The Shrew taming the Beast.

Winter's eyebrows flew up as the Gigas produced a flail, and unexpectedly managed to swing the thing all the way around the edge of the room. How in the Undernet did it manage to make the chain that long? She skated forward and ducked under the chain as the ball passed behind her. She stood back up, and watched as her double was destroyed by the very same chain passing through it a moment later. This is absurd. The chain retracted, and the Gigas hurled the hammer in her direction very suddenly. The best Winter could manage was to begin a sideways move to get out of the way before the ball slammed into her shoulder, and spun her around.

Winter managed to stay on her feet somehow, but that blow just now hurt a bit. How about I return the favor, the sorceress thought as she sheathed her rune sabre, and began channeling power into her hands. With Winter's mind no longer focused on suppressing her powers, a zone of extreme cold formed around her. A moment later, she raised he hands, and flung her right arm towards the Gigas first. A jet of ice cold water leaped from her open hand, and flew towards the hulking virus while leaving snow and sleet in its wake. Winter repeated the attack with her left hand, sending a second spiraling blast of frigid water towards her enemy. Both of the high magic projectiles would take all of a fraction of a second to reach their destination before they exploded into a mass of literally freezing cold water.

With the second projectile away, Winter reached for her rune saber, and channeled a much larger quantity of aqua element energy into it that either of her earlier attacks had required. "Ha!" She said as she drew drew the saber and slashed it through the air before her in one motion. The blade left a wide arc of water behind that defied gravity for a moment before flying towards the Gigas while maintaining its wide crescent shape.

The first jet of water left a nice little coating of ice on the Gigas that would easily lock up its attack routines, but it mattered very little, as the second and third battered it with freezing water until it fell over, inert and encrusted in ice. The hardened metal shell of the virus cracked, then split in half and fell away, while the rest of the virus underneath dissolved into frozen junk data.

That just left the metavirus Winter had come for which, if the continuing occasional tremors were any indication, was still banging around in a tunnel overhead. The downside was that the walls of the room she was in were sheer cliffs of ice.
___

---The Dead---
Gigas: Deleted
Ashuraid A: Deleted
Ashuraid B: Deleted
Swordy-A EXA: Deleted
Swordy-A EXB: Deleted

---The Target---
Varunavalry: Left the room, causing a ruckus

---The Not Dead---
Winter: 100 HP (GET: 900z, HammerToss1)
Marina EX: 115 HP (GET: Not much)

---Terrain---
100% Ice

Locations:
-Lower Tunnel: The tunnel Winter came from. Right where she left it.
-Varunavalry's Tunnel: Above the Lower Tunnel, and up a sheer wall of ice.

Winter cut and pasted the Zenny data into her PET, then retrieved the HammerToss1 data from the remains of the Gigas. What an ironic acquisition. The sorceress Navi thought as she transmitted the data to her PET as well. She then looked up the sheer cliff at the high cave the metavirus had flown into much earlier. It's time to confront the beast. Winter looked back in the direction of her viral companion. "That monster above is my target. From here on, whether you follow me or not is your choice, little one. Your help has been appreciated."

Somehow, I don't see this ending happily... Winter turned towards the opening once more after she finished speaking. ...no matter the outcome. She then channeled the power of Wind, jumped up, and rode the sir current to the cave above....

A light flicked on from Nemo's hull, the same one that it had used to signal Winter that it would join her before. But this time it blinked on and off twice. Then, the Marina disappeared back into the still-flooding chamber below.

Before Winter could leave the room herself though, it came floating back, and tossed a datapacket at her before scurrying away again. The packet opened itself in midair and enveloped Winter in a soft light that restored her to full health.

That just left Winter to ride the wind up to the hole to the tunnel her quarry had disappeared into. Fortunately, it was only a short tunnel, opening into another larger room. The walls in this new room were covered in impact marks, while the icy floor at their edges was lined with the shards of ice carved out of the walls. Larger shards covered the floor farther into the room, fallen from a now jagged mess of a ceiling. And in the air above the floor, sending its free-floating fists repeatedly into the ceiling, was Winter's quarry.

It was an Ashuraid alright, but one much larger than the normal viral variant. Its base, normally shaped to ride on a steel ball, had been modified into a saddle of sorts for its equally massive mount. A mount that was in fact not a Fishy as the mission request had stated, but a Blazer. Flames spewed out of the flying virus's gills each time the metal giant on its back struck at the ceiling.

Right up until the tournament-built virus noticed that it was no longer alone.

((Music (placeholder until I find something better).))

One final fragment of the frozen ceiling fell as it stopped attacking, but it never reached the ground before being melted into nothing by the flames from the Blazer. The modified Ashuraid turned in midair toward Winter and descended closer to the frozen floor, then spread its six detached arms wide around its upper body. Heavy katars flipped out of the wrists and locked into place over the knuckles of each of the virus's six hands. It let out a piercing viral shriek that shook the room around them all on its own, while another jet of flames from its blazer mount melted and evaporated the ice in the center of the room, creating an aura of heat and steam around the monster while it gave its war cry.
___

---Virusfights' Most Promising (maybe) Entrant---
Varunavalry: ???? HP (Damage taken: 0) (Flying) (5 Panels Away)

---The Poor Girl Who Has To Subdue It---
Winter.EXE: 200 HP (Ice) (At Edge of Room)

---Terrain---
90% Ice (Most of the room)
10% Sea (A (comparatively) small puddle in the center)

---Objects---
None yet

---Other---
Room Size: The room is mostly cylindrical, 10 panels in diameter and approximately 5 rockcubes in height.

>BOSS FIGHT BEGIN<

Winter's eyebrows flew up as a healing aura suddenly enveloped her body. What's this? She looked from side to side as she continued to rise, but saw nothing. She spun around and scanned everywhere for the source, but there was nothing to be found. Her benefactor had already left the scene, leaving Winter to ponder. The only thing I can think of is Nemo, but I don't remember Marinas being able to heal anyone. Huh. She shrugged mentally and turned back around.

Winter rose with the wind up to the level of the cave opening, and rode a gust of it to a soft landing a few panels in from the ledge. From here she could see... that her employers had left out 'minor details' about her quarry. That thing wasn't made from an Ashuraid and a Fishy at all, Winter thought unhappily as she saw the red markings on the stubby, ventilated fins. Her unhappiness turned to a mix of disgust and rage at the employer as great gouts of fire shot from it, confirming the frosty Navi's fears: That's a data fragging Blazer!

Winter watched as a chunk of ice fell, and was vaporized by the intense flames coming from the massive creature. Something tells me there was never any real expectation that I would be able to capture this thing, the sorceress thought to herself as it became increasingly clear that she was most likely setup. She checked the inbox for any new messages from the employer, and was not exactly surprised when she found none. Figures. I should pressure Mr. Chopra, and see if that produces anything useful. With that thought, Winter quickly connected to the BBS and printed her thoughts upon the board before closing it again.

Varunavalry, meanwhile, floated down to Winter's level and melted the ice panels beneath it just by existing. That thing is just plain unpleasant. And I'd be lying if I said I wasn't somewhat intimidated, too, the icy sorceress thought as the supervirus revealed its weapons and roared at her. Okay, more than a little. Still, I've got to figure out how to deal with this. Her eyes narrowed. And to do that, I need time and information. So let's work on that.

Winter closed her eyes, and inhaled deeply in an attempt to focus. She opened them again as she allowed her hold on her powers to slip a bit. A field of extreme cold formed around her, and quickly expanded itself until it stopped just two panels short of Varunavalry. "All right, you." Winter's words came out cool and calm, but suddenly turned chilly when she continued. "I'm here to shut your rampage down. You can either come with me peacefully. Or..." She assumed a martial caster's stance. "...I can beat the bugfrags out of you, and drag you out of here." At the end of Winter's coldly issued ultimatum, the phantasmal image of a giant polar bear materialized, stood up on its hind legs, and roared back at the supervirus; sending a gale of wind to push the virus back.

Winter watched to see what the virus would do and how it would react to the blast of wind while she prepared herself to evade its best efforts. Her stance lent itself to sudden evasion, and she was channeling plenty of wind energy as a backup. All of her free cast spells were on standby. Hopefully, she wouldn't need them, but....

The virus stared down the small navi in front of it as an aura of freezing air expanded around her. She gave her ultimatum, an ultimatum that might have been threatening to a lesser being, or at least one that feared a navi with ice powers, but Varunavalry was unmoved. She summoned the apparition of a polar bear to roar at it, a roar that brought with it a strong wind that would have blown lesser armored beings around with little effort, and even its mount began to sway under the strength of the gale, but against Varunavalry's armor it was nothing more than a strong breeze. Varunavalry was unmoved.

But while it had been content to threaten before, seeing the navi as only an unwelcome intruder, its full attention was on Winter now. Flames erupted from the gills of its Blazer mount once more, rising up its rider's body. Then the rider bent low, bracing two of its six arms against the Blazer and crossing the remaining four over its chest, and Varunavalry launched itself at Winter.

The distance between the two, half the length of the room, was all Winter had to give her a chance to evade in time. Varunavalry slid to a halt in midair at the entrance to the chamber it had carved out, hitting nothing but cold air that was now not so cold anymore. But now, fragments of ice had appeared both on its torso and on the head of the Blazer, digging into their armor before being melted away by another wash of fire.

And meanwhile, while Winter had managed to avoid the headlong charge, she was now in perfect range to meet its fists.
___

---Virusfights' Most Promising (maybe) Entrant---
Varunavalry: ???? HP (Damage taken: 25) (Flying) (Next to Winter) [3 actions remaining]

---The Poor Girl Who Has To Subdue It---
Winter.EXE: 200 HP (Ice) (At Edge of Room) [3 actions remaining]

---Terrain---
90% Ice (Most of the room)
10% Sea (A (comparatively) small puddle in the center)

---Objects---
None yet

---Other---
Room Size: The room is mostly cylindrical, 10 panels in diameter and approximately 5 rockcubes in height.

>BOSS FIGHT BEGIN<

Winter panicked as the gladiator virus burst into flames, and flew right at her. She hesitated for a brief moment, and then scrambled out of the way in a less than dignified manner. She didn't even turn around to look at her adversary as she regained her footing, and bolted to the right, back towards the center of the room, while a copy of her continued running along her previous path. Once the two had split up, Winter's survival instincts kicked in, and she turned to watch the terrifying flaming... thing... and started evasive maneuvers while opening the distance as much as possible.

Winter chose to do the smart thing against a giant flying monster of a supervirus, and run the hell away. She stayed in the room, doubling back to the center, which was probably a good idea for the sake of the mission, even if it wasn't the sane choice from any other perspective. Varunavalry, meanwhile, bought the decoy, and charged straight for it. Three fists rose from their position floating around the massive virus's body, and three fists came crashing down on the decoy. It vanished in an instant...leaving the second wave of fists from Varunavalry's other side to smash into the ground where it had stood.

It then turns around, and sees the real Winter. With a roar, it raises two of its six arms, swinging each in a wide, sweeping arc at Winter. Mercifully, she manages to avoid both in her desperate attempt to not be smashed flat. But if she wants to actually subdue this thing, she'll probably have to do more than dodge eventually.

Incidentally, the pool of water at the center of the room seems to be growing slowly larger as the ice around the room continues to melt.

---

---Virusfights' Most Promising (maybe) Entrant---
Varunavalry: ???? HP (Damage taken: 25) (Flying) (Near entrance)

---The Poor Girl Who Has To Subdue It---
Winter.EXE: 200 HP (Ice) (At the water's edge) (Decoy destroyed)

---Terrain---
85% Ice (Most of the room)
15% Sea (A (comparatively) small puddle in the center)

---Objects---
Ice Chunks x10: 20 HP each (Can be thrown or launched for object damage) (Melting: Loses 2 HP each turn)

---Other---
Room Size: The room is mostly cylindrical, 10 panels in diameter and approximately 5 rockcubes in height.
Ice Shavings: Ice shards around the edges of the room. Too small to throw, but can be blown with wind attacks to add Freeze effect and Slashing damage. Will melt within 3 turns.

Winter came to a stop near the pool of water in the center of the arena, and with a slightly calmer state of mind now that she was a decent distance from Varunavalry. She glanced around at her surroundings from her new vantage point, and quickly realized she was not going to accomplish much by staying in this room. Her adversary could fly, and this expansive arena gave it plenty of room to avoid capture. If she stayed here, should would be forced to delete her foe, if it didn't turn her into a messy wall graphic first, that is. And judging by the horrific level of destruction this supervirus had wrought upon Sharo's network environment, it was perfectly capable of doing so... with ease. She needed to lure it out of this room somehow.

With no time to plan, Winter decided to wing it based on past experience. She concentrated for a moment on chanting a spell, but delayed uttering the last words until she had gathered enough power to do the things she was about to do. As soon as she felt ready, Winter darted towards the tunnel, sent a copy of herself running to the left towards the wall on the other side of Varunavalry, and fired off an AquaWhirl1 with the last of her chant.

The two Winters sprinted ahead, each chasing a fast moving water tornado towards either side of Varunavalry. They darted and dodged as they went, ducking and even jumping as needed... whatever it took to make themselves difficult targets for the supervirus during their approach. Once the sorceresses were halfway to their destinations, the two gestured at Varunavalry, and a large mass of extremely dense cold air formed over the flaming hot supervirus. The difference in temperature and air pressure did the rest, and a great gale pulled the AquaWhirl tornadoes towards the flaming metavirus as high speed.

From here, all Winter needed to do was make it into the tunnel, and she focused all her efforts on achieving that goal.

Running was still the best choice of the day as Winter made a break for the tunnel, while a mirror image of her ran along the wall. Between them, a waterspout rose from the growing pool of mounted ice, guided towards the massive hellspawn of a supervirus by gusts of wind from both Winter and her decoy. Biting cold continued to damage Varunavalry's main body, but the waterspout seemed like it would blow straight under its floating body.

...until it struck the Blazer.

The entire monstrosity shook and rocked in the air, nearly crashing into the ground as the Blazer flew erratically and tried to shake off the heavy damage it had just taken. But finally, Varunavalry stopped itself by shooting its hands forward to grab the wall and pull itself to a stop. With its mount under control again, it took two massive swings at Winter's decoy, gouging chunks of ice off of the wall with the sheer range and force of its hooks. Despite all attempts to dodge, the decoy was unable to escape the sweeping punches and shattered once again.

Winter, however, was able to make it into the tunnel while Varunavalry was occupied with the decoy. But the heavy-hitting supervirus was well and truly enraged now, and wasted no time turning its attention to her. Wreathing itself in flames, it charged forward once again, flying right into the tunnel as well. But in a moment of miscalculation, its body caught on the edges of the icy walls and stuck in place.

As for Winter, she was able to avoid the charge by running all the way through the tunnel to the edge of the opened chamber she'd come in from. With as focused as Varunavalry now was on her, she wouldn't have to worry too much about it escaping once it got out of the tunnel. Still being in range when it inevitably got free, though, was a very immediate concern. It had gotten through the tunnel into the arena they'd just left in the first place, after all.

---

---Virusfights' Most Promising (maybe) Entrant---
Varunavalry: ???? HP (Damage taken: 190) (Flying) (Near entrance)

---The Poor Girl Who Has To Subdue It---
Winter.EXE: 200 HP (Ice) (At the water's edge) (Decoy destroyed)

---Terrain---
--Final chamber:
80% Ice (Most of the room)
20% Sea (A (comparatively) small puddle in the center)

--Tunnel:
100% Ice (But melting fast)

--The room ahead:
70% Ice (higher ground and fallen chunks of the collapsed ceiling)
30% Sea (lower ground, still flooding in from the tunnel below)

---Objects---
Ice Chunks x10: 18 HP each (Can be thrown or launched for object damage) (Melting: Loses 2 HP each turn) (In final chamber)

---Other---
Room Size: The room is mostly cylindrical, 10 panels in diameter and approximately 5 rockcubes in height.
Ice Shavings: Ice shards around the edges of the room. Too small to throw, but can be blown with wind attacks to add Freeze effect and Slashing damage. Will melt within 2 turns. (In final chamber)