As the explosion went off, CourseMan reflected that, in retrospect, if one said they'd had enough of bombs and explosion, and that they had learned their lesson about letting large bombs go off in this area... that turning around and doing exactly that as a strategy was probably very hypocritical of him. And Stupid.
The blast wave felt like it set the whole world rocking, and as junk and debris fell into the pool, what little light there was coming in from the cavern above was swiftly blotted out by the rush of magma sealing his aquatic cocoon up completely and plunging the navi into absolute darkness. This caused the expected reaction from Jenny; borderline panic.
"CourseMan!? CourseMan, are you alright? The screen's gone black, I can't see anything, what happened!?"
"That would be because I am now trapped in a tiny bubble of water, surrounded on all sides by molten lava. There is no light." Courser was surprised by how calm he sounded, all things considered.
"Yeah, Genius went and got us trapped. Any second the rocks going to give and the lava's going to rush in."
"You think he'll drown or suffocate in the lava, before it burns him up?"
"Nah, it'll fry him to a crisp in seconds, once it gets in."
"Well, unless it just fills up the water bit by bit with rock as it breaches. Then he'd be, kinda entombed in rock and unable to move at all as the lava burned him just in the places where it got through."
"You two are not helping!" The various Courser voices fell to silence again in the pitch darkness while the original tried to think of some way out of the predicament that didn't entail simply giving up. Jenny's voice reached him again, more hesitant this time.
"CourseMan...? I don't want you getting hurt because of me. If it's really dangerous, you should just come out. I am feeling a bit better now that the ibuprofen has kicked in, honestly." She sounded quite hesitant to say so, and Courser smiled to himself in the darkness, even though no-one else could see.
"Jenny, please. I came here today to try and find something nice that might be worth while, and cheer you up, and I do mean to try. Don't worry, I'm sure I'll find a way out of this shortly. Please don't worry about me. Although... maybe you could have that SeaSeed ready again, just in case. I'm rather fond of water, and Hades seems to be in quite short supply of the stuff." There were few long moments of silence before Jenny realised that, if she couldn't see courser, he almost certainly couldn't see her nod, either.
"Alright, but please be careful."
"Always!"
Of course, being dashing and daring didn't actually get him out of his current situation at all. The shaking and rumbling hadn't actually subsided at all, and Courser couldn't even tell if the sounds were things moving through the lava, around the outside of his little pod, or if the shell of stone had literally broken free and was moving through the lava flow. He certainly wasn't feeling game enough to crack the shell himself to find out, not until he had some better indicator of what he might find. Instead, he swam to one of the curved walls of his bubble and put out a hand, feeling the rough stone for temperature and vibration, and listening as clearly as he could, once the water current stilled again. Anything that might give him a sign. Every nerve was on edge and he was ready to twitch away if need be, the moment anything actually happened, but for now he listened. At even points around the pool, his two decoys also held the same pose, hand to stone and listening. He had no desire to be surprised, on top of the tight quarters.
(Yes, Ready for whatever happens)
An Attempt in Schadenfreude
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<(My sincerest apologies for being so late with this.)>
CourseMan's magma-diving adventures continued taking him...somewhere; it was awfully hard to tell where one was when encapsulated in a pitch-black stone ball. Were a human to have wound up in the same predicament, the anticipation of not knowing where they might wind up would've made the journey feel like hours. Courser, being a Navi, had all sorts of handy functions, including (one assumed) an internal chronograph that showed he'd been in the ball for about six minutes, up to this precise point.
The stone ball around him constantly shifted, turning lazily as though caught in some slow-moving current. What CourseMan could not see was that he was being ferried through a deep, massive subterranean vein of magma, like an underground river off to some unknown destination. When the ball got sucked into a capillary-like offshoot, however, and shot through the narrow tunnel at rapidly-increasing speeds, it became apparent that something rather drastic was happening. The rumbling became a steady crescendo of activity as the Navi's improvised submersible pinballed its way down the narrow chute, and then...
...fell.
There was a peculiar weightless feeling that even translated into the water CourseMan was floating in, and then that very distinct stomach-in-your-throat feeling of falling a very great distance. The drop lasted for far longer than should have been possible considering how far underground he was, only to be halted with a jolt like a thunderclap. The dapper gent's stone prison shattered instantly upon impact, breaking his fall, and the water cushioned the landing such that all Courser had to deal with was the blinding onset of light. The ground he'd landed on was, somehow, white and glowing, sloping with none of the jaggedness one would expect of stone. The magma falls was behind him, splattering into a stone run-off chute built on top of the white rock...and the ceiling from which it poured was so high up as to be invisible, veiled in a curtain of darkness.
An angry chittering warned CourseMan's attentions away from this strange, monolithic cavern. Right before CourseMan's eyes was a very irritated-looking Miner, who wasted no time in sounding off a high-pitched alarm call. As if on cue, a Quaker came rumbling down, hopping down a long slope of the white glowing stone, with two Drixols spinning along beside him. A Megalian bearing a ruby-red aura floated along behind them, looking for all the world like a put-upon big brother being dragged along by its younger siblings. The fivesome of miners bore down on the foreign intruder, and there was no more time to marvel at the cave.
=Mining Crew=
Megalian-F: 130HP [10HP Fire Aura] [Omnishoes]
Miner: 100HP [Immobile]
DrixolA: 90HP
DrixolB: 90HP
Quaker: 80HP
=Terrain=
100% Unknown Terrain
=Unintentional Spelunker=
CourseMan: 50HP
=Special=
Unknown Terrain: A luminescent, glowing white stone, taking up the entirety of the cavern floor, but not the walls.
=SECRETS UNEARTHED...WELL, STARTING TO BE UNEARTHED, ANYWAY=
=BATTLE #3: BEGIN!!=
CourseMan's magma-diving adventures continued taking him...somewhere; it was awfully hard to tell where one was when encapsulated in a pitch-black stone ball. Were a human to have wound up in the same predicament, the anticipation of not knowing where they might wind up would've made the journey feel like hours. Courser, being a Navi, had all sorts of handy functions, including (one assumed) an internal chronograph that showed he'd been in the ball for about six minutes, up to this precise point.
The stone ball around him constantly shifted, turning lazily as though caught in some slow-moving current. What CourseMan could not see was that he was being ferried through a deep, massive subterranean vein of magma, like an underground river off to some unknown destination. When the ball got sucked into a capillary-like offshoot, however, and shot through the narrow tunnel at rapidly-increasing speeds, it became apparent that something rather drastic was happening. The rumbling became a steady crescendo of activity as the Navi's improvised submersible pinballed its way down the narrow chute, and then...
...fell.
There was a peculiar weightless feeling that even translated into the water CourseMan was floating in, and then that very distinct stomach-in-your-throat feeling of falling a very great distance. The drop lasted for far longer than should have been possible considering how far underground he was, only to be halted with a jolt like a thunderclap. The dapper gent's stone prison shattered instantly upon impact, breaking his fall, and the water cushioned the landing such that all Courser had to deal with was the blinding onset of light. The ground he'd landed on was, somehow, white and glowing, sloping with none of the jaggedness one would expect of stone. The magma falls was behind him, splattering into a stone run-off chute built on top of the white rock...and the ceiling from which it poured was so high up as to be invisible, veiled in a curtain of darkness.
An angry chittering warned CourseMan's attentions away from this strange, monolithic cavern. Right before CourseMan's eyes was a very irritated-looking Miner, who wasted no time in sounding off a high-pitched alarm call. As if on cue, a Quaker came rumbling down, hopping down a long slope of the white glowing stone, with two Drixols spinning along beside him. A Megalian bearing a ruby-red aura floated along behind them, looking for all the world like a put-upon big brother being dragged along by its younger siblings. The fivesome of miners bore down on the foreign intruder, and there was no more time to marvel at the cave.
=Mining Crew=
Megalian-F: 130HP [10HP Fire Aura] [Omnishoes]
Miner: 100HP [Immobile]
DrixolA: 90HP
DrixolB: 90HP
Quaker: 80HP
=Terrain=
100% Unknown Terrain
=Unintentional Spelunker=
CourseMan: 50HP
=Special=
Unknown Terrain: A luminescent, glowing white stone, taking up the entirety of the cavern floor, but not the walls.
=SECRETS UNEARTHED...WELL, STARTING TO BE UNEARTHED, ANYWAY=
=BATTLE #3: BEGIN!!=
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To begin with, the sensation of movement was gradual. It was enough for Courser to confirm that he was, indeed, moving, but the gentle roll of it helped him preserve at least a little bit of calm regarding the likelihood of his bubble being sundered and causing him all manner of painful premature jack-out. As much as he could track time as easily as most other navis, that didn't stop the short few minutes from feeling like a much longer wait, wondering whether each jostle or bump might result in a crack. Worse still, it only took those few short minutes for the water he was in to go from ocean frigid, all the way through to uncomfortably hot.
Thus it was both a terrifying turn of danger, and also, in a way, a sort of blessing, when the sudden change of current sent his capsule rocketing into a much more turbulent high gear. He felt sure that each crash was going to signal a breach, but the hardened black shell held up, until the sudden sense of freefall made Courser grit his teeth and brace anew. He counted the second of falling, the sense of ever-increasing speed quickly shooting his estimate way past the sort of drop he thought the bubble might manage. And still falling. The terrifying thought that he might well be falling all the way down to the dregs of the undernet, had enough time to form and set his nerves to a new pitch, before the long-awaited crash-down removed all room for higher thoughts.
The impact sent a diffusion wave through the water and, on instinct, Courser let his body move with it. His eyes were still closed but even so, the breaking of the darkness was clear, even through his eyelids. He rolled to one knee as the water washed him out of the remains of shattered rock before running off. His stance was low and light, with only his knee and the balls of both feet actually touching ground, though his coat spread out around him and his left hand arced high, its wave-whip lashing about protectively.
To either side of him, his two decoys had also washed clear and assumed slightly different defensive positions, because the terrain and motion that had put them there had, of course, been a little different. One was on his left, feet with a wide stance and his whips threatening side and front, while the other on his right... for more difficult to explain reasons, had tumbled out and rolled upright, standing high on a single foot with his other knee bent and a small torrent of water swirling around the pointed toe.
While each of these factors was perfectly understandable on its own, or at least mostly so... it was still pretty hard to escape the fact that he'd come out of the crash striking something that looking uncomfortably like some sort of super-hero team action pose. Courser used his right hand to shield his eyes enough to open them slowly without blinding himself, then looked around quickly.
"Courser, are you... Ok, wow... all fine then, I guess?" It was hard to tell whether Jenny was more surprised, relieved, confused or simply amused at the sight, and the naval-themed navi stood quickly, letting his two clones fade away as he flicked the lapels on his coat and straightened himself out. He did his best to grin the moment away.
"Alive, for now, but I'm not sure we're anywhere friendlier. Am I even in the same net still, Jen?"
"It says so. What is that stuff?" He could only assume she was talking about the flooring of the area he'd found himself in; the strange, glowing substance had caught his attention as well, but only for a moment before the approach of more pressing concerns took his eyes to the oncoming viruses. He began to back away slowly, buying some time before the fighting really started.
"Don't know, Jen. I can't get a read on it. It's not any type of terrain I recognise, but for now, it's not Lava, and that means it's more welcome than where I was." There was no more delaying his encounter with the angered miners at this point, but he tried anyway, darting back and away from the group even as he tried to assess them. He had some basic database information on them from Rachel, and while it wasn't extensive by any means, it was enough to tell him that no amount of deflective water-shielding was going to stop any of the foes facing him down. Not good. If they were all miners, it was understandable that they'd mostly be breakers, too, but still... not good.
"Which is more than I can say for myself..." He muttered to his operator. "This is probably going to end badly, Jen, but I'll give it my best."
"Be careful!"
Rather than answer her, Courser stopped backing off and readied himself for battle. It might be a painfully short one, but perhaps he'd get lucky. He raised his hands, just to see if reason was an option... It didn't seem like it, but who could tell?
"Hey guys, easy..." He took a slow step backwards, turning his heel so that he moved left at a slight diagonal. At the same time, his decoy slipped apart from him, making the same soothing actions and speaking exactly the same words, except he moved tot he right.
"Just here to inspect, you know. Make sure you're all up to standard. Some of the magma outflows were poorly controlled, you know? You see the size of that rock?" When courser and his decoy were a few paces apart, they glanced at one another and promptly split in opposite directions. With the decoy darting down-slope, while Courser himself dodged uphill.
He didn't have a lot of time to plan much, but more than anything he was hoping to get off the level with the drills. Rachel's database told him they were unpleasant, but he really didn't want to experience that first-hand. Instead, he glanced around desperately as he darted away, seeking whatever pathway gave him the most climbing height in the least amount of distance. Behind him, his decoy made a break for it, looking to everyone gathered as though he was simply trying to escape the area, though he was coasting more or less past the viral forces on a swift eddy of water, weaving in arcs as he went.
In the back of his mind, he was vaguely aware of the danger the Miner itself posed, but it didn't feel like he could afford to worry about that right away. Perhaps the strange terrain would reveal some more of its secrets if they started to crack and blast it. He supposed to himself that it was a bit too hopeful to wish for some sort of help from the unknown substance, but he silently hoped for the best anyway.
"Courser! Tell me what you need!" Right, chips. Jenny couldn't help if he didn't let her know what he was planning. What was he planning?
"Ahh... Needles, Jen, quick!" The chip arrived a moment later, and Courser stole a glance behind himself, beginning to spin his right arm around in a wide loop that made his whip stretch out into an ever-elongating spiral. Without stopping, he focused the data and built it into sharp spikes of high-pressure water within the whip, tightening and sharpening the three projectiles until, with a harsh shake of his arm, he brought the whip down and expelled the needles with enough force to send them arcing back behind him towards the three targets he'd fixed an eye on one after the other.
The first two spines had been pin-pointed towards the Drixol pair, while he'd sent the third towards the larger Megalian. It didn't feel like much, compared to how quickly this lot would be able to trounce him in return, if they caught him, but with any luck the shots might at least slow them down a bit.
Summary
C*) Self-Decoy: Dodging away down-slope, before making a run for it, as though trying to escape, weaving evasively past the viruses and beyond, if he makes it that far)
C1) Dodge (uphill direction, opposite of his clone)
C2) Movement (Away: seeking up slope, or higher ground, trying to get off of the same level as the Drixols)
C3) AquaNeedle1: (20(25)x3Aqua, Variable, Drop, B) @ DrixolA, DrixolB and Megalian-F
C*) Assassin: 20% up damage for each attack against a target that last attacked something other than Courser. - I've been forgetting to mention this. Oops.
Thus it was both a terrifying turn of danger, and also, in a way, a sort of blessing, when the sudden change of current sent his capsule rocketing into a much more turbulent high gear. He felt sure that each crash was going to signal a breach, but the hardened black shell held up, until the sudden sense of freefall made Courser grit his teeth and brace anew. He counted the second of falling, the sense of ever-increasing speed quickly shooting his estimate way past the sort of drop he thought the bubble might manage. And still falling. The terrifying thought that he might well be falling all the way down to the dregs of the undernet, had enough time to form and set his nerves to a new pitch, before the long-awaited crash-down removed all room for higher thoughts.
The impact sent a diffusion wave through the water and, on instinct, Courser let his body move with it. His eyes were still closed but even so, the breaking of the darkness was clear, even through his eyelids. He rolled to one knee as the water washed him out of the remains of shattered rock before running off. His stance was low and light, with only his knee and the balls of both feet actually touching ground, though his coat spread out around him and his left hand arced high, its wave-whip lashing about protectively.
To either side of him, his two decoys had also washed clear and assumed slightly different defensive positions, because the terrain and motion that had put them there had, of course, been a little different. One was on his left, feet with a wide stance and his whips threatening side and front, while the other on his right... for more difficult to explain reasons, had tumbled out and rolled upright, standing high on a single foot with his other knee bent and a small torrent of water swirling around the pointed toe.
While each of these factors was perfectly understandable on its own, or at least mostly so... it was still pretty hard to escape the fact that he'd come out of the crash striking something that looking uncomfortably like some sort of super-hero team action pose. Courser used his right hand to shield his eyes enough to open them slowly without blinding himself, then looked around quickly.
"Courser, are you... Ok, wow... all fine then, I guess?" It was hard to tell whether Jenny was more surprised, relieved, confused or simply amused at the sight, and the naval-themed navi stood quickly, letting his two clones fade away as he flicked the lapels on his coat and straightened himself out. He did his best to grin the moment away.
"Alive, for now, but I'm not sure we're anywhere friendlier. Am I even in the same net still, Jen?"
"It says so. What is that stuff?" He could only assume she was talking about the flooring of the area he'd found himself in; the strange, glowing substance had caught his attention as well, but only for a moment before the approach of more pressing concerns took his eyes to the oncoming viruses. He began to back away slowly, buying some time before the fighting really started.
"Don't know, Jen. I can't get a read on it. It's not any type of terrain I recognise, but for now, it's not Lava, and that means it's more welcome than where I was." There was no more delaying his encounter with the angered miners at this point, but he tried anyway, darting back and away from the group even as he tried to assess them. He had some basic database information on them from Rachel, and while it wasn't extensive by any means, it was enough to tell him that no amount of deflective water-shielding was going to stop any of the foes facing him down. Not good. If they were all miners, it was understandable that they'd mostly be breakers, too, but still... not good.
"Which is more than I can say for myself..." He muttered to his operator. "This is probably going to end badly, Jen, but I'll give it my best."
"Be careful!"
Rather than answer her, Courser stopped backing off and readied himself for battle. It might be a painfully short one, but perhaps he'd get lucky. He raised his hands, just to see if reason was an option... It didn't seem like it, but who could tell?
"Hey guys, easy..." He took a slow step backwards, turning his heel so that he moved left at a slight diagonal. At the same time, his decoy slipped apart from him, making the same soothing actions and speaking exactly the same words, except he moved tot he right.
"Just here to inspect, you know. Make sure you're all up to standard. Some of the magma outflows were poorly controlled, you know? You see the size of that rock?" When courser and his decoy were a few paces apart, they glanced at one another and promptly split in opposite directions. With the decoy darting down-slope, while Courser himself dodged uphill.
He didn't have a lot of time to plan much, but more than anything he was hoping to get off the level with the drills. Rachel's database told him they were unpleasant, but he really didn't want to experience that first-hand. Instead, he glanced around desperately as he darted away, seeking whatever pathway gave him the most climbing height in the least amount of distance. Behind him, his decoy made a break for it, looking to everyone gathered as though he was simply trying to escape the area, though he was coasting more or less past the viral forces on a swift eddy of water, weaving in arcs as he went.
In the back of his mind, he was vaguely aware of the danger the Miner itself posed, but it didn't feel like he could afford to worry about that right away. Perhaps the strange terrain would reveal some more of its secrets if they started to crack and blast it. He supposed to himself that it was a bit too hopeful to wish for some sort of help from the unknown substance, but he silently hoped for the best anyway.
"Courser! Tell me what you need!" Right, chips. Jenny couldn't help if he didn't let her know what he was planning. What was he planning?
"Ahh... Needles, Jen, quick!" The chip arrived a moment later, and Courser stole a glance behind himself, beginning to spin his right arm around in a wide loop that made his whip stretch out into an ever-elongating spiral. Without stopping, he focused the data and built it into sharp spikes of high-pressure water within the whip, tightening and sharpening the three projectiles until, with a harsh shake of his arm, he brought the whip down and expelled the needles with enough force to send them arcing back behind him towards the three targets he'd fixed an eye on one after the other.
The first two spines had been pin-pointed towards the Drixol pair, while he'd sent the third towards the larger Megalian. It didn't feel like much, compared to how quickly this lot would be able to trounce him in return, if they caught him, but with any luck the shots might at least slow them down a bit.
Summary
C*) Self-Decoy: Dodging away down-slope, before making a run for it, as though trying to escape, weaving evasively past the viruses and beyond, if he makes it that far)
C1) Dodge (uphill direction, opposite of his clone)
C2) Movement (Away: seeking up slope, or higher ground, trying to get off of the same level as the Drixols)
C3) AquaNeedle1: (20(25)x3Aqua, Variable, Drop, B) @ DrixolA, DrixolB and Megalian-F
C*) Assassin: 20% up damage for each attack against a target that last attacked something other than Courser. - I've been forgetting to mention this. Oops.
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The Miner continued making his grating cry until all the viruses were gathered that seemed to be coming. Immediately after, without so much as a thought as to what the two CourseMen were trying to convey. His was a simple calling, a calling that led him to sink into a hole that opened below him as though there were no floor at all...
Having apparently made his exit, the Miner left CourseMan with the four viruses his alarms had summoned. The floating head seemed to be considering its target carefully, but the drills mostly looked like they wanted to charge in and finish this so they could get back to what they were doing before. As such, when CourseMan's decoy ran down the slope, they immediately charged after, seeing that as the path of least resistance. The two appeared to be completely overzealous, however, and both missed CourseMan's decoy by a mile. At the rate they were going, unchanging in their direction, it half seemed that they would simply spin into the darkness and not return.
Seeing this, the floating head tilted slightly downward, as though pantomiming a sigh. It turned to its one ally that hadn't yet made a move and jerked its own head upward, towards the CourseMan at the top of the slope. The Quaker appeared to give a nod in reply, then leaped impressively high into the air. Any higher and it probably be engulfed in the blackness: if CourseMan was to look up into that blackness, however, he would probably still be able to glean the virus's position from the gleam of floor luminescence twinkling off its shinier metal bits. If he had time to do that, though, he might want to think about what he was going to do when it came down...
The Megalian turned its taciturn gaze back to CourseMan and began swooping around the cave in quick movements. It was making weaving motions, but it was equally clear it was trying to advance up the slope and close some distance on its target.
At this point, CourseMan had a lot to keep his eyes on, but something equally important and dangerous was going on around him. Out of the corner of his eye, he could catch glimpses of the Miner that had disappeared earlier setting up its payload all around the surrounding floor. Apparently, it was too much to ask that it would just leave him alone and make his life easier.
Needless to say, CourseMan would at this point be wanting to lay out some damage and slow down his enemy's advance. He lashed out with his whip, attempting to strike three separate targets. His two attacks on the Drixols were solid hits, and he saw their frames shudder as the needles pierced in. On their current trajectory, it didn't seem there was much they could do to avoid it. On the other hand, hitting a rapidly weaving aerial target was a much more impressive feat...
... One which CourseMan's adrenaline carried him through impeccably. The water cut through its barrier like a knife through butter, slicing into the virus and reducing its barrier to a cloud of steam. It shuddered and groaned, shaking in place and looking very much like it wanted hands to feel the wound it had just been given.
The Miner popped up where he had started out again, just in time to see his allies get hydrated by the enemy. With an angry look, it let out another warning bleat. It didn't seem to be to summon more viruses, and was probably either a frustrated curse or a rallying cry for its allies.
Overall, CourseMan's plan had been completely successful (unless, of course, he had been counting on getting away with negotiations). However, the viruses were still seeking to stack the deck against him... and just overhead, CourseMan still had a big problem heading his way.
=Mining Crew=
Megalian-F: 80HP [Aura Broken] [Omnishoes]
Miner: 100HP [Immobile]
DrixolA: 60HP
DrixolB: 60HP
Quaker: 80HP [Airborne]
=Terrain=
100% Unknown Terrain
=Unintentional Spelunker=
CourseMan: 50HP
=Special=
Unknown Terrain: A luminescent, glowing white stone, taking up the entirety of the cavern floor, but not the walls.
Some mines have been scattered around. CourseMan saw the virus bury mines over about 5% of the battlefield... Best to tread carefully.
Having apparently made his exit, the Miner left CourseMan with the four viruses his alarms had summoned. The floating head seemed to be considering its target carefully, but the drills mostly looked like they wanted to charge in and finish this so they could get back to what they were doing before. As such, when CourseMan's decoy ran down the slope, they immediately charged after, seeing that as the path of least resistance. The two appeared to be completely overzealous, however, and both missed CourseMan's decoy by a mile. At the rate they were going, unchanging in their direction, it half seemed that they would simply spin into the darkness and not return.
Seeing this, the floating head tilted slightly downward, as though pantomiming a sigh. It turned to its one ally that hadn't yet made a move and jerked its own head upward, towards the CourseMan at the top of the slope. The Quaker appeared to give a nod in reply, then leaped impressively high into the air. Any higher and it probably be engulfed in the blackness: if CourseMan was to look up into that blackness, however, he would probably still be able to glean the virus's position from the gleam of floor luminescence twinkling off its shinier metal bits. If he had time to do that, though, he might want to think about what he was going to do when it came down...
The Megalian turned its taciturn gaze back to CourseMan and began swooping around the cave in quick movements. It was making weaving motions, but it was equally clear it was trying to advance up the slope and close some distance on its target.
At this point, CourseMan had a lot to keep his eyes on, but something equally important and dangerous was going on around him. Out of the corner of his eye, he could catch glimpses of the Miner that had disappeared earlier setting up its payload all around the surrounding floor. Apparently, it was too much to ask that it would just leave him alone and make his life easier.
Needless to say, CourseMan would at this point be wanting to lay out some damage and slow down his enemy's advance. He lashed out with his whip, attempting to strike three separate targets. His two attacks on the Drixols were solid hits, and he saw their frames shudder as the needles pierced in. On their current trajectory, it didn't seem there was much they could do to avoid it. On the other hand, hitting a rapidly weaving aerial target was a much more impressive feat...
... One which CourseMan's adrenaline carried him through impeccably. The water cut through its barrier like a knife through butter, slicing into the virus and reducing its barrier to a cloud of steam. It shuddered and groaned, shaking in place and looking very much like it wanted hands to feel the wound it had just been given.
The Miner popped up where he had started out again, just in time to see his allies get hydrated by the enemy. With an angry look, it let out another warning bleat. It didn't seem to be to summon more viruses, and was probably either a frustrated curse or a rallying cry for its allies.
Overall, CourseMan's plan had been completely successful (unless, of course, he had been counting on getting away with negotiations). However, the viruses were still seeking to stack the deck against him... and just overhead, CourseMan still had a big problem heading his way.
=Mining Crew=
Megalian-F: 80HP [Aura Broken] [Omnishoes]
Miner: 100HP [Immobile]
DrixolA: 60HP
DrixolB: 60HP
Quaker: 80HP [Airborne]
=Terrain=
100% Unknown Terrain
=Unintentional Spelunker=
CourseMan: 50HP
=Special=
Unknown Terrain: A luminescent, glowing white stone, taking up the entirety of the cavern floor, but not the walls.
Some mines have been scattered around. CourseMan saw the virus bury mines over about 5% of the battlefield... Best to tread carefully.
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Still moving away from the direction his clone had run,. CourseMan's split senses showed him that it hadn't actually been obliterated by the two over-eager Drixols, so he spared a moment to send the copy a booster of energy in between casting his real eyes around quickly. At the other end of the battle-field, the clone spun in a small circle on his eddy of water, pausing to laugh aloud. He twirled in place, then held his arms wide as he called out to the two drills that had flown by him.
"Oi! You might want to try aiming next time, hey? Couldn't hit the broad-side of barn, either of you!" On impulse, the decoy twirled his own wave whips quickly and tried to take responsibility for the needles that had already hurt them as well. After all, they'd had their backs turned, right?
"So come on, then! Want to try again, huh? I'll give you a second helping for you trouble, you pair of rust buckets!" the clone cut another broad arc on his water current, hands out to show how big of a target he was claiming neither of the drills could hit.
Further uphill, courser was desperately trying to plan a course of action that wouldn't get him killed. Casting a glance upward, he grit his teeth and tried to count time in his head as the airborne brute reached the peak of its leap and began to fall.
"Need some water, Jen, quick, and something heavy after. " His voice was a low murmur while he still tried to plan. The Megalian wasn't going to just sit and watch for long, either, but first things first. The quaker was coming down, and he meant to give it an unexpected landing.
With a quick eye up, Courser traced the incoming virus's trajectory and leaped back from where it was going to crush him. The data reached his left hand even as his feet kicked back and he flung it out immediately at the spot where he gauged his assailant was going to crash down, sending the increasingly familiar little seed of compressed water to crack open at the spot. It sent a quickly spreading circle of deep water rippling out from the point, hopefully in line to make for an unexpected deep-water splash down.
His back dodge left courser turning over onto one hand, then completing the spring to land a little higher up the slope in a low crouch. His eyes returned to the Megalian, tying to track its movements while he drew his right arm back and down further. The chip data that Jenny was sending him now was another of the new ones, and he could feel the unnatural cold spreading through his arm. When the chill reached his hand, the wave-whip frosted over and drew in, encasing his closed fist in a much tighter, shorter casing of solid ice, complete with sharp jags and points of ice crusting the outer edges. It felt strange, quite different from the way it felt to play with natural water, but Courser did his best to shake it off; he needed to time this right.
Rachel's database told him how Megalians attacked, but he knew he was taking a risk in trusting it so completely. Even so, he waited, and watched, holding himself ready until the floating virus made the assault he was almost certain it was going to. Unconsciously, the water navi was gritting his teeth. Timing was key; too early and he'd miss completely; too late, and he'd probably be in for a headbutt that would definitely see him coming off second best. When the attack came, presuming it did, courser braced himself, then sprang, twisting his body with the aim of presenting his fist to the on-coming head in a very traditional rising dragon before it could contact any other part of him.
Throughout all of this, Courser hadn't managed to spare any threads of thought for the miner, spreading its dangerous payload around the area, but the truth was, with the other viruses hounding him, he couldn't really take the time to; it wasn't like he could just stand still, after all. That would asking for a pummelling.
Summary
C*) Decoy Refreshed: Attempting to goad and taunt the two Drixols into trying again, and hopefully keeping them away from the real CourseMan.
C1) Dodge back and away, further uphill.
C2) SeaSeed: (Med Sea Terrain, centred on projected landing position of Quaker)
C*) Third action Delayed for appropriate timing if necessary.
C3) ColdPunch: (70(75)Aqua, Impact, Knockback, B) @ Megalian, timed to pre-empt as it attacks. (5/6 uses remaining)
"Oi! You might want to try aiming next time, hey? Couldn't hit the broad-side of barn, either of you!" On impulse, the decoy twirled his own wave whips quickly and tried to take responsibility for the needles that had already hurt them as well. After all, they'd had their backs turned, right?
"So come on, then! Want to try again, huh? I'll give you a second helping for you trouble, you pair of rust buckets!" the clone cut another broad arc on his water current, hands out to show how big of a target he was claiming neither of the drills could hit.
Further uphill, courser was desperately trying to plan a course of action that wouldn't get him killed. Casting a glance upward, he grit his teeth and tried to count time in his head as the airborne brute reached the peak of its leap and began to fall.
"Need some water, Jen, quick, and something heavy after. " His voice was a low murmur while he still tried to plan. The Megalian wasn't going to just sit and watch for long, either, but first things first. The quaker was coming down, and he meant to give it an unexpected landing.
With a quick eye up, Courser traced the incoming virus's trajectory and leaped back from where it was going to crush him. The data reached his left hand even as his feet kicked back and he flung it out immediately at the spot where he gauged his assailant was going to crash down, sending the increasingly familiar little seed of compressed water to crack open at the spot. It sent a quickly spreading circle of deep water rippling out from the point, hopefully in line to make for an unexpected deep-water splash down.
His back dodge left courser turning over onto one hand, then completing the spring to land a little higher up the slope in a low crouch. His eyes returned to the Megalian, tying to track its movements while he drew his right arm back and down further. The chip data that Jenny was sending him now was another of the new ones, and he could feel the unnatural cold spreading through his arm. When the chill reached his hand, the wave-whip frosted over and drew in, encasing his closed fist in a much tighter, shorter casing of solid ice, complete with sharp jags and points of ice crusting the outer edges. It felt strange, quite different from the way it felt to play with natural water, but Courser did his best to shake it off; he needed to time this right.
Rachel's database told him how Megalians attacked, but he knew he was taking a risk in trusting it so completely. Even so, he waited, and watched, holding himself ready until the floating virus made the assault he was almost certain it was going to. Unconsciously, the water navi was gritting his teeth. Timing was key; too early and he'd miss completely; too late, and he'd probably be in for a headbutt that would definitely see him coming off second best. When the attack came, presuming it did, courser braced himself, then sprang, twisting his body with the aim of presenting his fist to the on-coming head in a very traditional rising dragon before it could contact any other part of him.
Throughout all of this, Courser hadn't managed to spare any threads of thought for the miner, spreading its dangerous payload around the area, but the truth was, with the other viruses hounding him, he couldn't really take the time to; it wasn't like he could just stand still, after all. That would asking for a pummelling.
Summary
C*) Decoy Refreshed: Attempting to goad and taunt the two Drixols into trying again, and hopefully keeping them away from the real CourseMan.
C1) Dodge back and away, further uphill.
C2) SeaSeed: (Med Sea Terrain, centred on projected landing position of Quaker)
C*) Third action Delayed for appropriate timing if necessary.
C3) ColdPunch: (70(75)Aqua, Impact, Knockback, B) @ Megalian, timed to pre-empt as it attacks. (5/6 uses remaining)
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On clone CourseMan's side of things, the Drixols didn't appear to be taking much note of his taunts, or of much of anything at all. They continued spinning off into nothing... until suddenly, the "nothing" they were spinning into described holes of blackness that had opened up in front of them.
It quickly became apparent that the pattern the Drixols had been implementing wasn't a random meandering, but instead, a feint. A hole opened up in front of CourseMan's double: at the same time, another opened behind, at a slightly higher elevation. The two viruses came at him in a pincer. In an impressive feat of concentration, CourseMan almost got his decoy to outmaneuver the incoming viruses... almost. Just the tip of one grazed past one of the clone's extended digits, but that brief brush was enough to dissipate the false Navi. The assault of the two drill viruses had been effective, and yet more or less harmless. Realizing they'd been had, however, they set their focus back on the genuine article.
In the meantime, CourseMan himself was enacting a plan to help himself avoid the untimely fate of his twin. Unfortunately, his luck seemed to have given out in two ways:
The first might have been expected. After all, the Navi was trying to hit a very precise area, which was in itself an estimation, with a very small seed in a very tight spot. As a result, CourseMan's throw was slightly off. It didn't seem as though it would matter, though. CourseMan probably had data or experience telling him that he'd won his proverbial game of horseshoes and hand grenades, and the area would be wide enough to catch the Quaker.
The second piece of bad luck might have been more of a surprise. As the seed landed on the strange, glowing floor of the area, it sank and took root as one might expect. The area, however, only rippled. For a brief moment, it was in question whether it would change at all. Finally, a small patch of water took root, roughly half the size CourseMan might have expected. It seemed as though the strange, luminescent ore that formed the floor of this cavern resisted CourseMan's attempts to change it.
If his throw had mercifully been on target, it wouldn't have mattered. If the Net had just been good ol' normal Net, it probably wouldn't have either. As a result of the two together, however, the Quaker hit solid ground ahead of the seed in spite of CourseMan's best laid plans. Either way, it didn't end up mattering: where luck and planning failed, skill prevailed, and the wave propagated through the ground beneath the airborne Navi, leaving him unharmed.
As the Navi touched back down, however, there was no time to celebrate. The other virus he had his eye on had closed in the distance on him. CourseMan didn't need any data to know it was about to attack, as it looked plenty furious from the Navis previous attempts to mess up its good looks. The Navi went for another gambit, and quite a gambit it was. He was putting a big gamble on his ability to react at a precise second. When the Megalian launched its head as a projectile, just as CourseMan had most likely predicted, CourseMan moved in for the uppercut. He launched himself...
... And his aim was good. Missing the huge, steaming head hurtling at him was an improbability. Furthermore, it looked like he was going to avoid having it slam into his body. Unfortunately, CourseMan's angle was just slightly off. While he was probably looking for his fist to get a square hit on the jaw and send his opponent flying, it was more like the high-velocity jaw impacted his fist. The Megalian's head exploded immediately, its remaining neck whimpering with a pop to deletion itself. CourseMan, on the other hand, found himself worse for the wear, but still kicking. His knuckles were probably throbbing sensationally in spite of his attempt at wrapping them.
The miner had been left more or less unattended, and as a result, was free to continue its life's calling: planting explosives. CourseMan could tell that more of the field was booby trapped now. In the meantime, the Miner stood still where he'd first been found, as though trying to look innocent of any explosives-based mischief.
=Mining Crew=
Megalian-F: DELETED
Miner: 100HP [Immobile]
DrixolA: 60HP
DrixolB: 60HP
Quaker: 80HP
=Terrain=
90% Unknown Terrain
10% Sea Terrain
=Unintentional Spelunker=
CourseMan: 10HP
=Special=
Unknown Terrain: A luminescent, glowing white stone, taking up the entirety of the cavern floor, but not the walls.
Some mines have been scattered around. CourseMan saw the virus bury mines over about 10% of the battlefield... Best to tread carefully.
It quickly became apparent that the pattern the Drixols had been implementing wasn't a random meandering, but instead, a feint. A hole opened up in front of CourseMan's double: at the same time, another opened behind, at a slightly higher elevation. The two viruses came at him in a pincer. In an impressive feat of concentration, CourseMan almost got his decoy to outmaneuver the incoming viruses... almost. Just the tip of one grazed past one of the clone's extended digits, but that brief brush was enough to dissipate the false Navi. The assault of the two drill viruses had been effective, and yet more or less harmless. Realizing they'd been had, however, they set their focus back on the genuine article.
In the meantime, CourseMan himself was enacting a plan to help himself avoid the untimely fate of his twin. Unfortunately, his luck seemed to have given out in two ways:
The first might have been expected. After all, the Navi was trying to hit a very precise area, which was in itself an estimation, with a very small seed in a very tight spot. As a result, CourseMan's throw was slightly off. It didn't seem as though it would matter, though. CourseMan probably had data or experience telling him that he'd won his proverbial game of horseshoes and hand grenades, and the area would be wide enough to catch the Quaker.
The second piece of bad luck might have been more of a surprise. As the seed landed on the strange, glowing floor of the area, it sank and took root as one might expect. The area, however, only rippled. For a brief moment, it was in question whether it would change at all. Finally, a small patch of water took root, roughly half the size CourseMan might have expected. It seemed as though the strange, luminescent ore that formed the floor of this cavern resisted CourseMan's attempts to change it.
If his throw had mercifully been on target, it wouldn't have mattered. If the Net had just been good ol' normal Net, it probably wouldn't have either. As a result of the two together, however, the Quaker hit solid ground ahead of the seed in spite of CourseMan's best laid plans. Either way, it didn't end up mattering: where luck and planning failed, skill prevailed, and the wave propagated through the ground beneath the airborne Navi, leaving him unharmed.
As the Navi touched back down, however, there was no time to celebrate. The other virus he had his eye on had closed in the distance on him. CourseMan didn't need any data to know it was about to attack, as it looked plenty furious from the Navis previous attempts to mess up its good looks. The Navi went for another gambit, and quite a gambit it was. He was putting a big gamble on his ability to react at a precise second. When the Megalian launched its head as a projectile, just as CourseMan had most likely predicted, CourseMan moved in for the uppercut. He launched himself...
... And his aim was good. Missing the huge, steaming head hurtling at him was an improbability. Furthermore, it looked like he was going to avoid having it slam into his body. Unfortunately, CourseMan's angle was just slightly off. While he was probably looking for his fist to get a square hit on the jaw and send his opponent flying, it was more like the high-velocity jaw impacted his fist. The Megalian's head exploded immediately, its remaining neck whimpering with a pop to deletion itself. CourseMan, on the other hand, found himself worse for the wear, but still kicking. His knuckles were probably throbbing sensationally in spite of his attempt at wrapping them.
The miner had been left more or less unattended, and as a result, was free to continue its life's calling: planting explosives. CourseMan could tell that more of the field was booby trapped now. In the meantime, the Miner stood still where he'd first been found, as though trying to look innocent of any explosives-based mischief.
=Mining Crew=
Megalian-F: DELETED
Miner: 100HP [Immobile]
DrixolA: 60HP
DrixolB: 60HP
Quaker: 80HP
=Terrain=
90% Unknown Terrain
10% Sea Terrain
=Unintentional Spelunker=
CourseMan: 10HP
=Special=
Unknown Terrain: A luminescent, glowing white stone, taking up the entirety of the cavern floor, but not the walls.
Some mines have been scattered around. CourseMan saw the virus bury mines over about 10% of the battlefield... Best to tread carefully.
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He should have been expecting it, really; it seemed as though, in this net, even something going very slightly wrong tended to have dire repercussions. As it was though, courser let out a tight curse as he staggered back and fought for balance, coming down from his attack on the megalian. It had stuck cleanly, fair enough, but the force the head had been moving with had surprised him, and the recoil of the blow had sent an almost bone-shattering sear of pain up his arm and filtering through much of his left side.
The virus might be down for the count, but Courser himself had to fight the urge to grasp protectively at his hurt arm, the damaged limb hanging limp as he tried to shake his fingers out and regain feeling in them. The is was very, very not good. Still wincing his eyes darted about the field. Dangerous as they were he was safe form tow at lest, but the drills were going to be heading back to the action any moment. For a brief second he contemplated running for his life, but the dare-devil in him wouldn't hear of it. Where was the fun if you didn't put your life on the line and take a risk or two after all?
"Jen? Not going so great. This might end poorly, but I'm going to try. Give me the pulsar, I'm going to try something foolish." On the other end of the line, his operator didn't make any noise, but he could practically see the girl fretting and trying not to bite her nails. He breath sounded tight and sharp, even if she wasn't talking. She did as he asked though, and he filtered the sonic data through to his left hand. His right was still icy cold, and numb to boot, so he didn't fancy his chances of aiming toll well with his main hand anyway.
Over the next moment or two, Courser tried to do a couple of things at once, splitting his awareness into separate threads again. The two drills would be coming back, but they'd gone a fair distance off, he'd have at least a moment or two, if not any proper window. The quaker was down, for now, but it'd be going up again soon. He needed a buffer, and there was simply no time to do anything but play russian roulette with the miner's bombs.
Near where the drills had dissipated the previous clone, and were now looking dangerously uphill towards their proper quarry, a new clone drew up from a pool of shadow just in front of one of them. This new decoy acted as though it hadn't just been destroyed a moment ago, and instead focused all of its attention on the Drixol directly in front of it.
"Come on now, you call that a hit? That was a technicality! You barely nicked him! You're rubbish, is what you are. You're a disgrace to viruses and drills everywhere!" It was quite animated in its admonition of the virus in front of it, going out of its way to get up in the drill's face, as it were, and, more importantly, make itself the only thing the Drixol in question could really see properly.
At the other end of the field, and further uphill, courser himself was taking another gamble. He darted to the side, rolling in away that protected his hurt arm, in an effort to put the Quaker directly between himself and the far Drixol that wasn't being harassed. The puzzlement of the change-resistant terrain could wait until he was slightly safer; right now, he needed any sort of impromptu cover he could get, or even the impression of it, and since the Quaker had missed his pool, that at least left it on the surface. For now.
He was panting a little, and he was hurting a lot, but Courser grit his teeth and raised his left arm from his new position. It was another game of timing, now. The quaker was probably going to jump again, any moment, since it had missed him the first time. The Drixol was behind it, and unless it really took exception to its buddy being insulted, it would be coming right for him as well. Courser lined up carefully, focusing the compressed sonic charge into the palm of his hand as he held it outward. His wave whip drew up and coalesced around the pulse, forming a large, rounded dome to better amplify and output the sound, rather than its usual tentacle. It looked mostly like he was aiming at the quaker itself, but the water navi was doing his best to focus on the drixol he knew was further off, behind it. The moment the near virus leaped, he let loose the concentrated sound burst in a tight line. Even focused forward, the fall off made his ears ring; it would be nothing short of sundering to anything that actually got struck by the wave itself. With any luck, the unlucky winner would be the Drixol; if it charged right at him, the chances of it getting through the wave of sound to actually reach him were mercifully slim.
In the back of his mind, Courser found his other thoughts pondering whether the change-resistant terrain might actually hinder the miner's bombs from exploding properly, or causing the damage they were meant to. It was only a minor thought though; he was quickly learning that mercies like that were few and far between on this network. Really, he didn't want to move around any more than he was forced to; the few times he had to pull the trigger on that loaded gun the better. It would have been nice if he was strong enough, and skilled enough with splitting his awareness, to maintain more decoys at once, or even manage to maintain his clones through damage,e like he'd heard some advanced shadow navis could. For now, in lieu of wanting to risk any more movement, he resorted to something a bit blunter, and apparently Jenny was thinking the same thing. Without asking for it, Courser felt a second set of chip data following the pulsar, this time in the form of her more familiar shotgun chip.
He waited until the miner had ducked down and up again, then swung his arm around and levelled it at the little guy. The chip data configured itself into a multitude of high pressure spirals of water, spinning rapidly inside the greater body of his wave-whip s they wound tighter and tighter on themselves. Once he couldn't compress the water shards any further, he let the shot loose at the explosives expert, on the off chance that he made it through the next few minutes to finish it off later.
Summary
C*) Decoy reformed: getting in the face, obscuring line of sight for, and generally distracting DrixolA
C1) Dodge/Feint: Putting the Quaker between himself and DrixolB (And coincidentally, breaking alignment between DrixolA, his clone, and himself in the process)
C2) Pulsar1: (70, Object Triggered Blast2, A(Blast B)) @ DrixolB (Shot taken when the Quaker leaps)
C3) Shotgun: (50, Spread1 - Directly Behind, A) @ Miner (Don't believe anything is in spread range, but if I'm wrong and something is, then yay.)
C*) On the off chance than anything Courser attacks actually attacked something other than him last, Assassin bonus: 20% damage up on any relevant attack.
The virus might be down for the count, but Courser himself had to fight the urge to grasp protectively at his hurt arm, the damaged limb hanging limp as he tried to shake his fingers out and regain feeling in them. The is was very, very not good. Still wincing his eyes darted about the field. Dangerous as they were he was safe form tow at lest, but the drills were going to be heading back to the action any moment. For a brief second he contemplated running for his life, but the dare-devil in him wouldn't hear of it. Where was the fun if you didn't put your life on the line and take a risk or two after all?
"Jen? Not going so great. This might end poorly, but I'm going to try. Give me the pulsar, I'm going to try something foolish." On the other end of the line, his operator didn't make any noise, but he could practically see the girl fretting and trying not to bite her nails. He breath sounded tight and sharp, even if she wasn't talking. She did as he asked though, and he filtered the sonic data through to his left hand. His right was still icy cold, and numb to boot, so he didn't fancy his chances of aiming toll well with his main hand anyway.
Over the next moment or two, Courser tried to do a couple of things at once, splitting his awareness into separate threads again. The two drills would be coming back, but they'd gone a fair distance off, he'd have at least a moment or two, if not any proper window. The quaker was down, for now, but it'd be going up again soon. He needed a buffer, and there was simply no time to do anything but play russian roulette with the miner's bombs.
Near where the drills had dissipated the previous clone, and were now looking dangerously uphill towards their proper quarry, a new clone drew up from a pool of shadow just in front of one of them. This new decoy acted as though it hadn't just been destroyed a moment ago, and instead focused all of its attention on the Drixol directly in front of it.
"Come on now, you call that a hit? That was a technicality! You barely nicked him! You're rubbish, is what you are. You're a disgrace to viruses and drills everywhere!" It was quite animated in its admonition of the virus in front of it, going out of its way to get up in the drill's face, as it were, and, more importantly, make itself the only thing the Drixol in question could really see properly.
At the other end of the field, and further uphill, courser himself was taking another gamble. He darted to the side, rolling in away that protected his hurt arm, in an effort to put the Quaker directly between himself and the far Drixol that wasn't being harassed. The puzzlement of the change-resistant terrain could wait until he was slightly safer; right now, he needed any sort of impromptu cover he could get, or even the impression of it, and since the Quaker had missed his pool, that at least left it on the surface. For now.
He was panting a little, and he was hurting a lot, but Courser grit his teeth and raised his left arm from his new position. It was another game of timing, now. The quaker was probably going to jump again, any moment, since it had missed him the first time. The Drixol was behind it, and unless it really took exception to its buddy being insulted, it would be coming right for him as well. Courser lined up carefully, focusing the compressed sonic charge into the palm of his hand as he held it outward. His wave whip drew up and coalesced around the pulse, forming a large, rounded dome to better amplify and output the sound, rather than its usual tentacle. It looked mostly like he was aiming at the quaker itself, but the water navi was doing his best to focus on the drixol he knew was further off, behind it. The moment the near virus leaped, he let loose the concentrated sound burst in a tight line. Even focused forward, the fall off made his ears ring; it would be nothing short of sundering to anything that actually got struck by the wave itself. With any luck, the unlucky winner would be the Drixol; if it charged right at him, the chances of it getting through the wave of sound to actually reach him were mercifully slim.
In the back of his mind, Courser found his other thoughts pondering whether the change-resistant terrain might actually hinder the miner's bombs from exploding properly, or causing the damage they were meant to. It was only a minor thought though; he was quickly learning that mercies like that were few and far between on this network. Really, he didn't want to move around any more than he was forced to; the few times he had to pull the trigger on that loaded gun the better. It would have been nice if he was strong enough, and skilled enough with splitting his awareness, to maintain more decoys at once, or even manage to maintain his clones through damage,e like he'd heard some advanced shadow navis could. For now, in lieu of wanting to risk any more movement, he resorted to something a bit blunter, and apparently Jenny was thinking the same thing. Without asking for it, Courser felt a second set of chip data following the pulsar, this time in the form of her more familiar shotgun chip.
He waited until the miner had ducked down and up again, then swung his arm around and levelled it at the little guy. The chip data configured itself into a multitude of high pressure spirals of water, spinning rapidly inside the greater body of his wave-whip s they wound tighter and tighter on themselves. Once he couldn't compress the water shards any further, he let the shot loose at the explosives expert, on the off chance that he made it through the next few minutes to finish it off later.
Summary
C*) Decoy reformed: getting in the face, obscuring line of sight for, and generally distracting DrixolA
C1) Dodge/Feint: Putting the Quaker between himself and DrixolB (And coincidentally, breaking alignment between DrixolA, his clone, and himself in the process)
C2) Pulsar1: (70, Object Triggered Blast2, A(Blast B)) @ DrixolB (Shot taken when the Quaker leaps)
C3) Shotgun: (50, Spread1 - Directly Behind, A) @ Miner (Don't believe anything is in spread range, but if I'm wrong and something is, then yay.)
C*) On the off chance than anything Courser attacks actually attacked something other than him last, Assassin bonus: 20% damage up on any relevant attack.
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CourseMan's decoy had no problem distracting the Drixol, which seemed upset to see its handiwork so easily undone. Humorously, the thing was making such a blind rush that CourseMan's double really would have had to throw himself upon it if he wanted to be hit. That said, its poor shot was clearly an attempt to aim for the decoy, and it seemed like (with its target still in sight) the Drixol would probably try for round two. A hole had already opened ahead of it, which it seemed fully intent on moving towards.
In the meantime, the genuine article was focusing on saving his own skin. As he'd guessed, the miner had been busy, and his mobility was becoming more and more limited. CourseMan got himself into position well enough, at least, and lived to step another day. How much longer, of course, was anyone's guess.
As CourseMan launched his attack, the Quaker made a short hop to get out of the way, seeming to think it had been crafty in doing so. In reality, CourseMan had never been aiming for it. Furthermore, just as he'd hoped, his real target was moving towards him full sail with the same singular-minded focus it had previously displayed. CourseMan's arms were certainly a bit weak from the beating he'd taken thus-far, but due to his focus, he was able to make his shot count. The sonic blast ripped through the side of the Drixol approaching him, causing it to first let out smoke and then a mechanical whine, crashing into the floor of the Net and exploding.
The Miner was CourseMan's next target. Having been watching CourseMan relatively uninhibited until this point, some worry that it would be on its toes might be justified. Instead, the thing simply took CourseMan's shot as it was sinking to the floor, wailing as if offended. It demonstrated that offense by off-loading some more mines. The Navi even heard a splash, indicating even the water might not be safe...
=Mining Crew=
Megalian-F: DELETED
Miner: 50HP [Immobile]
DrixolA: 60HP
DrixolB: DELETED
Quaker: 80HP
=Terrain=
90% Unknown Terrain
10% Sea Terrain
=Unintentional Spelunker=
CourseMan: 10HP
=Special=
Unknown Terrain: A luminescent, glowing white stone, taking up the entirety of the cavern floor, but not the walls.
Some mines have been scattered around. CourseMan saw the virus bury mines over about 15% of the battlefield... Best to tread carefully.
In the meantime, the genuine article was focusing on saving his own skin. As he'd guessed, the miner had been busy, and his mobility was becoming more and more limited. CourseMan got himself into position well enough, at least, and lived to step another day. How much longer, of course, was anyone's guess.
As CourseMan launched his attack, the Quaker made a short hop to get out of the way, seeming to think it had been crafty in doing so. In reality, CourseMan had never been aiming for it. Furthermore, just as he'd hoped, his real target was moving towards him full sail with the same singular-minded focus it had previously displayed. CourseMan's arms were certainly a bit weak from the beating he'd taken thus-far, but due to his focus, he was able to make his shot count. The sonic blast ripped through the side of the Drixol approaching him, causing it to first let out smoke and then a mechanical whine, crashing into the floor of the Net and exploding.
The Miner was CourseMan's next target. Having been watching CourseMan relatively uninhibited until this point, some worry that it would be on its toes might be justified. Instead, the thing simply took CourseMan's shot as it was sinking to the floor, wailing as if offended. It demonstrated that offense by off-loading some more mines. The Navi even heard a splash, indicating even the water might not be safe...
=Mining Crew=
Megalian-F: DELETED
Miner: 50HP [Immobile]
DrixolA: 60HP
DrixolB: DELETED
Quaker: 80HP
=Terrain=
90% Unknown Terrain
10% Sea Terrain
=Unintentional Spelunker=
CourseMan: 10HP
=Special=
Unknown Terrain: A luminescent, glowing white stone, taking up the entirety of the cavern floor, but not the walls.
Some mines have been scattered around. CourseMan saw the virus bury mines over about 15% of the battlefield... Best to tread carefully.
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When the dust settled, a it were, Courser found himself with a brief moment to breath. Right when he needed it most, things had more or less gone as he planned, and the chances of actually surviving the encounter looked like they might not be in the negative any more. He took a long breath and surveyed in the short fraction of time he had.
Sure, he was half an inch from his undershirt, and his body was aching, but the key now was not to panic; keep it under control, deal with what he had to, and stay fluid. He sent another bolstering shot of energy to his decoy and planned.
"CourseMan!? This isn't safe, I've got to pull you out, you're, like... nearly dead!" Jenny sounded about as panicked as he knew he probably should be, but he consoled himself with how pleased she'd probably be if he could just pull this off.
"We don't die, Jen. Might feel like it, but even if the worst happens, I'll still be safe. That's what the emergency system is for. I'm alright, Jenny, please; I can do this. Give me the knife for now, I'm running low on options."
He kept his words brief; at the other end of the field, his clone suffered some of the bleed over from his split attention, but even so, it leaned forward raising its hands loosely in front of its chest to beckon to the Drixol that had missed it in a two-handed kiss-off.
"I don't die, you rust bucket! You can do your worst, I'll still be safe! Come on, I'll give you one more chance to nail me; go on, try it. One more chance, then I'm going to put you away for good!" Unlike previously, however, the clone made more of an effort to be evasive, even if only a little: He spun once on his water eddy, then arced broadly. He still stood straight with his arms out and his stance broad and exposed as he taunted, but at least he was a moving target this time.
Courser himself was letting the AquaKnife data filter down to his free hand. His other arm was still thoroughly frosted over, and the numbness was fading at last, but he didn't want to dispel that data just yet in case he needed it. The IceFist was more of a last resort though, at this point; it was strong, but he wanted to avoid getting close and personal, not to mention moving at all, if he could right now.
At first, the knife data affected his wave-whip directly, the long tentacle curling up and inward, honing at the edges until it had formed into a high pressure edge of fast-moving water, but he glanced down and clenched his fist shut instead. In a moment, his wave whip shut off completely, leaving a far more physical water blade clenched back-handed in his fingers.
Taking another long breath to steady himself, Courser crouched low and spun the knife over his fingers. As much as he might preference his right hand, there were certainly some major benefits to being ambidextrous. He spared only a brief glance towards the Quaker; whatever it did, he would have at least a small window respond after this, so he put it from his mind. These few seconds were what needed his attention now, and he watched the slightly distant Miner, aiming carefully. The waiting was torture, in its own way, especially considering everything else that was going on, but wait he did. It was surely going to hide another payload of mines soon, and when it came back up again, that would be his moment. He turned the weapon over to hold the balance of it by the blade, making sure of the weight.
The moment the passively dangerous critter resurfaced, Courser drew back, and threw, sending the knife spinning rapidly in a direct line. It was a bit of waste, in one sense, but if he could nail the Miner from here, without having to move, that would be one less risk he was taking.
Even so... It never hurt to have a back-up plan.
"Hey, Jen? I know I said I was done with explosions... but..."
"I think you're starting to like that chip." Despite everything else, Courser couldn't help the small smirk that tugged at the corner of his lips. Maybe he was. It was very far from 'safe practice', but there really was something unusually satisfying about it, all the same. The data arrived a moment later, and Courser stood straight.
With a grin, he extended his free hand out in front and let the data flow. Unlike his previous use of the chip, this time Courser let it take on its more standard appearance; a notably chunky, reinforced bomb with a large, visible counter on the front, facing outward for anyone to see. It added its slow beeping to the ominous sounds of the Miner's own explosives, and the stupidly dangerous reality of what he was doing prevented CourseMan from being able to wipe the daredevil smile from his lips.
He didn't really want to stick around for its count down, true, and given the viruses he was facing, he couldn't really use the thing as cover, either, but if he was lucky it might serve as a distraction at some point.
"You're mad. You know that, right?"
"So the voices in my head tell me, Jenny!"
Summary
C*) Decoy Refreshed: offering final ultimatums to his Drixol dance-partner.
C1) Aim carefully.
C*) Delay any further Action until -After- Miner has taken its turn.
C2) AquaKnife: (60(65)Aqua, Slash, B (Aim → A)(6 uses) Being Thrown) @ Miner
C3) CountBomb1: (100Hp object, Anchored, 100 To-All(enemies) after 2 turns, S), placed a short way in front of Courser, with the numbers facing the remaining viruses.
Sure, he was half an inch from his undershirt, and his body was aching, but the key now was not to panic; keep it under control, deal with what he had to, and stay fluid. He sent another bolstering shot of energy to his decoy and planned.
"CourseMan!? This isn't safe, I've got to pull you out, you're, like... nearly dead!" Jenny sounded about as panicked as he knew he probably should be, but he consoled himself with how pleased she'd probably be if he could just pull this off.
"We don't die, Jen. Might feel like it, but even if the worst happens, I'll still be safe. That's what the emergency system is for. I'm alright, Jenny, please; I can do this. Give me the knife for now, I'm running low on options."
He kept his words brief; at the other end of the field, his clone suffered some of the bleed over from his split attention, but even so, it leaned forward raising its hands loosely in front of its chest to beckon to the Drixol that had missed it in a two-handed kiss-off.
"I don't die, you rust bucket! You can do your worst, I'll still be safe! Come on, I'll give you one more chance to nail me; go on, try it. One more chance, then I'm going to put you away for good!" Unlike previously, however, the clone made more of an effort to be evasive, even if only a little: He spun once on his water eddy, then arced broadly. He still stood straight with his arms out and his stance broad and exposed as he taunted, but at least he was a moving target this time.
Courser himself was letting the AquaKnife data filter down to his free hand. His other arm was still thoroughly frosted over, and the numbness was fading at last, but he didn't want to dispel that data just yet in case he needed it. The IceFist was more of a last resort though, at this point; it was strong, but he wanted to avoid getting close and personal, not to mention moving at all, if he could right now.
At first, the knife data affected his wave-whip directly, the long tentacle curling up and inward, honing at the edges until it had formed into a high pressure edge of fast-moving water, but he glanced down and clenched his fist shut instead. In a moment, his wave whip shut off completely, leaving a far more physical water blade clenched back-handed in his fingers.
Taking another long breath to steady himself, Courser crouched low and spun the knife over his fingers. As much as he might preference his right hand, there were certainly some major benefits to being ambidextrous. He spared only a brief glance towards the Quaker; whatever it did, he would have at least a small window respond after this, so he put it from his mind. These few seconds were what needed his attention now, and he watched the slightly distant Miner, aiming carefully. The waiting was torture, in its own way, especially considering everything else that was going on, but wait he did. It was surely going to hide another payload of mines soon, and when it came back up again, that would be his moment. He turned the weapon over to hold the balance of it by the blade, making sure of the weight.
The moment the passively dangerous critter resurfaced, Courser drew back, and threw, sending the knife spinning rapidly in a direct line. It was a bit of waste, in one sense, but if he could nail the Miner from here, without having to move, that would be one less risk he was taking.
Even so... It never hurt to have a back-up plan.
"Hey, Jen? I know I said I was done with explosions... but..."
"I think you're starting to like that chip." Despite everything else, Courser couldn't help the small smirk that tugged at the corner of his lips. Maybe he was. It was very far from 'safe practice', but there really was something unusually satisfying about it, all the same. The data arrived a moment later, and Courser stood straight.
With a grin, he extended his free hand out in front and let the data flow. Unlike his previous use of the chip, this time Courser let it take on its more standard appearance; a notably chunky, reinforced bomb with a large, visible counter on the front, facing outward for anyone to see. It added its slow beeping to the ominous sounds of the Miner's own explosives, and the stupidly dangerous reality of what he was doing prevented CourseMan from being able to wipe the daredevil smile from his lips.
He didn't really want to stick around for its count down, true, and given the viruses he was facing, he couldn't really use the thing as cover, either, but if he was lucky it might serve as a distraction at some point.
"You're mad. You know that, right?"
"So the voices in my head tell me, Jenny!"
Summary
C*) Decoy Refreshed: offering final ultimatums to his Drixol dance-partner.
C1) Aim carefully.
C*) Delay any further Action until -After- Miner has taken its turn.
C2) AquaKnife: (60(65)Aqua, Slash, B (Aim → A)
C3) CountBomb1: (100Hp object, Anchored, 100 To-All(enemies) after 2 turns, S), placed a short way in front of Courser, with the numbers facing the remaining viruses.
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CourseMan might see himself as poor off, but some strategic decisions were helping him hang onto his small thread of life a bit longer.
For starters, the Drixol that was attacking his double failed to keep up with the faux-Navi's maneuvers. Although it charged out of its two-dimensional gate faster than ever, a focused CourseMan was able to dance his puppet out of harm's way with relative ease. The virus looked furious, and it was easy to imagine that (left to its own devices) the thing would try yet another direct assault momentarily.
The Miner was still staring at CourseMan warily. It was impossible to tell for certain, but the high-pitched bleats it was emitting almost sounded like it was trying to communicate. Not with the Navi, evidently, as the Quaker looked back as if to acknowledge its ally.
If the waiting was indeed painful for CourseMan, he would indeed be in a lot of pain. As if they knew what he was up to, the two enemies stood still a bit longer. In the meantime, the mirror image of Courseman was still having a fair rodeo with his opponent.
Finally, the Quaker raised its ball and slammed it on the ground a couple of times, causing the Miner to let out a few more disgruntled beeps before sullenly sinking into the ground.
CourseMan didn't have any intention of stopping his opponent from setting up more mines, but it must have been scary to simply hold his ground in this situation. As soon as the Miner was off, the Quaker had taken to the sky: CourseMan was putting a lot of eggs into the basket that the Miner wouldn't simply take his sweet time before returning to his post. The shadow the Quaker cast stood stark against the brilliant white floor... he could see it growing smaller, but he surely knew it would only be a matter of time before it started expanding on him.
Regardless, the Miner didn't appear to be a mind-reader, and, seeming to figure things were going to go the same as usual, it popped back up momentarily. The virus let out a yelp as it rose right into the knives, its jaw hanging open as it collapsed backward.
The fiends days of making CourseMan's life harder were over, but CourseMan needed to think fast. For starters, the mines the virus had summoned were still scattered throughout the area. This was problematic, as unless he could do something to get rid of the Quaker, CourseMan would probably want to move immediately. There was barely time for him to think after setting up his bomb. He would need to deal with the Quaker, and fast.
=Mining Crew=
Megalian-F: DELETED
Miner: DELETED
DrixolA: 60HP
DrixolB: DELETED
Quaker: 80HP [High Altitude, Dropping Fast!]
=Terrain=
90% Unknown Terrain
10% Sea Terrain
=Unintentional Spelunker=
CourseMan: 10HP
=Spelunker's Ultimatum=
Countbomb: 100 HP [2 turns remaining]
=Special=
Unknown Terrain: A luminescent, glowing white stone, taking up the entirety of the cavern floor, but not the walls.
Some mines have been scattered around. CourseMan saw the virus bury mines over about 20% of the battlefield... Best to tread carefully.
For starters, the Drixol that was attacking his double failed to keep up with the faux-Navi's maneuvers. Although it charged out of its two-dimensional gate faster than ever, a focused CourseMan was able to dance his puppet out of harm's way with relative ease. The virus looked furious, and it was easy to imagine that (left to its own devices) the thing would try yet another direct assault momentarily.
The Miner was still staring at CourseMan warily. It was impossible to tell for certain, but the high-pitched bleats it was emitting almost sounded like it was trying to communicate. Not with the Navi, evidently, as the Quaker looked back as if to acknowledge its ally.
If the waiting was indeed painful for CourseMan, he would indeed be in a lot of pain. As if they knew what he was up to, the two enemies stood still a bit longer. In the meantime, the mirror image of Courseman was still having a fair rodeo with his opponent.
Finally, the Quaker raised its ball and slammed it on the ground a couple of times, causing the Miner to let out a few more disgruntled beeps before sullenly sinking into the ground.
CourseMan didn't have any intention of stopping his opponent from setting up more mines, but it must have been scary to simply hold his ground in this situation. As soon as the Miner was off, the Quaker had taken to the sky: CourseMan was putting a lot of eggs into the basket that the Miner wouldn't simply take his sweet time before returning to his post. The shadow the Quaker cast stood stark against the brilliant white floor... he could see it growing smaller, but he surely knew it would only be a matter of time before it started expanding on him.
Regardless, the Miner didn't appear to be a mind-reader, and, seeming to figure things were going to go the same as usual, it popped back up momentarily. The virus let out a yelp as it rose right into the knives, its jaw hanging open as it collapsed backward.
The fiends days of making CourseMan's life harder were over, but CourseMan needed to think fast. For starters, the mines the virus had summoned were still scattered throughout the area. This was problematic, as unless he could do something to get rid of the Quaker, CourseMan would probably want to move immediately. There was barely time for him to think after setting up his bomb. He would need to deal with the Quaker, and fast.
=Mining Crew=
Megalian-F: DELETED
Miner: DELETED
DrixolA: 60HP
DrixolB: DELETED
Quaker: 80HP [High Altitude, Dropping Fast!]
=Terrain=
90% Unknown Terrain
10% Sea Terrain
=Unintentional Spelunker=
CourseMan: 10HP
=Spelunker's Ultimatum=
Countbomb: 100 HP [2 turns remaining]
=Special=
Unknown Terrain: A luminescent, glowing white stone, taking up the entirety of the cavern floor, but not the walls.
Some mines have been scattered around. CourseMan saw the virus bury mines over about 20% of the battlefield... Best to tread carefully.
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Initially, Courser wanted to sigh with relief once he was sure his throw had connected; with the miner out of the way, he'd be free to move again, and staying nimble was important. In the moment that followed, however, there was no sign that any of the hidden land mines had gone silent at all.
"Oh hell..." So Rachel's database was wrong about that little detail. He still needed to move, and fast; there was literally no time to worry or to think. The reaction that followed certainly didn't seem to have very much thinking behind it. With the shadow of the Quaker zeroed in uncomfortably on his person, courser leapt forward, vaulting up onto the large bomb he'd just set down. If nothing else, standing on top of it would be safe from the irksomely still-present mines. One hand gripped the front brace of the explosive rig, balancing himself for an instant as his eyes darted around.
From there, there was a moment that would have been positively brain-bending for anyone not used to it, as Courser met eyes with his decoy, experienced the bidirectional self-perception that came with it, and sent another pulse of energy to the clone to keep it active. His clone winked back at him with a smirk, then peeled around on its own water-eddy to keep aggravating the Drixol.
"Right, that's it, you hopeless hunk of metal, time's up!" The decoy, ever so much more abrasive than Courser himself ever tended to be, arced around to face his temporary nemesis, as the water carried him in abroad curve, his right hand rose and drew its wave-whip first into a globe, then stretched it out into an identical facsimilise of courser's own technique for making his high-pressure water shield. Unlike the genuine article, this one was both completely lacking in all shield coding, and also illusory anyway, but appearances were important; even if it were a real shield, the Drixol would be able to smash clean through it without slowing down, and if he was lucky, it would know that.
His other hand drew into a fist behind the fake shield, and his left wave whip bunched up around the fist, making a globe that swirled faster and faster, looking for all the world like it was charging up into some sort of ultimate attack.
"Lights out, little guy. No escape now!" The clone shouted this taunt, as though he fully intended to make good on his promise to finish the Drixol off.
Meanwhile, back where the real CourseMan had just send the decoy a bolt of fresh power, there wasn't any time to hang around and watch. Similar to his clone, he began drawing up the wave whip on his free hand. He only remained perched on the top of his high-powered explosive for a moment, however, before leaping forward past it, away from the looming shadow of the descending Quaker.
As he sprang, the navi spread out the water from his left whip beneath him, creating the familiar high-pressurised curve of water that could be infused with his shield. It wasn't exactly conventional, but then this whole fight had gone a little strange.
"Courser, what are you...?" He didn't have time to answer Jenny's confused half-question, focusing all his attention on making the water shield as refractive as he could before reaching the ground. The water disc cycled from the boss to the edges and back around with enough speed that, as he held his arm down towards the ground, his feet planted firmly on the inside edge and held. The side result of this, which he'd only half planned for, was that the deflective nature of the shield slid easily on the smooth surface, and for a moment, Courser almost felt like he was literally surfing.
A small amount of extra water, swirling around the place where the boss of the curve contacted the ground, let him regain some small amount of control, but mostly, for the moment, Courser was more interested in keeping the shield as solid as he could, in case the unfortunately necessary dodge took him into the path of one of the remaining mines.
Summary
C*) Decoy Refreshed: Gave Drixol fair warning, now preparing Ultimate Attack!
C1) Jump up on top of Countbomb
C2) Leap off, making 1-Hit Shield, positioned directly down, underneath self, for standing/surfing on, against mines.
C3) Dodge/shield-surf (More or less simultaneous with action 2)
"Oh hell..." So Rachel's database was wrong about that little detail. He still needed to move, and fast; there was literally no time to worry or to think. The reaction that followed certainly didn't seem to have very much thinking behind it. With the shadow of the Quaker zeroed in uncomfortably on his person, courser leapt forward, vaulting up onto the large bomb he'd just set down. If nothing else, standing on top of it would be safe from the irksomely still-present mines. One hand gripped the front brace of the explosive rig, balancing himself for an instant as his eyes darted around.
From there, there was a moment that would have been positively brain-bending for anyone not used to it, as Courser met eyes with his decoy, experienced the bidirectional self-perception that came with it, and sent another pulse of energy to the clone to keep it active. His clone winked back at him with a smirk, then peeled around on its own water-eddy to keep aggravating the Drixol.
"Right, that's it, you hopeless hunk of metal, time's up!" The decoy, ever so much more abrasive than Courser himself ever tended to be, arced around to face his temporary nemesis, as the water carried him in abroad curve, his right hand rose and drew its wave-whip first into a globe, then stretched it out into an identical facsimilise of courser's own technique for making his high-pressure water shield. Unlike the genuine article, this one was both completely lacking in all shield coding, and also illusory anyway, but appearances were important; even if it were a real shield, the Drixol would be able to smash clean through it without slowing down, and if he was lucky, it would know that.
His other hand drew into a fist behind the fake shield, and his left wave whip bunched up around the fist, making a globe that swirled faster and faster, looking for all the world like it was charging up into some sort of ultimate attack.
"Lights out, little guy. No escape now!" The clone shouted this taunt, as though he fully intended to make good on his promise to finish the Drixol off.
Meanwhile, back where the real CourseMan had just send the decoy a bolt of fresh power, there wasn't any time to hang around and watch. Similar to his clone, he began drawing up the wave whip on his free hand. He only remained perched on the top of his high-powered explosive for a moment, however, before leaping forward past it, away from the looming shadow of the descending Quaker.
As he sprang, the navi spread out the water from his left whip beneath him, creating the familiar high-pressurised curve of water that could be infused with his shield. It wasn't exactly conventional, but then this whole fight had gone a little strange.
"Courser, what are you...?" He didn't have time to answer Jenny's confused half-question, focusing all his attention on making the water shield as refractive as he could before reaching the ground. The water disc cycled from the boss to the edges and back around with enough speed that, as he held his arm down towards the ground, his feet planted firmly on the inside edge and held. The side result of this, which he'd only half planned for, was that the deflective nature of the shield slid easily on the smooth surface, and for a moment, Courser almost felt like he was literally surfing.
A small amount of extra water, swirling around the place where the boss of the curve contacted the ground, let him regain some small amount of control, but mostly, for the moment, Courser was more interested in keeping the shield as solid as he could, in case the unfortunately necessary dodge took him into the path of one of the remaining mines.
Summary
C*) Decoy Refreshed: Gave Drixol fair warning, now preparing Ultimate Attack!
C1) Jump up on top of Countbomb
C2) Leap off, making 1-Hit Shield, positioned directly down, underneath self, for standing/surfing on, against mines.
C3) Dodge/shield-surf (More or less simultaneous with action 2)
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CourseMan was putting a lot of time and effort into getting the Drixol mad at his clone. In his effort to do so, he made the faux-CourseMan a target even the saddest marksman couldn't miss. With a bit of gusto, looking like it thought it was really getting something done, the virus tore through the fake shield and the fake Navi, keeping on moving as it headed for a hole it had made for itself.
Chances are, the continued distraction was about as much as CourseMan had hoped for, and now he had his own hide to worry about saving. The Navi first made his way up onto the bomb: moving with a direction that took him towards his impending doom was a bold move, indeed. The Navi just barely avoided having his head clipped off by the heavy incoming virus as it descended on his bomb. He heard its thud reverberate in his ears.
The fun wasn't over yet, though... as the Quaker had crashed into CourseMan's trump card, it had released a fast-moving wave that was seeking him out. CourseMan heard it approaching, sounding something like an angry storm of bees or a runaway jackhammer...
... Before it whizzed past him. Any maneuvering he'd tried to do aside, it couldn't have been more than an inch off.
While CourseMan might surely be thanking whatever diety or fate he believed in right now, he might not want to celebrate too early. The Navi's wild slide couldn't avoid all the traps his late nemesis had set out for him, and with a flash and a bang, he felt a pop that scattered the liquid of his shield to the wind, leaving him tumbling to the floor.
The situation looked dire. The Quaker was now on top of CourseMan's bomb, but CourseMan saw it preparing to jump. What would happen if it could get high enough...? Then, there was the Drixol to worry about. The virus had taken care of its prior distraction, and unfortunately for CourseMan, his actions had taken him closer to it. He could try distracting it again, but would he be able to make his trick a hat trick? Also worth noting was that CourseMan was now a short walk away from his Countbomb. It had been clever to use it as a stepping stone to avoid traps, but it could take some work getting back over to it.
=Mining Crew=
Megalian-F: DELETED
Miner: DELETED
DrixolA: 60HP
DrixolB: DELETED
Quaker: 80HP
=Terrain=
90% Unknown Terrain
10% Sea Terrain
=Unintentional Spelunker=
CourseMan: 10HP
=Spelunker's Ultimatum=
CourseMan's Countbomb: 80 HP [1 turn remaining!]
=Special=
Unknown Terrain: A luminescent, glowing white stone, taking up the entirety of the cavern floor, but not the walls.
Some mines have been scattered around. CourseMan saw the virus bury mines over about 15% of the battlefield.
Chances are, the continued distraction was about as much as CourseMan had hoped for, and now he had his own hide to worry about saving. The Navi first made his way up onto the bomb: moving with a direction that took him towards his impending doom was a bold move, indeed. The Navi just barely avoided having his head clipped off by the heavy incoming virus as it descended on his bomb. He heard its thud reverberate in his ears.
The fun wasn't over yet, though... as the Quaker had crashed into CourseMan's trump card, it had released a fast-moving wave that was seeking him out. CourseMan heard it approaching, sounding something like an angry storm of bees or a runaway jackhammer...
... Before it whizzed past him. Any maneuvering he'd tried to do aside, it couldn't have been more than an inch off.
While CourseMan might surely be thanking whatever diety or fate he believed in right now, he might not want to celebrate too early. The Navi's wild slide couldn't avoid all the traps his late nemesis had set out for him, and with a flash and a bang, he felt a pop that scattered the liquid of his shield to the wind, leaving him tumbling to the floor.
The situation looked dire. The Quaker was now on top of CourseMan's bomb, but CourseMan saw it preparing to jump. What would happen if it could get high enough...? Then, there was the Drixol to worry about. The virus had taken care of its prior distraction, and unfortunately for CourseMan, his actions had taken him closer to it. He could try distracting it again, but would he be able to make his trick a hat trick? Also worth noting was that CourseMan was now a short walk away from his Countbomb. It had been clever to use it as a stepping stone to avoid traps, but it could take some work getting back over to it.
=Mining Crew=
Megalian-F: DELETED
Miner: DELETED
DrixolA: 60HP
DrixolB: DELETED
Quaker: 80HP
=Terrain=
90% Unknown Terrain
10% Sea Terrain
=Unintentional Spelunker=
CourseMan: 10HP
=Spelunker's Ultimatum=
CourseMan's Countbomb: 80 HP [1 turn remaining!]
=Special=
Unknown Terrain: A luminescent, glowing white stone, taking up the entirety of the cavern floor, but not the walls.
Some mines have been scattered around. CourseMan saw the virus bury mines over about 15% of the battlefield.
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Sliding away from the landing Quaker and its shock-wave, there was a moment where Courser was sure he'd gotten away with everything perfectly, right up until his impromptu surf-board coasted over one of the mines and the resulting explosion sent him sprawling, with water flying everywhere. There was a sharp intake of breath from Jenny, but she kept quiet else-wise. At this point she was probably holding her tongue to stop from distracting her navi while he was in such danger.
On the bright side, the shield had done what it was meant to do, in case that had happened, but that didn't make Courser himself feel much better as hey lay out on his back for a moment, catching his breath. His clone got ripped apart, as he'd mostly expected it would, and he re-split his focus to pull the shadows back together and draw the image of himself up again at more or less the same spot.
This time, the clone reformed itself with a slight stagger, bent-kneed and looking like he was visibly hurt and worn down. He was holding one arm by the shoulder, while it hung limp, and scowling. It turned about, trying to find the Drixol that had shredded the previous clone, or at least trying to work out what direction it was going to come at it from.
"I'll get you for that... hahh... bastard! This isn't over, you impotent hunk of bolts! Just you try that again... I'll get you, you'll see! I'm going to nail your arse to the ground for that!" Its voice sounded suitably ragged and desperate as the clone released its 'bad' arm to begin waving about defensively with the wave-whip of its 'good' arm.
A little further away, CourseMan took a breath and flipped up to his feet again in a single smooth action. Most of his body ached, true, but it was the sort of complete, all-over pain by this point that wasn't inhibiting any one part of him. He still had to pause for a moment to steady himself after the fancy kick-up. He glanced down at the trails of ice still creeping over his right arm, and up at the Quaker as it prepared to jump skyward again.
"What've we got left, Jenny?" He had a nasty feeling their arsenal was just about dry, and Jenny confirmed it a moment later.
"Just this. That's all I've got, every last chip." The data that reached him made Courser wince. He'd been lucky so far, but this would be really pushing it. Time to make it count though.
Taking a long breath, the mostly-spent navi crouched lower, dropping to one knee for stability and raising his arm upwards. As the data reached his wave-whip, Courser felt it grow perceptibly heavier, bulking up while he tried to control the way it was configuring. A shock-absorbing cushion or water rippled out and swelled into a long, thick sleeve down his arm, while a dense orb of heavy water began to ball up and screw itself tighter and tighter just in front of his palm. With a rapid swirl of current, the outer housing created a spiraled barrel for the shot that extended several inches past where his palm was acting as the base point, and after a moment Courser lifted his other hand to curly far-too-cold fingers about the mid-section of his arm for better bracing and support. No wonder the chip's accuracy was so poor; with this weight anyone would be hard pressed to aim it clearly.
While the payload of the shot rushed tighter and tighter in the watery barrel, growing denser by the second and beginning to spin outwardly as well as he readied it for firing, Courser watched the Quaker a short distance from him. It was making small movements, getting ready to jump again, but if he tired to shoot quickly, he felt sure it would miss. Instead, he waited, raising the barrel on his arm higher instead. The peak of its jump would be the safest time to aim, and hope for a hit; the Quaker would be in the hang, and still, and if it started to come back down, it would be coming for him, so it shouldn't slip out of line. It meant waiting and aiming carefully, with his back to the other virus, but his decoy was keeping an eye on that still.
He trained the gun as the virus jumped high, waiting for that hair-trigger moment just before it reached the hang of its jump, leading by just the right fraction it should take the shot to get there. The recoil of actually firing the shot was violent indeed, and Courser felt the cushion of water around his arm compress, then burst in a splash that cascaded freely over him as the heavy round launched towards its intended target. It was enough to push Courser back on his heel for a moment, before he picked himself up. Successful or not, there was very little time to check and CourseMan didn't much feel like leaving himself a sitting duck for any longer than he had to.
Once he was back on his feet, he shook out his free hand and brought his wave-whip to bear, flattening it out and spreading wide again to reform his shield. It wasn't much protection from what he was facing, but it still had some uses, and right now he needed every bit of defensive ability he could muster.
Summary
C*) Reform Decoy, same location or thereabouts; this time playing wounded and cussing from the previous 'hit'
C1) Take Aim, waiting for the most opportune moment to take a shot at the Quaker.
C2) Wrecker: (80, Break, Panel Break, C (Plus Aim Bonus)), @ Quaker; delayed to attempt the shot at the peak of its jump.
C3) Raise Shield (1-Hit Shield)
((I should probably have been recording it all this time, but Courser also still has that IceFist equipped and hasn't over-written it yet, so, it's still there at 5/6, too))
On the bright side, the shield had done what it was meant to do, in case that had happened, but that didn't make Courser himself feel much better as hey lay out on his back for a moment, catching his breath. His clone got ripped apart, as he'd mostly expected it would, and he re-split his focus to pull the shadows back together and draw the image of himself up again at more or less the same spot.
This time, the clone reformed itself with a slight stagger, bent-kneed and looking like he was visibly hurt and worn down. He was holding one arm by the shoulder, while it hung limp, and scowling. It turned about, trying to find the Drixol that had shredded the previous clone, or at least trying to work out what direction it was going to come at it from.
"I'll get you for that... hahh... bastard! This isn't over, you impotent hunk of bolts! Just you try that again... I'll get you, you'll see! I'm going to nail your arse to the ground for that!" Its voice sounded suitably ragged and desperate as the clone released its 'bad' arm to begin waving about defensively with the wave-whip of its 'good' arm.
A little further away, CourseMan took a breath and flipped up to his feet again in a single smooth action. Most of his body ached, true, but it was the sort of complete, all-over pain by this point that wasn't inhibiting any one part of him. He still had to pause for a moment to steady himself after the fancy kick-up. He glanced down at the trails of ice still creeping over his right arm, and up at the Quaker as it prepared to jump skyward again.
"What've we got left, Jenny?" He had a nasty feeling their arsenal was just about dry, and Jenny confirmed it a moment later.
"Just this. That's all I've got, every last chip." The data that reached him made Courser wince. He'd been lucky so far, but this would be really pushing it. Time to make it count though.
Taking a long breath, the mostly-spent navi crouched lower, dropping to one knee for stability and raising his arm upwards. As the data reached his wave-whip, Courser felt it grow perceptibly heavier, bulking up while he tried to control the way it was configuring. A shock-absorbing cushion or water rippled out and swelled into a long, thick sleeve down his arm, while a dense orb of heavy water began to ball up and screw itself tighter and tighter just in front of his palm. With a rapid swirl of current, the outer housing created a spiraled barrel for the shot that extended several inches past where his palm was acting as the base point, and after a moment Courser lifted his other hand to curly far-too-cold fingers about the mid-section of his arm for better bracing and support. No wonder the chip's accuracy was so poor; with this weight anyone would be hard pressed to aim it clearly.
While the payload of the shot rushed tighter and tighter in the watery barrel, growing denser by the second and beginning to spin outwardly as well as he readied it for firing, Courser watched the Quaker a short distance from him. It was making small movements, getting ready to jump again, but if he tired to shoot quickly, he felt sure it would miss. Instead, he waited, raising the barrel on his arm higher instead. The peak of its jump would be the safest time to aim, and hope for a hit; the Quaker would be in the hang, and still, and if it started to come back down, it would be coming for him, so it shouldn't slip out of line. It meant waiting and aiming carefully, with his back to the other virus, but his decoy was keeping an eye on that still.
He trained the gun as the virus jumped high, waiting for that hair-trigger moment just before it reached the hang of its jump, leading by just the right fraction it should take the shot to get there. The recoil of actually firing the shot was violent indeed, and Courser felt the cushion of water around his arm compress, then burst in a splash that cascaded freely over him as the heavy round launched towards its intended target. It was enough to push Courser back on his heel for a moment, before he picked himself up. Successful or not, there was very little time to check and CourseMan didn't much feel like leaving himself a sitting duck for any longer than he had to.
Once he was back on his feet, he shook out his free hand and brought his wave-whip to bear, flattening it out and spreading wide again to reform his shield. It wasn't much protection from what he was facing, but it still had some uses, and right now he needed every bit of defensive ability he could muster.
Summary
C*) Reform Decoy, same location or thereabouts; this time playing wounded and cussing from the previous 'hit'
C1) Take Aim, waiting for the most opportune moment to take a shot at the Quaker.
C2) Wrecker: (80, Break, Panel Break, C (Plus Aim Bonus)), @ Quaker; delayed to attempt the shot at the peak of its jump.
C3) Raise Shield (1-Hit Shield)
((I should probably have been recording it all this time, but Courser also still has that IceFist equipped and hasn't over-written it yet, so, it's still there at 5/6, too))
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The Quaker, sensing danger in the air, shot itself into the air, making a good point to slam CourseMan's bomb as it did. A Navi with the propensity to do so might be biting his nails, seeing the chunks of plating torn off by the strike, and the exposed wiring revealed.
Meanwhile, CourseMan would be happy to find that the Drixol couldn't be distracted from its task in the least. Its impending, LED-lit countdown to doom seemed to be the furthest thing from its mind. Hearing "CourseMan" still hadn't learned his lesson, and seeing easy prey, the Drixol made a return pass to tear through CourseMan's supposedly wounded decoy with relative ease.
The Navi couldn't focus on any of that now, though. After all, he had quite the shot to line up. The Navi must have been horrified to realize that his shot was essentially going to come down entirely to timing: as the virus got further and further towards the top of its arc, the light from the floor failed even to cast a glimmer on its ominous wrecking ball. It was entirely shrouded in darkness, and for a breathless moment, the question hung in the air: would CourseMan be the wrecker, or the wrecked?
No sooner had the Navi felt the kick from his weapon then he had begun preparing his defense. He probably had a fraction of a second to count his blessings that his force hadn't sent him straight into an undetonated mine. After that... the Navi brought his shield to bear in front of him, and suddenly the world around him was all ear-drum blasting explosions.
When the air cleared, CourseMan found two things falling from the air...
First, falling from its predicted arc, as though it had gone straight through (or horrifyingly, straight past) its intended target, his high-velocity shot lost its fight with gravity and crashed to the floor in front of the Navi with an incredible... dink. Amazingly, the white stones of the cave didn't even crack.
In nearly the same moment, CourseMan felt a harmless spray across his face. It appeared to be the final data pellets of what had been hurtling upon him with lethal intent moments earlier.
As for the Drixol, it was nowhere to be found. If that was really a biting question for CourseMan, he might want to have a look around, but it was easy to imagine it eviscerated in the blast.
=Mining Crew=
Megalian-F: DELETED
Miner: DELETED
DrixolA: PRETTY MUCH DELETED
DrixolB: DELETED
Quaker: DELETED
=Terrain=
90% Unknown Terrain
10% Sea Terrain
=Unintentional Spelunker=
CourseMan: 10HP
=Spelunker's Ultimatum=
CourseMan's Countbomb: DETONATED
=Special=
Unknown Terrain: A luminescent, glowing white stone, taking up the entirety of the cavern floor, but not the walls.
Some mines have been scattered around. CourseMan saw the virus bury mines over about 15% of the battlefield.
=BATTLE 3 VICTORIOUS!=
Rewards: 1400z
There really didn't seem to be anywhere for CourseMan to go other than up the slope he had seen the viruses come down. He couldn't be sure of where the mines still lay, but with the ability to move at his leisure, it would be easy enough to move carefully and feel them out, or even use his shield as a mine detector if he felt like it.
Then again, there was a strong likelihood he would be feeling like tabling his spelunking adventures for another day.
Meanwhile, CourseMan would be happy to find that the Drixol couldn't be distracted from its task in the least. Its impending, LED-lit countdown to doom seemed to be the furthest thing from its mind. Hearing "CourseMan" still hadn't learned his lesson, and seeing easy prey, the Drixol made a return pass to tear through CourseMan's supposedly wounded decoy with relative ease.
The Navi couldn't focus on any of that now, though. After all, he had quite the shot to line up. The Navi must have been horrified to realize that his shot was essentially going to come down entirely to timing: as the virus got further and further towards the top of its arc, the light from the floor failed even to cast a glimmer on its ominous wrecking ball. It was entirely shrouded in darkness, and for a breathless moment, the question hung in the air: would CourseMan be the wrecker, or the wrecked?
No sooner had the Navi felt the kick from his weapon then he had begun preparing his defense. He probably had a fraction of a second to count his blessings that his force hadn't sent him straight into an undetonated mine. After that... the Navi brought his shield to bear in front of him, and suddenly the world around him was all ear-drum blasting explosions.
When the air cleared, CourseMan found two things falling from the air...
First, falling from its predicted arc, as though it had gone straight through (or horrifyingly, straight past) its intended target, his high-velocity shot lost its fight with gravity and crashed to the floor in front of the Navi with an incredible... dink. Amazingly, the white stones of the cave didn't even crack.
In nearly the same moment, CourseMan felt a harmless spray across his face. It appeared to be the final data pellets of what had been hurtling upon him with lethal intent moments earlier.
As for the Drixol, it was nowhere to be found. If that was really a biting question for CourseMan, he might want to have a look around, but it was easy to imagine it eviscerated in the blast.
=Mining Crew=
Megalian-F: DELETED
Miner: DELETED
DrixolA: PRETTY MUCH DELETED
DrixolB: DELETED
Quaker: DELETED
=Terrain=
90% Unknown Terrain
10% Sea Terrain
=Unintentional Spelunker=
CourseMan: 10HP
=Spelunker's Ultimatum=
CourseMan's Countbomb: DETONATED
=Special=
Unknown Terrain: A luminescent, glowing white stone, taking up the entirety of the cavern floor, but not the walls.
Some mines have been scattered around. CourseMan saw the virus bury mines over about 15% of the battlefield.
=BATTLE 3 VICTORIOUS!=
Rewards: 1400z
There really didn't seem to be anywhere for CourseMan to go other than up the slope he had seen the viruses come down. He couldn't be sure of where the mines still lay, but with the ability to move at his leisure, it would be easy enough to move carefully and feel them out, or even use his shield as a mine detector if he felt like it.
Then again, there was a strong likelihood he would be feeling like tabling his spelunking adventures for another day.
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It really shouldn't have happened, on reflection. He was a netNavi; he had a nano-second accurate internal clock. It made no sense at all that he could have miscounted how long was left on the time bomb. This was the thought that began to work its way through Courser's mind as the red digit hit zero, and the blast wave of all consuming destruction rocked the area.
The shielding pressure of his water ward was more or less vaporised as the explosion front flung the navi on his back. By the time it cleared, and the ringing in his ears stopped, courser was almost ready to open his eyes, but a falling splatter of junk viral bits rained over him in the post-blast silence, and he wisely kept them closed instead.
"Please tell me there's nothing left alive, Jen. I'm beat...." He made no move to get up yet, still catching his breath slowly, and carefully assessing the different pain sensations he was feeling all over his body. If anything had survived, he was in no condition to fight it. Jenny's voice came back to him, somewhat timid.
"Well... you're alive. Are you alright, CourseMan? You've been critical for a while now, please tell me you're ready to come out now. I get nervous just watching you!" She did sound concerned, and that in turn made Courser frown. With a heavy sigh he sat upright, then drew a wave of water over himself, refreshingly cold, and good for a perk-up, as well as for cleaning off all the bits of junk he'd gotten on himself.
"Aww, you mean you're not impressed by how fancy and dashing your navi is in the face of danger and almost certain death?"
"Not the right time for it." If anything, her voice sounded apologetic, and he sighed.
"Yeah, I guess. Sorry Jen. I still want to get you something nice, though, if I can. Give me a minute to rest, and we'll try for one more. What do you say?" He was already exhausted, and initially, it had been his hope to find something shiny quickly, and get out again fast... but the Hades net had just been stingy, and painful, so far. Alright, not quite true; the zenny pay up was good, there was no arguing that... but still not what he was looking for, really. On the other side of the screen, Jenny sat up ,then groaned softly, wincing.
"Not like that you won't. Just... ahh! Just a rest a minute, and use these. I'll be back in just a minute." As he heard Jenny dart from her bedroom swiftly, Courser felt something much more welcome; before ducking away, Jenny had loaded in two subchips for him, and the battered navi felt the fresh rush of energy flow through his body and easy the hurts that still lingered. It was only a moment after the wash of restoration left him feeling back at one hundred percent, and he pushed off the ground to slide gracefully back to his feet.
Well, if she was going to do that then he certainly couldn't afford to leave without finding something worthwhile. They were cheap enough to replace, sure, but even so. With another deep breath and a roll of his shoulders to make sure he was nice and limber again, Courser looked around the remains of his most recent battlefield. He wasn't going to go pick another fight until Jenny got back, but he did want to examine the peculiar terrain some more. It had resisted his attempts to change it, and things that ought to have cracked or broken it had simply bounced off. It still wasn't giving him a clear read as any recognised terrain type... but the properties that made it fascinating also meant that there weren't exactly and broken pieces he could take with him. Pity.
Moving carefully, Courser picked his way past the remains of the mine-field, keeping a strong jet of water just in front of him, just in case, until he was sure he was well clear of the danger. Jenny was just getting back by the time he was out.
"Feeling better?" He gave his affirmative to her and fought off the natural urge to ask her the same; he knew that the true answer would be 'not really', and asking didn't exactly help. Instead, he looked towards the ramp.
"I'm thinking of heading up that way. If they were digging at this stuff, maybe there'll be a chunk of it somewhere that I can take back. I bet Rachel would love to analyse it, whatever it is." He began slowly in that direction, treading light as he went.
"Wouldn't she just? Ok then, but be careful." Courser nodded at the unneeded warning, and started up the sloped incline. As he went his image blurred for a moment, until he was walking side by side with one clone. It was rough going, but he wasn't done with hades just yet.
((2 x MiniEnergy Used, for +100Hp))
((Seeking battle 4))
The shielding pressure of his water ward was more or less vaporised as the explosion front flung the navi on his back. By the time it cleared, and the ringing in his ears stopped, courser was almost ready to open his eyes, but a falling splatter of junk viral bits rained over him in the post-blast silence, and he wisely kept them closed instead.
"Please tell me there's nothing left alive, Jen. I'm beat...." He made no move to get up yet, still catching his breath slowly, and carefully assessing the different pain sensations he was feeling all over his body. If anything had survived, he was in no condition to fight it. Jenny's voice came back to him, somewhat timid.
"Well... you're alive. Are you alright, CourseMan? You've been critical for a while now, please tell me you're ready to come out now. I get nervous just watching you!" She did sound concerned, and that in turn made Courser frown. With a heavy sigh he sat upright, then drew a wave of water over himself, refreshingly cold, and good for a perk-up, as well as for cleaning off all the bits of junk he'd gotten on himself.
"Aww, you mean you're not impressed by how fancy and dashing your navi is in the face of danger and almost certain death?"
"Not the right time for it." If anything, her voice sounded apologetic, and he sighed.
"Yeah, I guess. Sorry Jen. I still want to get you something nice, though, if I can. Give me a minute to rest, and we'll try for one more. What do you say?" He was already exhausted, and initially, it had been his hope to find something shiny quickly, and get out again fast... but the Hades net had just been stingy, and painful, so far. Alright, not quite true; the zenny pay up was good, there was no arguing that... but still not what he was looking for, really. On the other side of the screen, Jenny sat up ,then groaned softly, wincing.
"Not like that you won't. Just... ahh! Just a rest a minute, and use these. I'll be back in just a minute." As he heard Jenny dart from her bedroom swiftly, Courser felt something much more welcome; before ducking away, Jenny had loaded in two subchips for him, and the battered navi felt the fresh rush of energy flow through his body and easy the hurts that still lingered. It was only a moment after the wash of restoration left him feeling back at one hundred percent, and he pushed off the ground to slide gracefully back to his feet.
Well, if she was going to do that then he certainly couldn't afford to leave without finding something worthwhile. They were cheap enough to replace, sure, but even so. With another deep breath and a roll of his shoulders to make sure he was nice and limber again, Courser looked around the remains of his most recent battlefield. He wasn't going to go pick another fight until Jenny got back, but he did want to examine the peculiar terrain some more. It had resisted his attempts to change it, and things that ought to have cracked or broken it had simply bounced off. It still wasn't giving him a clear read as any recognised terrain type... but the properties that made it fascinating also meant that there weren't exactly and broken pieces he could take with him. Pity.
Moving carefully, Courser picked his way past the remains of the mine-field, keeping a strong jet of water just in front of him, just in case, until he was sure he was well clear of the danger. Jenny was just getting back by the time he was out.
"Feeling better?" He gave his affirmative to her and fought off the natural urge to ask her the same; he knew that the true answer would be 'not really', and asking didn't exactly help. Instead, he looked towards the ramp.
"I'm thinking of heading up that way. If they were digging at this stuff, maybe there'll be a chunk of it somewhere that I can take back. I bet Rachel would love to analyse it, whatever it is." He began slowly in that direction, treading light as he went.
"Wouldn't she just? Ok then, but be careful." Courser nodded at the unneeded warning, and started up the sloped incline. As he went his image blurred for a moment, until he was walking side by side with one clone. It was rough going, but he wasn't done with hades just yet.
((2 x MiniEnergy Used, for +100Hp))
((Seeking battle 4))
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CourseMan got himself refreshed and moving again, making his way up the formidable crest of luminescent rock ahead of him. As he finally reached the top of the hill, he found himself looking at something he probably wouldn't have been expecting...
While the floor imminently ahead was still littered with the same bright stones, inserted in the midst of it was something that looked like a large funnel with a small metal platform in a ring around it. Close to CourseMan was a short staircase leading up it, and it seemed as though there was probably another on the opposite side. The Navi could see a small trickle of lava pouring from overhead into from the darkness above, a thin red line that disappeared into the funnel's center. Even from CourseMan's low vantage point, it was evident from the resulting persistent splashing that there must be standing liquid inside.
CourseMan might be trying to figure out what an engineered device like this was doing down in the caverns, or why such a wide funnel was needed for such a small trickle of influx, but there were some parties gathering to put him on his way out.
The first CourseMan saw was a Volgear, its round, metallic frame well-lit by the flames which carried it around. The virus was clearly staring down it him from atop the platform. Upon seeing CourseMan, it let out a bark that was clearly an alarm. This wasn't, after all, the Navi's first encounter with such a thing.
Hearing the alarm, the first to arrive on the scene were a number of Spikeys, their lithe forms darting in and out of view before it became clear they were circling the position. The clack of their on the stone made it relatively easy to sense them in spite of the relative darkness.
On the other hand, up towards the platform was a form much harder to distinguish, seeing as it was shadow-upon-shadow. It became a bit more clear when CourseMan saw the dark form of a sword far in the distance. As soon as it had appeared, it was gone again, replaced by a much closer axe. The virus disappeared once more to reappear atop the platform, a malevolent Shadow casting its gaze down upon the intruder.
Finally, showing up late to the party, the final virus was first heard and then seen. The low roar of treads across rough terrain revealed a Catack, which slowly made its way from behind the back of the funnel, rotating its turret towards CourseMan at a leisurely pace.
All of this would be certain to be of interest to CourseMan, but not so much as the last thing his eye fell upon. Behind the right side of the funnel, nearly hidden from his view... was that...? It was! The sharp green corner of hidden mystery data could be seen rotating, waiting for him if he could just get his hands on it.
=Enemies=
Catack: 120HP
SpikeyA: 90HP
SpikeyB: 90HP
SpikeyC: 90HP
Volgear: 80 HP
Shadow: 80 HP
=Terrain=
90% Unknown Terrain
10% Lava Terrain (center of funnel)
=Friendlies=
CourseMan: 100HP
=Objects=
Funnel:200HP
Platform:150HP
Mystery Data (Green): 30 HP
=Special=
Unknown Terrain: A luminescent, glowing white stone, taking up the entirety of the cavern floor, but not the walls.
=BATTLE 4 START=
While the floor imminently ahead was still littered with the same bright stones, inserted in the midst of it was something that looked like a large funnel with a small metal platform in a ring around it. Close to CourseMan was a short staircase leading up it, and it seemed as though there was probably another on the opposite side. The Navi could see a small trickle of lava pouring from overhead into from the darkness above, a thin red line that disappeared into the funnel's center. Even from CourseMan's low vantage point, it was evident from the resulting persistent splashing that there must be standing liquid inside.
CourseMan might be trying to figure out what an engineered device like this was doing down in the caverns, or why such a wide funnel was needed for such a small trickle of influx, but there were some parties gathering to put him on his way out.
The first CourseMan saw was a Volgear, its round, metallic frame well-lit by the flames which carried it around. The virus was clearly staring down it him from atop the platform. Upon seeing CourseMan, it let out a bark that was clearly an alarm. This wasn't, after all, the Navi's first encounter with such a thing.
Hearing the alarm, the first to arrive on the scene were a number of Spikeys, their lithe forms darting in and out of view before it became clear they were circling the position. The clack of their on the stone made it relatively easy to sense them in spite of the relative darkness.
On the other hand, up towards the platform was a form much harder to distinguish, seeing as it was shadow-upon-shadow. It became a bit more clear when CourseMan saw the dark form of a sword far in the distance. As soon as it had appeared, it was gone again, replaced by a much closer axe. The virus disappeared once more to reappear atop the platform, a malevolent Shadow casting its gaze down upon the intruder.
Finally, showing up late to the party, the final virus was first heard and then seen. The low roar of treads across rough terrain revealed a Catack, which slowly made its way from behind the back of the funnel, rotating its turret towards CourseMan at a leisurely pace.
All of this would be certain to be of interest to CourseMan, but not so much as the last thing his eye fell upon. Behind the right side of the funnel, nearly hidden from his view... was that...? It was! The sharp green corner of hidden mystery data could be seen rotating, waiting for him if he could just get his hands on it.
=Enemies=
Catack: 120HP
SpikeyA: 90HP
SpikeyB: 90HP
SpikeyC: 90HP
Volgear: 80 HP
Shadow: 80 HP
=Terrain=
90% Unknown Terrain
10% Lava Terrain (center of funnel)
=Friendlies=
CourseMan: 100HP
=Objects=
Funnel:200HP
Platform:150HP
Mystery Data (Green): 30 HP
=Special=
Unknown Terrain: A luminescent, glowing white stone, taking up the entirety of the cavern floor, but not the walls.
=BATTLE 4 START=
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As he reached the top of the slope, courser coasted along the edge on his water eddy, scouting briefly. It really looked like there was some sort of operation going on down here. Whatever it was, he was really not the navi best suited to be investigating it at all, of course. He had no business being in hades net at all, and he'd been snooping around long enough that his number was certain to come up soon... but just a little longer might be safe.
At first, he wanted to take a better look at the construct ahead of him, but there were more alarms sounding before he could even approach it. On instinct, he was moving in step with his first double, more or less without thinking about it. The clone glided along beside him on a similar water current and they both surveyed the oncoming forces. The clone glanced over at his original.
"How'd you want to do this boss. Looks messy." Couser nodded subtly, his eyes jumping over the targets.
"Stay left, keep moving. Give them something to dance with. I've got a few plans, but we'll have to wait and see which one it ends up being." This voice was low, and with a far more serious tone than his usual nonchalance.
With another nod, the clone raced forward towards the viral presence, crouching low and weaving back and forth on his water eddy, arcing slightly to the left as he waved one water whip, and began gathering what looked, but obviously had none of the properties of, Courser's own high pressure shield.
"Inspection time, lovelies! Come get some!" The clone half-shouted, half growled his challenge as he rushed them, though provided he could actually make it through the cluster of spikeys, the decoy intended to weave between them, and make his way all the way back towards the Catack beyond.
Courser, meanwhile, coasted back, staying near the crest of the ramp as he brought up his left hand, drawing his wave whip into the tight, high-pressure field of water that could act as a far sturdier shield, compared to the false one his decoy was waving around. After a moment more watching, he began to move forward as well, though while his decoy made a weaving trail towards the Catack, Courser himself made a more cautious, evasive move towards the platform with the Volgear and the Shadow. He darted in low to the ground, until he could put his back to the structure, using it as cover temporarily and keeping his shield to the front and raised up slightly. Caution first, offence in a minute. Quickly, he muted his line to Jenny, just for a short while, so that her voice wouldn't draw any undue attention.
Summary
C*) Decoy: Moving evasively, through the spikeys and rushing the Catack, and being loud about it.
C1) Shield: 1-Hit Shield
C2) Dodge: (evasive movement, ready for unexpected incoming)
C3) Movement: To platform/funnel structure, using as cover.
At first, he wanted to take a better look at the construct ahead of him, but there were more alarms sounding before he could even approach it. On instinct, he was moving in step with his first double, more or less without thinking about it. The clone glided along beside him on a similar water current and they both surveyed the oncoming forces. The clone glanced over at his original.
"How'd you want to do this boss. Looks messy." Couser nodded subtly, his eyes jumping over the targets.
"Stay left, keep moving. Give them something to dance with. I've got a few plans, but we'll have to wait and see which one it ends up being." This voice was low, and with a far more serious tone than his usual nonchalance.
With another nod, the clone raced forward towards the viral presence, crouching low and weaving back and forth on his water eddy, arcing slightly to the left as he waved one water whip, and began gathering what looked, but obviously had none of the properties of, Courser's own high pressure shield.
"Inspection time, lovelies! Come get some!" The clone half-shouted, half growled his challenge as he rushed them, though provided he could actually make it through the cluster of spikeys, the decoy intended to weave between them, and make his way all the way back towards the Catack beyond.
Courser, meanwhile, coasted back, staying near the crest of the ramp as he brought up his left hand, drawing his wave whip into the tight, high-pressure field of water that could act as a far sturdier shield, compared to the false one his decoy was waving around. After a moment more watching, he began to move forward as well, though while his decoy made a weaving trail towards the Catack, Courser himself made a more cautious, evasive move towards the platform with the Volgear and the Shadow. He darted in low to the ground, until he could put his back to the structure, using it as cover temporarily and keeping his shield to the front and raised up slightly. Caution first, offence in a minute. Quickly, he muted his line to Jenny, just for a short while, so that her voice wouldn't draw any undue attention.
Summary
C*) Decoy: Moving evasively, through the spikeys and rushing the Catack, and being loud about it.
C1) Shield: 1-Hit Shield
C2) Dodge: (evasive movement, ready for unexpected incoming)
C3) Movement: To platform/funnel structure, using as cover.
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CourseMan's decoy definitely got the short end of the stick, rushing headlong into a pack of Spikeys that looked hungry and mean. The Two of the three immediately bent their heads low, steam streaming from their mouths, while the third did a quick hop back and stood ready, as though observing. When the Spikeys fired, their shots came quick and consecutively. CourseMan's decoy weaved past one, but as though the second had been waiting for a lead, the next Spikey's hit square in the shield. For the real CourseMan, that wouldn't have mattered, but for his decoy, the illusion was dispelled. The third Spikey barked something to the other two, which bunched up and began barking at each other in a huddle.
The Catack had been looking at CourseMan's decoy, but finding its allies had done such a good job, it didn't have a confirmed target. It continued slowly circling the funnel to make its way to CourseMan's position.
Fortunately, however, CourseMan was able to close in on the funnel before any attacks were launched. This put the funnel's central column between him and the Catack, and the platform between him and the viruses above.
This might have allowed CourseMan a moment to breathe. He didn't hear any movement from above, but that didn't mean his enemies were sitting still. The Navi heard the shadow whiz into place at his side. With not a second to spare, CourseMan managed to hop to his side and clear the arc of the blade. Just as quickly as it had appeared, the virus was gone again. CourseMan might need to think up a specific way to handle this enemy. It was easy to imagine it had gone back on top of the platform above, and wouldn't wait too long to make another strike. Furthermore, on CourseMan's appraoch, the virus had clearly seen the Navi's shield position and made a targeted strike to avoid it: then again, maybe it wouldn't be able to pull the same trick if it couldn't see CourseMan below the platform?
If the Volgear above was doing anything, it was impossible to tell from below. Its sound didn't indicate it had changed positions.
=Enemies=
Catack: 120HP (circling around from other side of the pillar, ground level)
SpikeyA: 90HP (huddled with others close by, past stairs at front of platform, ground level)
SpikeyB: 90HP (huddled with others close by, past stairs at front of platform, ground level)
SpikeyC: 90HP (huddled with others close by, past stairs at front of platform, ground level)
Volgear: 80 HP (above, platform level)
Shadow: 80 HP (can't be seen, location unknown)
=Terrain=
90% Unknown Terrain
10% Lava Terrain (center of funnel)
=Friendlies=
CourseMan: 100HP
=Objects=
Funnel:200HP (next to CourseMan)
Platform:150HP (above CourseMan)
Mystery Data (Green): 30 HP (Other side of the funnel, 1 movement away from CourseMan)
=Special=
Unknown Terrain: A luminescent, glowing white stone, taking up the entirety of the cavern floor, but not the walls.
=BATTLE 4 START=
The Catack had been looking at CourseMan's decoy, but finding its allies had done such a good job, it didn't have a confirmed target. It continued slowly circling the funnel to make its way to CourseMan's position.
Fortunately, however, CourseMan was able to close in on the funnel before any attacks were launched. This put the funnel's central column between him and the Catack, and the platform between him and the viruses above.
This might have allowed CourseMan a moment to breathe. He didn't hear any movement from above, but that didn't mean his enemies were sitting still. The Navi heard the shadow whiz into place at his side. With not a second to spare, CourseMan managed to hop to his side and clear the arc of the blade. Just as quickly as it had appeared, the virus was gone again. CourseMan might need to think up a specific way to handle this enemy. It was easy to imagine it had gone back on top of the platform above, and wouldn't wait too long to make another strike. Furthermore, on CourseMan's appraoch, the virus had clearly seen the Navi's shield position and made a targeted strike to avoid it: then again, maybe it wouldn't be able to pull the same trick if it couldn't see CourseMan below the platform?
If the Volgear above was doing anything, it was impossible to tell from below. Its sound didn't indicate it had changed positions.
=Enemies=
Catack: 120HP (circling around from other side of the pillar, ground level)
SpikeyA: 90HP (huddled with others close by, past stairs at front of platform, ground level)
SpikeyB: 90HP (huddled with others close by, past stairs at front of platform, ground level)
SpikeyC: 90HP (huddled with others close by, past stairs at front of platform, ground level)
Volgear: 80 HP (above, platform level)
Shadow: 80 HP (can't be seen, location unknown)
=Terrain=
90% Unknown Terrain
10% Lava Terrain (center of funnel)
=Friendlies=
CourseMan: 100HP
=Objects=
Funnel:200HP (next to CourseMan)
Platform:150HP (above CourseMan)
Mystery Data (Green): 30 HP (Other side of the funnel, 1 movement away from CourseMan)
=Special=
Unknown Terrain: A luminescent, glowing white stone, taking up the entirety of the cavern floor, but not the walls.
=BATTLE 4 START=
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((Turn splice incoming))
In the brief moment that he had, back hard up against the funnel structure and with the sensory split of his clone scattered away, Courser pondered just how in over his head he actually was. There were a lot of them, far fewer of him than he would have liked, and truthfully, his arsenal wasn't really up to the task. The near miss with the shadow had set his adrenalin on the go again, and though he was mostly covered and his shield was good, he didn't feel like he could count on either factor to last long.
"You know, you could really do some major damage here, if you wanted to. You're just nervous." Beside him, his decoy had slipped out of the shadows, and was leaning with its hands behind its head on the structure. Courser shot a sidelong glare at him.
"Not helpful. I can't, as long as—"
"So loot and run then, genius! Honestly, why are you the boss anyway?"
"Shh! Just, Shhh, alright? Go buy me some time."
"Whatever, boss. Like it'll do any good."
The clone pushed itself off the wall with a sigh, and shook out its water whips. It crouched low as its own water eddy rolled up, and then put a hand behind itself, raising the image of Courser's own shield at its back. When it darted out from the cover point at full speed, it weaved back and forth on the current of water, making a quick, tight circle on the rolling wave as it did, in order to scope out the whole of the scene. With a glance up to the platform, he made another attempt to get past the group of spikeys.
This time, he cut a broader arc, attempting to circle wider around them, with his faux shield forming a large 'protective' disc of water at his back instead. If he could get around the spikeys, the plan was to circle back in and head for the Catack. Rather than shouting or calling out, this time the decoy kept silent, and crouched low as it coasted and dashed. With any luck, the viruses clever enough to know a decoy when they saw one might think this quieter, swifter Courser was the real deal instead.
CourseMan himself moved more slowly, but kept as silent as he could, working his way around the funnel structure towards where he'd seen signs of a mystery data. The catack had turned to circle this way, and he didn't know exactly where it was now, but he had two vague hopes to entertain. The first was that he could actually manage to distract it properly with his double, and get at his prize in peace. The second was simply that he could get to it cleanly enough, before the tank saw him and had a go. Either way, time was short. He picked up his pace and dashed the rest of the way to the mystery data, bringing his shield around to the front and facing it towards the slow-moving tank just as soon as he could get a clear sight on it.
Something in his mind was waving a red warning flag about simply trying to access one of these crystals in a the middle of a fight. There was a note about them in the data files that Rachel had programmed him with, something about it being dangerous to do so, but he didn't feel like he had the time to go over the risks right now, whatever they were. Instead, he pressed his free hand to one face of the crystal and attempted to access it. If something went horribly wrong, he'd deal with it later.
Summary
C*) Decoy: emerging from CourseMan's position, looking around once, then making to avoid the spikeys and circle around to the Catack, displaying a rear-guarding 'shield'.
C1) Movement: Around the funnel structure and to the MD
C2) Context Action: Access GMD
-=Splicing with 1 action remaining=-
In the brief moment that he had, back hard up against the funnel structure and with the sensory split of his clone scattered away, Courser pondered just how in over his head he actually was. There were a lot of them, far fewer of him than he would have liked, and truthfully, his arsenal wasn't really up to the task. The near miss with the shadow had set his adrenalin on the go again, and though he was mostly covered and his shield was good, he didn't feel like he could count on either factor to last long.
"You know, you could really do some major damage here, if you wanted to. You're just nervous." Beside him, his decoy had slipped out of the shadows, and was leaning with its hands behind its head on the structure. Courser shot a sidelong glare at him.
"Not helpful. I can't, as long as—"
"So loot and run then, genius! Honestly, why are you the boss anyway?"
"Shh! Just, Shhh, alright? Go buy me some time."
"Whatever, boss. Like it'll do any good."
The clone pushed itself off the wall with a sigh, and shook out its water whips. It crouched low as its own water eddy rolled up, and then put a hand behind itself, raising the image of Courser's own shield at its back. When it darted out from the cover point at full speed, it weaved back and forth on the current of water, making a quick, tight circle on the rolling wave as it did, in order to scope out the whole of the scene. With a glance up to the platform, he made another attempt to get past the group of spikeys.
This time, he cut a broader arc, attempting to circle wider around them, with his faux shield forming a large 'protective' disc of water at his back instead. If he could get around the spikeys, the plan was to circle back in and head for the Catack. Rather than shouting or calling out, this time the decoy kept silent, and crouched low as it coasted and dashed. With any luck, the viruses clever enough to know a decoy when they saw one might think this quieter, swifter Courser was the real deal instead.
CourseMan himself moved more slowly, but kept as silent as he could, working his way around the funnel structure towards where he'd seen signs of a mystery data. The catack had turned to circle this way, and he didn't know exactly where it was now, but he had two vague hopes to entertain. The first was that he could actually manage to distract it properly with his double, and get at his prize in peace. The second was simply that he could get to it cleanly enough, before the tank saw him and had a go. Either way, time was short. He picked up his pace and dashed the rest of the way to the mystery data, bringing his shield around to the front and facing it towards the slow-moving tank just as soon as he could get a clear sight on it.
Something in his mind was waving a red warning flag about simply trying to access one of these crystals in a the middle of a fight. There was a note about them in the data files that Rachel had programmed him with, something about it being dangerous to do so, but he didn't feel like he had the time to go over the risks right now, whatever they were. Instead, he pressed his free hand to one face of the crystal and attempted to access it. If something went horribly wrong, he'd deal with it later.
Summary
C*) Decoy: emerging from CourseMan's position, looking around once, then making to avoid the spikeys and circle around to the Catack, displaying a rear-guarding 'shield'.
C1) Movement: Around the funnel structure and to the MD
C2) Context Action: Access GMD
-=Splicing with 1 action remaining=-
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The three Spikeys barked amongst each other a moment longer before two of them headed around the right side of the platform, towards CourseMan and his mystery data. The other remained poised until CourseMan's decoy cut out in front of it. When CourseMan's likeness passed, it ducked a bit to its left and spat a shot at the body double, which gracefully wove out of the way on its virtual water jet. The fireball it had launched crashed into the side of the funnel, leaving a scorched sear on its surface.
The decoy achieved its goal of reaching the Catack: as such, it was treated to the sight of the turret rotating towards it. With an ear-shattering boom, the turret discharged a gigantic shot that only missed the decoy by a hair. The shot fired off into the distance, towards the darkness CourseMan had approached from. The Catack seemed to realize that circling the funnel wasn't a reasonable strategy at the moment, especially considering it had prey in sight. As such, it appeared to be pausing, at least temporarily.
Meanwhile, the other two Spikeys had circled around to encircle the real CourseMan. One sped past, seeming as though it intended to cut around to finish at CourseMan's left. The other skid to a stop at CourseMan's right side, before firing a blast that just barely missed the Navi, hitting the funnel directly to the Navi's right.
In the middle of this firestorm, CourseMan kept his cool and pushed his luck, seeing if he could pull a prize and make something good of his perceived bad luck. The Navi accessed the mystery data... and what did he find?
The Navi didn't have long to celebrate, as he found a shadowy lance hovering inches from his face. It quickly withdrew and made to strike the Navi, but with quick reflexes, CourseMan just barely sidestepped the blow. The virus disappeared again, although it wasn't clear to where.
Whether by plan or by accident, the Navi was doing a good job of having the viruses tear up the funnel behind him. Was the funnel actually doing anything? Did it matter?
The Volgear, meanwhile, was still unaccounted for. CourseMan might be able to reach up and try to feel heat to detect it, but otherwise, he might be hard-pressed to pinpoint what it was up to.
=Enemies=
Catack: 120HP (at the front of the funnel, beneath the platform)
SpikeyA: 90HP (at the front-right ahead of the funnel)
SpikeyB: 90HP (at the back-right behind the funnel)
SpikeyC: 90HP (at the front-left ahead of the funnel)
Volgear: 80 HP (location unknown)
Shadow: 80 HP (can't be seen, location unknown)
=Terrain=
90% Unknown Terrain
10% Lava Terrain (center of funnel)
=Friendlies=
CourseMan: 100HP (back-right of the funnel, under the platform)
=Objects=
Funnel:155HP (behind CourseMan)
Platform:150HP (above CourseMan)
Mystery Data (Green): ACCESSED
=Special=
Unknown Terrain: A luminescent, glowing white stone, taking up the entirety of the cavern floor, but not the walls.
The decoy achieved its goal of reaching the Catack: as such, it was treated to the sight of the turret rotating towards it. With an ear-shattering boom, the turret discharged a gigantic shot that only missed the decoy by a hair. The shot fired off into the distance, towards the darkness CourseMan had approached from. The Catack seemed to realize that circling the funnel wasn't a reasonable strategy at the moment, especially considering it had prey in sight. As such, it appeared to be pausing, at least temporarily.
Meanwhile, the other two Spikeys had circled around to encircle the real CourseMan. One sped past, seeming as though it intended to cut around to finish at CourseMan's left. The other skid to a stop at CourseMan's right side, before firing a blast that just barely missed the Navi, hitting the funnel directly to the Navi's right.
In the middle of this firestorm, CourseMan kept his cool and pushed his luck, seeing if he could pull a prize and make something good of his perceived bad luck. The Navi accessed the mystery data... and what did he find?
Mystery data is...
GET: PanelShot Battlechip!
The Navi didn't have long to celebrate, as he found a shadowy lance hovering inches from his face. It quickly withdrew and made to strike the Navi, but with quick reflexes, CourseMan just barely sidestepped the blow. The virus disappeared again, although it wasn't clear to where.
Whether by plan or by accident, the Navi was doing a good job of having the viruses tear up the funnel behind him. Was the funnel actually doing anything? Did it matter?
The Volgear, meanwhile, was still unaccounted for. CourseMan might be able to reach up and try to feel heat to detect it, but otherwise, he might be hard-pressed to pinpoint what it was up to.
=Enemies=
Catack: 120HP (at the front of the funnel, beneath the platform)
SpikeyA: 90HP (at the front-right ahead of the funnel)
SpikeyB: 90HP (at the back-right behind the funnel)
SpikeyC: 90HP (at the front-left ahead of the funnel)
Volgear: 80 HP (location unknown)
Shadow: 80 HP (can't be seen, location unknown)
=Terrain=
90% Unknown Terrain
10% Lava Terrain (center of funnel)
=Friendlies=
CourseMan: 100HP (back-right of the funnel, under the platform)
=Objects=
Funnel:155HP (behind CourseMan)
Platform:150HP (above CourseMan)
Mystery Data (Green): ACCESSED
=Special=
Unknown Terrain: A luminescent, glowing white stone, taking up the entirety of the cavern floor, but not the walls.