"Woah...that was a little too close for our comfort." Sketi said, slowly swaying back and forth on her feet. She was a little shaken up from how close the virus had come to hitting her. "Hey Karin, it seems to be reading our moves, what now?"

The NetOp slid her hand across her forehead before replying. "You'll have to attack from the back or the sides. Get in, get out, and don't dawdle trying to get in more then one hit. Constantly move too." She added, noticing her Navi's current lack of motion. "It'll tire you out, but you'll have a chance to rest after this." She fiddled with her PET for a moment then stood up, swiping the chips into the pocket of her raincoat.

"Hey, you're not going to just leave us?" Panic echoed in Sketi's voice. "We'll turn into virus-feed!"

"Don't worry." Karin chuckled and gave her head a shake. "It's only temporary. I'm running out to get a subchip I mentioned earlier." A pause. "I think you were right about there being more enemies in the system then I first thought. Just keep attacking like I told you and I'll be back soon."

"Got it, don't get hit by a car, 'kay?" With a cheerful grin Sketi rushed towards the ChampuAvatar again, getting within a few netfeet before leaping to the side. She turned and darted behind it, holding out a claw to slice into it's back. After that she kept running. Sketi zigged and zagged as necesscary to avoid it's attacks and try to get around the cracked panels.

Karin watched up until Sketi attempted to get to the side of the mutated Champu then pulled herself away. The PET was slid into it's case and carried in hand as she rushed out the door and down the steps to to the front door.

~~
Action 1: Rageclaw 40 @ ChampuAvatar
Action 2-3: Dodge

"This is going to be a long drawn out fight, isn't it?" Sketi said, tilting her head back to stare at the endless airspace of the Net. "It looks like if we get hit its going to hurt a lot too. Well, it could've been worse." She moved her chin back down and took a long look at her opponent. "See any weak spots, have any plans?"

"None that will finish this as quickly as you'd probably like. Slice it up with this and dodge like mad." Karin slotted in the Rageclaw and hesitated. "About it being worse, at least it doesn't have a thousand hit points or something similar."

"Yeah, and there's not two of them! Kinda wish we could use the chips from earlier though." Sketi said wistfully, wishing she could smack her opponent a couple more times with a Zapring. "Anyways, we'll hang in for the rest of the fight, you want us to just use Rageclaw to finish it, right?" Sketi asked as she held her arms out in front of her. Two petals from either side of her head plunged into the opposite arm and melted down into goo. The ooze slide its way up to her elbows and down to her fingertips before hardening.

"Yeah, Rageclaw then dodges for the rest of the (turn). Attack right after it has and you should be alright. I think I'll head out to grab a sub chip and another battle chip after this fight." Karin fiddled around with her chips and stacked them up by the faucet on the sink and slid off the counter with a squeak.

"Alright. It'll take us a while to beat this thing but if something really bad happens we want you here anyways." Sketi informed before sprinting towards the ChampuAvatar. The Navi leapt up and slashed at the virus's cheek, landing on all fours and throwing herself to her feet and ran away from it as quickly as possible, swerving to avoid cracked panels that might get in her way.

~~
Action 1: Rageclaw 40 @ ChampuAvatar
Action 2 - 3: Dodge

Sketi grinned and turned around as soon as she saw the shotgun hit, clenching both her fists and leaping into the air. "We did it! We have brought down Mr. Punch You in the Face!"

"No, you haven't! Look behind you and be careful! I'll send you Zapring and unlock Terminal. Get away from it immediately afterwards." Karin said in a rush, voice rising slightly with worry. She slid in the chips then scrolled her screen over to the newly evolved virus, snapping a screenshot of it.

Sketi whirled around at the warning, her eyes widening and mouth dropping open as she stared at the thing standing in front of her. "Lord of the Undernet." She breathed, taking a couple steps backwards as Linky lit up with chip data once more. Static began sounding from the weapon system, but quietly this time as if it too was in awe of the virus in front of it. "That...that thing is huge! Like, three times our size at least!" Sketi suddenly cried, waving her arms around to emphasize her point. The Navi was panicking, fear underlying all she said and the way she moved and stood.

"Hey! Snap out of it!" Sketi suddenly barked, attempting to make her voice as energetic and reassuring as possible. "After this we'll log out, and its not a definitive that this thing can delete you! All we can do is give it our best shot." Her enthusiasm flagged halfway through her last sentence and made her end with a rather flat tone.

"...right. We beat this thing down once we can do it again!" Sketi cried with renewed enthusiasm, pumping a fist into the air. "We'll wipe the floor with this thing, just make sure you keep us safe!" The Navi thrust a hand out in front of her with a single finger pointing at the virus and turned her body so the side faced the virus. Two of the petals began crackling with electricity and drifted towards her hand, one flipping in midair to merge points with is fellow. Sketi shifted her hand to grab one end of the merged weapon, pulling her lead arm back across her chest before flinging it forwards. Electricity visibly sparked across the surface of the merged petals as they were flung like a Frisbee towards the virus.

Karin sighed in relief, lowering her head for a moment as if to get her breath back She had been worried she wouldn't be able to reignite her Navi's fighting spirit, encouraging others really wasn't her thing. "Follow through Sketi, you're not done yet."

"Of course! We won't be done 'til this thing is bits of data drifting across the Net!" Sketi called back, voice once more full of glee as she turned to face the virus head on. The petals separated and came zipping back, slowing and turning to join the other pieces of Linky that had lined up in front of her. Sketi brought her right arm over her left shoulder and hesitated, running through her custom weapon's status on her visor. Her uncertain look turned to a certain one, hesitation vanishing as her mouth curved up into a grin and she flung her arm down and across, shouting "GO!" at the same time. Linky's pieces flung themselves towards the virus, Sketi running after them almost immediately. Linky reached the virus first. Sketi came in a quick second, twisting her body to slam sideways into the virus before sprinting off in the direction she now faced. Linky pulled itself out of where ever it had hit and darted after her, slowing as she slowed and turned in an arc. The pieces arranged themselves next to the helmet as Sketi suddenly leapt into the air, turning her jump into a front flip in an additional effort to avoid getting smacked by the giant Champu.

~~
Action 1: Zapring 40+Stun @ ChampuAvatar
Action 2: Terminal 40+Break @ ChampuAvatar
Action 3: Run 'n Flip (Dodge)

Karin groaned and shook her head at Sketi's naming of the virus. "Naming it better not make you more attached to it." She warned in her best somewhat threatening voice. She picked over the chips then slotted them in. "Use those in the order I gave 'em to you and we should be finished soon."

"Heey now! We're not that kind of girl! It takes a much longer time in our presence to win our affections!" The Navi sounded quite offended, she even crossed her arms over her chest to make her point. "And anyways," Sketi continued in a much more at ease voice, her hands slipping down to hang by her side. "You have to do the optional side quest with the boss with over 70000 health first!" Karin groaned and Sketi grinned and Linky shone with light.

"You suck and I was half-dead. I didn't realize it only had 7000 hitpoints 'cause my eyes were blurring up." Karin 'explained', realizing her Navi was referencing a game she'd been playing a few nights ago. "You're such a pest sometimes."

"Of course, of course! Now then, on to finishing off this fight." Sketi turned on her heel to face the Champu, having turned side-ways during her argument with Karin. "Nice choice of chips, we can work well with these." She raised a hand and watched as two petals drifted forwards, charged each other and joined at the tip, and then began to crackle with electricity as they floated just beyond her fingertips. Sketi reached out to take it, holding one of the broader ends carefully as she readied her throw. The static in Linky abruptly made its reappearance with a vengeance. Sketi dropped to one knee and dropped the Zapring, clapping her hands over the sides of her helmet where her ears apparently were.

"Hey! Sketi are you okay?" She asked, catching sight of her Navi at the edge of the screen and scrolling the view back over to her. She scowled at the Pet when she heard some of the static and mumbled something under her breath. "Hey, hang in there, the static will disappear after the fight ends, right?" Sketi cracked an eye open and nodded, snagging the Zapring with one hand and pushing herself back up with the other.

""Ugh, we won't be able to fight properly if this keeps up." Sketi added, pulling her arm back before flinging the electrically charged petals at her foe. She skipped to the side then raised her arm, light creeping up the wires on her back but gathering speed as they went. Suddenly it was full, and she watched patiently as her hand and part of her lower left arm shifted and slid into the boxy shape of a Cannon. She aimed and fired, shaking her hand out after it slipped back into its normal shape. Karin noticed something when Sketi began jumping around to avoid more attacks, a few sparks were flying from where the wires connected to the Navi's neck. She didn't say anything though, that would be repaired when this fight was over.

~~
Action 1: Zapring 40 + Stunning @ Champu(?)
Action 2: Cannon 40 @ Champu(?)
Action 3: Dodge

Good luck with your finals. Don't let yourself get stressed out!

Sketi staggered back from the second hit and collapsed on the tiles behind her. "Urk..."

"Hey, are you okay?" Karin asked, glancing at the helath bar for Sketi along the side of her Pet's screen. She was relieved to see her Navi wasn't too badly injured, but another slice of her health had been knocked off. Karin suddenly shot an alarmed look back at Sketi who had just begun to giggle in a rather off-kilter way.

"Hey are you okaaaay? You look pretty low, pretty low..." The lyrics escaped Sketi's lips in a rather sluggish way as she forced herself into a seated position. "You look pretty low, very handsome awkward!" Another slightly frightening giggle and she shoved herself to her feet, staggering around a bit. "Heey Karin. We're alright, just didn't expect it to teleport is all. OR hit twice. Send us some chips please, guns seem to work fairly well on it." The Navi's eyebrows arched up under her helmet at a sigh of relief from her Operator. "Hey! You didn't really think we were out of it, did you?"

"For a moment you had me worried." Karin remarked dryly. "I can't think of another reason for a Navi to start singing in the middle of a fight if singing isn't a part of their signature. I'll send you one chip for now, dodge for the rest of (this turn)." She looked over her chips and pulled out the shotgun, slotting it into the Pet.

"Gotcha, we'll take this thing down while keeping ourself safe!" Sketi hummed as the various pieces of Linky picked themselves up from where around where the freak Champu had been. They whirled around each other as if confused before darting back to meet up with the other parts of Sketi's weapon system. The half-spheres returned to their normal colors and the petals returned to their normal shapes. They all began to glow, the the cables beginning their usual pre-Shotgun light. Her arm was covered in a bright light as soon as the wire 'gauges' were full. "Hey hey! Mr. Punch-You-in-the-Face!" Sketi shouted, raising her arm as the lower half finished transforming. "Hope ya don't know how to duck!" With that she fired, recoil preventing her from firing off two shots even if she could.

Karin stared at the screen for a moment then began to type a message to her Navi. 'What the hell, Mr. Punch-You-in-the-Face? What's that about?'

"Yes, Mr. Punch-You-in-the-Face. Thats where it's been aiming! And its what we've decided to call this virus for the rest of the fight, even if it means making it angry!" Sketi explained as her hand turned back to normal and she cart-wheeled to the side. When she was standing again she leapt back several times then darted in the direction she'd come from, all in an effort to avoid the virus's attacks.

~~
Action 1: Shotgun 50 @ Mr. PYF(Champu(?))
Action 2 - 3: Dodge

Sketi backed away from the Champu and frowned. "Heeeey Karin! Are you seeing this things health as well?" She asked nervously, half-hoping there was something wrong with her scan program.

"Yeah, and I don't like it." Karin zoomed in on the Champu and took a screenshot of it, making sure the health was in the picture too. "I'll send you Bubbler and Pulsar, dodge whatever it throws at you." The chips were slotted in and the Operator zoomed out to view the whole fight, carefully panning around the Perimeter. 'Don't want anything to sneak up on us.'

"Gotcha!" Sketi was a little relieved at her Op's quick response and cupped her hands in front of her. "We'll add our own little specialty to the bubbler, even if its not really needed." Linky shone with the power of the chip data and the half-spheres suddenly darted up, hovering over Sketi's head. They flashed orange then began to drift together, the colors blurring into the sludge-colored mix before drifting forwards. Light flashed once across the surface of the ball and it dropped into Sketi's hands. She closed her eyes tight for a moment, a pale orange creeping up from the bottom of the ball until it covered the whole thing. "Hey virus! Catch!" The Navi opened her eyes, closed a hand around the ball and pulled it back over her shoulder. Sket snapped her arm forwards, stepping frowards with one foot to keep her balance. The ball flew straight towards the virus, aiming to smack into it before bursting open.

"'kay, time for our new favorite!" Sketi held her hands in front of her, palms facing as two of the petals slid forwards. They slipped closer and closer together until they collided and merged, shifting into a larger version of their usual shape. Sketi took the new weapon between two fingers and flung it after the Bubbler, towards the virus's face. "Heey batter batter batter!" She called, cupping one hand around her mouth as she moved away from where she'd been standing and made several random changes in direction, hoping to avoid the Champu's attack.
~~
Action 1: Bubbler 50 (x2 ?) @ Champu (?)
Action 2: Pulsar 70 @ Champu (?)
Action 3: Dodge

"Alright, gather the left-over data and jack out. We're finished here for now." Karin said, scooping up the chips she'd gotten so far and dropped them in her pocket. She slid a blank chip out of the same pocket and clicked it into the Pet. She glanced at the screen and caught site of Sketi's open-mouthed shock. "What?"

"You...you can't be serious! We've only done..." The Navi took a quick count on her fingers. "Eight battles! Are you serious?" Sketi stretched her arms out to the side as she began to argue vehemently. "We're probably not even done yet! What if we go now and the job might only be half-finished!" Karin just gave her Navi a condescending smile and tapped the screen where the data pile was.

"Don't worry about that, if we have to we can always come back later. But right now I'm sick of sitting here in rain gear, I want to change back into that cute outfit I got the other day." Karin finished her turn in the conversation with a yawn, stretching her arms to the side. "Aaaaah. Much better." She slid off the counter with a squeal from her raincoat and waited for the cue to jack out Sketi.

"We can't believe you're doing this. We could be missing out on so many chips." Another attempt at reasoning with her Operator, Sketi really didn't want to be responsible if the toilet blew up, or something similar. "C'mon, we have a hunch we could last for two more fights to stabilize the network. We can't leave the Progs alone here the way it currently is!" She kept up the arguing but sent two of Linky's petals to dive into the data and absorb it anyways while her claws melted down to their regular forms. "Just two more fights, and we won't say another word about it, even if it messes up again."

"Well..." Karin paused, eyes shifting towards the moniter in the back of the toilet. "Alright, two more fights then we're going somewhere fun. Somewhere with water we actually /want/ to be in." She added, resuming her seat and sliding out the new Zapring. "Go search out your second to last fight."

"Right! We're on it!" Sketi gave a happy salute, her cheeks nearly disappearing under her helmet because of the smile. "We'll run just two more battles and then go to...hmm, we heard Yoki Net has a hot spring. Maybe we could go there?" She asked as she quickly made her way deeper into the toilet's network.

"That sounds like a wonderful idea for you, I can run some errands while you're there as well. Also...its pronounced Yoka. A not I."

(Requesting battle 9 please!)

"Someone knows how to dance." Karin slotted in the Rageclaw chip and tapped a couple buttons. "Slash 'em up."

"Alright 'cept, why have we been constantly finishing with Rageclaw? We like using it but still.." Sketi held her arms out, wincing as four petals stabbed into her. "We're glad that only looks painful." She remarked as the petals melted into the usual pastel colored mess. It slid down from her elbows until the messes encased her arms from fingertips to elbows. There was a flash of light across the surface and substance hardened into claws.

"Its just easier to save it until the end, we can use it as much as need to clean whatever else is left up." Karin rubbed a hand on the back of her raincoat, frowning as the edge of her sleeve squeaked. "Take care of these guys and then look for another group."

"Yeah yeah, we understand." Sketi gave a sloppy salute, her hand bouncing off the front of her helmet. She settled into a crouch and grinned at what was left, eyes narrowing behind her visor. She shifted her weight then sprinted forwards, lunging for the Ghost and trying to slash through its face. She whirled to face the Metool and lunged, claws aimed for its body.

~~
Action 1: Rageclaw 40 @ Spooky B
Action 2-3: Rageclaw 40 @ MeetoolEXA

Sketi glanced at the shockwave's path as it raced by, relieved at the miss but still worried. "Hey Karin that was a little close! Can we deal with one of the funny colored Metools now?" Linky shifted through various pastel colors as it returned to its usual position. Karin didn't reply for a little while, checking over the unused chips before selecting two more.

"Alright, Pulsar for a MetoolEX and Shotgun for the Bunny and a ." The Netop slid in the chips and fiddled around with various status windows on the Pet, already trying to plot out the next course of action.

"Gotcha, thanks for the reprieve!" Sketi returned her attention back to the virus group and held her hands out in front of her, palms facing but not touching. Linky shined with chip data as Sketi scrolled between her current options in her head. After a little debate she finally settled on the one she already thought of as a favorite move and grinned. Light creeped up the quartet of wires as the newer of the two chips were selected, prodding two petals forwards. They slipped between Sketi's hands, narrowing the distance between them until they merged. The shape contracted into a ball before twisting into a larger version of the petals and humming slightly. Sketi raised her eyes from the weapon between her hands and gave her fingers a flick towards the Metool, the chip-charged petal flinging itself towards a spot between the virus's eyes.

Sketi didn't wait for it to return though, she moved right on to the next part of her Op's plan. "Shotgun data uploading." She said, the tip of her tongue flicking to the side of her mouth as she concentrated on what she wanted to be her targets. The light on the cables had only begun fading away from the last chip data, now it brightened again, her arm beginning to glow as well. Sketi felt the sleeve on her left arm tighten and glanced down, raising her arm as the lower half changed shape. The Navi looked back to the viruses and reaimed. One eye slide closed then she fired, the blast jerking her arm up and back.

"Hah! We think we've got it!" She called to Karin, eyeing the viruses. Her arm shifted back to its usual shape as the petals from the Pulsar chip unmerged and zip-zagged back. Sketi grinned and licked her lips before setting off in a run around the virus group. "Hey hey you you! Come an' get us!" She called, waving a hand to the viruses that remained while sprinting about.

~~
Action 1: Pulsar 70 @ MetoolEXB
Action 2: Shotgun 50 @ Bunny C & Ghost A
Action 3: Dodge