Wearing an Ice Pack

"Ahh... That is sooo much better." sighed Anyis as she reveled in the biting cold of Sharo Net. She was enjoying herself so much that she fell flat on her back, letting her body feel the full cold of the icy ground. "It's just been Hades and Netfrica lately, so it's a wonder I didn't melt."

"I do not think your body structure promotes melting as a heat response, Mother Unit." noted Magna, who was somewhat confused by the Navi's claim.

"... One, it's just a figure of speech, and two, stop callling me that!" shouted Anyis, trying futilely to correct the golem's naming habit.

"Alright, back. Let's get going, since I wasn't planning to spend my evening virus busting after doing that all day with Rania." ordered Mill, alerting the virtual beings to his return.

"Come now, you know there were other things going on there." hinted Anyis as she got up off the ground.

"Well, yeah, we talked for a while. You and MeleeMan were still getting chips from us, though." responded Mill, who totally missed his Navi's point. Anyis could only cover her face with her hand as her head shook before just walking off wordlessly.

(Battle 1 Start)
Anyis walked through the frigid Sharo net with ease, treading the pure white field of snow with bliss while a normal navi would shiver at the chill. Though there wasn't anything notable within the view...something, however, did seem to stick out from the ground.

Approaching closer to examine it, what Anyis saw was a snowman, complete with a carrot nose and everything. Before she could really touch it, the snows began to break down and revealed a triple layered Slimey!

Carrot: 1 HP [Nose]
SlimeyA: 90 HP [Top]
SlimeyB: 90 HP [Middle]
SlimeyEX: 120 HP [Bottom]

Terrain: 100% Snow

Anyis: 180 HP
Magna: 60 HP

-BATTLE ONE, START!-
"Uh..." echoed Mill and Anyis in unison at the sight of the Slimey snowm... puddingman. Interestingly enough, the most attention-grabbing spectacle that Anyis couldn't take her eyes off of was not the triple stack of jello-like viruses, but the carrot on the top Slimey's face. That was just... why? She couldn't fault the viruses for lack of authenticity in their attempted snowman, but... yeah.

"So... I know I said I wanted to test out the new signature techniques, but since these viruses went through the trouble of arranging themselves so nicely for us, can I just...?" asked Anyis cautiously, who was still having a little trouble grasping the reality of this situation. Once that was accepted and squared away, she was more focused on containing the giddiness of a kid in a candy store. She didn't get viruses showing up like this very often... if at all.

"... Yeah... go ahead. I can't think of a reason not to, at least. Though I can't really think of a reason why I'm even seeing this in the first place either..." answered Mill slowly, who was having equally as much trouble as his Navi at understanding the battle at hand. "I assume you want the ElecReel for a... snowman made out of Aqua viruses... God, I can't believe I said that..." asked the Operator, but not before falling into a state of disbelief.

"Actually, I was thinking about the GolemHit. It'd be almost criminal to not use that on a stack of viruses." responded Anyis with a rather violent brand of logic.

"Well, that should do the job too. Magna, you seemed to make good use of this chip before, so can you use it again?" asked Mill of his SP.

"I am stuck, Operator and Mother Unit." reported Magna, who had indeed sunk about 2 or 3 feet into the snow. It was probably tough for him to jump out when his piston couldn't get a solid impact on the soft snow. There weren't any solid objects around him either, so there was no hope of pulling himself out with his arms. "I am sorry, Mother Unit, but I must ask that you engage the enemy until I have been extracted."

"Oh ho, no problem at all~" laughed Anyis, who took absolutely no offense from having this task placed on her shoulders. Rather, it was completely a matter of sadistic pleasure. "So then, give me the chip Mill. I'll handle this." ordered Anyis promptly. She wanted to do this, badly.

"... There's going to be so much karmic retribution for this..." groaned Mill as he placed the GolemHit into his PET.

Anyis remotely materialized the GolemHit like she had before in the battle with Tel, after the forethought that she didn't want to get splattered in Slimey goo. Before she launched it, though, there was one other task to do. "Boogeyman!" shouted Anyis, pointing her finger forward and sending her spectral minion in that direction. His orders were simple, so Boogeyman moved quickly, taking a quick swipe at the carrot with his arms before vanishing into thin air. Anyis saw no reason to destroy the carrot.

Once that was out of the way, Anyis raised her arm up and clutched her gauntlet-encased hand into a fist. The stone-built arm up above did the same, signaling that it was ready for takeoff. She then swung her arm straight down, dragging the GolemHit along an invisible leash as it dove down towards the Slimey puddingman...

Anyis's Actions:
--Boogeyman (Knockback) @ Carrot
1. GolemHit2 (190 damage, Break, Panel Break) @ SlimeyA/B/EX

--Turn Splice--
Taking the glorious chance of having the viruses already lined up for a beating, Anyis and her rockfist came crashing straight down on the Slimey-Man. The first impact caused the top Slimey to burst like a waterballon and the 2nd caved in before it did the same. On the third and the very bottom Slimey, the Golemhit lost all of its strength and dissipated before it could do any real damage.

The virus took this chance to slam its gelatinous body against Anyis, bruising and covering the majority of her body in a thick, sticky substance.

AND THE CARROT WAS SAFE AS IT FELL INTO THE SAFE CUSHION OF THE SNOW.

Carrot: 1 HP [Snow]
SlimeyA: DELETED
SlimeyB: DELETED
SlimeyEX: 120 HP

Terrain: 100% Snow

Anyis: 150 HP [Slow] [4 Actions Left]
Magna: 60 HP
"Oh god, this is so gross...!" whimpered Anyis, whose sense of pain from the hit had been completely overwritten by the mental woes of being covered in slimy goo. For every twitch she made, the slime shifted ever so slightly, granting her skin the most vile sensation she had ever felt. It was seeping into her robe, pooling in the feet of her boots... Ew ew ew ew ew! "Mill, how do I get this stuff off?!" shouted Anyis, half as a question and half as an order.

"Err... You can't. We don't have anything to deal with condition problems." answered Mill reluctantly, who was almost tempted to make up some lie so that Anyis wouldn't explode on him. "You took some damage, though, so this is a good chance to test your new healing method." offered Mill as a consolation prize.

"What's good about it?! God, you're so useless! Magna, get this slime off me!" barked Anyis, turning her attention through the muck towards her SP.

"I am still stuck, Mother Unit, and thus unable to render assistance. My apologies." responding Magna in factual, yet unhelpful, fashion.

"Damnit..." Anyis whined, who came to terms with the fact that she didn't have any options to work with. "Maybe the new heal will help more than Mill thinks... So how does it work...?" she mumbled, booting up the Soul Riser program and letting the method run through her mind. "... Are you kidding me? Seriously, Mill?" questioned Anyis in disbelief, which for better or worse distracted her from her slimy state. Okay, admittedly, she thought it was awesome. In any other situation, it'd be the best healing technique ever. But when she was the situation, it was ridiculous. "Fine..." she grumbled, balling up her fist, squishing some of the slime on her palm as a result. Anyis then raised her gauntlet to chest-level where the Slimey had hit her, and proceeded to... punch herself. Lightly, but she still punched herself in the chest. Rather than hurt, though, it released a burst of repair data from her fist into her body and mended the fresh bruise. The slime, though... Yeah, there was still slime.

At this point, the disgust Anyis had been feeling turned to rage towards the Slimey that did this to her. Seeing that his Navi's temper was ready to boil over, Mill slotted in a chip before Anyis could say anything... Rather, he preemptively gave her a chip precisely so she wouldn't say anything in his direction.

Anyis's gauntlets disappeared to give way to her white gloves, and in the hand of one of them appeared the hilt of an AquaKnife, and with it came the jagged ice blade. The snow wasn't a problem, since even without her FloatShoes, it was as much home field for her as it was for the Slimey. So really, the only thing slowing her down was the gunk on her, but she was just too damn mad to care.

She lunged. No yell, no battle cry, no anything. She just pounced on the Slimey, and began jamming the AquaKnife down in its direction. Stab stab stab stab stab... Dice it in to cubes, punch it full of holes, whatever. She just wanted to destroy this stupid mass of gelatin.

Anyis's Actions:
2) Soul Riser (Heal 60 HP) @ Anyis
3) AquaKnife (80 Aqua damage, Slashing) @ SlimeyEX
4) AquaKnife (80 Aqua damage, Slashing) @ SlimeyEX
5) AquaKnife (80 Aqua damage, Slashing) @ SlimeyEX

Magna's Actions:
SNOWBOUND

Cooldowns:
Soul Riser - 2 turns
As the battle slowed down for a moment, Anyis took the opportunity to search for some solution to her slime problem. There didn't appear to be one. So, to make herself feel better (literally), she punched herself as lightly as possible in the chest. All the damage sustained from the Slimeys was healed almost instantly.

Feeling great now aside from a mass of slime covering her, Anyis decided to take out the problem at the source and brutally murder her final adversary with a sharp knife.

She did so.

Carrot: 1 HP [Snow]
SlimeyA: DELETED
SlimeyB: DELETED
SlimeyEX: DELETED

Terrain: 100% Snow

Battle 1 Complete!

Anyis.EXE: 180 HP
Magna.SP: 60 HP

Rewards: 450z, 16 BugFrags
A sigh of relief came as the goo on Anyis's body disappeared along with the butchered SlimeyEX. "That... is not something I want to experience again. Mill, be more careful next time." she ordered, shifting the blame a mile off herself and onto her Operator.

"Wait, what?! What does that have to do with me? You're the one who wanted wipe out the Slimeys in one shot!" retorted Mill, who was both angered and astonished that Anyis would point her finger at him over all this.

"That's not the important part. Just plan more carefully next time." Anyis replied, glossing over Mill's counterpoint entirely. "Anyway, come on Magna, let's... Ugh. Right, you're still stuck." she muttered after the realization, turning back to face her SP.

"Correct, Mother Unit." agreed Magna simply. Anyis just stared at him for a moment, dug her heel into the snow a little, then moved to another spot and did the same. Deeming this second spot to have a harder snow pack than where Magna was stuck, she figured the best option was to dig him a path from there to here. "... Mm, guess I better get started then." Anyis grumbled as she re-equipped her gauntlets and dug them into the snow.

"Wait wait wait, stop." interrupted Mill. "This is really unnecessary. SPs have an unsummoning and resummoning function. Just unsummon Magna and make him reappear on a harder patch of snow." The man... spoke logic. Huh.

Anyis, concerned with the state of her own dignity, said nothing as she followed that suggestion, poking Magna with just a finger and calling his unsummon command. Leaving the crater in the snow behind, Anyis walked back to the thicker snow pack and called the summon function. A wave of data spun around the spot in front of her, leaving Magna in its wake, who was standing steadily on his new grounding. "The issue has been resolved, Operator and Mother Unit." reported Magna quickly.

Anyis just lightly punched Magna with her gauntlet in reflex to "Mother Unit", grumbled something incoherent, and walked off to find some more viruses.

(Battle 2 Start)
Trudging through the snowy landscapes of Sharo, Anyis and Magna found themselves a nice river of freezingly cold water. In the river was a random assortment of sand and shells and whatever else is in these kinds of rivers. However, some of the shells didn't seem so very uninhabited, and blasted out of the ground at the sign of activity. Floating above the water, they revealed themselves to be Nautilus viruses, protected by a bubble each. And if that wasn't enough, some Weathers were also hanging out at the other side of the river.

Weather A: 80HP (snow, other side)
Weather B: 80HP (snow, other side)
Nautilus A: 60HP [10HP BubbleWrap] (sea)
Nautilus B: 60HP [10HP BubbleWrap] (sea)
Nautilus C: 60HP [10HP BubbleWrap] (sea)

Anyis.EXE: 180 HP (snow, this side)
Magna.SP: 60 HP (snow, this side)

Terrain: 65% Snow, 35% Sea (river)

-BATTLE TWO, FIGHT!!-
"I'm working on a GMO to help you deal with the snow, Magna, but you're going to have to wait a while before it's done. Try not to sink in the mean time." explained Mill, notifying the SP of his intentions. Well, that, but moreso he didn't want to see Magna get stuck in the snow... again.

"Understood, Operator. The snow pack here is a bit thicker, so I sense no immediate danger of sinking in the near future." responded Magna with a positive report. Though, admittedly, that report was only based on the fact that he hadn't sunken into this new snow already.

"That's great, really, but can we deal with the viruses before the snow?" snapped Anyis at both Mill and Magna. She kinda doubted that the viruses were patient enough to wait on them to sort out their terrain problems. However, the first response she got from either her Operator or SP was a... burning sound? It was the kind of sound you heard when someone threw a piece of charcoal into a fire, sort of. Anyis didn't have a clue what was causing it, until a wave of orange light washed over her shoulders. She could only bury her face in the palm of the glove as she turned to face Magna, who was partaking in the Bugfrags found after the last battle. "You're just doing that now?!" shouted Anyis, utterly blown away by the golem's timing.

"I was unable to upload the Bugfrags into my system earlier, due to being trapped in the snow." explained Magna bluntly as he popped another Bugfrag into his mouth, letting the cluster of strange data burn to a crisp within his body. "... Urp." he grunted as something felt off with that last Bugfrag. Magna had pretty well confirmed by this point that Bugfrags had a bit of a kick to them going down, but this one was kicking a little too strong... Suddenly the light within Magna's body erupting, pouring out of his eyes and mouth with a blinding intensity. Was this... heartburn? Well, he didn't have a "heart" persay, but regardless of what it was to be called, Anyis got completely engulfed by the light since Magna had been facing her at the time. She raised her arms up over her eyes to shield herself, and by the time the light had dissipated, there was orange energy coursing around her in a rapid and unpredictable path. "... Excuse me." said Magna out of formality.

"What the..." stuttered Anyis as she watched the energy pass by her face several times. She reached out to try and touch it, but every time she did so, the energy jumped out of the way to another spot around her body. "Ah, so annoying! Mill, what the hell is this?" asked Anyis with a lot of frustration in her voice.

"It's, uh... apparently the barrier I was working on. Magna managed to force-boot it somehow." answered Mill while scratching his head in pure confusion.

"It still needs work, apparently! Whenever I try to touch it, it moves! What kind of barrier doesn't get in the way?" grumbled Anyis as the energy continued to dart around her body in spite of her complaints. "... Feh, whatever. Just give me some chips."

"It only keeps out of your way so it doesn't obstruct your attacks. It should protect you just fine if a virus attack... Should." replied Mill, still unsure whether or not this thing was really finished. "Anyway, I've been noticing lately that my folder is piling up with chips we haven't really used much yet. I'm going to send you some of those so you can get familiar with them, alright?" he noted, asking a question despite not expecting or wanting an answer from Anyis. In fact, by the time he finished speaking, Mill had already popped 3 chips into his PET.

"Fine, fine." Anyis nodded as she equipped her gauntlets and the chips were uploaded to her systems. As she activated the first, an "... Ehh..." escaped her lips in an uncertain sigh at the sight of a MagBolt hooked around the gemstone on the back of her right gauntlet. She had gotten some prior experience with a MagBolt during the ONB tournament, but every one of those experiences were... unpleasant. She just couldn't seem to hit with the damned thing, and now Mill had somehow acquired one of his own. Anyis could only hope that this one was a bit nicer to her as she pointed it at the nearest Nautilus and turned it on, trying to pull the virus in with an electromagnetic draw before zapping through its bubble barrier.

Seeing how Mother Unit's supply of electrical attacks was limited at best, Magna opted to assist in tearing down the defense of the Nautilus viruses. He spawned his shield as usual, then raised his free hand, palm open, at one of the shelled viruses Mother Unit hadn't already attacked. The shutter on the golem's palm spun open to give way to an orb of energy as Magna fired a single shot, intent on popping the bubble and giving Mother Unit a clean shot at the Nautilus.

The next chip Anyis used was one she had at least used out of their folder once before: the AuraHead. It was a strange chip by her standards. It looked kinda ghostly, which suited her well, but at the same time Megalians looked like aliens, which was just... weird. Either way, it was a powerful chip, and there was a Nautilus lined up with a Weather behind it on the other side of the river just begging to be attacked. Anyis equipped the launcher to wield in both hands, and pointed it forward. With a pull of the trigger, the AuraHead itself burst out towards its targets, but not before ramming through a part of the barrier energy that had yet to not evade an attack. A small portion of the orange energy parted ways with the barrier path it had been of part of and carried with the AuraHead, giving it a small power boost.

Seeing that there were two viruses left that she hadn't attacked, and realizing that she only had one chip left, Anyis decided to try something. "Hey Mill. Look at the River for a moment... Uh, the one you have to look up for." said Anyis, realizing there were actually two rivers here at the moment. "Do you see the portion just a little further ahead that seems more... solid than the rest?"

"... Yeah, kinda. Only because it's a bit less murky of a shade than the rest of the ghost data, though." answered Mill after pivoting his view window upwards. "How does a chunk that big even exist? Ghost data is always really broken down, so for it to be that big, the source must've been..."

"Yeah, bigger." interjected Anyis. "I can only guess it was something like a Cybeast when it was alive. I noticed it a few days ago, but only thought after those last upgrades you gave me that I might be able to channel part of it. The whole thing is just impossible, but if I could just purge it piece by piece... Well, I can't just leave it alone after seeing it regardless."

"So that's why you wanted me to leave some of that upgrade data free. Okay, I'll assign it to your channeling powers and let you do the rest." nodded Mill, popping the keyboard out from the back of his PET and pecking away at it for a few seconds.

"Here I go, then..." sighed Anyis as she took a very focused stance. Knees bent, elbows back, palms up, clutch into fists... With Magna's barrier around her, Anyis didn't worry about the viruses in front, instead focusing solely on channeling that monster in the River. She managed to break a tiny piece off, but despite that, the moment she channeled it through body, the data surge around her was so thick that it was completely visible to anyone, not just those with ghost sight. "Wow, it's a wild one... Urgh, just hold on a second... 3... 2... 1... Hya!" muttered Anyis as she counted down the release, ultimately twisting her fists around as she thrusted them forward with a battlecry. What resulted was far louder than that battlecry:

"GHROOOOAAAAAAR!!!"

The foggy ghost of a demonic creature poured out of Anyis's fist and let out a frightening roar that echoed across the snowfield. A formless wisp emanated from its massive upper body, humanoid in general shape but still distinctly monstrous. The titan bared its razor-sharp teeth as its empty eyes focuses on the previously untouched Weather, and as Anyis advanced her body one step forward in conjunction with a second thrust of her fists, the demon charged. The third Nautilus stood square in the path of the monster, but it would provide no resistance as the charging creature passed clean through in its ghostly state, only stopping when it reached the target. With no thought and no patience, the titan pulled its fist up only to hammer it down, swinging at the Weather with brutal force.

"... Whew." sighed Anyis in relief, having succeeded in performing her newest attack. "I think I have a good idea of how to do that more cleanly next time."

"You sure it's okay? It seems pretty wild." asked Mill cautiously.

"No matter how big it is, a ghost is still a ghost. It won't cause any damage unless I let it." Anyis replied confidently. "Now..." she muttered, turning her attention to the third Nautilus and materializing her last chip. Seeing that it was the Kunai she had earned not long ago in Netfrica Net, Anyis unequipped her gauntlets and gripped the throwing blades in her gloved hands, preferring to deal with these smaller weapons without her gauntlets. In a quick 1-2-3 fashion, Anyis placed a kunai in between her fingers and flicked it three times, sending the blades flying towards the Nautilus to pop its bubble and cut it apart. After releasing her last attack, Anyis backed off, waiting to survey the results of this assault.

Magna's Actions:
1. Core Field (80 HP Barrier, 2TCD) @ Mother Unit
--Equip Reinforced Golem's Buckler (2-Hit Shield)
2. Shutter Palm Shot (10 damage) @ NautilusB

Anyis's Actions:
1. MagBolt1 (180 Elec damage, Stun, Magnetic Pull) @ NautilusA
2. AuraHead1 (110 damage, Break, Line Attack, Aura Boost) @ NautilusB/WeatherA
3. Titan Revival (100 Aqua damage, Phasing) @ WeatherB
4. Kunai1 (30 damage x 3 Kunai, Slashing) @ NautilusA
5. Dodge

Cooldowns:
Titan Revival - 3 turns
Core Field - 2 turns
After addressing Magna's problems with the snow, the SP began consuming the BugFrags the team had previously obtained. Anyis eyed the viruses nervously and waited, receiving an odd defensive barrier for her patience. Getting the awkwardness of the situation out of the way, Anyis also received a MagBolt along with some bad memories. She pointed it at the Nautilus viruses without much enthusiasm and soon had one of the subs speeding towards her due to the chip's power. It collided head on, unable to resist the pull. The shock from the magnet fried the virus and left it in so many pieces of junk data.

Moving to support the Mother Unit, Magna fired a quick shot of energy at another minisub. The shot hit the bubble and popped it like a... well, a bubble. Anyis took the opportunity to send an AuraHead speeding towards the virus and one of its allies behind it. The blindingly fast attack punched through the Nautilus and kept going towards the Weather viruses. The one it threatened dodged upward and dropped back down as the head passed, which turned out to be a mistake as the head doubled back and smacked the virus from behind. Two left.

...that number would soon reduce to one as Anyis prepared to channel some unknown ghost entity. After her op finished readying the attack, Anyis unleashed it in a display of sheer power and fury. If the Nautilus had a face, it would have been shocked as the ghostly form moved straight through it and put an end to the dumbstruck Weather behind it. It dissipated afterward, leaving the Nautilus only slightly less freaked out.

Ready to end the battle now, Anyis's operator sent her a Kunai chip; three knives to end a slow submarine virus. Aiming quickly and carefully, the aqua Navi directed three sharp projectiles at the still reeling and slow Nautilus. The first one popped the bubble. The other two buried themselves in the side of the craft.

And that was that.

Weather A: DELETED
Weather B: DELETED
Nautilus A: DELETED
Nautilus B: DELETED
Nautilus C: DELETED

Terrain: 65% Snow, 35% Sea (river)

Battle 2: Flawless Victory!

Anyis.EXE: 180 HP (80HP barrier) (snow, this side)
Magna.SP: 60 HP (2-hit shield) (snow, this side)

Rewards: 800z, 17 BugFrags
"Huh... I guess I like these new chips, Mill." pondered Anyis aloud, having surveyed the now empty battlefield to a sense of satisfaction. Even she could admit there was a certain degree of luck involved in all of her attacks landing flawlessly, but there was nothing wrong in thinking that the chips she had used just prior were very cooperative at the time.

"Can't argue with these results, that's for sure." nodded Mill in agreement, which, for him and Anyis, was a rare occurrence. "I'll see if we can't get some good use out of these in the future." he said as he dropped the three chips back into his folder without any particular ordering.

"As long as you keep giving me chips to use, I don't really care how you send them." replied Anyis with completely honesty. "Oh, and Magna..." she mentioned as she turned her attention to her SP, "... Do me a huge favor and actually take care of your Bugfrags and whatever before the next viruses show up."

"Understood, Mother Unit." answered Magna as he promptly began ingesting the data pieces.

Anyis went ahead and walked over to Magna for the sole reason of punching his side and asking, "How many times am I going to have to hit you before you stop calling me that?" with a heavy sigh.

"I currently do not have an answer to that query, Mother Unit." responded Magna bluntly. Anyis only shook her head and walked of without a reply.

(Battle 3 Start)
Unfortunately for Magna, it was hard to enjoy a meal while SURROUNDED BY PENGUINS. Suddenly, Pengis spun out from all sides, doing an adorable but deadly dance across the ice. A single shadow flickered about along the snowbanks surrounding the battlefield, but the penguins were much more distracting, therefore the shadow should obviously be ignored entirely.

OH AND THERE WAS A HOLE IN THE SNOW. BETTER NOT STEP IN IT.

Nightmare: 100 (2 moves away, over missing)
PengiA: 80 HP
PengiB: 80 HP
PengiC: 80 HP
PengiD: 80 HP
PengiE: 80 HP

Anyis.EXE: 180 HP
Magna.SP: 60 HP

Terrain: 80% ice, 15% snow (surrounding ice), 5% missing

--BATTLE 3 START!--
"Pengis, huh... Haven't fought these since our first battle, Mill." noted Anyis as she recollected the early days with her Operator. She glanced around the battlefield to see all five penguin viruses coated in ice armor, and that sight made her realize something. "... I'm kind of glad we haven't fought these things in so long." Anyis admitted, feeling that their near-invincibility on ice was a real hassle, especially when she was just as prone to use ice terrain as they were.

"Well, the good news is that you have something besides ice now. I just finished Magna's GMO a minute ago too, so there shouldn't be any problems." reported Mill with a smug grin of accomplishment on his face as he leaned back in his chair.

"... What are you getting confident about? The pro Operators would've had all this done last battle." retorted Anyis sharply, which sent Mill leaning too far back and falling out of his chair as it toppled to the floor. "Smooth, Mill, smooth."

"Oh whatever, just take care of the viruses!" barked Mill as he got himself up off the floor and reset his chair to its former position. He knew Anyis wasn't above lording some her old Operators over him, and admittedly, he wasn't going to win that fight. "Anyway... That shadowy virus is pretty far away, so I'll just send you some chips to get rid of the Pengis quickly." said Mill as he sat back down and dug a pair of chips out of his folder.

"Alright, guess that means it's my turn now. Let's see how this works..." thought Anyis aloud as she waved her arm through the air. Following along with the tips of her fingers, a layer of ice solidified along the underside of the River above. The rest of the ghost data continued to flow unrestricted, digging against the frozen sheet and pulverizing the ice into tiny flakes of snow that began to rain down on the ground below. When the snowflakes touched the ice the Pengis were dancing on, the ice itself reformed into snow, creating a thick-packed base as more fresh snow continued to fall.

With the new snow underneath, Magna could feel his weight starting to push down into the dusty terrain, which prompted him to activate this next GMO uploaded to his systems. In an instant his base transformed, growing much wider and longer as Magna found himself mounted on the body of a snow plow truck. The treads of his new vehicular base also sank into the snow slightly, but due to the sheer surface area the transformed golem covered now, he stayed up and able to move. "... This is most effective. Thank you, Operator." noted Magna gratefully, as despite how well he could take things in stride, being utterly useless while trapped in a snow drift did not sit well with him. Feeling ready for battle, Magna created a fresh shield to use, only to note that even his big tower shield didn't really cover a lot of area when he was this big.

With Magna's snow issues addressed, Anyis armed herself with the two chips sent by Mill. Well, armed wasn't really the case, as like the last time she used it, the ElecReel summoned a free-floating, electrically-supercharged ghost above her head. On the other hand, the DollThunder appeared in her hand in its default form, because apparently it already looked spooky enough to fit her ghostly theme. With the snowfall presumably stripping the Pengis of their ice armor, Anyis thought for a second on how to best attack them, despite their circular formation around her. She looked at the DollThunder in her hand, the ElecReel ghost over her head, then the Pengis around her... and grinned. "Get close, Magna. It's going to rain lightning soon!" laughed Anyis, giving her SP only a second to scoot his giant body closer to her as she fired the DollThunder directly at the electric ghost. The ElecReel-generated poltergeist exploded in a spectacular display of lightning and thunder, sending the booming sound echoing across the battlefield as bolts of electricity crashed down all around Anyis.

As the last few lightning bolts dissipated, Anyis could sense a third Battlechip get uploaded from the PET. She pulled up its information in her head, but when she didn't recognize it, she asked, "Where'd this come from, Mill?".

"I... honestly have no idea. It's just in my folder. Judging from its name, I figured it'd be good on the snow." admitted Mill, who in poor judgment slotted in a strange chip he had never seen before.

Thankfully, there was nothing malicious about it, as Anyis the activated the SnowFort and caused a wall of snow to assemble from the ground up between her and the far-off Nightmare. With the existing snowfall to use as material, it looked like the wall had built itself to be durable. "... Yep, it doesn't get much more as-advertised than that." nodded Anyis as she sat down on the snow and placed her back against the SnowFort wall. She then looked up at her SP... and noticed that this wall did absolutely nothing to cover his massive frame. "Uh... Magna, you might want to figure out another way to defend yourself."

"Understood, Mother Unit." responded Magna as the Mother Unit kicked at one of his treads in protest of the title. The plow-mounted golem called up the orange energy from within his body like last battle, but this time when the light radiated out from his face it looked like it hit an invisible wall. Once the light radiated out in front of Magna far enough, the orange energy began bending back to surround his giant body. It was still a patchwork barrier, but despite the sizable circumference it was traversing, the barrier energy still raced around rapidly enough to provide a solid defense.

Anyis's Actions:
1. Spirit Duster (Stage Change Snow Terrain, 3TCD)
2. ElecReel (160 Elec damage, Multiple targets, Improved ground accuracy) @ PengiA/B/C/D/E
3. DollThunder (160 Elec damage, Multiple targets, Improved air accuracy) @ PengiA/B/C/D/E
4. SnowFort1 (2 Hit Standalone Shield Per Turn, 2 Turn Duration)
5. Take cover behind SnowFort

Magna's Actions:
--Activate Plow.GMO
--Reinforced Golem's Buckler (2 Hit Shield)
1. Core Field (80 HP Barrier, 2TCD) @ Self
2. Defend Mother Unit

Cooldowns:
Spirit Duster - 3 turns
Core Field - 2 turns
Anyis started by turning the ice into snow, effectively halting the dancing of the penguins as they all stumbled around in the white fluff. A horrible penguin massacre then occurred before Mill's eyes as lightning shot out over the battlefield. Pengi after Pengi was electrocuted and fried to ash by the storm while Anyis watched from the safety of her own cozy fortress. No amount of being surrounded by cozy layers of shields was enough to protect Anyis from the DEVASTATING DAMAGE caused by the Nightmare virus as it teleported over and slashed her down the side, delivering an insurmountable obstacle of physical pain that would almost certainly just be ectopatched in a few seconds. Magna was fine, all snug within his barrier.

EXCEPT ANYIS DOESN'T HAVE AN ECTOPATCHER ANY MORE OH WELL >:I

Nightmare: 100 (2 moves away, over missing)
PengiA: DELETED
PengiB: DELETED
PengiC: DELETED
PengiD: DELETED
PengiE: DELETED

Anyis.EXE: 160 HP (behind Snowfort)
Snowfort: 2 Hits
Magna.SP: 60 HP (60 HP Barrier) (2-hit shield) (behind Snowfort)

Terrain: 95% snow, 5% missing
"Ow, what the hell?!" shouted Anyis as the Nightmare warped in and took a slice at her side. Yes, she had her back to a wall of snow, her giant, barrier-clad SP was no more than a foot away from her on the other side, and yet that dirty little phantasmal virus managed to squeeze in and attack. The worst part wasn't the damage, but the fact that Anyis genuinely didn't expect it. She let her guard down. "Damnit..." Anyis muttered in frustration as she pressed her gauntlet against her side, releasing a burst of reconfigured ghost data from the knuckles to mend the gash just above her hip.

"Wow, we picked the wrong threat here..." sighed Mill at the gross miscalculation. The Pengis came to a halt as soon as the snowfall was set in place, so Mill was fairly sure they had done waaay more damage than needed with the lightning storm. And while his Navi was vaporizing penguins, the teleport-able Nightmare launched a surprise attack and immediately teleported back to its original position. What a sly virus. "I'm going to send some bladed chips, because just looking at it, I'm going to assume it's a lot like the Shadow virus." announced Mill as he loaded two chips, recollecting Anyis tearing the near-intangible shadows apart with a RageClaw. Now, however, they had some more powerful chips at their disposal.

With the new sharp equipment at her disposal, Anyis looked over the SnowFort to scope out her enemy. "God, he's too far away... Damn cheater can teleport way too easily!" she grumbled, knowing she couldn't possibly run all the way over there and deliver a good series of attacks. As she turned back around to sulk, though, she noticed something... her ally was a giant snow plow. "Hey Magna, I'm hitching a ride. Take me to that stupid cyclops shadow." she ordered, walking effortlessly through Magna's barrier, hopping up on one of the treads and climbing up to sit next to Magna's upper body.

"Understood, Mother Unit. We will be in transit momentarily. Please fasten your seatbelts and remain seated at all times." responded Magna with what sounded like a pre-registered phrase. At least, that's what Anyis hoped, because she didn't see any seatbelts on her SP.

There was really no telling what powered Magna's plow form, as there wasn't any exhaust common to any vehicle. But whatever it was, it seemed to be good enough, because the treads began digging into the snow at an increasingly fast pace until the grip solidified and they took off, going around the SnowFort before pushing through the snow as Magna's v-shaped plow cut a path through the soft terrain. While they were in motion, Anyis knocked the rust off her channeling techniques by linking up to the River and absorbing a ghost into her body. Since the various decades of Net life provided her with an ample supply of dead to choose from, Anyis always seemed to find the right ghost for every job, and this time was no exception. Though, in what hadn't happened in quite a while, Anyis managed to catch a talking one...

"Foul virus, you have disgraced the honor of my host! Prepare to face the hidden ninja arts that have slain thousands like yourself!" taunted the ghost through Anyis's voice, as the spirit medium herself, secluded to the back of her mind, could only sigh. This was the key drawback to her spirit-channeling techniques: ghost Navis were usually the ones offed by natural selection, so her options were... quirky. This defunct ninja was no exception. Despite the fact that Magna was still driving through the snow, the possessed Anyis stood up on her SP, walked a little further up to just before the plow itself, and summoned the first Battlechip. A trio of kunai blades appeared between the temporary ninja's fingers, and thankfully, all three were thrown with the precision Anyis expected of the ghost she chose to channel.

As the three ninja blades flew towards the Nightmare, possessed Anyis brought forth the second chip as her signature AquaKnife appeared in her palm. "This is a strange weapon, but my discerning eye can see its quality! It will do a fine job to purge this creature from the world!" announced the ninja ghost as he did exactly what Anyis feared: the AquaKnife's hilt slipped between her fingers, and with a flick of the wrist was sent following after the Kunai. At this point Anyis just hit the failsafe and released the ghost from her body, purging the ninja from existence as she watched one of her most reliable melee-range chips fly through the air...

Anyis's Actions:
1. Soul Riser (60 Heal, 2TCD) @ Self
2. Hitch a ride on Magna

----------

Magna's Actions:
1. ROLL OUT (Movement)
2. ROLL OUT (Movement)

----------

3. Channel Surf (120 Strengthen, 3TCD) @ Self
4. Kunai1 (60 damage x 3 Kunai, Slashing) @ Nightmare
5. Throw AquaKnife (110 Aqua damage, Slashing) @ Nightmare

Cooldowns:
Spirit Duster - 2 turns
Core Field - 1 turn
Soul Riser - 2 turns
Channel Surf - 3 turns
After quickly mending her own wounds, Anyis began to approach the tricky Nightmare while riding on her personal snowplow. The viruse saw the strange contraption coming towards him, but didn't do much as it simply hovered over its blank hole. However, the moment the ninja possessed Anyis threw the Kunais, it dipped into the hole and reappeared right in front of the navi once more. It held its sword up in preparation, but it didn't expect the AquaKnife thrown right into its eye and instantly dispersed into harmless data before it took the swing of the sword.

Nightmare: DELETED
PengiA: DELETED
PengiB: DELETED
PengiC: DELETED
PengiD: DELETED
PengiE: DELETED

Anyis.EXE: 180 HP
Snowfort: 2 Hits [2-movements away]
Magna.SP: 60 HP (60 HP Barrier) (2-hit shield)

Terrain: 95% snow, 5% missing

-BATTLE THREE WON!-
750z + 25 BugFrags + [IceWave1] BattlechipIcewave1
Damage: 80
Accuracy: A
Description: Sends a wave of ice at one enemy
Duration: Once
Element: Aqua
With the virus dispatched, Magna came to a quick stop, letting his treads lock up as he ground to a halt. This jarring application of the brakes was more than Anyis was ready for, as she was still standing flat on her feet at the time, and the lack of any restraint sent her flying clear off Magna, over the hole the Nightmare once occupied, and into the snow beyond. Thankfully, there was a pretty fluffy drift there, so Anyis's landing wasn't hard.

"Phthh!" spat Anyis, releasing a clump of snow from her mouth as she climbed out of the small crater she had created. "Could you give me a little warning next time you stop that suddenly?!" she shouted in frustration, pointing a finger to his SP as he plowed his way towards her.

"Apologies, Mother Unit. I will take the necessary steps to ensure that you are properly secured before I come to a stop next time." responded Magna in a way that would've sounded really condescending if it was coming from anyone else. "If I may offer a consolation, I have collected the materials left behind by the previous group of viruses." the SP reported as he opened the palm of his giant hand, revealing a sum of zenny data, a piece of chip data, and a pile of Bugfrags.

"Well, alright, since you made yourself useful, I'll forgive you." nodded Anyis as she took the zenny and chip data, holding it against her chest before it transferred up to the PET. "Wait... This chip data seems familiar." said Anyis with a suspicious raise of her eyebrow.

"Yeah, looks like it's another IceWave. Can't say I've ever found two of the same chip before." noted Mill as he loaded the double onto a blank chip. "I was hoping a little that we'd expand the variety of Aqua chips you could use while we were here, but this won't hurt."

"I guess, but I don't feel like I'm done here yet, so we can look around a little more." responded Anyis as the last bits of reward data left her arms. "Come on Magna, let's go." she ordered, motioning with a curl of her finger that the SP should follow her.

"Understood, Mother Unit." he responded as she shoveled down his Bugfrags in one go, sending a momentary wave of orange light over Anyis's back before he gave pursuit to the Navi.

(Battle 4 Start)
Trudging through the snowy landscape, Anyis found that the ground was becoming increasingly less durable, and she was walking on sheer ice rather than snow. Cracks in the ice could be seen almost everywhere, and there were some holes as well. She soon came across a few Satellites, which started to hover in mid-air, with quite some distance between them. Anyis also found that the Satellites were not unaccompanied, as below their hovering positions were Shellgeeks, though those were closed up for now.

Satellite A: 100HP (Left)
Satellite B: 100HP (Front)
Satellite C: 100HP (Right)
Shellgeek A: 100HP [Closed Up] (Near Satellite A)
Shellgeek B: 100HP [Closed Up] (Near Satellite B)
Shellgeek C: 100HP [Closed Up] (Near Satellite C)

Anyis.EXE: 180 HP
Magna.SP: 60 HP

Terrain: 65% Ice, 25% Cracked, 10% Missing
(All on Ice unless stated.)

-BATTLE FOUR, FIGHT!!-
"Hey look Magna, you don't have to worry about sinking anymore. Now it's just falling straight into holes." chided Anyis, who started to wonder if there was any terrain her SP didn't have a problem with. Or, maybe, it was Magna who was finding his problem terrains all the time... Hmm. "Ahh, whatever. Just don't fall it, got it?" Anyis said, interrupting her own thoughts so they wouldn't start going in circles.

"Understood, Mother Unit. Additionally, the current virus force is comprised of units armed with rapid-fire capabilities. I must report that my shield will be rendered ineffective in such a situation." responded Magna, with what sounded like the usual lack of emotion. Really, though, he'd be fighting back tears if he could produce them. That shield had become his soul. If his shield served no purpose here, what was his purpose here? Magna quickly terminated this line of thought, as it was bound to go to some very dark places.

"Mm... Yeah, those gun-thingies look like a hassle. Mill, give me something to make that less of a problem." ordered Anyis of her Operator, yet only continuing to examine the viruses instead of look at him directly.

At the request, Mill shuffled through his loose array of chips until he found a good choice. "Oh, I almost forgot I had this... Here Anyis, this Shadow should cover your defensive needs for a while. I know the Shellgeeks won't be an issue, and those gatling viruses really shouldn't be able to cut through... I think. Just be careful anyway." explained Mill before slotting the Shadow chip into the PET. Since he knew Anyis would ask for them in a minute anyway, Mill went ahead and gave her several attack chips as well.

With her arsenal at the ready, Anyis activated the paranormal chip and allowed her body to turn immaterial as it took on the same hue of her own shadow. "Ehh... I don't think I like this. It feels like I'm one of the ghosts I should be deleting..." muttered Anyis nervously, trying to cope with her sudden lack of presence as she tried to move one of her hands through the other. Failing that, Anyis gave Mill a confused look.

"It's not like you're completely immaterial. You really wouldn't have many ways to attack if you couldn't hold the Battlechips. Also, I think you'd rather take a ghostly feeling than the feeling of being riddled with bullets." explained Mill bluntly, being a bit frustrated that his Navi was trying to turn a good thing into a bad thing.

"Fine..." sighed Anyis, who understood that Mill was right, but didn't want to grant him the satisfaction of hearing it. Having failed in garnering sympathy from her complaints, Anyis went ahead and materialized the first two chips: her long-known IceWave and its new twin brother. With an ice crystal in each gauntlet-clad hand, Anyis threw hard, sending each frozen pitch towards a Satellite virus. As soon as the second IceWave left her hand, Anyis summoned the third chip, a Skully bone that was quickly overrun by her Ice Bleeding and transformed into an ice-coated blunt projectile. Having already targeted two of the Satellites, Anyis took the aim of the frozen Skully to the third gunnery virus and threw the weapon, sending the bone spinning in an unpredictable path towards its target.

As Anyis laid an icy assault upon the Satellite group with no restraint, Magna watched on quietly, somewhat overcome by a feeling of uselessness. The Mother Unit was not the one needing protection. He was the one who needed protection. The prime directive was to protect the Mother Unit. The prime directive was... false. Magna could only fall back on the secondary directive of self-defense. How... shameful. While wallowing in the misery of defeat, the golem SP projected his Core Field around himself, and could only an effort to keep out of the gaze of the Satellites and Shellgeeks. This secondary directive was very embarrassing, but it was a directive nonetheless and he was going to fulfill it to the best of his ability.

Unaware of her SP's collapsing self-esteem, Anyis launched the fourth and final chip at her disposal. What was produced was a dark rain cloud over her head, which quickly floated over towards the first Shellgeek. "... Wha? Mill, when'd we get this chip?" asked Anyis confusedly.

"I did a trade online just a little bit ago. I figured you'd always like another Aqua chip." answered Mill informatively.

"A good guess on your part." nodded Anyis. She was quite satisfied as she watched the LilCloud hover over the Shellgeeks, raining down consistently on the viruses in hopes that they'd open their shells at just the wrong time.

Anyis's Actions:
1. Shadow1 (1 Turn Shadow) @ Self
2. IceWave1 (100 Aqua damage, Freeze) @ SatelliteA
3. IceWave1 (100 Aqua damage, Freeze) @ SatelliteB
--Ice Bleeding (Imbue Aqua to:)
4. Frozen Skully1 (100 Aqua damge, Homing, Confusion, Freeze) @ SatelliteC
5. LilCloud1 (80 Aqua damage Cloud, Freeze, 2 Turn Duration) @ ShellgeekA/B/C

Magna's Actions:
--Deactivate Plow.GMO
1. Core Field (80 HP Barrier) @ Self
2. Acknowledge lack of need to protect Mother Unit; reluctantly evade (Dodge)
Turning herself ghost-like, Anyis now had nothing to fear from the Satellites' collective gaze, and confidently started attacking. One satellite, two satellite, three- no, wait, the Skully missed. But it did whirl back for another round, so that was okay. Anyway, Magna sat there being a paperweight, and the remaining Satellite's laser gaze passed by him, causing it to leap up, and fire a few shots at him. Fortunately, Magna's core field allowed for this, and he didn't get a scratch. Anyis then summoned her LilCloud, which just so happened to hover over the trio of Shellgeek just as they opened, causing them to receive quite the bit of damage.

Satellite A: DELETED
Satellite B: DELETED
Satellite C: 100HP (Right) [Frozen Skully1 Incoming]
Shellgeek A: 20HP (Near Satellite A)
Shellgeek B: 20HP (Near Satellite B)
Shellgeek C: 20HP (Near Satellite C)

Anyis.EXE: 180 HP
Magna.SP: 60 HP [50HP Barrier]

Terrain: 65% Ice, 25% Cracked, 10% Missing
(All on Ice unless stated.)