Mission: Factional Investigation!

Red decided to wait a little longer and started to examine the diary while she was at it.


[Examine Diary.DAT]
The diary was unlocked, luckily for Red. A signature near the front announced that it belonged to the navi named Escort, who Red did not recall seeing during her time in the compound. Everything inside was written in very neat, cursive handwriting. Most of the writing seemed to be concerning the day-to-day operations of the compound... Red at first guessed it might belong to a guy, because there was some oddly mushy sounding stuff in it, but then remembered the hygiene products she'd seen. Whoever it was, it was probably just a girl with a thing for other girls. The only possible significance it had to the investigation was in revealing that Myst was asking the others to become Neo-Shogunate.

As interesting as that might have been, even after a significant time reading PartnerMan did not show up.
Red shrugged and tossed the Diary aside, heading toward the Netsquare instead.

"Well that was useful," Shin grumbled, arranging the data they had collected.

[Discarded "Diary".DAT]
[To Kiosk]
Red beamed in from the portal using the Netsquare as Myun hopped along by her side. "I've gotta hurry!" Red mumbled to herself, panicking as she and Myun headed toward the complex again.

[RUN TO COMPLEX]
Bounding with great expediency, Red moved from the hill towards the complex where sh suspected PartnerMan might have been captured. The door was still left open from where Red entered earlier. The hut also appeared to be in much the same condition as Red left it, blown apart by her earlier attacks. Shin and his navi could only assume that all of the navis were in one of the other two buildings and circumstances pointed towards the left.

It might be to Red's benefit to think carefully on how to enter...
Dashing toward the left building, Red looked from side-to-side and peeked inside the window.

Turn Summary:
1. Dash to left building
2. Look inside
The inside of the bathhouse contained two large baths and a few closed showers. More importantly, it contained several navis, forming a large ring at the center of the tile floor.

In addition, Red saw something inside that normally would have been a very bewildering, upsetting scene, but at this point was just expected. The same figures that Red had seen earlier, carrying what was left from their trunks, were standing around PartnerMan in a circle along with one extra figure. The whole scene was steamy and it was hard to make out, but it looked like a very pretty, tall man with short black hair was standing there by the navi's athletic profile. Looking a little lower at the bath towel, however, several particular curves revealed that it must be a very athletic woman. She looked vaguely offended, which could only mean the worst for PartnerMan.

As far as Red could tell, Myst was the only one speaking. The busty navi walked back and forth, holding a blue oriental fan in front of her face and laughing confidently. Why ParterMan wasn't just jacking out, Red couldn't understand, but it looked as if he'd been tied up.

Red could either enter through the window or go around to one of the others. Entering from this window, she would find herself at the tiles, but there were also windows entering over the baths. Entering through the front door would also be possible.
"I figured as much," Red groaned quietly, holding her face in her hands as she witnessed the scene. Myun just shook her head.

"Well, we've gotta save him. So blow 'em away with your specialty and reel PartnerMan in with this!" Shin commanded, grinning confidently as he sent in the Yo-Yo chip.

"Alright! I'm coming to save you right now PartnerMan!" Red said to herself, gathering the wind from the area and cherry blossom petals from out of her schoolbag. Placing her hands through the window space, the crimson crusader took aim through the center of the ground and sent a swirling pink blast of wind and petals through the bathhouse.

"GRAB ON!" Red called to PartnerMan, getting through the window and sending a Yo-yo with razor blades spinning above PartnerMan's position. "Hurry up! Just bite it or something!" Red huffed, panicking.

Turn Summary:
1. Cherry Blossom Spiral through the middle of the group [110 Wood DMG + Break + Impact + Knockback + Phasing + Seeking]
2. Get through window and Yo-Yo1 above PartnerMan's position, try to cut binding? Extend path he can grab on to? [40 DMG x 2-3 + Slashing]
3. Hold Yo-Yo1/Reel In once PartnerMan grabs it?
The cherry petals that Red fired out burst through the room, surprising all of the Neo-Shogun girls and frightening the living daylights out of PartnerMan, causing both heads to scream in terror. The torrent of petals curved slightly and smashed into Sake, sending her careening into the bathtub. Her towel hung in the hair briefly where she'd been standing then fell to the ground.

"She's here again!" Arch cried, pointing her bow in Red's direction. Myst calmed her down by waving her ornate fan, then confidently looked up in Myst's direction.

"Hello again, Little One. I assume you're here to save your hapless friend, but alas: we're in control of this situation. I'm prepared to offer you- Hey!" she proceeded confidently, but was abruptly cut off as Red's saw-blade flew through the air.

PartnerMan cheered, his first head bobbing side to side vigorously. "Way to go, Red! I know exactly what to do!" he cried out, then... hurled his body in front of the spinning blade. The blade penetrated his bindings and freed him, thankfully not cutting him as his other body was pulled up just a hair's width too high to be hit.

"Cool it, Freakazoid, you nearly got me shredded!" the other head cried, its legs and arms still being bound together. With just one set free, PartnerMan was able to move, however.

... Until Escort caught him, that is. Twisting one of his free arms behind his back painfully, she wordlessly turned him to face Red. The head whose arm was being pulled bawled in pain while the other head grinned in delight, feeling Escort's breasts pushing up against his chest. Escort blushed and turned away as she saw his face.

"You may have gotten the jump on us just now, but as you can see, we now hold the cards! Hooo hohoho~!" Myst laughed amusedly, walking by and slapping one of PartnerMan's heads with her fan. "As I was trying to say earlier, I'll make you an offer. Agree to join Neo-ShogunMan's glorious dynasty for the cause of net imperialism, and I will happily release your partner. He'll have to agree too, of course." PartnerMan gulped and watched Red hopefully, praying that she had another plan. Red wasn't sure whether or not Myst realized that she'd already been approached by and turned down another Neo-Shogun membership offer once before.

Sake's head peeked up out of the water with a small hiccup, her strange head-mounted sake bottle swaying from side to side as she viewed the situation.

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

Myst: 100 HP
Sake: 35 HP (in bathtub)
Arch: 200 HP
Escort: 450 HP (holding PartnerMan from behind)

PartnerMan: 150 HP (caught)

Red: 230 HP (in window)
Myun: 100 HP (in window)

Inside Terrain: 80% Bath Tile (very slippery), 20% Bath (just like sea)
Outside Terrain: 100% Grass
"Hmmm..." Red pondered thoughtfully as the situation did not go quite as planned. A red long-sleeve jacket formed over her top that seemed to be made out of tough material while she was thinking.

"Nah~" Red giggled, having already sent up a list of chips to Shin to execute her plan.

"Not too bad," Shin commented, scratching his chain bemusedly as he sent in the requested tools. "Good luck."

In another instant, Red had warped above PartnerMan, her behind facing Escort as she got her footing on PartnerMan's body, winking cutely at her ally in an apologetic manner before launching her rear end heavily into Escort's face. Though it was designed to feel more like a ship blasting a Cannonball at someone, and that someone happened to be Escort.

"Specialty Move #10! Blossoming Butt Punch~!" Red announced, spinning around and posing cutely before whipping out a wooden ruler from her schoolbag and cutting PartnerMan free from the rest of his bonds.

"Off you go~!" Red claimed gleefully, booting her partner toward the door before hiding under a giant top hat and warping outside the front door of the bathhouse before opening the door to let her ally slide out.

"Come on silly, let's run," Red giggled, offering PartnerMan a hand.

Myun had moved to the front door in this time and bounced up and down to indicate that PartnerMan should hurry up.

Turn Summary:
*Blood-Soaked Cape: 40 HP Casing on Red
1. Areagrab on top of PartnerMan [Teleport, Movement, Dodge, +1 Accuracy]
2. Cannonball Butt Punch to Escort [150 DMG + Break] (Attempt to get her to loosen grip or knock her away at any rate)
3. BambooKnife to cut off the rest of PartnerMan's bindings. [60 +25 Wood DMG + Slashing](5 uses left)
4. Boot PartnerMan toward front door. (Enhanced sliding by bath tiles)
5. Magic Trick [Decoy, and Teleport outside door] and open door
6. Get PartnerMan and run?

Myun's Actions:
*Run Myun Run: Head to front door
Red donned her coat and then shot herself down to PartnerMan, who luckily had a large, very flat surface area for her to stand upon. She then gave an energetic spring from her perch, coming down for Escort's face. Escort was prepared, however, and executed a quick roll to avoid it. She gave a silent prayer in gratitude to whatever heavenly deity allowed her towel to stay in place as she performed the maneuver.

Although she was unharmed, her movement had given Red a chance to cut PartnerMan loose of his remaining restrictions. "Yeah! Now let's stick it to them!" Red's ally called out victoriously, but Red did not have any such plans. Seeing this, he gave a quick cry and started to run for the door. Red gave him a scoot to help him out, though, then engaged her own plans.

"Not so fast!" Arch warned them, releasing the hanging golden ribbons from her armor. The ribbons came behind her to form a large, magnificent loop, shining brightly. As the beams of light hit Red and PartnerMan, they found their movement speed greatly reduced. "We're not so easy to slip free from as you might think," she assured Red, summoning a familiar system of gold bands that briefly appeared in front of PartnerMan, sliding him back into the building.

"Hey, don't I get a say in this?!" PartnerMan's second head wailed as he cruised across the floor. "Alright, screw this! Come on, Bro, it's time for our special technique!"

"Rightoroonie!" the other called back. Hoisting themselves up to their feet, the two of them began bounding forward at an incredible pace using both legs. It looked like they'd taught themselves... an advance running-away technique, bounding with their long, wiry legs. Still, it was proving to have situational usefulness. "Ha ha ha! Look at our legs-!"

A limousine came out of nowhere, breaking open the front wall of the bathhouse as it slid across the tile, swerved dynamically, then came to a stop with its full expanse blocking PartnerMan's path, causing him to run into it with a jarring clank of metal on metal. He fell flat on his back, dazed. Escort was standing on top of the limousine, holding her legs together conservatively and staring down at him with an ominous presence.

Everyone had come out of the bathhouse by now, including Sake, who was running around and looking refreshed now. Myst was nowhere in sight, however. Escort turned her head and looked down to Red, crossing her arms across her chest. "Please consider Myst's proposal. We all come from unique backgrounds, but that's no reason we can't work together under the Neo-Shogun banner," she requested with a persuasive, deliberate slowness to her voice, although she was slightly hard to take seriously while dripping wet in her bath towel.

"Do you really think we need her?" Arch sighed, still unhappy with Red for all of their present troubles.

Despite his dazed condition, PartnerMan turned one head to Red. "Psst! My operator's almost back. Just keep them occupied for a second longer, then we'll jack out and meet at the GNA!" he whispered to her in a hissy voice. Unfortunately, the information was greeted with a familiar haughty laugh.

"Is that so? Well then, let's torture him as ruthlessly as we can before he gets away! Fear is also an important factor in a dynasty's power, hooo hohoho~!" the voice laughed, coming seemingly from nowhere.

"Eeeeyah!" the Netpolice officer cried babyishly, scrambling up to his feet. "Don't let them torture me ruthlessly!"

Arch looked around in confusion, trying to find her ally. "Wait, torture? That's pretty extreme, isn't it? I don't know if I want to torture him..."

"Come on, Archie~! This is a peeper we're talking about. There's all sorts of delightful things we could do to him. Maybe he likes being humiliated?"

"Wh-what?! I don't want to do something like that... hey!" the gold-clad Neo-shogunate cried, then suddenly rose her arms stiffly into the air. It seemed that Myst had gotten a hold of her, because pretty soon her body started moving towards PartnerMan, her skirt slowly lifting as she moved.

The first head looked on in fear while the second head grinned in anticipation. "Red, help! I can't decide whether I want to be tortured ruthlessly or not!" Red was really in a pickle now; did her employer want to be "tortured ruthlessly" or did he not? It was extremely difficult to tell. "Aaaah! I don't want it to be this way~!"

"Sh-Shut up, Chowderhead. Alright Red, you go back to the GNA meetup. We'll uh... we'll finish up this investigation by ourselves, hehehe."

"Nooo, Reeeed!"

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

Myst: 100 HP (invisible)
Sake: 135 HP
Arch: 200 HP
Escort: 450 HP (on top of limousine)
Limousine: 100 HP

PartnerMan: 150 HP (stun x1)

Red: 230 HP (40 HP casing) (slow)
Myun: 100 HP (slow)

Outside Terrain: 100% Grass
((Everyone is now outside)
"Nrgh!" Red gasped as Arch's ribbons hit both her and PartnerMan, she suddenly felt horribly slowed down and the team struggled to run away, only to find their way blocked by a limousine summoned by Escort, who tried convincing Red further into the Neo-Shogunate, but was only met with a huff of distaste.

"I'm not joining anything unless I want to! And that's final!" Red pouted as Arch doubted her actually being in the group due to all the destruction she caused. PartnerMan whispered a plan to Red, which she nodded to until she was interrupted by the bodiless voice of Myst.

"Be careful, she's completely invis-" Shin warned, before Myst started trying to force Arch to perform "torture" on PartnerMan. "-ible... Ok, what," the ace sighed, holding his face in one hand and shaking his head slowly. "Is the whole group as crazy as everyone we've met?"

"I guess so," Red shrugged, yawning as she stood still, not really feeling like moving since Arch had hit her with whatever.

"Well, how long do you think the other operator's going to be?" Shin pondered, sifting through his folder.

"Who knows? Got a plan?" Red inquired curiously, glancing around at the situation.

"Yeah, get Escort off that limousine and then use this," Shin suggested, sending in one chip for the moment.

"You're pretty demanding, but I'll do something or another," Red replied, shrugging before giggling again. "Alrighty! In my hand is not just anything, but the most wondrous thing! But first..." Red started, before pulling out a series of protractors from her schoolbag and turning toward Escort, "...you might wanna get down from there," Red advised, throwing the measuring tools deftly at the hulking woman.

"Surprise surprise! I'm a jerk again~" Red cheered, smoothly placing her hand on a leaf of grass, causing pollen to explode on every blade in the vicinity. The disorienting effects would be absolutely brutal, but Red wouldn't mind, nor would her allies for that matter.

Myun, by this time, was doing all she could to drag PartnerMan toward the entrance. Red snapped her fingers as a cute red sweater formed over Myun, possibly protecting from any oncoming attacks.

"Ok, keep going and hope they don't catch up," Shin advised as Red whirled out a metal canister from her schoolbag.

"Dessert's on me!" Red announced, slamming the canister in the ground. The earth shook and suddenly a geyser of caramel blasted upward from Arch and Myst's supposed location, attempting to cover the navis in the thick, gooey liquid and slow their movements.

Red then tried helping PartnerMan get out.

Turn Summary:
1. Buster Shot to Escort [50 DMG + Slashing](Get her to get off the limousine)
2. Spice1 [80 +15 Wood DMG To-All Enemies On Grass + Confusion]
*Blood-Soaked Cape: 40 HP Casing on Myun
3. Caramel Stickiness in Arch and Myst's area [Hold 1]
4-6. Get PartnerMan out of here

Myun's Actions:
*Run Myun Run: Get PartnerMan out of here
1-3. Get PartnerMan out of here
((I hate you Aim))
"Thank you so much, Red! You're a lifesaver!" the first head cried over the complaints of its other head.

"Little girl, you're WAY OUT OF LINE! This is my professional judgment! Come on, I'm on the verge of a breakthrough! This is the chance of a lifetime!" the other head protested, kicking its leg babyishly as its body was elevated into the air by his other half.

Red's attack accomplished its primary goal, getting her off the limousine, but failed as Escort summoned another limousine, which swerved again out of nowhere and came to a stop, blocking off the other direction that Red had tried to escape into. That didn't stop Red's next attack, however, which created a tremendous explosion of spice, injuring (as far as Red could tell) Arch and Sake while Escort remained unharmed. It was impossible to tell what happened to Myst. Smoke billowed out from beneath each limousine's hood. As if Arch hadn't suffered enough, she then became encased in sticky caramel, knocking her to the ground. The outlined shape of Myst showed that she'd been hit as well.

Luckily, there was still an escape route open to Red and PartnerMan (luckily, Escort hadn't actually hit them with the limo, for whatever reason); Red and her ally quickly scurried off in that direction. Escort ran after the two with amazing speed, cutting them off at the gate.

"The least you can do is leave that man here for Myst to torture. He has been peeking on us, after all, and he'll get back fine one way or another," she sighed, crossing her arms as she stood in front of the doorway.

"Too late, hee hee hee! Thanks again Red, come to the kiosk later!" the first head giggled. Before the second could complain further, the navi disappeared from the net.

Escort watched Red with a scowl for a moment, then dropped her arms to her side and leaned against the wooden gate post. "Well shoot. I hope you're happy."

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

Myst: 100 HP (held)
Sake: 40 HP (confusion)
Arch: 105 HP (confusion) (held)
Escort: 450 HP
LimousineA: 5 HP
LimousineB: 5 HP

PartnerMan: ESCAPED!

Red: 230 HP (40 HP casing)
Myun: 100 HP (40 HP casing)

Outside Terrain: 100% Grass
((Everyone is now outside)

((Red gets 4 PartnerMan FXP))
"Eh, I guess it was more trouble than it was worth," Red commented, shrugging as she and Myun jacked out.

[END]