2) Conjuration: Ice Needle - 20 Aqua Damage - VolgearA (+ Terrain advantage/Elemental advantage?)
3) Keeping mind in check (doing nothing)

Na'im did not share Rini's reaction to the images of the enemies at all. In fact he found her reaction to them annoying rather than cute. If anything, viruses were not cute creations and were there to be defeated by the Navigators. "I'll have to eliminate the distractions," Na'im thought to himself, going through his pack of chips to see if there was anything to use against them. He did not know much about the sheep-like viruses, never having met them, but luckily the terrain offered him a different approach. "Djinni, use this," Na'im said as he slotted a single chip into the PET.

Djinni had let go of Shisho after he inquired about it, smiling beneath her mask, and patiently looked at him while loading the chip data. "Changing the terrain again? So indirect," her voice chimed in her mind, but then noticed the chip she was given and realized she was supposed to do the same. "Na'im, this is lame!" she shouted at him, but realized there was no other option. "Fhyre, take care of Shisho," she told the Support Program who had been resting next to her. She closed her hand and executed the data, causing a small metallic sphere to appear in her hand as she opened it again. With a great swing she launched it into the air, where it grew and grew and eventually returned to the earth like a meteor. The metal made a loud 'clang' as it reached the ground again, as Djinni had not been targetting any of the enemies but rather the already broken panels the sheeps were standing on.

Fhyre just kept her sight on the cable-attached Navi, resting on one hand while putting the other two hands together. Paying attention to the path of the icicles Shisho had created and thrown, she put her third hand to her other hands and quickly generated a ball of flames. She pushed it away from her, at the Volgear, then nodded her core in approval of the attack. However no other attacks were launched at the enemies, except Djinni who had received more chips from Na'im. Turning to Shisho, she saw the Navi simply do nothing at all. Fhyre was only a Support Program, but even she realized just standing still was not a bright idea. Grabbing the earth below her, Fhyre swung herself at Shisho's front and put herself in a guardian's position as her three hands tactically formed a web to get all attacks towards herself.

While Fhyre guarded, Djinni attacked as she was given two extra chips to mess with. Slamming her fist into the panel below her, she reached out to a chunk of it which was swiftly reformed the moment she pulled her hand out again. The bits and pieces of the panel that she had grabbed formed canister of lava rock around her hand which was going to be the cannon used for the next attack. Flames started emerging from the cracks of the canister until a wave of fire erupted from the Lava Cannon chip had executed. But she was not finished yet as she took a jump to her left while slamming her fists together, causing the make-shift cannon to break apart and fall to the ground. Once she landed she immediately reeled her right fist back and literally punched a wave of flames at the Big Hat virus. As she reeled her fist back again, she passed her left hand along it to refuel the flames and immediately struck again at the same virus. Flames teared the air apart in front of her and Djinni panted quietly through her mask. Despite her energetic movements, even she had limits.

Starting off, Shisho turned to the Volgears beside his team, and started working on getting the Volgears out of his sight, while Djinni turned to the Moloko group. Both were relatively successful in doing their part, with Shisho taking out one Volgear assisted by Fhyre. The Moloko were surprised by the increase in cracked paneling, and two of them accidentally fell into a hole made by the cracking. The rest were huddled up in a corner, not knowing what to do. The remaining Volgear opened its maw to attack, but was interrupted with a SURPRISE CANNON from Djinni. The BigHat from the other side of the cracked flooring threw a bomb at the group before being pummeled into bits by Djinni's fiery fists. As the sphere rolled across the floor, it beeped intermittently, anxious to release its contents.

MolokoA: 60HP (Fleece: 10HP) (Across Cracked panels)
MolokoB: 60HP (Fleece: 10HP) (Fell into Broken)
MolokoC: 60HP (Fleece: 10HP) (Fell into Broken)
BigHat: DELETED
VolgearA: DELETED
VolgearB: DELETED

Flash Bomb: 20 HP (Near Djinni)

Terrain: 55% Normal, 40% Cracked (all in one large section dividing the area), 10% Broken

Djinni.EXE: 180 HP
Fhyre.SP: 70 HP
Shisho.EXE: 150 HP

Taken aback by the need to be defended by Fhyre, Shisho just shook his head at the support program. "You need not worry about me; I'm fine on my own," the Navigator said, accidentally tuning into the action of the other fiery Navigator on the field. There was much red, fire and destruction going on there that he couldn't really grasp what happened.

How different from his approach.

Of course, not everything moved slow to suit Shisho-- as a sphere-like object rolled near Djinni. "Oh, hey, look Shisho! Have one of these!" Rini hollered, slotting in a chip suddenly out of nowhere, herself getting preoccupied and giddy still at the fact that she was doing something interesting together with her Navigator. And the chip she slotted in was...

... A Rageclaw...

... That Shisho didn't really like. In fact, he did not favor anything related to close combat... Or anything combat-related, for that matter. Not knowing what to do with the chip data, but not willing to let it go to waste, Shisho's eyes flickered over to where Djinni was. Almost without a thought, he waved a hand towards his ally's direction, the RageClaw data transferred via the underground (under panel?) connections to the fiery Navigator. "Whatever it is, be sure to make good use of it!" Shisho called out, his attention slowly turned to the virii once more. He saw that some of the Molokos were stuck in holes, and decided it was best to end the virii's lives.

Perhaps an instinct of a Navigator was kicking in, because that wasn't what Rini wanted-- she wanted to keep one of those fluffy sheep as a pet. He felt somehow that he was going to regret the decision made now and today, but it is best to remove the virii from being a threat to the network, first.

... That was cheesy.

Both hands lifted in concentration once more, the floating figure tuned out everything save for the trapped Molokos, and the complicated network flowing beneath him. His intention was simple: To seal those holes housing the virii. Shisho emitted a quick, blue glow before it was carried down the cables and disappearing into the unknown beneath the panels.

The earth spoke, it's words soft.

'Watery grave'

... And the panel in which one of the Molokos were trapped in started to shift, the broken pieces dissipating into nothingness. There was a very brief moment of silence or solace before the panel was replaced with a sea terrain.

'Nourishing Soil'

The other trapped Moloko's panel also started to seal up, but instead of water replacing the emptied contents, mud threatened to spill and overflow from the fixed network panel dimension. However, much like all the other terrain changes Shisho had done, it raised quickly... but stopped at the right volume that it didn't seem to overflow.

It was something magical to behold, indeed.

On the other hand, way out of the network and in the real world, Rini was frustrated, annoyed, irritated, and was chewing on a cushion.

Turn summary:-
1) RageClaw1 chip transferred to Djinni
2) Conversion: Terra [Sea] - MolokoB - 50DMG from terrain change?
3) Conversion: Terra [Mud] - MolokoC - 50DMG from terrain change?

"Let's increase the temperature some more," Djinni said as she playfully tossed the flames from one arm onto the other. The fire embracing her hands and feet kept flying around before vanishing while the source remained eternal and strong. But then she saw Shisho's hand wave out towards her and before he had spoken his words, Djinni's thought pattern realized it was a command for her to attack. "Who does he think he is for commanding me... Well, I'll show him what I can do!" Djinni thought and began a sprint towards the enemies but quickly tripped over the piece of data Shisho had sent, hearing his words in her fall downwards, and slammed with her face against the floor. Remaining in this position, her flames having vanished, she muttered inaudibly to herself and eventually slammed her fists on the ground to get herself up. After she got back onto her feet, she turned to the chip data and loaded it into her right hand. Flames wildly emerged and took the form of a claw while Djinni's database gave her the info about the chip she had just received from Shisho. Looking at the claw she remembered the time where she had relinquished the thought of using close combat chips, but with Efreet having worked on her system she felt like she could go through with this. "It'll be fine, Shisho!" she exclaimed, waving the claw around happily at him, also suddenly realizing his 'command' was just a way of sending the chip data.

Fhyre, still at Shisho's feet, looked up at the Navi after he had told her he didn't need the protection. While reluctant about this, she decided it was better for him to figure out things on his own without relying on others. One of the three hands formed into a thumbs up, while the other two hands dug into the ground to drag her core back towards Djinni.

"OK, time to get close and personal with this here chip!" Djinni exclaimed after Fhyre reached her position and once again began a sprint towards the viruses. But as if fate wanted to pick on her, she quickly managed to trip over the Flash Bomb the hatted virus had thrown. The only thing that got 'close and personal' were Djinni's face and the ground. In a quick move, Djinni stood up again after tripping and stared at the bomb. "Screw this!" she shouted and grabbed the bomb fiercely with her clawed hand, "I'll try this close combat thing later!" And with these final words she effortlessly threw the bomb in an arc at one of the sheep viruses.

Having seen the awkward moves of her mistress from behind, Fhyre decided that while Djinni was busy with tripping over things she would commence the attacks. Fhyre's three hands slammed their wrists together and formed a cylinder which quickly started to spin around. Fire from her hands collected in the center and formed a ball, which was then launched at one of the enemies by a quick thrust. Shortly after this, Fhyre commenced to form another which was launched as well but with a different target.

Still in a furious uproar, Djinni angrily hit the ground twice with her foot. "This time I won't trip, OK!" she exclaimed, "My face does not like the ground at all!" Realizing, however, that her previous actions would've made her look rather stupid and dumb she turned her eyes towards Shisho and pointed at him. "Don't you dare laughing!" Djinni shouted at her ally, before turning towards the enemies again.

"Are you finally going to attack, Djinni?" Na'im asked, having seen his Navi continue to stumble around the battlefield. He had already taken two chips from his pack in order to send the data to Djinni, but was waiting until she was in any state of listening to him. "Get to them so you can only see one," he told her, thinking she wouldn't have trouble figuring that out.

"Ah right!" Djinni exclaimed, then raised her hands in a way that hid two of the sheeps behind them. She remained in this pose for a few more seconds before realizing this was dumb. It was only at this point she realized Fhyre had attacked before she could do anything. "Who is the master here..." thought, somewhat annoyed, but then, "Wait! Maybe she did it so I could perform the final strike!" Grinning wide behind her mask, she waved away the flames of the claw and turned on all flames from her outfit. With a strong blast of flames from her boots, she launched herself in an arc around the Moloko viruses until she could only see one of them, figuring that was the point she would have to be at to be aligned to them. "I can figure it out if I think!" Djinni exclaimed at herself, then loaded the first chip Na'im had sent her. Raising one hand towards the sky, holding one finger upwards, she created a fiery meteor floating above her. A beam emerged from the meteor, piercing the floor before Djinni's feet, and swept across the panels ahead of Djinni. Lava started to emerge from the chasm the beam had made, eventually covering the entire panel along the line the beam had attacked. With the meteor having ended its assault, Djinni slammed her fist directly into it. The crag-like exterior of the meteor surrounded Djinni's hand in a cylinder, containing and focusing the flames between them, while she aimed her weapon at one of the sheep-like viruses. "Vanish in my flames," Djinni muttered to herself and fired a blast of flames from her weapon at the Moloko.

Put off by the weapon transferred to him by his operator, Shisho gave up the RageClaw to his comrade, who was more than willing to let off a bit of steam with the offering. Throwing back the bomb from earlier with gusto, Djinni landed a hit on the lone Moloko on the field, knocking off its fleece and essentially turning it into a bald... whatever it was. Anyway, Shisho got to doing what he did best and filled up some of the broken terrain with a little water-- and nearly drowning the viruses in the process. Fhyre helped a bit by firing some attacks, too. The last Moloko, now bald, could do nothing as Djinni's performance reached its peak, and turned it to cinders.

Rini's cushion would have been deleted as well if the girl had been in cyberspace, but all it could do was endure the torture. THE TORTURE.

MolokoA: DELETED
MolokoB: DELETED
MolokoC: DELETED
BigHat: DELETED
VolgearA: DELETED
VolgearB: DELETED

Terrain: 55% Normal, 40% Cracked (all in one large section dividing the area), 10% Broken

Djinni.EXE: 180 HP
Fhyre.SP: 70 HP
Shisho.EXE: 150 HP

-- TEAM BATTLE 2, VICTORY!! --

-- REWARDS --
Shisho: 450 Zenny, 3 FXP
Djinni: 500 Zenny, 22 BugFrags, 3 FXP

Fhyre scurried around the surface, collecting the fallen remains of the viruses, while Djinni walked over to Shisho. "You did good there, kid," she said once she was standing near him. "We had better not keep dawdling and get a move on!" Djinni exclaimed happily, but then the Navi started to emit a sudden ringing tune. She was, however, not bothered by it as it was standard for her and simply turned towards Na'im while a window appeared on the PET's screen.

"Huh," Na'im started as he read the message, "Is it time already?" He checked the time and suddenly realized they had begun with NetBattling later than expected. "Djinni, let's leave the Network. Shisho, you should too," Na'im said to his Navi and her companion, then turned to Rini in the real world. "It's already time for your nap, Rini," Na'im said as he initiated the process of jacking Djinni out and into the PET.

Djinni merely pouted, thinking that they had only started, but then she turned to look at Shisho. "You two should know enough to be alright on your own," Djinni told her ally and, after she removed all flames from her outfit except the flames from her circlet, pointed with her thumb at the area behind her. "There's enough proof there," she continued and lowered her hand, "But there's a large space for development. Improve yourself and, who knows, maybe we'll fight each other one day." Fhyre caming hopping to Djinni's side and once they were reunited the Navi slammed her fists together to embrace the two of them in flames as they flew into the air and out of the network.

[Jack Out]

"Uuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuugh!" Rini pouted, throwing the tortured cushion aside as she saw the cute little virii drown and deleted under the attacks. "Why did you guys do thaaaat? So evil and baaaad," she whined some more, before calming down slightly. "Shisho! Djinni!" she pointed at the screen, "It's puuuuuuuunishment!" she shouted, then was stopped by Na'im. "... Eeeeeh? Nap time already?" Rini noted disappointedly, with Shisho looking on the spectacle with helplessness. While the Navigator did feel bad on not granting his Operator's wish, he felt that it was best to made it clear that they do not go along well with virii. "Leaving the network?" Shisho blinked, checking the time. It was, indeed, Rini's nap time.

"... While this may be my first attempt at this, I believe I am confident enough to try this on my own with Rini in the future," Shisho replied to Djinni at her comment. "Though I'm not really sure if I would ever want to pick a fight with you, Djinni," he added with a tiny smile.

Giving a wave to the pair flying away, Shisho just closed his eyes as he dissolved into mist.

[Jack Out]