Lonely Planet [Part 1]

Tch, they're not dead still? Eternalis thought. Well, we can fix that.

"Harke, WaterLine, DashAttack. Aurora, see if you can't get those Skeeters to die. A ZapRing would help, if you would, Harke," said Eternalis, relegating tasks to his operator and support program. The former simply nodded in agreement, and the latter smiled and happily chirped a small "Okay!". Harke's fingers deftly slotted in three chips, and Aurora readied her attack plans. It was time to clean up, and there wasn't really much to it. Just solid delegation of tasks. It did feel slightly detached, but it was efficient. The thought of "Why am I thinking this now?" came briefly into the Navi's mental processes as he was processing the attack patterns.

Aurora's attack was the first to go, as she loaded up her offensive systems with the ZapRing battlechip data. Her visor's analysis systems began calculating and projecting figures on the data as the lines on her arms lit yellow. Staring at the strange syringe-like beak of the Skeeters through her orange-tinted sight, she clenched her fists, charging up the electrical charge building up inside them. The fists glowed yellow until Aurora pointed them both at the Skeeters in a one-two punch, releasing small bolts of lightning at the mosquitoes swiftly, with the second being slightly less electrified than the first.

Meanwhile, Eternalis had also begun to execute his part of the plan, dashing up to one of the Needler viruses; it had so very conveniently parked itself right near his position. As soon as he arrived, he stretched out an opened hand towards the walker-like virus, and focused. Using the WaterLine chip data as a channel, he drew up his strength and redirected the water in the general area, creating a line of high-pressure geysers. The geysers blasted their collective load in sync, the first of which just happened to be smack underneath the Needler he was aiming for, and the last under its counterpart.

Finding he had some leftover strength from the chip, he then proceeded to charge the ground immediately behind him with energy, creating another geyser. This one, however, was not directed for offensive purposes, but instead for propulsion- specifically, of his own body. Bracing himself for impact, Eternalis gave the command for the geyser to explode, causing him to careen through the air in a bodyslam charge. Then, activating the DashAttack, he closed off all sensors and let the chip data guide him in his mad dash. After a few seconds, with the DashAttack's energy exhausted, Eternalis lowered his body to the ground, and landed with a quick roll.

Quick to return to his feet, the Navi then proceeded to maneuver his way through whatever he had landed himself in, with some expert dodging skills to match any counterattacks he could face, as well as checking on his healing processes, confirming their continued contribution to his friends' health.

[| [color=cornflowerblue]Eternalis.EXE[/color] || Aurora.SP |]
[1] ZapRing1 @ SkeeterB [Elec 40+15 + Stun1]
[2] Attack @ SkeeterE [Elec 20]
[1] Movement [Get closer to NeedlerD, position C/D in straight line]
[2] WaterLine1 @ NeedlerC/D [Aqua 80+10 + Ground + Line]
[3] DashAttack @ NeedlerC/D [Null 90 + Line Max 5]
[4] Dodge
[5] Dodge
[*] Influx Aegis @ Any if necessary [Heal 15 x5]
-- Priority Set: Marker/Harley/Aurora/Validus/Rhea/Self

At the sight of huge arsenals unleashed by Eternalis and Aurora, Rhea on Harleyback prepped herself with some other projectile weapons, briefly recounting what other chips unused yet. Just as she was checking through her mental inventory, Harley was looking at her from the edge of his eye. "You do realize that your allies are doing a mighty fine job in cleaning up," the mechanical horse noted, and Rhea blinked at Harley in return-- all while Harley was still in motion. "Failure to conceive point from unneccessary comment," the petite Navi replied bluntly, getting her transfer processes ready for another projectile battlechip.

"Silly girl, get some sense, will you? What I meant, was, you know, provide moral support for your allies! You young'ins have loads of cheering lines, do you not?" ... Said the SP which didn't come into existence a day ago. Rhea scratched at her forehead with a metal finger, before using the finger to trace down the bridge of her nose, coming to a stop above her lips. "Is it a necessary process?" she inquired formally, to nobody in particular. "Yes, of course, Rhea, totally!" Camillia said through the communication link, unable to hide her sarcasm and amusement.
Not taking it as a joke, Rhea stood dumbly from the saddle on magnetic stirrups, loading a fresh input of Guard1 on one arm before cupping the sides of her mouth with another. "Obligatory moral support in vocalized format to allies," she shouted across the battlefield. "Good luck. Do your best. 'Go get 'em, dudes'," Rhea added after some thought.

Roaring laughter could be heard from both equine and operator beyond the net world.

Summary:
Rhea.EXE
1) Guard1 - Reflect 60 single-use
2, 3, 4) "Obligatory Moral Support to Allies"

Harley.SP
1) Dodge and laugh

The rifle-toting navi felt a needle hit him, and then suddenly the pain subsided instantaneously, due to Eternalis's healing ability. Calling out to Eternalis and waving a thankful gesture, he looked at the tiny screen mounted on his rifle, seeing the operator's face. "Captain, the viruses are almost gone, let's finish this." The navi said. Tsujsa nodded in agreement and slotted in the shotgun chip. With a pull of the shotgun's rack, Tsujsa trained the sights on the needlers, aiming to get a splash effect from the weapon.

Markerlight, meanwhile, was still panicking over the remaining skeeters. Not intending to get hit by bugs she focused all her attention on avoiding any kind of contact, hoping for her allies to finish off them before they get to her and finish off HER instead.

Meanwhile, Validus found himself struggling to not laugh at Rhea's monotone method of delivering support.

TURN SUMMARY:
VALIDUS:
1. Shotgun - NeedlerC - 50 dmg - possible splash to NeedlerD
2 - 3: Struggle to not laugh at Rhea's method of support.

MARKERLIGHT:
1. FLEE AROUND HERE AND EVERYWHERE (Doj)

The surviving viruses didn't stand a chance against the onslaught of attacks from Eternalis...and a little support from Validus. Aurora missed one of her attacks against the wounded Skeeter, and the virus took this chance to run away from the battle...

And the Rhea-stic cheer gave the team a big moral boost.

SkeeterA: DELETED -R-
SkeeterB: DELETED -E-
SkeeterC: DELETED -R-
SkeeterD: DELETED -R-
SkeeterE: 10 HP (Grass) [FLED]
ShrubbyA: DELETED -V-
ShrubbyB: DELETED -V-
ShrubbyC: DELETED -E-
ShrubbyD: DELETED -E-
NeedlerA: DELETED -E-
NeedlerB: DELETED -E-
NeedlerC: DELETED -E-
NeedlerD: DELETED -E-

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

-TEAM BATTLE WON!-
Eternalis: 700z
Rhea: 200z + [Drain1] Battlechip + 1 FXP (Cheer)
Validus: 300z
Team: 6 FXP + 36 BugFragsDrain1
Damage: Drain 50
Accuracy: C
Description: Summons a cloud of Skeeter viruses, and sends them flying at one enemy. They surround the target, proceed to drain HP from it, and send the stolen energy back to their summoner before vanishing. This attack has a slow travel speed.
Duration: Once
Element: Null

Eternalis looked around, and crossed his arms in satisfaction as he saw the last surviving Skeeter zip by his sight, and subsequently out of it. With all the racket from the offensives he and Aurora made, both of them were oblivious to a certain robotic girl's cheering. They did see her shouting some sort of encouragement or some other, but the words were lost between gushing geysers and blasting bolts. Aurora, being the closer to the horse and girl, walked up to them, with Harley and Camillia's roaring laughter still ongoing. "What's so funny...?" she asked innocently.

Meanwhile, Eternalis, seeing his SP had already approached Rhea and company, walked over to Validus, only to find him also in fits of suppressed amusement. "Nice shots, Validus. And my, you look like you're amused about something."

"Oh oh, hear this!" Harley snorted, greeting Aurora. "Oh, and mighty fine job you did out there, miss Aurora. Your magnificent physique shone through the battlefield like a bright, guiding light!" the horse exclaimed, and Rhea patiently just sat in the saddle, tilting her head slightly wondering what went wrong. "H-Hey Aurora, R-Rhea just said dudes, that's like, so unexpected!" Camillia's voice was obvious in both the net world and the real world-- in fact, the wheelchair-bound girl was busy trying to lower her voice.

"In short, 'Master' has just embarrassed herself. That simple, really," the mechanical bulk concluded, and Rhea was even more confused-- and embarrassed. "... But you suggested it..." she muttered in a low tone, childishly placing the blame on Harley.

Validus managed to prevent laughing, even though it proved to be a monumental task, but snickers and a grin managed to escape from his mouth. "Well, that was very... un-rhealike, really." The navi remarked to the blue, machinelike navi. "At least she's starting to show some emotions." The operator chimed in, wearing a similar grin on his face.

Markerlight, meanwhile found herself panting. "Yaaaagh I hate bugs..." She said as she holstered her pistol and wiping sweat away from her face with her other free hand. "Good grief, if you're bothered by bugs you're not going to last long out here." Validus grumbled. The SP merely lowered her head in shame. "But... they're tiny and they crawl up to places you can't even imagine..."

Validus facepalmed, and then looked away. "Right.... let's just get back to the task at hand."

"W-Well, thank you, Harley," replied Aurora, blushing slightly. Completely oblivious to the horse's strange little advances, Aurora moved her focus on to Camillia's next statement. In response, the support program merely smiled and chuckled a little, as she had no idea what the joke exactly was. Embarrassment she understood, but the context of the situation was lost to her. Rhea looked a little redder, too- evident when the plain-faced girl was quite pale-skinned. In the end, Aurora merely did what she thought was polite: stand and smile.

"Emotions, eh," Eternalis replied, mostly to himself. He remembered how Rhea had notably acted on her own, back when they had first busted together in the NetVegas network. Balling up his fist and punching it into his other outstretched palm, he remembered the pounding they both unleashed on each other, through the magic of snowballs. After going through Sharo, though, he doubted very much that what they had played with was snow. It wasn't frozen, and it certainly tasted stranger than ice or water. "Well, whatever. It is nice to see some emotional output out of that girl."

Suddenly, Eternalis' reverie was interrupted by his Operator, who chimed in, "All right, guys, we're moving to Netfrica next. Et, if you would lead the way." After a few moments, Harke added, "Oh, but don't use the NetSquare portal, though, there's something about power outages in the area. There's a direct link straight ahead, use that."

"All right. Aurora, everyone, let's go," said Eternalis, motioning for the others to follow as he walked through a nearby teleporter pad.

[Destination: Netfrica Net]