A Web Friendly Pesticide?

Oh? Sylk chimed in as she heard what the OP had to say. So then were you the one who created them as well? I'm still a little confused, really... Sylk slowly sat up to get a better veiw of Arachne and Tavi as she spoke. Leaning back on her upper arms as she relaxed herself a bit, she continued with what was on her mind.

If you don't mind, I would like to hear the whole story. I mean, it's not everyday i get the chance to fight off swarms of insects; Tasty meals don't appear this often either. Sylks tongue ran along her lower lip as she thought about the hunk of data she bit into earlier, as she mentioned it. Definitely not the most delicious thing she's eaten, but certainly not a poor meal.

Thinking about it for a moment more, Sylks eyes widened slightly as she came to a realization. You wouldn't also happen to have information on the remaining pests would you? Hmmm~? Her lower arms curled around her waist as the words left her mouth, only to be followed by a soft grin. An advantage was an advantage after all. Knowing what she might have to deal with would atleast give her some time to prepare, or so she assumed atleast.

I'll do my best to help you out regardless, but I wouldn't mind getting to know my prey a bit more. So anything you could tell me would be appreciated. Ending her sentence with a simple smile towards the two, Sylk just waited to see what the response would be.

"Um...well..." the image of Tavi looked away, obviously hesitating again. "They were for a project a month ago. They worked fine, but weren't exactly smart enough to know not to damage sensitive data, so I had to keep them confined. Then," she paused again, still not looking directly out of the screen her face had appeared in. "I guess one of them glitched, and then...well, this happened."

Something in her voice suggested that she wasn't quite giving the full story. A look back at Arachne's face suggested that she didn't quite believe it either.

"Well," the other spider said, paying it no mind as she addressed the next question. "Other than the occasional virus, you've seen and dealt with all but one. This...pretty little thing." She raised a foreleg and tapped Tavi's window, causing it to switch to a model image of a mantis-like program. "Delicious-looking, isn't it? But, they're like our dear friend the dragonfly program. I even saw one use a wood tower before you got here.

"As for the ones we've dealt with up to now, I think you know what to look out for. The scarabs are tough to crack, the moths play with poison, the cicadas make that sound you hate, and the dragonflies can actually hurt us quite a bit."

So all in all i've seen everything but the mantis then hmm? i Guess i'll looking forward to sinking my teeth into one when i get the chance. Sylk said with a look of hunger in her eyes. As she recapped everything in her head, she folded her mid arms across her stomach. Well that gives me a good idea of what to look forward to anyways.

For a moment, Sylk began to try and establish a link to the PET but there was still no signal. The sound of tapping could be heard from one of her feet as she began to grom more impatient with her obviously careless OP. I swear sometimes he just drives me crazy with his independant nonsense The spider muttered under her breath as she tried to wait patiently, an anxious feeling growing inside her as she thought about fighting more of the insects.

Well, is there anything else you think i should know before we continue? Every little bit helps when dealing with large numbers. she spoke, turning her full attention back to Arachne and Tavi. If not we can head out any time your ready. I'm sure my thick headed operator will return soon enough. He's rarely one to miss a battle, though that may be one of his only redeeming traits. Heehee~

Arachne gave a fanged smile and said "Well...I don't have anything else that I can think of. What about you, Tavi?

...Tavi?"

Arachne's operator, too, had now disappeared, to be replaced by the fiddling noises and rapid tapping of keys that signaled someone working, or searching frantically for something. Several seconds later, she returned. "I've done a scan of the area. There's only about eleven programs left, plus whatever viruses are still around. Most of those have run off though...almost like something scared them."

"I see..." Arachne closed her eight eyes for a few more seconds, before looking back at Tavi's window. If Sylk looked close enough, she might have noticed an expectant glare on her face as though waiting for the bespectacled operator to say something specific. "And do you have any idea what could have done that?"

Tavi looked away, not quite meeting the eyes of either of the navis. "Not unless there's another navi here, somewhere. Anyway," she added, quickly changing the subject, "Most of the rest of them seem to be gathering up ahead. Scans say...just past all this mess." She pointed at something in the real world the spiders couldn't see, then quickly corrected herself and pointed in the window toward the thick vegetation.

"Well then...shall we?" Arachne asked, pushing herself off the ground and extending a foreleg toward Sylk as though offering a hand for her to take. "The feast awaits~"

-

The other end of the thick vegetation opened up to the far side of the hole the spiders had descended into, where sure enough several of the remaining bug programs had gathered. Two Spidys, evidently two of the few remaining viruses in the area, had positioned themselves partway up the cliff face, chattering menacingly at a mantis program and a scarab program on the ground below. Meanwhile, up above, a cicada marked what had to be the point Tavi had mentioned, poised on the edge of the cliff face surrounded by two each of moths and dragonflies. As they cleared the edge of the vegetation, meanwhile, a second mantis landed behind them and swiped at Arachne. The spider navi ducked and avoided the attack, but in doing so drew the attention of the remaining bugs.

The battle was on.
___

Such a wonderful feast it is~ Time to dig in.

Sylk licked her lips for a moment before deciding just what to attack first. She was antsy and couldn't wait any longer. Just as she was about to make her move, she paused for a moment as she felt a sudden "connection". Took you long enough, you slacker! Any more and I would have started without you~ So, did you bring me any presents to make up for it? Hmm? The spider seemingly talked to herself until a small window popped open next to her. A Caucasian male scratching his head through his dyed red hair could be seen, with an expression as though the situation was quite troublesome to him.

"Hey hey hey. Don't get snippy at me now. You got some upgrades, and a few new toys, just relax, try em out, and be grateful, jeez..." Was all the man said tiredly, followed by a sigh. As the window closed, Sylk turned back to her prey with a gleam in her eye. Hmhmhm, I guess I'll have to play with my meal a bit, before I truly enjoy it then~ Now then... let's get started.

As the arachnid shuffled through her new upgrades mentally, she quickly realized what she needed to do. She was quite thankful actually, as a lot of her more unused techniques had been replaced with a much better selection. She would never openly admit it though.

Sylk slowly began to raise each of her arms up, only to have them dance and weave back and forth in the air before and around her. As her body moved thin semi-transparent threads began to surround her body and intertwine, seemingly coming from her fingertips. As the threads connected together and severed from his fingers, the result was a somewhat invisible armor of a strong silk, form fitting to the spider's body. Though her head and hands were left unguarded, she was still quite protected from anything that may come her way.

Now then, I guess I should make myself right at home here.

As her words trailed off, the ground beneath her feet quickly became engulfed with a high-speed spreading of her webbing. Spiraling out in all directions, it had a much larger range then any of her previous webs. In a matter of moments the whole area became her domain; A giant spider web as far as the eye could see. Quickly following up with her control over the field, she raised her upper right arm straight up calling upon a chip. The feeling was quite exquisite as she downloaded it to her body, sending a bit of a shock down her spine as it crackled from her hand to her forearm. With a slight grin, she brought it crashing down onto her web. The resulting surge of electricity spread through her threads like a wildfire in a dry forest. Elec Reel~ she whispered to herself in a pleased tone, as she witnessed its effects.

Slowly drawing her body back to a standing position, her crimson eyes looked out upon her potential prey as she debated her next move. Now focusing mostly upon the dragonflies and mantis programs, she began to dart back and forth. As she did this, Sylk flicked her upper left wrist towards her first target, suddenly copied by her mid left at another. Each motion sent out a small venom-coated needle, with enough power to briefly paralyze anything it struck. Spinning her body around two of her right arms swayed in two separate directions yet again, letting lose two more needles as she tried to keep on the move. Drawing out two more needle from her upper hands, the spider gently ran her tongue along one, before dashing them at her final targets.

If all went well, preparations for insecticide were just about ready.

Though the reappearance of Sylk's operator came just in time for the battle to begin, the bugs didn't wait for him or Sylk to prepare. The mantis behind them continued to attack Arachne, striking her as she set up a web trap facing the dropoff. She retaliated with her own blade-like forelegs, empowered by a BambooKnife from Tavi, and made two cuts into the insect's body. It swung again at her, its swiping pincer this time surrounded by a faint blue aura, but Arachne managed to dodge this enhanced strike.

Meanwhile, Sylk encased herself in silken armor, then spread a web of her own through the entire lower portion of the battlefield, eating away at the thick vegetation behind her in the process. She then sent electricity through the web, which spread through it, into the ground, and up the sheer cliff ahead, catching most of the bugs in its path as it went. The dragonflies and moths, being airborne, easily avoided the electricity by taking to the sky. One of the moths swooped over, spreading poisoned spores that Sylk dodged easily before being caught in Arachne's web. The first of the dragonflies followed suit, breaking through Sylk's armor before also being caught in the web.

The other dragonfly and moth, meanwhile, stayed put.

Satisfied with her catch, Arachne extended a rope vine into the ground which emerged atop the dropoff and ensnared the cicada, binding it in place before it could start that horrible, horrible chattering. Unfortunately, or perhaps fortunately for it, the strength of the rope binding coupled with the damage from the elecreel quickly crushed the life out of the cicada. "I think I prefer your squishing to your chirping, thanks," Arachne said, smiling as she gazed up the cliff. "Now then, if you don't mind, I think I'd like a moment alone with this one," she added, approaching the dragonfly she had caught. As she drew close, she pried apart the threads of her web just enough to stick her head through and bit the dragonfly.

Sylk, however, appeared to prefer spreading her venom by shooting needles, as while Arachne was injecting the dragonfly with her own she did just that, catching the surviving mantis, the dragonfly and moth that had chosen to remain on top of the cliff, and the dragonfly Arachne had caught. The mantis was having none of this, however, and fought off the stunning effects of the venom long enough to get a good slash in on Sylk, raking its pincer across the spider navi's body.

Sylk finished off by firing one last needle at the Scarab, which promptly turned around and attacked the cliff as soon as it was hit.

Sylk looked on towards her assailants as the threads of her previously broken armor began to weave itself back together on it's own, a hint of anger and hunger in her crimson eyes as she decided what to do with them. Her plan was already in motion and it was quite possible that she could finish her opponents effortlessly, but she also needed to replenish her energy with a meal. Before she could act out however, Sylk's operator had already loaded up an attack.

"Sylk, give this one a try. This is the perfect time to see what it can do."

Tch. You didn't have to tell me that, was planning to without your advice. Well, whatever. The results the same, heehee~. With no hesitation, Sylk lifted one of her many arms high above her head as a black data began to swirl about in her palm. She let out a cackle as the data began to disperse. Viral minions, answer my call! Smite the infected! Machine Sword! The spider cried out as multiple swod wielding virii made a sudden appearance before th stunned targets, attempting to make quick work of the bugs with two widely made slashes.

Not standing around to see the end result, Sylk was already making a mad dash towards the seemingly confused scarab, her fangs bared and looking to sink deep into it's shell. Pulling back all six of her arms as she approached she her jaws lashed out towards the prey, aiming to return to her some nutrients to recover from the earlier damage; followed up by a strong forward strike with 6 open palms to send it flying. Unknown to the beetle-like virus her saliva was thick with her venom, aiming to worsen it's glitches state.

Off course the navi didn't stop there. As soon as the scarab was dealt with it took no more then a few seconds before she raised her hand upward once more. Instead of a black mound of data however, a swirling green cloud now swirled around her arm as her sharp smile could clearly be seen. Driving it downward as hard as she could, the chip data collided with her web resulting in the mass spreading of one of her cavorts attacks. Rolling across her web attacking everythingin her domain; Spice1 covered the lower area.

Having felt she had sent enough pain out, but more so the fact she was just feeling a little lazy after three consecutive attacks, the arachnid focused her remaining stamina to focus on the enemy and worry about dodging any incoming attacks.

Sylk's machinesword combo worked phenomenally well, killing all stunned bugs save for the dragonflies, one of which died soon after from Arachne's poison. Her subsequent attack against the scarab, too, nearly crippled the armored insect. The venom she injected into it with the bite caused it to begin floating above the ground, where it struggled to move for several seconds before crashing into the cliff face and deleting one of the spiders crawling on it.

Arachne followed up this assault by summoning a massive totem pole aimed toward the virus. Flames spewed from the wooden idol's mouth, incinerating the beetle on the spot.

Sylk, meanwhile, unleashed a spread of spores into the web she had created, which did little save to finish off the trapped moth program that Arachne had ignored in favor of the scarab. She then focused on dodging, a very wise move as the dragonfly that had survived the spiders' combined assault dive-bombed her as soon as the moth was deleted. As it turned around for another pass, Arachne finished off the remaining Spidy with a rope vine and spread another WhiteWeb in front of herself.

Instead of charging the web, however, it dropped low to the now thick-vegetation-clear ground and slowly flew forward, bringing a small wave up through the ground and sending it forward over the battlefield. Sylk's armor took the hit, as well as a similarly constructed weave Arachne created at the last second. The dragonfly wasn't done, however, as it flew into a spiraling pattern around Arachne, whipping up a small cyclone that lasted long enough to deal a hit or two on her before she moved away. Giving up on the web trap, Arachne slung several strands reminiscent of razor wire forward, cutting through the dragonfly, then pulled them back and lashed out a second time to finish it off.



"Well, that wasn't so bad," Arachne remarked as the fallen dragonfly disintegrated. "If Tavi's right, there should only be one left now, plus any viruses that come to play. Right, Tavi?"

A window opened next to Arachne again, revealing a very sullen-looking Tavi. "Erm...well..." she said, once again avoiding looking at the navis. "Actually, there's...three left."

"Three? You made three of those things?" Irritation was apparent in Arachne's voice, for the first time since Sylk had run into her. "It's no wonder we're in here then, isn't it? Even I could have told you that one was bad enough."

"I didn't make them! I just dug them up and...messed around with them a bit," Tavi defended. "Every scan I did said they'd been completely inactive for over 30 years. I thought they were harmless!"

Arachne rested a foreleg over her face. "Tavi, you..." she sighed. "You should probably explain what you did to our friends. They didn't sign up for this."

"R...right..." she muttered, barely audible. "Um...Sylk...wasn't it? Your...is your operator in the greenhouse right now? This'll be easier in person."

After the adrenaline of the fight seemed to wear down, Sylks attention was caught by Arachne. As the navi listened to her partner she became a little worried. A feeling the spider wasn't exactly acustomed too. Sure the bugs were a bit difficult, but the remaining ones couldn't be THAT tough, right?

Umm... Arachne, dear... you're starting to make me worry here. Is the situation really that bad? I thought we handled these pests quite well. Sylk quipped, as she tilted her head slightly. She pondered just what could be waiting in store for her. Still if it was easier to explain in person, she had no choice but to contact Rei and have him explain everything to her later. Closing her eyes for a moment she established a visual connection with her Op. A little window popped open before her to see the male in control of her sighing.

"Yeah, i heard the gist of it. I'm just outside, give me a moment 'kay?" Rei retorted, and then began mumbling to himself just before the picture dissapeared. It seemed like this was going to be more then the two had bargained for. We'll there you have it then. You two can have your chat. I guess me and Arachne will just hold the fort and listen in, hmmm?" Sylk sat down on the web beneath her feet as her words trailed off. It only made sense for a spider, after all. She felt most calm whilst surrounded by her own web. At this rate she might need it.

Sylk was relaxing and enjoying the rest after the battles that had tasken place. A little stuffed after the meal she had partaken in, she was quite satisfied with how the mission had played out. It wasn't boring and she had free access to food pretty much whenever she wanted. Best of all, she even got to meet up with another interesting navi. The spider was most pleased. It wasn't long before Rei called out to her once more, however.

"Alright Sylk, get ready. We're heading into battle!"

Sylk was a little puzzled, as she had never really heard him get excited about battles. Atleast not enough for her to remember anyhow. It was a bit of a strange feeling, but at the same time it got her a bit more fired up to continue on. My my, aren't we getting hype'd up. What happened Rei, hmm? You're usually cowering on your own and staying silent." The arachnid teased in hopes of getting some form of amusing reaction from him, though it didn't have as much of an effect as she wanted. She wasn't dissapointed with his answer though.

"Heh, joke all you want. We got a big fight coming your way, a few strong bugs that will even give you a run for your life. Think you can handle it? heh."

" Oh dear, are you trying to make me worry?" Sylk quipped as she rose to her feet and stretching her limbs for a moment. She grinned at the thought of another tough battle, and was more than ready to prove just how strong she was. "I'm going to take care of anything that comes my way. This is going to be fun~ Shall we get going, Arachne? I'm quite anxious, heehee"

Even though in reality she was still right next to Rei, Tavi's window reappeared in the net world. "Alright, I'll...here, I've found where the remaining enemies are. They've made something of a nest for themselves in the middle of the greenhouse. I'm uploading the location now."

As Tavi uploaded the coordinates, Arachne froze up for half a second and appeared to space out, then returned to reality. "This way," she said, beckoning for Sylk to follow.

Once outside of the basin where most of the fighting so far had taken place, Arachne led Sylk through what appeared to be a large forest, though in reality only half of the surrounding flora were trees of any form, and much of the rest was populated by more colossus flowers. The underbrush was almost as dense as the vegetation in the basin, but much of this retracted of its own accord when the two spider navis got near it. As even this began to clear again, however, Arachne spoke up. "Incidentally, Tavi, just what did you say to them?"

"I just told them exactly what we found," the bespectacled netop answered.

"Interesting..." Arachne fell silent again until the foliage cleared completely, leaving both navis looking at a structure in the middle of the clearing. Perhaps at some point it had been part of the forest, or perhaps there had been some form of building in the clearing, or perhaps it had even been completely empty, but now they were greeted with a massive entanglement of tree trunks and roots, weaving its way into a dome structure with several smaller roots threaded in and out of the larger ones. The occasional tiny gap appeared in the tangled mass, including one at the base large enough for Sylk and Arachne to get into. Noticing this, Arachne approached it, and stepped inside, anticipating for Sylk to follow.

Inside was a bizarre mishmash of plantlife and machinery taken from all over the greenhouse. The ground in the center of the structure had crumbled away, but two fallen trees created a bridge across it. Roots branching off the outer structure created another network of wooden walkways above, with some near the center pit reaching down to the lower level and providing an easy way up.

As soon as they entered, a shriek echoed across the interior of the wooden dome, and one of the viruses Tavi had shown to Rei, yellow in color and surrounded by a brilliant neon sphere of light instantly appeared in front of them. Two more, one green and one red and equally shielded, appeared behind it in response to the shriek. The red one launched a towering wave of fire that spun out of control and just barely missed both navis, but ignited the gap in the dome behind them. Flames quickly covered the opening, blocking their escape. Arachne, meanwhile, retaliated by launching a WoodPowder burst at all three viruses. When the explosion of grass that followed settled down, all three viruses were still standing and undamaged, but lacking in the protective aura that they had had seconds before. All three teleported away, one landing on the other side of the pit and one on the root network above, while the third reappeared on a glowing panel on the edge of the dome.
___

Sylk followed Arachne as the navi led them towards the habitat of their newest targets. The spider was quite antsy to see just what they could do, as well as how she would measure up to them. Given by the worry which both Tavi and Arachne seemed to hold in regards to these virii Sylk could only assume it would be a rough time dealing with them. This was only accentuated as they were the victems of a surprise assault by one of the three, the only warning was a unnerving shriek just a moment prior.

Seeing them scatter after Arachne had retaliated, Sylks many eyes scanned the battlefield to get an idea of her surroundings as well as an idea of where her prey had moved to. The terrain seemed to be very mixed, far from what she was used to in the majority of her battles. She wondered how well she would adapt to keeping watch on both her enemies and where she stepped in such an unfamiliar area. It seemed much more dangerous here than an average net.

Taking in everything that happened only a single response could be seen from Sylk. That somewhat saddistic grin appearing, the same expression she held when she was expecting to go all out in fierce combat; She would no doubt enjoy every minute of it too. Before she made any shift to an offensive stance, Sylk took a moment to contemplate something. Her mind began to play with the idea of testing out some of her new abilities. This of course was refering to those granted by the bond she seemed to share with Machman. The only thing that held her back from activating the cross, was the curiosity of how well she could deal with her enemies with her own power first. Her ego pushed Sylk towards holding off on the idea for now, so all she needed to do was come up with a plan

"Arachne, I'm going to go after the one in green for now. I don't know how powerful these things are, but if we can split up and take them on, we can probably finish this faster." As the navi spoke her eyes fixated to her right, to where the skuttzer seemed to be resting. She wasn't quite sure what that panel was offering it, or why it had chosen to run their of all places. To her it didn't matter. She had something that should ruin the floor where it stood regardless. " If you think thats a bad idea, your free to come with me as well. I'll trust your judgement. So if you need anything of me, be it assistance or a plan or anything else for that matter... just say so."

Sylk began to wrap herself within her threads as she made her move to battle, securing her defense immidiately. She wasn't going to take any chances. Springing forth to the side, the arachnid navi made her way to the right side of the field towards the Skuttzer with great haste. She swayed back and forth as she approached her target, changing up her pattern as she got closer. Her eyes were fixated, and she was prepared for anything that might be coming her way.

Once she got close enough, Sylk drew back her mid-right arm. A small packet of data swirled in the palm of her hand as she summoned up what she thought would be a useful little attack. It was a little weighty, and she had never gotten a chance to try it out before, but all she could do was hope for the best. Her claw like fingers gripped tight around the solid steel ball that had formed. Suddenly planting her left foot forward, Sylk shot the right side of her body outward as she whipped the Wrecker chip. Quickly bringing her right foot out she attempted to keep moving as she prayed for her attack to hit.

Following up only a moment after the navi quickly lept up and brought all six of her hands forth, palms exposed toward the green hued virus. The air infront of her flickered, then ignited in a ball of flames. She wasted no time in conjuring up what was regarded as her strongest chip of fire, sending forth a blazing pheonix-like projectile with a look of satisfaction displayed upon her face. Trailing closely behind her second strike was a stray needle. Simple, yet potentially deadly. Her feet landed back upon the flooring once more, and tried to keep her self aware. All while waiting to see how her plan played out.

"No problem," Arachne answered. "For now just try and keep the red one off me if it comes over here and I should be fine." As Sylk advanced toward the insectoid virus on the right, Arachne made immediately for the nearest ground-reaching root and climbed it. A reaper vine swung at and caught her as she moved, but she shrugged it off. A second vine attacked her target: the yellow Scuttler waiting for her. She stopped before it, digging her forelegs into the wood and unleashing a rope vine attack on the modified virus. The Scuttler disappeared, avoiding the attack altogether, and reappeared directly in front of the area it had just vacated, right in front of Arachne. The spider navi lunged forward, sinking her fangs into the virus with the dual effect of poisoning it and draining some of its life. Trapped in place as she was in this position, however, she was unable to avoid the virus's counterattack, which came in the form of two laser beams that appeared out of the space surrounding it, off what would have been its aura if it hadn't been destroyed. Letting go after taking both hits, Arachne retaliated with a quick-weaved web that bound itself around the Scuttler's forelegs and forward section, designed to prevent it from attacking if possible.

Meanwhile, a similar beam of light shot at Sylk from the Scuttzer, but was dodged as Sylk approached. In response, Sylk hurled a Wrecker ball at the virus. The ball crashed into the Scuttzer and succeeded in breaking the Holy panel beneath it immediately after. Before she could take advantage of this, however, the metallic tree behind the red modified virus on the far side lit up, and the panel repaired itself. Nonetheless, Sylk followed up her attack with a wave of fire, which even with the holy panel factored in affected the Scuttzer less than it seemed like it should have. In response the Scuttzer lashed out at Sylk with its forelegs, cutting through her silken armor before landing a weak attack on her. As it moved forward, however, it was struck by the needle attack. On the last attack, as the needle's poison took effect, an after-image followed the Scuttzer's foreleg and also dug into Sylk.

The Scuttzer then lunged forward, bowling Sylk over as another afterimage followed. It pinned her to the ground and began digging into her with its forelegs, but at the cost of leaving the panel that had been its protection.

Across the field, the third enemy bug spent the entire time that the other two struggled with their attackers drawing in heat from the furnace it stood on. Finally, it unleashed its own attack, a devastating column of fire that ripped across the battlefield, setting one of the wooden bridges and a large section of the root network on fire, leaving Arachne with her back to a wall of flame. "Oooh, that can't be good..." she said, trying to edge away from it. In addition, the fire attack burnt away a large section of grass on the near side, again coming dangerously close to but just missing Sylk.

The spider grinned at her initial success. That wrecker was hard enough to lift, let alone stay accurate with, so getting on target was more then enough to please her with the results. However, the attack itself only seemed to have minimal effects on the creature and to top it off, the panel restored itself right afterwords. She couldn't be sure whether it had been the virus' constitution or the effects of that unknown panel which had absorbed most of her attack. Of course her second attack had suffered the same kind of penalty it seemed, doing a much more pathetic job then it normally had. Her barrier was suddenly torn away in retaliation, but she hadn't suffered any damage. All was fine, and she still had some hope left.

"Well, maybe i can rely on the poison to weake-... eh?" Her sentence was cut off by a moment of surprise as her own attack seemed to have done something in favor of the skuttzer, as it suddenly attacked her a second time through an after image. It could have been a part of the bugs abilities, but she couldn't see any out of the ordinary effects otherwise. All she could think of was to blame herself for making it tougher.

As it barreled toward her and consequentially pinned her down, she began to fret, wondering what to do. As her eyes darted around, she became aware of where they were located. She wondered if being away from that panel would be the beasts downfall, and there was only one way to find out. In her weakened state however, she needed to act quickly.

"Sylk! Hang on, i got some supplies on the way, just try to get out of there!" Rei shouted as he quickly fumbled with a few battlechips. After getting so pumped up to fight, he wasn't about to let his navi go down. Especially not after the first few moves.

Sylks threaded armor began to patch itself back up, weaving together once more as though nothing had happened as some new data was downloaded. " Hey! You're being just a bit to forward here! I'm going to make you pay for this~" Sylk spoke with a look of hunger in her eyes, as a swarm of skeeters began to rise up around the two. "Your about to become our meal, you should be happy~" She chimed as her teeth became visible from her sadistic grin. Without hesitation she and her buggy minions attempted to dig into the Skuttzer, snapping her jaws towards the green menace pinning her down; a spark of flames igniting within her mouth.

"Now... BACK OFF!" Her voice rang out as her lower sets of arms shot forward surrounded by fire, trying to send the bug up and away from her body. She wasn't able to do much else right now, so she could only pray this worked before planning too far ahead.

After recovering from the initial shock of being pinned, Sylk quickly worked to recover, first by setting a swarm of bugs on her assailant then with a draining bite of her own. Flames spread from her fangs, igniting the grass underneath her and adding to the power of her attack, but going out before her second strike hit. In the short span between the attack of her bugs and bite, the Scuttzer retaliated with a small laser bolt that broke through Sylk's armor, allowing an echo of the attack to hit her directly. It then dug into her with its forelegs, just in time to be knocked away and back onto the holy panel.

Arachne, meanwhile, was having slightly more luck than before, successfully webbing the Scuttler just as it broke out of the bindings that had previously kept it from attacking. It did, however, manage to get off another laser attack before being completely ensnared. With the modified virus pinned down, Arachne dug her legs into the wood of the roots and climbed around the sides to position the Scuttler between herself and the flames. She slashed at it with her forelegs, pushing it back toward the burning wood but at the same time freeing it from its web trap in time to avoid the second slash.

Meanwhile, on the other side of the center pit, the Scutz began taking in heat energy from the surrounding furnace panels once more, charging up what could only be another FireTower attack.
___

Sylk rose back up on her feet after successfully accomplishing her goal. Unfortunately for her the virus took to reoccupying the same square she had wanted to dash to herself. In an attempt to reassess her situation and formulate a better plan, Sylk briefly looked around the field of battle to try and absorb as much information as she could. There wasn't a whole lot to note really but the main thing which had caught her eyes was the red hued virus which seemed to be gathering energy. She had witnessed its attack once before and even though it hadn't landed she knew to be wary of it.

Her focus then returned once more to her current enemy. The spider had an idea or two on how to deal with this pest, but in her current condition she wouldn't be fast enough to pull it off. There was only one way she could make this work. Sylk closed her eyes as bits of her memory were recalled. As her thoughts cycled through imagines and times spent with Machman, Aera and Vector , the spiders internal systems began to activate a certain program.

Initiating Mach Cross

The navi's body was engulfed in a blue light as the changes to her apparel and statistics were changes. It took only a few moments for the blue light to fade, revealing what was now a lightly armored Sylk, its design carrying a small resemblance to the dragonfly programs they had dealt with earlier. Sylks crimson eyes peered through the visor now resting upon her face, ready to strike at the skuttzer once more.

The arachnid made her move quickly, as she took off towards her target. As she burst forth, the gauntlets she wore installed themselves with data from a rageclaw chip, changing their properties to that of a sharper and more claw like form. Her 6 arms extended towards the Skuttzer from multiple angles, grasping at it's body trying to get a hold of it. Sylk pivoted her back foot quickly, leaning back a little as she attempted to lift the virus up and into the air. Her body twisted as she tried to swing the virus to her opposite side, her eyes locking on to the skutz upon the other end of the field. With as much strength as she could muster Sylk made one final struggle to launch the skuttzer forth towards its red counterpart, praying for it to intercept with the wave of fire which was immanently coming at this rate.

Standing still however was not a good move at this point. Sylk knew she needed to get out of there quickly. The thruster upon her back suddenly kicked in as she leaned back once more and pushed off the ground. She used its force to make a dash back, trying to dodge out of the way of any retaliations, as well as making a move for the holy panel which was hopefully now vacant.

As Sylk shifted to the armored frame of MachCross, the Scuttzer that she had been fighting drew its body back, then lunged at her again. She met it halfway, charging with claws extended toward the insectoid virus and catching it in midair. Its progress stopped, the Scuttzer struggled against Sylk's grip, only breaking free by way of being flung bodily toward the center of the battlefield. On the far side, the Scutz unleashed its gathered heat energy once again, which traveled as an advancing tower of fire down the other wooden bridge and overwhelmed the already badly damaged Scuttzer.

The firetower continued bearing down on Sylk after incinerating its unintended victim, however, and struck her as well. Fortunately, most of the damage was absorbed by the glowing panel that she had dashed onto at the last second, greatly reducing the impact of the attack.

Meanwhile, Arachne continued to try to push her own target into the fire. She swung her forelegs in a scissor-chop motion that would have caught the Scuttler, had it not teleported away before the sharpened and rageclaw-enhanced edges hit. It reappeared across the pit, in the center of the solar panels lining it. Sighing, Arachne lowered herself off of the roots and back to the ground.

Sylk was more than happy as the protective force from the panel she was occupying subdued the damage from the fiery assault. She did note however that the flames seemed much more fierce and unpleasant. It was more than likely a side effect from the transformation, while it didnt change her injuries, she used to cope with and even enjoy the flames much more in her normal form. It was a bit saddening. As her silken defence rewrapped itself around her body, that too had seemed to change; a feeling of cold steel encasing her unarmored flesh.

As she put the unnecesary thoughts aside, it was becoming evident that she still needed more defensive strategies. Dispite trying to repair herself it had all been wiped away with a few attacks. Atleast there was one less target now. Prioritizing the healing of arachne and herself, the spider summoned a giant candle which was fixated the the holy panel. Hopefully this works... She muttered to herself, before directing her gaze towards the enemies in the distance.

As far as she could tell, it was quite a ways to travel in order to get within range of the other virii. She might not be able to get there in time to help arachne, and the one which controlled flames had no trouble attacking from this distance either. It was proving to be a bit of a dilema. For lack of a better idea Sylk just dashed forth.

Her artificial wings beat behind her in unison as she made her way across the battlefield. A small flame could be seen from her thrusters as she propelled herself faster, all the while trying to stay focused on her surroundings. She began weaving back and forth, changing the pattern of her movements as she got closer. If she was to linear all that would be waiting for her was a face full of pain. In preperation for the battle, her gauntlets began to glow as her body became encased in various blue lights.

Activating her defense systems, not only was Sylk more protected from in coming attacks but she even recovered some of the damage from earlier. She may not have been at her best condition, but she was more than ready to pick a fight.

Sylk patched up her defenses and erected the healing candle on the holy panel, then began advancing toward the burning bridges. The yellow modified virus, though it remained stationary, fired off a series of laser bolts at her and Arachne, destroying the hastily woven silken armor of both navis. Sylk managed to dodge the third, however, and activated more defense systems as she moved.

Arachne, having lost her own silken armor mere seconds after weaving it, took the moment after the Scuttler's attacks to heal herself, and then began making her way across the soil terrain to meet Sylk next to the right bridge. Before either one could get there, however, the red Scutz vanished from atop the blazing furnace on the other side and reappeared directly in front of Sylk, slashing through most of her defenses. Arachne caught up and attacked it from behind, slashing as well with her forelegs to cut the Scutz across the raised abdomen of its body. She followed up with a second attack, but the modified virus evaded the attack with a quick teleport, nonetheless covering significantly less distance than its move from the other side of the field.

It continued in a second short jump after clearing the range of Arachne's forelegs, settling in the center of the lava pool. A burning reaper vine, up until this point remaining dormant, rose up behind the Scutz and swiped at it, dealing a minor amount of damage in its own right.

The opponents erratic movements and attacks were beginning to grate on Sylk's nerves, with her defenses being blown away time after time. It wasn't about to stop her though. She had been through many tough situations, and this wasn't about to be her last. Sylk viewed her options over and over in her head, trying to figure out the best method of attack. With enemies able to shift their location instantly, it became a game of target practice. It wasn't long before a glint of inspiration dawned on the spider, the weaving of her plan was in progress.

Arachne~ I'm going to try and take care of this red one, or at the very least distract it. Hopefully this will take some heat off of you. Sylk paused for a moment, reviewing the probability of success in this matter, before continuing with her statement. I'm not sure i can defeat it in one go, however. Think you can provide some support fire if i fail? Sylk wasn't exactly pleased to think of messing up this chance, but these enemies were strong enough that caution was her main priority. The fire attack from earlier burned it right into her mind.

Rei, be a dear and link me up with those markcannons we have laying around, would you? I think they'll be just the thing to help me capture my prey, heehee. Attempting to convey her thoughts through her request, she figured Rei would understand her intent.

Sure enough, after a few moments the data was loaded into the PET. As the weapons took form, the guns hovered and revolved around Sylk's armor. There color and even their style seemed to have adapted the visuals from the mach cross, something which Sylk noticed almost immediately. The visor upon her face suddenly began to display what could only be described as a targeting system, measuring the distance from the objects within the vicinity and marking potential threats as she looked on. As her eyes focused upon the Skutz the guns seemed to pick up on it. Of their own accord they shifted and pointed their barrels at the virus, as the visor seemed to "lock on" to it. Sylk was rather impressed, as she hadn't truly played around with the functions of the cross before, and certainly didn't know all of its capabilities off hand.

The spider tried to keep herself moving of course, throughout the whole operation. Though she had a defensive wrap of sorts already in effect, she new it wouldn't be more than a slight deterrent to damage.

Another thought occurred to her, as she recalled the attack system which was also built into the armor. She had used the defensive protocols numerous times but had never really gone on the attack with her new forms power. hmm... let's see here. Should be simple enough to activate. Let's try... Carapace Assault System, activate! Almost instantaneously, the visual grid before her eyes seemed to change as the armor acknowledged the shift of procedures. A third symbol manifested itself over the virus' image, a tiny icon of a dragonfly no less, as the text next to it read "Anax bomber". Well now, this seems interesting, doesn't it? Lets give this thing a test drive~

As Sylk worked out the final preparations, her armor did a quick check and run of its self repairing program. While her regular silken cover had already been destroyed, a new one had already replaced it. If it sustained any damage however, the threads could just as easily work their way in once more to keep her safe.

A small signal could be heard as all of the weapons systems seemed to be at the ready, all targeting icons a blaring red as they surrounded the location of the Skutz which had been causing more then enough trouble to the arachnid team. Sylk slowly raised her upper right arm as her fanged grin made its entrance. This should be fun... C.A.S., FIRE~

Upon command each cannon fired a searing blue laser in tandem. As the flash of the shots dimmed down, a compartment opened up upon the dragonfly thrusters mounted on Sylks back. A high speed buzzing could be heard as a tiny little missile, resembling the same insect the armor was modeled for emerged. It wasted little time as it seemed to home in onto the virii's located; The little green weapon streaked across the sky towards its destination.

Before she saw the outcome of her attacks, Sylk was already on the move again. This time however, the thruster upon her back began to activate. A white flame emitted from the end as she prepared to make one final strike, keeping herself hopefully safe as she did. The gauntlets she wore let off a light glow as both of the enemies came into her view. The gem on each hand seemed to be charging up something within, as the faint blue shine grew intensely. Pointing one arm at each of the virii, a small whine could be heard before two bolts of energy shot forth. The attack crackled as it burst out, hoping to strike the targets dead on.