In Her Element

A bright green orb emerged from the ground, dissipating as Terra and Carbide stepped out into the network. "Woooooow!" exclaimed Carbide, as she looked up at all the trees surrounding them. It clearly looked quite different from the vast expenses of network they were used to; it was modeled exactly after a forest. The telepad under them barely looked like one as it was camouflaged into the ground to look like nothing more than a dirt circle.

"Is this what they meant by environmental redesign? Wow, it sure looks fancy," commented Scarlet, as she appeared in a screen besides Terra. The Navi didn't really say anything, but her eyes were wide open, looking around in clear wonder. She looked down at the ground, and scraped at it with her boots. Terra inhaled sharply as she closed her eyes.

Carbide tilted her head to the side as she looked at her unmoving Navi. "Terra?" After her name was called, she opened her eyes again, and looked to her side at Carbide.

"... Let's go," she murmured, a smile on her face. Carbide grinned mischievously as she trekked down a wide path, leading from the telepad.

[Requesting Battle 1. Terra.EXE: 170 HP / Carbide.SP: 70 HP]
As much as the path was initially broad and clear, it tapered away into soft grass only a short distance from where Terra had entered the net. Perhaps it was intended more as a rough direction guide than a true road? The only thing it seemed to point towards at the moment though, was the gradual shift into a progressively more wooded area, and it wasn't long before there were trees quite close, all around.

It would have been a lovely, refreshing stroll in the woods, with a clean, fresh breeze and soft sounds of various woodland life going about its business in the background... except that some of that woodland life was noticeably closer, and quite distinctly perturbed by the new arrival.

Peeking from between several of the nearby trees, some of the low growing bushes peered at her, then ducked away again. They seemed startled, and one even blinked out from behind its tree to unleash a hastily rolled log towards her. Unfortunately for that Shrubby, the log stopped almost at once, clunking into the base of another tree right by where it had attacked from. How embarrassing. From up high in the same tree, a Bandcoon chittered with amusement, but fate being what it is, the little thing was so amused it slipped and fell to the ground a moment later, its laughter turned to much angrier sound effects.

-=Ruffled Forest-Dwellers=-

ShrubbyA: 50Hp [Behind TreeC (left hand side)]
ShrubbyB: 50Hp [Behind TreeB (right hand side)]
ShrubbyC: 50Hp [In Front, Exposed]
Bandcoon: 60Hp [Beside ShrubbyC]

-=Allies=-

Terra.Exe: 170 HP
Carbide.SP: 70 HP

-=Terrain=-

100% Grass, except for the trees.

Terrain Objects

Trees A-F: 100Hp, Wood., scattered about the area more or less evenly.


-=Battle 1, Start!=-
"Seems like that wasn't really a road. Sure is some thick forest," said Carbide, as she looked about the trees. "They even added some animal sound effects, though, that's really some attention to detail!" The SP hummed a little tune, trying to match the sounds of the virtual birds in the background. Terra was similarly enjoying the environment, the smile on her face from earlier still present. "... It's relaxing," the Navi remarked, closing her eyes as her every footstep listened to the sound of the earth beneath her.

However, it didn't last long, as the thumping of a log rolling towards her interrupted her calm. Fortunately, the log hit a nearby tree, which stopped its advance. "Uwah!" jumped Carbide, as she had just noticed it by its sound. Instinctively, she produced a shield, and stood in front of Terra, waiting for an attack. Terra opened her eyes. She had sensed three nearby, though, she felt like that wasn't all. Of course, that was when the Bandcoon decided to drop onto the ground, much to Carbide's amusement. "Heh heh heh, serves'm right."

Meanwhile, Scarlet was watching the starting battle with a hint of mischief in her eye. Scrolling through her folder list, she tapped on one icon, and opened up the communication channel. She attached the message "Try growing it back after," to the sent battlechip, and snuggled back towards the bed's headboard, eager to watch the carnage.

Terra's battlechip protocol received the present without much delay, with a raised eyebrow. She looked in front of her at her protector, and made her decision. "... Carbide," she started. The SP glanced behind her. "Huh? Yeah?"

Suddenly, Terra seized her off the ground, and embraced her tightly against her bosom. "--?!!" Faced agains the adversity of a soft pillowy chest, Carbide's mental processes shut down for a moment, her voice speechless, as she tried to process what was going on. Meanwhile, oblivious to her support program's plight, Terra reached out slightly with her boot, and scraped the ground to clear the grass. The sole of her boot lit up with a red glow before she stamped down onto the grass.

It took a moment before the ground lit up with crimson lines, radiating outwards in circles of increasing size. Then, a loud sound racked their ears as explosions erupted from the circumferences, setting fire to the grass with an amazing pyrotechnics display. The fire didn't last too long, however; it receded quickly to reveal seemingly untouched soil underneath. The change felt light on her feet, and a greenish hue appeared to surround both of the programs, protecting them with the earth's blessing.

>> Summary
Ca-1// Sig: Terraskill: Reflex Guard 1, pointed forward >> 1-Hit Shield
Te-1// RP: Grab Carbide off the ground and hug tightly
Te-2// Chip: RedWave1 >> Fire 50, To-All-Ground, Lava +50, Acc A (+100% Grass)
Te-3// Sig: Terraform: Fertile Soil, radiating outwards >> Large Soil Terrain Change
Te-*// Sig: Terraskill: Earther Barrier 1 >> 20 HP Planar Barrier (Wood)
Te-4// Prepared Dodge (+10% Soil Evasion)
Carbide raises her shield in response to the sudden surprise, but clearly wasn't expecting the back attack of surprise hugs from Terra. Being lifted up, however, is enough to keep her safe from the fiery destruction that Terra is quick to unleash on the once-peaceful woodland. The exposed Shrubby, scrambling to retreat for cover once more, is thoroughly charred before it can get very far, while another isn't saved from the inferno by its tree, either.

The braver of the three plants, by a fortunate fluke of timing, blinks out from behind its cover, just before the flames reach it, to appear past the rolling line of fire for an attack. The log it rolls clunks away off target, and the Shrubby itself looks more than a little puzzled at the dramatic change in its surrounds form only a moment before. It should probably count itself lucky to have survived.

The Bandcoon rolls and dives, putting on a truly impressive display of agility as it makes towards the Navi and her SP. Unfortunately for it, the fates are all against the little critter, and Terra's attack zings it with an equally impressive precision jet of fire, mid-dive, before it can reach her. Poor thing.

As the fire passes through, Terra neatens things up by turning all the fresh the soil into... ah... more soil, and drawing up her barrier, which ought to protect her adorable little SP as well for as long as the impromptu bosom-squeeze lasts. By the end, the last shrubby standing is beginning to look truly terrified... not least, perhaps, because now all the Trees are On Fire! What has nature wrought!?

-=Ruffled Forest-Dwellers=-

ShrubbyA: DELETED
ShrubbyB: 50Hp [Exposed, Right-hand side]
ShrubbyC: DELETED
Bandcoon: DELETED

-=Allies=-

Terra.Exe: 170 HP [20Hp Planar Barrier (Wood)]
Carbide.SP: 70 HP [Carried][1-Hit Shield]

-=Terrain=-

100% Soil, except for the trees... which are ON FIRE!

Terrain Objects

Trees A-F: 100Hp, Wood., scattered about the area more or less evenly.
The Trees are now on fire. Direct contact will hurt.
Looking around at the fires that were still on the trees, Terra blinked in surprise. It seems as if she forgot something. "Oops, sorry, Terra, I didn't realize the trees were actually flammable too," said Scarlet, grinning sheepishly as she entered in a comms window. The Navi didn't seem too fazed, though, as she tilted her head in thought, looking at the lone Shrubby.

It looked pretty blitzed, considering all three of its comrades had just been turned into an impromptu barbie session. She noticed it was shivering when she felt something squirming against her chest. Looking down, she saw a nearly suffocated Carbide, being hugged nearly to death. She dropped the girl down, and Carbide stumbled to her feet. Her face was flushed red, and there was a strangely happy expression on it as well. "Ah... I nearly died happy..." she mumbled.

Terra looked both Carbide and the Shrubby, and turned towards the comms window. "... Scarlet, a MarkCannon?" she requested. "Sure, two coming right up," the operator chuckled, amused at the scene. Terra raised her hand at the last virus above Carbide's head, during which the chip transfer came in. Two pieces of earth revolved around Terra's fingers, and she made a gesture like a little gun at the bush. The MarkCannons were then fired, with small but deadly pieces of dense earth flying towards the enemy, making sure of a double-tap.

>> Summary
Te-1// Chip: MarkCannon1, to ShrubbyB >> Null 70, Seeking, Lock-On, Acc A
Te-2// Chip: MarkCannon2, to ShrubbyB >> Null 100, Seeking, Lock-On, Acc A
An accidental death by cleavage safely avoided, Terra put the last remaining Shrubby out of its misery with a couple of well-aimed shots. There was a moment, just before they connected, when the Shrubby tried to flee, backing away in a frantic, wide-eyed panic, but it was far too little in the face of its inevitable demise.

It was another short while before the burning trees began to smoulder out, though, curiously, a couple managed to char all the way through, and collapsed into small piles of charcoal, almost cartoonish in their neatness. Amongst the freshly turned soil and rising smoke, each of the viruses' thoroughly scorched data had collapsed into small amounts of zenny, except for the most recently deceased, which escaped the fire and reduced, instead, into usable chip data.

-=Ruffled Toasted Forest-Dwellers=-

ShrubbyA: DELETED
ShrubbyB: DELETED
ShrubbyC: DELETED
Bandcoon: DELETED

-=Allies=-

Terra.Exe: 170 HP [20Hp Planar Barrier (Wood)]
Carbide.SP: 70 HP [1-Hit Shield]

-=Victory Spoils!=-

600Z, RollingLog1, 11 Bugfrags

Quote (RollingLog1)


Damage: 50 + Ground Attack + Wide Attack (2) + Double Attack
Accuracy: C
Description: Rolls a log at enemies. Can hit up to two enemies at once per log.
Duration: Up to 2 uses before the end of the turn.
Element: Wood
Special: Double Attack: After spending an action to attack with this chip, you may choose to spend a second action and attack with it again before the end of the turn.
[Bugfrags s'il vous plait]

At the deletion of the last virus, Terra lowered her arm, and dusted off her hands. While the reward data was uploading, Carbide collapsed onto the ground with a goofy look on her face, as if she had just experienced heaven. "... Are you okay?" the Navi asked, nudging her side with a boot. The SP could only reply with a hazy skyward stare, giggling all the while. "I think she'll be fine," said Scarlet, grinning as she sorted the new battlechip into her folder; eight more to go! Terra shrugged in response as she walked onwards. Along the way, she picked up a piece of charcoal, keeping herself busy by making it dance about above her palm.

"Hey, wait, wait for meeeeeeeee!"

[Requesting Battle 2. Terra.EXE: 170 HP / Carbide.SP: 70 HP]
((Ack, sorry about that, clean forgot. Fixed for you!))


Moving on, it was hard not to notice that, though the trees at the source of the initial blaze had all burned out by now... the fire itself had spread, and spread. Oh dear... Moving away from the charred trees and fresh soil, Terra only succeeded in catching up with the slowly spreading forest fire as gradually thickening smoke clouds began to gather overhead.

There's a panicked chitter from ahead, followed by another, and more still. Dropping to the ground from several of the burning trees, an assortment of frightened spiders come pouring out of the burning woodwork, and scurry about at an eye-bending rate. This would probably be because they are all on fire, barely escaping the conflagrated blaze of their former tree-homes. A couple of them trail webs behind them with no control or order as they try, in vain, to escape the burning.

One of the spiders manages to string a web between two trees, but alas, one is burning, and the whole web promptly catches light too, creating a very intimidating mesh of fire in the gap. One of the other trees falls over, rather than turning to ash, though unlike the rest it seems to be hollow; there's a sparkle of green light resting on the stump of the fallen tree. What's Mystery Data doing there? The spiders don't know. The spiders don't care. One scuttles right over it leaving the crystal coated in sticky, icky webs.


-=Evicted Forest-Spiders=-

SpideyA: 80Hp [On Fire!][Eeee! Skitter-Skitter]
SpideyB: 80Hp [On Fire!][Eeee! Skitter-Skitter]
SpideyC: 80Hp [On Fire!][Eeee! Skitter-Skitter]
SpideyD: 80Hp [On Fire!][Eeee! Skitter-Skitter]
SpideyE: 80Hp [On Fire!][Eeee! Skitter-Skitter]

-=Allies=-

Terra.Exe: 170 HP
Carbide.SP: 70 HP

-=Terrain=-

45% Grass [Mostly the far end from Terra]
40% Soil [Mostly Terra's side of the area]
15% Coal [A few single panel spots, which were once trees]

-=Objects=-

Burning Trees A-C: 40Hp [Wood][Burning]
Not-Yet-Burning Trees A-C: 100Hp [Wood]

GMD: 25Hp [On a stump at the edge of the grass, about halfway across the area][Webbed]

-=Effects=-

[On Fire!] This Spider is on fire! It will take five burning damage each action (which, being wood, will double), and will also inflict five burning damage on anything that makes direct physical contact with it.

[Eeee! Skitter-Skitter] This spider is in a mad panic due to being on fire, and is dashing about erratically. Such is their unpredictable haste, that they are harder to hit.

[Burning] Burning Trees will take 5 damage each turn, due to being on fire (which will also double, being wood). Direct contact with a burning tree will inflict 5 points of burning damage. If a burning tree is reduced to 0Hp, it will burn down completely, leaving a coal panel where it stood.

-=Battle 2 Start!=-
"Erm... Looks like the fire's spreading," muttered Carbide, as she watched the smoke billow out into large clouds. Terra's brow furrowed as her eyes glanced over at Scarlet's comms screen. The operator was looking away with a sheepish look on her face as she scratched her cheek.

Terra sighed as she reached the edge of the slowly moving forest fire, listening to the sounds traveling beneath her feet. A few frightened arachnid viruses were scrambling through the area, headed right for them. "... Carbide," she called out. "Gotcha covered," said Carbide, flashing her a thumbs up. After the special treatment she had gotten a minute ago, she didn't have much mental capacity to do anything else. The sound of her black rock shield scraped against the ground as she occupied herself with the memory.

The spiders then started to skitter through, and Terra steeled her gaze-- but not at the viruses. "... Scarlet, IceZone, TankCannon," she requested. The operator's hand stopped over the MarkCannons, and she raised an eyebrow. "Oh? What're you planning, Terra?" she smiled, watching Terra's line of sight as she sent in the chips. Of course, the Krysarch scion knew exactly what her Navi was doing, but she was quite impressed nonetheless.

Meanwhile, the green warrior dug her heels into the grassy earth, and activated the chips as they came in. The grass around her soles quickly wilted, and a sheet of ice quickly spread out. Of course, this caught the unfortunate Carbide off guard. "Wha-- Whoa-aaaaaaagh!" she yelled, unable to maintain her footing and landing on her butt.

However, Terra seemed to hold her footing fine, even burrowing slightly into the mirror-like frozen ground, thanks to her FloatShoes program. She thrust her palms forward, and a blue wisp of vapor enveloped her bandaged arms. Then, out of thin air, a barrel of ice formed around them, and she fired the TankCannon forward. The fired charge, interestingly enough, was replaced by a pressurized load of water, which exploded as it reached the burning trees. "Hopefully that'll extinguish them," commented Scarlet to nobody in particular.

The ice dissipated as quickly as it came, as Terra called on her internal resources to shift it back to her home territory. The clear coating of water melted into the ground, leaving a soft, loamy dirt. The air around Terra's body glowed emerald as she widened her stance, ready to leap away from any retaliation.

// Summary
[Ca.*] Sig: Terraskill: Reflex Guard 1, pointed forward // 1-Hit Shield (Reinforced: +1 Hit)
[Te.1] Chip: IceZone, centered on self // Large Ice Terrain Change
[Ca.1] RP: Slip and fall on ass

[Te.*] Ability: Geomancer, on TankCannon // Use 10-40% Ice, Imbue Aqua
[Te.2] Chip: TankCannon1, on cluster of Burning Trees to extinguish fire // Aqua 80, Blast2, Acc C

[Te.3] Sig: Terraform: Fertile Soil, centered on self // Large Soil Terrain Change
[Te.*] Sig: Terraskill: Earthen Barrier 1 // 20 HP Planar Barrier (Wood)
[Te.4] Prepared Dodge (+10% Soil Evasion)
Terra and her slightly dazed SP remained unfazed in the face of skittering, flaming spiders, even as one of the panicking viruses dashed around behind the pair, leaving a sticky trial of web as it went. Carbide readied her shield in a reliable, if slightly distracted fashion as Terra herself proceeded to make hectic scene even moreso. Her poor SP took a tumble, just as another spider darted across in front of her, barely a hair's breadth away, though... wait, it wasn't running. It was spinning in uncontrolled circles as slid past, making tiny terrified sounds as it went. Even so, it left a rather loopy trail of web behind it.

Across the way, another of the spiders tried to change direction and failed, flipping over as it careened into one of the remarkably unscathed trees with a crash. Now they were both on fire.

Having had quite enough of this madness, Terra put her plan to extinguish the flames for good into action. A large portion of the ice surrounding her drew back in again, as she poured its elemental affinity into her TankCannon and let rip at the burning trees and everything else in a moderate radius.

The thought was there. Really it was. Unfortunately, those well-meaning thoughts were just a little bit too over-zealous for the trees to handle. The blast didn't quite get all the trees that were on fire, but where it did, only some very confused, very wet splinters remained. Life for a data tree had probably never been so upsetting. Only the most recently ignited tree managed to stand up to the brunt of the water blast, and then, only barely. It looked ready to crack and fall at a moment's notice.

On the bright side, even those trees that weren't the victim of overly-forceful extinguishing managed to get thoroughly sprayed in the fall off, and their flames were quenched too. Whew.

Trees weren't the only thing caught in the water-blast, though. Fetched up against one of the target trees, there's little one spider can do to stop itself being extinguished with extreme prejudice, while another, only just remaining its feet now that the ice underneath it had gone away, also caught the full force of the 'helpful' aqua blast. The third was dusted by enough mist to put its flames out, though the main force of water missed it. No longer burning, the virus took a moment to calm, then dashed off to take shelter behind one of the remaining trees, laying a patch of web behind it to cover its back.

Wanton destruction in the name of fire-fighting aside, Terra was quick to rejuvenate the land beneath her again, spreading what turned out to be both warm, and slightly moist soil over the area and completely covering over what remained of the icy patch she'd made before. Back on friendly ground, her barrier came up as well, oblivious to the last spider, which had spent the entire time running in a tiny terrified circle at the far end of the field, and completely missed everything... but its burning set fire to the grass it was on, hurting it more than usual and turning the land to soil everywhere it ran.


-=Evicted Forest-Spiders=-

SpideyA: 70Hp [On Fire!][Eeee! Skitter-Skitter][Soil]
SpideyB: THOROUGHLY EXTINGUISHED
SpideyC: THOROUGHLY EXTINGUISHED
SpideyD: 70Hp [Cover behind Tree E, near right hand side][Soil]
SpideyE: 60Hp [On Fire!][Eeee! Skitter-Skitter][Soil]

-=Allies=-

Terra.Exe: 170 HP [Planar Barrier(wood) 20hp][Soil]
Carbide.SP: 70 HP [2-Hit Shield (reinforced)][Fallen Down][soil]

-=Terrain=-

35% Grass [Mostly the far end from Terra]
65% Soil [Mostly Terra's side of the area]
5% Coal [One burned spot at the far end]

Spider Webs have been laid in front and behind Terra and Carbide, as well as several more areas around the middle and back of the area.

-=Objects=-

Trees A, C: OVER-WATERED
Tree B: 30Hp [Extinguished][Wood]
Tree D: 10Hp [Wood]
Tree E, F: 100Hp [Wood]

GMD: 25Hp [On a stump at the edge of the grass, about halfway across the area][Webbed][Wet][Very Lucky to be Intact]

-=Effects=-

[On Fire!] This Spider is on fire! It will take five burning damage each action (which, being wood, will double), and will also inflict five burning damage on anything that makes direct physical contact with it.

[Eeee! Skitter-Skitter] This spider is in a mad panic due to being on fire, and is dashing about erratically. Such is their unpredictable haste, that they are harder to hit.

Having extinguished most of the fire, Terra exhaled quietly. "That's a little more than I think was necessary. Good job, though, we put out the fire, at least," her operator commented, attempting to smooth over the fact that she was the originator of the fire in the first place.

"... Most of the fire," corrected Terra. The spider viruses were still hopping about madly, being on fire and all. It would've been difficult to hit those, but both of them knew moving enemies ended up just being better target practice. Without delay, Scarlet tapped on the screen in front of her and selected out a few suitable weapons for her Navi's arsenal. The PET beeped in the affirmative, and began to upload.

Carbide winced as she stood back up, rubbing her rear. "At least warn me first when you're doing that. I got my shorts dirty now," she complained, propping herself up with her granite shield.

"... I apologize," said Terra, as three spherical clumps of dirt began to revolve around her. Cracks began to appear on the spheres, emitting a weak glow as Terra uploaded Scarlet's battlechips into them. They then began to elongate and morph into floating turret barrels, each with varying details to suit either the MarkCannons or the Pulsar that they had received. Homing their sights onto each of the remaining three arachnid viruses, they began to emit a low hum before launching three separate energy orbs through the trees.

Carbide yawned involuntarily as she saw the salvo of armaments fly above her head. "Man, I get that I'm supposed to protect us, but it's no fun if you're wiping everything down. At least leave one for me," she complained, as she crouched slightly, readying her stored battlechip data in case one did escape her master's artillery strike. Both of them were ready to avoid any retaliatory attacks, with Terra refreshing her defenses and getting light on her feet.

// Summary
[Te.1] Chip: MarkCannon1, on Spidey A // Null 70, Seeking, Lock-On, Acc A
[Te.2] Chip: MarkCannon2, on Spidey E // Null 100, Seeking, Lock-On, Acc A
[Te.3] Chip: Pulsar1, on Tree E + Spidey D // Null 70, Acc A, Blast2 On-Hit-Object (Acc B)

[Ca.1] Chip: ElementalRage1, on any survivors // Wood 60, Line 3, Terrain-Element (Terrain: Soil)
[Te.*] Sig: Terraskill: Earthen Barrier 1 // 20 HP Planar Barrier (Wood)
[Te.4] Prepared Dodge (+10% Soil Evasion)
The initial fervour of the panic had begun to subside by now, more or less. two spiders still rushed about in a panic, seemingly trying to console themselves with what patches of grass they could find, laying web behind them as they went. Sadly for the highly flammable viruses, walking onto the grass while they were still aflame continued to be a bad idea.

It was probably for the best, then, That Terra sought swiftly to put the poor things out of their suffering with a series of precision shots, each one finding its mark despite the erratic, panicked movements of her targets. the one taking cover behind a tree had peeked out, with its eyes fixed on Carbide, but a moment later Terra's Pulsar reverberated off it's hiding place in a shock wave strong enough to shake it into junk data before it could do more than look.

Sadly, this meant that little Carbided didn't have anything left to use her own chip on, but on the bright side it had probably saved her from an icky webbing, and the small area of forest they were in was now settling back to quietude again. The black smoke from the trees had stretched overhead to creat a dark overcast look to the sky, and the rising heat and burning moisture had already begun to work their normal post forest fire effect; the first droplets of rain began to fall within moments.

All in all, this left Terra and her SP alone again, surrounding by badly damaged and burnt trees, a whole lot of sticky white spider webbing, and a Mystery Data that they would need to be careful about extracting, given its current state. If they chose to open it, the first of them to actually try and touch it would find herself swiftly covered in the webs that were strung over the data, but provided she didn't move or struggle too much, it would only take a little while for the other to get them off again without any harm.

-=Evicted Forest-Spiders=-

SpideyA: DELETED
SpideyB: THOROUGHLY EXTINGUISHED
SpideyC: THOROUGHLY EXTINGUISHED
SpideyD: DELETED
SpideyE: DELETED

-=Allies=-

Terra.Exe: 170 HP [Planar Barrier(wood) 20hp][Soil]
Carbide.SP: 70 HP [2-Hit Shield (reinforced)][soil]

-=Terrain=-

20% Grass [Mostly the far end from Terra]
75% Soil [Mostly Terra's side of the area]
5% Coal [One burned spot at the far end]

Spider Webs have been laid in front and behind Terra and Carbide, as well as several more areas around the middle and back of the area... but now that battle's over, they can probably negotiate their way around them without much danger.

-=Objects=-

Trees A, C: OVER-WATERED
Tree B: 30Hp [Extinguished][Wood]
Tree E, F: 30Hp [Wood]
Tree D: SONIC'D


GMD: 25Hp [On a stump at the edge of the grass, about halfway across the area][Webbed][Wet][Very Lucky to be Intact]

-=Battle 2, Victory!=-

Spoils: 850z, WhiteWeb1, 20 BugFrags

Open GMD?

"Good job, you two," said Scarlet, satisfied with the outcome of not having burned down an entire sector of the Okuden network.

With the smoldering remains of battle around their feet, Terra took stock of the situation for a few seconds, standing her ground with her barrier up. Her Support Program, meanwhile, had better ideas. "Yeah! Touchdown!" she yelled, throwing down the granite shield on her arm onto the ground, which stuck itself up into the soft soil on a sharp edge. It looked like some odd art piece as it slowly dematerialized with the cessation of her Navi's battle routine. Leaping towards the green crystal at the edge of the grass, she enthusiastically started to unpack it.

"Alright, I didn't get to fight anything, but let's have a look at that sweet green booty!"

"... Carbide, wait--" Terra started, but the damage had already been done, as the Green Mystery Data started to unravel its contents. Meanwhile, Carbide found herself having the opposite done to her, getting stuck in the webbing that had originally been encasing the crystal.

"H-Hey, what's this sticky stuff! Hey! Get it off me! Ahhh!"

"..." The Navi only had a cryptic expression on her face, while her operator sniggered in the background.

[Open GMD.]
Upon trying to get her hands on the Mystery Data, Carbide unwittingly sprung the web trap and got herself covered in sticky white strands that seemed unerringly good at getting just about everywhere. Ew. As long as she didn't dodge around too much, though, they weren't going to actually hurt or anything. Meanwhile, not waiting to help her SP out of her messy predicament, Terra watched the Md open up. It spun around, once, free of its webs, and throwing droplets of water everywhere, then slowed to a halt, before a split opened up across the centre. Unfortunately, it didn't seem like it was a good few minutes for Carbide; rather than a shower of zenny or chips, what emerged was a cloud of black smoke and laugh to send chills down any spine. As more of the crystal opened up, a pair of eyes looked out form the dark insides. This was not good...

The dark cloud spread swiftly over the area, then dissipated; as it cleared, it seemed that the Mimic had removed itself tot he far side of the area, and new viruses were springing up rapidly between it and them. Seemingly from the remains of every burned or splintered tree, a new virus appeared. Nearest them, a frill of leaves lifted up to extend a piranah-plant style head that weaved left and right as it looked at them. A second KillPlant sprang up a behind it and to the left. Back further at the right, just in front of the Mimic, a Viney popped up out of the ground, and another, this one directly behind Terra and Carbide. It was accompanied by a third KillPlant that looked like it was already getting ready to spit something at them. The pair were quite surrounded now, it seemed, and poor Carbide was still webbed in icky sticky spider webs.

-=Angry Greenlife=-

KillPlantA: 100Hp [Coal][Near Terra, In Front]
KillPlantB: 100Hp [Grass][Near Terra, Behind]
KillPlantC: 100Hp [Soil][About halfway between Mimic and Terra]

VineyA: 80Hp [Soil][Near Mimic]
VineyB: 80Hp [Grass][Behind Carbide]

Mimic: 200Hp [Grass][One full movement away from Terra]

-=Tricked Treasure-Seekers=-

Terra.Exe: 170 HP [Soil]
Carbide.SP: 70 HP [Soil][Webbed!][Next to Terra]

-=Lawn Warfare=-

20% Grass [Mostly at Terra's end of the area]
75% Soil [Progressively more towards the mimic]
5% Coal [One burned spot at the near end]

-=Effects=-

Webbed: As from Spidey, Web will deal damage per dodge, and can be removed by burning, cutting, or with an RP action.

-=Battle 3, Start!=-

Terra slowly walked over to where Carbide was getting herself in a bind. Her struggling was getting herself stuck even more, which was a bit of a funny sight to see. However, not so humorously, the green mystery data had decrypted itself, only to spew out an unwelcome-looking black smoke. Carbide's face went white as she saw the "treasure" that she had helped secure turn sour.

"Oh, that doesn't look good," said Scarlet.

"Ah! Waaah! What the heck is that?!"

"... Carbide!" exclaimed Terra, dashing forward to save her partner, right before the smoke expanded greatly, and a chilly laughter was heard. A pair of eyes revealed themselves from within the smoke just as it engulfed the entire area. Thankfully, it didn't seem to last long. The smoke cleared relatively quickly, and Terra rushed forward to find Carbide, who was still stuck in the web trap, and the crystal gone. The diminutive SP gave a sheepish grin, flaunting her hips out in some odd pose that she had conjured up.

"H-Hey, Terra, help me out here. I think I'm stuck."

Sighing, the Navi started on removing the sticky binds, one by one. "Oh, my hero-- Wait! Stop! Hahaha! That tickles!" Her SP continued to struggle every time she did a few, though, making it a lot harder for her to untangle the victim from the trap. "No, not there! Terra! Hey! Ow! That hurts!" Terra didn't seem like she was picky for time, though, seeing as the weird trapped crystal had vanished. She even looked like she was enjoying it, with a tiny smile peeking out from her normally blank expression.

With Carbide making so much noise, though, they both appeared to be oblivious that the rogue Mystery Data crystal had appeared a little ways away, and had brought friends. Her operator perked up.

"Uh, Terra? Heads up, you've got company."

"... Oh?" said Terra, as she picked out a few more strands of webbing from Carbide's arms. Looking around, a few crackles and snaps indicated that some scary-looking plants had sprouted from the ravaged greenery. However, her attention towards the viruses was short-lived, as she went back to untangling Carbide as though nothing was wrong with the situation. Her finger lifted up into the air to open up a brief text comms link to her operator, which disappeared as quickly as it came. Then, she went back to work on slowly picking away at web strands.

Her SP didn't seem as calm, though. "C-Could we maybe hurry it up?"

The Navi's eyebrows raised slightly. "... Why?"

"Those viruses are maybe looking a little dangerous."

"... Oh."

"What do you mean 'oh'?! Are your battle routines broken or something?! Those viruses don't look like they're going to wait around for us!" said Carbide. She turned to Scarlet, who seemed to find the entire situation endearingly funny, judging by her giggling. "Scarlet! What's so funny?!" The response she got was their operator holding back tears of mirth.

"Oh, no, no. Nothing. Nothing's funny," she said between pursed giggles, tapping a few keys on her holo-interface to send a few chips to her Navi.

"Is there something I'm missing heee--- Whoa!" said Carbide, before being rudely interrupted by something. In the time she had been panicking, Terra had severed the remaining webbing holding her down by transmuting the ground beneath them to liquid rock. The lava singed away at Carbide's boot soles as she was pulled up into a princess carry. It then started to gurgle violently, before suddenly erupting in all directions in a fiery wave of molten destruction. Soon after, the lava began to harden and freeze over as frost took over instead.

Meanwhile, throughout the fiery spectacle, Carbide watched the destructive forces with relatively little care about them. After all, she was being carried in her idol's arms, and had a pair of lovely pillows right next to her. Unfortunately, just as she was about to test the pillows' comfort in her hands, Terra's fist lightly knocked her on the head. "... Carbide, please use your battlechip to put out the flames and cover me," the Navi said. Carbide grumbled audibly as the faint blue hue of Terra's barrier started to envelop them. She didn't see any reason not to comply, however, as a burst of ice-cold water shot out from her hand. The ice in front of them then cracked open to reveal a grey shield made of rock.

// Summary
[Te.1] Sig: Terraform: Violent Magma, under feet // Large Lava Terrain Change
[Te.2] RP: Carefully pick up Carbide's webbed-up body in a princess carry
[Te.3] Chip: RedWave1, to all // Fire 50(+50 Lava), To-All-Ground, Acc A (+100% Grass)

[Te.4] Chip: IceZone, under feet // Large Ice Terrain Change
[Te.*] Sig: Terraskill: Earthen Barrier 1 // 20 HP Planar Barrier (Aqua)
[Ca.1] Chip: ElementalRage1, pick off stragglers and put out inevitable fire // Aqua 60, Line 3, Terrain-Element (Ice)
[Ca.*] Sig: Terraskill: Reflex Guard 1, pointed forward // 1-Hit Shield (Reinforce: +1 Hit)
The viruses weren't waiting for Terra and Carbide to have their fun, unfortunately, but the first one of fhte mark was the Mimic itself. It rotated once quickly, then opened up the angles of its prism body to spit a crackling ball of glitchy data our towards the Navi and her SP. It wavered in the air, circling, then made a pass at the two, missing broadly before looping back to try again.

Terra wasn't about to put up with any of this kind of nonsense, especially not after being denied her loot, and engulfed the are around her in a scorching sea of Magma. This burned the nearest plants, and Carbide got her toes scorched, but at least that took care of the remaining webs. Two of the KillPlants spat seeds towards the pair; the first missed, landed in the lava, and immediately burst into flames, but even as Carbide brought her protective shield around the to the front, the plant behind managed to nail Terra with its seed, right to the small of her back.

The rain had started to fall more heavily now, a stead fall that would have been a comfort to the burned plants, but instead just hissed and sizzled against the lava, creating steam without being enough to actually cool the terrain.

Writhing in agony in the lava, the nearest Viney wasn't able to do much, but the far one tentatively attempted a lock down on the girls. Far from the normal bursting vines, however, all that happened was that the far Viney recoiled up out of the ground with a tight, viral shriek, then presented its reaching vines just in front of its face, looking at the badly burned ends. That lave was a real problem for them, but Terra was about to make it worse.

Done with their shenanigans, she used the molten rock under her feet to boost the red wave that scorched and seared outwards, rapidly annihilating everything even remotely viral on the scene. there were no stragglers or survivors for Carbide to worry about, but as her navi replaced the lava with ice, she was able to quickly put out the few patches of fire that had sprung up from the potent attack.

There really wasn't anything left, at this stage. The rain was falling on ice now, creating amusing bounces of the droplets as they snap froze to tiny hail stones on contact. The Mimic had been destroyed, and in its place left behind a slightly more ethereal looking mystery data that was far safer to unravel. When they did, this time, it would reveal an extra bounty of zenny to go along with their battle spoils.

-=Angry Greenlife=-

KillPlantA: ALL
KillPlantB: THE
KillPlantC: FIRE

VineyA: ALL
VineyB: THE
Mimic: PAIN

-=Tricked Treasure-Seekers=-

Terra.Exe: 140 HP [Ice]
Carbide.SP: 70 HP [Carried]

-=Lawn Warfare=-

40% Ice [Centred around Terra]
60% Soil [The Rest]

-=Battle 3, Victory!=-

Spoils: 840z, Rope1, 33 Bugfrags.

MD: 2000z

Quote (Rope1)


Damage: 50 + Hold + Ground Attack
Accuracy: A
Description: A vine sprouts from the ground to grab and damage an enemy for three turns. Can be destroyed with Slashing or Fire attacks, or other RP-based solutions. Destroying the vine instantly ends its effects.
Duration: Three turns
Element: Wood


With the viruses all roasted to a carefully crafted crisp, Terra watched the ghostly-looking Mystery Data decrypt itself into proper reward data and disappear into the rainy background. Her long bangs soaked themselves over her eyes, prompting Terra to close her eyes and allow her other senses to roam through what the Okuden network had to offer. The heavy rain created a serene background to woodland sounds that squeaked and skittered faintly. Even the scents that came through, signifying the distinct atmosphere of the Okuden Valley's mountainside forest revitalized by rain. The ice under her feet was the sole outlier, though that was easily fixed with by Terra's command. Soon after, the ice melted away, leaving wet loamy earth pleasantly gathering beneath her boots.

"---!!"

Of course, her serenity didn't last very long, as Terra felt a jolt from sudden contact. She didn't really need to even open her eyes to figure out what was happening, though doing so presented her with Carbide's blissfully satisfied face nuzzling itself against the sizable chest portion of her wet leotard. However, she did nothing to deter the young girl's advances, except to pull Carbide closer towards her to shield her from the rain a little better. This had other side effects, of course, being that Carbide was now getting a further faceful of what she had already had. Judging from the muffled squeal, it didn't seem like she minded very much.

"Oh, I didn't expect that, Terra. You sure you don't want to drop her into the mud or anything?" teased Scarlet, watching the scene from inside a half-stolen blanket.

It took a while for Terra to respond, as the Navi closed her eyes again for a few moments before reopening them."... The sound of rain is very nice. I'd rather not interrupt it just yet," said Terra, meeting her operator's eyes with a knowing smile, as she started walking through the rain. The movement from the Navi's walking caused the girl in her arms to emit a few more noises at first, though they died down eventually. Meanwhile, Terra continued through the rainy Okuden net-forest, quietly hoping to herself that the next encounter wouldn't be too soon.

[Battle 4 - Ready.]
[Terra: 140 HP / Carbide: 70 HP]
There is much to be said for a moment of calm. Taking time out to appreciate the returned peace to the Okuden network, amidst the soothing sounds of falling rain and the natural stillness that accompanied it, Terra would hear very little of anything else other than the steady thrum of the downfall, saving only the occasional sounds of forest wildlife in the various distance. After the ruckus that they had both been a part of, and at least partially the cause of, a moment of calm was good for the soul.

It was debatable whether Carbide was actually appreciating the bounty of nature at this particular juncture, over simply appreciating the bounty of, well, Terra, but she seemed happy at least.

Terra herself was granted a few minutes of contented exploration while the rain continued, slowly gaining intensity as it went from a light dusting, to a steady fall, into full on downpour. Before long the slightly uneven floor of the landscape began to gain small puddles and not too far away, Terra would be able to hear the rush of a river, its flow picking up quickly as the rain continued. The river itself would come into view between the trees shortly after; there was a waterfall to Terra's left, up river a fair way, while the water course itself twisted and turned on its way past her current location. Quite close, on the near bend, part of the river spilled into a catchment that formed a small pool; the water swirled around lazily before flowing out again at the far side, at a much slower rate.

The sound of what were presumably happy viral noises came from three Mudfeesh, splashing and playing in the catchment; it really was more of a mud puddle at this point. One of them reared up, its gaping mouth gleeful as it wriggled, and... waved at her? Maybe? Before splashing back down and going around the swirling loop again.

On the other side of the river bank, between some rocks, a Shellgeek sat open, watching the rapidly flowing water and soaking up the rain. Its spear was pointed at the water's surface, like it was trying to fish perhaps. Just a little way up stream, at the base of the waterfall, a pair of large brown fungus also seemed to be making the most of the moist weather, bobbing gently to themselves with their caps held out broad.

It was a scene full of viruses, alright, but at the same time they didn't seem like they were being particularly destructive, or hostile. It would be up to Terra to decide how to approach this situation.



-=Playing in the Rain=-

MudFeeshA: 60Hp [Mud][In the water catchment, close to Terra]
MudFeeshB: 60Hp [Mud][In the water catchment, close to Terra]
MudFeeshC: 60Hp [Mud][In the water catchment, close to Terra]

MushyA: 80Hp [Grass][Left end of the field in relation to Terra, on her side of the riverbank, near the base of the waterfall]
MushyB: 80Hp [Grass][Left end of the field in relation to Terra, on the far side of the riverbank, near the base of the waterfall]

ShellGeek: 100Hp [Water][Edge of the river, far bank to Terra, roughly opposite her.]

-=Soaked to the Skin=-

Terra.Exe: 140 HP [Grass]
Carbide.SP: 70 HP [Carried]

-=Riverbank Respite=-

50% Grass [Terrain that is not the River]
30% Water [The river — runs in a winding courser directly across Terra's current path]
10% Soil [Several patches along the riverbank, especially at the edge of the muddy bit]
10% Mud [Small catchment area in a bend of the river]

-=Battle 4, Maybe?=-


// In the rain...

Ordinarily, any non-Aqua Navi would be, at the very least, inconvenienced by the heavy rain, but Terra seemed to be enjoying being soaked to the skin by the intensifying downpour.

While Terra explored the surprisingly detailed forestry of the Okuden Valley network, Scarlet used her PET's projection to display a part of what her Navi saw into her room. The rain contrasted sharply with the morning light that was starting to filter in through the tiny cracks between the blinds.

She often wondered what the original network designers did to mimic the real world so well. The history books showed a time when most public networks had very barebones designs, which, she figured, must have been very dreary to explore.

Meanwhile, Terra came across a rushing river, with a beautiful waterfall a little ways upstream and a catchment pool. An assortment of viruses presented themselves at her; one even appeared to wave at her.

Terra looked down at Carbide in her arms. It seemed like she had fallen asleep in the time she took to explore. With an errant trail of drool running from the side of her mouth, she looked a little less adorable than she had before. Nonetheless, Terra set her SP down near a slanted cliff, shaping it to create a small recess to shelter her from the rain.

Afterwards, she approached the mudfish-like viruses, shaping a small ball of clay in her hands as she did so. Then, crouching a reasonable distance away from them, she set the ball down, and rolled it towards the viruses in an attempt to invite them to play.
Approaching carefully seemed to draw the other Mudfeesh in to curious attention, as one by one all three of them wriggled up to the near edge of their mud puddle and watched Terra. She likely wouldn't be able to tell which one had first waved at her, unless she'd been watching closely the whole time, but for now a series of six tiny eyes peered at her cautiously. The fact that this navi wasn't immediately lashing out with battle chips was enough to mark her as a point of interest. One of them seemed more daring than the others and wriggled its way out of the pool, leaving a trail of mud behind as it did, in order to grab the ball and roll over onto its back with it. It rocked back and forth for a bit with it, fumbling, then threw it upwards. It came down a short distance away, rolling back towards Terra. The other two made small noises between themselves that might possibly have been amusement. It was kind of hard to tell with viruses, but it sounded entertained at least.

Across the river, the ShellGeek was still watching the stream flow past. suddenly it shot its dart into the waters, but came up empty after another a moment. while it reset its weapon, its eyes wandered across towards Terra and the Mudfeesh, taking a casual look at what they were doing. Upon taking note of Terra herself, it clammed up quickly, then, after several more long seconds, opened its shell just a crack to peek out and see why navi-generated destruction wasn't suddenly raining everywhere.

While Carbide continued to snooze, the Mushies up by the waterfalls bobbed happily. Were they... closer now? Maybe. They were both on the near side of the bank, certainly.


-=Playing in the Rain=-

MudFeeshA: 60Hp [Mud][Curious!]
MudFeeshB: 60Hp [Mud][Playful!]
MudFeeshC: 60Hp [Mud][Amused!]

MushyA: 80Hp [Grass][Left end of the field in relation to Terra, on her side of the riverbank, fairly close to the waterfall]
MushyB: 80Hp [Grass][Left end of the field in relation to Terra, on her side of the riverbank, near the waterfall]

ShellGeek: 100Hp [Water][Far bank to Terra, roughly opposite her.][Closed][Scared?]

-=Soaked to the Skin=-

Terra.Exe: 140 HP [Grass][Object of Interest!]
Carbide.SP: 70 HP [Soil][Sleeping!]

-=Riverbank Respite=-

45% Grass [Terrain that is not the River]
30% Water [The river — runs in a winding courser directly across Terra's current path]
10% Soil [Several patches along the riverbank, especially at the edge of the muddy bit]
15% Mud [Small catchment area in a bend of the river]