Miner Fiasco

Harley froze for just a brief moment from the impact, almost immediately jumping back into action even as his subject reeled from the attack. "My, my, good at keeping yourself on the horse aren't you, lass?" the SP bellowed, pulling up his front legs slightly. An energy wall flashed once before the subject and steed, signalling the return of Harley's practically-useless defenses at this point. Well, more for a sense of security than anything else.

In response to Sylk's comments about his toughness, Harley only reared his head in pride upon his front legs returning to solid ground. "Tough indeed, I am," he commented sagely, nostrils snorting as if in derision. As his subject began preparing her next attack, Harley began to canter in a controlled manner-- one that was hardly rocky nor uncomfortable for the rider. In fact, more bouncy and enjoyable, even.

Feeling Sylk's bracing hand on his frame, Harley moved into the next stage of his movements-- syncing his gallops with Sylk's attack rhythm. The moment Sylk fired her first shot with the cannon round, Harley's feet thumped the ground to absorb part of the recoil. Then again, and again. To the ones not engaged in this vicious dance of rider and horse, it looked like they were the finalists of a horse show.

Even as pony and spider strifed across the battlefield in an attempt to dodge dangerous-looking beams, Harley never once felt the chaos all around-- just focused and in the zone, much like when he broke the speed of sound a while back. At that moment, the mechanical horse's exhaust spouted fire-- and he sped off further at the direction he was already running at.

Though looking uncoordinated and confusing in his route, Harley spun and danced across the battlefield, as if he really was performing for an audience. "I'm made for this," he muttered.


Summary of actions:-
=Harley.SP
-) Signature Passive: Windshield! - 1-hit shield ACTIVE
1) Movement: Ground-thump to absorb Sylk's recoil impact
2) Movement+Dodge: Run across the battlefield
-) Signature Passive: One Horsepower!? - Tactical Movement (1): SPEW FIRE AND ZOOM




----Back in the control Room...
Rhea found herself in a predicament at the sight of many complicated buttons. First, was the very distracting sight of the control cabin's exteriors and the activity beyond was draining her attention span; then, there's the crane. It was big, shiny and looking to be a good bludgeoning weapon on it's own. ... What was she supposed to do again?

Harley conveniently sent very-obvious marker signals to Rhea then, reminding her that she can do many things in the control room. Like moving the crane and actually doing something useful to support her teammates. Instead, she hit the buttons with printed garage door symbols. She was totally rational and calm at this point.

Right, the crane. Rhea looked towards the arrow buttons, watching how they were labelled by X, Z, and Y. "Planar axis," Rhea said, landing a comprehending fist onto her other palm, eyes shining with newfound knowledge. The energy blade was gone the moment the petite Navi got indulged into the control room, apparently too excited to maintain her basic defense systems.

Rhea wasted no time afterwards to start hammering the controls, punching (softly) first the bright red "Start" button. Then, with all her might, she attempted to navigate the crane towards the armless mech. ... The keyword was 'attempted', of course. The purple Navi probably also accidentally pressed a few other buttons, like the speaker/sound button, or the green button, or both buttons.

It wasn't helping that she was adding to the commotion, either. "Vehicle reversing, vehicle reversing," she said to herself, her voice mimicking one of the older voice clips commonly used in the 21st century.


Summary of actions:-
=Rhea.EXE
1) Hammar garage door buttons
2) Hammar Start button -> X/Y arrow buttons -> Towards Armless Mining Mech
3) Accidentally press Speaker/Sound + Green button of "Mining machines with crossed wrenches behind them"
4) Play "Vehicle Reversing" on endless loop

Lucia had been content atop her support program as the battle began, until the far too close for comfort beam flashed before her face, making her lean back and blink in surprise. "Harder than I thought they'd be for corrupted data." A scowl soon followed when a stray attack struck her staff, making her huff up lightly. "Hey!"

Leaning in close, Lucia brushed her hand along Artio's back through a break in his armor, spreading her fiery glow out to expand around him as well; offering a second guard over the beast's armor. Staying low in the saddle as Artio leapt to one side, who assumed more of those powerful beams would be sent their way.

After Artio's quick movement, Lucia rose back up while calling upon her bow in a sudden fiery blaze. Drawing a far too cute looking pink arrow tipped with a heart arrowhead. Notching it in her bow she turns her gaze upon the closest crystalized enemy; locking onto him before letting that bolt go in a pinkish blur as it raced towards the creature.

Lowering her bow down with a soft click against her war saddle, Lucia drew the now free hand back up as a golden ring formed itself within the flame around her wrist. Twirling her hand and arm faintly to set it spiraling down until she could grasp it tightly, giving it quick, forearmed throw towards another target. The ringlet sparking to life as it sails through the air towards a crystalized creature.

Her next attack was something quite unusual coming from an archer, but all the same Lucia lifted her hand above her head. Summoning up three small blue orbs that spun above her open palm for but a brief moment, before each shot off one after the other; thinning and stretching out as the air about them began to cool and cause the needles to thicken into sharp lances of ice. Each intended to pierce through the same bound target.

Lucia lowered her arm and right away dropped low into the saddle, whispering faintly to Artio as the beast kicked off again, leaping to one side, attempting to dodge any strikes that could be coming the duo's way.


Summary:
Lucia = L
Artio = A

L *. Blaze Aura [Passive] 20HP Barrier on Artio

A 1. Dodge [+5hp from Candle1]

L *. Keen Eye [Passive] 1 Instance of Take Aim
L 1. Take Aim + RollArrow1 [Battlechip] 50 Null Damage + Chip Break/Attack Stop @ Unknown Entity C, Accuracy: A (B + take aim bonus) [+5hp from Candle1]
L 2. ZapRing1 [Battlechip] 40 Elec Damage + Stun 1 @ Unknown Entity D, Accuracy A [+5hp from Candle1]
L 3. AquaNeedle1 [Battlechip] 20 Aqua Damage x 3 Needles @ Unknown Entity E, Accuracy B [+5hp from Candle1]
L 4. Dodge [+5hp from Candle1]

A 2. Dodge [+5hp from Candle1]

Status:
Lucia.EXE: 180/180HP [40HP Casing] [20HP Barrier] [Riding Artio] [+20hp from Candle1]
Artio.SP: 50/80HP [120HP Casing] [20HP Barrier] [Carrying Lucia] [+10hp from Candle1]

Cooldowns:
Crimson Crusader: Ready
Bestial Guard: 2TCD

Misc:
Meteor12 Staff: 40HP

"Gnnhh...!"[color=5A6351][/color] As Regalia crouched behind his tower shield, a gaping hole in his breastplate representing the damage it had taken, the navi cringed. Beam attacks. Beam attacks, as he remembered, tended to suck pretty badly. He looked around him for his allies, ready to mount an assault with them, to press forward--

--and instead found them holding back, or dodging away from the fire. He alone sat exposed as it were, his defenses hardly a match for their beam attacks. "Thomas!"[color=5A6351][/color] He cried, "Tactical retreat!"[color=5A6351][/color]

His operator didn't miss a beat; a moment later Regalia quickly shifted and warped, moving out of phase... but not his cape, which stayed behind just long enough to leap from its' place upon its' master's back, arcing forward in an attempt to strike the nearest Entity with a crack of thunder.

Regalia reappeared moments later standing just to the left side of Minah, the remnants of his cape flecking off of him like old hairs. As he stood, the lordly navi turned and nodded at Minah, allowing her presence to distract him for a moment. "It wouldst seem that we can save the progs from the Cybeast's corruption, but the navigators are long gone."[color=5A6351][/color] he remarked, nodding in the direction of the fleeing progs.

Without missing a beat, Regalia lifted his swordarm towards the Prog he had been next to before; it was a long target, framed by a second prog and a crystal... his visor flared to life, calculations and variables flitting across it like the cascade of a waterfall-- and then they all finally disappeared, giving way to a pair of targeting reticules as the knight aimed... and then fired a crackling, sparking ring of electricity from the farthest gales of his AirSword, the tiny thing cutting the air like it threatened to cut his targets.

And then it split; what was initially a ring scattered in the wind, tiny little bolts of electricity shrinking the ring as they branched off on their own trajectories, aimed at different targets. Four of them arced left, branching off towards two separate targets; Another pair made a hard right as the ring continued forward, aimed straight at a third; and the last two-- orbiting each other as they headed forward-- cut a path towards Regalia's original target.

Each individual orb of electricity was like a piece of buckshot, cutting through the air in a straight line towards its' target; with 8 in total flying through the air, it was like Regalia had fired off a shotgun blast from that sword-tip of his. He took a step back, armor clanking as he dropped his shield on the ground, and sighed. That thing would be useless against beam attacks. It would merely slow him down. And, as he settled into a low stance, ready to dodge away from any repercussions for his attack, he decided that he needed all the speed he could get right now.

X: Cape - 20 Elec @ Entity C (+100% Metal)
X: Helmet: Barrier 20 @ Regalia
1: Areagrab to Minah - Teleport [Candle1: Regen 5]
2: Take Aim (+1 Acc to next attack) [Candle1: Regen 5]
3: Clustershot2 @ Entity C, D, G, F, (8 x 10 Elec (2 shots each); B Acc.) [+10 Elec each hit] [Candle1: Regen 5]
4: Dodge [Candle1: Regen 5]
X: Legs: Status Cure @ Regalia

As the members of the team renewed their defenses, the remaining crystalline doppelgängers of the Mr. Progs, the crystalline pillars that trapped the Mr. Progs they were borrowing their forms from all began to glow a little brighter, and the weaker of the two Green Mystery Data crystals all began to glow a bit. The glow only lasted for a brief moment, but it signaled something very important: the doppelgängers were somehow healing themselves. Indeed, the HP readings of every damaged doppelgänger increased by 40 very suddenly, while none of the readings for the trapped Progs or the GMDs changed at all. The crystal terrain that still existed in the side tunnels also encroached upon the battlefield by one panel length.

"Jeff, are you seeing this?" Minah said as she observed these phenomena while picking her sledge hammer back up and resting it in in the open palm of her off hand in a horizontal cross-body hold. When Jeff did not answer, the mining Navi gripped her sledge hammer tighter, and wrung at the handle while grimacing. "Guess not." Minah said to herself unhappily before speaking to her helmet. "Blue, get out there and be ready to shell out some hurt." She then re-activated her Fast Armor program, which caused a transparent suit of body armor to flash briefly into being before fading quickly into its normal state of invisibility.

In response to Minah, the blue colored mining helmet atop her head stood up, revealing itself to be another Mettock, and then jumped down to the ground. The little Metool-like SP looked around quickly, and then scurried off towards the fighting on the far side. As it ran, it observed the doors opening on both of the supply depots, and Sylk's summoning of the Candle1 in the wake of the two fleeing Progs. Somewhere ahead, Lucia's meteor staff blinked once as it opened a portal, and called down a meteor to strike one of the crystalline entities. The doppelgänger reeled as the meteor slammed into it, recovered quickly, and responded by vaporizing the staff with a retaliatory beam shot that also struck the Candle behind it, and one of the fleeing Progs.

However, the little blue SP also bore witness to something unexpected... as did everyone else. In fact, it would have been difficult to miss the four doppelgängers snared in Sylk's webbing as they suddenly drew in energy, and immediately released it again one after another in a series of sunburst-like explosions of energy. The doppelgängers, clearly freed of their bonds, emerged from the blast zones ready to continue the fight. And unfortunately for three of them, the fight did indeed continue with Sylk blasting each of them with a powerful Magnum that visibly damaged two of the doppelgängers and shattered the third like glass.

As the newly freed Mr. Prog turned to flee, the crystalline doppel nearest Regalia rushed forward and suddenly drew in a mass of energy from the air around it. The entity released a sunburst explosion like the others, and Regalia disappeared as the blast enveloped the space around the Prog clone, which included where he had been standing. When the sphere of energy dissipated, the doppelgänger remained standing, and Regalia did not. For most onlookers, it would have been an easy mistake to assume the old knight had simply been annihilated by the attack; leaving only his cape behind to discharge an arc of electricity at its master's attacker before it too faded into oblivion.

Regalia, meanwhile, reappeared on the far side of the tunnel, unscathed, next to a currently green-helmeted Minah... who had spun around to take a swing at him with her sledge hammer. "Whoa whoa--" Minah began to say as she shifted her balance and managed to abort the hammer blow mid-swing by taking the strength out of it, and redirecting the hammer to swing down and away harmlessly (as opposed to directly into Regalia's face). "Ahhh, geez." She got the hammer back under control and let it fall to her side. "That was way too close, you crazy old fool!" Minah scolded before listening and responding to what Regalia had to say. "Yeah, I saw. It's a shame about the two Navis, but at least we know we can save some of them."

Minah and Regalia turned back towards the fight in time to see Lucia loose an arrow at the crystalline Prog clone that had just attempted to blow Regalia up. The arrow was just about to hit the enemy when Minah caught one of the Green Mystery Data crystals glowing a funny pattern, and saw the arrow bounce off of a barrier that appeared to intercept the blow just in the nick of time. "Uh uh. I saw that!" Minah exclaimed as she turned towards what she was ready to assume was the responsible party. A sphere materialized in her right hand. "And I'm not letting you do it again!" the miner yelled as she hurled the sphere towards the GMD. At the apex of it's arc, the sphere split down the middle, and little fan blades stuck out of the side in a ring. The blades began to spin, and the propellerbomb flew itself the rest of the way to the suspicious GMD and detonated. When the smoke cleared, there was the ghostly image of a GMD left spinning where the Green Mimic had been just a moment before.

Meanwhile, the battlefield on the other side of the tunnel descended into chaos as the the heavy machinery began to operate while the battle continued to rage. The only open mech bay suddenly closed itself as a doppelgänger slid out from behind a structural support and sniped Sylk with a laser beam that trashed her defenses. The crane overhead began to move, which covered the sounds of an opportunistic doppelgänger that moved into position far behind Artio, and fired a beam that lanced clean through Lucia's defenses, and battered Artio's. Rhea's voice started playing over the loudspeakers when Sylk fired off a lightning bolt that connected with the same enemy Lucia had tried to shoot earlier, damaging it heavily. Then a salvo of energy blasts flew in from out of nowhere, compliments of the supposedly blown-up Regalia, to harry four of the enemy legion with a double shot of plasma each amid the cacophony.

Sylk tried to add to the confusion by projecting an image of herself between two of the more distant enemies who seemed to be content with just sitting back and sniping from long range. It worked... sort-of. The two crystalline entities saw the decoy appear between them, and they each shot at it. The beams passed through the decoy, destroying it in the process, and then each hit the other. However, neither of them took damage from their quick exchange of point-blank friendly fire, but instead refracted the beams towards the real Sylk. The first beam went high, and shot right into six-armed Navigator. The second went low, and punched a hole through Harley's shield before blasting into the SP.

Lucia, meanwhile, takes a retaliatory shot at the enemy that attacked her earlier with an electrified chakram throw. The zapring connects with the doppelgänger, who responds by rushing forward and discharging a sunburst explosion of energy that envelops both Lucia and Artio. Artio's armor manages to just barely stave off the explosion, but Lucia takes the full brunt of the blast. Worse still, both of them started to feel a little odd.... Luckily, this strange feeling did not prevent Artio from leaping just in time to clear an incoming beam shot.

"This is getting out of hand." Minah remarked aloud to nobody in particular as she watched the chaos of the last handful of seconds unfold on the other side of the cave. After Regalia opened fire on the enemy from right next to her, and broke away, she decided it would probably be best to get moving. But first... "Green, take off." Her Mettock helmet stood up, and jumped off of her head on command. "Yellow, to me." A new yellow mining helmet appeared in her empty hand as she finished speaking, which she placed atop her head in place of the green Mettock.

"Time to move!" Minah said with urgency as she saw two of the crystalline entities sitting out in the middle of no-man's land turned towards her. Her words seemed to project a barely visible field around herself and the Mettocks clustered around her, and all of them began to run rapidly towards the battle on the other side of the tunnel. The doppelgängers, of course, opened fire on her. However, neither of them managed to score hits on Minah, Regalia, or any of the three Mettocks running or riding with Minah despite their efforts to the contrary. "Get ready!" Minah commanded as she jumped the last shot; causing a network of rays to stretch between her and each of her four Mettocks.

Meanwhile, Sylk summoned a fighter plane to attack the enemy. The plane flew in an arc up and around the control tower Rhea was seated in, and dove at one of the crystalline entities with guns blazing. The creature jumped out of the way repeatedly, and shot the plane with a retaliatory beam attack. A second nearby entity chimed in and blew the plane out of the sky with a second beam before it could crash into the first. This provided ample enough distraction as far as Minah was concerned.

"Go get 'em, boys!" Minah yelled to her SPs as she summoned another sphere to her free hand. The red Mettock acted first, and opportunistically hosed down the the doppel that had just barely evaded Sylk's AirRaid with a full auto spray of gunfire from its headvulcans, deleting it. The blue Mettock running ahead of Minah let another of the enemy clones have it with both barrels, which distracted the thing long enough for Lucia to get three clean hits in with her AquaNeedle1.

As that enemy fell, Minah turned her head to look at the snipers that had been trying to shoot her. "Open fire!" Minah yelled as the enemy settled into the middle of her sight. The yellow Mettock on her head did as it was told, and cut loose on the enemy. At the same time, the green Mettock rushed forward with its guns blazing at the other one. Both doppelgängers were caught totally unprepared for Sylk's flameline, and the two of them went up in flames while the Mettocks made sure they didn't make it by pumping more lead into them.

With those two enemies down, Minah turned her head to face the direction she was running in. Her red and blue Mettocks, having disposed of their targets already, turned their guns on one of the two remaining crystalline entities. The creature, caught in a crossfire, had nowhere to go, and was gunned down quickly while Minah pressed the button on the side of the sphere with her thumb. She then slowed her run, twisted her body, hauled back, and finally major-league pitched the sphere at the remaining crystalline clone. The sphere split in half, grew a ring of fan blades, and flew the rest of the way to the target under its own power, and exploded on impact. The last enemy was terminated.

"Yes!" Minah exclaimed as she fist-pumped.

"Crazy old fool?"[color=5A6351][/color] Regalia responded to Minah, just a small twinge of irritation in his voice. A further response began to brew in his throat while she blasted the mimic-- only to be cut off as Minah bounded off, Metools in tow, and joined the fray. The elderly knight let the response die right where it began, deciding that yes, he could afford to be a little more tactful with his appearances. He was helped along to this conclusion in no small way by having to dip and weave out of the way of a few beams aimed in his general direction.

Shortly afterward, however, the fighting drew to a quick, efficient close; Minah had cut a swathe through the enemies he and the others had weakened, until finally there was nothing but swathe left. Elegant. Clean. He nodded, beginning to walk forward. "Well done, all!"[color=5A6351][/color] the old 'ghost' rumbled, back from his time on the far side of the grassy Styx.

He was about to join the others when Thomas intervened; "Hey Regalia, go open that GMD." his Operator's orders were rather clear; and this time, at least, he could agree with them. Regalia marched his way over to the green crystal nearby the tunnel, then grabbed it-- before pausing to look at the ethereal, semi-transparent one beside it. His hand tentatively touched the crystal... and to his surprise, found it solid; Regalia thus picked it up, and hauled the both of them back over to the others before accessing them. "Shall we see what spoils lay inside?"[color=5A6351][/color] He posed, nodding at the big crystals.

A blue stasis field appeared around Regalia as the elderly knight finished speaking, and froze him in place just before he could open the GMDs. A window appeared next to Minah with Jeff's face in it. "Umm... no. I can't let you do that." Jeff said in a tired voice. He sighed and then spoke to his Navi: "I just connected an Untrap. Minah, please check the second MD for traps."

"Sure thing, boss." Minah replied as her hands started to glow green. She reached into the stasis feild, apparently unaffected by it, and touched the solid MD with them. After a moment, the message [TRAP DISARMED] appeared above the green crystal, which prompted Minah to wear a startled expression for a moment. "Huh, good catch." Minah said in an amused tone. "That would have suuuuuuucked...."

"Yep." Jeff said simply. "Gonna open them?"

Minah stepped back from Regalia, and looked at Jeff's window with a grin on her face. "Naaah. Let's let him have his fun."

"Okay then." Jeff said finally before closing the window and removing the stasis field. Regalia then accessed the two GMDs as soon as he resumed operation.

[spoiler=Mystery Data Rewards]Regalia.EXE: WoodTower1; PropellerBomb1

Lucia.EXE: BurnSquare1; IceSlasher1

Sylk.EXE: NeedleCannon1; BusterPunch

Rhea.EXE: Lock-On1; GolemHit1

Minah: G-Force1; AirStorm1[/Spoiler]

Rhea was still busy fidgeting with the buttons, about to send the crane arm to lower onto the mech in her own game of Giant Mech UFO Catcher. Oblivious to the fact that the battle was over, Machcross Rhea's speedy hands still hammered at the loudspeaker button, deriving unknown degree of enjoyment from the act. Her fun was interrupted, however, when a large display obstructed her view of the control panel by appearing holographically on top of the panel.



"YOU HAVE GAINED:

- 1350 Zenny
- 50 Bugfrags
- FXP: Regalia.EXE +10 ; Lucia.EXE +10 ; Sylk.EXE +15 ( ;D ) ; Minah.EXE +11
- Misc. Rewards: Lock-On1; GolemHit1

YOU HAVE LOST:
- Your sanity
- Your attention span
- Can you just get down here and rejoin the group, please? -With love, Harley"


"... Oh," Rhea noted simply, swiping at the display to dismiss it, turning, opening the door. Her pods expanded again, throwing out two streaks of glowing, orange discs into view and flew out of the control room to join the others. "Sincerest apologies. I was preoccupied," Rhea said to the others, engaging in a soft landing toes-first, then standing securely on solid grounds as the pods shut themselves behind her again.

Regalia paused for a moment, bewildered at how, exactly, Minah had moved so instantaneously-- but when everyone else seemed to have moved a little as well, he caught on; he had been stasis'd. Again. Inwardly, the grumpy navi heaved a sigh. At least he hadn't tripped this time...

When Rhea landed, Regalia instead turned to her. "We noticed."[color=5A6351][/color] He flatly said, expression unreadable behind his visor-- but his lip sitting in what seemed to be a slight frown. "I think it wise for you to go up there again-- or for someone else to go in your stead-- and for they or you to learn what the controls actually do rather than playing with them. We could likely use at least some of the things here."[color=5A6351][/color]

He paused for a moment, then turned to Minah. "...Or we could ask our handy, knowledgeable guide."[color=5A6351][/color] Before Regalia could pose a further question-- a small pouch with a z on it appeared in his grip, coins jingling inside. "Thomas?"[color=5A6351][/color] He queried, looking up.

"We just got a new chip from Jeff. Hand that to Minah, please." Regalia nodded, then offered the little bag of coins to Minah. "What here do you think would be of use to us, Minah? Should we bring the Mechs at all, or would they be a liability given our unique adversary? And are there any supplies here beside the Mechs that could be useful?"[color=5A6351][/color]

Offered: 800z, Barrage of Questions (free)

In the heat and throws of battle, Lucia was far too focused upon her goal to notice or pay any attention to the odd sensation that was currently overtaking her systems. But with the battle won and the enemies dealt with, she could finally let out a soft sighed breath; odd for the normally energetic navi as she sat atop her mount looking quite exhausted. Why would soon become clear as she sat up and lifted her arm to start looking at herself, only to stop and gasp out in shock at what she saw.

The once burning band around her faintly tanned wrist had lost its bright blaze, revealing the silver bangle that was beneath. But what shocked her more was that her skin had started to take on a lighter color, as if the color of her frame was somehow draining away. Lucia shivered and hugged her arms around herself as she slumped forward, murmuring a faint, "M-Master.." Just before she fell from atop her mount to the ground beside him.

Though Lucia wasn't the only one who was having problems, Artio wasn't looking so well either, as the dark blue wolf shifted and tried to step and claw at the dirt. Letting out a low groan as his paws started to suddenly sprout crystals, much like the shockwave the Cybeast had sent out had caused not minutes ago. The great wolf looked down in shock as the gemstones started to grow and creep up his legs. Making him growl out and finally roar as the spreading crystal suddenly enveloped the beast in a large, solid gemstone, encasing him completely within.

Moments later the crystals shattered as the great beast re-emerged with a terrifying roar that sent echoes throughout the tunnel. Though what now stood among the shards was no longer the wolf everyone had come to know. Claws and legs looked slightly different, while form seemed to have lengthened and body structure had become sleeker. Tail had grown longer while head showed the truth of his change. Gone was the slender muzzle and sharp eyes of the pack leader, replaced by a shorter, stout maw and hunter's red eyed gaze of great cat. Though the greatest of changes to have overcome the support program, was the fact his spikey, electrified coat had taken on the rigid, hardened sheen of the very gemstone he'd been trapped within. From head to tail-tip the large tiger seemed to have gained a permanent guard of crystal, alternating from purest blue and darkened onyx that marked the stripped tiger's form perfectly.

Artio soon started to shift, grunting and letting out a heated sigh as the crystalized coat he was now sporting seemed to at least move and bend to allow freedom of movement between those gemstones. Looking himself over with a scowl before finally hissing coldly. "Oh what fresh hell is this." Letting out another huff, the beast slumped slightly from where he was standing, taking a droll look in those glowing red eyes, "I've become a cat."

Meanwhile, Lucia, who had fallen to the ground beside the beast, was slowly starting to sit herself back up and let out a visible shiver. Her once tanned skin took on a light, chilled blue shade; each flame that once wrapped about her form had gone out completely, while her burning crimson locks lost their color and instead turned to a dark ocean blue. Shuttering again, Lucia quickly crossed an arm over her chest as she cried out in shock from the chill that filled her suddenly. Sitting there like a candle that'd been put in a freezer for far too long. "Master! Master!! What's happening to me!?"

"Fascinating." Came the respond from beyond the net as Vincent watched the two and the changes they had undergone after a flash of light had overtaken them. "Truly fascinating."

"No it's not! Change me back, I don't like this, I'm cold and clammy and my flames went out and I hate it! What's going on!?" Navi huffed out, but made no moves at all to stand back up nor to uncover her chest as she kept her arm tight to her tube top.

"Calm down, I'm working on it Lucia, do try and relax."

Navi huffed out and scowled as a holoscreen appeared in front of her, showing a direct link to her operator. "Calm down!? I'm blue! Blue damn it! I look like something from an old Saturday morning cartoon or a bad movie! What the hell is going on!?"

"Mmm, it seems your core coding has been overwritten, not sure how yet, a glitch, but a truly astounding one. I haven't seen or heard of one like this. Quite amazing really, try to summon your bow."

Lucia let out a scowl at the screen before dropping her arms on either side of her in a huff. "A glitch, you call this a gli-eep!" Squeaking, Lucia promptly covered her chest again and grumbled under her breath. "Fine.." Free arm reached out to one side as she flicked her fingers, attempting to call upon her bow in a flurry of flames like she'd always done, but what came instead was a sudden spark between her fingers that made her scream out in surprise at being shocked as she clutched her hand close again. "What the hell was that! I couldn't do it!"

"Interesting, It seems your base code was altered, to the point you can no longer interact with fire of any kind. I'm rather curious to see how it effects your other functions, I'll have to study this code in detail.."

Lucia gave another huffed breath before leaning closer to glare at the holoscreen in front of her. "Oh well that's just great, but what about me!? I'm all blue, and cold, and my chest is all pokey and I can't do anything like this! Do something!"

The image on screen seemed to chuckle at that, nodding softly as a holo-keyboard appeared before the operator on screen. A flurry of keystrokes later, Lucia rose to her feet while a blue beam surrounded the frosty little navi.

The beam of light concealed the changes done to her graphic model as Vincent programed in a new outfit for her. Feet were concealed within high top white shoes with large golden cuffs and soles. Bare legs only partly hidden beneath dark ocean blue skirt that hung to mid-calf, though a deep V cut rose up to just beneath right hip, not high enough to reveal what lay beneath, but more than enough to allow free movement for combat. Above Lucia now wore a white sleeveless cotton shirt and sports bra beneath that kept the navi's B-cups held modest. Below that, she now sported a wide, light brown waist wrap that came out in thick bow behind her. Completing the outfit was a red headband, drawing back her deep ocean blue hair, which still seemed to rise and flow as if the navi was underwater. Topping the band was Lucia's navi symbol, twin arrows crossed in front of a flame.

With change in coding complete, the beam faded, and Lucia stood there for a moment, looking over herself before sniffling faintly. Not at all enjoying the change that had happened to her, still, she and her now crystalized big cat started to gather up their share of the battle spoils before joining the others. "This sucks."

"Mmmmmm that was so gooood." Sylk chimed as she stretched against harleys sturdy back. She was more then pleased with how the battle turned out, for her at least, and finding a trusty companion was just that much more of a bonus to the often lonely spider.

With a swift motion sylk shifted her position and slipped off from Harleys back, moving to collect the spoils of war from the crystalline enemies and Mystery data scattered about the field. The exhilarating feel she got from that battle was one Sylk hadn't felt in recent fights. It was as though it had sparked something inside her that she had long forgotten. It got her blood boiling, and she was itching to see the beast that made this all possible.

Walking back to her accomplice of the fight, she moved slow with a sultry sway in her hips. Sylk ran a hand gently along the equines neck before planting a quick peck on his cheek.

"That was the most fun I've had in a long time~ I look forward to doing it again sometime, Hmmhmmhmm."

As her word's trailed off the spider's attention was now on her companions. Adrian and Herself were still behind on information, but the urge to know more was overshadowed by the desire to hunt for the true beast of the mine.

"So, what now hmm? Do we rest, gather supplies and prepare? Or should we venture on to find and stop whats causing all these problems?"

Minah's attention was drawn to Rhea as the purple Navi flew back to the group in spectacular fashion. "That looks fun," she commented to no-one in particular. She listened to Rhea's apology and just shrugged at it. "Ahh, don't worry about it. You already unlocked all the warehouses for us, and opened the mining mech bays. That was plenty help enough." As Minah turned away, she added: "Nice wings by the way."

Minah accepted the bag of coins, and sent them to Jeff's PET. She hadn't bothered to ask what they were for, since she had heard the conversation leading up to the transaction in question. Instead, the yellow helmeted miner just smiled and mentally prepared her answers to each of Regalia's questions. "What would be of use? Having one of those Mechs suuuure woulda been handy." She looked in the direction of the fleeing Progs... that were now long gone. Her brow furrowed for a moment, but her expression returned to normal as she turned her head to face Regalia once more. "Other than that, I suppose we could take a look-see in the warehouses and see what kind of gear has been left here. It's worth a peek." Minah smiled. "At the very least there should be some extra safety gear for the new arrival." Minah hiked a thumb in Sylk's direction for emphasis.

"Speaking of..." Minah said as Sylk walked back to the group. "Yeah, that was a nice workout." Minah stretched a bit before continuing on. "But now we really should get you outfitted for proper spelunking. The mines are sorta hostile in a big way." She smirked. "The big bad something can wait a few minutes."

A 'this sucks' from one side drew Minah's attention to Lucia. The miner Navi was a tad surprised at her comrade's appearance. "That'sssss an interesting look for you." There was a hint of laughter in Minah's voice and amusement written all over her face a she spoke. "What happened there, sweetie?"

Lucia stood there, still with arms crossed, though more because she was unhappy than anything else at this point. Frowning as she looks herself over and feels across her hair. Looking over at Minah before sniffling again, "Interesting look? I'm blue! I'm blue and cold and, and, and-" Stopping before she finished that train of thought, Lucia let out a huffed grumble and stomped her foot before finally sighing dramatically, "How do those watery navi's do it, this feels awful!"

Looking back up to Minah, Lucia shook her head slowly and opened her arms as if to show herself or at least display her change in both clothes and appearance. "Master says.. it's a glitch. It's a glitch and I hate it! Gah, stupid crystal monsters, stupid lasers, stupid glitches!" Back she went, the little fire bug little water sprite, stomping and throwing another little temper tantrum over what had transpired, right at the end of the battle no less.

Artio seemed to at least be taking his changes better, as he moved up beside Lucia and the others with a smirk, "At least you're not a cat, I don't even see how someone could like them. This beast we're hunting has a bad sense of humor.." Though at least the crystalline feline could laugh at himself some, though it was pretty obvious he hated it.

"Well, sadly we don't have any means of removing the glitches, not easily anyway. The one method we do have, would take too much time to do. So you'll just have to live with it for the time being."

"Live with it!? Damnit that's not funny! How can we fix it, Subchip? Someone's got one of those right, or or or how about like, I don't know... Blah.. Oh! Log me out of the system! The PET, it could cure me right Master! Jack me out!" Lucia let out another huffed breath before finally smiling, realizing there was at least a fix and she could return to normal.

"Yeah, that'd take too long, you have a job to do Lucia, focus on that, and you'll do fine. Besides, gives you the chance to see what it'd be like, to cross-fuse with an Aqua Navi. You tried to team with one in the past remember. Think of it as a success to that."

Scowling, Lucia huffed and grumbled again as she slumps slightly, starting to pout once more about her current state and condition. At least until Artio stepped up beside her and nuzzled against her side, making Lucia hug him, "At least you aren't a cat."

It took her another moment, but finally Lucia let out a soft breath, and did her best to put on a smile, though it was pretty obvious it was forced, "So, right uhm, introductions maybe. For the tentacle-girl-thing?" A faint giggle came out, despite herself, but was quickly stifled. "Er, right, well I'm Lucia, and this is Artio! And uhm.. That's Minny, the big guy there is... Well he's a knight I think, Rega- Regal something, well, it's fitting a knight at least. And the last one, She's Ray Ray! She didn't have wings before though, she looks a lot different now! That's so cool, wait, did you get glitched too? How come you got wings and I got turned blue!? No fair!"

"My name is Regalia. If it will give you the drive to properly recall my name, Lucia, I will give you a fix for your problem."[color=5A6351][/color] Regalia grumbled, arm whipping forward through the air. A pair of boots materialized in the Knight's hand at the end of the arc, sent sailing through the air by the momentum-- before they landed at Lucia's feet.

"Put these on. Glitches can be fixed by a Status Cure; these boots apply it passively."[color=5A6351][/color] The boots were an exact replica of the greaves and iron-armored boots Regalia wore, all buckled and bolted and welded together, and while they looked a fair deal too large for Lucia, she could probably get them on if she tried.

"You can always take them off after you are done, if they are too much of a 'fashion disaster' for you."[color=5A6351][/color] Regalia clicked, turning back towards Minah.

Should've let het glitch a while... it was kind of funny. Thomas said quietly, careful not to let Lucia or her operator overhear.

Ssh.[color=5A6351][/color] Regalia replied.

"That sounds like a good idea."[color=5A6351][/color] The elderly knight smiled at Minah, taking a step towards the warehouses. "Shall we?"[color=5A6351][/color] With that, Regalia headed towards the warehouse on the left, intent on searching it.

"The warehouse, hmm?" Sylk raised an eyebrow as she wondered just what kind of goodies and toys might be lying in wait in a mines storage. After all she already knew they carried mechs so the possibilities were pretty large. Of course the chance it was just simple mining gear was also there, but Sylk was confident she could pull of that ensemble and make it work, so it wouldn't be a disappointment either way.

" May as well give it a look then." Sylk said, returning Minahs gesture with three thumbs up of her own. As she was about to make her way towards to warehouse though, Lucia's words caught her attention.

placing a hand on her waist as she stopped abruptly, Sylk gave Lucia a once over taking in her new look. "I never was a fan of the water types for some reason. Something inside just irks me about them." She noted, placing a finger to her lip as she pondered what that could mean. "Well that aside, I'm Sylk, its a pleasure to meet you all." Giving a bow as she spoke.

Her eyes narrowed slightly at Lucia's tentacle comment however, giving the girl Sylks full attention. "Though Lulu, I already told you I was a spider. Did you perhaps have some sort of traumatic experience that causes to to mistake arms for tentacles? or are you just kinky like that? Well I wont judge either way, hmmhmmhmm."

With that being said, Sylk decided to embrace her curiosity and focus once more on the warehouse. "We can figure that out later I'm sure, hmmhmmhmm" Sylk added with a devious smile, before disappearing into the warehouse to scavenge it's contents for useful items.

Rhea nodded in approval, with her arms folded, of Minah's absolutely good tastes, mechanically flipping her wing pods open and closed slightly, as if engaged in a round of mechanical flexing and bragging. As Minah mentioned that the possibility of using the Mechs gone, though, the purple petite could not help but to turn and look at the Mechs' way. "Is it not possible to operate them? What are the requirements for them to carry out their functions?" Rhea inquired, blinking as she attempted to identify the root cause of their inability to utilise them. She had no issues against exploring the open warehouses, however, and proceeded to made that fact known to the others.

On another side of the area, however, Harley seemed to be enjoying himself. "Why, glad to be of service, young lady," Harley noted with a snort, spinning around in a poor attempt to use the snort to clean his tail, even as Sylk slipped off from his seat. The equine gave Sylk a playful wink even as he received a quick peck, as if welcoming the notion just as a fun note.

Rhea just stared at the exchange, with no comments necessary from the deadpan petite to express her... whatever she had on her mind.

Watching Lucia explode into a bundle of whining from being blue did not affect Rhea, however, all the way up until the introductory stage. "Negative. My registered Navigator name is of a singular syllable. A quick scan has also been performed to reaffirm the lack of a glitch within my syste-" before she could finish, Rhea's wings and MachCross was gone, and she was again the petite little purple android. Rhea blinked once, and shrugged.

Rhea turned to Regalia, about to follow him, wondering why she was not feeling entirely happy about Regalia in general.

... She decided to tag along behind Sylk instead, leaving Harley the horse to join with Regalia the (old) knight.