Friday night stroll

((From Netopia))

Beyond the hustle and bustle of the main areas of the network, a few log in points dotted the area. One of them was the target of HangMan's entrance. A streak of black, like ink rolling down a sheet of paper, shot down to the ground with nary a sound. The shadows formed up to a humanoid shape, from which HangMan stepped out. His head moved from side to side, taking in the sights while his fingers were resting in the pockets of his vest. Shall we get started? He didn't mention Holly by name, and the only response he received was in the form of a text message. It was a tried and true technique to keep her identity and connection to the Navi nebulous at best. ["Go ahead. I'll have these battlechips ready."] HangMan grinned as he sauntered off the log in portal platform, leaving a wispy trail of milky gray smoke behind him. He kept his eyes out for any movement, and hopefully some targets to practice on.

((Ready for Battle #1))
It was a dark and spooky evening in the quieter back-ways of Netopia Net. To some, the atmosphere might have been called perfect; the silence felt thick, and the air was still and cool. At first it seemed like HangMan might have the night to himself, but as he made his way through the darkened network, the sound of quiet laughter began to follow him.

It was hard to trace at first; briefly, it was a quiet giggle from behind, only to become a low chuckle off to the left. When that faded there was silence for another second or two, before a slightly higher pitched peal of laughter sounded from the shadows to his right. Movement ahead was followed by another chittered giggle, which resolved itself first into a long, swaying tongue.

More shapes faded into sight around the newly arrived navi, more tongues waggling at him in the darkness, each attached to the gleefully amused countenance of of a hovering ghost. They drifted in closer from all sides, apparently eager to get a taste of this intruder on their territory.


-=Ghostly Gathering=-

SpookyA: 30Hp
SpookyB: 30Hp
SpookyC: 30Hp
SpookyD: 30Hp

-=Noose-Themed Newcomer=-

HangMan.Exe: 100Hp

-=Terrain=-

All Normal

-=Battle 1, Begin!
As HangMan continued along, he started to hear something behind him. It sounded like... laughter. Soon he started to hear more, coming from each cardinal direction relative to his position and sounding as if they were approaching. HangMan neither stopped nor even slowed, all he did was adjust the cigar in his mouth, swinging it from one side of his mouth to the other. Moments later the sources of the voices revealed themselves; spectral programs with long, cartoonish tongues and impishly giddy demeanor. Holly watched as the Navi was quickly surrounded, and had her quartet of chips at the ready. However, HangMan started to chuckle, matching the Spookys' mood. "Hahaha, well glad to see this place has a sense of humor!" ["Meaning?"] Holly's message read. "Usually you don't get ghosts till aftah they've felt the end of the rope, not befoah," HangMan said with a widening, toothy grin.

"Now, though I enjoy the irony, business is at hand." HangMan said as he removed his fingers from his vest pockets, and his arms went down to his sides. As if on cue, his right hand and forearm formed into a cannondumb turret-style firearm. Hidden by his heavily tinted glasses, his eyes glanced down at the cannon, then to the Spooky approaching off to his right side. He quickly raised his arm and aimed the weapon squarely between the ghostly virus's large eyes before he fired off a shot. The normally small muzzle flash seemed much more severe from the reduced lighting, and the shockwave caused the twisting trail of smoke from his cigar to break temporarily. As the cannon started to disappear, HangMan made a request. "How about that RageClaw?" Holly uploaded the chip in lieu of responding.

Before his right hand completely turned to normal, his gloved fingers rapidly twisted and stretched out before curving slightly inwards and flattened out into a set of sinister looking, sickle-like claws. "Hmm!" HangMan very briefly admired the weapon before he took a significantly larger step forward before kicking off to rapidly close the gap between him and the Spooky ahead. Once he got in range, he drove his right hand and to the left in a diagonal slash, hoping to cleave the floating virus into several thin slices, or simply pop it like a balloon.


ACTIONS:
1. Cannon: SpookyB (60dmg + Knockback) (A)
2. Movement: close in on SpookyA
3. RageClaw1: SpookyA (40dmg + Slashing) (B)
For the navi that was more used to making ghosts, rather than busting them, HangMan was at least good-humoured and eager to get right to the end of the rope, so to speak. His reaction was more sudden than any of the approaching spooks had expected, and the right hand one most definitely wasn't planning on being the navi's first target for attack; there was a momentary look of surprise in its eyes as the cannon snapped up, before the resulting shot obliterated the virus neatly.

The flash of light in the darkness cast an eerie portrait of the executioner, a single burned moment of perfect certainty, before the flash faded and the battle moved on. The other ghosts stopped hesitating, and curtailed their laughter, moving in for their due tastes, but HangMan was already beginning to move. The left hand Spooky phased in and made a broad tongue-sweep, but it caught only the air where its target had been; HangMan was already closing with the foremost virus, darting up and reaping the shocked ghost before it could react.

Behind him, The rear-ward spooky made its attempt last, appearing directly behind the grim navi and slurping him with absolutely no respect for his image, or the atmosphere. The tongue licked messily up his back, and even curled around at the top getting ghostly saliva all over one frame of his glasses. No respect at all.


-=Ghostly Gathering=-

SpookyA: DELETED
SpookyB: 30Hp [Slightly behind and to HangMan's left]
SpookyC: DELETED
SpookyD: 30Hp [Directly behind HangMan]

-=Noose-Themed Newcomer=-

HangMan.Exe: 90Hp

-=Terrain=-

All Normal
HangMan's quick assault started off well, as he quickly dispatched half of the Spooky gang with relative ease. His grin remained as he cleaved the 2nd Spooky to ribbons, but then felt something hit his back. The impact was noticeable but not particularly painful, but it dragged its oozing tongue up his back, and nearly knocked the wide-brimmed hat off his head. His grin faded only for a brief moment just prior to spinning on his on his left heel as he swung his still clawed right hand in a wide, horizontal arc in an attempt to punish the Spooky for it's transgression against him.

Having spun 180 degrees and the Spooky hopefully felled, he looked at his claws before pointing his index finger upwards, and pushed it up against the underside of his hat's brim to readjust it to its normal position. "... uncouth spirit." As he did so, the noose over his left cuff slipped down and over his hand, but didn't continue to spool out and just left dangling from the underside of his wrist. He glanced to the last remaining Spooky to confirm its position, then flicked his left hand and arm towards his target. The noose seemed to catapult itself towards the Spooky and rapidly spool out of HangMan's sleeve. On its shallow curve-like path its loop expanded almost like a lasso, rigged to constrict and cinch down once it encompassed the target. If HangMan managed to snare the Spooky, some of the woven fibers in the noose would've started to glow red, indicating the noose was starting to siphon energy from the target and route it to the Navi's body.

"Shotgun next, please." he requested while his vampiric noose continued to glow while holding its prey still. Holly blinked before she grabbed the requested chip and slotted it in, then went back to intently watching the battle. "Much more entertaining than school..." she thought to herself. HangMan's hand fragmented before it shrunk down to its default state, but was then holding an old-looking shotgun in his hand. The weapon had two, stunted barrels, as if their lengths were cut down for ease of wielding, and a pistol-like handle with no stock to speak of. HangMan pointed the weapon towards the hopefully ensnared Spooky, and his grin widened, showing more of his perfectly white teeth. Without saying a word, he pulled the trigger. A loud boom echoed through the area, accompanied by a decent flash and a spray of sparks out of one of the barrels. The weapon launched a barrage of tiny projectiles which surged over the area ahead, and hopefully gave the Spooky a brief lesson in perforation. With potentially nothing left to ensnare, HangMan retracted the noose, which rapidly slithered back into his sleeve while the loop of the noose snapped back over his wrist.


ACTIONS:
1. RageClaw1: SpookyD (40dmg + Slashing) (B)
2. Leeching Loop: SpookyB (15dmg Wood LifeDrain + Stun + 2TCD)
3. Shotgun: SpookyB (50dmg + Spread1) (A)
HangMan took the assault on his person in stride. In particular, his stride contained spinning about to rake the offensive ghost from existence before it could do anything else unseemly.

Preparing itself to make another attempt at thee grimly-themed navi, the last remaining spooky was caught a little bit off guard by the sudden turn that threw a noose over its head and around the place that might have approximated its neck. This particular attack actually seemed to cause something of a disturbance to the ghost, and rather than attack, it shook left and right, as though trying to escape for a moment, before the draining fibres set to work on it.

When the captivating noose fragmented at last, the little ghost shook itself off, then made an odd gesture, which sent a bolt of patch-work energy over its form and appeared to restore the stolen energy. Unfortunately for the spooky, this small act of defiance wasn't enough to save it from what came next, and HangMan's shotgun blast swiftly sent it to whatever oblivion awaited deleted viruses.

Silence returned to the oppressive night.


-=Ghostly Gathering=-

SpookyA: DELETED
SpookyB: DELETED
SpookyC: DELETED
SpookyD: DELETED

-=Noose-Themed Newcomer=-

HangMan.Exe: 100Hp

-=Terrain=-

All Normal

-=Battle 1, victory!=-

600z, Invis1

Quote (Invis1)

Effect: Invisibility
Accuracy: S
Description: Grants the user invisibility. This reduces the chance of being hit by non-Seeking attacks by 50%.
Duration: One turn
Element: Null


With that, the battle ended and the network's atmosphere returned to its quiet, slightly eerie state. HangMan's attacks all worked well, not bad for his first ever battle. HangMan did cheat a bit though, he went through a few virus busting tutorials online while he waited for Holly to get back from school. The Navi took a long draw on his cigar, causing the tip to glow an even brighter orange than usual. "Well, that's that." he mused, smoke flowed out of his mouth as he spoke and exhaled. The inky bluish-grey smoke hung in the still air, and took its sweet time to dissipate while HangMan gathered up the spoils. A token amount of zenny, as well as a peculiar datapacket.

"Hm.." He plucked the data from the floor, and examined its contents. ["What is it?"] Holly texted. HangMan's grin widened in amusement. "We done got ourselves a new battlechip, a quite useful one at that. Nah I suppose you have them blank chips with ya? Go ahead and slot one through while I download this, should write the data to the chip." Holly listened to HangMan's instructions, then opened one of the drawers on her desk. A neat stack of blank chips laid inside, still wrapped in a protective plastic sleeve. She peeled the top open and flicked one of the chips out on the desk before she placed the extras back in the drawer. She saw a flashing notification of the download, and a prompt requesting her slot in a blank chip. She did so, and noticed the chip didn't pop back out as quickly as she'd seen before... After a second or so, the chip popped back out, but this time with a simple logo 'printed' on the front to indicate the chip data it contains. "Hm, so that's how it works. Interesting," she said to herself while she examined the chip held between her thumb and index finger.

Back in the network, HangMan had his eyebrows raised in anticipation as the download had lingered a bit before Holly slotted in a blank chip. Upon receiving the notification of the successful data write, HangMan adjusted the cigar in his mouth and resumed his leisurely pace as he ventured further into the network.

((Ready for Battle #2))
Ghosts successfully busted, and his rewards claimed, HangMan wandered further into the night, but all did not remain peaceful in this area of the netopia nets for long. Moving shapes, low to the ground in the darkness began shuffling towards the navi cautiously, stopping every few moments in a series of stealthy tableaus. The effect would be more subtle if not for the comically fake song-birds sticking up from each of their otherwise appropriately dark-coloured camo coverings.

As they shuffled closer, another virus, further off, perked up and looked towards HangMan's direction. It was only a little virus, and it looked like it was wearing a back-turned baseball cap as it approached. Just off to the side, slightly behind the sneaking Dynamites, as sinister-looking hand twitched and turned to 'face' HangMan. It lifted to extend its forefinger upward, and waved it back and forth, then pointed towards him, finger-gun style, and 'shot'.

The silent night was probably about to get -very- noisy.

-=Boom Squad=-

DynamiteA: 100Hp
DynamiteB: 100Hp
BombBoy: 80Hp
Handy: 80Hp

-=Late-Night Stroller=-

HangMan.Exe: 100hp

-=Battle Field=-

All normal

-=Battle 2, Start!=-
It didn't take long for the previous commotion to attract other undesirables, namely in the form of two squat figures attempting to stealthily sneak towards the Navi. Their nearly laughable camouflage betrayed their carefully sneaky movements, however; HangMan saw them approaching a good ways out. "Moah company, it seems. Well at least I don't have to go around huntin' for em," HangMan hissed under his breath, causing smoke to ooze out from the sides of his mouth and trail behind him as he continued his leisurely pace. A couple steps later he saw a total of 4 had intercepted his path, and were jonesing for a fight.

He slowed his pace slightly as he spoke to his NetOp, formulating his battle plan. "I suggest the RollingLog chip, and we can give that Invis a shot." He picked his words carefully; Holly gave the orders up to this point, so he expected resistance if she felt the roles switched. Holly picked up on the Navi's passive request, and couldn't help but have half a grin on her face as she slotted in the chips. Her position of power was uncontested, just the way she likes it. A stream of data extended vertically a couple feet away from the Navi, and quickly materialized into a sturdy-looking cylindrical log. As if on cue, the log fell flat against the ground with a dull *thunk,* and bounced once as HangMan got within one pace. Still moving, he only exaggerated the stride of his right foot to wind up and quickly deliver a sturdy kick. The kick sent the log hurtling over the ground towards the squat Dynamite viruses, rumbling as it rolled. HangMan aimed his kick towards both viruses, as he planned to use the log's wide span to give them both a good thrashing.

He also expected the log to bounce back from the impact, to which he'd respond with a similar kick from either his left or right leg, which ever best matched with is continued stride. He tried to kick the log with the bottom of his shoe, to keep the log from popping up into the air and possibly bounce over his significantly shorter targets. He didn't expect the log to return after this kick, but he did expect to see the Invis chip taking effect. A quick glance downwards at his legs affirmed his expectations, as his feet and legs started to fade into the background in an effect similar to water seeping into soil. The effect rose upwards, with the last aspects of his appearance to disappear being his hat, circular glasses, and oddly enough his toothy grin. Quickly enough his entire body disappeared from sight, even the steady trail of smoke ended abruptly as if he quickly snuffed his cigar. [[i]I like this chip...[/i]] HangMan mused as he sized up his next targets.


ACTIONS:
1. RollingLog1: DynamiteA, B RollingLog1 x1 (50dmgWood + Ground Attack + Wide Attack (2) + Double Attack) (C) [+5dmg element bonus]
2. RollingLog1: DynamiteA, B RollingLog1 x1 (50dmgWood + Ground Attack + Wide Attack (2)) (C) [+5dmg element bonus]
3. Invis1: HangMan.EXE (1-turn invisibility)
As the battle lines were drawn, one of the less-than-stealthy Dynamite's swiftly drew a more worrisome line, reaching out from under its camouflage to set a remote mine that cast a long laser trip beam across the field, running diagonally in front of HangMan.

The noose-navi was making moves of his own, setting loose a rolling log that he sent careening for them both in return. For a moment, it looked like the log was about to rumble across the newly established beam, but in what would have been poor luck at any other time, and in this moment was almost inconceivably lucky, the log bounced, lifting jauntily over the laser line and continuing along to smack the first dynamite clean in whatever served as its completely concealed face. Alas, the other end of the log was still raised a little from the bounce, and it missed connecting with the second Dynamite, who responded by laying out his own trip laser as well. This one was at a steeper angle across the field, creating a broad triangular shape that granted HangMan most of the field still to work with, but still annexed him off from directly reaching any of the viruses without crossing one of them. It did also prevent the viruses from reaching him, too, of course.

HangMan's second kick looked like it was travelling smoothly towards its targets, but as it got close it crossed over the second trip beam, causing a line of loud, fierce explosions to chain down the line, lighting up the night briefly and throwing smoke everywhere. Fortunately for HangMan, the log was the only thing that got charred.

By the time the smoke cleared, HangMan himself was nowhere to be seen. The BombBoy Summoned a large, heavy-looking explosive at the other end of the field, still separated from where HangMan had last been sighted by the one remaining laser line, then peeked out from around the bomb to try and guess where it needed to push it to. The Handy, likewise, 'looked' left and right in the quizzical manner of disembodied hands. It seemed to make up its mind about something, then portalled, popping up to set a bomb of its own, just on the near side of the trip line to where it had last seen the invisible navi. that done, it backed off again, back until it almost bumped into HangMan himself, but it didn't appear to notice at all as it flexed its fingers eagerly. This bomb was craftily not displaying its countdown, and instead showed a large red 'X' where the numerals should have been.


-=Boom Squad=-

DynamiteA: 45Hp [Mid-left of field]
DynamiteB: 100Hp [Mid-left of field]
BombBoy: 80Hp [Cover behind BoyBomb][2 Movements away]
Handy: 80Hp [Near-centre, near HangMan]

-=Late-Night Stroller=-

HangMan.Exe: 100hp [Invis - 1 turn]

-=Battle Field=-

All normal

-=Objects=-

BoyBomb: 5hp [StoneBody][2 Movements away]
DudBomb: 1Hp [Mid-centre, near side of the laser trip]


TripBombA: 30Hp [Mid left field, casting a laser line diagonally across the field towards HangMan]
TripBombB: Detonated


HangMan's RollingLog chip didn't perform as well as he would've liked, but it did serve to demonstrate the function of one of the tripmines deposited on the floor ahead. His eyebrows raised in realization, and began to craft a devious plan as the invis chip took effect. Unfortunately the others started to materialize a number of oddly shaped explosives as well, but at least they appeared to be unable to locate the well-dressed Navi. He began to make his way towards the disembodied hand-shaped virus, minding the projected beam from the remaining active tripbomb. [[i]I may be invisible,[/i]] he thought to himself as he crept along quietly, [[i]but I ain't takin' the chance with them fireworks of theirs.[/i]]

If possible, HangMan would've walked around the back side of the tripbomb, opposite the side emitting its long crimson trip beam. Otherwise, he would've simply widened his stride to carefully step up and over. As he did so, he sent a quick text-only message to his NetOp. [[i]"I'd like to use the RageClaw, if you don't mind."[/i]] Holly's eyes darted amongst the remaining foes, her brow furrowed. She had already seen the RageClaw's effectiveness before, but these enemies were much less fragile than the spectral viruses they faced before. She she grabbed the chip as requested, and slotted it in; ["What are you planning..."] she said under her breath. Unseen to even himself, the fingers of his right hand began to stretch and curve into a set of sharpened claws, pre-honed to rip through data with relative ease.

However, he had a different idea in mind. Once receiving the notification the chip upload and execution was complete, he silently reached down and attempted to pluck the Handy virus from the ground. He used the extended lengths of his fingers to create a "cage" of sorts as he tried to prevent its possible escape, before he snapped his fingers shut like a cruelly-designed animal trap. If he managed to secure the virus in his sharpened, stabby grip, he would've then lifted the Handy up before casually casting away the virus with an underhand toss, but with the intent of chucking the virus directly into the path of the armed tripbomb's beam. The resulting explosion, he hoped, would be enough to bring down the virus and possibly reduce the number of bomb-makers. He still had a long way to go to deal with these foes, and his invisibility was likely on the verge of wearing off...


ACTIONS: (Invis1 active, times out at the end of this turn)
1. Movement: Get within melee range of Handy
2. RageClaw1: Handy (40dmg + Slashing)
2. RageClaw1: Handy to TripBombA (20dmg + Impact)
The good news for his careful plans, was that HangMan didn't even need to worry about getting past any annoying trip lines to get his claws on the Handy. the manually-gifted enemy portalled to place a CountBomb with an actual time clock just next to its first one, then back off, right into HangMan's clutches. As if having some last moment of sixth sense, the Handy turned just before he grabbed it, locking fingers with the executioner's invisible claws in an almost comical hand-to-hand struggle. It didn't go well for the handy regardless, however, as the bladed edges severed deeply into the gaps between the hand's fingers. That probably really hurt.

While he struggled to control the hand-virus, the Dynamite shuffled up a little and reached out to place another mine, tossing this one over to the far side of the field, where it landed with a click, and cast its beam back towards the Dynamite in a line that passed just to its side, between HangMan and itself. The second Dynamite followed suit, though it was more conservative with its placement, setting a new mine nearby instead. The beam cast a straight line out across the field, landing directly on the DudBomb that the handy had previously set, though nothing immediately happened. It seemed as though the beams wouldn't trigger on an object that was already there when they were set.

As this was going on, the distant BombBoy began to push his own heavy payload across the area. He didn't know where HangMan was exactly, but pushing it into the centre, from his far edge, would be closer no matter what, so that's what the virus did.

A few things happened all at once. HangMan's grapple or the Handy served him well, and by locking grip with the invisible claws, the virus only helped to seal its fate. The navi lifted and threw, sending the virus sailing away to land, with precision, on the first diagonal trip line. The Boybomb, meanwhile, had pushed his bomb to the middle of the area, and in doing so, pushed the explosive right across the furthermost beam.

Both charges erupted at once, sending their uniform marching lines of fiery explosion across the field. the Handy was reduced to ash, and the BombBoy's Boybomb took a mild scorching before the sound and lights of the twin blasts faded away. The Boy seemed unperturbed by this, and likely meant to just keep on pushing, for now. If it did, though, it would probably run over the next trip line in short order. As it peeked out to get a bearing, it spied HangMan himself, his invisibility just wearing off. Now it was definitely going to come for him.


-=Boom Squad=-

DynamiteA: 45Hp [Mid-left of field]
DynamiteB: 100Hp [Mid-left of field]
BombBoy: 80Hp [Cover behind BoyBomb][1 Movement away]
Handy: DELETED

-=Late-Night Stroller=-

HangMan.Exe: 100hp

-=Battle Field=-

All normal

-=Objects=-

BoyBomb: 4hp [StoneBody][1 Movement away]
DudBomb: 1Hp [Mid-centre, end point of the new trip beam]
TimeBomb: 100Hp [Next to DudBomb, nearer to HangMan]

TripBombA: Detonated
TripBombB: Detonated
TripBombC: Detonated
TripBombD: 30Hp [Straight beam across the field, opposite DudBomb]
The dual explosions that resulted from HangMan's fatal toss were quite the sight behold, but they served to be a stark reminder of the volatility of the battlefield in which the Navi stood. Thankfully HangMan had been unscathed thus far, and further fortune came in the somewhat disorganized emplacement of additional explosives, as if the viruses didn't realize he knew how the tripbombs functioned, and how to surmount them. However, he was previously out of sight; now he saw his form bleed back into view, and open to the likely leering eyes of his foes.

His eyes, covered by highly polished pitch-black spectacles, darted between the newly placed trip bomb and the "X" emblazoned time bomb, then a plan came to his mind. Unlike it's counterpart, the "X" timebomb didn't appear to have a timed countdown. If that meant anything, it may possibly yield a different result. His curiosity started to bubble up, and two explosives rigged together with a hair trigger were just too enticing to ignore. His grin cracked and widened almost ear to ear, and it appeared he was at risk of biting through his glowing, actively smoking cigar. He crouched slightly almost like a runner on the starting blocks, then announced his resulting charge by quickly splaying his clawed fingers out, which caused the sharpened metal surfaces to utter an albeit brief metal-on-metal shriek. He kicked off, and dashed towards the virus pushing the cubic bomb along the floor.

As his dress shoes clicked loudly on the ground from his sprint, he brought his right arm back as he brought his bladed fingers together in a "knife" formation, but thanks to his already curved blade-like fingers his hand looked more like a nightmarish multi-bladed sickle. He vaulted the beam as he made a beeline towards the BombBoy, then stopped his dash and slid slightly along the ground as he got within range. Before he eventually slid to a stop, he pushed his left foot and right arm forward to strike out against the virus, and send a piercing stab just below the BombBoy's glass-like visor. If his attack rang true, and the virus was thoroughly impaled upon HangMan's hand, he would've taken a single step with his right foot to provide the proper torque to whip the spherical virus up and over his body.

He aimed to hurl the virus nearly the opposite direction of his unprovoked charge, and have it hurtle into the path of the armed TripBomb on the floor, in a similar fashion to how he'd previously dealt with the Handy virus. He hoped his throw didn't knock the wide-brimmed hat upon his head, as he didn't plan to stay there long enough to retrieve it. As soon as he hopefully sent on its potentially terminal tumble into the bombs and resulting explosions, HangMan would've done his best to cage his morbid curiosity and forgo watching the chaos unfold. He instead focused on putting a significant distance between himself and the explosives littering the field, especially since he thought he heard something click as he approached the cube-shaped BoyBomb. He placed his left hand upon the top of his head to hopefully keep his hat secure as he dashed ahead for several seconds before he finally slid to a stop and looked back. He hoped he would be greeted by fire, destruction, and viral corpses; what would the battlefield actually reveal?


ACTIONS:
1. Movement: get within Melee range of BombBoy
2. RageClaw1: BombBoy to TripBombD (20dmg + Impact)
3. Movement: Fall back past the BoyBomb
With its sights set on the once more visible HangMan, the Boy begins to push his bomb again, but the navi has other ideas and leaps the tip line nimbly before the heavy object can break it. His claws are ready, but even as her strikes out to impale the bomb-pusher, something unexpected happens. A small switch on the BoyBomb whines and pops up. Proximity sensor. HangMan has enough time to impale the Boy cruelly, before the payload detonates. There's no escaping the broad blast, not for HangMan, and not for the two Dynamites, either. Most viruses were fortunate to be safe from their own explosives, but despite this, it seemed not to hold for the blasts from others. The spiked BombBoy goes flying off his claws early, sending it not towards the trip bomb itself but in more or less the other direction; it lands just ahead of the blast front, on the line beside the ominous DudBomb.

The BomBoy was fortunate, as the blast from its own payload washed over it; it couldn't be harmed by its own explosives. Less fortunate was the fact that the pillar off explosions marching towards it, and the counter-less bomb at the end, had no such exclusion. The shaped line of blasts from the triggering trip bomb, and the large area explosion of the boybomb reached the explosion at the end of the line at roughly the same time, and it reacted with a loud beep of its own, before exploding as well. this second spherical blast would have caught Hangman too, if he wasn't already legging it away. He managed to outpace it, though, and had to deal with only the scorching from the first bomb.

The remaining TimeBomb had taken some severe damage from the twin blasts all around it, with much of its panelling shattered and some wires dangerously exposed... but it remained, and the counter clicked down to one. It on;y needed to survive a little longer before it could join its brothers in explosive goodness.

Startled by these further blasting events, one of the Dynamites put laying out trip mines on hold for a moment, to scuttle madly across the field to the other side, though the second one was less worried, and calmly reached out from under its camo to lay another mine, twisting it to lay down a diagonal trip that stretched across the field only a few paces behind HangMan's heels as he cleared the area.


-=Boom Squad=-

DynamiteA: 15Hp [Mid-left of field]
DynamiteB: 70Hp [Mid-right of field]
BombBoy: DELETED
Handy: DELETED

-=Late-Night Stroller=-

HangMan.Exe: 70hp [Towards the back of the field]

-=Battle Field=-

All normal

-=Objects=-

BoyBomb: BOOM
DudBomb: BOOM
TimeBomb: 20Hp [Right side of field][1 turn]


TripBombE: 30Hp [Left side of Field, Trip line tracing diagonally backwards]
Unfortunately HangMan ended up closer to the explosive action than previously planned; the BoyBomb had quite the sensitive fuse and dealt a significant explosion to boot. HangMan's throw was mostly foiled by the blast that nearly sent the Navi tumbling forward, it was an impressive feat for him to retain his footing, though his recovery was less graceful than he would've liked. Thankfully his undeterred attitude ultimately allowed him to escape the secondary explosions that helped ease the scales of the battle more towards his favor. After stopping, he noticed more smoke than usual, and looked back briefly before he swiped his glove hand over his left shoulder to extinguish and brush away the embers that attempted to permeate the material of his vest. "Hrmph, that'll take a bit to fix... If you could please send me the Cannon and Shotgun chips, I shall end this quickly."

His right hand creaked and snapped as his fingers returned to their default form, indicating he'd deactivated the RageClaw chip in preparation for the weapons to come. Holly promptly supplied the requested chips, then sent the Navi a quick message. ["Good, you're taking too many hits."] HangMan's cigar shifted in his mouth as he received both the chips and the message, and his grip tightened on the rapidly materialized snub-barrel shotgun in his right hand, while his left was encompassed in a CannonDumb-style turret gun. [[i]Expectin' perfection already eh? Not sure if I should be flattered or insulted.[/i]] the Navi thought with a twinge of indignation.

Eager to prove himself and save face from the minor setback, he flicked the twin-barreled shotgun forward before he extended his arm to line up a shot. The shotgun's barrels were slightly canted inwards, as opposed to being held upright and having both barrels parallel to the ground. Though he wished to simply inundate the two Dynamite viruses with fire and steel, the ominously expiring countdown of the standing TimeBomb suggested to be a more immediate threat. If the more skittish of the two Dynamites was also in his line of fire, it was simply icing on the cake. Just as he pulled the trigger of the firearm and sent a shower of energy shot hurtling down range, a brief flash of doubt appeared from the concept of disabling an explosive with a gunshot... Well, there's no turning back now. The weapon recoiled upwards and in towards his body, his arm flexed as if he was planning to point the weapon up and over his left shoulder. However, the recoil wasn't nearly strong enough to cause that much movement, instead his arm paused in front of his chest then his hand opened to drop the rapidly fragmenting weapon to the floor.

Just as the shotgun fell away, the tarnished brass noose popped from the collar around his right wrist a split second before he swiped his arm outwards in a horizontal chop-like motion. This caused the noose to erupt from his wrist and spool out with alarming speed as its loop sailed towards the other Dynamite. The loop ballooned in length like a lasso before it fell around the dynamite's position. With a quick jerk of his arm and wrist, the loop cinched down like a snare in an attempt to snare the virus in its vampiric grasp. If he'd indeed captured his target, the gaps between the braids in the noose would've started to glow red as the material hungrily drank the energy of its victim and supply it to HangMan himself.

While he attempted to drain the life from the weaker of the two Dynamites, HangMan's gaze swept the field to locate its counterpart. If need be, he would've pivoted on his right heel to keep the slack drawn on the noose from his right arm, while facing in a better position to engage his intended target. He pointed the cartoonishly sized/designed turret gun towards the center of the virus's camo-covered cap, if it was indeed headwear and not part of the virus's body. He expected the virus to dart about, so if he caught the virus stationary he would've quickly squeezed off a shot. While the resulting gunshot and muzzle flash were only marginally more intense than those belted forth from the shotgun, the recoil was significantly sharper; his arm, shoulder, and even his upper torso were jolted by the weapon's kick. However, his stance was more traditional, and the recoil was directed more or less straight back instead of back and up. A token amount of smoke oozed from the wide barrel of the cannon, as if imitating the cigar still burning lazily whilst perched in his toothy grin.


ACTIONS:
1. Shotgun: TimeBomb, DynamiteB (50dmg + Spread1)(A)
2. Leeching Loop: DynamiteA (15dmg Wood LifeDrain + Stun + 2TCD)
3. Cannon: DynamiteB (60dmg + Knockback) [+12 Assassin dmg]
With most of the fireworks having died down, HangMan made his first order of business the most sensible one, and swiftly blew apart the badly damaged time bomb before it could do any more harm. With that, he was left with just the not-exactly stealthy viruses, and their worrisome but not as immediately threatening trip mines.

The buck-shot blasted clean through the wreckage of the bomb, but the Dyanmite behind it wasn't quite close enough to catch a helping itself. It reached out from under its camouflage to put another mine directly in front of itself, twisting it as though trying to land the laser beam directly on HangMan. It couldn't quite do it though, and the light line traced the ground less than a step or two to his left. While it was doing this, the gallows-navi was making short work of its friend, lassoing it with his noose and swiftly sucking the very life out of it. The Dynamite could be seen to struggle briefly beneath its camouflage covering, bound like a victim in a sack, before it went limp and collapsed, the drained remnants of its data beginning to crumble.

The neglected virus soon joined its ally in destruction as the heavy cannon shot punched into the mass of its body and bowled it backwards. When it hit the ground, the covering wriggled slightly, then seemed to deflate, as though there was nothing in it at all. With both the mine-setters gone, the remaining trip mines each gave a forlorn beep, and fizzled with small puffs of smoke before fading away.

Amidst the various destroyed remnants of the explosive encounter, HangMan would find that the Dynamite that had seemed to deflate had, in fact, collapsed into a chunk of data that would make for usable chip, while most of the rest gave him assorted zenny.


-=Boom Squad=-

DynamiteA: DELETED
DynamiteB: DELETED
BombBoy: DELETED
Handy: DELETED

-=Late-Night Stroller=-

HangMan.Exe: 85hp

-=Battle Field=-

All normal

-=Battle 2, Victory!=-

Spoils: 600z, Dynamite1

Quote (Dynamite1)


HP: 100
Properties: Light
Object Damage: 100 Null + Blast2
Damage Method: Throw, Knockback, Microburst, Telekinesis, Gust
Attack Damage: 100 Null + Blast2 + Line Attack + Seeking
Accuracy: D (thrown) / A (trigger)
Description: Sets a lightweight laser trip bomb. When something crosses the sensor beam, the bomb detonates a shaped charge that blasts an entire line. It can see through Invisibility. This weapon is very dangerous to use; caution is advised.
Duration: Until destroyed or until it attacks.
Element: Null
Special: Laser TAG: Attack triggers when something moves through the targeting laser beam, no matter who or what that may be.


((I'm not 100% certain regarding the assassin bonus here; for viruses that don't attack directly, I'm not completely sure how to determine it, and I mean to check, but for this case, I'm happy to give it the benefit of the doubt, and not slow things up.))
Thankfully HangMan's attempt to prove himself brought favorable results; the battlefield had finally fallen quiet and relatively still. The cannon that encapsulated his left arm rapidly fragmented and disappeared, leaving his default limb in its place. With a quick flick of his right wrist, the rope and noose bucked off the crumpled remains of the Dynamite, then retracted back into his wrist at an alarming speed and a sound similar to the crack of a whip. With his weapons 'holstered,' HangMan rocked his neck slightly as he adjusted his vest with his gloved hands.

As he did so, he noticed a slight glow coming from the remains of the Dynamite felled by his cannon shot. The cigar in his mouth tilted up and down as his jaw moved; he contemplated whether or not he should investigate, as it wouldn't be too farfetched to figure they had further traps to spring even in 'death.' [[i]Well, fortune doesn't go to the meek.[/i]] he mused as he decided to go for it. His casual stride suggested he wasn't in any particular hurry, and paused close to the Dynamite's remains before he leaned slightly downwards, his hands in the pockets of his vest. As luck would have it, the explosive he discovered was in the form of useable battlechip data wreathed in zenny. "Heh," he muttered before he plucked the data from the ground.

It quickly disappeared as it was downloaded to the PET, a quick description and stat readout scrawled across the screen for Holly to see. A slight smirk appeared on her face as she examined the chip's respectably good stats. She swiped her finger across the screen to dismiss the readout, then started to type out a message. [Good, this'll work nicely.] HangMan read the message and responded as he brushed the sleeve of his shirt with the backs of his fingers. "You know, it may be easier for ya if you just set up a voice channel with me. Only I could hear ya. Moah... efficient, wouldn't you say?" Holly acted as if she didn't hear the Navi as she slotted in a blank chip to burn the new data. The freshly printed chip popped back out, which she plucked out with her thumb and index finger to give it a brief once-over. Though she looked occupied, she was contemplating the Navi's suggestion. He had a point, but she didn't quite like him taking such liberties, especially regarding her anonymity. The chances of someone tapping into her comms were remote, and identifying her purely from her voice were even less likely.

A few button presses later, her voice resonated in HangMan's head. ["Fine. But only with just viruses around, no more."] HangMan's grin widened, then continued down the path. "Of course," he replied, to anyone else it appeared as if he was talking to himself as he sauntered along.

((Ready for Battle #3))
Moving right along, the dark night of the Netopia nets grew chill as a strong breeze began to rise. The clear night sky, pitch dark as it was, grew closer and less clear as a broad layer of heavy clouds began to roll over, dimming even the faint star and moon lights. There was still enough gleam to go by, of course, but only just.

What the executioner saw in that gleam as he pushed forward was a strange pair of dark, faintly glowing orbs that moved towards him almost as though they were dancing. Each had a watching eye in the centre, and they gave off a faint harmonic chime as they floated, one drifting about the other, then stopping while the first did the same

Off to HangMan's right, a more suspicious-looking figure peeked out from an alleyway, looking to be mostly made of a large purple hat and broad glasses, with a thin, suited body that looked tiny by comparison. It scuttled out, looking around furtively, before setting his sights on HangMan, and giving a whistle. In itself this was a strange action; it put two fingers to a point just below where its shades rested on the giant hat, but even so, a small calling whistle emanated from the virus.

Another virus popped out of the alley alongside it, small and fuzzy, with tail that curled into a question mark. It looked to Hangman as well, then bounded forward towards him. While this was going on, two clouds in particular were drifting over the soon-to-be battlefield, much lower than the rest. Each one revealed itself to be a virus moments later, however, when they produced small umbrellas to hold over themselves, with a short glance up at the encroaching clouds. Another ironically peculiar gesture, being that it came from seemingly sentient clouds.

The wind blew stronger for a moment, chill and sharp. HangMan seemed to have his work cut out for him this time.

-=Shifty Villains=-

TwinA: 100Hp [Centre field]
TwinB: 100Hp [Centre field]
BigHat: 100Hp [Direct Right of HangMan]
Bandcoon: 60hp [Direct Right, melee range]
CloudyA: 80Hp [Back Left]
CloudyB: 80Hp [Back Right]

-=Shifty Navi=-

HangMan: 85hp

-=Shifty Setting=-

All Normal

-=Battle 3, Start!=-

((Turn splice, I swear it isn't out of laziness))

As he continued along, the already dreary night-time atmosphere became even darker, as low clouds rolled in like a black carpet in the sky and choked out nearly every source of light above. However, this helped the sauntering Navi notice the glowing pair of Twin viruses as they approached. He at first appeared to ignore the intrusion, but eventually stopped as the enemy numbers jumped to 6, leaving him vastly outnumbered. Behind the highly polished, dark tinted glasses, HangMan's eyes scoped out his foes. The racoon-like virus grabbed his immediate attention from its approach, and prompted the Navi to react like a spring-loaded trap.

With a still unchanged, and fairly unsettling grin, he whipped his right forearm out towards the virus. The tarnished brass braided noose slipped over his hand and lashed out as it spooled out from his wrist. If the Bandcoon was too close to allow the noose to adequately open, he'd have simply let the length of rope curl around his target so the noose would be caught in his open hand in the same manner as a one-handed Garrote Wire. As soon as the noose became secured in his hand or around the Bandcoon, he retracted the rope, causing it to cinch down before its fibers began to glow red as it began to siphon energy from its prey.


ACTIONS:
1. Leeching Loop: Bandcoon (15dmg Wood LifeSteal + Stun + 2TCD)
Whether the Bandcoon was coming in for hugs or thievery, what it ended up getting was a swift and discomfiting garotte. It made a distressed sound and struggled as the glowing fibres sapped him of strength, but couldn't get free of HangMan's hold (+15).

Further back, the BigHat pulled a small device out of its suit and threw it in the navi's general direction. It landed a short distance from him, and remained, a small blinking light showing that the orb was quite active. Meanwhile, the clouds moved in and one of the Cloudy viruses glanced up again and shook its umbrella. A wall of cold, heavy rain began to shower over the battlefield, and a particularly heavy sheet of it directed itself right over HangMan as it passed. Busy with his grapple, he was unable to get away from the ponderously moving downpour, and that particular torrent, as well as being freezing and wet, managed to be surprisingly painful as well (-40). The storm continued, though for now it seemed as though the rest of the rain was benign... just unpleasant.


-=Shifty Villains=-

TwinA: 100Hp [Centre field]
TwinB: 100Hp [Centre field]
BigHat: 100Hp [Direct Right of HangMan]
Bandcoon: 45hp [Direct Right, melee range][Stunned!]
CloudyA: 80Hp [Back Left]
CloudyB: 80Hp [Back Right]

-=Shifty Navi=-

HangMan: 60hp

-=Shifty Setting=-

All Normal

-=Objects=-

FlashBomb: 20Hp [just out of Melee Range]

Splice

HangMan has Two Actions remaining.