[LynFXP: 342 > 347]
[Z: 55345 > 57595]
[BF: 842 > 870]

With the Spikey and Blazer being dispatched by the tag team from the three Navis, the battle wound down to a close. Sparky's body shone brightly as the hoverboard clicked back into his normal form, and the pup made a dash for the gleaming blue Mystery Data crystal and jumped onto it. As he jumped onto the data crystal, however, Sparky was caught mid-run and lifted into the air by an invisible force. It quickly revealed itself to be Aurora, uncloaking herself in short order and carrying Sparky in her arms towards the other two.

"Seems to be all of them," said Eternalis, looking around.

Aurora's expression was that of some concern. "Rogan... If something went wrong, then," she murmured to herself, thinking back to the time when she was able to sense Lyntael's electrical circuitry from their time in the Sharo network. They had hugged not a few minutes ago, but it didn't occur to her to do the same analysis then; it was a simple show of affection.

From what I could tell from the battle earlier though, it didn't seem like anything had changed, so maybe I'm overthinking things, she thought. You could ask to check her up again, her partner's thought chimed in.

Aurora nodded to "herself", and turned to Lyntael. "If anything's happened to you, I could give you another check like I did back in Sharo," she offered. "I didn't see anything off when you were battling just now, but just in case?"

Next to her, Eternalis patted Lyntael on the shoulder in a show of support. Some small noise made him perk up slightly, and he turned towards the source: the Mystery Data crystal. It seemed that Sparky jumping onto it earlier had started its decryption process unwittingly.

[Open BMD: Y]

Not quite expecting Lyntael to continue talking during the battle itself, Eternalis and Aurora were a little involved in the battle to respond immediately to her inquiry. Eternalis was the first to do so. "I remember you saying that; did something else happen recently?" he probed, right before a fireball blasted his face in. He made a little surprised noise, but it wasn't really enough to do much damage that his recovery systems weren't equipped to handle.

Strangely enough, he found his body recovering slightly slower than before, though it was still enough. Before he worried for it, Aurora's thought chimed in. Probably just rusty from not having battled for a few weeks, she posited. Logical reasoning. Scanning the field, their attacks had been pretty effective, though not without stragglers. "Lyntael, I'll leave the bird to you!" he called out.

"Sensor and some swords coming your way," said Harke, with more chips being fed through the system. Still lurking in the shadows, Aurora set up the Sensor as a small KillerEye turret materialized. Swiveling towards the remaining Spikey, its pupil shrunk briefly before a beam of light shot forward towards the canine virus.

On Eternalis's side, the StepSword and Katana chips integrated into his arm, tapering it into a thin blade. Soon after, he vanished from atop Sparky, and met the virus head-on with blade in mid-swing. A lightning-fast horizontal cut started off as Aurora's shot flashed by, followed by two rapid diagonal strikes in a cross pattern. A deadly two-pronged assault, from which there was little way to return.

-- (Eternalis: One for All @ Lyntael, 1 action @ Aurora, 1 action @ Sparky)
[A1] Infiltration Module @ Self (Invis + Self-Slow)
[S1] Dodge (High Gear: Evasion+10%)
[E1] Influx Aegis @ Self (Stage 1: Support Base x2 (40), Stage 2: Delay (3 Actions): Support Base x2 (40), Stage 3: Delay (6 Actions): Support Base x2 (40))

[A2] (All for One) Sensor2HP: 100
Properties: Anchored, ElecBody
Object Damage: 100 + Impact
Damage Method: Telekinesis
Attack Damage: 130 Elec + Beam Attack + Stun 1
Accuracy: S
Description: Summons a Killereye to search for enemies. Fires an eye-beam when it detects them. It can see through invisibility.
Duration: Until destroyed or until it attacks.
Element: Elec
Special: ElecBody: Immune to Elec damage. Special: Laser TAG: Attack triggers when something moves through the targeting laser beam, no matter who or what that may be.
Trader Rank: C: 100HP Anchored ElecBody Object: (130 + Beam Attack + Stun + Self-Destruct): Laser TAG (Acc: S) @ Spikey2 (+15 Elem. Affinity)
[S2] Dodge (High Gear: Evasion+10%)
[E2] StepSwordDamage: 120 + Slashing + Wide Attack + Teleport
Accuracy: S for primary target, A for additional targets.
Description: The user warps in front of an enemy, then swings with a strong sword. Can hit up to 3 targets with good RP. Rare
Duration: Once.
Element: Null
Special: Teleport: When RP Quality is excellent, this attack also counts as a free dodge.
Trader Rank: C: 120 + Slashing + Wide Attack + Teleport (Acc: S for primary target, A for additional targets.) @ Spikey2

[A3] Dodge (Self-Slow: Evasion-10%)
[S3] Dodge (High Gear: Evasion+10%)
[E3] Katana2Damage: (80 + Slashing + Wide Attack) Then (80 + Slashing + Long Attack)
Accuracy: B
Description: Creates a long metal blade with exceptional cutting speed. Hits with a wide slash, then a long slash in the span of a single action, hitting 3 and 2 targets, respectively. Only one target can be hit with both slashes. Rare
Duration: Until Overridden/Broken. Breaks automatically after 2 uses.
Element: Null
Trader Rank: B: (80 + Slashing + Wide Attack) Then (80 + Slashing + Long Attack) (Acc: B) @ Spikey2

[E4] Influx Aegis @ Self (Stage 1: Support Base x2 (40), Stage 2: Delay (3 Actions): Support Base x2 (40), Stage 3: Delay (6 Actions): Support Base x2 (40))

[LynFXP: 338 > 342]

"Leave it somewhere here?" echoed Eternalis, looking around for a place to put down the beaten up device. A nearby bench was indeed available, but with curious viruses roaming around, they might find it repurposed as a plaything when they returned to it. "Hmm... This might work." Some discarded tarp that came from a nearby tent later, Eternalis had fashioned an inconspicuous hiding place for them to return to. With how bright the colors on the tarp were, it would likely be easy to spot on the return trip. "There! Should be good to go."

Moving ahead with Lyntael herself, Aurora and Sparky walked alongside, with Sparky being the more enthusiastic of the pair. While Lyntael avoided the little puddles in the road as she went, Sparky had a good time splashing in as many of them as he could find ahead of Lyntael, eliciting some giggles from Aurora. As they approached the haunted house attraction, Eternalis arrived from the back, looking up at all the different pictures displayed on the faded pictures surrounding the building. "Half expecting some of those to just be viruses popping out to attack," commented Harke.

"I'll keep an eye out for scary Spookies," laughed Eternalis.

Aurora thought for a moment about Lyntael's small talk. "It's actually been a relatively quiet time since we last met, I think. Unless my adventures in baking count?" she replied. Then, she clapped her hands together. "Oh! I forgot, I was just making some before we left; I should've brought some to share..." exclaimed Aurora. In the excitement of heading out on the trip, she had all but forgotten. After briefly deliberating whether she could pop back quickly to the PET to sneak them out, she decided it would probably have to wait. However, as she was lost in her daydream about her forgotten cookies, Aurora jumped a little when the padlock gave way to Lyntael's efforts, clanking loudly.

"Well, count me in," she said, laughing at her own small jumpscare. Sparky barked in affirmation, as he inspected the broken lock.

"Are we going in there?" asked Eternalis, craning his head to see beyond the small foot-wide crack in the double doors. "Hold on, let me just..." he said, grabbing hold of the edges of the doors and pushing them further apart. The doors grinded against the ground noisily as they were pried open, until the opening widened to better fit them walking through. As he did so, a low pitched hum rumbled from within the building, along with a burst of hot air.

"Aaah, someone left the heat on," commented Aurora, as Eternalis led the way through the entrance.

Moving further into the area, it seemed like the haunted house had intended to use a backdrop of a volcano with a fearsome face carved into it as lighting. With all the neglect, however, the lava flow from the artificial volcano setup had taken on a life of its own, making the place a sweltering heat trap. Despite being overtaken by the heat, there still seemed to be wild grass sprouting up in places, trying to claim the place for its own. They walked through the place for a little while. Some props for scares and spooks were lying about, including some statues and mannequins dressed up as vampires and ghosts. From the rampant heat, however, their faces had melted into a disfigured waxy mess, enhancing their spooky factor in an unintended fashion.

"Eww," Harke commented.
"These are definitely kind of creeping me out..." murmured Aurora, looking at a particularly grotesque melted vampire face. Suddenly, Sparky's barking made her jump, alerting them to the arrival of some mean-looking viruses, who didn't seem to be part of the show. "Oh! Viruses! Finally, I was starting to think we had actual ghosts in here."

"Time to clear things out, Lyntael. On me, Sparky!" said Eternalis. Lyntael would feel a faint connection between her and Eternalis form, linking his lifeforce to hers. Meanwhile, the pup replied with an affirmative bark, and swooped under Eternalis's feet in his hoverboard form. Aurora took a step backwards to let Eternalis take center stage, the air around her warping about before she vanished into thin air.

"WaterLine, Timpani, GolemHit, going your way," reported Harke, chip data transferring to Eternalis's systems. The blue Navi's hand started shimmering briefly, as he threw out a blob of his body at the nearby Spikey, which erupted into a pressurized geyser of hot water. Then, as if by instinct, he tilted himself slightly to the side, as a series of electrical bursts sailed past his shoulder, aimed at the Champy-type virus to attempt to intercept its teleporting punches. This mental link is definitely going to need some getting used to, he thought; a laugh came in from the other end of his mental space.

Under his feet, Sparky's thrusters were working well, making quick bursts of movement to avoid anything that came their way. Eternalis continued to use the supplied chips in his possession. A swirl of blue slime appeared behind them, reshaping itself into the form of the Timpani chip. The virus's trumpeted head reared back briefly before playing a smooth tune that reverberated throughout the haunted house. Meanwhile, Eternalis himself threw another chunk of his body into the air, which started rapidly growing, before landing down with a crash, hopefully near the vicinity of the fiery HotHead virus.

Two chunks carved out of his own body, Eternalis's body started repairing itself in short order to replenish itself, ready for any retaliation that came their way.

-- (Eternalis: One for All @ Lyntael, 1 action @ Aurora, 1 action @ Sparky)
[A1] Infiltration Module @ Self (Invis + Self-Slow)
[S1] Equip @ Eternalis
[E1] WaterLine2Damage: 130 + Ground Attack + Wide Attack
Accuracy: B
Description: A wall of water gushes from the ground, drowning up to 3 targets.
Duration: Once
Element: Aqua
Trader Rank: C: 130 + Ground Attack + Wide Attack (Acc: B) @ Spikey2 + Lava Maker (+100% Aqua vs. Fire, +15 Elem. Affinity)

[A2] (All for One) ClusterShot2 @ Chumpu (+15 Elem. Affinity)
[S2] Dodge (High Gear: Evasion+10%)
[E2] TimpaniHP: 50
Properties: Heavy
Object Damage: 50 + Impact
Damage Method: Throw, Telekinesis
Status Effect: Hold + To-All-Clause(Enemies)
Accuracy: S
Description: Stops all enemies from moving with a powerful sonic wave.
Duration: 1 turn or until destroyed.
Element: Null
Trader Rank: C: 50HP Heavy Object, 1-Turn: Hold + To-All-Enemy (Acc: S) @ Behind Self

[A3] Dodge (Self-Slow: Evasion-10%)
[S3] Dodge (High Gear: Evasion+10%)
[E3] GolemHit2Damage: 190 + Break + Panel Crack + Wide Attack
Accuracy: C
Description: A fist of stone falls from the sky to smash an enemy, and create a shock wave that hits two nearby enemies. The area affected by the fist becomes Cracked terrain.
Duration: Once
Element: Null
Trader Rank: C: 190 + Break + Panel Crack + Wide Attack (Acc: C) @ HotHead2 + Lava Maker

[E4] Influx Aegis @ Self (Stage 1: Support Base x2 (40), Stage 2: Delay (3 Actions): Support Base x2 (40), Stage 3: Delay (6 Actions): Support Base x2 (40))

After having them go into a battle with Lyntael, I realized that I hadn't reworked Eternalis and Aurora's signatures for the passive signature removal rework. Only several eons late!

Eternalis.EXE Signature Attacks (Total Points: 580/800)

Active: Influx Aegis (4 Instances)
| Stage 1: Support Base x2 (40), Stage 2: Delay (3 Actions): Support Base x2 (40), Stage 3: Delay (6 Actions): Support Base x2 (40) | 3 TCD | 120 SP x4 |
As Eternalis' body is made of viscous slime, his body regenerates damage done to it over time, repairing itself to cope with wounds received during battle. This slime can also break off and restore damage to other entities, if he sees it fit.

Active: System Refresh
| Status Cure | Sacrifice 20 HP | 1 TCD | 20 SP/10 NP |
Eternalis' Momograve encounter has allowed him to deal with purging bugs from his system, as well as others, by recycling the part of his slime body that contains the bug into his core and back out. This can be applied to others by extending this recycled slime towards them as a kind of recovery patch.

Active: Rapid Sublimation
| Teleport | 2 TCD | 80 SP |
Eternalis' slime liquefies instantly for a brief moment, and his armor vanishes. He then rematerializes elsewhere and rapidly reassembles his armor.

Aurora.EXE Signature Attacks: (Total Points: 220/800)

Active: Extraction Module
Being used to stealthy approaches, Aurora needs a way to get herself out of sticky situations when all goes wrong. This module generates a multi-layered repulsion field that uses varying energy frequencies to intercept attacks from different angles. The user is able to focus the field's energy in a particular direction as well.
| 20HP Barrier + 20HP Casing + 1-Hit Shield | 2 TCD | 60 SP |

Active: Infiltration Module (2 Instances)
Going through her old Navigator processes, Aurora utilizes part of Eternalis' processing power to activate a dormant camouflage module. The module is extremely efficient, and allows her to stay undetected for extremely long periods of time. However, it also takes a toll on her concentration, slowing her movements down slightly while she's using it.
| Invisibility 1 | Nerf: Self-Slow 1 | 1 TCD | 80 SP/40 NP x2 |

Excitable as he always was, Sparky's enthusiasm made for a good entrance as he greeted Lyntael with a flurry of licks, while his caretakers walked up with a more measured pace. "Lyntael! It's good to see you again," said Aurora, opening up her arms to receive her embrace. There was a brief tingling sensation, though it was more of a warm tickle than anything painful.

Eternalis was distracted by Sparky running circles around him from the race that Lyntael started with him. It seemed that despite his speed, the belly rub distraction led her to a win, as he sat for a few seconds waiting for further rubs before he saw that she had already sprinted off. The pup didn't seem to notice it much in any case, and was happy to just be running around out in the open networks again.

The blue Navi was a little less ready to receive the hug as he was offered one, owing to his attention to Sparky. He left her hanging for a bit before he realized and laughed. "Oh--sorry! Likewise," he chuckled, wrapping his cool arms around her.

The comment about their previous gathering together made Aurora blush and wave her hands about. "I, uh, I don't know what came over me, honestly. Yeah, maybe next time," she laughed nervously. Though her voice faltered, she was a little relieved that Lyntael didn't take it too oddly, as she had also spent the same two days ruminating over whether to e-mail back about it. In the end, she couldn't find the return address to write back, owing to the odd encryption method, and resolved to simply wait.

Eternalis seemed to take it a bit more in stride. "Sorry, it got beat up a little," he apologized with a bit of a chuckle. The mood sobered down a little as Lyntael led the way forward. Eternalis felt it a little odd that she was so enthusiastic about it while she had been resignedly marching forward before. It might have just been something in his head, he thought, as he walked forward behind her.

Aurora had the same thought process, though less from their mental link and owing more to just the same train of logic. "Oh, sure! Let's see what's around this place," she said. She ran forward to meet Lyntael at her side, with Sparky chasing them up to lead the vanguard excitedly.

"Hey, what do I do with this thing, then?" came a quip from behind them, with Eternalis turning the beat-up spinner device in his hand to examine it as they walked. It wasn't really beat up too much to compromise its function, but the large dent that it had in its middle certainly made it look a little wonky.

[Rogue Battle 1 - Ready!]
[Eternalis.EXE: 600/600, Aurora.EXE: 100/100, Sparky.SP: 80/80]

[>> Harke's Homepage - Homepages]

A swirl of blue liquid manifested onto a teleport pad in the middle of the Kotobuki network, gradually building up height, until the whirl split open, and out stepped Eternalis and Aurora. From Aurora's arms, Sparky jumped out and ran a circle around the two, before scouting out the surrounding area. However, the area wasn't quite what they expected.

Eternalis looked around, examining a nearby dilapidated-looking model of a children's playground. The whole place looked like an abandoned entertainment district of some sort. "Did we get directed to the Rogue layer again?" he asked.

"I swear I set the destination to the normal layer," said Harke. A small pause, before he continued. "Yeah, seems like it just defaults to this layer, possibly because of your strength level."

"Well, she shouldn't be too far off," said Aurora. As if on cue, Sparky barked and zoomed towards a nearby figure at speeds that would certainly knock them over. "Wait, Sparky!" she called out, yelling in the direction of the Navi, her lithe figure and light attire identifying her as their friend Lyntael.

A hazy blue outline appeared in the PET homepage's landing area, materializing into a strange sight. Eternalis's blue body was clearly visible, but it looked like he had been melted into an amorphous mess, holding his form just barely by clinging onto a very distraught Aurora. A beeping disk-like device was lodged inside Eternalis's body as well.

True to her expectations, traversing the emulated link had jolted Eternalis enough for Aurora to wrench herself free briefly, though not well enough for her to travel very far before Eternalis's form overwhelmed her with his weight. The only part she was able to move was an arm, which she reached out to a control panel that she had managed to reach. Frantically working through the settings, Aurora managed to work through it before she was pulled back towards Eternalis's body.

The lighting in the PET homepage rapidly died down, and the area was locked down to outside interaction.

---

The low hum of an oven was the only thing that could be heard in the kitchen area, accompanied by the intermittent noise from Aurora browsing through a bulletin board interface she had installed to pass the time. A small notification ping interrupted her idle browsing, and Aurora raised an eyebrow. She smiled to herself as she saw an email coming in, from one of her recently made friends.

As she was replying, she saw movement out of the corner of her eye. Looking up, she saw Eternalis' disembodied head peeking in through the doorway. "Saw the email?" he said, and Aurora nodded. He proceeded into the kitchen, while curiously taking a peek over her shoulder at what she had written in reply; she had written scarcely anything in reply.

"I'm not sure where to suggest, though... Any ideas? Maybe not Yoka or Sharo," said Aurora.

Eternalis narrowed his eyes in thought. "Kotobuki, maybe? I think I heard something about them opening up a newly renovated public network," he offered up.

"Kotobuki..." she muttered, looking up information on the area. She nodded in approval. "Sounds like a good idea, I'll send that back."

"Let me get Sparky so we can head out, then--Oh, never mind," said Eternalis, before bending down to catch a speeding pup that had just run through the doorway. Attracted by the smell of baked goods, Sparky was barely stopped from rushing headlong into the oven window. The scrambling young dog barked energetically, and Eternalis waved him towards Aurora, who happily received the pup from his hands.

"Do you want to meet Lyntael again, Sparky? Let's go and have a stroll around Kotobuki!" Aurora fawned and nuzzled over Sparky, who took the chance to add his own input into her email to Lyntael by way of randomly smashed letters. "I'll take that as a yes. Could you ask Harke if he's available to operate? It feels like it's been ages since we did some virus busting."

---

Having notified Harke of Lyntael's invitation, he readily agreed to operate, and Eternalis and Aurora readied themselves for their excursion.

"It does feel like it's been a little bit, it'll be nice to see friends again. There's been bad weather recently so we can't really fly back to Electopia for a bit, too..." mused Harke. "Ready to head in?"

"Good to go," said Eternalis, flashing the OK, as he and Aurora walked into the central teleport panel in their homepage. With Sparky in Aurora's arms, and a rather beaten-up looking spinner in Eternalis's, the panel lit up as its destination was pointed towards Kotobuki's network, and all three vanished through.

[>> Casual busting and Catching up - Kotobuki Net]

TO: undefined (undefined@undefined.ides)
FROM: Aurora.EXE (HSEzarith@HrSharo.org)
SUBJECT: Re: Catch Up?
MESSAGE:

Lyntael! It's been a little bit, I can agree. Good news, though? Are things finally turning around for my girl? I'll be happy to hear it out! Though if we're doing a little busting along the way, hmm... Eternalis suggests Kotobuki's network. We've never been, but seems like a pretty nice place to have a stroll through while clearing out some viruses, as they're usually popping up. How does that sound? jffkasf000000k;;;;;

Er, I'll just leave that in there. Puppy says hi! 🐶🐾

- Aurora

With the immense beast before Terra nearly on its last legs, perhaps quite literally, its static-ridden roar filled her ears. Its breaths intermittent and strained, like the low voltage of an aging battery. Having jumped back up from the hole that it fell into, the beast's desperate attempts to retaliate were denied again and again. Every time, inches away from landing a hit, Terra anticipated each swipe and smash with almost precognitive accuracy. At first, her limbs were being moved entirely out of her control, but as she became more aware of it, it felt more and more guided, rather than forced. The sudden rush of tranquility was still there, but what she felt before was like an opaque fog in her mental space was gradually clearing up, sharpening into a resolute point.

"Okay! Okay, that went better than I thought. Okay, gotta focus, shields, gotta get shields..."

Carbide's panicking was still at the back of her mind, but she was still evidently making the best of the situation. Terra saw her defenses rebooting, making use of the leaking magnetic fields from Riccio's wounded body to facilitate a properly element-aligned set. The light armor and shield clicked into place with a brief crackle as the yellow energy field surrounded her. Standing up against Riccio, she tested her limbs, this time with slow, deliberate intent, rather than fighting against it. It was almost like wading through molasses at first, but almost immediately, she felt the resistance part into smooth, firm movements. Whatever was controlling her now seemed to be working more and more with her, becoming a compatible whole.

"Whoa, what happened there? Feels like something... something really big touched down. Wait, lemme see..."

Even Carbide seemed to be aware of it now, as internally, she felt the SP's control over her defenses strengthened, and it no longer felt like she was dividing up control. Instead, it was as if something took hold of Terra and Carbide's hands and linked them together. Suddenly, Carbide felt like she was in her own body again, and Terra felt her hand holding up the tower shield gripping it with an emboldened strength. "That's more like it!" she exclaimed. "That's how we do it!"

Terra nodded. "I'll be relying on you, then," she said.
"You got it!"

Almost like a choreographed dance, Terra moved now across the surface of the asteroid, weaving in and out of attacks with clear intent. In her mind, an image was forming, of a dark city of windowless skyscrapers stretching into the sky, taunting a thunder-streaked sky with their lightning rods. The steel spires' shapes began to blur into a single mass, and the lightning died down, until it all became a single mountain. The image solidified in her mind as she moved, until she dug her boots into the ground, staining them with the black and gold of Riccio's blood. The yellow circuitry around her feet sparked and hissed defiantly just as Riccio did, until she silenced it with a wave of her hand.

All at once, the circuitry reorganized itself into a circular shape radiating outwards, with glowing pulses being sucked in towards Terra, building up her energy. The conductive radial lines rapidly lost their light towards her, until all around her was pitch black. Then, the circuitry tore itself out of the ground all at once like snaking tendrils, little sparks escaping from their ends, swirling and coalescing into two enormous forms. As the tangles of wiring shot themselves continually upwards, it spread out like tree branches, though bare and leafless. Faster and faster the wires extended, until they resembled gnarled tree trunks. The ground around Terra was now completely void of the circuitry, and the "trees" had grown up to almost Riccio's height. Towering over the Navi in comparison, they creaked and lumbered and bent slowly backwards, before returning course. Increasing speed with a steady acceleration, into a crushing blow that seemed inevitable, like the fists of a lumbering giant upon the earth.

// Summary (Field Effect: +10% Evasion)
[Te.1] Sig: Terraskill (Archiver): Persistence of Will: Planar Barrier(30) + Planar Casing(30) + Planar Shield(1) (Magnet: Elec)
[Te.2] Act: Buster Charge
[Te.3] Sig: Terraskill (Archiver): Vigilance of Will: Haste 2 + Dodge (Haste2+FieldEffect: Evasion+30%)
[Te.4] Act: Buster Charge
[Te.5] Act: Evade incoming attacks: Dodge (Haste2+FieldEffect: Evasion+30%)
[Te.6] Act: Charged Buster: Wood 600 @ Riccio (Element Weakness: +100% Source)

Should be just 790/800 points used. Looks correct otherwise, approved.