In Her Element

"Aww, wow, it looks like we missed a lot of them," said Carbide, peeking out from around her shield. The red barrier protecting her had mostly dissipated into thin air. The creation of the boiling lava under her feet was a bit surprising at first, but she oddly felt no reaction, as she only hovered slightly above the molten rock. Which was pretty neat, she didn't exactly feel like walking on that any time soon.

"Yeah, it didn't look like we did enough to really do anything," agreed Scarlet, as she observed the rather oddly numerous amount of viruses still walking. The fireworks from earlier were nice, though. She did observe the few carts that litered the wrecked battlefield, and picked out one of her chips that seemed like it would do the job well, along with another bit of a staple. "Let's do a bit of cleanup duty, then, Terra."

Terra nodded, and received the chips in turn, activating the first one in the queue almost immediately. The reaction clearly showed around her, as the lava around her feet started to ripple vigorously. She turned towards the closer enemies nearby, which included a floating purplish platform, and a giant robotic hand. With her targets set internally, a small rumble punctuated the attack, as a fast-moving shockwave then erupted forth towards the Needler. Its encoded movement would then redirect and home itself towards more enemies upon contact, like a lethally explosive underground worm.

The next attack would be a little less flashy, as a small clod of molten rock floated in front of Terra. She reached out towards it, and as soon as she touched it, its shape turned into an odd conical muzzle, with two thin wings beside it. The newly formed floating sculpture oriented itself towards one of the boxes near the blast site, and started to vibrate. Then, without warning, a sonic wave blasted forward from the muzzle, headed straight for the lockbox that had once been on one of the Needlers, which was now out of commission. Upon contact, it would spread out from the box as a pulsating sonic pressure wave, instantly deleting any of them that would be caught in the blast radius.

// Summary
[Te.3] Chip: WaveArm1, on NeedlerA // Null 80, Piercing, Ground Attack, Chain3, Acc A
[Te.4] Chip: Pulsar1, on LockboxB // Null 70 (Object-Triggered Blast2), Acc A(B)
Despite their less than stellar success with the previous attack, Terra and her SP weren't ready to wait for a counter attack just yet. The remaining Needler that had lifted off came flying towards Terra with the intent to needle her furiously, but it was met part way by the ground-rising wave that tore the ground and slapped the virus out of the air with great prejudice. The wave diverted towards the next nearest target, the Handy on the hill, tearing its way through the ominous DudBomb in the process. the dud exploded violently in response, but when the smoke cleared it didn't seem to had attacked anything, any more than blowing a great crater in the other hill. The handy, too, was long gone while the shockwave darted back across the field towards the two remaining miners. The nearest one squeaked, but it wasn't able to burrow away from the attack this time and was swiftly obliterated in a shower of earth and rocks.

Leaving the final virus to stew for a moment, Terra instead directed her final attack at the sealed lockbox, hammering it with a sonic wave forceful enough to rattle its hinges and disrupt its lock. the resulting wave also rebounded and shook the remaining integrity out of the poor Momogra as well, leaving the battle field cleared of viruses for now.

With the immediate need for violence solved, Terra and Carbide would be free to check on what exactly was going on here, if they wished. They could inspect the two damaged lock boxes, which wouldn't be too hard to pry open now, in their damaged state, or they could try and gather up some of the odd purple rock fragments for a closer look. Alternatively, they could get a closer look at the mining site itself to see if the blasted recess led anywhere.


-=Mining Without a Permit=-

MomograA: DELETED
MomograB: DELETED
MomograC: DELETED
HandyA: DELETED
HandyB: DELETED
NeedlerA: DELETED
NeedlerB: DELETED

-=Showing Off Their New Kit=-

Terra.Exe: 170 HP [Lava][The top left Hill... em... mini volcano?]
Carbide.SP: 70 HP [Lava][With Terra][2-hit Shield]


-=Due For An Audit=-

LockboxA: 20Hp [Near the base of the second hill, damaged enough to be pried open]
LockboxB: 30Hp [Near Blast Zone, damaged enough to be pried open]

CradleA: Spilled everywhere near the base of the other hill
CradleB: Spilled everywhere, near blast zone.

DudBomb: DETONATED

-=Battle 6, Victory!=-

Spoils: 1450z, 25 BugFrags
"There we go, good job," said Scarlet.

"I'm gonna go look at those boxes they were carrying!" said Carbide, as she bounded over to the dented box near the other hill. Terra watched idly as the SP attempted to pry open the box with her hands, standing back up over the lava that she had just unleashed on the hill under her. The lava slowly began to dissipate from under her, its color gradually dimming from the warm red from earlier into more subdued blackish soil.

From her terrain manipulation, she had accelerated the fertility of the soil into a volcanic loamy type. She watched Carbide struggle for a few more moments, before jumping down from the hill herself into the earlier blast crater. Her curiosity was on the crater itself, as she wondered what type of purple rock the viruses had been mining. Her guard was relatively let down as she bent down and picked up one of the rocks for a closer examination.

[Battle 7 - Ready?]
[Terra.EXE: 170 HP / Carbide.SP: 70 HP]
With the battle cleared and peace restored, Terra and Carbide were able to explore exactly what it was the viruses had been busy mining, or rather, blasting for. Carbide was the first to react, enthusiastic as ever, quickly prying open the first of the sealed lock boxes, now that they had been damaged enough to give way easily. What she found was an interesting collection of perfectly spherical stones, purple on the outside, just like the uneven ones that had been piled in the cradles and spilled across the ground. these ones seemed to have been stored away with care though, and they were all quite well rounded and smooth. They were clearly more than just stones, however, and if Carbide herself had any sense for it, or she was wise enough to bring some of them to Terra for examination, they'd discover that they were, in fact, perfectly formed thundereggs; a short way under the dull stone exterior, the centre of each sphere held crystalline structure reminiscent of very old data structures. The other rocks were likely far less perfected geodes of varying sorts, but these ones were both intact and useful. If she wished to, Terra could take and convert these fragments of data as useful material for Carbide — though a search of the boxes would also reveal one whose outer stone was only a milky, translucent purple, allowing sight at the crystalisation inside, which would make a nice keepsake for either of them if desired.

((Terra/Carbide may receive 10 Bugfrags worth from the lockboxes, and a single clear-shelled thunderegg for a keepsake if desired)))

Before they had much time to make any further inspection than this, however, there came a deep rumble in the ground beneath them. Terra would likely notice the sensation first, but suddenly the solid earth beneath them hollowed out; the sensation was like a broad opening of the earth, travelling from east to west, deep beneath them, creating a tunnel. If it was a creature, though, and no a natural effect of some sort, then it was huge. It was also fast. the hollowing out approached, passed underneath them, and continued all in the space of a handful of seconds, and then the small patch of blasted ground they were standing on gave in.

The fall was inevitable for both of them, but amidst the collapsing earth it wasn't particularly dangerous to either navi or SP. They would find themselves, upon landing and sorting themselves out, in a deep, broad tunnel, with the gap in the earth overhead the only real source of lighting, filtering down to them from the ragged edges of the hole. The tunnel walls were themselves riddled with holes, such that aside from the main thoroughfare, it seemed like they were in some kind of warren, or cheese-block structure, but the broad tunnel itself was definitely freshly formed. There wasn't a lot of extra time to examine the surroundings, though, as a variety of disturbed viruses were beginning to swarm out of the various holes and gaps in the tunnel wall.

The first and most obvious threat coming to inspect the situation was a very large, green anaconda, segmented body emerging from one of the larger side passages and snaking towards the pair swiftly. Behind them, the sound of disturbed shrieking heralded a trio of pulsebats flitting madly along the ceiling of the tunnel. Much closer, on either side of Terra and Carbide, two swarms of buzzing skeeters buzzed near the ground, close to the damp earth. finally, from further up the tunnel than the pulsebats, a single grumpy-looking armadill shuffled into the wider space, looking around for a moment before deciding that Terra and Carbide had obviously offended it somehow. It huffed once and began sighting them to line up a charge. There was barely time to take it in, but there was one other source of light; a faint green glow in a small hollow near the ceiling of the tunnel, on the left wall.


-=Not Expecting Visitors=-

Anaconda-W: 200Hp [Soil][Directly ahead of Terra, body segments to its left, and behind]
PulseBat Ex A: 120Hp [High Altitude][Behind Terra, middle of the tunnel, near ceiling]
PulseBat Ex B: 120Hp [Soil][Behind Terra, middle of the tunnel, closer to the floor]
PulseBat Ex C: 120Hp [High Altitude][Behind Terra, middle of the tunnel, near ceiling]
Skeeter A: 30Hp [Soil][To Terra's Left]
Skeeter B: 30Hp [Soil][To Terra's Right]
Armadill Ex: 130Hp [Soil][Behind Terra][1 Movement Away]

-=Unexpected Drop-Ins=-

Terra.Exe: 170 HP [Soil][Middle of the tunnel]
Carbide.SP: 70 HP [Soil][With Terra]

-=Not Like This a Minute Ago=-

100% soil

Field is a broad tunnel, wide, but stretching into the distance in either direction. Further off it seems to curve downwards, into the earth, in both directions. The walls of the tunnel have many gaps and holes in them.

-=Not hidden any More=-

GMD: 35Hp [In a small alcove near the ceiling of the tunnel, ahead of Terra, on the left wall]

-=Battle 7, Start!=-
"Hrgggggh!" grunted Carbide, as she struggled to open up the boxes. Thankfully, after a little bit of elbow grease, they flung open rather easily, granting access to the wonders inside... not? "What the heck, what are these things?" said Carbide, lifting one of them up to the light filtering through the trees. Besides being of a nice-looking purple color, it didn't look like they were of any use. Carbide rapped lightly on the surface, to see if it was some kind of egg, but the response wasn't as hollow as she had expected.

"Bah, let's see if anything else is buried under all these," said Carbide irritatedly, as she tossed the smooth rocks over her head, with her innate earth manipulation ability causing them to soar much further than a girl of her stature would be able to fling them. All of them landed somewhat in Terra's vicinity, though not far enough that any of them were really in danger of hitting her. It did get the attention of the Navi, however, who curiously picked one of the rocks up, and closed her eyes as she explored through its structure. Drawing her fingers across its smooth surface, she caused it to part like a grotesque eyeball, and extracted some kind of odd data formation from it. Her eyebrow raised as the data formation dissipated into the air, immediately registering as a datastream that flowed through the air subtly towards Carbide. Her attention was then directed towards the rest of the rocks that had been thrown her way.

"Oh, this one finally looks actually good!" yelled out Carbide, as she took out a particularly beautiful specimen, with a translucent covering instead of an opaque one. Holding it up caused the formation inside to show off all of its brilliant facets and colors, mirroring Carbide's expression as well. Her legs excitedly brought her to Terra's side as she leapt over, clutching the pretty rock in her arms.

"Terra! Look at thi-- whaaa!"

Unfortunately for Carbide, she didn't really quite manage to stick her landing with the leap into the crater, dropping the rock as she landed with a rolling tumble some distance away. Right as the geode tumbled onto the ground, however, Terra tensed up, and looked about frantically, before a deep rumbling shook their footing. Carbide sat up from her landing, doing much the same. "W-What's going on?" she asked. Terra had more of an idea of what was happening, but all she did for the moment was widen her stance slightly. She realized what was going on as the ground unexpectedly hollowed out beneath them and tried to dive for Carbide. However, it was too late to do anything, as the hollow caved in under the weight of the surface.

Luckily, the programs that allowed them to interact with the terrain safely somewhat mitigated their fall. Terra rolled into her landing, and Carbide simply allowed the fall to store into her legs as elastic potential, springing into a leap to expend it to jump over Terra's head.

"How much energy does Carbide even have now? Jeez, Terra," said Scarlet, as she appeared in a floating screen. "Are you two all right?"

Terra glanced over at Carbide, who (after glancing back once at Terra) seemed to be more interested at their surroundings than her Navi's wellbeing. "... I think we'll be fine."

"What is this place?" said Carbide, appearing to not have caught what Scarlet had said, surveying the area as Terra got to her feet. The Navi did the same, though not with her eyes. Scraping her feet against the rough ground, the earth told her of the labyrinthine properties of the holed-up area. It would have fascinated her more if it didn't also tell her that there were quite a few viruses that were heading their way.

"... Shield up, Carbide, we're going to bunker down," said Terra, as she dug her heels into the dirt.

Carbide lit up at the statement. "All right!" she yelled, as she stamped down on the ground, bringing up a pillar of black rock. She picked it up, and leapt to Terra's side, just as the viruses started to swarm out. Among them, Scarlet counted snakes, bats, skeeters, and an armadillo for good measure.

The operator whistled. "You think you can avoid most of that? Or do you want to go all-out on them?"

"I want Terra to shoot those bats down!" chimed in Carbide.

Terra simply nodded silently, as she glanced towards the screen. Scarlet sighed, and picked out a trio of battlechips from her selection. "Good luck."

With the battlechips downloaded into her systems, Terra immediately got to work, as her boot shifted slightly on her stance. Red lines snaked down her legs onto the ground, cracking open the terrain as a flood of lava burst forth. With the molten rock spreading out beneath their feet, a glowing red sphere lit up around Carbide's body. The SP looked back, and flashed a thumbs up as she raised the rocky shield, ready for her Navi's assault.

Terra held out her hand, and activated the first of the battlechips. Within her palm, a black space anomaly formed almost instantaneously, growing to about the size of a large beachball. It started to lazily drift towards the PulseBats. Both of the programs felt their gravity pull at their feet heavily as it traveled at a snail's pace. While it did its work, the lava pool that had formed beneath their feet sneakily expanded its initial cracks everywhere.

It took a short period of time before the entire area was completely covered in the cracks, and erupted with plumes of fire. The explosion settled down quickly enough, and a small cube made out of dirt revolved briefly on top of Terra's head. Holes appeared within its sides, flashing red and green intermittently, before settling on one, and distributing its effects.

// Summary
[Ca.*] Sig: Terraskill: Reflex Guard 1, on self (1(+1) Hit Shield (Reinforce))
[Ca.1] Act: Defend Terra (Redirect one hit to self)
[Te.1] Sig: Terraform: Violent Magma, around self (Large Lava Terrain Change)
[Te.*] Sig: Terraskill: Earthen Barrier 1, on Carbide (20 HP Planar Barrier (Lava/Fire))
[Te.2] Chip: GravityHold1Damage: 50 + Piercing + Altitude Change
Accuracy: D
Description: Creates a gravity well that penetrates obstacles. There is no limit to how many enemies this attack can hit, but as it moves very slowly and in a straight line, it is easily dodged.
Duration: Once
Element: Null
Special: Altitude Change: Forces all battle participants out of High Altitude or Submerged status, regardless of whether or not it hits them. This effect cannot be avoided.
Trader Rank: D
: 50 + Piercing + Altitude Change (Acc: D) to PulseBat EX A/B/C
[Te.3] Chip: RedWave1Damage: 50 + Ground Attack + To-All-Clause (Others) + Lava Terrain Boost 50
Accuracy: B
Description: Creates a wave of lava to burn everything and everyone other than the user, even their allies. Can be jumped over, but requires perfect timing. More effective if there is lava in the vicinity to fuel it.
Duration: Once
Element: Fire
Trader Rank: D
: 50 + Ground Attack + To-All-Clause (Others) + Lava Terrain Boost 50 (Acc: B), to all (Pathfinder: +Accuracy)
[Te.4] Chip: DBLBeam1Damage: Special
Accuracy: S
Description: Summons a DoubleCube that fires either a Red Beam or a Blue Beam, then vanishes.
Duration: Once
Element: Null
Special: Randomly uses one of the below effects...
- 40 Null to all Enemies (Red Beam)
- 30 Heal to all Allies. Random (Blue Beam)
Trader Rank: D
: 40 + To-All-Enemy / Recover 30 + To-All-Ally (Acc: S)
Dropped into an unexpected situation, Terra and Carbide were quick to form up and stake sock of the situation, with the smaller SP readying her defences while Terra set about levelling the playing field. Quite literally and in more than once sense, as it would turn out. The first creatures of the mark were the trio of Pulsebats, as two swooped low to blast out sonic shrieks in the direction of the pair. Both sound waves dissipated well before reaching either Terra or carbide, however, as it seemed the bats weren't used to this suddenly formed tunnel. the third flapped higher, rising to the roof of the cavern, but Terra had something to counter that. Even as she began to spread the familiar rock-melting magna around herself and gave Carbide some extra protection from what was to come, the achingly slow gravity ball made its way along the tunnel.

The Pulsebats seemed unduly fascinated by this effect, and watched it so intently that only one of the realised the danger it posed. The higher of the bats was still dragged down to the ground, flattened to the ground with the rest, but at least it avoided the crushing damage of the sphere. The other two weren't so fortunate. As the sphere meandered along, the Armadill, further behind, lowered its head, as though trying to shrug its way through the ball of energy, rather than simply avoiding it. It washed over the heavier virus without slowing.

While this was going on, the clouds of mosquitoes surrounding Terra and her SP rushed in to them, buzzing and swarming. Both girls managed to avoid getting stung by the clouds, though Carbide ended up with a fine paste of the little critters hammering themselves against her shield to no effect. More importantly, Terra was ready with her faithful go-to for dealing with hostile threats, and unleashed the inferno in the large tunnel. For a brief moment, there was fire everywhere, consuming just about everything, andthe various sounds of viruses being crisped sounded from all directions. One of them, particularly loud as the Anaconda repositioned itself in a futile effort to shield its head from the fire, and launched a wild attack from its mouth before being incinerated. the attack looked on line to strike Terra off guard, but Carbide was more prepared, and managed to get herself between the attack and her navi. It shattered her shield, and sent a numbing, stunning shockwave through the tiny girl, but did her no harm otherwise.

When the lave and the fire cleared, only a couple of targets remained; some of the skeeters had miraculously avoided a singing, and it looked like the Pulsebat that had been dragged down had lucked out a second tie, and not been in the path of any of the fire columns. Neither were safe yet, howe,ver as the cube alternated its lights and eventually stopped on red, sending out a pair of precisoon beams to remove the rest of the skeeters from the area, and strike the remaining bat as well. Squeaking, it picked itself up off the ground, trying to flap back into the air, and made a small circle before turning away from Terra and beginning back down the tunnel with all haste. This lady was terrifying.


-=Not Expecting Visitors=-

Anaconda-W: DELETED
PulseBat Ex A: DELETED
PulseBat Ex B: 80Hp [Lava][Behind Terra, middle of the tunnel][Fleeing!]
PulseBat Ex C: DELETED
Skeeter A: DELETED
Skeeter B: DELETED
Armadill Ex: DELETED

-=Unexpected Drop-Ins=-

Terra.Exe: 170 HP [Lava][Middle of the tunnel]
Carbide.SP: 70 HP [Lava][With Terra][Shield Broken!][Stunned(1)]

-=Not Like This a Minute Ago=-

60% Soil
40% Lava [Around Terra]

Field is a broad tunnel, wide, but stretching into the distance in either direction. Further off it seems to curve downwards, into the earth, in both directions. The walls of the tunnel have many gaps and holes in them.

-=Not hidden any More=-

GMD: 35Hp [In a small alcove near the ceiling of the tunnel, ahead of Terra, on the left wall]


"That chip never ceases to amaze me," Scarlet said, as she whistled in wonder. Nodding to her operator's comment, Terra stood up straight from her battle stance, which seemed to be the signal for the ground beneath her feet to start cooling down into its previous form of brownish dirt. "Do you want something to chase it down with?" her operator asked, as she watched the last remaining bat flee silently. The Navi shook her head, and turned to Carbide, who appeared to be a bit frozen at the moment. The SP could only watch as her forcefully tightened up muscles prevented her from reacting to Terra patting her head. There were a few attempted grunts from the SP, but at least it looked like they were safe, for the moment.

The Navi then surveyed about the area, directing her attention to the mystery data crystal that was perched high above in a recess on one of the walls. Her operator smiled, and asked, "Do you want something to climb up there with?"

Terra jumped slightly, and took a while before answering. "... Yes, that would be nice."

She heard a small giggle for a response, before her chip processes received the Rope chip, and activated it immediately. A green vine immediately sprouted from the ground up the wall, which Terra grabbed a hold of, and started to scale the wall with. The vine was relatively strong, thanks to its regular ability to restrain even bears, as it had demonstrated earlier. Even so, she probably could have just surrounded the crystal with a bit of barrier help and shot it out of the wall, but she found this method a bit more interesting. When the wall didn't allow her to get a decent foothold, she simply sunk in the wall slightly with her earth manipulation ability, and continued to climb.

"You sure Carbide's going to be okay? Leaving her behind like that," said Scarlet as Terra went up the wall.

"..." Terra looked back at the SP on the floor, who looked kind of comical standing in place with her arm raised at nothing in particular. "... She'll be fine."

"If you say so."

Eventually, Terra would reach the top of the ceiling and the data crystal, and the touch of her hand would decrypt its contents fairly quickly.

// Summary
[Ca.1] Act: Stunlocked (No movement)
[Te.1] Sig: Terraform: Fertile Soil, around self (Large Soil Terrain Change)
[Te.2] Chip: Rope1Damage: 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
Trader Rank: D
: 50 + Hold + Ground Attack (Acc: A) along left wall
[Te.3] Act: Climb rope to reach GMD (Movement)
[Te.4] Act: Activate GMD (RP)
Content to let the terrified bat flee, Terra took a look around, and then set about pursuing her other reward while Carbide struggled to deal with her stun. Upon accessing the data crystal, Terra would probably be relived to find that it was simply a normal crystal which resolved into a chip for her. This made up for the lack of any usable chip data being left behind by the viruses she'd just wiped out, though they did leave a useful amount of zenny instead. When she recovered, Carbide would also be free to claim any errant BugFrags she could find.

This left the pair with the question of which way to go from here. the broad, freshly burrowed tunnel curved away from the surface in both directions, but Terra would probably be the only one who knew which way whatever had made it had gone... if she wanted to follow it at all of course. Going the other way, to explore where it had come from might also be interesting.


-=Not Expecting Visitors=-

Anaconda-W: DELETED
PulseBat Ex A: DELETED
PulseBat Ex B: FLED
PulseBat Ex C: DELETED
Skeeter A: DELETED
Skeeter B: DELETED
Armadill Ex: DELETED

-=Unexpected Drop-Ins=-

Terra.Exe: 170 HP [Soil]
Carbide.SP: 70 HP [Soil]

-=Not Like This a Minute Ago=-

100% Soil

Field is a broad tunnel, wide, but stretching into the distance in either direction. Further off it seems to curve downwards, into the earth, in both directions. The walls of the tunnel have many gaps and holes in them.

-=Battle 7, Victory!=-

Spoils: 1220z, 33 BugFrags

GMD: CrackerBombDamage: 70 + Panel Crack + Blast 2
Accuracy: C
Description: Throw a bomb that damages or breaks panels in a small area.
Duration: Once
Element: Null
Trader Rank: D



As Terra found the crystal decrypting into a regular chip store, she sighed in relief, and started to slide down the vine rope she had summoned, which vanished as she went along. Her boots had barely touched the ground before being tackled by Carbide into the wall with a hug from the rear. Or, at least, it was an attempt to do so, as Terra leapt up before Carbide could connect her "attack", causing the SP to faceplant into the wall with her forehead. The Navi leapt off the side of the wall, and poked her partner in the cheek. In response, Carbide pelted Terra with mock punches, while laughing all the way. Watching the scene, Scarlet giggled slightly as well.

"All right, I assume you guys want to move ahead. Why don't you let Terra choose which way to go this time, Carbide?" the operator said.

"Aww, fine," pouted Carbide, most likely slightly peeved that she couldn't just run off whichever way she liked, but she still stayed put.

Terra raised her eyebrow, and turned towards both of their options. Then again, they could just leave, as she looked up towards the open sky above them. Still, curiosity got the better of her, as she turned towards where the giant burrower had come from, at least according to how she had felt it before the tunnel collapsed in. "... Then, let's go that way," she said, walking in said direction, with Carbide slowly in tow.

[Z > 10075z, B > 164, F > 26]
[Battle 8 - Ready.]
[Terra.EXE: 170 HP / Carbide.SP: 70 HP]
After assessing her options and teasing her SP a little bit, Terra decided that the pair should follow the tunnel back the way it had been made, exploring the direction that whatever she had felt before had come from, rather than pursuing it directly. It remained a broad, high-ceilings space, about the same circumference around and even as they travelled, though it did curve gradually downwards, away from the surface.

For the first little while, the journey was not drastically interesting — aside from the unusual tunnel itself, the sub-structure of the soil remained consistent and contained a number of smaller burrows and passageways made by various natural creatures. It grew a bit rockier as the tunnel curved down, and the only viruses the pair saw were smaller ones that seemed more interested in travelling quickly past the duo and away, rather than stopping to confront them. Occasional clusters of pulsebats darted by at ceiling height, and the odd armadill rolling swiftly across the exposed tunnel floor to make for a different burrow on the far side.

One thing that did begin to occur, though, which seemed slightly unusual given the lowering turn of the passage, was that the rocks and soil began to show more life, rather than less. Many of the holes in the floor and sides of the passageway displayed creeping vines that seemed freshly grown, or even still growing in places, and every tiny fleck of moss or fallen seed of grass seemed to be rapidly flourishing all around them. It was only partial, at this point, but Terra would be able to see that the effusive surge of growth and life was only growing more pronounced the further down this passage they went.

For now, though, the duo were forced to pause in their exploration. A soft hum from further up the tunnel signalled the appearance of a trio of Megalian flying towards them. Unlike other viruses that had fled past them, however, when these ones saw Terra and her SP they formed up into a tight triangle formation and dipped lower, locking onto the pair and raising their auras. The leader, in the centre of the three, bore a small etched star in the centre of its forehead, and it looked a little bit more battle-tested than the other two.

this showdown was interrupted by a tired-sounding roar from the side. The exact spot that the megalians had decided to confront Terra held a sizable side branch in the tunnel. It looked like a cave, in truth, and a passage at the far end of it even suggested sunlight. More importantly, three very large bears seemed to have been woken up from their naps by the suddenly bored tunnel taking out the back of their cave. Two of them were only just now ambling to their feet, dark fur difficult to see in the poor light, however, the one that had roared was already up and making a warning of itself, claws ready and on its hind legs, filling the cave space right to the ceiling. Its fur was slightly greyer, and it had a number of old, healed scars across its muzzle and on other parts of its body.

Lastly, just as all manner of throwdown was about to occur, a pair of bandcoon popped up from the left, peeking out of a very narrow side passage, barely bigger than they were. They each had an eye-patch over one eye — opposite eyes - and small black arm bands on their front left paws. They looked at the scene quickly, then looked to each other, seemed to chitter and giggle gleefully, then nodded, high-fived each other, and darted out of the hole.



-=Unexpected Scuffle=-

Megalian-W A: 40Hp [Flying][Directly Ahead]
Megalian-W B: 40Hp [Flying][Directly Ahead]
Megalian-W EX: 60Hp [Flying][Directly Ahead]

Teddy A: 100Hp [Soil][Cave to the right]
Teddy B: 100Hp [Soil][Cave to the right]
Teddy EX: 140Hp [Moss][Stepping out into the main tunnel]

Bandcoon Ex: 90Hp [Moss][Moving towards Teddies]
Bandcoon Ex: 90Hp [Soil][Moving towards Terra]

-=Cave Explorers=-

Terra.Exe: 170 HP [Soil]
Carbide.SP: 70 HP [Soil]

-=Growing Greener=-

50% Soil [Terra's half of the area]
50% Moss [In front of Terra]

Moss is effectively grass terrain which provides all the same benefits (such as healing wood elementals), but is more flame retardant, and doesn't provide damage multiplication. If burned, it is still consumed and converted to soil.

Field is a broad tunnel, wide, but stretching into the distance in either direction. Ahead, it curves down further into the earth, and seems to get progressively more overgrown and life-abundant. The walls of the tunnel have many gaps and holes in them. A large cave to Terra's right contains teddies, and looks as though it might lead back up to the surface.

-=Battle 8, Start!=-

"Hellooooo!" yelled Carbide, cupping her hands to amplify her voice. Her voice echoed further into the tunnel, accompanied by the little girl's laughter. Content to be appeased by the simpler pleasures of life like yelling down a tunnel, Carbide pulled at Terra's arm as she went along. "C'mon, Terra, you do it too!" she teased. The Navi looked slightly conflicted as to whether she was supposed to do so, and ended up just quietly shaking her head and smiling. As Terra walked to the side to inspect some of the vines and moss that lined the walls, Carbide whined as she hung her shoulders.

"C'mon, it's fun! What's so cool about these dumb vines anyway? It's not like they're cool rocks or somethi--" she stopped, before turning her head back to where they came from. "Aww maaan, I forgot about that cool egg rock! It's probably back where we fell down earlier."

"... Egg rock?" Terra raised an eyebrow, remembering the encased data fragments that she had extracted from a few of those geodes earlier.

"Yeah, it had like, this weird crystal thing inside of it, it was super spiky and cool and everything, but when I wanted to show it to you we fell down that hole. Hold on, lemme go get it back real quick," said Carbide, starting to turn around. The SP halted mid-turn, however, as she saw movement out of a side tunnel. She turned back to Terra to inform her of the viruses, but before she could, she felt Terra's gloved hand on her shoulder. The Navi was already looking up at a trio of giant disembodied heads, and a chatter of noise to the side also revealed some more raccoon-like viruses.

"... Scarlet, could we have the ElementalRages for this?" requested Terra, as they both instinctively covered each other's flanks, Carbide already sprouting a relatively large shield from her forearm. A glowing green barrier enveloped her body as well, courtesy of Terra's own systems. Terra herself had no such defensive measures, opting to simply be quick on her feet for the time being and avoid any incoming attacks. Terra looked back at her SP, who simply grinned back, having gotten the procedure already solidly put down.

"Those viruses don't let up, do they? Oh well, they're good practice. Take them out," said Scarlet, scratching her cheek as she pondered something, and opened up a side window. The words "Shop Stock" popped up on the screen, and she mulled over the prices as she kept the girls in view, and sent them a stack of three chips.

Having received the chips into their systems, Terra went to work quickly, sending the terraforming signal into the mossy ground beneath them. The soil cracked and split as veins of magma started to spawn from within them, rapidly expanding in every direction. The magma quickly breached the surface, and spilled out into a pool of lava that encircled the two girls. With their backs against each other, Terra and Carbide started up the first of their attacks, drawing up streams of lava from under their feet and blasting them out in two directions. One of them was directed towards the bounding Bandcoons, and the other was towards the magnanimous Megalian heads. The lava didn't stay molten for long after it left the pool, rapidly cooling into solid forms at an unfathomable rate, but that didn't stop them from becoming obscenely hot chunks of black earth.

Terra followed it up with her signature chip, causing the veins of magma from the pool of lava to explosively spread everywhere throughout their immediate vicinity, and erupt into an impressive pyrotechnics display. Carbide would be well-protected from the gate of Hell that Terra had opened with the barrier, but the viruses around them would likely not be as lucky.

// Summary
[Ca.*] Sig: Terraskill: Reflex Guard 1, on self (1(+1) Hit Shield (Reinforce))
[Te.*] Sig: Terraskill: Earthen Barrier 1, on Carbide (20 HP Planar Barrier (Soil/Wood))
[Te.1] Act: Sidestep attack (Dodge) (Soil Boost: Evasion+)
[Te.2] Sig: Terraform: Violent Magma, around self (Large Lava Terrain Change)
[Te.3] Chip: ElementalRage2Damage: 90 + LineAttack3
Accuracy: A
Description: Fires a ray of energy in front of the player. If the user is standing on an elemental terrain, the blast gains that power. Can target up to three enemies.
Duration: Once
Element: Depends on Terrain
Trader Rank: C
: 90 + LineAttack3 + Terrain-Element (Acc: A) to Bandcoon group (Lava: Fire)
[Ca.1] Chip: ElementalRage1Damage: 60 + LineAttack3
Accuracy: A
Description: Fires a ray of energy in front of the player. If the user is standing on an elemental terrain, the blast gains that power. Can target up to three enemies.
Duration: Once
Element: Depends on Terrain
Trader Rank: D
: 60 + LineAttack3 + Terrain-Element (Acc: A) to Megalian-W group (Lava: Fire)
[Te.4] Chip: RedWave1Damage: 50 + Ground Attack + To-All-Clause (Others) + Lava Terrain Boost 50
Accuracy: B
Description: Creates a wave of lava to burn everything and everyone other than the user, even their allies. Can be jumped over, but requires perfect timing. More effective if there is lava in the vicinity to fuel it.
Duration: Once
Element: Fire
Trader Rank: D
: 50 + Ground Attack + To-All-Clause (Others) + Lava Terrain Boost 50 (Acc: B) to all (Pathfinder: Accuracy+)
For the moment, the more causal discussions about pretty rocks and interesting vines would have to go on hold as Terra and Carbide found themselves facing up against another collection of disrupted viruses, seemingly put out by the upheaval to their homes... or possibly just out for mischief, judging by the pair of Bandcoon's snickering. Of all the players on the field, the two artful rodents were the fastest to act, and while Terra and Carbide saw to their defences, the first, being the one with the eyepatch on its left eye, had raced over to the cluster of sleepy-looking teddies. It sat up on its hind quarters just in front of the grizzled-looking one and chittered something unintelligible at it — though it sounded quite taunting. The bear responded with an angry growl and lunged at him, but the smaller virus seemed to vanish under the swatting claws. A moment later, the growl became a sound of confusion as the elder teddy was lifted up and flung, sailing out of the cave and into the rest of the tunnel towards Terra. As it struck the opposite tunnel wall with a solid crash, then landed on the floor in a heap, the sound of the little bandcoon laughing hysterically could be heard echoing in the large space.

The other two bears, less alert, ignored the small creature in their cave, rolling on its back and kicking its feet in the air as it giggled, and seemed to simply think that their leader was, well, leading the charge, and lumbered out after him towards Terra and her SP, though neither of them had the chance to make anything more of it just yet.

The second bandcoon, with his patch over his right eye, had made a dash for Terra herself, instead, and leapt towards her just as she sent the wave of familiar magma spreading out beneath her feet. It gave a startled squeak as the magma spread out beneath it, but crashed into the navi instead, scrambling to hold on more desperately now that the floor was lava. Its tackle wasn't the painful variety, but it did push her off balance a little. Rather, as she attempted to unleash her elemental fury at the creature, she felt its fluffy tail curling around her body, searching. Terra would be lucky if it didn't manage to push her onto her back with its enthusiasm, but after a moment it leaned back from her, grinning, then threw its head back and let out an impressive gout of flame that wasn't aimed anywhere in particular. It scorched the ceiling in a broad sweep before fading, and the little bandcoon sat back, breathing a final trial of back smoke, before beginning to giggle and chitter with glee. It still wasn't getting off her, though.

Carbide, at least, had better luck holding onto her chip. She aimed her own element rage at the megalian cluster, but even as she tried to get a good line, the trio dashed forward, circling around and above the pair in uniformed co-ordination as they positioned themselves. It was hard to get line on more than one of them as they dodged, but the one she did manage to line up for caught the full brunt of her attack head-on. Its protective aura did nothing to save it from the pure fire that consumed it, leaving only two of the flying viruses getting ready to attack.

Terra, despite having an overly amused bandcoon on her chest, was done with the shenanigans at this point, and cut loose with her most reliable old favourite. The eruption of lava seemed to fill the cavern, but the remaining megalians were high enough that they had enough space to avoid the rising columns of death. The Teddies were not so lucky, being the large, land-bound targets that they were, and before any of them could really work out what was going on, all three bears were resoundingly scorched. The two regular ones were outright incinerated by the flames, and even the sturdier of the three, hurt already from his interview with the wall, could barely withstand the all-consuming fire. He was left alive, but only barely.

At another time, the bandcoon in the teddy's cave might have managed to dart and dodge around the rising fire, but at this moment, it had been rolling about on the ground laughing instead, a sound cut off suddenly in the rush of fire, without so much as a chance to squeak in surprise. The other, not witnessing its partner's misfortune, scrambled as though it was trying to climb inside Terra's clothes as the attack went off, and it was no longer laughing. The sound had cut off into a second frightened squeak instead, but it had, nevertheless, avoided that fiery fate of the teddies and its friend.


-=Unexpected Scuffle=-

Megalian-W A: 40Hp [Flying][Alongside Terra]
Megalian-W B: DELETED
Megalian-W EX: 60Hp [Flying][Alongside Carbide][40Hp Wood Aura]

Teddy A: DELETED
Teddy B: DELETED
Teddy EX: 10Hp [Lava][In the tunnel ahead of Terra]

Bandcoon Ex: DELETED
Bandcoon Ex: 90Hp [In Terra's Personal Space][Counting as 'Carried' — but probably not willingly (consider throwing him off a free action next round, if Terra wishes to do so)]

-=Cave Explorers=-

Terra.Exe: 170 HP [Lava]
Carbide.SP: 70 HP [Lava][2-hit shield][Barrier Broken!]

-=Growing Greener=-

40% Lava [Around Terra]
20% Soil [Terra's half of the area]
30% Moss [In front of Terra]

Moss is effectively grass terrain which provides all the same benefits (such as healing wood elementals), but is more flame retardant, and doesn't provide damage multiplication. If burned, it is still consumed and converted to soil.

Field is a broad tunnel, wide, but stretching into the distance in either direction. Ahead, it curves down further into the earth, and seems to get progressively more overgrown and life-abundant. The walls of the tunnel have many gaps and holes in them. A large cave to Terra's right contains teddies, and looks as though it might lead back up to the surface.
With Terra's ElementalRage having been stolen by the Bandcoon, she wasn't all too happy when the raccoon virus copied her ability and spat out the plume of fire from its mouth. Her explosive display didn't seem to get it off either; it tried further to get into her clothes, even. This wouldn't do. Unfortunately, she probably wouldn't be able to get it off on her own.

"... Carbide!" she said, getting the attention of the Support Program. The little girl perked up, and turned towards her partner, who wordlessly stretched her hand out. A confused expression clouded over Carbide's face as she looked at the raccoon attempt to invade her absolute territory. Or, well, that was what Carbide thought for herself, at least. Nobody got to molest Terra except for her!

The SP took her Navi's offered hand quickly enough, which allowed Terra to pull up the rather light girl easily onto her, preventing the Bandcoon from its attempted coup as she did. She still managed to bring her enormous rocky shield with her and slung it over her back, covering her on that side. Despite her supposedly being almost more than half Terra's weight, Carbide didn't feel that Terra was in any way encumbered on her shoulders, which kind of spoke as to how strong Terra was.

Soon after, Carbide saw the red glow of her barrier process encircle Terra's body. Terra then crouched, and the molten rock underneath her boots started to deform. She gave a quick glance to the sides at the Megalians before she shot off from the lava, leaving a depression inside the lava pool. The magma scrunched up into a tiny whirl, which disappeared before reappearing beneath the stronger Megalian, and erupting in a loud shockwave.

"Whoa, that's cool. I didn't think we had a chip like that," commented Carbide, as Terra landed onto more solid terrain, and started to be a bit more wary on her feet. Though her SP was still on her shoulders. Terra opened up a visual link to her side. However, before she could communicate what she wanted, she was greeted with... a blank room. Well, not exactly blank, as Luke was still asleep on the bed, but their operator was conspicuously absent. A message box appeared shortly after on the screen.

"Be back real quick, the front desk wanted me to pick up something. You guys can handle it without me for a minute, right?" the message said.

"What! How are we supposed to delete these without chips?!" balked Carbide. Terra didn't seem quite as fazed, as she widened her stance to survey the battlefield.

"... Carbide, pull up another shield so we can be better prepared," said Terra.

Carbide looked at Terra (or, well, the back of Terra's head), and back to her large shield in a bit of confusion. "Wait, you mean... I already have one but-- Oh!" she said, before forming another shield on her other hand. "Double shield power!"

// Summary (Operator Absence: Turn 1 of 2)
[Te.1] Act: Pull Carbide on (RP)
[Te.*] Act: Discard Bandcoon EX (RP)
[Ca.1] Act: Defend Terra (Redirect one hit to self)
[Te.*] Sig: Terraskill: Earthen Barrier 1, on self (20 HP Planar Barrier (Lava/Fire))
[Te.2] Act: Run off of the Lava onto Soil (Movement)
[Te.3] Sig: Terraforce: Shock Pulse 1: Null 45 + Blast2 + Ground + Self-Slow1 under Megalian-W EX (Pathfinder: Accuracy+)
[Te.4] Act: Sidestep attack (Dodge) (Soil Bonus: Evasion+)
[Ca.*] Sig: Terraskill: Reflex Guard 1, on self (1(+1) Hit Shield (Reinforce))
While the old bear stumbled and roared, rolling about on the lava in agony as it tried to get off the burning land to no avail, Terra took a moment to replace her uninvited guest with a far more agreeable one. The bandcoon made several sounds of complaint as she threw it off, but darted away quickly once it was clear that Terra was no longer putting up with its antics. It seemed quite eager to avoid the lava, though surrounded as they were, it had little choice but to hot-foot briefly before he managed to scramble up a wall and into one of the tiny tunnel gaps, pawing at its singed fur and looking around.

The two remaining megalians were circling Terra, on opposite sides, but even though they co-ordinated to smash the pair between their out-thrust heads, Carbide was observing the magic of dual-wielded shields. Her navi couldn't manage to get clear of the pince attack, but the little SP, in a moment of good fortune, managed to have both opposed angles covered with a defensive wall. The blow was shuddering, the feeling of a very heavy, solid impact coming from either side has the heads bulled their way past, but the shields held.

A moment later, Terra herself was dashing away, but she left an unexpected surprise for the pair of hovering viruses. Even as their extended heads began to return to the bases, the ground beneath them erupted. The stronger of the two, caught more thoroughly in the blast, had its protective aura stripped away, and worse, its unguarded base took a solid hit of its own. The head of the second megalian was also close enough to feel the sudden bloom of rock and magma, and was further hammered with clods of earth and stone, to the point that it collapsed down to the lava below and began to burn up.

From its precarious perch above the lava, the remaining Bandcoon seemed to have disregarded Terra once he was clear, and was instead looking frantically about the molten tunnel, making small calling sounds every few moments. Its face kept turning back towards the cave that its partner had run to, searching, but there was nothing more to see over there. Not far off, the bear was still burning, though the poor creature was barely moving now as the magma smouldered and licked at its near comatose form. The scent of burning fur was becoming quite prevalent.

-=Unexpected Scuffle=-

Megalian-W A: DELETED
Megalian-W B: DELETED
Megalian-W EX: 15Hp [Flying][Over the lava, away from Terra]

Teddy A: DELETED
Teddy B: DELETED
Teddy EX: 5Hp [Lava][Burning, oh gods why!?]

Bandcoon Ex: DELETED
Bandcoon Ex: 85Hp [clinging to a wall alcove, above the lava][searching, looks kinda distressed, and angry, no longer amused]

-=Cave Explorers=-

Terra.Exe: 170 HP [Soil]
Carbide.SP: 70 HP [Carried][1-hit shield][1-hit shield]

-=Growing Greener=-

40% Lava [Circle area behind Terra]
20% Soil [Terra's half of the area]
30% Moss [In front of Terra]


"Woo! You floatyheads better suck it!" cheered Carbide, as she successfully deflected their attacks with her shield, and Terra blew them up with her explosive magma burst. While Terra's eyes surveyed the remaining survivors, the usual green glow surrounded her.

"Why didn't you do that stuff earlier? That was pretty cool. Screw battlechips!" said Carbide.

"... I can only do it once every now and then. I still need battlechips," said Terra, as she brought up a small rock, and shot it towards the remaining Teddy that was burning in the lava. If anything, at least she would be able to put it out of its misery quickly enough.

"... Oh, okay," said Carbide, as she looked at her shields. Both of them had taken a fair bit of damage, and she wasn't keen on keeping defective equipment. She raised one of them above her head, aiming for the floating Megalian head that remained, and tossed it as hard as she could. The shield soared through the air, as Carbide motioned towards the ground, causing another spire of black rock to shoot out towards her hand. Terra looked about the area. So far, they were doing pretty well for themselves, but there was still the issue of the lone Bandcoon that was on the walls. Her feet were a bit shaky from the shockwave she had caused earlier, but the earth beneath her feet supported her to offset the brief damage.

"... Hopefully Scarlet's coming back soon," said Terra. At that moment, the visual feed towards her side crackled to life, and a grinning face peeked through. "Hi! Anything I miss?"

// Summary (Operator Absence: Turn 2 of 2)
[Te.*] Sig: Terraskill: Earthen Barrier 1, on self (20 HP Planar Barrier (Soil/Wood))
[Te.1] Act: Basic Buster to Teddy EX (Null 10)
[Ca.1] Act: Basic Attack to Megalian-W EX (Null 15)
[Ca.*] Sig: Terraskill: Reflex Guard 1, on self (1(+1) Hit Shield (Reinforce))
[Te.2] Act: Sidestep any attacks (Dodge) (Soil Bonus: Evasion+/Self-Slow)
[Te.3] Act: Sidestep any attacks (Dodge) (Soil Bonus: Evasion+/Self-Slow)
[Te.4] Act: Sidestep any attacks (Dodge) (Soil Bonus: Evasion+/Self-Slow)
Terra raised a barrier of earth and soil, getting all dirty. Meanwhile, the Teddy sunk into the lava, its paw held toward the sky before slipping beneath the flames. Or it would, if Terra's rock didn't delete it before it could have an epic last moment. What a jerk.

The Megalian-W, having attacked last time, began to evade as it moved away from Terra. Carbide's earth-bending black rock sailed into the air to delete it as it retreated, but missed as the virus dodged the attack. What a jerk.

Finally, as Carbide raised another shield, and Terra began to sidestep, the Bandicoon EX scrambled up onto solid footing and rolled up into a ball. This ball-like form tore up some rubber, going from 0-60 in ten seconds flat, and sped across the uneven terrain, trying to slam into the duo. But it hit an uneven surface as it closed and got knocked off course. So the Bandicoon ended up skirting around Terra and Carbide in a tight crescent and ended up behind them before coming to a screeching stop. As it whipped around, its eyes were beet-red with fury. It wasn't taking any more guff from the two Navis. What a jerk.

-=Unexpected Scuffle=-

Megalian-W A: DELETED
Megalian-W B: DELETED
Megalian-W EX: 15Hp [Flying][Over the lava, away from Terra]

Teddy A: DELETED
Teddy B: DELETED
Teddy EX: DELETED

Bandcoon Ex: DELETED
Bandcoon Ex: 85Hp [angry]

-=Cave Explorers=-

Terra.Exe: 170 HP [Soil] [20 HP Planar Barrier (Soil/Wood)]
Carbide.SP: 70 HP [Carried][2-hit shield][1-hit shield]

-=Growing Greener=-

40% Lava [Circle area behind Terra]
20% Soil [Terra's half of the area]
30% Moss [In front of Terra]
"About time, where were you?! Hurry up and send us some chips already!" complained Carbide, as she lifted her shields in preparation of more attacks, taking care not to obscure Terra's vision of the remaining two enemies too much. Terra nodded in affirmation of Carbide's statement. That said, there wasn't exactly much to defend against, so the little Program mainly just enjoyed being carried by Terra.

"Hahaha, okay, okay, hold on," said Scarlet, as she tapped the hovering touchscreen for their usual fare of cleanup duty. The MarkCannons loaded up into Terra's system, and she was quick to raise up two chunks of earth to accommodate the battlechip data. Green datastreams flowed into the boulders, transforming them into twin cannons, which swiveled automatically towards the floating head and the raccoon virus. A brief beep sounded from the cannons as they lit up, and released two energy bullets towards the viruses before they crumbled into dust. With her attack launched, Terra observed the field, waiting to see if either of the two were to retaliate.

// Summary
[Ca.1] Act: Defend Terra (Redirect 1 attack)
[Te.1] Chip: MarkCannon2Damage: 100 + Seeking + Lock-on
Accuracy: A
Description: A highly accurate cannon whose automatic aiming system locks onto heat signatures and fires.
Duration: Once
Element: Null
Special: Lock-on: Same effect as an automatic Take Aim.
Trader Rank: C
: 100 + Seeking + Lock-on (Acc: A) to Bandcoon EX
[Te.2] Chip: MarkCannon1Damage: 70 + Seeking + Lock-on
Accuracy: A
Description: A highly accurate cannon whose automatic aiming system locks onto heat signatures and fires.
Duration: Once
Element: Null
Special: Lock-on: Same effect as an automatic Take Aim.
Trader Rank: D
: 70 + Seeking + Lock-on (Acc: A) to Megalian-W EX
[Te.3] Act: Sidestep any attacks (Dodge) (Soil Bonus: Evasion+)
[Te.4] Act: Sidestep any attacks (Dodge) (Soil Bonus: Evasion+)
As the cannon turrets formed out of rock, the enraged Bandcoon rushed the one pointed at it. With a swipe of its tail it put the cannon on its back. The sensor on it turned red and swiveled to point at Terra. It fired, but it smashed into Carbide's shield, negating the shot.

Then the other cannon turret fired at the Megalian-W. The Megalian moved to an attack posture just as the rock smashed into its face, deleting it.

The Bandcoon chuckled, regaining some of its joyful nature at the smug satisfaction that it just ruined someone else's day with its stealing act. It sat back on its back legs and raised its front paws and made a "Come on, is that the best you got/come at me bro," motion.

-=Unexpected Scuffle=-

Megalian-W A: DELETED
Megalian-W B: DELETED
Megalian-W EX: DELETED

Teddy A: DELETED
Teddy B: DELETED
Teddy EX: DELETED

Bandcoon Ex: DELETED
Bandcoon Ex: 85Hp [taunting; stole your MarkCannon2, what ya gonna do about it?]

-=Cave Explorers=-

Terra.Exe: 170 HP [Soil] [20 HP Planar Barrier (Soil/Wood)]
Carbide.SP: 70 HP [Carried][1-hit shield][1-hit shield]

-=Growing Greener=-

40% Lava [Circle area behind Terra]
20% Soil [Terra's half of the area]
30% Moss [In front of Terra]
"Wow, that raccoon thing straight up stole the cannon somehow," said Scarlet.

"Hey! You can't do that! That's cheating!" said Carbide, as she raised one of her shields above her head, and launched it towards the little raccoon. The shield was a little unwieldy, but it got through nevertheless, and was replaced by a sturdier one immediately after. The attack was followed up by a smaller rock on Terra's side, as she did earlier, but the Navi was left staring at her empty gloved hand. It was somewhat irritating, but at least Scarlet was here now, and she knew what was coming next.

"Nah, don't worry about it. If it wants to steal some chips then let's let it have some chips," the operator said, tapping her screen to field in the rest of their chips.

In the network, Terra clenched her hand as she received the chips, and a small smile appeared on her face. Turning towards the raccoon virus, she raised her hand, which already had a long boulder-formed barrel on it. At her feet, two little stumpy-limbed golems made of earth were also beginning to form. One was rather chunky and a bit round, and the other was relatively smaller, but had electrical sparks running all about it. On Terra's cue, her cannon fired at the little Bandcoon, as well as both of the summoned golems, which careened for the virus in a bit of a blind chase. Should the cannon hit first and delete it, they would simply dissipate, but on the other hand, if the virus still lived, then it would find itself being chased down in a persistent dogfight.

// Summary
[Ca.1] Act: Basic Attack Bandcoon EX (Null 15)
[Ca.*] Sig: Terraskill: Reflex Guard 1, on self (1(+1) Hit Shield (Reinforce))
[Te.1] Act: Basic Buster Bandcoon EX (Null 10)
[Te.2] Chip: TankCannon1Damage: 80 / 80 + Blast 2
Accuracy: A / C
Description: An enormous cannon whose ammunition can be altered to either a single high accuracy shot, or a low accuracy shot that can explode to hit several enemies.
Duration: Once
Element: Null
Special: Dual Mode: This chip has two separate modes of operation. The user may pick which one they wish to use at the time of activation.
Trader Rank: D
: 80 / 80 + Blast 2 (Acc: A / C) to Bandcoon EX
[Te.3] Chip: Shake1Damage: 90 + Wide Attack + Break
Accuracy: C
Description: Throws a dumbbell that slides through enemy lines for two turns. Can hit up to three enemies twice, second time having a 50% chance of hitting.
Duration: Two turns
Element: Null
Trader Rank: D
: 90 + Wide Attack + Break (Acc: C) to Bandcoon EX
[Te.4] Chip: RemotePlug3Damage: 140 + Homing + Phasing
Accuracy: C
Description: Fires an obstacle penetrating plug that moves forward. Its path can be adjusted by the user.
Duration: Once
Element: Elec
Trader Rank: B
: 140 + Homing + Phasing (Acc: C) to Bandcoon EX
Carbide's shield-shot went wide as her own anger threw her aim. However, she grew another stronger shield over her remaining shield. Terra followed it up with another rock. The rock beaned the Bandcoon straight in the face, leaving a red impression.

The Bandcoon revved up its engines and spun towards Terra. But before it could snag chip data, it was tagged by Terra's cannon shot, deleting it.

-=Unexpected Scuffle=-

Megalian-W A: DELETED
Megalian-W B: DELETED
Megalian-W EX: DELETED

Teddy A: DELETED
Teddy B: DELETED
Teddy EX: DELETED

Bandcoon Ex: DELETED
Bandcoon Ex: DELETED

-=Cave Explorers=-

Terra.Exe: 170 HP [Soil] [20 HP Planar Barrier (Soil/Wood)]
Carbide.SP: 70 HP [Carried][2-hit shield][1-hit shield]

-=Growing Greener=-

40% Lava [Circle area behind Terra]
20% Soil [Terra's half of the area]
30% Moss [In front of Terra]

-=Battle 8, Victory!=-

Spoils: 1600z, 34 BugFrags