Triple Trouble in a Foreign Land

Ante admired the interesting scenery; it wasn't too often that one found lava bubbling right alongside grass and earth. On the other hand, she certainly would never find herself admiring a virus. The ones lounging here seemed mostly hostile, but she wouldn't have it any other way. "We can use this terrain to our advantage... I'll use water to attack those that dwell in heat, then alternate to fire and finish off those among the grass," she reasoned. "I'll use my queens to weaken them; the last thing we need is to catch fire amongst all of this burnable material."

Nodding, Teruko slotted through her navi a slew of chips. "You're really on the ball, catching little things like that. I wouldn't think of those kinds of things. Maybe you ought to be the operator and me the navi, huh? With my energy and athleticism, I could probably do some cool navi stuff too, right?" the navi offered, bouncing up and down excitedly as if she'd really come up with something. Her breasts bounced along with her.

Ante chuckled at the suggestion, feeling genuinely amused. "While I'm sure that would be entertaining, let's hope that a time never comes where you have to protect yourself against wild animals like these," she replied.

Now that she looked at the viruses, she was a little worried that ZephyrMan might be upset if she decided to attack neutral viruses that had yet to act against them. The Teddies weren't doing much more than sunbathing. On the other hand, she figured that her real "lesson" last time had been to be obedient to her master's wishes, and Teruko and the others had yet to advise her against it. Wit that in mind, she decided that it would be alright.

First, however, she wanted to try to take care of the fiery ones if she could. All of the trees and foliage around would certainly provide good fuel to whatever fire those ones would start. Attempting to preemptively cut them down, Ante tried to get clear of the trees and release a blade of water towards them from the head of her scepter.

Teruko began to think to herself whether she'd really be up to the task of being a navi after all. Without the dress blocking her view, she could see the subtle movements of her navi's body much more clearly. She wasn't sure that she'd be able to weave through the trees like that; it wasn't really the same thing as ordinary jogging.

Oblivious to her operator's pondering, Ante continued on, heating up the club head of her staff and sending it bouncing outward towards the lounging Teddies. On one hand, it felt a little bad to attack an enemy that was just sort of ignoring her. On the other, the old war strategy of preemptive strike had never lost its practicality.

Finally, she secured some amount of safety for her allies by making sure that the fieriest enemies had their flames dampened. She flung out three queens, attempting to tag the lava-dwelling viruses and reduce the threat they posed.

1) Wideshot1 @ CanDevil and Elemperors [60 aqua shot, A accuracy + wide]
2) Firehit1 @ TeddyA [60 fire melee, A accuracy + impact]
3) Firehit1 double attack @ TeddyB [60 fire melee, A accuracy + impact]
*) Draw Hand debuff to ElemperorA [15 (strengthen) debuff]
*) Swap Two debuff to ElemperorB [10 (strengthen) debuff]
*) Variable debuff to CanDevil [12 (buff) debuff]

KaijuMan's eyes almost instantly turned towards the lava ahead of him, and the spines on his head started to twitch excitedly. He could smell the molten data and feel the heat even from where he was, it was almost intoxicating. However, his desires were shifted from investigating the lava to bringing destruction to the multitude of viruses ahead of him. He started to growl in anticipation, and started to pick out his targets. The boomers and the shroomys looked like very appetizing targets, so he wanted to take them out first.
Chips! I have viruses to crush!

Meanwhile, John was only partially listening to his PET, and his eyes weren't looking anywhere near his PET. His hand started to go into his pocket and he pulled out a few chips, all the while his eyes bounced up and down, following the other pair of bouncing round objects in front of him. It was only after the brief bouncing stopped that he snapped out of his gaze, and actually looked at the chips he was about to slot into the PET.
Right, uploadin' chips now! Let's try out thiz bomb one!

A wide, green puck materialized behind KaijuMan, and a single antenna started to extend from it's upper surface. Small wave-like beams eminated from the tip of the antenna just before a similarly colored bit materialized overhead, and floated over towards the center of the battlefield. KaijuMan felt something solid, and somewhat heavy, forming between his jaws. He moved his jaws slightly, his teeth scratching and probing the object. After just a few moments, he identified it as a spherical metal object, like a cannonball. This must be the bomb John mentioned...

As Ante started her own assault, KaijuMan refocused his aim towards the line of Boomer viruses out across the battlefield. He aimed towards the center of the three viruses, and quickly noted its position before he turned his head to the side, and let the bomb slide deeper into his maw. He continued to glare at his target before he snapped his head forward, and up. As he opened his jaws, the combination of the movement and a blast of air sent the dark metal sphere flying out and over the battlefield, slowly spinning as it made a shallow arc towards the ground. As soon as it hit, the sphere exploded with a rather impressive fireball, and rocking a rather large area.

The RemoteBit halted directly above the large candle, and it started to spit small electrical discharges as it charged up. After a very brief moment, it released all of its stored energy through it's polished silver spike, and sent a powerful lightning bolt down towards the candle. Though it wasn't known what a lightning bolt would to to a pile of wax, it would be a safe bet that the candle wouldn't be burning for much longer.

As the candle was hopefully being detonated with electricity, KaijuMan shifted his focus towards the spiders loitering around one of the trees. Upon closer inspection, there was yet another virus cowering behind it. KaijuMan could not ignore this opportunity to torch 3 viruses and a tree, especially when they're all in one small area. His head and dorsal spines started to glow at their bases from the amount of heat building up in his body, his gullet started to glow as well. Within moments, he had produced a glob of mostly molten rock, and with a single popping action of his jaws, he sent the slab of lava soaring through the air. It left a black trail of smoke as it made its shallow arc towards the tree, his primary target of which he aimed towards, before it exploded with a shower of sparks, flames, and glowing pieces of superheated rock. The area immediately went up in flames, turning the normally demure field of grass into a plain consisting entirely of fire.


ACTIONS:
1. RemoteBit1 (Summon 100HP Remote + RemoteBit)
2. MiniBomb: BoomerB,C,A (60dmg + Blast2) [+ Break]
--RemoteBit: Attack Candle (80dmg Elec + Panel Break)
3. Lava Mortar: SpiderA,B Tree(?), Shrubby(?) (30dmg Fire Blast2 + Shot Type + 2TCD) ((Never specified which tree the spiders were hanging around; KaijuMan is aiming towards that one, whichever one it is))

Lava coexisting with ordinary grass...the internet was truly a wondrous place. The viruses seemed to be relaxing, for the most part...it was just a thought, but perhaps they could reason their way out of this one?

...But, the sight of a WideShot nixed that plan. Ah well, couldn't save them all. He'd best do his part while he still could. After all, saving viruses was good and all, but Ariel, Ante, and KaijuMan were much more important to him. "Seems like the others have most of the viruses wrapped up...but I see a couple of holes in their attacks. I believe it would be best if I filled those holes before they're fallen into! Prepare to accept BattleChip requests, Ariel!"

"O-Okay..." Still a bit upset about earlier, the pilot approved a pair of pockets of data, transferring them without the threat of her fumbling them in drunkenness.

"...Is what I said still bothering you?" The wind Navi's hand became a blue and black gun, like many times before, but didn't even so much as raise it...yet. "Whether you are or not, it's not my place to say. But, at the very least, I would say that it's a problem many others would kill for. An attractive young woman that can choose to show her...assets, to put it a certain way, as she pleases...is that a bad thing?"

"I guess when you put it like that...thanks, ZephyrMan. Thanks for stopping to cheer me up like that!"

Too bad it'd probably go down the gutter, like most of the evening's events, due to alcohol induced amnesia. Oh well. "You're very welcome!" Now, like she said, he stopped in-battle to do that. Time to pick up the pace. It looked like one of KaijuMan's attacks could reach one of the Shrubby...he could handle the others without a problem. Finally lifting his weapon, he attempted to train it on a less-than-burned tree, followed by releasing an energy shot that could explode and pierce the arboreal obstacle to reach the cowardly adversary. Shotgun might not have been the fanciest chip he'd ever use, but he couldn't argue that it was one of the more reliable ones, as well.

Now, for round two. His Shotgun mysteriously turned red, but had no other external alterations to indicate that the type of shot had changed. Like before, he simply pointed it towards a tree, and activated its mechanism...this time, however, a fireball roared from the gun, capable of exploding in much the same fashion as the previous attack. And with that, there was little more he could do without risking severe injury and making himself a liability to his teammates. And he couldn't have that. Thus his gaze shifted to a more general position, to try and determine what foes might try to retaliate at him.

[Order of Turn:
1-Shotgun chip attack on Shrubby? (50, Spread 1)
2-HeatShot chip attack on Shrubby? (40, Fire, Spread 1)
3-Dodge]

(NOTE: As Grim said, the tree the Spidy are near wasn't specified. ZephyrMan is aiming for the two trees/Shrubby that KaijuMan did NOT try to attack.)

((EXECUTIVE DECISION: Spiders are near TreeC.))

After period of inactivity as each Navi prepared for the battle, Ante initiated the fight with a wide wave of water from her staff. The Wideshot soared across the battlefield and hit one of the Elemperors dead-on. The ensuing explosion of lava did not affect any nearby viruses, but it served as a decent signal that the battle had begun. She followed it up by charging the lazing bear cubs and punching them from afar. The viruses were promptly knocked from their peaceful relaxing and roared, looking for their attacker. As Ante finished her attack by weakening some of the viruses, KaijuMan sent a bomb flying in a parabola to attack the Boomers. The blast caught one of the viruses without its boomerang, said projectile unfortunately smacking into both Ante and KaijuMan (15).

Despite this, KaijuMan's previously summoned RemoteBit performed its task quickly and dropped a bolt down on the candle, deleting it instantly. The CanDevil did not seem pleased. Unfortunately, it was unable to do much as KaijuMan finished with a large fiery blast that engulfed one of the trees and two viruses around it. Much more boringly, ZephyrMan simply blasted both Shrubbys out from their hiding places and deleted them. No one said efficiency had to look cool too.

Another boomerang flew by ZephyrMan, but he avoided it warily.

BoomerA: DELETED
BoomerB: 60hp (Soil) (Boomerang on return course)
BoomerC: 60hp (Soil)
ElemperorA: DELETED
ElemperorB: 100hp (Lava) (Debuff 10)
CanDevil: 120hp (Soil) (Debuff 12)
Candle: DELETED

--Grass--
TeddyA: 40hp (Enraged)
TeddyB: 40hp (Enraged)
ShrubbyA: DELETED
ShrubbyB:DELETED
ShrubbyB: DELETED
SpiderA: DELETED
SpiderB: 80hp (Near TreeC)

------------------------------------------------------------------

Allies- (All on grass)
Ante.Exe: 135hp
KaijuMan.Exe: 155hp
Remote Tower: 100hp
ZephyrMan.Exe: 150hp

Terrain:
2% Normal in middle of one pool
28% Lava situated into two pools on the far side of the clearing
34% Soil surrounding Lava pools and near TreeC remains
36% Grass

Objects (scattered around grass terrain):
TreeA: DESTROYED
TreeB: DESTROYED
TreeC: DESTROYED

It seemed they could've done much worse...but the enraged Teddy immediately caught ZephyrMan's attention. They seemed...stronger, somehow. It also looked like they were looking for something, most likely whoever smacked them with flaming fists. Whoever they went after would most likely take quite a slashing...which gave him an idea. Perhaps he could use their potential overaggresiveness to his advantage?

"Ho ho! Seems the bears viruses are even less bright than I thought! Who do you think hit you? The girl Navi who lacks the large fists needed? The reptilian Navi that would clearly prefer to claw you apart? No, it was I, with my large muscles!" The wind Navi flexed to emphasize the last point...in part because taunting wasn't exactly his strong suit. "To think that such foolish things could even exist...I'm surprised they even had the mental capability to feel it! Besides, your apparent anger is clearly bluster, and nothing more! I doubt if you could so much as give me a flesh wound! Come, see if you can prove me wrong!"

Okay, that should be enough to get them riled up and focused on him. He gave them a moment to draw nearer, and..."Ariel! Accept my request!"

"Request acceptededed!" Exactly whether she was even aware of what she said was unclear, but the corresponded button press proved that Ariel was still capable of simple requests.

Chip data flowed through ZephyrMan's body, and into his arms. In fact, it began to flow out of his arms, creating two sizable spheres of electricity, which began to spin quickly around him. Whatever drew near him would end up zapped by the sparks, including a certain pair of bear viruses. Again, he could do little but wait and hope the bait was taken.

And regardless of whether or not that all worked, he would take to a more defensive, non-insulting tactic, utilizing his movement abilities to evade enemies' attacks...

[Order of Turn:
1-Goad TeddyA and TeddyB into attacking ZephyrMan
2-RingZap2 chip attack on ZephyrMan (40, Elec, damages all enemies for each action spent within Melee range)
3-Dodge]

ZephyrMan seemed to take up a strategy of insulting the already infuriated bear viruses, but KaijuMan preferred the idea of "actions speak louder than words," and made a dead run towards the Boomer viruses. As he did so, his teeth started to glow a dull red, to a bright orange, to a brilliant white by the time he got near the boomerang-throwing viruses.

John watched his Navi sprint towards the viruses, and managed to quickly slot in a battlechip, and had the floating remote bit follow close behind his Navi. KaijuMan's eyes were aglow as well, but they had also started to spark and buzz with electricity, hinting at what battlechip John had slotted in. The hulking Navi made sure to get nice and close to the boomer next to the one that attacked him before he opened his jaws wide, and tried to clamp down on the virus. If he was successful, the virus would have quickly melted down, and the residual data would have restored the Navi's energy, though it would have left him a bit sluggish afterwards.

He swung his head to the side, towards the next boomer, but first glanced up to see the RemoteBit hovering overhead, and saw a single brilliantly bright bolt of electricity surge down from the polished silver spike protruding beneath the bit, and rained down towards the remaining boomer. Needing another target, he remembered the Spider virus that managed to avoid the flaming onslaught. He rotated in place, and tried to lock his eyes onto the virus, and drag it towards him with magnetism for the final shock of it's short life.

Hopefully after dragging the spider into range, and possibly through a lava bath or two, a pair of electrical bolts leaped from KaijuMan's eyes and surged towards the virus, hopefully blasting the little virus into a spray of fragmented data.



ACTIONS:
1. Strategic Movement: Move into melee range of BoomerC
2. Drain Crunch: BoomerC (30dmg Fire Lifedrain + Self Slow + 1TCD) [+Break]
--RemoteBit: Attack BoomerB (80dmg Elec + Panel Break)
3. Magbolt1: SpiderB (90dmg Elec + Stun + Magnetic Pull)

Ante held one hand briefly to the spot where the boomerang had slashed her, then moved the appendage slowly away and back to her side. She frowned as she saw just a sliver of her own gray skin revealed from behind the undersuit. She was still having a hard time getting used to seeing viruses as a legitimate threat again. "And the skin..." she muttered cryptically, rubbing the wound once again.

"What's that? Oh, it's not a very large tear, I don't think you should worry," Teruko reassured her with a smile.

The navi returned her operator's expression and shook her head; apparently she'd meant something else, but she didn't elaborate as to what. She watched her allies continue with their attacks, then raised an eyebrow as she heard ZephyrMan speak. On one hand, his strategy was sound...

On the other hand, she couldn't help but feel agitated by hearing that she didn't have the fists to pull off such a task. She lowered her eyebrows as she watched him pull off a show of flexing. "Certainly, I'm not a man and may not have a pugilist's features, but among women I feel that my body's very well honed for battle. Perhaps he's still not viewing me as a fellow warrior?" she mused to herself.

"No; again, I am too quick to judge my own allies. He's clearly just using this as part of a tactic. I'm sure he has no doubts as to the capabilities of my fists," she convinced herself. "Besides, there's nothing wrong with being just a little dainty and ladylike. He hasn't insulted my fighting prowess at all, rather, simply taken note of the undeniable features of my gender." Really, that was about how Ante wanted her perception to be: a strong fighter who still had the elegance of a woman.

Teruko watched her navi with a frown; it seemed like Ante was on a monologue again, but inside her own head. "Try to focus, Ante! The devil thing and the lamp guy are all yours!" she called out, snapping Ante back to reality. "I'll send you the Wrecker and the SummonBlack, that ought to be plenty to kill them."

"Of course, Teruko. Please do," she replied, then prepared her staff. She raised the club head into the air, then swung it wide, throwing off the heavy metal projectile so that it collapsed just a few paces in front of her; her goal was to break a hole in the net's floor that would allow her to call up one of her Jacks.

Next, she returned the club's head to its spade form, flipped it back around, and smashed the point into the floor of the net. A holographic, ghost-like Jack formed beneath the net's floor and then attempted to rise from the nearest opening in the net's floor. If it could manage to get out, it would devote its outstanding power to helping rip apart the remaining enemies.

Lastly, Ante watched her enemies, waiting to step out of the way of oncoming projectiles or slashes. She used her rod to sling a few more Queen of Spades cards towards her enemies, just in case they had it in them to attack.

1) Wrecker to net floor, nearest unoccupied spot [80 damage bomb, C accuracy + break + panel break]
2) SummonBlack1 @ Candevil and ElemperorB [160 damage, A accuracy + slashing + wide attack]
3) Dodge
*) Draw Hand debuff to BoomerB [15 (strengthen) debuff]
*) Swap Two debuff to ElemperorB [10 (strengthen) debuff]
*) Variable debuff to CanDevil [12 (buff) debuff]

The Teddy viruses were busy trying to identify their attacker... until one of the things started shouting at them and flexing. Taking this as a challenge, they approached ZephyrMan and attempted to grab him.

Then they were deleted as some less-than-comfortable electricity shot through them. The one virus had managed to land a glancing blow in its grab-swipe, however.

KaijuMan, as usual, took the opposite approach of "bring yourself to the enemies" and brought his massive jaws together on one of the Boomers... but his attempt was foiled as his teeth met the virus's very solid boomerang. Unfortunately, the virus also decided this was a good opportunity to launch the boomerang (and it was), knocking KaijuMan off itself. The RemoteBit was successful in deleting its target, however. Displeased with the results of his prior action, KaijuMan angrily drew the Spider virus toward him against its will and ended it with a powerful shock.

Finally, Ante got to work breaking up the ground some more to call up a more powerful attack. The heavy projectile smashed through the floor, producing a Jack from the hole that remained. It appeared before the CanDevil in an instant, cleaving the virus in two before it could even summon another candle. However, it could not reach far enough to hit the Elemperor, and the virus became wreathed in flames as it launched an attack on... the RemoteBit's tower.

BoomerA: DELETED
BoomerB: DELETED
BoomerC: 60hp (Soil) (Boomerang on return course)
ElemperorA: DELETED
ElemperorB: 100hp (Lava) (Debuff 10)
CanDevil: DELETED
Candle: DELETED

--Grass--
TeddyA: DELETED
TeddyB: DELETED
ShrubbyA: DELETED
ShrubbyB:DELETED
ShrubbyB: DELETED
SpiderA: DELETED
SpiderB: DELETED

------------------------------------------------------------------

Allies-
Ante.Exe: 135hp (Grass)
KaijuMan.Exe: 155hp (Grass)
Remote Tower: 70hp (Soil)
ZephyrMan.Exe: 135hp (Grass) (DOUBLE KILL)

Terrain:
2% Normal (in middle of one pool)
28% Lava (situated into two pools on the far side of the clearing)
35% Soil (surrounding Lava pools and near TreeC remains, under Remote Tower)
2% Broken (where BoomerB was, and near Ante)
33% Grass

Objects (scattered around grass terrain):
TreeA: DESTROYED
TreeB: DESTROYED
TreeC: DESTROYED

While his plan went off without a hitch, even getting scratched by the Teddy's claw stung something fierce. Any doubt to their abilities was gone...not that he particularly had any, seeing as how what he said was a bunch of hooey. Which reminded him..."Before we continue, I'd just like to say something...everything I just said was merely to bait the Teddy close to me, and no one else. If I implied something either of you didn't care for, even unintentionally, I deeply apologize!"

All right, now he could fight with a clear conscience. ZephyrMan wordlessly sent a chip request, which was accepted and transferred with little hesitation. He simply stood around as a DBLCube quickly appeared next to him, and began to flash two colors, red and blue. Eventually, it would stop, and emit a brilliant flash of light...either red, and damage the remaining enemies, or blue, and heal himself and the other Navis. Either would be beneficial, but which would it be?

The light flashed, but the wind Navi didn't see exactly what it was, as his next attack formed over his right hand; an automated bow, with a couple of aspects of a gun added. He raised it, and attempted to get a good bead on the temporarily defenseless Boomer, before rapidly shooting two metal arrows from his weapon. It was simple, but its strength was nearly unparalleled among his options. Not to mention it was extremely cheap.

"Ahh! Needles!" Apparently, the fact they were Cyberworld needles didn't stop Ariel from being oddly startled about them. "Don't do drugs, everybody!"

Yup, his operator was starting to lose it...he probably didn't have much longer with his new friends as a result. Oh well, it was inevitable given how much she had drunk. Shaking his head, he prepared for evasion once again, on the odd chance that the two viruses withstood another barrage of their attacks.

[Order of Turn:
1-DBLBeam1 chip attack on all (40, To-All Enemies OR Recover30 To-All Allies/User)
2-DoubleNeedle chip attack on BoomerC (50, hits twice)
3-Dodge]

KaijuMan was able to delete the Spider with ease, but the boomer... it had proved to be a difficult case, since it didn't seem to understand that any resistance would be futile, and its mere existance was going to be cut rather short.

KaijuMan snarled at the now boomerang-less virus, his growl bracketed by the metal clangs of his jagged claw blades snapping into place, surrounding his own claws with wreaths of sharpened steel. Hopefully before the boomerang could return, he stepped in as he raised his right arm, and tried to bring it down on the virus with a falling diagonal slash. As he did so, his left arm raised as well, and in a one-two strike he delivered a second diagonal slash in the opposite direction, essentially drawing an X with his claw-like blades with the virus's position in the center.

Though he wanted to confirm his slashing attacks had finally brought down the floating virus, he had others to destroy, and needed to focus on them. His forearm blades swung back into place as he turned around towards the Elemperor soaking in the lava. He saw the remotely controlled RemoteBit hover overhead and paused over the Elemperor. As it charged up, KaijuMan felt a new battlechip download into his programming, the second battlechip slotted in by John without so much as a request. This NetOp seemed to understand how he preferred to do things... or maybe he was just guessing.

KaijuMan's eyes locked on the virus as the data started to well up inside his throat, and emerged as a glowing orange orb, held back by his teeth. The gaps between his teeth glowed brightly, as did his nostrils before he finally loosed the projectile, which sped towards the virus before it exploded with a spray of shrapnel and a loud boom. The explosion's sound was amplified by the wrending *CRACK* of the electrical bolt sent down by the RemoteBit, creating a simultaneous attack on the Lava-borne virus.



ACTIONS:
1. RageClaw1: BoomerC (40dmg Slashing)
2. RageClaw1: BoomerC (40dmg Slashing)
3. Shotgun: ElemperorB (50dmg + Spread2)
--RemoteBit: Attack ElemperorB (80dmg Elec + Panel Break)

Ante was somewhat pleased to see that her ally shared her own thoughtful nature, keeping the concerns of his allies in mind while he fought. On the other hand, she felt silly for wasting so much thought on what turned out to be a minor element of a battle strategy with no particular meaning behind its verbiage. "No harm, no foul," she thought to herself with a smile.

Her cloud-faced ally had been hit, but he didn't show much sign of injury. KaijuMan has also performed his task well, despite the retaliation of the viruses. His raw power was rather inspiring, as usual. Men, women, giant monsters... there may be a place on the battlefield for all of them.

... But she still had to wonder about Ariel. She thought it something of a miracle that ZephyrMan hadn't been carelessly beamed to the Undernet by now with how drunken his operator had become. "It's rather disgraceful," she thought to herself judgmentally. "Certainly one's gender is unimportant on the battlefield, but still, a woman should hold herself with some degree of elegance and modesty."

Ante's thoughts were interrupted as she saw Teruko jiggling and laughing, downing more of her reasonably healthy drink. "Well... I suppose in certain situations modesty just isn't realistic. We can't always control our circumstances," she reminded herself, looking down at her own stark, black undersuit.

"Enough monologuing, c'mooon! You've been fighting these guys for a long time, haven't you? I think it's time to finish em off with something so big, it's... unavoidably big!" she cheered, slotting through the Quake battlechip. "However, bigness isn't the only tool at our disposal."

Ante thought of a fairly crude joke, but kept it to herself; the right corner of her smile twitched a little momentarily. "Then tell me, what do we have besides size?" she inquired whimsically.

"Sneakiness! If no amount of bigness will take this thing out, we'll hit it with a sneaky attack from the shadows using this new chip we got," the operator beamed.

"Well, I don't exactly revel in sneakiness, but it's an acceptable strategy in this case," Ante confessed, then began her assault. She raised her staff's head into the air, then summoned a tremendous holographic king. The figure turned its own scepter head-first towards the Elemperor, then brought it down thunderously onto the net.

While that was going on, she tapped the butt of her spear onto the ground. Another holographic Jack appeared nearby the virus, taking a quick stab with his vicious dagger. If the lamp survived all of that, she'd have to catch it and make sure there wasn't some kind of magic, lucky genie inside of it.

Finally, she slung out a couple of Queens for good measure and then prepared for some defensive maneuvers. After all, it could be an evil genie...

"What terribly silly thoughts I'm plagued with today," she chastised herself; the navi frowned and tried to get serious.

1) Quake1 @ ElemperorB [100 damage bomb, C accuracy + impact + medium area cracked terrain]
2) SideBamboo1 @ ElemperorB [80 wood, B accuracy]
3) Dodge
*) Draw Hand debuff to BoomerC [15 (strengthen) debuff]
*) Swap Two debuff to ElemperorB [10 (strengthen) debuff]
*) Variable debuff to ElemperorB [12 (buff) debuff]

Two targets, three Navis, plenty of firepower. A blue beam flashed across the Navis as salvos of needles, charging Navis, electricity, weights and bamboo hit the remaining viruses hard. Needless to say, when the smoke cleared the viruses were gone.

BoomerA: DELETED
BoomerB: DELETED
BoomerC: DELETED
ElemperorA: DELETED
ElemperorB: DELETED
CanDevil: DELETED
Candle: DELETED

--Grass--
TeddyA: DELETED
TeddyB: DELETED
ShrubbyA: DELETED
ShrubbyB:DELETED
ShrubbyB: DELETED
SpiderA: DELETED
SpiderB: DELETED

Terrain:
2% Normal (in middle of one pool)
28% Lava (situated into two pools on the far side of the clearing)
35% Soil (surrounding Lava pools and near TreeC remains, under Remote Tower)
2% Broken (where BoomerB was, and near Ante)
33% Grass

Objects (scattered around grass terrain):
TreeA: DESTROYED
TreeB: DESTROYED
TreeC: DESTROYED

------------------------------------------------------------------
TEAM BATTLE 4 COMPLETE!

Allies-
Ante.Exe: 150hp (Grass)
KaijuMan.Exe: 170hp (Grass)
Remote Tower: 70hp (Soil)
ZephyrMan.Exe: 150hp (Grass)

Rewards:
Ante: 1300z, 6 FXP
KaijuMan: R(oll)ingLog1, 1200z, 6 FXP
ZephyrMan: RageClaw1, 1200z, 6 FXP

KaijuMan growled with satisfaction and scoured over his spoils of battle. He picked up a rather sizable chunk of zenny data along with a new battlechip. Both packets of data were uploaded to John's PET, eliciting a smile from the NetOp.
Great work, Kai!
*huff* Of course.

John looked over at his drink, noticing it was empty. He raised his hand towards one of the bartenders, but once he noticed it took a split second to actually find his hand, he quickly changed his drink order.
Could I get a water please? Gotta take a breather, haha.

The bartender smiled and served up a glass, before going back to some of the others as they served drinks. It seems they had noticed the pair of shirtless women, but it appeared they were too amused by it to bring it to the attention of the bouncers. They weren't being disruptive, so they didn't want to spoil the party. John took the water, and put some money in the tip jar before raising his glass towards the bartender.
Thank you, sir!

Meanwhile, back in the PET, KaijuMan looked at the lava pools curiously, before stepping in. His head spines twitched sharply, before relaxing and laying flat against his head. The Navi chuckled deeply as he appeared to be getting comfortable in the lava.
I need some of this stuff in my PET...
Found yourself a hot-tub, eh Kai? Hm, a hot tub sounds like an awesome idea... too bad this place doesn't have one.

John raised an eyebrow as he looked over towards Teruko and Ariel, and asked rather jokingly,
Either of you ladies happen to have a hot tub handy? Haha!

KaijuMan rolled his eyes at the NetOp's silly antics, and sank deeper into the lava, until only his head was above the glowing, molten data. Though he likely wouldn't have offered to his allies to take a dip anyway, the lava bath wouldn't be very soothing for them.


((Ready for battle 5?))

With a nod denoting that the desired result had been achieved, ZephyrMan hovered over to a chunk of data, and began transferring it. However, after looking it over, he brought up a screen in front of him, and began to rapidly move his fingers, as if he was typing something. A few moments later, much of his reward for his participation was gone, but replaced with multiple BattleChips. "Excellent! Now I can further assist in situations of brute strength!"

For some reason, John's hot tub remarks caused Ariel's expression to sour, though she was all too eager to share the reasoning. "Tch, I wish! But no matter how many times I ask my parents to add a hot tub to the apartment building, they're always 'just go to Yoka, Ariel', or 'it's not quite that high end a building, Ariel', or 'you'll make people ask why there's a naked girl walking around the building, Ariel'! Like I wouldn't wear a towel or a bathrobe or something on the way over!"

"To be entirely fair, they do have a point about Yoka. It's not that far a ride, after all."

"But I still have to walk all the way over to the station, ride the MetroLine over, and then walk all the way to the hot springs! I don't wanna wait that long to sit around naked in hot water!"

Yes, heaven forbid she actually plan something ahead of time. Ah well, it was part of what made Ariel, Ariel. "Well, arguing amongst ourselves won't get a hot tub built, so let us stop!"

"Yeah, you're right! Though having to go all that way still sucks..."

"Perhaps." Hmm...seemed like KaijuMan was utilizing the lava as a hot tub. Must've been what triggered the whole debate. While he couldn't hop in, the wind Navi drew near the magma, allowing its heat to flow over him, like some kind of dry mini-sauna. "Ahh...for some reason, this warmth feels excellent right now! My thanks for drawing my attention to the idea, KaijuMan!"

(Ready for Battle #5? Question mark?)

"A hot tub...?" Teruko asked, looking surprised. She thought back to her humble apartment, picturing the white, one-man tub and squeaking shower that she herself could barely fit in alone. Having that much hot water available for taking a bath in was also something of a stretch for her to imagine. Laughing heartily, she waved one hand to dismiss the idea. "Naw, I don't have a hot tub. I don't think I've ever even seen a heated pool, let alone something like a jacuzzi!"

Ante felt a little disappointed that although Teruko had never even seen a jacuzzi, she had something similar to one right in front of her and couldn't even use it. Indeed, she'd be burned to a crisp if she tried to indulge like KaijuMan was doing. Ah, the mysteries of navi life, allowing some to stew happily in lava while others stewed more like potatoes.

Thinking about Ariel's comment, Teruko rested her cheek on her palm thoughtfully. "I wonder if she's from a rich family or something? She might live in an apartment just for the sense of independence. Then again, it's possible she just has no idea of the value of money, but..." She crossed her arms, unable to stop thinking about the concept. "I wanna try a hot tub..." she blubbered, letting her head fall lazily on to the table.

Shaking her hair once more, Ante could barely imagine wanting to be any hotter than she already was. Yumland wasn't Netfrica, but it wasn't Sharo either. It was plenty hot even without using the lava as a makeshift sauna. Sweat glistened across her gray skin, making her flesh look almost like polished stone. She wouldn't complain about the heat, of course, but a thicker undersuit like hers wasn't exactly ideal for warm climates.

"Rrrrmmmm... I wanna get in the hot tub with KaijuMan," Teruko whined.

"I-It's not a hot tub, remember? That's boiling lava..." Ante reminded her.

((Ready for Battle 5!!!!!!!!! Exclamation marks!))

KaijuMan and ZephyrMan relaxed in the warmth of the lava pools as Ante decided to relax outside of where she might get melted into a crisp. All seemed peaceful for a while...

----

A rustling in the nearby thrush alerted the navis to a new presence. They first heard rhythmic tribal chanting that got louder and louder as something came into view. Kaiju and Zephyr still kind of stayed near the lava pools because it was pretty relaxing.

Six tanned muscular male navis with assorted tattoos and differently colored blindfolds and pants grunted as they held up a wooden float platform with an ornate golden bathtub on it. Ante could spot two female navis in the bathtub, laughing playfully at each other before seeing the residents of the lava pool, which caused both of the bathtub navis to scowl immensely.

"What..." the first female, with fair skin and pearl-white hair, started, trembling as she looked about. "is the meaning of this!" she yelled, outraged as she pulled a white towel over her body and stood up, pointing at Zephyr and Kaiju basking in the lava pools. "My precious special aromatic lava hot spring is gone and now there are foul beasts using it as their own!" the white-haired female screeched, flailing furiously and glaring at the party.

"Oh well, I'm sure they didn't mean it, Lady Ofuro. I mean, it's kind of in the middle of nowhere to be stumbled on you know," the other female, tan as the six males carrying their float with auburn hair tied up in a ponytail, said, trying to calm her partner down. I mean, they were kind of indecent after all.

"Lady Brimstone, I will not be calm! And it's because it was in the middle of nowhere that I thought it could be hidden! Oooooh! You are such a treasured guest that I had prepared this lava bath especially for you and and...[i][i]" Ofuro blubbered, blushing as she tried explaining herself to Brimstone, who sighed and tried to lower her companion back into the bath.

"Well uh... for starters, why not use your specialty?" Brimstone suggested, a bit tense.

"Ooh~!" Ofuro exclaimed, her sapphire eyes sparkling as she clapped her hands together. "As expected of Lady Brimstone, you're always on the mark! Very well then! Foul Beasts! I will allow you to witness the glamour that is my, Ofuro of the Eternal Bath's, special hot spring! OHOHOHOHOHO~" Ofuro proclaimed ridiculously while cackling, standing on top of the rim of her bath with one foot.

The tanned servants automatically set the platform down as the bath water inside the tub started to boil tremendously while Brimstone let out a relaxed sigh. Ante, Kaiju, and Zephyr were confused as to what was going on before the bathwater boiled over and suddenly burst out a massive tidal wave of steaming hot water that crashed down over the entire area.

"Ahh~ That's the stuff~" Brimstone sighed contently, relaxing into the Onsen Terrain that Ofuro had just filled the immediate area with.

"PFHA! Anything for you, Lady Brimstone~" Ofuro giggled, bursting out of the water.

Oh right, um, you guys uh... might be drowning. Just a heads up.

-OPPONENTS?- (4 Actions away)
Ofuro.EXE: 300 HP
Brimstone.EXE: 300 HP
ServantA: 50 HP
ServantB: 50 HP
ServantC: 50 HP
ServantD: 50 HP
ServantE: 50 HP
ServantF: 50 HP

-Terrain-
100% Onsen

-Allies-(DROWNING)
Ante.Exe: 150 HP (3 Movements to surface)
KaijuMan.Exe: 170 HP (1 Movement to surface)
ZephyrMan.Exe: 150 HP (2 Movement to surface)

-BATTLE 5?-
-Combat has not yet begun-

Ante certainly didn't have a problem with two ladies covorting together in a tub, if that was what they were in to. Wouldn't bother her. She'd be happy to move if they asked her to find a different spot, as well. Half-drowning her beneath a sea of bathwater and then leaving her for dead, however, didn't sit as well with her.

Ante looked around her, feeling her eyes sting from the bath salts. She'd been completely submerged and found herself so far beneath the water's surface that she could no longer distinguish her allies (or the new enemies, for that matter). She grasped around underwater and managed to reclaim hold of her scepter, but the rest of the landscape was lost to her.

Grumbling, she slowly tried to swim her way up, but it was difficult. She realized that, worse yet, her allies would probably have started fighting already without her. She couldn't allow them to face such a large number of enemies alone without her help...

So, summoning up all of her might, she swam... until suddenly, a current seemed to drift through the water. Whatever the current was, it appeared to be aiding her as she traversed the water. All at once, she realized that her clothing had changed. What had been her plain, black undersuit had disappeared. Now, her clothing consisted of several strange, blue turbines, which were now whirring and creating a jetstream with which she was able to navigate through the onsen.

"I feel like a motorboat," she mused, then realized that the thought was silly and struck it from her mind. She blasted wind behind her to propel herself to the top of the water as quickly as possible.

"Woah, Ante, what happened?! I didn't know you had other clothes! And your scepter's got a tornado, too! What is this?" Teruko asked, not understanding the concept of crosses. "Am I drunker than I thought?"

Ante, of course, could not respond to her operator, still being underwater and all. Instead, she concentrated on communicating to her operator, by making an urgent expression with her face and doing her best pantomime of throwing a bomb, that she'd like weapons.

The operator realized that there were only so many weapons her navi could use from her current position. The best ones would probably be those that she could use without having to be near her targets or have direct line of sight. As such, she went ahead and sent Ante a SideBamboo chip.

Nodding, Ante channeled all of the chips she could through her scepter to power up her Jack. After that, she released one of her shady, hologram Jacks to use its very material and pointy dagger, hopefully jabbing her opponents from a discreet angle. Unfortunately, she couldn't follow its movements to tell if the attack had worked. She also felt as though the turbines were experiencing some sort of slight malfunction...


But whatever it was, it didn't seem to be affecting much. With that out of mind, Ante began to contemplate what could have brought the change on to begin with. Had she become closely connected enough with her allies that she could now summon up the Crosses she'd so often heard about? Back in her previous life, she'd kept an emotional distance from everyone... perhaps that was what had caused the change?

Regardless, it was almost embarrassing, to be seen dressed so similarly to one's ally. It was just sort of mushy. Still, she was glad it had activated when it did; ZephyrMan's wind funnel power might be the only thing that could rescue her from her dire situation.

1) Activate Level 1 ZephyrCross [Change to Normal/Wind, +10 to non-elemental chips]
2) Jump into Airstep jetstream, try to propel self out of water
*) Gust to assist jump with self-knockback
*) Draw Hand debuff to next attack [15 strengthen]
*) Swap Two debuff to next attack [10 strengthen]
3) SideBamboo1 @ Ofuro [105 wood on main hit + 80 wood long attack, B accuracy]

Hmm? Seemed they had company...ah well, the more the merrier. Wait, did that one girl just call them 'foul beasts'? That was a bit much...

Not nearly as much, however, as the fact they were all now of considerable depths underwater. ZephyrMan turned to check on each of his allies, but each seemed to be okay in different ways: KaijuMan was closer to the surface, and seemed to be suffering no ill effects from the water, and Ante suddenly seemed to be using the power of winds to turbo her way out, despite being even deeper in than him. Actually, while he wasn't completely sure how she did it, that was a good idea. As such, he copied it by increasing the spinning of his lower tornado, essentially using it as a less tangible propeller to rise to the surface. It didn't take too long, though he noticed that he left a vortex where he had risen. At least it wasn't about to suck him back in, and even if it did, he could just repeat the process.

At any rate, he was none too pleased at the new arrivals for trying to drown the team for no obvious reason. "Ladies, that was utterly contemptable! That constitutes an act of battle! Prepare to-"

"All right, what the FUCK was that?! You know what? Those two bitches have gotta go! Especially that whore that tried to drown you guys! Actually, I don't fucking care why they tried to fucking drown you. I hope they do scrunches, because their asses are about to get a good workout from us putting our fucking foot in them! We're teaching them that no one, I mean NO ONE, fucks with Ariel Fuujimoto, her Navi ZephyrMan, and their friends! Are we clear?!" If ZephyrMan was angry, Ariel has clearly crossed the drunken rage line in street shoes.

"I agree with that sentiment, but I'm not sure if-"

"ARE. WE. FUCKING. CLEAR?!"

"...Crystal!"

"Ugh, I'm sorry, but people like that piss me off to no end! Now comes the part where we forcefully bend them over, pull out the giant stick that's in their asses, then shove it-"

"We get the picture!" Though it was somewhat noteworthy that the Wind Navi was not apologizing for his operator's...colorful behavior. Instead, he focused on the woman with white hair...and while he couldn't quite tell from that distance, it seemed that that and skin tone were the only ways he could tell the two apart. Come to think of it, he couldn't see any clothes on either of them...were they naked? At any rate, if he couldn't make out many details, they were probably too far away to just up and attack. But he had an answer for that. He accessed his chip folder, selecting a single chip for approval, which was vigorously and promptly approved. A box then appeared next to him, with what appeared to be some sort of antenna...thing, with a green ball atop it. It began to bob back and forth, causing the device's purpose to become clear; it was, in fact, a large fan, whose innards began to rapidly spin. Unlike a conventional fan, however, it did not blow air, instead attempting to suck in anything and everything ahead of it. And since he had it pointed towards the enemies...that should bring the fight to them, instead of vice versa.

With that, he began to eye both them and their various...bodyguards, he'd call them, since they most likely had more than hot water up their sleeves. Even though it didn't seem like they had any.

"Hey! What the hell's up with that?! Why aren't we beating the shit out of them yet?!"

"Strategy, my dear Ariel! It will be easier to attack if they come closer!"

"...Oh, fine. So long as the sluts get what's comin' to 'em!"

[Order of Turn:
1-Airstep subtype ability to get out of water (grants very high jumping capability)
2-Fan chip (100 HP Object, pulls enemies in, reduces evasion)
3-Dodge]

KaijuMan raised an eyebrow as the group of Navis approached. He scoffed at the two dainty female Navis in the bath as they spoke.
{Hah. All those inferior navis to carry a pair of weaklings. I expected more.}

He mostly ignored the Navis, focusing more on the feeling of the hot lava around his body. He closed his eyes in relaxation, just as water rushed over his body, and the lava broiled as warm water rushed over the area. The area over the former lava pool appeared to be boiling from the heat, before KaijuMan burst forth from the water. He made a loud rumbling roar as he slowly rotated his body from side to side, his arms slightly outstretched as water cascaded from his body, and sprayed outwards.

John laughed at KaijuMan's "B-movie"-esque entrance, but he almost dropped his drink upon hearing Ariel completely flip out in the bar stool next to him. His eyes went wide and he recoiled out of reflex, before he put down his drink and extended his hands out towards Ariel. His eyes darted between her and the bar, since the bartenders started to notice as well, and they appeared to become uneasy as well. John felt like he needed to help ease the situation, otherwise they'd get themselves kicked out.
Woah, easy now, Ariel. I don't think they're hurt, just a little damp now...

John cautiously put his hand on her shoulder, partially because she wasn't wearing a shirt, and also because he feared for the safety of his hand. KaijuMan also heard Ariel's torrent of insults and frustration, and actually chuckled with amusement.
She's got a bit of fire in her. That was unexpected.
Not helping, Kai...

KaijuMan shook off the last of the water from his upper body, his lower half was still submerged, but he managed to stay afloat, using his tail like a large keel (keeping him upright). He noticed ZephyrMan and Ante, who somehow changed clothes..., had started to attack the Navis, inciting a grin from the reptilian Navi.
Chips, John. I'm gonna make those little girls cry.

John pulled a chip out of his pocket, and slotted it into the PET. However, upon looking at the screen, he saw a couple of circular symbols flashing on his PET. One of them looked like a bunch of cards on a black background, while the other looked like a hurricane symbol. KaijuMan activated the chip, causing a green puck with a small antenna to materialize over the water, before slightly sinking in, and a remotebit appeared over KaijuMan's head, just as his nostrils started to glow. He heard Ariel's complaint over ZephyrMan's attack, and made a beastly laugh, showing the intensifying orange glow in his mouth and throat.
Don't worry, I'll gladly beat them down. Hard.

On queue, the remotebit flew over KaijuMan's head, and stopped over the bath as its polished silver lightning rod buzzed with electricity. It quickly sent down a powerful lightning bolt, directed towards the pale, loudmouthed Navi. The cracking boom echoed through the area, acting like a starting gun for KaijuMan's attack. After aiming towards the bath itself, he opened his jaws to fire a glowing molten chunk of partially liquified rock. The lava shard burned through the air, leaving a trail of black smoke before it exploded with a ball of fire, and sprayed the immediate area with glowing embers and larger chunks of molten rock.



ACTIONS:
1. Emerge from the water
2. RemoteBit1 (Summon 100HP Remote, and RemoteBit)
--RemoteBit: Attack Ofuro.EXE (80dmg Elec + Panel Break)
3. Lava Mortar: Ofuro.EXE, Brimstone.EXE, ServantA-F (30dmg Fire Blast2) [+Break]

As Ofuro and Brimstone frolicked with each other, the underwater navis decided to boost themselves up. Ante assimilating the powers of her wind-gathering ally to do so. It was actually quite a spectacle, two navis leaping out of the water and into the air while a monstrous one surfaced menacingly behind them.

"Kyaaa!" Ofuro screeched, actually legitimately scared by this as she clung to Brimstone, who sighed, trying to calm her down.

"Well... I guess it would come to this," Brimstone murmured to herself as the opposing team started her attack. "Hey! Uh, make sure we aren't disturbed! Mmkay?" Brimstone called out to Servants who brought their fist to their chest and replied in unison with a "YES, BIG SIS!" before turning around and boldly charging the trio of navis.

"Better make sure of this then..." Brimstone mumbled, waving her arm in front of her. Immediately, a giant brick wall rose from the water, obstructing everyone's view of what was behind the wall... Unless you flew high enough I guess.

Ante's Jack slammed right into the wall, and then went and skewered a Servant who ran in front of it, missing Ofuro by a mile.

"Ohohohohoho~ You can't defeat Lady Brimstone's creations that easily!" Ofuro cackled as ZephyrMan set up a Fan, sucking the Servants into melee range.

KaijuMan had better luck when he summoned the Remotebit, which basically flew over the wall and zapped Ofuro silly. His mortar attack was redirected at the Servants, blowing them apart, but they struggled to stand up, one of them attacking ZephyrMan with a fierce headbutt, while he quickly dodged.

The other three decided to focus on the Control Tower, charging to kick it all at once and shattering it to bits.

"GYAAAA! Hmph! Well if it's a fight you want it's a fight you'll get!" Ofuro screeched at the other navis, as Brimstone tried to restrain her.

"Now, now, calm down and heal your wounds, alright?" Brimstone pleaded to Ofuro, who was pretty singed from the Remobit attack

"Nnngh! If you say so...." Ofuro pouted, diving underwater and having the relaxing bath water soothe her injuries.

-Behind Wall- (4 Actions away)
Ofuro.EXE: 95 HP
Brimstone.EXE: 300 HP
Brick Wall: 95 HP

-Engaging-
ServantA: DELETED
ServantB: 20 HP
ServantC: 20 HP
ServantD: 20 HP
ServantE: 20 HP
ServantF: 20 HP

-Terrain-
100% Onsen

-Allies-
Ante.Exe: 150 HP [ZephyrCross]
KaijuMan.Exe: 170 HP
ZephyrMan.Exe: 150 HP
Control Tower: DESTROYED