Further Doggy Training

Fortunately for the team, the viruses hadn't a clue that they were being targeted, and went on their merry business, with the Pengi sliding on their bellies about the ice, and the Slimes throwing snowballs at each other.

-- ENEMIES --
Pengi A: 80 HP (Ice) (IceBody)
Pengi B: 80 HP (Ice) (IceBody)
Pengi C: 80 HP (Ice) (IceBody)
Slimer A: 90 HP (Snow)
Slimer B: 90 HP (Snow)

-- ALLIES --
Trent.EXE: 175 HP (Float/Ice)
Sasha.SP: 40 HP (Snow) [MachineGun1 Prepped]

-- TERRAIN --
40% Ice (Sloped ice road)
60% Snow (Everywhere else)

Nothing could be heard, by Trent or Sasha. The pair sat in silence for a moment longer, holding their breath and ensuring the plan. Sasha was intensely focused on the objective before him. The string sat in his mouth, the dog ready to run backwards back down the hill to fire the weapon at the viruses. All it took was Trent. Mark was sitting on the edge of his seat. He couldn't believe that this was about to happen. Closer and closer he leaned into the holographic screen. "Trent. I am also going to slot in this chip we got in a trade for you. It'll be useful."

The fast gauge data chip entered his system. His eye brows perked at the data before him. This chip would be amazing for his fighting style. He started by uploading that data, and a subtle white light over took him. With the effects of the chip underway, even his basic movements were snappy and fast, leaving small motion trails in the space behind him. "It's now or never Trent."

Trent uploaded the star arrow data. This plan might actually work. Who knows. He aimed the shot high into the sky, trying to arc the arrow down into the center of the slimer group. If the arrow hit one of the targets, that would be all the better, but it was mostly a delivery system for the fighter at this point. He pulled the bow back, aimed it high into the sky, with the shot arc going to the group and fired the arrow. Until the arrow was fired, everything about it seemed like a normal arrow, but when it was shot it followed its path a mere few feet before dead stopping in the air. Trent reached up and grabbed the main body of the arrow and gripped it tight with both hands. No sooner had he gotten his grip was he pulled along at great speed behind the attack.

Sasha watched Trent go, his head following the path of the arrow. He kept his ears perked and at the ready and tried to listen hard for the signal. Trent on the other hand, was having quiet the ride. He was using a lot of strength to keep his grip on this arrow at it approached the top of the arc. Trent honestly didn't like this at all. Having his feet off the ground like this was not his way of fighting. But this was an interesting way to train Sasha. He had to remember that.

The arrow got to the top of its tall tall path. As it approached the vertex, it slowed down, reaching the tallest height it could. Trent was rather high above the hill he started out on, and high above the viruses. With a deep breath, he let out a strong piercing whistle. Sasha had been on the alert, waiting for that sound. Once he heard it he slid backwards pulling the string tight. Once he was far enough back up the hill not to be hit, he stood up and pulled the string all the way back, the knot tightening on the trigger.

Bullets were being raining down the hill on the unsuspecting group below. Sasha, of course, had no idea where they were going or aimed at, but was happily shaking his tail in excitement of working the gun rig. Trent let a smile cross his face as the arrow fell back to the netways, pulling him strongly back down as well. Soon the machine gun was letting out clicking sounds to replace the blast of the fire. Empty.

Once closer enough to the ground, Trent let the arrow go. He fell at the same pace it did, but this allowed him time to pull out his weapons. Both hand armed with a knife, each in a familiar pose. Reverse grip and forwards grip. Trent landed with a solid thud, the arrow landing at the same time with a soft slice of the air and a stick into the ground. Quickly Trent uploaded the moonblade, moving to the slimer group and activating it. His body was spun around on the balls of his feet as he extended his saber hand knife to slash at the probably confused viruses. Trent could take no time to examine the status of the group.

After the moonblade was finished, Trent turned to his wide sword. The right blade was coated in a blue glow as the chip overtook the blade default. Trent flipped the knife to a forwards grip, and dashed after the Pengi nearby. The group was large, and somewhat dispersed, but he should be able to get a solid hit on them. He drew back the blade across his chest and dashed out with a strike aimed for all three of the viruses. Trent did a fast dodge to the side, expecting some follow up strikes, before going back into the group, even harder, with a second swing of his wide sword. Trent backed down from the viruses, sliding off to his left to see what exactly had been done in his aerial assault.

Summary
Trent
1) FastGauge to Self (+10% Dodging for three Turns)
2) Fire Star arrow into high arc, Aimed at Slimer B + Grab unto Arrow! (40 + Carry)

Sasha
1) Fire Machine gun on Signal down the hill Aimed more towards Slimer Group (30 x 9 + Spray Fire)

Trent
*Free Action: Fast Warrior: Tactical Recovery from landing!
3) Moonblade to Slimer A, B after landing (90 + Slashing + Spin Attack)
4) Wide Sword to Pengi A, B, C (80 + Slashing + Wide Attack)
*Free Action: Sword Play: Dodge
5) Wide Sword to Pengi A, B, C (80 + Slashing + Wide Attack)

Executing an elaborate entrance into the foray, Trent made the viruses thoroughly confused as he sliced apart two of the Slimers with a Moonblade. The machine gun fire made the Pengi panic, and scatter about on the ice. As they slid about on the ice, they stumbled on the banks of the icy road, causing them to be a victim to Trent's blade easily.

-- ENEMIES --
Pengi A: DELETED
Pengi B: DELETED
Pengi C: DELETED
Slimer A: DELETED
Slimer B: DELETED

-- ALLIES --
Trent.EXE: 175 HP (Float/Ice)
Sasha.SP: 40 HP (Snow) [MachineGun1 Prepped]

-- TERRAIN --
40% Ice (Sloped ice road)
60% Snow (Everywhere else)

-- BATTLE 02, VICTORY!! --

-- REWARDS --
[MetaGel1] Battlechip, 840z, 22 BugFrags

{The bugfrags were forgotten, I added 22 to my count, if this the wrong amount tell me so.}

Trent stood among the remains of the viruses, his knives covered in excess data and looked around with wild eyes. Mark was the first to chime in. "I can't believe that worked!" he turned his holo display over towards Sasha, "What a smart dog!" Mark praised. Sasha was already running out of Mark's view, sliding and slipping down the hill to come crashing into Trent's feet, knocking them both off balance. "I guess the trap by the viruses would have been effective after all," Mark commented.

Trent grabbed at Sasha and offered plenty of head rubs and ear pats before sending the bog on his way to clean up the bugfrags left behind. Which doing so, Trent shifted though out the other data lying around. The quick assault and high use of blades left the scene rather...messy. Trent found a nice chunk of change for zenny and a new battle chip. The chip was sent over towards Mark, who reported back its effectiveness.

"It will help a good deal. The damage is high and anything we can do to slow down targets is a nice bonus." Mark added it to the pile of chips at his side, and waited for Sasha and Trent to be ready to progress. Both of which were busy playing after Sasha had gathered the meal of bugfrags. Trent was happily playing with the dog, feeling very proud of his intelligence at this point.

With a quick change of pace, Trent moved forwards, gave a hand signal to calm down and change the mood of Sasha, and advanced forwards, looking for more information to feed to Sasha. Maybe the next fight could provide a tactical use of Sasha's intelligence.

{Ready for Battle 3}

Moving further into the frigid Sharo network, the warrior and canine team slowly found the snow-covered ground to diminish in favor of a more unforgiving slide-prone ice sheet. Making matters worse was that the ice also happened to be cracked in some places. It wasn't long before they met some viruses. The main attraction were some 8-foot tall metallic statue that rolled around on a ball beneath their hardened bodies. These were rolling around some Shadow viruses, which were looming around the giant statues, possibly for protection. On top of that, a few clouds around the gigantic viruses didn't seem to be normal clouds, but hostile Cloudy as well!

-- ENEMIES --
Gigas A: 100 HP [HardCase] [Ice]
Gigas B: 100 HP [HardCase] [Ice]
Shadow A: 80 HP [Ice]
Shadow B: 80 HP [Ice]
Cloudy A: 80 HP [Ice]
Cloudy B: 80 HP [Ice]

-- ALLIES --
Trent.EXE: 175 HP [Float/Ice]
Sasha.SP: 40 HP [Ice]

-- TERRAIN --
80% Ice
20% Cracked

-- BATTLE 03, READY? START!! --

Trent was stopped in his tracks and gave Sasha the hand sign to do the same s the towering viruses rolled up before them. He hadn't need a virus so large in a while. Nor one with such an interesting structure. Trent withdrew his knives and slid his foot backwards, gaining an aggressive stance. He would have to be very light on his feet to deal with these things. He looked to Sasha, who had his haunches raised and his teeth exposed. The dog was gaining in bugfrags, but it would sadly be a long while before he could actually fight effective next to Trent. Trent took another glance at the New virus. "Mark what can you tell me on that thing?"

Mark quickly tapped away at the keyboard while Trent and Sasha kept backing up and keeping their distance for the time being. Mark couldn't find much information. It seems the virus was farily new to the networks, someone had just created the beast recently. All he could find was the attacks hurt defenses, and that it really really really hated navi's. A lot. "Sasha will be more at a risk with those things alive and his shields up. The attacks will hurt defenses. Keep Sasha moving on the ice while you deal with those things. As far as their defense, I can't find anything on that. I would however assume it is similar to the hardbody defense, one which we are sadly not prepared for." Mark thought for a moment. "The new chip could be something we can try. It will slow them down and with the environment the way it is, Sasha will be able to slid away easier. We are going to have to just drop them fast."

Trent didn't like the idea of not using the defense that he set up for Sasha to keep him safe. It made sense, but either way Sasha was exposed. Trent looked around for the cracked terrain and gave Sasha the hand signal to run opposite of them, to ensure he staid on the precious ice that would aid in his dodging. Sasha was having a difficult time getting his feet under him, as one would imagine with those doggy feet, but after some work ended up moving a good deal, slipping and sliding in a dodging effort to get away from the large viruses. Sasha was sliding backwards from the fight, keeping eve more distance from him and the enemies. Without his shield, the dog too felt rather naked.

Trent uploaded the only chip he has thus far received. The metagel chip was ready to be used. Trent targeted the two towering Viruses and one of the cloudys above them. He knew enough about the shadow defense to say that those would have to be stopped in his favorite way, by the blade. He would save those for last. The three gels formed and dropped down, hopefully covering the large viruses in a sticky gel to slow their progress. This whole setup was about protecting Sasha. Trent moved forwards, knives at the ready, and started in on close combat.

His feet were unaffected by the ground as he progressed forwards, the grips on the his shoes boosted by the effects of the floatshoes, making the terrain not even register with his systems. Trent dipped in low on the large targets, taking a quick slash at one before ducking around its large base and rolling over towards the other. As he did so, his body adjusted for the light stances of this delicate fight, giving him a boosted dodging perception. Trent ice picked the other target with the reverse grip knife and backed out of combat.

Mark saw Trent's advance into the fry and sent in two chips for his support. One of them was the exact chip Trent had hoped would be sent in. The widesword chip was becoming a stable of the attack pattern of Trent. Mark would need to find a way to get a hold of another one of them. He wasn't even sure which viral data it was based off of, the two had gotten it from the virus training Navi. Back to the trading boards.

Trent withdrew the data from his knife sheath, the new blade already empowered with the chip. The long blue blade lashed out with a powerful whip, trying to slice at the two large and hopefully gel covered targets. The blade returned to Trent's side, the glow from which lit up his hand and face. Trent knew that with this series of attacks, if his guess was right on the ability of the viruses, they would have been dealt the exact amount of their health...if they were correct. Trent decided to turn his attention to the other viruses, who were just as much of a treat to Sasha as were the big guys. Trent moved around the bodies of the gigas with ease, his feet skating over the ground to the shadows nearby.

Holding the widesword up for its second slash Trent tried to encompass both of the shadows and the targeted cloudy in the sweep. If just the shadows dropped he would be happy, but the other cloudy was still an issue. Trent moved up upon the shadows and lashed outwards with the blade again. The wide sweep of the attack left a arc of blue light trailing the slice. Trent dismissed the widesword from his use. The other chip Mark has sent would be used to try and wrap up the deletion of the big viruses. He didn't want to see one of them slash out at Sasha. The sooner they were gone the better for his dog.

Trent uploaded the chip and gained from it the stable weapon of the virus that the chip was gained from. The moonblade rested in his right hand and he moved back to the gigas once more. With a bounding step he spun on his left foot, letting the hooked blade try to gash at the large spheres the gigas rested upon. Trent spun several times, keeping his aim restricted to just these two viruses. Using more than a few targets with this was dangerous when these two took such a high priority. Trent dodged backwards after his fast pattern of bladed attacks and looked to Sasha after getting his footing under him.

Sasha was still slipping on the ice, trying to get a solid grip under himself, which was proving to be very hard indeed. The dog was sliding in random directions and keeping a worried expression over his face. He did not like this at all! Mark chuckled slightly at the expression of the dog, but kept it muted so that Trent wouldn't hear. He wouldn't like the insults towards his dog.

Summary
Sasha
1) Dodge backwards! +1 Rank due to Ice!

Trent
1) Metagel1 to Giga A, B and Cloudy B (90 + Aqua + Slow + x3 Targets) B Accuracy
2) Combat Tactic Quick Slashes: 30 Damage to Giga A, then Dodge + Movement towards other Giga + Haste, Then 30 Damage to Giga B
3) Widesword to Giga A and B (80 + Slashing + WideAttack) A Accuracy
*Free Action: Fast Warrior: Tactical movement to the shadows and Cloudy to line them up for..
4) Widesword to Shadow A, B, and Cloudy A (80 + Slashing + Wide Attack) A Accuracy
5) Moonblade to Giga A and B (90 + Slashing + Spin Attack) A Accuracy
*Free Action: Swordplay: Dodge

The blobby gel monsters dropped down from the sky like kamikaze divebombers, encasing a Gigas and a Cloudy in sticky blue ooze. The other managed to roll away on the ice before it was hit. They quickly rushed towards Trent, who was not afraid to engage them in close combat. A few punches thrown around wasn't going to stop the knife-wielding warrior, though, as he whizzed through the slow slugs easily. The Shadows attempted to rush Trent with their blades, but were quickly denied as Trent sliced one of them apart with the WideSword. The other he missed by just an inch, causing the extra length of the blue blade to slice apart a nearby Cloudy. It wasn't long before the Gigas' slow pace of turning around would cause them deletion by way of a MoonBlade. This left a solitary Shadow on the battlefield, probably scared to dickens.

-- ENEMIES --
Gigas A: DELETED
Gigas B: DELETED
Shadow A: 80 HP [Ice]
Shadow B: DELETED
Cloudy A: DELETED
Cloudy B: DELETED

-- ALLIES --
Trent.EXE: 175 HP [Float/Ice]
Sasha.SP: 40 HP [Ice]

-- TERRAIN --
80% Ice
20% Cracked

Trent wasted no time in turning his form to face the lone virus. He flicked out his knives, each one gleaming in the virtual sunlight, the blades of each eager to finish this fight and get Sasha more bugfrags. Trent choose not to wait for Mark to slot in any chips, instead descending upon the target immediately. He lead with his right hand, which was in reverse grip, and reached around behind the target with the spine of the blade. He pulled the target in close with a fierce jerk, and raised his left hand for a strong stab to the gut. Trent pulled his reverse grip back from the target, and raised the blade high above his head to perform a vicious over head strike down into the center mass of the shadow form. Trent raised a foot to kick the shadow back, only to follow up on the advance with a movement of his own, never letting the enemy truly get his footing.

Sasha was still sliding around the ice, having the worst time getting his feet under him. The dog cried out in worry as he couldn't control his random movements. The more the dog pushed and flailed the more he slid around randomly. Mark was chuckling under her breath at the dog after having slotted in a chip for Trent to use. It was the sword chip, seeing as none of the knives would deal the required damage in one swing.

Trent uploaded it fast unto his right hand, swinging at the target with diagonal and horizontal slashes. He threw his weight into each one, causing the heaviness of his swing to stall him for a moment to regain balance. Trent used the sword aggressively three times before he broke combat and dodged away from the target, if there was a target left.

Summary
*Free Action: Get back here: Passive Pull Shadow closer for next attack
1) Combat Tactic: Spinal Cut to Shadow (80 + Stun + Slashing)
2) Combat Tactic: Disengage to Shadow (70 + Knockback + Dodge)
*Free Action: Fast Warrior: Passive Movement towards Shadow
3) Sword to Shadow (80 + Slashing)
4) Sword to Shadow (80 + Slashing)
5) Sword to Shadow (80 + Slashing)
*Free Action: Swordplay: Dodge

It's dead, bro. Geez, cut the little some slack.

-- ENEMIES --
Gigas A: DELETED
Gigas B: DELETED
Shadow A: DELETED
Shadow B: DELETED
Cloudy A: DELETED
Cloudy B: DELETED

-- ALLIES --
Trent.EXE: 175 HP [Float/Ice]
Sasha.SP: 40 HP [Ice]

-- TERRAIN --
80% Ice
20% Cracked

-- BATTLE 03, VICTORY!! --

-- REWARDS --
[GigasArm1] Battlechip, 1000z, 26 BugFrags

He slid his feet back to a neutral stance after slashing apart the final virus in a flurry of attacks. Taking both he blades he slid them back into their holsters on his legs, keeping the blades protected from the cold element. Trent turned to Sasha, who has still not gotten his footing under him yet and was no whining and whimpering for the bugfrags that Trent had left on the field for him. Trent walked calmly over to his dog, and hoisted him up to his feet, carefully placing his feet below him. Trent gave Sasha the signal to go slowly, and the dog carefully moved over the slick surface until the various bits and pieces of the viruses were at his muzzles reach.

"Hey Trent, I did a few more trading, and with the chip we just got we now have a few decent defense breaking chips. We could have used those last time eh?" Trent was just wrapping up sending over the data to Mark. "I also have a surprise for you, Trent. It was a long while ago but do you remember that Navi, SINN, that we teamed with? I guess he isn't SINN anymore but still, I got in touch with the operator of him again. You have a duel set up." Mark started to install a program into his PET. It was a training barrier. "I knew I would get to use this soon enough."

Trent was rather excited about the news actually. Something that wasn't a virus that he could fight, it would be a good challenge to fight something else with a bit of intelligence about it. "Sounds awesome, when is this happening?"

"Soon. We are to wait for him, he is upgrading his PET last I heard. You probably shouldn't use Sasha in the fight, we wouldn't want him badly hurt again. Plus Dragonierman has two SP's, if we brought in SP's it just wouldn't bode well for us. This will just be a one of one fight. Think of it like a practice round to the rings."

A grim expression crossed the fighters face at the mention of the rings. He moved over to Sasha and started to PET and play with the dog while Mark kept on about something or another. Trent hated those rings, but he was more or less numb to the thought and duties of them by now. He had to do, what he had to do. "Send Dragonierman our location."

Mark stopped talking after Trent's interruption, "You got it."

Mark tapped out the data and finished installing the training barrier.

{Waiting on Azureink for a duel}
{Training Barrier will be a permanent undershirt for all in the barrier. Even once the navi hits 1 hp from being saved by the undershirt, more hits will not drop the hp of the navi below 1}

It was not more than an hour later when a single large beam of light ripped down from the sky to slam into the Net floor. Out of it stepped a navi clad head to toe in heavy armor. He emerged from the light as if passing through a thin membrane, light particles sloughing off him like a second skin. When the column of light finally dissipated the sounds of crunching ice and snow under heavy footfalls rang out in the clear, cool air. DragonierMan was in identification range when he stopped to adjust his gauntlets.

"Back in the cold. I never go anywhere temperate do I. Always burning hot or freezing cold." His hands came up to secure his heavy cloak that was about his shoulders, and drape it around his front, obscuring his body below his neck. A whistle of steamy breath flowed over his mouth-guard into the Sharoan air. His visor was up, so his gray eyes and the bridge of his nose could be seen.

"Aww poor baby. Want me to kiss it and make it hotter?" a sultry voice flowed over the navi's shoulder like silk. Suddenly, thin arms appeared out of nowhere, clad fully in gray leather, and wrapped themselves around DragonierMan's neck from behind, lacing the fingers together under his chin. A feminine face appeared over his shoulder, with piercing gray eyes and long, golden hair flowing behind her on the wind. Her ruddy-face snuggled into the plush cloak.

"Now is not the time," another voice piped up. From that another girl appeared, stepping out from behind DragonierMan as he stood there. She looked almost identical to the one that was holding on the knight, but her hair was tied in a braid. Twins. As the two girls became more visible, it was clear that they were not wearing proper attire for the weather. Short skirts and tank tops, thigh-high boots and long gloves. The skin-tight leather must have made them want warmer duds, and the second girl shivered a little with her arms folded around her.

Then she saw Trent and Sasha. "There is your opponent. Suzume, let go." She pointed the two out while the one identified as Suzume slid off DragonierMan's shoulder and found her footing on the icy ground with a pout. "You are no fun, Aya."

DragonierMan didn't comment as he walked over to Trent, Aya and Suzume following in his steps. Suzume even made a game of trying to place her feet in the dragon's tracks as she moved. Her hair swaying about her as she leapt from track to track. Her cheeks flushed with cold and excitement. Aya just trudged after DragonierMan, scanning the treeline around them.

When DragonierMan reached Trent he bowed slightly. "I see we have both obtained our own subordinates. Useful though they may be, they will not be able to truly fight a skilled opponent. At least, not yet." His right hand came out of his cloak and was offered to Trent with a grin. Though it was hard to see his face under the helmet. "It is good to see you again."

Trent and Sasha passed the hour without much issue, happily playing in the snow and the ice. Trent was trying to teach Sasha how to run and balance on the ice. The dog wasn't faring very well at this, which always made the fighter chuckle some with a slight amusement. The two worked on hand signals, and started in on simple vocal commands. It was Mark who was dying for the arrival of Dragonierman and Destin. He had no much to do to, park in his chair near the old computer in the train station. He tried to waste time on the internet, tried to waste time by starting up various songs, but his eagerness to see Trent fight was too much for him to contain. He was visibly bouncing and shaking as he waited. These actions of course drew unwanted attention from the surrounding neighbors.

When the light from Dragonierman jacking into the network appeared, Sasha was quick on the defense. He jumped up from his current position and hugged close to Trent's left leg. His large white form pressed up against the fighter, and he seemed to blend in with everything around him save for his black eyes. Trent gave Sasha a hand signal to stay, but not be calm. The dog held closer as the two ladies rolled out from behind the Dragon.

"Those must be Dragonierman's support programs," Mark commented, saying the obvious. "Its nearly fighting time here in the cold cold wasteland!!" Mark said trying to copy the voice of a ring announcer. This action, gave even more strange looks. He hunched over and grumbled as he didn't want to gain any more attention to himself and which navi might be jacked into this computer.

Trent let a small smile cross his face once his old ally was closer. It was good to see a familiar face, even if it was one he only spent a short time fighting beside. The two hadn't exactly gotten to the strongest of friends either during that time, nearly exchanging a fight in their early stages of working together. Sasha kept his teeth in full bare as all three forms stopped before him. It wasn't until Trent extended his hand to meet Dragonierman's did he calm visibly. When Trent went for the hand shake, he over extended and gripped the fighters forearm. "Good to see you again as well. And you're right, Sasha here would not be much of a challenge yet, sadly."

Sasha was visibly saddened as Trent spoke about him, but was quickly reassured by a fast pat behind the ears. "He's still a good dog." Trent stood up and viewed the two female forms following Dragonierman. "I see you have your own...companions." Trent eyed the two females.

DragonierMan adjusted his grip on Trent's forearm when they shaked. Even though they had come to blows in the past, and left each other last time on an interesting note, they did not think ill of each other. "Yes. This is-"

"Suzume!" the long-haired girl chimed in with a smile. "Aya," claimed the copy, pointing to herself with her thumb. Though they both had non-Netopian names, the twins looked Netopian, fair of skin like DragonierMan.

DragonierMan snorted, "Anyways, we have a battle to start." Suzume almost leapt out of her boots, "Yay, a fight!" Aya grabbed her shoulder and pulled her down to earth. "Not for you," she pointed between Trent and DragonierMan, "between them." Suzume pouted again, "You are no fun, Aya."

"You already said that."

Trent simply nodded in the direction of the twins, not giving anymore of an acknowledgement than that. He turned his focus to Dragonierman, whose arm he was still gripping firmly. They didn't leave on a bad note when they last departed, meaning that was already starting down a road of friendship for Trent. With a fast jerk and a quick discard, his own hand rested at his side again. "We do have a battle. Good to see someone else who is straight to the point." Trent took a few steps backwards, with Sasha following him. Trent order a few simple hand signals, telling Sasha to go wait on the outskirts of the fighting zone. As Sasha exited, Mark executed the Training Barrier.

A large blue bubble wrapped up from the edges of the fighting circle, encompassing the two fighters, but leaving out the support programs. They sat just on the edges of the blue sphere. The bubble merged at a point in the center of the sphere, high above the around, giving ample room in all three directions for the fight to take place. Not likely however that Trent and Dragonierman would be using this extra space in the sky. The blue field lingered a moment before changing to a clear color, allowing for perfect viewing from the outside.

"Alright! Here we are! Here is how this is going to work gentlemen," Mark started clearly very excited about the match up. "While within this training barrier, neither Navi can be jacked out. The training barrier will flash bright red when one of the navi's within drops to 1 HP. While within the barrier, no navi may drop below one HP in health, no matter how many more times you are hit. No navi may be forcefully ejected from the protection of the barrier, and may only leave on their own two feet, and of their own free will. The barrier also changes the terrain within its bubble to normal. Once the fight has started, the barrier will lock, allowing no extra access or exits, unless of free will to flee the fight." Mark stopped his long winded speech to add, "But I don't see that happening from either of you."

Trent was barely listening to Mark, keeping most of his focus on the center of Dragonierman's plated chest. With his eyes here he could watch all the movements of his body much easier, making Trent more able to see the actions of the Dragon. Sasha placed a paw on the edge of the barrier and let out a loud and strong bark in support.

"The fight will start at the ready of both of the Navi's. I am changing Trent over to automatic chip mode, allowing no support from the coaches." Mark was tempted to throw in the added extras, such as the 'in this corner...' but forced himself to save that for the real fights. Mark sat back, prepared to send the barrier into its final mode. "I will change the barrier to locked and ready once both Navi's are ready."

Trent watched Dragonierman, still focused on his center mass. "I'm ready," Trent said, keeping his hands floating over his blades. Each palm ached to feel the bite of the steel, and eagerly waited for the starting signal. Part of Trent, deep down, wanted to do battle mocks before the fight, but he kept them retained. His mind was starting to switch to instinct, to being numb. He couldn't let such things cloud his judgement. "This will be a good fight," He added, feeling his quiet outwards exterior was too simple thus far. If there was one thing Trent didn't have, it was stage presence.

{Ready for the Duel}

DragonierMan watched as the barrier washed over him and pushed his two support programs back behind him. "Hey!" Suzume stated indignantly as she was carried away by the barrier. She pressed herself up against the barrier and gave it a pound with her fist, "Kick his butt!" Aya just leapt back as the barrier came at her, landing gracefully at the outskirts as the barrier came to a stop. She rubbed her hands over her shoulders to keep warm.

DragonierMan reached up to his shoulders as well, and unclasped his heavy cloak. Bunching it in his hands he turned toward the girls and tossed it at them. The warm fabric passed harmlessly through the training barrier and landed in the twins' arms. They wrapped it around the both of them. Nice and warm.

DragonierMan puffed out his chest. Audible cracks sounded from over a dozen places on his body as he stretched himself out. He also rolled his helmeted head around in a circle. Limbered up in a matter of moments, he drew his visor down and brought his left leg forward. Raising his arms and held them with claws open. Left hand in front of right, fingers half-curled. His breath steamed out of the eyes. "I am ready."

{Ready for Duel.}

As the two navis prepared themselves for the battle, a bright red Mr. Prog suddenly appeared from within the barrier. "ARE YOU READY?" said the little program in a monotonous voice. Neither an enemy or a friendly, it seemed like this Mr. Prog was specially designed to over watch battles such as this. As it raised a bright white flag up (With no arms at all!), it brought it down to signal the start!

"...FIGHT!"

Trent.EXE: 190 HP
Vs.
DragonierMan.EXE: 175 HP

Terrain: 100% Normal

-MOCK BATTLE, START!-

(Battle music.)

Golden light bled from his fingertips into the air, solidifying into a circular shield in front of the knight. It sparkled in the icy air like new fallen snow, a cross of emerald sat emblazoned in its center. A gauntleted hand grasped the ethereal buckler and held it before him as the warrior charged.

DragonierMan leaned on his shield as he charged, using it as a battering ram. The ground thundered beneath his tread, and the wind whipped past his rushing form. The golden aura of his shield painted the knight in a dazzling light. Bits of solid color flaked off like autumn leaves and danced around in his wake.

Then suddenly, DragonierMan was back where he started. It was unclear whether he had managed to trample over Trent or not, or even if he had moved at all. But it wasn't a moment later that he was charging again.

He weaved across the ground like a serpent rippling across the sand. Even with all his heavy armor, his feet were a blur. He darted one way, and then the other. And then he was on top of Trent.

He made to punch Trent in the face. The warrior stepped in as his fist curved around to bite at Trent's cheek. But at the last moment the dragon skirted to the side, his fist narrowly missing Trent's shoulder. It was a fake out.

Ducking down DragonierMan planted a closed fist at Trent's side. The muscles bulged up his forearm as he struck, powering through to send Trent flying. Hoping to smash him up against the training barrier.

The dragon shook himself out at the end. A cramp he had been feeling from earlier subsided into a dull ache. He felt alive in battle. But this was just getting started.

Once the little red program waved the flag, Trent started of this battle in a strange way for himself. He had to get his feet moving to make this battle his, but started by keeping his feet still and pulling up the fastgauge chip to really keep himself going. A white light washed over Trent as he made the selection of his first chip. Once the light had cleared from the warrior's body, even his simplest movements were blured. His hands snapped to his sides and withdrew two knives, one in reverse grip and one in forwards, just like classic starting position Trent. He had kept his feet still for Too long, and decided to skip backwards in an evasive fashion, keeping his weight light on his feet and his eyes focused on Dragionerman, should he need to move to one side.

Trent had to gt his feet moving if he wanted to win this fight. From what he could remember Dragionerman had process attacks for protection and healing. If this fight was an extended one, Trent would have the disadvantage. Pushing his weight off his back foot, he propelled himself forwards and too the left. He ran towards Dragionierman at a slight angel, just enough to keep himself off a direct path with his opponent. He led with his right hand as he moved, and once close enough, reached the spine of the blade behind the neck of the Dragon. With a swift jerk Dragonierman should be feeling the cold bite of the spine pulling him forwards and down, to set him up for the next attack.

Once Trent had pulled his right hand towards his side once more, hopefully pulling the opponent with him, he ducked his weight low and too the left, to move under and behind to use one of his combat tactics. For Trent to win this fight, he had to slow him down as well, the best place to start with that was the spine. Once on the backside, he had to find an opening to the spine. The first one he saw was at the base of the helmet, and with a strong left hand slash, he tried to cut open his first wound of the fight.

Trent backed off from his target, dodging and carrying the momentum of his attacks to the rear of the dragon. He rolled off and once his feet were back under him, withdrew a strange blade from his side. The blade was a bright yellow, and cracked and popped with a strange energy. He reared the attack back, holding the weapon by the blade, and threw the balanced throwing knife towards Trent. The attack flew much fast than expected once it was further boosted by the chip. Trent stood back up fully, shifted his weight to lighten his stance, and watched for Dragonierman's return.

Summary
1) Fastgauge to self (+10% Dodge rate for three turns)
2) Dodge
*Free Action: Fast Warrior: Passive Tactical movement Towards Dragonierman
*Free Action: Get Back here: Passive Pull Dragionerman Closer setting up for next attack
3) Combat Tactic: Spinal Cut to Dragonierman (80 + Slashing + Stun1)
4) Dodge Backwards from Dragonierman
5) Zapring1 to Dragonierman (40 + Elec + Stun1)

After the two navis prepared themselves at the start of the battle, it was DragonierMan who made the first move with his DashAttack. Though the attack was faster than the naked eye could see, Trent's enhanced evasion was enough to dodge the attack as the knight zipped passed him and back to where he started. Now it was Trent's turn, moving towards his target's back with his knife ready at hand.

Even when Dragonier tried to evade or outwit the military navi, luck was on Trent's side when he was just barely able to position himself for the spinal cut. The knife dug into the knight's armor easily as it reached his vital spot, sending a paralyzing surge throughout his body.

The two navis moved away from one another in evasion and continued their attack immediately. Dragonier prepared his GutsPunch, while Trent readied his Zapring to be thrown, going at one another without a pause. Trent threw his empowered knife forward, but at his miscalculation, hit Dragonier's Guard and received a taste of his own medicine...

Dragonier's punch, however, had a better luck when it landed on Trent and sent the military navi flying away from him. If Trent didn't have things bad already, Dragonier was able to recover from the paralysis he inflicted, returning back to normal...

Trent.EXE: 70 HP [FastGauge: 2/3]

Vs. [Note: Both navis are out of melee range]

DragonierMan.EXE: 95 HP [GutsPunch: 5/6] [Guard Broken] [[s]Stun![/s]]

Terrain: 100% Normal

The dragon screeched into the dawn air as Trent's blade bit deep through the armor protecting his neck. Trent disengaged quickly afterward as DragonierMan shook himself. He instinctively placed a hand over the wound on his neck, drawing away a hand smeared in silver datum. "A sound blow," he stated before gritting his teeth and closing his bloodied hand into a fist. And as his golden shield shattered into a million sharp arrows, he planted that fist into Trent's side. Sending him sailing into the training barrier.

As Trent slumped down from the barrier, energy collected in front of the dragon's mouth-plate. A swirling white vortex formed out of the ether. It fluctuated and condensed in upon itself, molding into a tennis ball-sized sphere. The dragon spat forth the destructive bolt of white flame, causing it to sail across the battlefield. Whistling through the air.

Having reacted so quickly after such a blow was unnatural. It seemed as if the dragon was not slowed even by a heavy laceration inflicted on his spine. What could stop such a monster?

"You have made my blood boil!" the dragon roared as white flames erupted from the ground around him. As the flames drew higher they began alternating from white to red, and then to orange. As they consumed his form, even blue colored the flames. Within moments he was fully wreathed in a mantle of dancing corona.

The wound on his neck bubbled and sizzled as it cauterized. A light steam rose into the cool air behind his head. He shifted his feet and stretched out his arms. They bobbed lazily in the air before him, reaching out of the flames, like the heads of some fiery serpents seeking prey. Ready to snap at the unwary attacker. "It's going to get hot in there," Suzume giggled as the fire danced playfully before her eyes. Aya just stood there and watched in silence, wrapped in the white cloak with her sister.

The mantle of flames roared and crackled around the dragon. Heat powerful enough to incinerate rock and melt steel. The hydra readied himself for his opponent's attack. Bobbing and weaving his three heads, and striking out to deflect away.

Then the three "mouths" opened. A blaze of fiery missiles erupted forth to bathe the land in fire. They came on in a great stream, a flurry of bolts. They scattered haphazardly around, spreading flames everywhere. Tiny explosions furrowing the ground.

DragonierMan then moved to bat away Trent's next attack with his heavy fist. Or Trent himself if he was close enough and moved to escape him. The fires had died down around him since he had breathed out his fury. But the song of battle still rang loudly in his heart, empowering him forward. The fires of his flesh burning away any restricting force holding him down from completing a gruesome conquest.