Trial by Ice

"Wet, cold... Yeah, this is definitely Sharo." sighed Anyis comfortably, taking in the chilled atmosphere. "Isn't it just great, Mill?" she asked, looking to her Operator for a response.

Mill, however, was completely speechless, having panned his view up and seen something he had never, ever seen before. "What... what the hell is that?!" shouted Mill, pointing to the giant stream of data in the sky.

"Oh, right, I never told you." remembered Anyis, snapping her fingers. "That would be the vast majority of the junk data on the Net, collected into a single form and flowing all throughout the Net. It's called the River." explained Anyis in a rather professional manner.

"Wha... Why didn't I ever see it before?" asked Mill again, still dumbfounded.

"Like I already said, it's junk data. Most Navis are programmed to filter out junk data from their vision. I'm not, so thus, River." stated Anyis matter-of-factly. "It'd probably be a little weird for me at this point to not see it, actually..." muttered Anyis to herself in realization.

Mill scratched his head as it tried to process all this new information, but stopped short as an easier solution came up. "This is part of your 'long story', I take it?"

"Yeah, that's a good way to put it." nodded Anyis, giving Mill a few points in her mind for understanding. "Alright, that's enough talking. I'm itching to hit some viruses!"

(Battle 1 Start)
Anyis traveled down the river, or the stream of junk datas, and found a small body of water that was frozen by the chilling temperature. On top of the water was ice sculpture of penguins sliding back and forth with two Puffys silently watching them. Once all the penguins slipped out of the ice, they reverted back into their normal bodies and caught a glimpse of Anyis! The viruses prepared them selves and headed straight towards the navi!

PengiA: 80
PengiB: 80
PengiC: 80
PengiD: 80
PengiE: 80
PuffyA: 100
PuffyB: 100

Anyis: 140

Terrian: 40% Ice, 30% Normal, 30% Aqua

-BATTLE ONE, START!-
The viruses caught Anyis's attention just about the same time as they caught hers, giving the Navi just enough time to see a horde of penguins rushing towards her. Anyis grinned and threw her arms forward, giving her gloves enough room to transform into her heavy silver gauntlets. "Looks like these guys are looking for a fight too! This makes things fun!" shouted Anyis, half in her own excitement and half in taunt to the viruses.

"Oh, right, you use gauntlets." said Mill, remembering that Anyis had them out when he first saw her. "Well, that's not too far of a departure from Magna's style, so this shouldn't be too tough. How many chips do you want, Anyis?" questioned Mill, figuring he'd ask this one time out of courtesy's sake.

"One. Anything more would be unfair." answered Anyis confidently.

"Uhh... Well, alright. Since I want to see your fighting style, I'll let you do things your way for now. For this situation..." pondered Mill, looking at the charging Pengis, "... There's really only one answer." he said as he grabbed his ever-trusty ElecReel out of his folder. "One chip, as requested."

One slot in later, the ElecReel was deposited into Anyis's armored hands in form of a small tesla coil with an attached turbine generating new electricity. She shifted the weapon around in her hands a bit to get a feel of the weight until she was satisfied and ready to point it at the Pengis. She flipped a tiny switch under her thumb, causing wild blasts of lightning to arc out of the device and hurtle straight toward the viruses, although it was pretty obvious Anyis was trying to miss the one farthest back.

"You have custom chip models?" asked Mill, once again caught off guard by his new Navi.

"For some, yeah. I'm kinda surprised this one does, though, considering I've never used it before." answered Anyis as she used up the last bit of her weapon's lightning. "I must say, though, that one is pretty cool." she laughed as the tesla coil disappeared from her hands.

"Alright, next question..." sighed Mill, a little frustrated by how confusing Anyis was. "Why were you trying to miss that last penguin?"

"I want to have some fun with it, that's why." responded Anyis with a smile. "Just watch. You'll learn that there's more to me than just ice and fist-fighting."

With that promise, Anyis pointed one gauntlet at her unfortunate target and the other up towards the sky, more specifically the River. The topaz gems embedded in the back of her armored gloves began to glow, and along with them her similiarly colored orange eyes. With her focus locked, Anyis began moving her skyward hand around a bit, pointing a single finger to the River and tracing around in a loose line. Suddenly her hand stopped, her finger targetted on a single point. "There we go..." she said under her breath before lowering her pointed finger and opening up her palm. Suddenly, a loosely formed ghost escaped from the River at the point Anyis was pointing at and rocketed groundwards like a meteor, only to land in Anyis's palm and be absorbed into her body. "Not done yet!" she shouted as she opened up her other palm, letting the ghost escape outwards, flying like a bullet towards the Pengi.

"Whoa... what was that...?" asked Mill, stunned, as the glow in Anyis's eyes and gems slowly faded away.

"Me serving as a spirit medium. A lot of the River's data is made up of deleted Navis, programs, and viruses, so I've got plenty of material to work with." Anyis answered, lowering her arms to a more relaxed position.

"Come to think of it... That thing you brought down did look a little bit like a Metool..." said a thoughtful Mill. "Alright. That was all good and fine, but what did it do?"

"Usually I channel ghosts in my own body to enhance my abilities, but for now I only served as a medium to channel the ghost into the body of the Pengi over there. Since it can't channel the ghost properly like I can, the Pengi should become pretty messed up as it and the ghost fight for control of its body... It should be pretty fun to watch." explained the female Navi cooly.

"So this was the 'fun' you wanted earlier?" wondered Mill.

"Oh no, the fun's just started." laughed Anyis sinisterly. "Now, if you'll excuse me..." she said politely as she ran off. With her came a fresh wind under her control, which Anyis threw straight past her and at the Pengi, trying to blow it back onto the ice and make it reform its armor. She continued her chase, her heels making a clacking sound as they hit against the ice, until she came up close to the Pengi. Rather than stopping, though... she jumped. A wide, arcing leap aimed to land her right on the poor Pengi.

"Wha... What are you trying to do?!" yelled Mill, completely lost by her actions.

"Riding a Pengi! I've always wanted to try it!" shouted Anyis in return.

"... Have you really?" asked Mill skeptically.

"Well, no, but it still seems like it'd be fun." admitted Anyis as she tried to land herself on the virus. Mill really couldn't form a response to that.

Actions:

1) ElecReel (80 x 2 damage, Elec, Elemental Bonus) @ PengiA/B/C/D
2) Channel Static (Confusion, 2TCD) @ PengiE
--Gust (Push PengiE back onto Ice terrain)
3) Jump on PengiE (Movement)
4. PENGI SURFING (Dodge)

Cooldowns:
Channel Static - 2 turns
The shocking blast of the ElecReel was able to destroy three of the four target Anyis was aiming for. The surviving Pengis was "shocked" and couldn't move a muscle before the navi made her next move. After going through a long list of unnecessary work, Anyis successfully created a Pengi Surfboard and slid across the frozen river. The viruses tried to catch up and attack, but she was traveling just too fast.

PengiA: DELETED
PengiB: DELETED
PengiC: DELETED
PengiD: 80 [Ice Body]
PengiE: 80 [Confused / Ice Body / MOUNT!]
PuffyA: 100
PuffyB: 100

Anyis: 140

Terrian: 40% Ice, 30% Normal, 30% Aqua
... It worked? No way... it... did. Unbelievable. Mill had heard stories of stupid Navis trying, and failing, to mount Spikeys, but here was Anyis using a Pengi as a snowboard. He couldn't help but wonder if he had gotten more than he could handle with this Navi. Mill sighed, tempting Anyis to turn around and glance at her Operator's distressed face. "What's the matter, Mill?" Anyis asked calmly, as is she wasn't in the middle of snowboarding on a virus.

"Oh, uh, nothing." replied Mill, waving it off. "But, anyway, how long are you going to keep this up? I can't imagine virus riding will really help us train for the tournament."

"Good point... Oh well, it was fun while it lasted." nodded Anyis, prompting her to shift her weight over to make the Pengi veer to the side and off the ice. As she hopped off the virus, Anyis shouted over to the other Pengi, "Hey, you! Get over here!", making a sudden burst of wind come in at the virus's side in an effort to blow it off the ice too. "Hey, Mill, gimme some cleanup chips." requested Anyis afterwards, "Power doesn't matter."

"Alright..." responded Mill, not entirely sure what she was thinking. Since he didn't trust that "Power doesn't matter" line, Mill decided to go with two decent chips: his Boomerang and TwinFang. "First one incoming, Anyis." he reported as the Boomerang slid into his PET's chip slot with a click.

"Yeah, that'll do." nodded Anyis as she felt the chip's data enter her systems. "Now, for some personal touches..." Once again, a dim orange light began radiating from her eyes and gems, signaling that Anyis was beginning to channel. She established a connection with the River fairly quickly, leading various bits and pieces of data down from it towards her body. Before it was absorbed, though, the data assembled itself into a pair of Navis, their forms muddled by the fog of data around them. Anyis flinched as the two were channeled into her body, realizing that wasn't quite optimized for this level of manipulation just yet. In an almost immediate response to her body's straining, though, a new set of data fell from the River and reassembled itself to repair the damage she had incurred. "Alright, now I'm ready." announced Anyis as she assumed a battle stance, with a new trail of data fog hanging behind her.

"... What did you just do?" asked Mill, trying to figure this technique out.

Anyis only gave him a hand singal to not interrupt, then turned to face the Pengis as she materialized the Boomerang. As she gripped it in her hand, she felt one of the ghosts inside her begin to stur. "So you're good with this weapon?" she asked to the dead soul. It had long lost its ability to speak, but Anyis could feel a positive answer from it regardless. "Alright, then I'll leave it to you, then." Anyis said as she handed over the reigns of her body to the ghost. The battle stance she started in immediately shifted and her grip of the Boomerang was changed to very specific standards, since nothing less would meet the expectations of this Boomerang master. Then, with an amazingly subtle flick of the wrist, the weapon was off, slicing through the air as it chased after the Pengis. Then, with a snap, Anyis was back in control of her body, the ghost from before gone forever.

Knowing, however, that there were other viruses that probably weren't content with just sitting around doing nothing, Anyis immediately surrendered her body again, allowing the second ghost to take over for the TwinFang. As the pair of spikes materialized in her hands, 'Anyis' shouted, "Ha ha! If I have to go out, then doing it like this is the way to go! Watch and learn, chumps, and see a TwinFang of the likes you'll never see again!", a a deep, gruff voice booming in her head, although it only came out in her normal voice, to her relief. Before the second ghost could use his favorite chip, though, a sudden surge of data erupted from Anyis's hands, coating the spikes and turning them into a vicious-looking pair of icicles. "Sorry, I can't control that." echoed Anyis inside her own head to the ghost. "No worries, no worries! It's interesting, using this in a way I've actually never seen! In fact, I'm so exicted that I'll use it right now!" shouted the ghost immediately before throwing the icicles in a one-two fashion straight at the Puffy pair. As soon as the second spike left her hand, the second ghost disappeared from her body, having surrendered all its energy to power up that attack. "Thank you." Anyis whispered in respect as the results of the attacks unfolded.

Actions:

1) Ride PengiE off the ice (Movement)
--Gust (Blow PengiD off the ice)
2) Channel Surf (100 Strengthen, -15 HP Sacrifice, 2TCD)
--Ectopatcher (+15 HP)
3) Boomerang1 (60 + 20 + 20 damage, Wood) @ PengiD/E
--Ice Bleeding (Imbue Aqua to:)
4) Ice TwinFang1 (70 + 30 + 30 damage, 2 targets, Aqua) @ PuffyA/B

Cooldowns:
Channel Static - 1 turn
Channel Surf - 2 turns
Still slightly confused, the Pengi Anyis was riding continued to slide and spin until it was completely off the ice. The Puffys attacked, but their spikes landed behind her. The Pengi slipped onto a normal panel and the frosted armour that once covered the virus quickly melted away under the navi's feet. The other Pengi was forced off its panel of ice in a chilling gust that caused the penguin to roll over and off of its belly. It struggled while upside down trying to right itself.

Anyis's Boomerang finished off the two Pengis in one sweeping blow seeing as how neither was in any position to dodge. The two Puffys were also dispatched in a quickly, both speared by a pair of ghostly spires. One of the Pengis' bodies faded away slowly, revealing battlechip data in its wake. The rest simply dissolved away as usual.

PengiA: DELETED
PengiB: DELETED
PengiC: DELETED
PengiD: DELETED
PengiE: DELETED
PuffyA: DELETED
PuffyB: DELETED

Terrian: 40% Ice, 30% Normal, 30% Aqua

Anyis: 140 HP

[Battle 1 - Victory!]

Get: 1100z + Icewave1
"Aaand... That's me in a nutshell, Mill. I look forward to working with you." Anyis announced arrogantly in accompaniment to a bow.

Mill fumbled for words for a moment, until he finally managed, "Uh... same. Next battle, though, we're doing things my way. Now it'll be your turn to see how things are done." boasted Mill, knowing full well what kind of act he was following.

"Don't disappoint me, Operator." said Anyis with a laugh as she picked up the loot and went looking for the next battle.

(Battle 2 Start)
Sharo net was mostly empty barren space filled with ice and water and so it wasn't hard to spot another group of viruses. Clustered over a patch of ice, some Slimeys, ShellGeeks and Magalians kind of bumbled around. Upon closer observation, the Magalians seemed to be headbutting the normal panels around the frozen area while the Slimeys expanded the ice by seeping their jelly through the cracks and watching it freeze. The two ShellGeeks simply stood watch as sentries in quick alternating shifts.

One of the ShellGeeks noticed Anyis and let out what could only be described as a disgruntled clam noise.

Magalian-AA: 130 HP [10 HP aura]
Magalian-AB: 130 HP [10 HP aura]
SlimeyA: 90 HP
SlimeyB: 90 HP
ShellGeekA: 100 HP
ShellGeekB: 100 HP [ironbody]

Terrain: 20% Normal, 50% Ice, 30% Cracked

Anyis: 140 HP [dodges less effective]

[Battle 2 - Begin!]
"Alright Mill, you said you wanted to be in control of this battle." said Anyis, giving a lookover of the viruses she was facing. "Any bright ideas?"

Mill thought for a moment, taking a tally of the opponents, before responding, "Yeah, I think I might just-"

Before he could complete that statement, though, something from the TV talking from across the room caught his attention and made him shut up rather quickly. "... With the first block of matches coming to a close," said the reporter into her microphone, "the ONB Tournament officials are now beginning the second block! Stay tuned to DNN for full coverage of the events!" The TV then cut away to predictions of the matches and recapping the previous ones.

"... Oh hell." groaned Mill, gripping his hair in his hand out of frustration. "Anyis, the plan is to run. We need to get to the tournament right now."

"... What? Are you kidding me?" asked Anyis incredulously.

"We'll be disqualified if we don't get signed in soon. Just get away from those viruses and I'll jack you out. Can you do that?" answered Mill.

"Well, yeah, I could try, but... I'm not sure I could get away with all this slime around." she explained, lifting one of her feet up to show blobs of blue slime dripping from her heel. "It's pretty hard to walk through this, let alone run."

Mill sighed, saying, "Is there any way to get rid of the slime? This would be easy if I still just had my Wind chip..."

Anyis paused, looking around the slimy landscape for some sort of an idea. To her benefit, just such an idea came to her when her eyes reached the edge of slime to where it had frozen over. Anyis wasn't really sure why these viruses were trying to freeze everything over with slime, but what she did know was that she could walk on ice much better than on slime. "Alright, I think I can manage something. Just be ready to jack me out when you get the chance." said the Navi confidently.

"Normally I'd be asking questions about this, but we really don't have time for that now. Just make sure it works." returned Mill, knowing time was of the essence.

"Smart thinking." chuckled Anyis before focusing on her task. Most of the viruses at least seemed to be absorbed in their "roadwork", so Anyis guessed it'd be alright if she focused elsewhere for the moment. She sent her thoughts up to the River, gathering a small vein of its current in her domain before ripping it away from its source, bringing the small flow down to the ground where she was. The data hit the ground like a running faucet into a sink, causing the data to pour out around her and over the slime. Within a matter of seconds, the data locked itself together, becoming more an more solid until the slimy ground was coated in a fresh sheet of ice. "There... Hopefully that should give me the traction I need..." muttered Anyis to herself as she made a break for it, running as fast as she could to get away.

Actions:
1. River Slide (Large Area Ice Terrain, 1TCD) around Anyis
2. Escape
3. Escape
4. Escape
--Gust (Assist Escape)

Cooldowns:
River Slide - 1 turn
((RNG says... 6. Success!))

The Shellgeeks being immobile and the Slimeys hopping along at a very slow pace, the only other viruses that could give chase were the Magalians. However, at the sight of Anyis fleeing, neither of them seemed to be interested in pursuing her and continued slowly destroying the network panel by panel.

Someone else would have to deal with it later.

[Battle 2 - Fled!]

Lose: Face