Lonely Planet [Part 3]

[Origin: Netfrica Net]

Wind blew across a wide open space, in the middle of which was a rather large portal. The portal glowed yellow, indicating activation after a while of disuse. Out of it, a tall figure stepped out, of Eternalis.EXE, and his Support Program, Aurora, perched on his shoulders. Turning around, they waited for the others to come through.
The portal glowed, and hooves stomped through the teleportation device. The hooves did not go far, though; they got entangled in sand soon after.


"Sand AGAIN?" Harley commented, getting a bit annoyed at the terrain layout now. Rhea, however, chose to remain in her saddle, not wanting to embarrass herself once again.
With a loud THUMP, Validus found himself back in a familiar location. Well, actually the place will forever be memorable because he was stuck with janitorial duty in Beach Net the last time he was here.

He grimaced at the memory, but hid it from Markerlight, who seemed to have a glow in her eyes. "It's the beeeeach!" she yelled. Apparently she really liked places like this.

Validus just sighed as he chased up to the others, who were already way ahead of his position.
"All right, everyone's here," said Eternalis, turning around. "Let's go."

"Onward!" echoed Aurora, pointing forward enthusiastically.

[Battle 1 - Ready]
Forcing it's strong feet out of the sand awkwardly, Harley, with his passenger in tow, followed along with quick trots for obvious reasons.

[[Battle 1 ready]]
Validus had finally managed to chase up to the rest of the team. Markerlight sprung about giddily like a child in a candy shop, while Validus was struggling to keep up.

No thanks to the heavy rifle, he supposed. He's supposed to stay in one area and provide support anyway.

[Battle 3, Ready]
As the trio walked along the beach net for yet another adventure, the familiar smell of salt in the air was starting to become stronger. Crossing over a dune of sand, they found themselves on a unmarked beach destination as they couldn't find a single navi throughout the entire stretch...except, of course, viruses.

With Wallas lazily basking under the sun, Fishys gliding along the ocean wind like kites, Tubys blasting their horns like it's no body's business, and a handful of Genins training their ninjutsu, it was almost like the team of navis were here to trash the peace they were enjoying...

-Sea-
WallaA: 100 HP
WallaB: 100 HP
WallaC: 100 HP

-Shore-
GeninA: 60 HP
GeninB: 60 HP
GeninC: 60 HP
Genin EXA: 100 HP

-Sand-
FishyA: 90 HP
FishyB: 90 HP
FishyC: 90 HP
TubyA: 90 HP
TubyB: 90 HP

Terrain: 70% Sand, 30% Sea

Eternalis.EXE: 160 HP
Aurora.SP: 70 HP
Rhea.EXE: 140 HP
Harley.SP: 40 HP
Validus.EXE: 120 HP
Markerlight.SP: 40 HP

-TEAM BATTLE ONE, START!-
"... Huh. Looks like they're enjoying themselves," Camillia noted, tilting her head slightly at the scenery in her PET. The virii all look so adorable... If only there were real plushie collectibles...

The redhead coughed. Her virusbusting hobby was getting the better of her. Just then, a message popped up on the side of the screen, as if informing that the integration of some modifications were complete. "Just what is this...?" Camillia murmured curiously, tapping on the window for more details. "My apologies, I believe that is directed to me. Thank you," Rhea said abruptly, removing the said window before Camillia could give another glance. ... But then, there was no guarantee that the Operator would know what it's about, anyway; she was some technology retard.

"Package for the lady, eh? What is it?" Harley inquired, his hooves already in action, charging towards the few Wallas in the waters. "Actions speak louder than words. You shall see. ... Query: What is your maximum load capacity?" Harley scoffed at that. What, did Rhea want to put on more weight? "Well, I am carrying you right now, right? I see not the problem," the equine retorted.

"How about 2.5 metric tons?"

"... Get away from me," Harley said incredulously, almost having horrified eyes. Of course, that wasn't really possible to tell unless you're really up close with the mechanical horse. Rhea shrugged at the comment, sending a signal back to the PET to request for specific battlechips. By then, the duo was already nearing the group of virii, and the purple, petite Navi took flight from the saddle, doing one elaborate flip into the air, momentarily blocking out the view of the sun for the Wallas. The Support Program, on the other hand, was already nowhere in sight; it's hooves carrying it's owner far away from the shoreline.

When Rhea could finally be identified as more than a silhouette when she began her landing, it wasn't a pretty sight.

There was a sudden constant whirring of dynamo, followed by a bright spark that rivalled the beach sun. There was no splashing of water; there were only disturbing, cracking and crackling sounds of something breaking; something giving away. When the sands finally cleared itself from the impact of Rhea's attack, there Rhea was, standing next to the hole she just opened up in the middle of the beach.

Just that she wasn't entirely Rhea-like anymore.

The two absurd-looking shoulder cannons... The bipods that offset as a support for her tiny frame against the weapons... The constant crackling of electricity around her. She was like the image of a tiny, grey-and-purple destructive tank. The sun reflected off her shiny new visors, but it did not seem to falter Rhea, who was already on the move to her next target. "What the-- she wasn't joking?!" Harley observed, his incredulousness still evident in the tone of his voice as he saw the spectacle from far. Beyond the net world, Camillia was once again taken aback by the sudden change of forms that Rhea demonstrated, a second, different form from the first. But upon closer inspection...

Destructive cannons. Grey color scheme. Visor. ... It reminded her a bit of J.T.'s Navigator, Broadside, for a moment there. Just like how the first transformation was similar to Eternalis. Camillia thought this over briefly, wondering it's implications. Was Rhea harnessing power from understanding the fighting style of other Navigators? Was this some sort of an improvement add-on that she didn't know about? "... That sounds bloody cheesy. Power of friendship, heh. What the heck am I talking about?" the wheelchair-bound Operator just laughed and shook her head, keen to see what her Navigator is going to pull out of her tophat next.

Rhea, on the other hand, was currently not entertained by the blowing trumpets in the distance. Slowly raising one of her shoulder cannons, it gave off a tone that grew higher pitched every second; the aim at one of the Tubys. When a slugshell left it's chambers, a stream of electricity followed it's path before overtaking it, leading the way like a pointer towards the noisy virus. Then totally ignoring the shot she had just fired, the heavyweight Navi seemed to grow silent and still, both cannons now raised to aim at no targets in particular. Electricity seemed to gather themselves into the chambers of the two cannons slowly, as if preparing... charging themselves for the incoming attack.

Rhea did not even bother to try and dodge any attacks coming at her way.


Summary of actions:
Rhea.EXE
Harley.SP
==============
1) Tactical movement: To Walla group
1) Jumpin' BROADSIDECROSS [Elec/Break]
2) Tactical movement: Away from viruses
-) Smash: Imbue Break on next attack
2) ElecShock - Elec, 80+10 DMG, Panel Breaking + Cone Attack + Small Terrain change + 100% Damage bonus from Sea terrain - WallaA, WallaB, WallaC
3) Arrow1 - Elec, 100DMG + Homing - TubyA
4) Charge time
"That's a pretty large group..." said Eternalis, looking at the sizable beach gathering of viruses. They did look like they were having fun, too. He felt it would be nice to just leave them, and was about to forward the idea, but Rhea had already taken the initiative of leaping into the foray with a reckless charge. A whistle escaped Aurora's lips as she, too, saw their ally jump headfirst into the action, and transform into a form reminiscent of a recently met five-meter-tall mech. Her visor again read out what she had saw transpire not moments ago on Eternalis' person.

"A Soul Cross..." she murmured. "Interesting."

"Soul Cross?" her Navi echoed. "What's that?"

"It's a state when you get to synchronize with another Navi's data, and power up your own systems with it," interrupted Harke suddenly, slotting in some chips as he went along. "I've looked into it for a bit. You've done it with Rhea twice, seems to activate when your mental processes line up to her frequency, or something like that."

"That sounds neat!" replied Aurora.

"Yeah, I wonder..." said Eternalis, looking at Rhea's form. Broadside's form, augmented into that tiny form... those huge cannons are definitely appropriate, he thought. He thought of copying Rhea, but then thought the better of it; he figured two Broadsides in one net was more than enough destruction. However, the thought of Broadside did lead him on to another Navi...

"Elly, chips are in," said Aurora, interrupting his deliberations.

"You'll be accompanying Rhea down there, help her out to- well, not die," explained Harke. "Dash up there and tear up the place some. DashAttack to Et, MagBolt to Aurora."

"Roger," replied the Navi, loading the allocated chip to himself and Aurora. "Aurora, charge her up."

"Okay!"

Crouching into a ready position, Eternalis started charging the DashAttack battlechip program as Aurora gathered some energy in her hands. They sparked with excited bolts as she eyed the Fishy group. Her Navi began to float slightly, and then abruptly took off, a trail of sand blasted up in his path. The air in front of him glowed white as a kind of energy wave formed itself in front of him, mowing down the opposition. Aurora held out her hands to the sides, trying to attract any Fishy that happened to slide out of the way.

As Eternalis stopped his charge, the energy wave dissipated, and he slowly ground to a stop in the sand. He was still thinking about that 'Soul Cross' function that they had talked about, and one Navi came to mind. "Aurora, could you get off for a bit? I want to try something," he said, to which the SP obliged, climbing off the Navi's back.

Eternalis then closed his eyes, trying to remember his ally's characteristics. Strong, determined, slightly clumsy, prone to large displays of fire and sex appeal. Then, suddenly, something clicked, and he slammed down on the sand with his foot. The sand shifted slightly to reveal a crack in some rock underneath, from which a gout of fire was expelled, engulfing the aquatic Navi entirely. The fire extinguished itself as quickly as it appeared, and revealed a new form inside.

A female form.

Aurora only gawked in astonishment as the lithe Soul Cross form of the aquatic Navi now stepped out of the fire, dressed in nothing but a silk wrapping and a loincloth, both red in color to match Eternalis' new composition of 100% red-hot molten rock. Holding a large staff appearing to be chiseled out of volcanic rock, Eternalis' form looked enchanting in the most menacing way possible as long hair billowed behind him in the sea breeze. Indeed, after a while, his form split into two, each looking almost identical to the other. Both figures split ways, raised their staves and pointed them at a Genin each. "Ignition!" both cried out, causing two fireballs to erupt from the tips of their staves.

"Uwaaa..." was all Aurora could say.

Harke was too busy trying to find something to wipe off his nosebleed.

[| [color=cornflowerblue]Eternalis.EXE[/color] || Aurora.SP |]
[1] DashAttack @ TubyB + FishyA/B/C [Null 90 + Impact + Line Attack (5)]
[1] MagBolt1 @ Remaining Fishy [Elec 90+10 + Magnetic Pull]
[2] Jump off [Unequip RP]
[2] DjinniCross Level1 [Fire/Summon, +10 to Fire Chips]
[*] Alluring Mirage [Decoy]
-- Distract Genin group, circlestrafe left
[3] Circlestrafe right [Dodge]
[4] FireHit1 @ GeninA [Fire 60+10 + Impact]
-- Sand Terrain Change to Glass
[5] FireHit1 @ GeninB [Fire 60+10 + Impact + Double Attack]
[*] Influx Aegis @ Allies if Needed [Heal 11 x5]
-- Priority Set: Marker/Harley/Validus/Rhea/Aurora/Self
Validus stared at his companions, while Markerlight stared with an open jaw, and turned to focus his attention onto the viruses. He would've much preferred if they didn't have to bust up the virus' gathering, but the other four had seem ridiculously overeager to pillage and kill everything in their sights. Sighing, he knew any form of diplomacy would be completely out of the question now. "Captain, I suggest we take these viruses out quickly. Hand me the most damaging chips possible." Validus said as he pulled the slide-lock of his rifle, training the sights on the viruses in his view.

"Got it. Markerlight, stay close to Validus and shield him from any attacks the enemy might turn into his direction. Validus, I suggest you take out those tuba-looking things before you take out anything else." Tsujsa commented as he slotted in two different chips. The Shield battlechip data materialized on the large shoulder pad mounted on Validus, as he signaled for Markerlight to access the data. As soon as she received the data, a physical, domed shield appeared on her arm. "Just like how we keep doing it, eh sir?" She said with a smile as she stood and crouched in front of Validus.

The blue navi placed his rifle on the shield's edge to give it more stability, as the next battlechip data slotted in morphed the rifle into a strange, elongated skull head, with a maniacal grin on it's barrel. A screen was mounted on the side as Validus targetted the trumpet-like virus. With a pull of the trigger, the weapon suddenly spat out a gigantic bone-like lance from the mouth of the rifle itself, with a large PHUNT sound. The lance glowed with a malevolent purple... something about the ammo seemed strange as it zig-zagged across the air towards its target.

SUMMARY OF ACTIONS:
1. Validus: Hand chip over to Markerlight (Guard Chip)
a. Markerlight: Activate Guard Chip.
b. Markerlight: Remain at Validus's side to protect him from incoming attacks.
2. Validus: Take Aim - TubyB
3. Validus: Skully1 - TubyB - 100DMG - Homing, Confusion
Eternalis went barreling through the enemies populating the sand to start, knocking fishies out of the air and splitting one unfortunate Tuby in two. One Fishy survived the barrage and counter-attacked, sliding one thin wing through Eternalis' body for minimal damage [15]. The one Fishy who had gotten away with his attack became alarmed as it could not pull away from his target, then exploded in a burst of electricity emitted from Aurora's magbolt. She then left Eternalis while his body began to change...

The Wallas were geared up to attack Rhea, but became confused as she first approached them, then skid to a messy stop and finally re-emerged from the debris cloud as a new entity. The Wallas opened fire, sensing danger, embedding two teeth into Rhea's hide [20] [20]. The navi countered by obliterating the large walruses with a burst of electricity, sending up thin trails of smoke as the remains evaporated into data.

The remaining Tuby drew in air, preparing to protect its remaining allies, but was dispatched by a combination of various projectiles that rammed into it with deadly accuracy.

The Genin were a little faster on their feet than the others, pelting Eternalis with kunai [10] [20]. One got distracted by a duplicate, wandering off inconsequentially. Two of them received punishment for their kunai throwing, having their respective blocks knocked off by fireballs. The crafty Genin leader launched a large flurry of kunai towards Validus and his SP. One reflected back into his face and embarrassed him, but a number of the others hit properly. [30] [20]

Since a significant bit of damage had been done, Eternalis went to healing the wounded. The holes in the armor of Validus' and his SP slowly closed shut thanks to the navi's healing powers.

-Sea-
WallaA: DELETED
WallaB: DELETED
WallaC: DELETED

-Shore-
GeninA: DELETED
GeninB: DELETED
GeninC: 60 HP
Genin EXA: 90 HP

-Sand-
FishyA: DELETED
FishyB: DELETED
FishyC: DELETED
TubyA: DELETED
TubyB: DELETED

Terrain: 60% Sand, 10% Glass, 15% Sea, 15% Broken

Eternalis.EXE: 115 HP (DjinniCross)
Aurora.SP: 70 HP
Rhea.EXE: 100 HP (BroadsideCross)
Harley.SP: 40 HP
Validus.EXE: 120 HP
Markerlight.SP: 40 HP
Validus gave a sneer before suddenly feeling a kunai hitting him in the chest, and noticed Markerlight getting one in her too as the shield broke up after reflecting back one of the kunais. Cursing, he got over to Markerlight's side to check if she's alright. To his immense relief the SP still functioned, although she felt pained to move. All that changed when Eternalis' MAAAAGICAL healing goo applied itself to both the Navi and the SP, instantly sealing off their wounds and mending back damaged data.

Markerlight managed to raise herself up weakly, and gave a thumbs up gesture back at Eternalis, thanking him for the aid. Validus did so too with a salute, before turning his attention back onto the jerk who had signed his own death warrant. "Captain, we received a chip from the plant like viruses back in Netfrica, didn't we?" Validus inquired as he eyed the viruses with a menacing glance.

"Yeah... we did. Something called a treebomb... why?" Tsujsa returned, a hint of puzzlement in his voice. "You got a plan?"
"Something nasty." Validus added with a grin before turning to Eternalis. He opened a secure comm channel with the navi as he requested for the treebomb battlechip.

Quote (VALIDUS SECRET COMM CHANNEL DO NOT LISTEN)

Eternalis, hit the grenade I'm about to fire at the virii with a water-based attack. It'll drop a nasty surprise for the remaining viruses.


With the message transmitted, the Morph rifle changed it's shape into a short, compact launcher, with an enormous barrel. Validus aimed for the group of genin, ordered Markerlight to find cover, and fired a grenade-like object from the weapon.

SUMMARY:
1. Validus - Take Aim - GeninC and GeninEXB (Grouping)
a., b. Markerlight - Dodge
2. Validus - Treebomb - In between GeninC and GeninEXB
-BEGIN TURNSPLICE-
"Ku--!"

Drawn back by the powerful barrage of attacks, Eternalis began to withdraw slightly from the ninja-viruses. The good thing was that they were at an obvious advantage: six against two. However, the aquatic (or not-so-aquatic, as it were) Navi saw that they had a few wounded to tend to. Determined, the staff of fire was lifted, and eyes were closed shut.

"Restore," was heard, as the staff was brought down, and two pillars of green light engulfed Eternalis and another ally on the battlefield, one called Rhea, patching up some of their wounds. In the case of the staff-wielder, holes in the body merely filled themselves in, and for the mechanical one, weaknesses chipped in the armor were reformed and strengthened. The emerald glow quickly disappeared as the spell finished its task.

Then, a fellow ally's message reached the Navi's conscious, and a request was immediately sent for offenses. "Bubbler, FireKnife, Skully." Prompt, quick. The chips were immediately lifted from a boy's folder, and inserted hastily. The last of the three was sent to the familiar, standing by. Aurora was still somewhat surprised by the sudden change, but she regained her composure as she received the battlechip.

"Aurora, aim for the stronger one."

She quickly saw her place, and nodded. Materializing the bone-weapon in her hand, she tested its weight again before shifting postures, and threw it efficiently through the air. The Skully made a strange arc through the air as it homed in on its target. Eternalis, meanwhile, lazily watched overhead as the missile fired by Validus soared through the air. Eyes focused as the staff was lifted again, pointed now towards the seed. "Aqua." A blue glow emerged from the tip of the magical implement, and a large sphere of water was shot with a loud crackle.

That wasn't the end of it, as the pointed staff now changed targets, from the fired seed to a green little squirt. The path of the spell determined, a simple word was all that was needed to activate it. "Flame Knife." A sound like a bullet fired escaped from the staff, and it was seen to be a high-speed red energy, pointed like a spear, headed for one of the ninjas in green.

Now, the magma witch summoned the alternate self, which obediently materialized from the ground, a perfect mirror image of the summoner. The alternate self turned around, and made a stance, as if to attack the ones they were facing. The original self leapt back, and gestured for his Support Program to do so as well. Aurora quickly obliged, jumping back to evade the attacks. As soon as they were both out of range, Eternalis lifted the staff once more, and muttered a few incomprehensible words. The words ended, and a commanding voice called out.

"Antipode."

The air in front of the two immediately flared up at the words, exploding spontaneously in a wall of fire. In front of the wall, another barrier formed, gushing from the ground- a wall of water. If they were to be a few inches closer, they would extinguish each other out, but in this form, it was enough to protect them quite well. Watching the blaze taking place, Eternalis' face looked rather strange as the staff was lowered.

"Heh, that was fun."

[| [color=cornflowerblue]Eternalis.EXE[/color] || Aurora.SP |]
[*] Influx Aegis @ Allies [Heal 11 x5]
-- Rhea: Heal 44
-- Self: Heal 11
[1] Bubbler @ TreeBomb [Aqua 50 + Spread1] (A)
[2] Throw FireKnife @ GeninC [Fire 60+10 + Slashing] (B)
[1] Skully1 @ GeninEX A [Null 100 + Confusion + Homing] ©
[3] Leap towards Allies [Dodge]
[2] Leap towards Allies [Dodge]
[*] Alluring Mirage [Decoy]
-- Stand in front of wall defense
[4] FlameLine1 / Deflect Incoming Attacks [Fire 70 + Ground + Wide] (B)
[5] WideShot1 / Deflect Incoming Attacks [Aqua 60 + Wide] (A)
Camillia watched, wide-eyed, at Rhea's suddenly slow but deadly movements. More importantly, there was about to be informational overload across her PET. Altitude. Terrain percentile. Visibility restriction rate. Estimated trajectory of projectiles and accuracy. Rhea, in her new form, hardly flinched from the attacking Wallas; if anything, their offenses aided their quick deaths.

The machine only needed to swing her two cannons like a bat, swatting them off with heavy sparks of electricity and dissipating smoke.

Eyeing how Eternalis and Validus was doing a good job themselves, Camillia just huffed at how the two no longer need Rhea's assistance in settling the remaining virii. "Alright Rhea, good job, leave the rest to the others--"

The two barrels of the cannons turned, it's new targets found. The barrel chambers are now brightly lit, now, as if eager to send death raining upon any enemy.

"Wait, Rhea, you don't have to, it's just 2 virii left!" Camillia said, but the petite firepower seemed to not hear the instructions. Her fingers reach for the trigger... ... Only to find her Support Program blocking her way. Rhea paused, her attention no longer to the target locking system embedded in her visor. "What is the meaning of this?" she addressed Harley formally, who visibly snorted. "Getting a little bit too carried away with your new-found toy, aren't you?" the equine said with an appraising eye before continuing. "Now tell me-- what were you intending to do?"

Silence.

"Your artillery is for enemies. You should know that you could've easily hurt your allies in the process if you used that," Harley continued, the disapproving glare still there. Rhea lowered her weaponry, contemplating. ... The SP was right.


Summary of action:-
Nothing at all!

And so, the power of really sharp, wooden spikes proved to be too much for the Genin pair, as they were too busy snickering from the 'missed bomb' and the 'failed shot' to notice them in time. How they snickered wasn't a readily available fact, but they did. But since they were gone, no one cared enough to ask any questions. NO ONE.

Oh, right. And before that, Eternalis's healing powers got used, much to the shock of everyone. Gasp.

-Sea-
WallaA: DELETED
WallaB: DELETED
WallaC: DELETED

-Shore-
GeninA: DELETED
GeninB: DELETED
GeninC: DELETED
Genin EXA: DELETED

-Sand-
FishyA: DELETED
FishyB: DELETED
FishyC: DELETED
TubyA: DELETED
TubyB: DELETED

Terrain: 60% Sand, 10% Glass, 15% Sea, 15% Broken

Eternalis.EXE: 126 HP (DjinniCross)
Aurora.SP: 70 HP
Rhea.EXE: 140 HP (BroadsideCross)
Harley.SP: 40 HP
Validus.EXE: 120 HP
Markerlight.SP: 40 HP

====================
BATTLE ONE, COMPLETE
====================

Rewards:
- Eternalis: DashAttack, 540z, 17 BugFrags
- Rhea: TwinFang1, 450z, 17 BugFrags
- Validus: Kunai1, 450z, 17 BugFrags

=========
FRIENDSHIP~
=========

Eternalis/Rhea: 4 FXP
Eternalis/Validus: 4 FXP
Rhea/Validus: 4 FXP
"That's the end of it," said Eternalis, twirling the rock staff in hand as if it were effortless. Stabbing it into the sand and supporting his body with it, he relaxed for a bit and surveyed the results of the battle. Some reward data was strewn around, but he had already gotten his share earlier. Looking to his side, he saw Aurora staring blankly at him. Approaching her, he tapped her on the shoulder. "Hey, Aurora. Are you spacing out?"

With that, she snapped to attention, only to make a strange face at her Navi. "A-Ah? N-No... I'm fine." Her eyes strayed away from the Navi's face, looking downwards. She seemed flustered or bothered about something.

Now worried, Eternalis pressed, "... What're you making that weird face at me for..? Is my armor dirty somewhe- Oh."

Looking down at his own physical appearance, he understood what her concerns were. His mind blanked as the body that was his slowly returned to its normal form, returning his appearance of gender to its original. Both of them stood quietly for a bit, awkwardness saturating the atmosphere. Then, Aurora slowly looked up, and muttered something inaudible. "...What?" Eternalis said, not hearing what was said.

"I-I said..." A small pause, as Aurora fidgeted with her thumbs.

"D-Do I have to call you Ellen now?"

"....." Yet more awkward silence.

"N-No, that was stupid. Forget it. Ahahaha," said Aurora, laughing awkwardly all of a sudden before going quiet again. Fidgeting around some more, she finally steeled herself and turned around in the direction they were heading before. "U-Um, let's move on."

"O-Okay," replied the Navi, as he motioned for the others to come along. "Uh, let's go, guys."

[Battle 2 - Ready]
"Go cool yourself," Harley huffed, trotting through the different terrains to join the others. Watching how Eternalis had already turned back to his original form, Harley scoffed. "Aw, I missed the show," he muttered disappointingly. Not commenting at any spectacle, Rhea returned to her normal form in a puff of smoke, picking up the loots that she deserved.

Rhea then moved to Validus and Markerlight, giving them a thumbs up. "Job well done. Shall we proceed?" she said robotically to the sniping duo.

[[battle 2 ready]]
Validus slid the rifle's rack and released the spent shell from the rifle. He sighed to himself guiltily; the zeny and experience was nice... but at what cost?

He shrugged out of his thoughts as Rhea called out to him. "Oh, er yeah. I'm ready." He muttered.

[[Battle 2 Ready]]
The three navis continued throughout the beach net and they came across a small cove. All of them stood at edge, standing not-so-high away from the sea and its 20 meter drop. It wouldn't hurt anyone from diving in as the water didn't look shallow, but it would definitely be troublesome to get back up without any support.

The navis decided to continue on with their beach net traveling after enjoying the sight, but alas, viruses caught them in a surprise ambush when a group of them were already behind them. The number of viruses were rather few compare to the navi's previous battles, but it wouldn't be an ambush without any big surprises.

An anchor shot out from the sea behind Eternalis and hooked it by his torso. The abruptness and the weight of the iron anchor caused the navi to lose his footing and splash into the sea. Being a Aqua navi, Eternalis had no problem being underwater...but the real problem was the other set viruses waiting for him in the water.

-Sea (Submerged)-
MarinaA: 120 HP
MarinaB: 120 HP
PiranhaA: 60 HP
PiranhaB: 60 HP
PiranhaC: 60 HP
PiranhaD: 60 HP

-Sand-
BagwormA: 80 HP
BagwormB: 80 HP
BagwormC: 80 HP
BagwormD: 80 HP
StarfishA: 60 HP
StarfishB: 60 HP
StarfishC: 60 HP
Megalian-A (A): 130 HP
Megalian-A (B): 130 HP

Terrain: 60% Sea, 40% Sand [20 meters above Sea]

Eternalis.EXE: 126 HP [Submerged] [Sea]
Aurora.SP: 70 HP
Rhea.EXE: 140 HP
Harley.SP: 40 HP
Validus.EXE: 120 HP
Markerlight.SP: 40 HP

-TEAM BATTLE TWO, START!-
"That's a nice view."

Looking out towards the wide open waters, Eternalis stretched his limbs (?) for a bit, after trekking through the networks for such a long time, running some of his excess healing processes to repair some wounds from the last battle. Aurora relaxed as well, crouching near the edge of the cove and feeling the light wind blow on her face and hair. A smile crossed her face as she looked down at the water down below. The drop was quite sharp, but there looked to be clear, deep water if one were to brave the twenty-meter dive. "Wooow, it sure looks like a really nice place to swim!" she noted, amazed at the beauty of the place.

However, the peaceful atmosphere didn't last for long, as Eternalis felt a familiar hostility from behind. Turning around, he patted Aurora lightly on the shoulder to get her attention. "We've got some company," said Eternalis, as he relayed the visual to Harke.

"Looks like a party. Smaller than before, though, this should be a bit easier," Harke commented, shuffling through his folder for the usual offenses.

"Aw, I thought we'd relax for a bit..." Aurora whined as she stood up slowly, more than a little disappointed that they had to be interrupted. As they prepared themselves for battle, though, Aurora's visors picked up a hint of movement from behind them, from the cove. When she managed to turn to her Navi, she saw him being hooked by a surprise anchor attack from behind, and couldn't warn him in time!

"Wha-" was all the blue Navi said before losing his balance, and falling backwards to the 20-meter drop. "-aaaaaaaaaaa!"

Barely a couple of seconds passed before a loud splash was heard, with the aquatic Navi falling in back-first. The shock of the fall sent pain all over his body, though it was significantly less than what would have happened if a normal, more solid Navi had fallen in. Regaining his composure, he looked around for the cause of his fall, and found himself outnumbered six to one. "Tsk."

Surveying the viruses' formations and appearances, he began to think about what he was going to do. However, suddenly, two visual-communication windows appeared simultaneously in front of him, taking him by surprise. They both asked the same thing,

"Are you all right?"
"Are you all right?!"

A little taken off guard by the unexpected question, Eternalis took a moment to reply, "Y-Yeah, I'm fine. Aurora, help Rhea and Validus up there, I'll be all right down here. Harke, send me the DashAttacks and the HeatDragon."

"Okay, glad to hear that. Aurora, I'll send you a FireHit, take out those starfish viruses," replied Harke, shuffling through his folder and slotting in the chips quickly, turning out the comms link as he did so.

"Um, okay, thanks, Harke. Be careful, Elly," the support program said, as her screen also blinked out of sight.

Relieved that all was well, Eternalis felt the familiar flow of battlechip data, and glanced towards the viruses he was about to destroy. "Let's play..." he started, as he loaded the two DashAttack chips into his body armor. Slowly, the torso began to shift around its configuration, creating two large vessels on his back. His arm- and leg-outputs reconfigured themselves to form sharp blades which could easily cut through whatever crossed their path. The vessels on his back finished their transformation to reveal themselves to be high-powered propulsion jets, which roared to life as power was directed to them via the battlechip data.

"... tag."

Turning the two jets to full power, the Navi rocketed through the water, creating a tremendous racket as he went. Positioning his blade-arms in front of him, anything that the Navi slash charging bull encountered was immediately ripped to pieces. With the first boost, he aimed to slice straight through the Piranha viruses. The second boost was a repeated process, except for one: he angled the jets slightly upward as he went, screaming right through the water's surface as he met the salty ocean air once again.

As the jets lost the last traces of their power, Eternalis' swift flight slowly lost its acceleration, and he hung in mid-air for a while. Reaching out with his fists in front of him, a lightning-fast transformation took place once again, as the jets and blades disappeared, and a massive burst of water exploded from the arm-outputs. It seemed as if some unseen leak had sprung, but the blue semi-liquid was contained within an invisible mould that filled itself as it went along. The mould took on the shape of a large barrel, and soon enough, the semi-liquid solidified, and tubes flew out of it to connect various parts to each other.

The result was the creation of a massive single-barrel cannon, pointed downwards at the submerged viruses under the water's surface, completed in under half a second. Locking onto the Marina group of viruses within moments, the barrel glowed white before a powerful energy beam was let loose into the water, tearing up the surface of the sea like a hot knife through butter. Strangely, however, chunks of molten rock appeared from within the white beam, filling the water with impossible bits of lava here and there. Everywhere the lava touched, a mysterious white haze appeared, and the water solidified into a strange dark-colored ice.

The energy beam was depleted of its energy after a while, and its possessor's weapon slowly dissolved back into his body, reforming his arms as they were before. Then, landing on the unnatural dark ice gracefully, he surveyed the peculiar landscape before him, scanning for any sign of survivors, and, more importantly, their attacks. Remembering his allies some height up, he sent a small packet of healing data to both of them, as his auto-restorative processes could not determine the wounded at the distance they were separated with.

Meanwhile, some height up, Aurora received her part of the battlechip arsenal, and the orange marks on her arms glowed to indicate this. The circles on her palms glowed white, and a burst of white fire engulfed both of her hands. She tensed, remembering that she had to play her part well to support the team. Yellow crosshairs on her visor identified the starfish viruses her operator indicated earlier, and they spun around to indicate pending lock-on. Then, the crosshairs turned red, and her fists went into action, sending a one-two in the viruses' direction without hesitation.

Shortly after, her fists were cleared of their translucent flame, and Aurora began breathing heavily. Somehow, the attack drained her of her energy far more than it should have. She could not focus enough on the viruses to anticipate their attacks. Looking around, she searched for something to aid her. Not long after, she saw one opportunity. Coming a bit closer to the only animal (?) in the group, she voiced her request.

"H-Hey, Harley. I'm, ha, a bit tired. Could you, uh, carry me for a bit, please?"

[| [color=cornflowerblue]Eternalis.EXE[/color] || Aurora.SP |]
[*] Influx Aegis @ Self [Heal 15 x3] {S}
========
[1] DashAttack @ Piranha A/B [Null 90 + Line Attack (5) + Impact] {C}
[2] DashAttack @ Piranha C/D [Null 90 + Line Attack (5) + Impact] {C}
-- Use dash to surface from water
========
[3] Desolation @ Sea Terrain [Large Ice Terrain] {S}
-- Null 50 + Autohit + To-All-Submerge
[4] HeatDragon @ Marina A/B + Anything else [Fire 150 + 25% Lava Terrain + Ground] {C}
========
[5] Prepared Dodge
[*] Influx Aegis @ Allies [Heal 15 x2] {S}
-- Rhea: Heal 15
-- Validus: Heal 15
========
[1] FireHit1 @ Starfish A [Fire 60 + Impact] {A}
[2] FireHit1 @ Starfish B [Fire 60 + Double Attack + Impact] {A}