Spaced Out

"Oh hardy har-" SharpMan looked around, only stopping to shake his head. "Sure, don't let me get in a word edgewise! Rude!"

"If anyone's a paragon of politeness, it's you, definitely."

"You're lucky I'm excited this area's new to me, or else I'd quit right now!" Speaking of which...yeah, this was definitely NAXA's area. It was pretty hard to get more space themed than this..."And since I know you're wondering, yes, it does feel good to be the first Whazzapian in space!" Of course, since it was a good idea to employ the buddy system in the depths of space, his newly faithful companion materialized at his side, taking a moment to eagerly look around, what with it being its first time in the Net as a sentient being. "Relax! And don't go straying away! Viruses will gang up and inflict some serious pain on you! You won't die or anything, but it's not pleasant. So stay close to me until I say otherwise!" With that, the bladed Navi proceeded, with his fiery assistant close behind, though both were making sure to look around before they'd have to shift focus to more...traditional sights.

(Searching for Battle #1)

Taking his pet along with him, SharpMan went and searched for some familiar things to kill. It didn't take long before they arrived at a roundabout in the road, splitting up their choices of pathways into three instead of one. However, before they could proceed, they'd have to deal with the viruses hovering in the middle of the roundabout. A giant-headed alien scowled at them as it raised its teeny hands towards two orbiting satellite spheres around it. The alien's giant cranium sparked with electricity as it fired off a warning shot in front of the duo, in the form of a bolt of lightning from the brain. The spheres also did the same, but instead of firing off any projectile, they just straight-up lunged towards the two.

-- ENEMIES --
Invader: 110 HP
Sparky A: 100 HP
Sparky B: 100 HP

-- ALLIES --
SharpMan.EXE: 150 HP
Spikey.SP: 40 HP

-- TERRAIN --
60% Metal (Roundabout)
40% Missing (Hole in the middle, all viruses here)

-- BATTLE 01, READY? START!! --

"Hmm..." SharpMan squinted at the virus trio, having encountered a situation he hadn't been in in some time. "The Sparky are obvious, but what's with that alien thing? Never seen it before."

"My guess is that it's new, and someone thought it'd be funny to make a psychic alien that fires its own synapses at things. It's ugly as hell, but that bolt was pretty quick. Be careful."

"Easier done than said..." The bladed Navi shifted his gaze below the viruses, and the endless abyss beneath them. "I couldn't get in range of them right now if I wanted!"

"Yes, we may need to employ THOSE here...though to be fair, it's not out of spite in this situation, but necessity."

"Meh!" Continuing his odd pattern of looking at things without trying to slash them apart, he looked over at his new SP, who happening to be growling at the viruses. "As for you...don't even think about contributing! You'll barely put a dent in them, and if they hit you, you're history for a while! Just survive, and we'll all be happy!"

"Arf!" The not-really-a-virus turned to eye the viruses, preparing to avoid whatever electrical based hazard came its way. It might have been very young, but at least it knew how to take orders.

"Heh, good! But, let's help you out a bit...Hector, you know what I'm thinking right now!"

"But of course." Time for a bright, shiny new chip. "BattleChip, Barrier! Slot in!"

SharpMan placed his hand over his SP, causing a translucent blue sphere to surround the latter. It didn't even seem to blink at the sudden blue tint everything acquired, still bent on pleasing its master by not taking a single HP of damage.

"Focused little thing, isn't it? At any rate, you should focus on making their numbers dwindle. Not with THAT, of course, but something you actually don't mind using...BattleChip, Boomerang! Slot in!"

Deciding to take the default form of the attack, the Navi's right hand transformed, becoming something...odd, and clothespinlike. Loosely attached to the 'mouth' was a large wooden boomerang, perfect for Elec enemy destruction due to its innate grounding properties, and inability to conduct electricity. A definite pro of wood based projectile weapons over metal based ones. At any rate, execution was as simple as rearing back slightly, get the projected path to overlap with the enemies, and fling it! All in the wrist, baby. All in the wrist.

Now, that said, there was always the off chance something avoided the weapon, and he was standing on metal, which definitely made electricity hurt something awful. As much as he really hated the idea, he had little choice but to play it safe, and join his dog in evasion as sparks flew...well, probably Sparky, but also actual sparks.

[Order of Turn:

SharpMan:
1-Barrier chip on Spikey (S, 10 HP Barrier)
2-Boomerang1 chip attack on Invader, SparkyA, and SparkyB (60, Wood, B, Arc Attack)
3-Dodge
4-Dodge

Spikey:
1-Dodge]

(MASSIVE BUMP)

The boomerang flew down into the giant hole in the center, traveling at an arc, starting with the Invader. Despite its apparent ugliness, it was able to evade the attack, but the other two Sparkys wasn't so lucky as they were cut down. The Invader held its giant head with both hands and fired a psychic-laser at SharpMan, catching the navi completely off guard due to the sheer strangeness of the method of attack, along with his Spikey when the laser bent to the Invader's will.

-- ENEMIES --
Invader: 110 HP
Sparky A: DELETED
Sparky B: DELETED

-- ALLIES --
SharpMan.EXE: 130 HP
Spikey.SP: 40 HP [Barrier Destroyed]

-- TERRAIN --
60% Metal (Roundabout)
40% Missing (Hole in the middle, all viruses here)

"Urgh!" Even though that virus was nice enough to show him exactly how it attacked earlier, he STILL got hit. ...And wait, his SP's barrier was gone too? So it hit both of them? Urgh. "Yeah, that freak's gonna be a pain. Especially since I refuse to use you know what!"

"Well, it's a good thing that's not all of our long range Wood attacks, now is it?" Seriously, they were super lucky with getting them late. Boomerang, CornShot...and that other one. "First, let's get your properly set up. BattleChip, PanelGrab! Slot in!"

The ground beneath SharpMan glowed in a white square pattern, then blue, then red. As it became red, however, the Navi found himself shrouded in energy, which, oddly enough, was making it easier to focus and track down the Invader's movements before him. He was perfectly fine with that...but why was it called PanelGrab? It didn't really grab anything...

"All set...now, strike! BattleChip, NeedleCannon! BattleChip, Attack+10! Double slot in!"

The bladed Navi's hand vanished, replaced with a large buster-like gun that was quickly pointed at the alien virus. As soon as it was properly aimed, a series of large white spikes rapidly fired from it, each with a small green aura surrounding it, signifying an increase in power. Simple, and the numerous projectiles made dodging the whole thing extremely difficult. The battle should be in the bag...or so the Navi thought. But at the same time, he'd seen more ridiculous things before...

And as for his SPikey, it remained ever on the look out, refusing to let itself get mind blasted now that its protection had vanished...

[Order of Turn:

SharpMan:
1-PanelGrab chip on SharpMan (S, raises accuracy of all attacks this turn by 1 rank
2-NeedleCannon1 chip attack on Invader (10+10, Wood, B(+1), hits 8 times)
3-Attack+10 chip attached to NeedleCannon1 (+10 to all hits of attached chip)
4-Dodge

Spikey:
1-Dodge]

Needless to say, the last Invader virus stood no chance against the bullets that rained down on it, causing the big-headed virus to explode into harmless data and leaving behind the reward...Inside the hole. Luckily, the reward was condensed into a data crystal and quickly fluttered out from the hole and into SharpMan's reach.

-- ENEMIES --
Invader: DELETED
Sparky A: DELETED
Sparky B: DELETED

-- ALLIES --
SharpMan.EXE: 130 HP
Spikey.SP: 40 HP [Barrier Destroyed]

-- TERRAIN --
60% Metal (Roundabout)
40% Missing (Hole in the middle, all viruses here)

-BATTLE WON!-
450z + 16 Bugfrags

"Awesome. I can't even use my swords and I STILL won no problem. That's the power of-"

"Auoooooooooooooo!!!"

"What the?!" SharpMan pivoted towards his SP, prepared for an ambush...only to notice that it was now glowing a bit. With a second howl, it absorbed small bits from around the battlefield, before dissipating its aura. "SPs ain't my strong suit...what happened?"

"It absorbed some remaining BugFrags from the enemy. They'll remain dormant inside of it, until we use them to modify it. You know, power it up."

"Nope, didn't know. So, it gets stronger with BugFrags? Weird. Then again, I've heard weirder!" With a snap of his fingers, the crystal of cash data vanished to the depths of his assigned PET, then signaled for his SPikey as he ventured along, searching for a place with fewer inconvenient holes...

(Searching for Battle #2)

SharpMan and his new best-companion continued making their way around the NAXA network, coming across a field of glowing panels are far as they could see. Like some electronic-prairie, the scenery was quiet relaxing and enjoyable...But some pests came long the way.

EleBalls and EleBee viruses appeared and quickly surrounded the navi and the SP, hovering in circles as they prepared to strike!

-Scattered Annoyances-
EleBallA: 80 HP
EleBallB: 80 HP
EleBeeA: 90 HP
EleBeeB: 90 HP

Terrain: 100% Solar

SharpMan.EXE: 130 HP
Spikey.SP: 40 HP

-BATTLE TWO, START!-

Calm, serene, nothing but purple virus-like dogs and solar panels around...boring. "What, was that the only three viruses in the entire area?"

"Heh...give it a minute. You'll find something."

"I know, I know!" At this rate, though, he was going to stab the panels and see if any zenny came out. "...Mmm?" Ah, finally. Pairs of EleBall and EleBee were now surrounding him, up for a fight. "About time! So, Hector, how shall we destroy?"

"You look bored, so we'll make things last by having you wipe them out, one virus at a time. How's that?" Also, he was feeling lazy, so it meant he only had to send over one chip. "BattleChip, BambooKnife! Slot in!"

SharpMan's arm blades began to glow a gentle green, smirking as he looked over the targets. But, he couldn't just leap into action this time...instead, he looked over as his canine companion. "You need to just hang around and worry about avoiding those bugs! Don't worry about the other two, just focus on the EleBee!" The purple Spikey barked, signaling its acceptance of the command. If he turned around and looked at it, he'd see it warily eying the specified viruses, more than eager to try and hop out of the way of charging stingers...

Instead, his focus was purely on the viruses circling them. Sure, he could probably rush over to each one and carve it up, but that took too much effort; he had a much simpler answer. He still had to move, and quickly headed for the edge of the enemy perimeter...then stuck out his right arm blades, and began to make one circle around it. He tried to adjust for any evasive maneuvers, of course, but with some luck, they'd speed right into his edges, making his job nice and simple. And if they stopped or something...meh, he could probably expend SOME effort if he had to, and run around trying to knock his blades into them. After, he did need them nice and dead, so they couldn't do the same to him. Or at least make him tingly from being shocked something fierce. That didn't work for him.

[Order of Turn:

SharpMan:
1-BambooKnife chip attack on EleBallA (60, Wood, A, Slashing)
2-BambooKnife chip attack on EleBallB (60, Wood, A, Slashing)
2a-Swordplay subtype ability (passive dodge)
3-BambooKnife chip attack on EleBeeA (60, Wood, A, Slashing)
4-BambooKnife chip attack on EleBeeB (60, Wood, A, Slashing)]

Spikey:
1-Dodge]

Despite their small bodies, the viruses simply stood no chance against SharpMan's unparalleled swordsmanship as he began to cut them down one by one with his green blade. The EleBalls floated idly and was easily cut down before they could fully charge up for their attacks, but the EleBees actually tried to fight and resist their attacker.

One zipped straight towards SharpMan, but missed and got sliced up for it, and the other was successful in stabbing its stinger into the navi's chest...But it was also cut down in the process. The battle was over in a flash, and the two could continue enjoying the peaceful sight of the electric prairie...Supposedly.

-Scattered Annoyances-
EleBallA: DELETED
EleBallB: DELETED
EleBeeA: DELETED
EleBeeB: DELETED

Terrain: 100% Solar

SharpMan.EXE: 110 HP
Spikey.SP: 40 HP

-BATTLE WON TOO QUICKLY!-
600z + 17 Bugfrags

Aside from the part where he got stabbed by a virus, completely flawless. Retracting his blades, SharpMan snapped his fingers, causing all the money data to vanish to accounts more relevant to himself. "Pathetic! Just a single lucky shot? I thought I read that this place was supposed to be hard!"

"As always, you know how to jinx a good thing." Luckily, his Navi made it up with another good thing, called money. "Granted, I wouldn't expect anything less from a Navi of your caliber."

"Neither would I! C'mon, you, I have more of the universe to conquer!" With one gesture, the bladed Navi got his SP to get in line, dutifully following him as they ventured farther into the deep darkness of space...or they would've, but Solar panels. Kind of a mood killer, really...

(Searching for Battle #3)

Venturing deeper and traveling along that very well lit terrain, it really was a bad mood killer, but up ahead some hope was finally visible, for off in the distance he could see the vast darkness of space beyond the edge of that yellow brick road glowing road. Sadly as he got closer he'd see that road ended with a shining metalic line, and what seemed to be two cannons watching a poor little bombing boy fail in attempts to throw his bomb blocks are two spinning cubes floating just beyond the edge of the road.

Of course upon being spotted those cannon towers turned around, revealing they were protected by a shield plate that promptly closed up while the BombBoy turned and decided to try and take out his frustrations on the new pair of intruders.

Viruses:
BombBoy: 80HP (Metal)
CannonGuard A: 60HP (Metal)
CannonGuard B: 60HP (Metal)
DBLCUBE A: 100HP (Red) (Missing)
DBLCUBE B: 100HP (Blue) Missing)



Terrain:
20% Missing (Behind Viruses)
20% Metal (Line between Solar and Missing)
60% Solar


Good Guys:
SharpMan.EXE: 110HP (Solar)
Spikey.SP: 40HP (Solar)

--Battle 3, Start!--

"Yawn! You know, once you get past the space theme, this is boring!"

"Yes, but I-"

"...What? Hector?"

"...Change of plans. SharpMan, jack out."

"Wha...?...Understood." The only time Hector was THAT terse...that meant it was time to shut up and follow orders to the letter. With that in mind, the bladed Navi began to run away from the viruses, to provide a safe distance to jack out. He hated to turn his back on something so cuttable, but if he knew his operator, there were more pressing concerns. And of course, his Spikey pal was quick enough on the uptake to join his fleeing, and just like him, knew not why it was doing so, and only that it needed to do so...

[Order of Turn:
ALL - Flee]

Run run run, as fast as you can, don't worry they can't catch you, they don't even try. And with that sudden impression of Brave Sir Robin a marathon runner, Sharpman and his little puppy both escape to safety.

Viruses:
BombBoy: 80HP (Metal)
CannonGuard A: 60HP (Metal)
CannonGuard B: 60HP (Metal)
DBLCUBE A: 100HP (Red) (Missing)
DBLCUBE B: 100HP (Blue) Missing)


Terrain:
20% Missing (Behind Viruses)
20% Metal (Line between Solar and Missing)
60% Solar


Good Guys:
SharpMan.EXE: 110HP (Solar)
Spikey.SP: 40HP (Solar)

--Battle 3, Escaped!—