Powers Combine

Soundman gave a strangled cry as the pucks tore into him on their way past; the first carved a gash into one of his shoulder speakers, a second sliced one of his arm-mounted equalizers, and the third clipped into his leg. He dropped to his knees from the sensation of it, and gave a low hiss through his teeth. Those things hurt.

Soundman rose again to his feet, just in time for one of the pucks to dig into his back. He grunted, eyeing the offending virus in front of him- Not yet... hold it together... not yet... his inner voice reminded, just in time for him to watch the Skully chip clock the virus in what passed for its' face. He chuckled for a moment, glad that the rest of the pucks weren't going to cut his back full of holes- and then got hit in the side by another one. This one, thankfully, had the kindness to bounce off rather than dig in, but that didn't make it hurt any less.

Melody called out to him, yelling something about 'heal yourself'. Soundman didn't hear her.

He heard Trenn mutter something over the line. He didn't hear him.

He looked over towards Titania/Oberon, firing blanks wildly at the remaining virus. He didn't hear the shots.

What Soundman heard-- all Soundman heard-- were three simple words. Three simple words that his speakers repeated.

"Power of Sound."

His speakers shook with the vibrations, pulsing to the beat as the tune grew in intensity, rising higher, faster, faster. Some vocals entered the tune as Soundman stood to his full height. And with the beating of the drum... he disappeared.

The first thing he felt was the wind. It chilled him to the bone, seeming to blow straight through him as he sat, suspended in midair high above the network. The second thing he noticed was how thin the digital air seemed; he would describe the consistency as similar to trying to pass off a cup full of fog as a glass of water. The last thing Soundman felt was the first thing he should have expected. Namely, the pull of gravity dragging him down. It started slow at first, as the last vestiges of the Areagrab wore off, but began to slowly accelerate.

Soundman didn't resist it, and instead turned himself downward-- going into a dive. The musical navi slowly began to accelerate as he fell, the air that had seemed so thin before whipping against his face and blowing his hair everywhere. It only got worse as he fell farther down; what had at first felt like someone lightly dragging a knife across his skin felt more like quick slices now as the wind beat against his brow. It blasted against his open wounds from the pucks, as well, sending flecks of data shedding off of him at a pace that was probably unhealthy.

But yet he didn't falter, not once. He squinted against the wind, even as it tried to force his eyes open, and found his target down below. The virus was still being bewildered by Titania and Oberon, thankfully, and hadn't moved. Soundman cocked his right arm back-- and activated the Drillarm.

All at once the giant, conical, rotary blade shimmered into existence, seeming to unsheathe from somewhere with the signature 'shink' of metal sliding against metal. He reached out for the back of it with his hand, and it took over his forearm, converting it into the mechanical half of the drill.

Then Soundman activated the DashAttack. There was a loud slam as an extra piece of hardware shot out from the guard at the back end of the drill-- a big, bulky set of three thrusters, all attached to piece of machinery that looked like a mix between a rocket and a stereo.

The two speakers embedded it kicked in all of a sudden as Soundman continued his dive, adding their loud, vocal output to his own-- and continuing to play that same song. The thrusters kicked in along with the chorus.

Power of Sound...

Soundman's dive accelerated as the drill/rocket-powered arm tried to force its' way to the forefront of the dive, but Soundman held the arm back, keeping it cocked. Not yet... not yet...

Power of your feelings...

The musical navi continued to speed up, pressing violently against the wind as it, too, rose up just as harshly to beat against him. His auto-repair routines were frantically working to replace the flecks of data that it was splintering off from the holes the pucks had made.

Bangin' the wall of destiny...

Soundman's descent seemed to hit a point where it could not gain speed; as if there were a wall, a limiter of some kind blocking him from going faster. Soundman breathed in, narrowed his eyes, gritted his teeth--

And then started to yell at the top of his lungs, screaming louder, louder, loud enough to drown out even the music. The drill on Soundman's arm revved up, creating a vortex around it as the navi thrust it forward--

I will smash it to the music-

--and broke the sound barrier with an ear-shattering Boom. that reverberated through his entire body. Soundman accelerated sharply as the air he pushed aside roared behind him in a futile attempt to catch up, yelling at the top of his lungs. The music, his shouting, it all died out-- he was literally outrunning his greatest weapon, overpowering and breaking through the one barrier that the navi named Soundman would not ordinarily break as he hurtled downward towards his target at supersonic speeds that far, far outclassed the phrase 'terminal velocity'. Even the wind did not touch him now, thrown to the sides by the drill which raged at the fore of his nigh-on-suicidal nosedive. The ground rushed up to meet him as he neared the end of his charge, looking for all the world like the largest, deadliest arrow in existence.

Power of Sound!

The burner kicked in as Soundman finally hit the end of his maddening descent, and the halo of air that had formed in his wake ignited, turning into a giant, billowing vortex of fire that trailed after him. It was with this final, extraordinary touch-- that Soundman collided. He felt the hit in his drill first, as the spinning tool collided with the surface of *something* with a loud crunching noise, and then tried to burrow its' way in.

The flames were not far behind; they, too, slammed full-force into Soundman, the ground around him, and everything in the area nearby as the air he had been dragging along for the ride finally caught up in what amounted to an explosion of force, scattering the flames outward.

The only question that remained was... did it work?

--END OF TURN SPLICE--
[DRILL CRASH COMBO]
1: Areagrab to high above Unknown Virus B (Free dodge + Accuracy Up to next attack
X: Imbue DashAttack with Break
2: DashAttack straight down @ Unknown Virus B (90+Impact+Line Attack(5)+Accuracy Up)
3: Speed-enhanced Drillarm1 @ Unknown Virus B (+??? damage from speed of impact, 60+Breaking+Knockback+Piercing)
4: Burner Explosion @ Unknown Virus B (130 Fire + Nova 2 + Nova 1 (Break-type passive ability))

Total if successful: 280 + ???

Oberon didn't relent for a moment in his maneuvering. His entire focus was on the virus, the better to ensure that its entire focus would be on him. He was everywhere and nowhere; each spinning projectile would meet only air as he moved, leaving a thin trail of white vapor. His mockingly blank face took its visuals, the torrent of weak pellets being fired continuously would disrupt its damage compensators, and the staccato of his guns obscured all sound-- but even these couldn't compare to the apocalypse of music and fury that was Soundman falling from the sky, driving the very Net before him with a wave of music that came to a point at the tip of the weapon he held.

Move.

The noise was so great that Oberon wasn't sure who had issued the cold, solemn command-- Titania or Rachel?-- But either way, he wasn't going to object. With one final leap, Oberon flipped away from ground zero, trying as best he could to get away from the blazing Navi meteor. As an afterthought, he recalled one of his most-used BattleChips from where it was still lingering in his quick-use memory, and fired one last parting shot from midair, the bullet melting into a sharply yellow-colored disc shape that whistled faintly as it flew towards the virus, one last insult to hold it in place to take the maximum brunt of the coming destruction.

Oberon didn't make his usual acrobatic leap this time, though, instead simply hopping backwards, never taking his eyes off the scene about to unfold. He didn't aim for another rock this time; he wanted to fly away from ground zero as fast as possible, by the most direct route possible.

He wasn't going to miss an instant of something this awesome.

Titania, however, didn't let the spectacle distract her. Oberon's form flickered in the air as she prepared to take over their collective body and rush in to rescue Soundman should he smash a hole in the GlassPanels

4: Unison Flow: Tactical Movement x4 [TM1-2: GTFO]
5: [TM3-4: GTFO]

As Soundman teleported into the sky, Oberon began retreating from the Virus. The virus turned his direction, and fired a volley of razor pucks in his wake; one of which tagged him. (-10) It began to move quickly to one side just as Soundman crashed down from the sky. The drop attack from hell connected as a grazing blow, and batted the virus aside. It looked like that would be the end of it... that is until Soundman exploded into flame, and crashed through the glassine ground like a pile-bunker. The glass did heavy damage to Soundman, but he at least lived. (see below)

The virus did not.

The blastwave of fire, followed by the hail of glass shards was enough to finish the virus off. It, like the other virus before it, wobbled in the air, then fell like a stone to, and through the glassy surface of the fire blasted desert. It crashed out of sight for a few moments until it repeated the earlier explosion of the previous virus, and blew every single glass panel out in a fountain of shrapnel. It rained back down, adding to Soundman's injuries as he lay upon the slope of a very large crater. (-64, total)

The earlier virus had left an abundance of data behind, albeit scattered all over the field thanks to the explosion. Plenty enough for two Navis to share.

The second virus had also dropped quite a bit of data, but all of it was mixed in a pile of extremely dangerous glass shards. Extracting that would be very risky, but perhaps possible.

-----------
Summary
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Victory!!

---Allies---
SoundMan.EXE: 36 HP (Pit)
Melody.SP: 40 HP (Sand)
Get: 1000z, 14 Bugfrags

Oberon.EXE: 140 HP (Sand)
Get: 1000z

Unclaimed Rewards pool: AirHockey1, Yo-yo1

Optional: GMD (Unaccessed), Glass Pile (Unattempted)

---Enemies---
Unknown Virus A: Destroyed
Unknown Virus B: Destroyed

---Objects---
BoulderA: Deleted
BoulderB: 400 HP
BoulderC: 400 HP
BoulderD: 420 HP
BoulderE: 390 HP

---Terrain---
Sand: 60%
Broken: 35%
Glass Pile: 5%

---Mystery Data---
GMD: 1 HP [Far right corner of the field, 16 total moves away]

---Battlefield Dimensions--- (Only for reference)
12 Panels x 12 Panels

Soundman had one thing to say. "...Fuck." Literally, the one word summed up his entire reaction in ways that could not be summarily described. He slowly pulled himself out of the crater he himself had struck in the earth, and waved toward Titania/Oberon and Melody.

"I'm okay!" He looked down, then pulled a shard of glass out of his side. "Well- nrgh- mostly, anyway." He gathered up what was pretty much his half of the chip data (AirHockey1), then glanced around. "Oh, right, that GMD..." Soundman headed over to the thing. "How do I even open this thing..."

Melody floated to his side, then tried tapping it... ((Open GMD))

The GMD opens to reveal a cache of Zenny.

------------------------
After Action Summary
------------------------

---Allies---
SoundMan.EXE: 36 HP (Pit)
Melody.SP: 40 HP (Sand)
Get: AirHockey1, 1200z

Oberon.EXE: 140 HP (Sand)
Get: Yo-Yo1, 1200z

FXP: +10

Optional: Glass Pile (Unattempted)

---Objects---
BoulderA: Deleted
BoulderB: 400 HP
BoulderC: 400 HP
BoulderD: 420 HP
BoulderE: 390 HP

---Terrain---
Sand: 60%
Broken: 35%
Glass Pile: 5%

Soundman took roughly half of the zenny that dropped out of the GMD, and sent it to the PET. He then snatched up the other half and carried it over to Titania/Oberon along with the Yo-Yo chip. "Here." He said, handing it to them. "That takes care of that, so now..."

Soundman turned toward the glass pile. "How do we take care of this..."

Oberon reached out a hand that magnetically drew in his share of the data, then slumped down on the sand with his back to a rock. "Hey," he called out, seeing Soundman's apparent state, "If you need it, Rachel will give you a Subchip for that."

What? I--

"It's the least she can do after you nearly killed yourself by taking one of them out all by your lonesome."

Rachel did not retort.

After a moment of rest, Oberon stood and then morphed as he walked over to the glass pile, digging through it with armored gauntlets, thinking that she might be able to scavenge some of whatever was buried underneath. As an afterthought, she called out to Rachel:

"A Guard would be helpful."

A yellow energy field surrounded Titania's hands as they worked at the pile, warding away the damage.

[Dual Aegis and Guard1.]

"Sure, I'll ta-" Soundman began, only to be cut off by Trenn.

"Here, Soundman. Take this." Trenn's voice provided through the uplink.

Soundman felt a sudden rush of healing data flow through him as the Energypack took effect, closing up a significant chunk of his wounds. "Ah... thanks, Trenn."

[Energypack used]

The glass eats away at Oberon's defenses fairly quickly. The Navi stops digging through the glass before he sustains damage, but makes no progress. He still has his Guard1, however. (Double Aegis Broken)

Soundman is fully healed.

------------------------
After Action Summary
------------------------

---Allies---
SoundMan.EXE: 180 HP (Pit)
Melody.SP: 40 HP (Sand)

Oberon.EXE: 140 HP (Pit) (equp: Guard1)

Optional: Glass Pile (Unsuccessful)

---Objects---
BoulderA: Deleted
BoulderB: 400 HP
BoulderC: 400 HP
BoulderD: 420 HP
BoulderE: 390 HP

---Terrain---
Sand: 60%
Broken: 35%
Glass Pile: 5%

Trenn sends Soundman a sword. "Soundman, try brushing some of the glass away with this, see if you can get to it."

"Ah, that could work." Soundman remarks. He draws the long, metal blade out from the data, and gets to work slowly, carefully brushing the glass away, trying to expose the prize inside. Piece by piece...

It took quite some time, and more than a few error along the way, but Soundman eventually managed to unearth the rest of the battle's rewards buried in the glass. Some of the data was damaged beyond recovery, but it was better than nothing. A far sight better.

------------------------
After Action Summary
------------------------

---Allies---
SoundMan.EXE: 180 HP (Pit)
Melody.SP: 40 HP (Sand)
Get: 1000z, 14 bugfrags

Oberon.EXE: 140 HP (Pit) (equp: Guard1)
Get: 1000z

---Objects---
BoulderA: Deleted
BoulderB: 400 HP
BoulderC: 400 HP
BoulderD: 420 HP
BoulderE: 390 HP

---Terrain---
Sand: 60%
Broken: 35%
Glass Pile: 5%

"Alright!" Soundman said, disengaging the Sword chip and standing to his feet. "That's that done... so now what?"

"There was that mountain you three-- er, four-- passed before you encountered those things." Trenn suggested, thinking. "Seems as good a place as any to go next."

Soundman thought about it for a second, then nodded. "Yeah, alright." He climbed his way out of the small pit, then waved Oberon over and started the trek. "Let's go!"

"You got it."

Titania warped out of the pit and fell into step alongside Soundman. "I remember when as far as we knew there was nothing out there but stock viruses," she said, with a hint of nostalgia.

"I'd say that those were the days," Soundman said, strumming Melody's strings lightly, "but the 'stock' viruses were never this interesting." He continued treading through the desert alongside Titania and Oberon, headed straight for that distant mountain...

((Ready for whatever you've got in store for us, Pally))

The trio trek across the desert towards what appears to be a mountain in the distance. They leave the rocky portion of the wasteland behind, and see nothing but sand for the next while. At times, the sound of some sort of heavy machine makes its way to their ears from somewhere off to the left, but nothing comes into view.

The group eventually draws close enough to the mountain to get a good look at it... It is not a mountain at all, but instead the towering edifice of a Great Pyramid. A little further, and the trio finds the ruined remains of a sandstone pathway leading to this Great Pyramid. What cracks there were in the pathway have long been filled in with sand, making it very smooth and seemingly easier to travel over compared to the sand they had thus far trudged through to get here.

A little further along the path ahead are what appears to be a series of sandstone pillars flanking the pathway. They bear no markings, and the local climate seems to have done a number on them. They look really worn and mishapen, and the sand seems to have a tendency to pile around them.

At the end of the path, a good distance away at that, stands the entrance to the Great Pyramid. Within the boxy, and cavernous looking entryway stands what appear to be sand blasted double iron doors.

This is all the group can see from their vantage at the edge of the pathway.

-----------
Summary
-----------

---Allies--- (on sand at the edge of the pathway)
SoundMan.EXE: 180 HP
Melody.SP: 40 HP
Titania.EXE: 140 HP
-- 10 Battle Turns Un-Opped Remaining

---Objects---
Sandstone Pillar A: 155 HP [Left of the path, nearest you] [4 moves ahead]
Sandstone Pillar B: 155 HP [Right of the path, nearest you] [4 moves ahead]
Sandstone Pillar C: 155 HP [Left of the path, between A and E] [6 moves ahead]
Sandstone Pillar D: 155 HP [Right of the path, between B and F] [6 moves ahead]
Sandstone Pillar E: 155 HP [Left of the path, close to the Pyramid] [8 moves ahead]
Sandstone Pillar F: 155 HP [Right of the path, close to the Pyramid] [8 moves ahead]
Pyramid Door: 320 HP (IronBody) [10 moves ahead]

---Locations---
Pyramid Entrance: [10 moves ahead]

---Terrain---
Sand: 40%
Normal: 20% (Path leading to the Pyramid)
Pyramid: 40% (Cannot be changed. May be climbed slowly as Sand, may be descended quickly as Normal.)

Note: The pyramid is huge. The terrain % only accounts for a small part of it facing you, and doesn't even begin to cover going all the way to the top.

"It's Guy... Rachel went to buy upgrades. I'm operating you now. I'll do my best..."

Oberon's groan, though he didn't express it in any particular way, was practically tangible to Titania. Don't be that way, she chided. He knows more about Navis than he thinks.

What he doesn't know is slightly more significant, replied Oberon, And what he doesn't know is rapid PET operation.

Would you rather help Guy with his technical skills, or try to teach Rachel to overcome her own faults?

Rachel seems like a fine operator to me. She just needs to remember that we're not a machine that needs to be micromanaged--

And what I'm arguing is, that's a much bigger flaw--

I don't think we can agree to disagree here when the battlechips at our disposal are what's at stake--

Titania and Oberon whittled away the time by arguing with themself as they walked along the path, Titania's blank eyes glancing curiously around the desert landscape.

"...Well, this is new!" Soundman remarked, stepping forward. He glanced upward at the massive pyramid--

and up.

and up.

and up.

"...Very new." he finished, returning his sight to ground level. Melody floated up behind him. "Look at the size of it..." she remarked, tilting back in a way similar to the way Soundman's head had moments ago, "I wonder what's inside?"

"If every single RPG and piece of fiction ever is to be believed? We're not going to like the answer." Trenn said over the line. "Ugh, I can't even get a readout of the entire thing with how big it is... Soundman, see if you can head a little closer."

"You got it, Trenn." Soundman confirmed, walking cautiously towards the pyramid. Melody drifted slowly behind him...

Titania and Oberon were distracted from their interior dialogue by their Operator's... moping would be the best way to describe it. Apparently, Guy was instinctively holding down his push-to-talk while talking self-pity. Either that, or he really wanted Titania and Oberon to hear. Curiously, they reacted so differently that if not for their awareness of each other, they would never have known that the opposite reaction was possible.

Trenn is right. You don't have to take the whole burden yourself, said Titania as soothingly as she could, before Oberon was able to give his particular brand of encouragement.

As the group moves closer, the pillars suddenly crumble and fall over. When the dust settles, Totems sit where the base of each pillar used to be, and Heavys float off to the sides where the tops of the pillars had fallen. The sounds of something in the distance ahead crumbling could also be heard, but nothing else appeared. The Totems turned to bring their flame throwers to bear against the Navis, all of which began to glow....

It was a trap, and the Navis were caught square in the middle of it.

-----------
Summary
-----------

Battle 6: Begin!!

---Allies--- (on pathway)
SoundMan.EXE: 180 HP
Melody.SP: 40 HP
Titania.EXE: 140 HP
-- 9 Battle Turns Un-Opped Remaining

---Enemies---
---Group1--- (in a line to the left of the path)
TotemA: 80 HP
TotemB: 80 HP
TotemC: 80 HP

---Group2--- (In a loose cluster to the left)
HeavyA: 75 HP
HeavyB: 75 HP
HeavyC: 75 HP

---Group1--- (in a line to the right of the path)
TotemD: 80 HP
TotemE: 80 HP
TotemF: 80 HP

---Group2--- (In a loose cluster to the right)
HeavyA: 75 HP
HeavyB: 75 HP
HeavyC: 75 HP

---Objects---
Pyramid Door: 320 HP (IronBody) [4 moves ahead]

---Locations---
Pyramid Entrance: [4 moves ahead]

---Terrain---
Sand: 40%
Normal: 20% (Path leading to the Pyramid)
Pyramid: 40% (Cannot be changed. May be climbed slowly as Sand, may be descended quickly as Normal.)

Note: The pyramid is huge. The terrain % only accounts for a small part of it facing you, and doesn't even begin to cover going all the way to the top.

Guy made a kind of guttral sound over the mic as if he had been hit by a sudden intravenous dose of paralyzing venom. That low nrrrgh sound was as much of a danger signal to Titania and Oberon as the sound of a pod full of missiles arming up and locking on.

"He's not ready," murmured Titania.

"He's useless!" Scowled Oberon, making sure Guy heard this as well. "Listen up, boy, we may be a top-grade Navi with experimental programming, but we're not Net Gods."

"OH god oh god oh god."

"Pull your shit together or we're going to get iced and it'll be your fault! Is that what you want? Huh!?" Because he had the luxury of not having to actually execute the evasive maneuvers that Titania was pacing through, he had plenty of processing time left to use for berating his Operator. Titania, on the other hand, was busy running for her life.

Oberon had a saying: When there is no defense, attack. Titania had a saying: When there is no attack, wait for one to appear. Both of them agreed on this situation, where there was no attack nor defense: Run.

For now, they ran to escape, but not to leave the battle. Titania ran along the path for a few steps, but before that would become too predictable, she suddenly slammed both armored feet into the ground and hurtled backwards, then up into the air. With the immobility of airborne travel, she interrupted Oberon's process of yelling at Guy to remind him to be ready to switch and defend.

When she landed, it was on sand. She rolled low across her shoulders, to avoid the inconvenience of having to push off of soft sand and to decrease her target area. Guy would get it together soon. He would have to.

1. Dodge
2. Dodge
3. Dodge (Jump)
4. Dual Aegis
5. Dodge (roll)