Miner Fiasco

The three girls had all removed their hats to make way for protective helmets, since their cultural headwear didn't offer much in the way of protection from falling rocks. Although, given the unusual, artificially textured quality of the tunnel, that didn't feel like such a relevant precaution as it might for an ordinary miner. "Isn't it weird to think of mines existing in man-made networks? You'd think someone would just create them mined," Bhikkhuni complained, seeming to have forgotten that they weren't there to mine in the first place.

"There are many anomalies across the net that were not preplanned by programmers. Viruses, glitches, bugfrags, rogue navis ..." Exorcist listed off, enjoying the rare scholarly feeling. "I would imagine that whatever they're mining here formed as the result of something unexpected. It just happened to be useful, so they set up the mining outpost around it."

Unfortunately, the little disciple had long since stopped listening and gone back to contemplating her desire for a dog and/or robot pony.

In the mean time, Burt continued to act irrationally to things. "Of course the jacket would still work outside the mine! Why wouldn't it? This company doesn't slump expenses, you know? They hired me, after all!" he proclaimed proudly.

Exorcist watched Lucia with worry, imagining the little navi tumbling over the walkway and descending into the pit below as she and their host tussled over the flare. "L-Let's all remember: safety first!"

Inside the net and outside respectively, Mary and Burt shared a similar smile at Minah's misfortune. "I wish I could be in the net a lot of the time," Burt proclaimed. "Almost all of the time. I wonder if one day science will go so far?" As much as it would please Burt and as similar as their reactions were, the nun kind of hoped that, for Exorcist's sake, that would never become a possibility.

In these varied states of excitement, the three disciples of Counterinfectualism followed along and tried not to make obvious how little they understood about mining technology and practices.

Not even giving Minah the time to fully turn around, Lucia promptly slipped her delicate hands down into 'Minny's' tool belt to start rooting around and begin her looting with gusto! Fingers tugging and twisting items about before letting out a quiet "Ah ha!" as she tugs out the item of her desire. Though it quickly became obvious it was no such prize, which caused her to stop and look at the strange device curiously. Turning the yellow and stripped wedge about in her hands, Lucia tried to look for means of turning it on, before bringing it up to pear down into the light to try and get a look inside.

Though attention on the strange tool was short lived, and no sooner had the miner taken it back did Lucia stuff her hands right back into the other woman's pockets once more. Her invasion of personal space stopped only for the slightest of moments at Minah's shriek to peek up at her. Flashing a grin and adding a quick wink as perhaps a means of an apology or perhaps a statement that it was completely intentional. Whichever the case, it no longer mattered as Lucia let out a soft gasp when she was told the flare's location and gave a faint cheer as she quickly grabbed one up, murmuring a quiet "Ooo, thank you Minny! Thank you, thank you!"

After doing a ballerina's about face upon bare toes, Lucia dashed back towards the catwalk and rushed her way out to the middle of it. Where she promptly triggered the flare and held the burning thing in front of her at arms-length for a brief moment before letting it fall. Quickly leaning over the edge of the railing whilst balancing on her toes trying to watch its decent down the central shaft.

Having been watching Lucia's antics from a short distance back, Artio let out a soft grunted sigh and stepped forward with a shake of his head. Glancing up to Minah as he offered a sympathetic smile, "Do forgive her, she's quite single minded at times. But don't worry, she'll be serious when the need arises for her to be..." The last of his pep talk seemed slightly forced, almost as if he was trying to convince himself rather than Minah. Though there was something to be enjoyed about watching Lucia having her fun, which brought a smirk from the wolf. Artio began to move once more, stepping up to the nearby ledge to glance down the giant hole as well, after all Lucia had already given away the fact they didn't belong to anyone within earshot, so there was no point in worrying about the Cybeast spotting them first.

As Rhea stepped out of the tunnel into the mine shaft, her eyes widened-- either from awe and surprise, or in an attempt to expand the graphical inputs into her processes-- at the sheer magnitude and complexity of the layout. Even as Minah continued on her guided tour, explaining the machinations of the shaft's complexes and leading the group towards the middle, cylindrical structure, Rhea was still preoccupied with her attempt to absorb and comprehend everything that can go on if all the processes and--

--smoke billowed out of the petite Navi's ears; the two strings of soot permeating into the shaft's atmosphere. Thankfully, it wasn't combustible exhaust.

Harley, the petite Navi's oversized pet pony, seemed to be unfazed by the spectacle. Towering over Rhea, the SP lowered his head to her head level, blowing away the smoke with a strong snort. "Trying a bit too hard to be a know-it-all, eh? Try again when you're older, lassy," the horse chided in a light tone as he picked Rhea up by her hairband. His eyes, regardless, roamed and explored the location as much as his Navigator did. "But this sure looks very modern! Would've thought that it would be a more... archaic layout, at least," Harley commented, his mouth unmoving and still holding onto his Navigator.

He quickly, though, picked up on the object that Minah quickly retrieved from Lucia (after a playful bout of 'goosing', which he thoroughly enjoyed). Gotta keep an eye on that, the SP mentally noted, unable to shake off the growing suspicion that their guide was not imparting enough information for the safety of all the programs here.

Harley's mouth load quickly stopped emitting smoke and folded her arms, her cheeks blown in protest. "Let me down," she commanded, to which Harley obliged... with the horselike equivalent of a snicker. It would seem like Rhea have handled the information overload by filtering out all the questions that she generated on all the machineries found within the mine shaft.

Even as Lucia got all excited and threw a borrowed flare down the shaft, Harley couldn't help but use his long neck to shift his gaze over the railings, and followed the flare to the depths below. "Seems fun to throw flares down to a bottomless pit, eh m'lady?" Harley addressed Lucia with a wink.

While Harley attempted to strike gentlemanly conversation with Lucia, Rhea closed her distance with Minah-- but not as much as Lucia did, of course. "So which level are we descending to, exactly, relative to our current position?" Rhea inquired with no frills.

"It is good that things here are... organized, usually."[color=5A6351][/color] Regalia said with a nod, armored feet clanging along the walkway behind Minah. His visor did a good job of hiding the pensive wrinkles on his forehead, but without the sight of those, his frown simply looked... displeased.

And that was before Lucia decided to get grabby. The lordly navi opened his mouth to say something-- probably to chide the girl, or to dismiss her actions-- but he closed it a second later when the situation handled itself, instead leaning a little more heavily on his cane.

Out in the real world, Regalia could hear Thomas getting up-- but that too he would leave without question, at least for now.

"You're welcome." Minah replied to the rambunctious Lucia as the younger Navi grabbed a flare and ran off with it. She turned her head to look at Exorcist. She smiled and confirmed what the other Navi had said. "For the most part, yep. Data mining is storing large quantities of data, then analyzing it in new ways to form and extract new collections of data based on those observations." She nodded for emphasis. "So you're absolutely right, we end up digging out new data formed from the existing stuff we dump in here. We never know what exactly we might find down here. Although..." Minah held up one finger and twirled it in a circle idly. "...the mine was poured in as lava around this central structure, and then we dug into it. This whole place was just this core spire floating amid a whole lot of nothing when the servers first came online... It kinda resembled starless space, I guess?"

While Minah chatted with Exorcist about the mine, Lucia performed her little experiment. The flare she'd grabbed and ignited fell from her hands, and eventually disappeared in the distance below. This place was... deep. If it ever hit the bottom, nobody among this group saw or heard the event... assuming there was a bottom. To hear Minah talk, there might not be.

Minah turned her head to look in Rhea's direction next. "Well, we're on sub level eight right now." The mining Navi pointed at the number '8' printed on side of the central spire ahead. "I figured we'd head on down to the motor pool on sub level forty-ninety-six. It's a relatively secure location near the Cybeast's last known position. There are quite a few Navis down there, too. A lot of them are just like you--" The sudden appearance of a floating window to the left of Minah interrupted her, and prompted her to turn her head back around to face it. In the window was the face of Jeff, the NOC administrator. "There you are, Jeff. I've been trying to message you for the last ten minutes." Minah's tone became more mischievous as she pointed at the two people standing behind Jeff's chair (namely Vincent and Thomas). "Tell me, did they have to pull your head out of the coffee pot to get you to come back to your desk?"

"Something like that." Jeff replied through the window with a wry grin.

"Be sure to thank them, Mr. Zombie Man."

"Mmmhmm, and on that subject, are you with their Navigators?"

"Yes." Minah responded to the sudden question without skipping a beat.

"Alright. Thanks." Jeff replied before closing the window without explanation.

"Ooookay...." Minah said to no-one in particular after the window closed, and continued walking towards the central structure. However, a minute or so after Jeff's short appearance, something odd happened.... The entire mineshaft flashed blue for a moment and everyone's sight faded back in from blackness over the course of three seconds after the fact. Minah had also teleported from her position of walking just ahead of the group to standing with her back to the wall, as if waiting for them. How this had occurred was a mystery to the Navis and SPs present.

[spoiler=What actually happened]From Minah's perspective, a wide circle of light formed above each of the volunteer Navigator and SP's heads, and a cylindrical wall dropped around each of them... with the sole exception of Minah. "So that's why you asked, Jeff." All of the programs trapped within the zones inside the cylinders froze in place as time halted for all of them. Minah took the opportunity to walk over to the wall of the central structure, and leaned with her back against it while she waited for Jeff to finish whatever he was doing to them all. Sure enough, the blue colored light tubes disappeared, and the group of programs resumed as they were after their minute or two of stasis ended.[/Spoiler]

"I'm betting that Jeff just upgraded your permissions." Minah said with a smile. "Anyway, the elevator is right around the corner over there. Shall we?" She invited as she turned and walked towards the aforementioned structure along a wide metal platform that circled the enormous round inner structure. The outside of the ring-like platform was surrounded by track switch points for shifting cart destinations, a pair of cart lifts, more track switch points, a personnel elevator, and, finally, a much larger freight elevator. The pattern then repeated in reverse order, starting with another personnel elevator, until a break in the series of structures allowed for a small lighted balcony. It was clear that, if you removed the guard rails at the end of the balcony, a catwalk could be added that led back out to the mine shaft wall, which the owners had clearly opted not to do. The group saw all of this as they passed it by, of course.

After three more repetitions of the structure pattern, the group was about 45 degrees around the structure from their entry point, which just went to show how large the place was. By that math, there should easily be 16 spokes to each ringed platform, and they were just passing a third (if you count the one they walked in on). They finally came to their destination, a freight elevator that seemed to be powered, unlike the others. Minah just walked right up and stood before the huge door, and it opened without her having to do anything else. "We'll take this one down. Let's go," she said as she stepped inside.

----Summary----

---Allies---
[-VB] Regalia.EXE: 180 HP
[-V-] Lucia.EXE: 180 HP
[---] Artio.SP: 80 HP
[HVB] Exorcist.EXE: 140 HP
[HVB] Bhikkhuni.SP: 40 HP
[HVB] Mary.SP: 90 HP
[HVB] Rhea.EXE: 140 HP
[-v-] Harley.SP: 70 HP
[FG] Minah.EXE: 320 HP
[FG] Red.SP (Mettock): 100 HP

Harley let out a low whistle as there was absolutely no feedback whatsoever from the end of the shaft. "Don't want to lose a footing here, now," he said, shuffling closer towards the center of the walkway with his bulk.

Rhea nodded at Minah's information, though the furrow in her brow seemed to signify anything other than comprehension. Apparently, the sheer scale of the place they were in was still being very intimidating to tiny program Rhea. Before she could throw any more questions at their guide, however, Rhea was interrupted by Minah's floating window.

A short conversation ensued between Minah and her Operator, before the blackout happened. When everything was returned to normal, Rhea turned her head quizzically at Harley, who shrugged; and she turned to Minah's now far-off form, leaning against the elevator.

"I believe I may be lagging," Rhea concluded loudly.

"Psh! I'm not afraid of heights! Over the last few missions I've tangled with a hentai vine monster, giant spikies, and a perv who can turn his whole body into smoke to evade GNA snipers. I'm on my way to fight a cybeast right now! Who's afraid of a big stupid pit?" Bhikkhuni announced. The jingle of her ringed shakujo revealed the otherwise hidden shaking of her knees, however.

In the mean time, Exorcist could hardly be concerned. She was having one of the enlightening conversations that she'd always wanted to have with her operator, a dream which had eluded her due to the craziness he adopted shortly before creating her. "Is this a process that is widely used across the net, or is it proprietary? I wonder if it could have anything to do with why the Cybeast came in," she mused. "It could even be that it was looking for the open space full of data to corrupt and produce new viruses... Perhaps it was displaced from its former den?" As well as Minah had explained the topic in mining terminology, Exorcist found it most comfortable to circle back around to viruses.

Mary, on the other hand, was finding it hard to be terribly excited. Even when the sudden darkness had nearly tripped the other navi, she had barely faltered thanks to her natural disposition towards keeping her eyes closed (and being questionably blind). Perhaps the elevator would be snug enough to give her a buzz? Just huddling up amongst other warm bodies might be a little better... although some would likely be cold metal bodies.

The three entered the elevator with varied states of excitement.

Lucia had let herself become completely occupied with the plummet of the stolen flare, going so far as to lean over the railing and curl her toes beneath a bar to keep herself from falling. Watching in awe as that small spark of light slowly vanished fully from her sight, which did annoy her given how much trust she put on it. Still the little navi hopped back down and gave a loud whistling, "Wow, that's soooo deep, I can't believe that, I didn't think the net could go that far down." Giving a few small twirls upon the catwalk, Lucia finally started to make her way back to the party and solid ground.

"Lucia, can you hear me?"

Lucia stopped dead in her place with a faint squeak, quickly starting to look around in confusion, "Master? Wait where are you, I don't see the screen.."

"I'm borrowing a headset, seems to work really well, may have to get one ourselves after this."

The small navi gave out a huffed breath as she started stomping her way off the catwalk, grumbling about how he got to have toys, though she soon perked up and grinned. "Oh oh! Did you ask if I can keep the vest ye-" The rest of Lucia's question was quickly cut short, having missed completely the glowing light around her and was promptly caught up in the sudden program pause.

It was quite a rare sight to behold really, partly because it actually got the navi to be silent, but even the every living flames that decorated her limbs had been frozen, stilled fire caught lifeless within the temporary time stop, though thankfully, or perhaps not depending on the view of her companions, the freeze ended, and navi took her step without missing a beat. "-t? Cause I really want to keep it!"

It was only when she reached the edge of the catwalk did Lucia's attention go back to the task at hand, primarily because she lost sight of Minah. Looking around almost like a lost puppy until she finally spotted their leader through the mines. She let out a soft sigh of relief before making her way over, though it was quite obvious the navi was starting to sulk.

"Lucia, how deep is the mine?"

Lucia slowly curled her arms around her canine companion and hugged her great wolf tightly as they stepped after Minah. "Deep, Most likely no one else could survive the drop if they fell, I couldn't.." Pausing, the navi let out another drawn sigh before huffing angrily, "I couldn't see the bottom, flare went out. Yeah! It just went out before it hit the bottom." Nodding matter-of-factly Lucia seemed to at least slightly perk back up from her reasoning, though her smile had not yet returned.

"And the beast?"

Lucia gave a wave of her wrist and hand, only to remember the holoscreen wasn't up which got her to blink at herself in surprise. "If it heard me it didn't respond, so it's probably too far away or just didn't care that we're coming for it. If I had to guess I'd go with the latter of the two though, considering what it is right Master?"

"Keep a sharp eye out then, and do stick closer to Minah so you don't get lost and left behind."

Lucia let out a faint whine while responding, "Yes Master." Giving Artio one last hug before slipping away to fall in with the rest of the group in moving onto the elevator, though there was a brief glance at Minah once she was on, scowling faintly at the miner before letting out an annoyed "Humph..."

Regalia was a little bit slower to start up than the other navis; whether by quirk of design ("He's old, so he needs to start up slower!" ...it was almost startling how easy it was to picture Thomas using that kind of 'logic'...) or by fault of his PET, the knight remained stuck fast for an extra moment or two before he came back to reality, blinking and taking in his new access privileges.

A line of text running across his visor informed him of what exactly his new privileges enabled him to do-- in multiple languages and in excruciating detail-- but more importantly, they also blocked a good chunk of his view with their thick, opaque font. He dismissed them with a wave of his hand, vowing to read them over later, and then took a cane-supported step forward...

...only to nearly trip and fall over, stumbling a few steps before hastily grabbing onto the railing with a huff. He looked around for a moment, trying to place his cane in his mind, and then snapped his hand forward in an attempt to summon it. Nothing. He snapped his hand a second time. Still nothing. A moment of bewildered silence passed as the lordly navi endured another embarrassment, wondering what had happened-- and then he stopped to look over the notes that had so insistently run across his visor.

After a bit of that he stopped to check his own code over... and with a second and another flick of his wrist, Regalia's cane materialized in his palm. The Knight stood to his feet as Thomas cackled into the private line, and he seethed all the way over to the elevator, stepping inside with an irritated frown and a silence that was just short of thick enough to stop his operator's laughter.

"So an elevator's next, huh..." Thomas said, finally ceasing in his mockery. Regalia wasn't sure how angry he was with the lad-- on the one hand, he was irritated at himself for having fallen over to begin with. But laughing like that...

"It would seem that way."[color=5A6351][/color] Regalia nearly spat, thinking about the incident having riled him up.

"What?" Minah asked Lucia in a confused tone in response to the younger Navi's act as they all got into the elevator. Once everyone was inside the enormous rounded freight elevator, Minah pressed the button to close the doors. Aside from the fact that it was quite spacious, and round like the inside of a pipe, the elevator interior was spartan. There were lighted panels in the walls, and the floor seemed to be made of a single green glow panel that was very very dim, but that was basically all there was to the elevator.

As soon as the two or three story double doors slid closed, she then punched in the destination code on the control panel next to the door. A timer lit up above the panel immediately after, and began counting down from 10. "This won't take long." Minah commented to no-one in particular. When the timer hit zero, the green floor panel flashed brightly for a moment. "See?" Minah said as she pressed the button to open the doors again. Curiously, nothing inside the elevator had changed one bit, but the doors opened to reveal that they had changed locations, as the number 8 emblazoned on the side of the central structure had become the number 4096 instead.

"Alright. Let's go." Minah stepped through the doorway, turned left, and began walking along a ring-like platform identical to the one they had just been on before entering the elevator. She walked nearly to the other side of the ring before turning left again and walking out onto another long catwalk that spanned the abyss of the central shaft. This catwalk was, however, more of a proper bridge, as it seemed to be about as wide as a 3 lane highway and included proper structural supports as a large scale bridge would. The mine cart bridges still ran parallel to this bridge, but one could now reach out and touch them from the edges of the widened bridge. All of the bridges the group could see from here were similarly upscaled. The Navis and SPs could also see lava falls flowing down from above along the outer walls, and formations of glowing data crystals seemed more frequent as they dotted the space between lava flows. Too, there was a faint reddish glow that rose up from the pit below. Wherever they were, it was much closer to the bottom than before, and yet the bottom was still not visible from this height. Looking up, the structure they had seen at the top of the shaft before wasn't visible any longer, much less the top of the shaft itself. The mine shaft at this depth was very different from where they had just come from, to say the least.

A long walk later, the group made it to the end of the catwalk, and onto the wider metal platforms that were built against the side of the shaft wall. They continued straight ahead, and entered the mouth of a very large tunnel. The tunnel was easily a third wider than the bridge, four or more stories tall, and featured proper lighting that hung from a very sturdy looking metal reinforcement structure to boot. The ceiling, however, was spiked, just as shown in the images Minah had provided earlier.

"There is our destination: the 4096 depot." Minah said as the group neared a section of the tunnel that widened to accommodate a cluster of underground structures. The structures were setup in two rows to either side of a central path that was more or less as wide as the tunnel section they had just passed through. The left side of the widened tunnel featured a small building about the size of a toll booth situated next to a mess of cart tracks. Minah pointed to it and proceeded to identify its function: "That small booth there houses the local terminal for manually controlling the local track switches. It's only used to ferry in parts and gear from the upper levels, and to send out client specified data samples quickly." Her hand traversed to the adjacent pair of large concrete structures with wide shutter-doors fit for a pair of dump trucks to drive through easily. "And those two buildings are storage depots. We keep vehicles and larger machines, as well as parts and spare tools, inside them."

There was a single structure in the center of the tunnel that appeared to be an overlook of sorts that sat atop a three story skeletal steel tower. Minah pointed to it. "That right there is the control room for the crane..." She then pointed up. "...which you can see above us." Sure enough, there was a construction-grade heavy lift crane hanging from a large yellow metal box. The box was suspended in the air on a quartet of solid metal pipe rails that ran through it. The ends of those pipes fed into an assembly that appeared to run back and forth along another set of pipe rails that were inset into the very walls. Taken all together, it meant the crane operated almost exactly like a giant version of a coin operated toy catcher crane, sans the claw that almost never works.

The right side of the tunnel featured a series of four multi-level work bays with solid steel flooring. One of the bays was empty, but the other three each appeared to be populated by a six meter tall bi-pedal machine. Each of the populated bays had walkways, cranes, and robotic arms that wrapped around the front of each machine, enclosing it and blocking quite a bit of the view of it. Minah pointed to these structures. "And over here we have our mining mech bays, where we store and repair the heavy lifters of the mining operation." She pointed to the center of the trio of six-plus-meter-tall machines, which seemed to be in pristine condition, as opposed to the armless machine to the left of it and the very battered looking one to the right which may or may not be missing a leg. "And that one there is what we came down here for..." Her voice trailed off as she looked in the direction of the nearest of a group of Progs that appeared to be going about their work maintaining and standing watch over the facility, the nearest of which was standing idle at the far end of the line of mech repair bays. "...One sec while I go ask for the key."

However, just as Minah was starting to jog over to the Prog by the mech bays, a couple of Navigators came running out of a large side passage opening on the left side of the tunnel a little ways beyond the last of the storage structures. One of the Navigators appeared to be shouting something in a male voice, but a rumbling noise emanating from the tunnel he had just run out of drowned him out. Jeff opened a window before Minah, prompting her to stop. "Cybeast incoming!" the operator said as cave began to shake while a bright light built up inside the side passage....

...And then it happened.

A jagged stream of raw energy shot from the side tunnel on the left, washed over the two fleeing Navis in it's path, and vanished into another side tunnel on the right that was directly across from where it had entered. In the scant few moments the surge had traveled through the area, it had emitted shockwaves of excess energy bleed in all directions, coating everything the wild energy touched in a layer of crystal. This crystallization effect stretched from the mouths of the tunnels it had passed through to the edges of the supply depot and mech bays furthest from the party. In it's wake, amid the field of crystal, there now stood nine Progs trapped within solid crystalline prisons, and a pair of mystery data crystals that marked where the two Navigators had been utterly destroyed.

"By the programmer..." Minah muttered as she stood back up, having apparently thrown herself to the ground while the stream of energy had blasted its way through the area. "...how do we deal with something like that?"

"Worry about the future later. You've got company." Even as Jeff gave his warning, energy started to flow through the mass crystal towards the trapped Progs. The energy focused, and the crystal formations began to rapidly grow extensions. These extensions quickly became recognizable in shape as copies of the Progs. The crystalline doppelgangers broke away from their parent crystal formations, and turned towards the team of Navigators and Support Programs. They glowed eerily for a moment as they woodenly righted themselves, and then charged forth as one with ill intent.

Turn 1 Map

"Now this is impressive," Harley whistled at the sight of the depot, especially at the gigantic mechs docked at the bays to the side. Before both Rhea and Harley could finish taking in the environment, however, the tunnel rumbled while an energy blast shot through the side tunnels ahead. "What in the flying buffalo was that?!" the mechanical horse exclaimed, taking a few steps to steady himself.

Rhea looked up as she steadied her own footing, her eyes connecting with the dead-eyed prog copies. Shifting her attention from the aggressive progs to the frozen progs, Rhea then turned towards her other allies. "Try not to delete all of them if we need the keys, as Minah mentioned earlier," she said in a loud tone, attempting to speak above all the shaking and rumbling noises. "Stay here," Rhea added, looking at Harley while she ran her left hand over her right arm's generator. The generator hummed to life just then, producing the petite Navi's signature green-hued blade; ready for combat and counterattacks.

Just as Harley nodded to his Navigator's instructions, Rhea spun around the spot she was standing on, emitting a bright stream of light surrounding the mechanised doll. Clicks and whirrs accompanied the light before dissipating, revealing Rhea to seemingly have adopted an extra orange shade to her default equipment. However, something was different.

Her blade, originally green, was now shining in a bright orange; and two podlike contraptions were sticking out of her shoulders, looking large and impractical. An additional skirt-like accessory now adorned her less mechanical-looking body around her waist, which emitted a soft glow of orange, as well. A visor and helmet extended itself from Rhea's default headphone setting, completing her quick transformation into an entirely different programming... MachCross.

Just as soon as the magical girl-like form had finished glittering and transforming, Rhea seemingly jumped, two legs in the air, her back bent over closer to her legs-- leaving the two pods pointing at a higher angle backwards than before. The pods immediately opened after, revealing a rounded booster attached to each internal axis-- and an energy disc travelling through the two opened parts of the pod. As soon as the pods' true form were revealed, Rhea straightened, and propelled herself towards the Crane's control room with newfound strength... and speed.

The transformation and travelling happened so fast, it happened within a blink of Harley's eyes. "Now that's speed," he whistled once more, knowing that it was probably an influence from their speedy partner before. Still,it took his breath away-- though he had none to begin with.

With a twitch of a leg forwards to signal landing, Rhea's speed travelling stopped abruptly and she wasted no time in beginning to comprehend and fiddle with the crane room's controls. Her eyes, through the visor, quickly ran through the control panel and it's buttons to assess their individual use.


Summary of actions:-
=Rhea.EXE
-) Signature Passive: Parry (1-hit shield) - Activated on right arm's energy blade
1) Signature Active: Rebound (2TCD, Trap(Damage dealt on Rhea): 1-hit shield, then (20DMG Null + Slashing + Slow) - Activated on right arm's energy blade
2) SoulCross: MachMan Cross Activate (Null/Speed) Lv1 - +15 to Null chips
3) Cross Signature Active - SCRAM Boost (Teleport, 2TCD) - To the Crane Control Room
4) Tactical Action: Inspect Controls

=Harley.SP
--TURNSPLICE

Exorcist and her girls were yanked uncerimoniously from the net, noticing the beams shooting down overhead far too late to make any apology. The yellow-robed star pupil of Counterinfectualism had only enough time to wail a single heartfelt question, one to which no one could provide an answer, not even her operator: "Whyyyyyy?!"

((Jacking out))

In a cliche'd blue light rising from the ground, a shadow of a new navi could be seen joining into the fray. Her eyes slowly adjusted to the scenery and began to take note of her surroundings as the spider themed navi stepped forth from the brightly lit pillar. Of course as she did the signs of commotion could already be seen, or at least it was how she read the situation. It brought a smirk to her face. She gave a once over to each of the navis around her curious as to the kind of team she would be working with, and wondering just what they were capable of.

Until her attention was caught by that of the eerie army of progs. "Hmmhmmhmm, looks like I showed up just in time for the party it seems." Her smirk slowly growing into a toothy smile as the thought of battle was a strong possibility. "I'm here for the mission which I assume you all are as well. You can call me Sylk." Running one of her many hands through her hair as she introduced herself.

Sylk was finding it a bit hard to keep her composure as the idea of letting lose on the group of, what she could only assume were, enemies before her. Her lack of knowledge on the current situation and code of getting a job done right held her in check though. "I don't suppose one of you could fill me in? Or would you rather I destroy the creepy looking things first and we catch up later? I'm fine for either plan, hmmhmmhmm. She inquired to the group, hoping that the latter option was the favored choice.

Adrian just let out a sigh. "Sylk, just take it easy for now and mind whats going on around you. If need be we can go all out later."


Ultra-thin threads began to wrap around sylks body as she created a metal-like guard for herself, fairly flexible and virtually translucent in color, as she readied herself for a potential fight. Following the armor were a secondary set of wire-like threads forming further away from her body, though this time made of a pure electrical energy than real material. This set seemed much more like a barrier, surrounding the area she stood in and not just clinging to her flesh this time.

Finally with a snap of her fingers, it seemed as though an exact duplicate stepped out of her body, Sylk now literally beside herself. Both Sylk's looked to be well defended, and mimicked each others now relaxed stance as they awaited any kind of orders. In unison the arachnids voice rang out with a hint of excitement.

"I'm ready to handle anything you need me to."

Summary:
* Suptype Ability: Clone Technique: As a free action, create a Decoy of yourself.
* Faraday Cage: Passive 20 HP barrier
* Armor Weave: Passive 20 HP casing
----- Turn splice-----

Lucia completely ignore the questioning look Minah had sent her way as they arrived at the elevator; instead looking more interested in sulking as she steps into the far side of the elevator and leaned against the wall there. Artio, who had stopped just short of entering, glanced up at Minah before giving a soft roll of his shoulders before making his way over to join his navi. " Alright, what's the matter?"

"She moved, I didn't see how or when, but she moved while I was talking. How'd she do it..." The Navi seemed to be less upset and more beginning to sulk about the whole ordeal, enough to catch the attention of her operator and interrupt his conversation with Jeff.

"She moved, she moved and I didn't see how or when. I was just standing there talking one second, look up and poof, she'd moved, how?" Lucia seemed distraught by the whole ordeal, enough to catch the attention of her operator and interrupt his conversation.

"Each one of you were temporarily frozen, so one of you got an upgrade."

Giving a surprised squeak and blink, Lucia glanced up towards the ceiling questioningly, "Master? Wait upgrade? How come I didn't get an upgrade, I want an upgrade too!"

"No Lucia, you're not getting the upgrade, you don't need it."

Letting out a huffed breath, Lucia placed her hands on hips and gave an annoyed stomp of her foot. Glaring up at the ceiling, "Why not! Don't I deserve upgrades too!"

"You would lose your bow if you get the upgrade."

All of her huffing and complaining suddenly melted away as the realization came to the little fiery navi; touching a finger to her chin as if the meaning of the universe had just occurred to her. "Oh, well then no, I don't want that." Promptly, the navi turned her attention back on Minah and gave a cheerful smile, "So she didn't use magic or anything, I feel better now."

With Lucia having such a short attention span, Artio seemed ready to force the navi to offer Minah an apology. But just as he was about to speak the floor lit up brightly and diverted his attention, leaving Lucia free to forget all about it. Though by the time the door opened up, Lucia was once more her far too cheerful self again, skipping right up behind Minah without care in the world; leaving Artio to follow along with a tired shaking of his head.

Casually skipping along just a few steps behind the miner navi, Lucia's attention soon started to wane again as they made such a long trek, though even that soon stopped as she stopped suddenly. "Oh wait!" Came an interruption as she rushed to the edge of the platform and looked up, remaining there several seconds before letting out a giggle as she pointed up above them. "Hah, we did! We totally beat my flare coming down! Oh that is so awesome!" turning her sights down, Lucia rose up on her toes to peek over the edge and down into the glow far below; grinning and nodding as she quickly falls back in like with the rest to not get left behind, giggling the entire time over something so simplistic.

The rest of the walk went by without further interruptions, at least from Lucia, though that didn't stop her from skipping and twirling about on her toes as she looks around and takes in the sights and sounds of the data mine. Murmuring a soft, "4096 depot." in mimicry of their leader as if wanting to commit the number to memory. Her play only ending as Minah began to explain about the various buildings and devices that were about the area.

With mentioning of the crane, Lucia looked up and let out an awed low breath at the sight of the giant crane and its railings. "That's so cool." Of course then came the control tower, the storage and mining vehicle bays and the odd clunker mechs off to the side, making her grin from ear to ear. "Oh, those look like those old cartoons and such! Neato!" Though for all her random comments, she at least kept close to their guide until Minah broke off to go fetch some sort of key. Taking the chance to rejoin her support program, Lucia moved over to Artio, ready to throw her arms around the beast, but stopped when she saw that her wolf was on guard. The sparks bursting across his fur was a good reason for her to not attempt touching Artio.

..And then it happened.

"A-Arty?" Came a whispered, worried tone as Lucia looked down at the troubled support program. Quickly becoming aware of what had really set him on edge as the rumbling from further in began. Turning herself about to meet the coming tremors, Lucia gazed down the tunnel only to quickly shield her eyes with her arm and glance away. Shooting forth, like a blistering chaotic bolt straight from the Undernet itself, the Cybeast passed by. Not paying any mind to the group of navis sent to deal with it, the beast simply overtook the fleeing navis, sealing them within a strange crystalized energy.

As if the Cybeast's presence wasn't enough to send chills to the very core of even the most hardened navi; the flyby set off powerful shockwaves that further spread its corruption. Lucia lowered her arm in time to feel the blast of wind overtake her, causing the flames about her form flicker wildly. Her rarely seen crimson locks revealing themselves for a brief moment as the fire quickly rekindles about her once more.

For a moment, Lucia's breath caught in her chest as she took in her first real encounter with the object of her Master's desire. Just the simplest flyby, as if the Cybeast had been on a leisurely stroll, had caused Lucia's lips to dry and still and voice she might have had. Though at last her voice returned even if it was but a soft whisper for her operator alone.,"Guess I can't play around anymore."

"Oh? Rare to see you serious."

Lucia lifted her hand to brush a fallen bang from her eyes, letting the hair get lost within flames once again. "Friends may die if I don't." Planting her bare feet firmly, she watched as the corruption began to manifest itself, bringing up a small army of strange crystalized monsters.

Though before she could even request a chip, a scream caught Lucia's attention and got her to look just in time to see Exxy and her SPs disappear. "Exxy, Mary, Hunny..." came a murmured whisper, only for her to outright stare and look on in shock as the monstrous Sylk made her debut. "Dafuq! Like I need a tentacle monster to fight too right now!"

"She's an ally, what you wanting?"

Lucia let out a faint sigh of relief before turning back to face the closing crystalized goons, "Oh, alright uhm, tentacle girl-thing. Save the programs, kill crystal monsters, Introductions later. Master, my staff please."

A moment later Lucia suddenly began to glow like a golden nightlight as right hand thrust to the side; chip data processed as fire burst from either side her hand, which she promptly clenched down upon. The flames spread and lengthened out quickly, only to die away revealing a solid iron rod forming within her grasp. Immediately the staff began to whirl quickly between her fingers as she lifted it skyward; bringing the twirling weapon to a stop with blood-red gemstone high above her head. "Come!" was the command from the golden navi, the glow fading away as if drawn to the gem, which started blanketing the area in crimson light.

At first nothing more seemed to occur to the little navi and her staff, but not so of the air overhead. Just feet from the ceiling above Lucia, parallel gravity wells started to form, bending and twisting the network. Finally outright tearing as the fabric of space seemed to open into twin dark portals, crackling and hissing with the cool mine shaft air meeting whatever lay within. Slowly a hellish glow started to form within the darkness of those gateways, while large stones seemed to extend out of them. The molten rock creeping ever further through the portals before suddenly blasting out into the mine, followed by still others that seemed to ooze and creep from the wells; raining down hellfire and destruction upon the enemies that lay before Lucia and her allies.

Planting her staff firmly into the dirt before her, Lucia crouched for but a moment before leaping into the air and tucking herself up into a ball. Curling and rolling in the air to finish a tight flip before legs went out and she came down for a landing atop her support program's back. Bare toes wiggled faintly against charged, spikey fur before she simply parted her legs and dropped to mount properly atop the large wolf.

With a quick exchanged glance between navi and beast, Artio let loose a challenging roar, echoing deep through the cavern. And while no lightning strikes could reach such depths beneath the earth, the flash and sparks that rose about Artio were none the less blinding. As both support program and navi were bathed within the glow; though such light was very short lived, and gone within a flash, each had undergone a change. Artio had donned his battle-hardened armor, leather and armor concealed the majority of the beast's form, while atop his back rested a war saddle with rider. Lucia likewise had covered herself in her crimson armor, while faint orange bubble seemed to surround the navi as well while she sat in the saddle comfortable.

With sharp eyes fixed upon the troop of crystalized enemies, Artio dug in his claws before kicking himself off into a sudden run; rushing along the tunnel as he makes his way towards the left side of the cavern. While Lucia clenched up her hand tightly, starting to draw in swirls of air before her fist, compressing and condensing the atmospheric energy into a tightly bound orb. Letting out a soft "Poof!" she flicked her fingers sharply, sending the sphere of wind shooting off towards her chosen target; hoping to knock it off balance, or perhaps even into one of its companions.

Summary:
Lucia = L
Artio = A

L 1. Attack+10 [Battlechip] +10 Damage to all hits of next Chip
L 2. Attack+10 + Meteor12 [Battlechip] 100HP Object, 50 Fire Damage[30 base + 10 for type +10 from Attack+10] x 4 Random Enemies, 3 Turn duration. Accuracy: D
L 3. Tactical Movement: Leap atop Artio's back
L 4. Crimson Crusader [Signature] 40HP Casing on Self
L *. Blaze Aura [Passive] 20HP Barrier on Self
L *. Gust [Ability] 1 Instance of Knockback @ Unknown Entity A [Push into Unknown Entity B] Accuracy: A?

A 1. Bestial Guard [Signature] 120HP Casing on Self
A 2. Dodge to Left, moving towards left side of cavern

Status:
Lucia.EXE: 180/180HP [20HP Barrier] [40HP Casing] [Riding Artio]
Artio.SP: 80/80HP [120HP Casing]

Cooldowns:
Crimson Crusader: 1TCD
Bestial Guard: 3TCD

Misc:
Meteor12 Staff: 100HP

Regalia skimmed over the explanation of the place; he cared little for the place's mechanisms, its' workings... all that mattered, to him, was that he complete his mission. He had been brought here to purge, not to gawk at mass-produced programming or learn about the wonderful world of datamining, though he suspected the latter would happen anyway.

No, if anything, the one thing Regalia cared about here was that justice was served; this beast had killed a lot of programs, caused a lot of trouble, and threatened to destroy the livelihood of countless workers and employees. It had to be purged from the system.

Regalia's cane flickered at the word 'purge', pulsing briefly between its' usual cane form and that of a gilded sword. As Regalia stabbed it into the ground, however, the cane reasserted itself. He took another step. The world responded by going crazy.

Everything seemed to happen at once; a handful of innocents died before he could so much as reach for them. A handful more were... lost? Taken over? Copied? Two of his allies leapt into action, three more disappeared, a new one took their place...

"Thomas, what--"[color=5A6351][/color] Regalia began, flipping his cane up and shifting it into a sword. The filigree on his armor briefly glowed as each individual piece burned to life, and the gemstones set in his shoulderpads and breastplate lit up with an eerie, arcane glow.

"Uh... Burt just kinda... stormed off, and some other girl came in?" For his part, Thomas sounded nearly as confused as the navigator did, if in far less mortal peril. "I don't know, Regalia, let's just handle this like a normal battle, albeit one with corrupted programs spawned by a cybeast that could very well do the same to us!"

Before Regalia could respond to that vaguely-fatalistic remark, the sword in his hands bloated outward like a balloon, then twisted in on itself; the hilt burst over his hand, forming into a socket with an internal grip, and a moment later Regalia was holding a black-and-yellow drill. Whereas normally the lordly navi would take his time picking targets, figuring out a strategy of what needed to die first-- this time the choice was easy.

With a twist of his armor-covered torso and the grinding of metal plates, Regalia turned to face the Prog that was bearing immediately down on them... and lunged for it, the drill whirring to life in his grip. It was almost like a lancer making a move on a target; that sheer, point-to-point motion, meant entirely for impalement rather than gutting, that was almost a trademark of how a spear would work.

It seemed to work pretty well for Drills as well, though. There was a loud 'CRUNCH' as Regalia's drill began to get to work, and what had been a high-pitched whirr descended into a low grinding, almost like an engine running. Regalia let the drill go as it did its' task, and with a snap of his wrist he leapt back, a long, sturdy handle taking the drill's place in his grip.

Regalia twisted his body around, settling into what was almost a batter's stance; his hands were on the long handle of an invisible blade, pulled back like a slingshot, and his legs were starting to compact as he hunched down, his entire body compressing like a spring. A moment later he leapt forward once more, cape billowing behind him, and let go. His arms swung forward, bearing what seemed to be nothing-- but then the air around them compacted, shifting and compressing as it vacuumed in the nearby particles, and before too long a thick, transparent blade sat on the end of the handle, billowing on its' own as it shed the barely-contained breeze.

When Regalia swung it, though, it swung more like a gale than anything so gentle; the wind kicked up around him, sending his cape battering against his armor, and the force of an angry god manifested around him, a loud roar like thunder heralding the first wide arc of his windy blade, shooting forward as the armored navi brought his sword to bear. His cape, as well, joined in the hurricane of force arcing from his sword; the cloth bolts surged to life and ran throughout the knight's armor, electrifying it as they went-- and then surged out from his hands in a long, zig-zagging bolt.

As Regalia's body turned, finishing his swing with the sword's weight resting on his other hand, the blade came to life once more; a brilliant light shone from the apex of the handle, distilling the scattering winds as he leapt back. His gauntlets flared to life at that, responding to his will-- and as Regalia hunkered down, he did so behind a massive tower shield.

==Pre-cached==
HELMET+BREASTPLATE+GAUNTLETS: 3 TCD
LEGGINGS: 4 TCD

---HELMET: Barrier 20 on Regalia
1: Drillarm1
--60x2 + Break + Knockback @ Entity A; 60 + Break @ Entity B. (B Acc.)
2: Position for AirSword (Dodge/Movement)
---BREASTPLATE: Heal 20 on Regalia
3: AirSword
--100 + Slashing + Impact + Gust + Wide Attack @ Entity A, B, C (B Acc.)
---CAPE: 20 Elec @ Entity A
4: Dodge
---GAUNTLETS: 1-hit shield on Regalia[color=5A6351][/color]

Even as Harley turned, the rest of his teammates sprung into action... and three abruptly left. Throwing the best skeptical look he could make, his full-turn came to a stop as he watched a newcomer join in. A female, at that!

Elated, Harley gave a wink at Sylk even as she introduced herself, the horse giving a bow by stretching his front legs forward slightly, head bowed. He blinked when there was suddenly two of them, but that did not affect his enthusiasm. "O fair lady," Harley started, before catching himself, "... ladies," he corrected, staring at the animal-like characteristics that Sylk(s) possessed.

"Since I seem to have free time on my hands at the moment, should you ladies require an escort of a... manly, equestrian kind?" Harley offered, throwing his nowhere-to-be-seen mane around like a proud pony that he was.

Sylk stared somewhat blankly as the first person to recognize her existance in the net called her a monster, and then a "tentacle thing". "I'm a spider, thank you very much." She says, her eyes lowering slightly as she spoke. "Perhaps I'll have to teach you the difference between a spider and a "tentacle thing" privately later, hmmhmm" She teased with a smirk. Still she acknowledged what she was asked to do, and took a moment to size up the fight to get an idea of how to proceed.

As she looked to the rest of her team, it seemed one was already preoccupied and the more elderly looking navi seemed to pay her no mind. The idea of starting off as a support to see what they were capable of seemed best to her. It came as a surprise however when a largely sized horse-like SP approached her as she began to plot out a strategy. She ran a hand through her sapphire hair as she couldn't help but smile pleasantly at the Sp's remark.

" Oh, why that sounds delightful~ I could never turn down such a generous offer from one so big and strong such as yourself, now could I?" She chimed playfully, slowly approaching her new ally. She ran a hand gently down the back of Harley's neck and coming to a rest upon his back as she looked up toward him. Using her multiple hands for extra stability she climbed up onto the Sp's back, and once sitting comfortably, she leaned forward to loosely wrap her lowest set of arms against Harleys neck.

" So, does this reliable and trusty steed have a name? Hmmhmmhmm" pressing her body lightly against him for a moment with a soft smile as she spoke. " I hope you'll take good care of me~

Now that she was completely prepared for battle and partnered with a wonderful new ally, Sylk was ready to get started. Her first objective was to do what she did best; lock down the battle field and keep her enemies trapped. Now with a trusty steed to aid her, she could focus on going all out with her trap.

Sylk clasped her two upper hands together as she began to concentrate. A soft emerald glow could been seen emanating from them like an aura as her body began to produce a compact ball of silk between her palms. Getting to about the size of a baseball, Sylk clenched it between her fingers before launching it swiftly at the back most group of crystallized enemies. As she began to replicate the process one more time, the ball of webbing reached overhead of her target. With an explosive force the adhesive threads created a web-like net to rain down on three of the enemies aiming to wrap around and bind Sylks foes.

Launching the second shot Sylk aimed to repeat the same result but this time focusing on the 3 furthest not already under assault by her tactics. If all was well she could prevent the back rows from getting closer to the group and hopefully make it easier for her allies to pick them off. Sylk's hands glowing once more, her fingers began to move and dance like a puppeteer working its magic. Sure enough the webs that she had launched began to branch out and expand, weaving their way along the ground swiftly and working their way into the very panels themselves.

Sylk's web was rapidly expanding and taking over the area, a soft grin as she worked her magic. She aimed to completely overtake and perhaps even destroy the crystals with her unique threads. As her creation reached the next pairing of clones, two more sets of webbing launched upward and surrounded the unknown entities; the aim was to solidly bind them as well, and keep them from approaching any further.

Of course Sylk had no clue what they were capable of, or even if she could hold them down with her strong spider silk. She kept an open mind, planning a back up just in case this didn't work out.

Summary:
1) movement action: equip harley
2) WhiteWeb1 - 40 wood + Snare x 3 targets - Accuracy: C @ Unknown Entity G, H, I
3) WhiteWeb1 - 40 wood + Snare x 3 targets - Accuracy: C @ Unknown Entity D, E, F
4) Spider's Web: Large Area terrain change - Grass - 1 TCD - Centered on crystal terrain
5) Rope2 - (70 wood + Hold) per turn, three turns - Accuracy: A @ Unknown Entity B
6) Rope1 - (50 wood + Hold) per turn, three turns - Accuracy: A @ Unknown Entity C

Harley guffawed into a boastful laughter, delighted that the spiderwoman accepted his offer with much grace. Even with all the extra arms, she still wasn't as heavy as Rhea! Bonus points, he joked mentally to himself. He shook his head gently as he felt arms around his neck, turning around slightly to look at Sylk with one eye. "There's no need for that, sweetie. I'm a steady horse that takes care of his subjects," he addressed, but quite honestly didn't mind the hugging once in a while. At least, there was no need for Rhea to do that. It's quite heartwarming, actually.

The horse snorted as Sylk tried to pull the flirt move on him. While it was more or less normal practice for him to tease girls, Harley was not entirely sure if he would like the same to be done to him. But sure, sounds entertaining and fun! ... He obviously wasn't taking this seriously. "The name's Harley, little birdie," Harley said with a light tone, his engines revving up as he emitted exhaust while kicking on the ground underneath him.

As Harley was rearing to go, a voice transmission came in.

"Uh, Rhea, Harley, there seems to be a new Navi joining you guys and-- oh she's there," Camillia started over the channel, then stopped herself in time as she watched Harley carry the newcomer on his back. "... Nevermind, carry on then," the redhead said embarrasedly, a finger seen reaching up to scratch at her chin.

"And the new Navi is in gooooood hands, lassie!" Harley hollered, suddenly taking flight on his hooves as he stormed around the area. The bladed horn above his mechanical nostrils shone brightly in sync with the transparent visor covering his eyes, emitting the shape of a tower shield in front of the equine before it turned invisible. The wind that should smack across Harley's form and Sylk was lowered, as the invisible shield began to work like it's namesake: a windshield. ... It's not just for blocking wind, of course.

Even as Harley raced around the battlefield and watching the movements of everyone in the team, he kept an eye out for any enemies that may be too uncomfortably close and possibly ruin the joyful experience of having an actual woman of some sort on his back. When he sees things flying at him and his subject, he was very determined to try and dodge them gracefully.

Elegance was key, here. Gotta impress the ladies.


Summary of actions:-
=Harley.SP
-) Signature Passive: One Horsepower!? - Tactical Movement (1): Run around the area, but not towards the enemies
-) Signature Passive: Windshield! - 1-hit shield ACTIVE
1) Dodge
2) Dodge

"Roger that, Jeff." Minah said in a tone that sounded both worried and determined as she reached up and flipped down her helmet's transparent face guard in the face of the combined charge of almost every one of the crystalline doppelgängers. All charged forth except one; the closest of them all. This lone enemy program instead dodged frantically to the right as Minah's abruptly manifested diamond coated power bore stabbed through the space it had been moving through, cutting off the line of advance for one of it's brethren in the process. Unfortunately for the doppel duo, this put the two of them in perfect position for Regalia's drill spear to pierce through them both.

Regalia's attack drew the ire of the rear-most of the two enemies he had stabbed, as it fired a laser beam into, and through its comrade in an attempt to exact revenge upon its attacker. The beam did no harm whatsoever to the crystalline entity it passed through. However, it was also delayed ever so slightly, which allowed Regalia to just barely move out of the way before the beam could reach him. Another beam shot into view from a far distant source somewhere way out and to the left and struck one of the Progs trapped in crystal. The Prog inside suffered damage as the beam refracted through the crystalline spire, shot forth, and narrowly missed Regalia as it whizzed past his head. A third beam shot past the knightly Navi on the other side, as the shooter failed to lead its target properly and ended up hitting Artio in the flank instead.

The enemy was fully on the offensive now. Minah instinctually sidestepped to the left, the only path available to her at the time, as the crystalline entity she had failed to strike earlier fired a laser beam through the space she had just occupied a moment before. The beam struck the red crystal atop the meteor wand Lucia had just summoned, and deflected off between Lucia and Artio, almost grazing the former as Sylk beamed in just a couple of steps to the other side of the latter. That same enemy turned towards Regalia, who was moving in for the attack, and fired a laser beam into the Navi from point blank range that blew through his barrier and burned a hole clean through his cuirass on its way to striking him at reduced power.

Sylk raised her defenses and sent out an illusory clone of herself to draw enemy fire as Minah prepared to attack again with her drill. However, before Minah could stab at the enemy a second time, Regalia unleashed his AirSword attack at the cluster of enemies she was committed to attacking. The sword solidly struck the lead target, and sent it, the one behind it, and Minah, sans her red mining helmet and drill, sailing off into the distance while shouting "You suuuuuuck!" without knowing who or what had done this to her. This event caused the first of Lucia's meteors and Regalia's bolt of electricity to miss their target... which was now airborne and on its way towards the other end of the tunnel at high speed. In the wake of this event, a small, red-colored, metool-esque SP stood up, and scurried quietly away unnoticed amid the chaos.

Enemy fire intensified in response as beam after beam was fired at the party. A lucky reflex shot from one of the enemies out in the tunnel managed to tag the now-flying Minah, but did no damage to her. The beam was completely stopped by Minah's normally invisible cyber-tech body armor, which became partially visible at the moment of impact around the point where the beam hit it. A second sniper from the other side of the tunnel scored a hit on Minah less than a second later that burned through her damaged armor, causing it to glow for a moment before disintegrating, as the beam hit her at slightly reduced power, and caused her yelp in both pain and surprise. At the same time, the doppelgänger standing next to the second sniper drew a bead on Sylk's decoy, and wasted it with a shot that went right through it at chest height. Another enemy, one that had evaded Regalia's AirSword by being somewhere else, moved out from behind the supports of the crane control tower, and nailed Harley in the right rear flank with a laser as Sylk was jumping on. Harley took off running with his new passenger, but another doppelgänger stepped into view ahead of them and shot Sylk center-of-mass before Harley could take evasive action. The shot punched through both of the spider Navi's defenses, destroyed them both, and still managed to hit Sylk for minor damage. The second of Lucia's meteors nailed Sylk's ambusher in a most satisfying manner immediately after.

At about the same time a Sylk mounted Harley, Lucia, likewise, mounted Artio. The two of them activated their defenses, and Artio took off running. And just in time, too, as a beam meant to strike the both of them shot past close enough to nearly singe the tip of Artio's tail. A moment later, and a beam from a source none of the SPs or their riders could see struck one of the crystallized Progs, and refracted towards Sylk and Harley after damaging the captive Prog. The beam went wide as Harley veered smoothly to one side, while Artio managed to move erratically enough that a second refracted beam that was meant for Lucia's head missed its mark and passed by a meter or so in front of her face instead. Another meteor fell soon after, but its intended target darted out of the way with frustrating agility.

Sylk responded to these attacks by launching spidersilk projectiles at her foes. The first of these projectiles flew towards a the two snipers clustered together on the far side of the cave. It burst open, and fell upon the two unsuspecting crystalline entities, trapping them there under a mess of spidersilk webbing. Her second projectile was aimed at a closer group that had been responsible for roughly a third of the beam fire her and her allies had been made to endure. Unfortunately, this formation of enemies saw her attack coming, and one of the three of them managed to get out of range of the spider net. One of the remaining two that got caught in the net fired back with an answering beam shot that just barely missed Regalia, who dodged out of the way just before the doppelgänger fired, and also Harley and Sylk, as Harley gracefully jumped the beam. The meteor meant for this enemy went wide, and just plain missed its mark.

Minah, meanwhile, put the AeraGrab that Jeff had just sent her to good use, and teleported herself down to a patch of normal panels just the other side of the swath of crystal terrain. She touched down ahead of the two enemies she had been hurtling through the air alongside just a moment before, and turned around to look at their still flying forms. "Blue, to me," Minah seemed to say to no-one in particular. However, as if in response to her words, a blue mining helmet materialized in her hands the moment she finished speaking. Minah placed the helmet on her head and flipped the visor down with a quickness as she turned to face the wall. She then held her left hand before her, and her right hand up at just above shoulder height. "Arright..." A 10 kilo sledgehammer materialized, and rested easily within her two handed grip. She had the hammer at the ready when the two crystalline entities flew over her head, crashed into the back wall, and rebounded off of it. "Lezz see you avoid this!" Minah said as she brought the hammer down, spun herself around, and bought the hammer back up in a grand swing that connected solidly with the falling form of her foe, and sent it rocketing toward the ceiling with a very loud crack. The crystalline entity hit the spiked stone ceiling with a resounding thud and shattered. "As much as I hate these things, I have to admit that smashing them is very satisfying." Minah commented to herself as crystalline shards and bits of rock rained down from the ceiling, and bounced harmlessly off of her protective wear.

With the destruction of one of the crystalline entities, the mass of crystal that held one of the Mr. Progs captive disintegrated, and the Prog promptly turned towards the entrance and fled towards it.

Lucia, meanwhile, pulled at the other enemy that had landed near Minah in an attempt to cluster her enemies together for follow up attacks. However, the entity was only moved a couple of panels before it managed to resist Lucia and halt its involuntary progress. It then spun around to face Minah, and shot her in the back. "OUCH!!" Minah yelled in pain as she almost dropped her hammer. "Tsss... Son of a Scuttlest!" The miner swore as she turned around to face her attacker, who, before her eyes, became the ironic victim of a back attack of it's own as Sylk's webs burst out of the ground and ensnared her tormentor.

"Man... Talk about Karma." Jeff commented wryly.

"I know, right?" Minah replied to Jeff with a pained smile and a nod before inhaling and yelling across the tunnel while pointing at the ensnared doppelgänger. "Red! Waste this fool!"

Somewhere near Regalia's feet, a pair of machine-guns opened fire at the target Minah was pointing at. The source of the sudden gunfire was the small red Mettock Minah had worn as a helmet on her head when the group first met her. A couple of the ridges that lined the top of the helmet had flipped up, then swung down and and out of the way to form a v-fin on the front of the helmet, and a pair of machine pistols were firing out of the openings for all they were worth. And they were worth something, because the burst of gunfire riddled the doppelgänger and quickly caused it to shatter.

A second Mr. Prog was freed from its crystalline prison, and it, too, made for the exit.

Sylk, meanwhile, attempted to snare the pesky enemy that had initially shot Harley, and almost scored hits on Regalia, Lucia, and Artio. Her attack seemed to go off without a hitch, as the entity was stationary and it's attention was focused elsewhere: namely it was lining up another shot at Lucia and Artio. However, just as the spider webs burst from the ground, a defensive barrier formed around the doppel Prog, and the webs fell away harmlessly as the barrier took the hit and dissipated. The source of the barrier was unknown.

----Rewind....

Rhea activated her defenses as the enemies charged, switched to MachCross, and flew into the crane control room at hypersonic speed. Once inside, the purple Navi would discover that the the view of the tunnel interior both above and below the control cabin was excellent, and also that the controls were simple.

On the left side, there were 4 glowing blue arrow keys. Two of the arrows situated across from each other had a white letter X in the middle of them, and the other two situated front and back had the letter Z instead. In the middle of the directional pad, there was a circular glowing red button with the words Start (in black letters) and Stop (in white letters) printed upon it. Above that, there was a control box with a throttle lever that had the word Fast printer above it, and Slow printer below it. A needle pointed sideways at a graphic that indicated one could push the lever up to increase speed or down to decease it, and that it worked gradually.

On the right side, there was another control panel. On it was two more arrow keys with the letter Y printed upon them. Situated between the arrow keys was a glowing red button with the printed symbol for speakers/sound on it. Next to that was a row of 6 buttons. Four of the buttons had printed representations of mining machines with crossed wrenches behind them. Three of these buttons glowed red, and one glowed green. The last two buttons had printed representations of garage doors on them, and both glowed red.

What would she do?

Turn 2 Map

Sylk recoiled from the blast as she was struck by a stray beam she and Harley were unable to avoid. Her body reeled from the impact, barely staying atop her ride as it tore through her defenses in an instant. A slightly more feminine cry escaped her lips involuntarily, caught off guard and letting out a response she never let anyone hear. For a moment she was stunned, her postured leaned back as her mind took in the situation. Slowly, she pulled herself forward. Her hair was a mess, hanging down as she hunched over, breathing somewhat heavier from the damage. From behind the cascade of sapphire hair a crimson gaze of hatred could be seen peering out towards her foes.

"Heh... hehe, interesting." Though her initial reaction conveyed rage, something else began to surface cause a small grin to form. She brushed her hair to the side with one of her many hands as she sat up straight and resumed a more dignified appearance.

"They seem to pack quite a punch, don't they Harley? Though someone as tough as you can handle it I'm sure, hmhmhm"

As her words began to fade her defenses began to reform themselves, her steely armor repairing itself by intertwining new threads as the electrical barrier formed from scratch.

"Adriiiiiiiiaaaaaaan~ Let's go all out, shall we? I don't think they know who they're dealing with." Sylk expressing her lack of interest in just playing around with these enemies. She was going to deliver the full brunt of her strength, and bring it crashing down upon her enemies swiftly. " Give me our best firepower, but lets start off with something a little more... soothing, hmm?"

"Oh? All out already, huh? Well i guess it doesn't matter. This is a job after all. Use the candle1 to heal up and then give em everything you got!" Of course Adrian knew exactly what Sylk wanted. When she got like this, if it was destructive Sylk would use it with pleasure.

Sylk accepted the offer of the Candle1, Tossing the data and having it install itself it in behind the rest of the group upon its download. She could already feel its warmth bubbling up inside her as some of her smaller wounds began to disappear. She let out a sigh of satisfaction as she enjoyed the feeling. With a form of recovery out of the way, the spider was free to let loose her full power.

"I know I can count on a strong steed such as yourself to keep us safe, Harley. So I'm going to give everything I have into taking down as many of them as I can as payback for attacking us." She pronounced with confidence, ready to take control of this fight and return fire.

Bracing herself by placing a hand along Harley, Sylk's upper right arm summoned up the form of a large caliber cannon with a rotating chamber. Holding three shots within it, Sylk's eyes darting around and picked the most optimal targets for her attack. Taking her webs into account for optimal use, her arm shifted into position before a loud crack of gunfire rang through the air. Wasting little movement she used the recoil to shift her arm into position again and repeated the process a second and third time. The fiery projectiles raced forth from the barrel each time as the spider watched on with excitement waiting for the blast.

Unfortunately she didn't have the luxury of sitting back and watching each of her attacks unfold, as one of the crystaline clones was nearby and a bit to close for comfort. As the gun, now spent of its ammunition, dissipated she directed and arm towards the nearby foe. The air around her hand began to spark as she channeled an electrical current into the palm of her hand. Keeping its energy contained her aim was to do more damage by focusing its power into a single point. Unable to hold it in any longer, Sylk sent the energy forth, the electricity lashing outward as a powerful beam of gold.

Meanwhile, Sylk's charming body double who had been taken out of the fight resurfaced itself at the far end of the battlefield situated directly between two entities in the back. Slyly the clone tapped on both of the crystal formations, with a devious smile plastered upon her face. "I hope you aren't going to ignore little old me~" She chimed from between the two.

Back over with the original, the real Sylk was in the process of summoning up a trusty ally to help handle some of the enemies on its own, and maybe even take some of the fire away from the team mates. Adrian had the bright idea to add even more firepower by attaching an attack+20 onto the download, resulting in a slightly larger and deadlier fighter plane to arrive on the battlefield as Sylk finished her download. The plane was situated north from Sylks position hoping to give Lucia a hand with the enemy closest to her, after all if should couldn't tell the difference between arms and tentacles she could probably use some extra help.

With the plane capable of doing its own thing, that allowed sylk to focus on one more pair of targets. Sylk was ready to try and take advantage of her clones positioning as a burning flame began to encase her upper pair of hands. As her clone aimed to provide a decent distraction, the real spider navi worked on summoning up a violent fire from below to incinerate the hopefully oblivious enemies. After a moment of channeling two glorious pillars of fire rose up from the panels, spreading in size and joining together to form a blazing wall which would hopefully engulf her targets.

The spider was content with her actions, and all she had to do was wait to see just wait results they brought to the battle. If all went well, perhaps nothing would remain of the crude crystalline copies.

Summary:

*Passive: 20 hp barrier
*Passive: 20 hp Casing
1) Candle1 - HP: 100, regen 5 to-All-Clause (allies), (fire body) Object Damage: 100 Fire + Impact - Accuracy: N/A
2) Magnum2 - 150 fire + Break + Panel Break x 3 - Accuracy: A Unknown Entity E,F,G
3) DollThunder2 - 100 elec +25 same type bonus + Line-Attack5 - Accuracy: B @ Unknown Entity C
* Subtype active ability: Spawn decoy between Unknown Entity H, I and use Distraction!
4) Atk+20 @ Airraid1
5) AirRaid1 HP: 100, lasts 3 turns. Properties: Flying Object Damage: 50 + Impact Damage Method: Telekinesis. Gun Attack Damage: (10+20) x 10 Shots - Accuracy: A @ Unknown Entity D
6) Flameline2 - 120 fire + Ground Attack + Wide Attack - Accuracy: B - Unknown Entity H,I