Smashed into the central pillar, Torrent's body warped and crackled as it took the impact from HayWyre's enraged kicks. She slumped to the ground, the pain and shock hitting her system like a rampaging horse. A cold dread followed as she looked down and saw two fragmenting craters in her stomach. She coughed wetly, spitting out a wad of pixelated data, low-res bytes dribbling down her jaw.

<<Torry!>> The bubblegum shrieked. <<Are you apricot?>>

"...Wha...?" Torrent's senses felt screwy... Chewy, even. This was more than a concussion. She could smell the tang of subroutines and the spicy aroma of subsurface polynomials. "What... did you whey?"

Something was wrong with her head. Something must have gotten into it... infected her... The thought was terrifying, which sharpened her senses slightly. Everything now blistered with smells. Her hand smelled like sherbert. The tentacles like chocolate, and she salivated data at the thought of chomping down on the flailing appendages. There was a war going on in her head. The bad things smelled good... while the good things smelled... like citrus. The horse itself smelled doughy and... bitter. And like mango? Fried fish? Every waft had a different scent to it, like the smell couldn't make up its mind. Like it was confused.

She shook her head, buffering through the programmatical hiccup. The intense smells and flavours faded, faintly lingering on the edges of her perception. "Holy cheesecakes." Torrent massaged the temples of her head. "If that's what it's been seeing this whole time... No wonder it's mad." Torrent shivered, watching the horse rip up and chew the cables. "That's... awful...!"

Behind her, the internet transmit hub of the waiter robot pulsed neutrally, though its connection to the internet was currently severed. <<Torry>> Hippie called again. <<I've plugged in the PET to the jack! I'm all ready on this end!>>

Torrent gingerly picked herself up from the floor. If she hadn't had both her shields active she would've been mincemeat by now. Her brain was both too slow and running around screaming for her to get any coherent thoughts lined up. "Hippie. What should I do?"

Torrent could feel a surge of chip data pouring into her. Weirdly, she could feel it most strongly from the portal. <<That horse is too fast and beefy to wrassle. We need to use ice physics!>> A bubble grew in her palm, blue and cold, frosting over with ice.

"Hey, Lembas b-bread!" Torrent called out. "You want s-something to chew on!?"

She dunked the IceBomb onto the floor in front of her to create a patch of delicious frosting. No, wait, ice. ...Cream?

"C-come and get it!" She all but shrieked, her palm glowing with monochrome energy, pointing her hand at the wayward beast. Torrent pulled back the film of the concrete-grey bubble inflating in her hand. The surface of the sphere bulged with small mounds, as though there were dozens of smaller balls inside. She aimed the bubble at HayWyre, seeing the mad horse through the transparent film, and released it. The bubble snapped out of her palm, rocketing over the field of tendrils; and about half-way to its target, the bubble popped, firing forward a barrage of smaller pellets.

Hoping that she had the horse's attention, Torrent stood her ground, positioning herself with the portal just behind her and the small pool of ice in front of her. With the forest of tendrils in the way, HayWyre might not notice the patch in time. Though in it's horrific state of mind, she wasn't sure it'd care if it did notice. She trembled, waiting for the mad horse to come her way, as it tended to do when it remembered she existed.

<<You can do this, Torry!>> Hippie cheered, her voice echoing from the beam behind her. <<Just time it right, and you can win!>>

Torrent grit her teeth, clenching her stomach, feeling the data of the last chip inside her. If the plan worked and HayWyre did in fact try to chase her across the ice, she'd flip that inner switch, activating the Mole chip. With any luck, the horse would pass right over her head as she sequestered herself safely underground. And if they could remove the horse from this room, it'd give her and the progs time to clean up. She just hoped HayWyre didn't wreck her home too much.

"I-if you f-fall off that h-horse..." Torrent qualed on the spot, digital sweat beading on her forehead and hair pipes. "...you get b-back up a-and eat that h-horse!"


---TORRENT'S TURN SUMMARY---

[1]: IceBall1 (120dmg + Break + Small Ice Terrain Change, C)-> Floor in front of Torrent and the central core.

[2]: Shotgun (60 dmg + Spread1, A) -> HayWyre
[2+]: Marksmanship (+1 Shot Accuracy)

[3]: Mole1 (Conditional Burrow / Submerge, 1-Turn)-> Torrent, if HayWyre charges at Torrent.


[Cooling] Spiral Splash, Ready Next Turn!

Welcome back! I think a decade ago we might have been "Chaos Network".

Torrent struggled with the wires that had ensnared her, passing harmlessly through her bubble to grapple her. It seemed whenever she managed to rip a limb free from the sparking vines, some other part of her had become captured in the wily embrace. “Can- can you not?!” She complained, wrenching her foot free. “It’s like every aunt and uncle in the world wants to give me a birthday hug!” She yelped as a wire caught a backpack hose and pulled her backwards unbalancing her. She twisted to grab the vine, but ended up falling flat on her face. “I bet this kind of thing wouldn’t happen to Blitz.” She muttered, half-muffled into the floor.

An electric shock surged through her, rippling the surface of her body like a ragged scanline. Torrent gasped, then hiccuped, a wisp of smoke billowing out of her mouth. “Oooh… I think I have heartburn…”

<<Woah, that’s not normal!>> Hippie fussed with her PET, gasping at what she saw. <<That’s definitely not good. You alright, Torry?>>

Torrent blinked, feeling a lightness that wasn’t present before. “Yeah… Actually, I feel…” She belched, surprising herself. “...Great?” The electric vines loosened their grip and she leapt to her feet, balling her fists, full of energy. “I feel like a billion zenny!”

Her thrill turned to firepower as she channeled an electrified bubble into her palm. Pulling back the skin of the orb, she aimed it at the horse and released the film, snapping it out of her grasp with an intense velocity. It spiraled over the flailing sea of wires, electricity crackling between them. “Eat this, horse!”

<<Wait, hold the fire, Torry.>> Hippie interrupted. <<I think this dark horse is the program that checks for errors. Something must have corrupted it! That’s why this robot is full of viruses!>>

“Oh man, oh jeez!” Torry panicked, her positive energy winking out like a particularly drunk stripper, “If I kill this horse, the waiter robot will be a breeding ground for viruses! That’s the worst thing I could possibly do!”

<<But we can’t just leave it like this, either!>>

They stewed in worried contemplation, before Hippie broke the silence.

<<I’ve got an idea! That column in the centre is the access port, right? Get it open! We’ll transfer that horse into your PET!>>

Torrent blanched. “Ew! No wait! That’s where I live!”

<<There’s no time!>> Hippie mewled. <<It’s do or delete, Torry!>>

Torrent relented, scanning the consoles on the wall, hoping that something would be able to give her a clue as to how the port opened. One of the consoles looked significantly different from the rest, and she waded over as quick as she could, fighting the swarming vines that grasped and groped. Since she was neither a Prog nor a certified access port technician, Torrent planned to press every button, flip every switch and shake every proffered hand she could on the dashboard.

She knew she wouldn’t be fast enough to escape the wrath of Haywire though. The electrified dome of her personal shield appearing on her hand, the protective film of her bubble barrier encasing it.


---TORRENT'S TURN SUMMARY---

[1]:{Sig, 1TCD} Spiral Splash (40dmg Shot-Type) -> HayWyre

[2]: Activate the consoles! (Movement)

[3]: Shield

As the eldest daughter of the Sinclair family, Orion had it all. Prestige, connections, beauty, tutors. She had discourse with the world leaders of influence and pomp. She had dined on the finest foods at the finest tables in the finest restaurants. She travelled the globe in glory and stardom, her name on the tongues of hundreds of thousands. A sensation. A Goddess.

The word had truly been her Oyster Rockefeller.

Funny, she mused, stirring the milk in her Café Bombón with a disinterest that bordered on full-blown shunning, It would still be mine, if… She shook the thought away, unwilling to finish.

If… she had just been a teensy bit less of a downright, A-class, coal-in-stockings bitch.

“Time, darling?”

The silver croissant hooked on her belt chimed. <<Your appointment is scheduled to arrive in three minutes, forty-four seconds, sir!>>

Orion paused stirring. “Aren’t you forgetting something?”

<<Oh, um, ‘you idiot’, sir!>>

“Better.” She huffed. “Remember it next time, or I’ll remind you with some deserved punishment!”

<<Yes, sir! Um, ‘you bastard’! Anything but that!>> Replied the voice, with more pep than one might expect.

Orion drummed her fingers on the table. She stared out at the small square of grass across the road from her. It was a quaint little park in the centre of the ACDC suburb, a place to relax and play. Playground equipment took up an entire corner, with slides and swings and climbing frames galore. It was a place for kids to have fun and for adults to take a break.

And it was a place for redemption.

Her plans would come to fruition in mere hours. But first, there was the matter of her contact...

<<One minute, sir! You ugly git!>>

Orion sipped her coffee, as delicately as if she were handling a priceless emerald. “Lovely.”

Wait, hang on, it says in the Signature Attack topic:

" At level 0, players will start with an initial pool of 80 Sig Points to make signature attacks (referred to as Sigs) from."

Is this wrong?\

EDIT: Nevermind, Maarty pointed me right.

---NetNavi of Orion Sinclair---

Name: MidKnight.EXE
Gender: Female
Element: Null
Subtype: Sword

Appearance: MidKnight is a moderately tall woman with a bulky physique, though it’s not apparent due to the weighty dark-purple plate armour that she wears. Her beak-shaped helmet makes her feel foolish, so she leaves the visor up most of the time, showing her head and fair-blue skin. Her hair is straight and deep blue in colour, and its length changes depending on the phases of the moon, growing longer as it waxes and shorter as it wanes. At new moon, her hair is buzzcut almost to the skin, but at full moon her hair flows en masse down to her knees, billowing out the back of her helmet like a cape. Her steel boots are shaped like unicorn heads, complete with protruding horns on the toe caps and jet thrusters on the heels. Her emblem is shown on both round pauldrons, an icon of her bent tongs pointing at a crescent moon.

Personality: MidKnight is a chivalrous, if unfocused, swords-woman. She was created as the perfect servant, obedient and diligent, but suffers from daydreams and has a rather short attention span. MidKnight is confident in a fight, but her willingness to obey her operator, Orion Sinclair, makes her afraid of failure, and the jumpiness that ensues is a testament to her role as Orion’s navigator. The faint delight she exudes from her poor treatment manifests as a mild masochism, which makes her all the more eager to jump into the fray.

Custom Weapon: “Phase Apollo.” MidKnight’s weapon is a long straight sword with a wide split running straight down the middle. At the centre of the sword length, the blades curve outward in opposite directions, each in the shape of a semicircle. The whole sword resembles a pair of straight tongs with a distinct, circular bend in the middle.


--Type Abilities--

Sword Mastery (Passive): All Slashing attacks gain an additional Accuracy rank. Accuracy with slashing attribute attacks can surpass A rank.

Riposte: Imbue as a free action on a Dodge action to follow up with an automatic counterattack, negated by Impact, for 40 + (Level) Slashing damage at melee range with base B accuracy. This ability will activate after imbued regardless of the Dodge's result. (Once Per Turn)


--Signature Attacks--

Roundo Rondo: MidKnight ignites the thrusters on her boots, skating along the ground directly towards her target. The hoop in her sword glows with moonlight, leaving the afterimage of a crescent moon when she swings. (60 Slashing DMG + Melee Attack = 60, 2TCD)


--Navi Stats--

100 (+50) HP
3 Actions
1/1/1 Buster Stats
60 Signature Points.
40 NaviCust Points.

--Operator of MidKnight.EXE--

Name: Orion Sinclair
Age: 30
Gender: Female
Appearance: A prim and beautiful woman with shoulder length blonde hair tied up in a fashionable cone. She wears deep purple eyeliner, mascara and lipstick, as well as silvery crescent moon earrings. She clothes herself in high quality fashion, opting today for a long luxurious salmon scarf, a pale pink coat over a black dress, high quality jeans and heel-less dress shoes.

Personality: Orion is, to put it briefly, a spoiled brat who has matured into a demanding pain in the rear. She’s been a model, a singer, a t.v. star and a fiancée, but with time her rotten nature made those pursuits wither into nothing. Once the star child of the proud Sinclair family, she’s ended up squandering their name and dragging it through the mud with her. Now she meanders from one half-bright occupation to the other, bungling into a myriad of scandals and controversies that have tarnished what reputation she has left. Her failures and inevitable self-loathing cause her to lash out with barely concealed frustration.

She takes these frustrations out on her Navigator, MidKnight, who obeys her every whim. While Orion does feel bad about how she treats MidKnight, the navi’s persistent obedience and willingness to help a terrible person like Orion infuriates her, leading to a cycle of mild mistreatment.


PET Modifications:Orion’s PET is a high-class model with luxurious leather grip and silver lining. It’s been shaped like a crescent moon, with clips at each point that allow it to be attached to her belt.

--Starting Inventory--

0 zenny.
2 MiniEnergy Subchips.
Battlechips: Cannon, Shotgun, Rageclaw, Recover30
NaviCust: Undershirt and HP +50.

That's a smart idea, Azure, gives it more use than I generally do with it. And I'll read through yours Grim when I've got a moment. <3

This is an RP forum, and that means there's a lot of cool writing going on. Trouble is, and I'm not sure if this is just me, but I find that the only topics I really read are my own. And I doubt there are many who read entire battle topics other than the posters and the moderators.

Therefore, I'd like to suggest this topic: Post here a link to a busting run, real-world rp or mission that you consider one of your best, or that you'd like to share cool moments from your characters.

Fore example: This is a mission from Torrent where she gets into a dance-off in pirate-infested waters and not a single combat encounter is had.

Oops! I forgot about that. Thanks for the catch. Edited.