3a.) Shobatsu

Carlos strolled down the dirt path, whistling apparently random snatches of popular commercial jingles. The sun was visible only as a dull copper disk in the sky, and the trees on either side of the path were almost completely enveloped in the thick fog that seemed to stretch on forever. He was vaguely reminded of the move based off of one if Stephen King's books, 'The Mist', and laughed.

He had a vague feeling that he was being watched, but there was almost certainly a thriving group of squirrels, chipmunks, or harmless little birds in the trees around here, so that was hardly worrying.

Carlos yawned, running his grocery list through his head silently one more time. He wish he'd remembered to write it down, but what's past was past. As it was... he just had to commit it to memory. He patted the comfortable shape of his TQ Hardwire in his left pocket. He knew his little kitsune program was waiting there for some directive. He vaguely wondered if the Hardwire has some function he could use to record his list...

Currently sitting on one of the branches, obviously not to be noticed by Carlos, was the vulture-virus, who, being a shapeshifter, had transformed into a crow, more suiting to the enviornment than a large, desert bird. This was more a moot point: the virus' original existance was to observe, and that was simply what it was doing: observing.

More interesting was the fog that Carlos was strolling into. Although most of it was normal weather, akin to the humid sense, a small section of it was seperated away, a small bump, almost a cloud existing within a cloud. Depending on his current level of focus, Carlos may also notice that his hardware was tugging in that general direction; withdrawing the device would reveal that the screen was showing a bright, white light, an odd function not on the hardware.

Carlos felt a slight tug from his trousers, just a moment after he'd touched it. Half-expecting to have somehow jarred the TQ half-way out of his pocket to dangle by one screen, he glanced down, and was slightly surprised to see the shape of his Hardwire sharply outlined against his pocket. He drew it out, and felt a sharp tug toward a patch of odd-looking fog.

Bemused, Carlos flicked open the device, blinking at the bright light emanating from the screen. He tapped the screen with a finger in disbelief; how could it already be malfunction so soon after purchase? At least the warranty was still good.

He continued along the path, holding the device in his left hand. He'd have to stop by the electronics store while he was out to see about repairs, or at worst, replacement. The path led him into the clump of fog that seemed removed from the rest, though he didn't take particular notice of this, and he soon entered it.

A few moments passed, and Carlos noticed an odd quality to the fog. It almost seemed to be producing its own light, a cool, faintly colored ambiance as opposed to the dull, gray light that had been filtering down before. The fog also seemed to be rapidly thinning as he advanced, leaving only the light. Carlos felt his TQ begin to pulse and vibrate in his hand. Were he the sort to easily spook, he probably would have dropped it.

Just to the left of the trail, in the tall grass, Carlos noticed a light-orange form. He paused, focusing on the form, only for the grass to part as something moved forward. The form that Carlos had seen was healthy-looking fox. The fox padded to the center of the trail, in front of Carlos, sat, and tilted its head slightly.

Carlos smiled. The kitsune almost reminded him of his new DaCre. "Hey there, little guy," he said, kneeling down. "Is this fog giving you a weird feeling, too?" Indeed, Carlos did still have the feeling he was being watched, even more so now that he was in the fog. He wondered if it had been the fox watching him before, but that answer didn't feel right.

"Yes, I'd imagine you would have an odd feeling, considering exactly what it watching you." said the fox. Carlos froze, holding his breath. Had... had that fox just... spoken? Was he imagining things? Perhaps he shouldn't have used that last egg after the expiration date? Or was this fog some sort of hallucinogenic gas? None of those possibilities were very pleasing.

"Yes, yes, now that you've had your moment of shock, perhaps you'd like to turn your attention to the third tree behind you to the left?" The foxes moth opened and closed as the words were said, though the jaw structure of the creature shouldn't have been able to accommodate any sort of intelligible speech. Carlos slowly turned his head, meeting the watching crow's gaze for a moment, before looking back at the fox.

"What are you, and what's so important about that bird?" asked Carlos, deciding that if he was dreaming or hallucinating that he might as well play along.

"Three whole days and you don't recognize me? That's almost insulting. I am Shobatsu, a DaCre, and that bird behind you is a virus made physical by the same process I have used. I wouldn't recommend you make any sharp or unexpected movements."

Carlos took a deep breath, slowly getting to his feet. "So... Shobatsu... What do you propose I do about this virus?"

The fox almost seemed to smile. "Why, I'm suggesting we do what we would do with any other virus. Delete it."

The crow, as the form the shapeshifter virus had taken, had not removed its gaze from the fog, the trainer, or the DaCre. It was strange that this creature could see directly at data, even through the stabilizing fog.

Its eyes pulsed red, as it took off after the fox's comment of deletion. It quickly moved forward, stopping midair as it looked down at the fox and the trainer.

It opened its beak halfway, then, seemed to close it against something, as a red-and-black energy began to build in its mouth. It was an odd energy; Carlos' DaCre would sense an odd power about it, and know that this attack the bird was preparing would be critical if it hit.

"Move." said Shobatsu, as the crow took off.

Carlos leaped to the left, putting a tree trunk in between himself and the bird, Shobatsu momentarily put out of sight by the tall grass. This was a good thing, since, as the fox fell out of sight, Shobatsu used his Flash technique.

A blinding light flashed out from the DaCre's body. As the virus was watching its opponent so carefully, it was likely that it would be blinded for a few minutes, and that its focus for the attack would be interrupted. At this point, Shobatsu went on the offensive.

The small fox darted to the right side of the path, and forward, putting some distance between himself and his previous location. It was no good having a blinded enemy if it knew where you were besides.

As he moved, a small white sphere appeared a few inches from the front of his forehead which, in an instant, shot toward the vulture in a continuous laser-beam. Shobatsu would follow the bird's movements with the laser, if it did move, hoping to cripple its flight early on in the battle.

Carlos got to his knees as Shobatsu launched his attack, still conveniently out of sight of the bird, and now, as Shobatsu moved forward, out of sight of Shobatsu. He edged to the side, trying to get a view of the battle...

The bird's physical sight was damaged, but its original, off-eyesight to see the data within the fog remained keen. It was not interested in looking at the fox for what it appeared as, but only for what it was: infectable data.

As the beam of light was shot at it, the bird tucked in both of its wings, sending it into a dive, abruptly opening the right wing, which caused the bird to move off to the right, moving rather unpredictably to throw off the path of the beam. In this exchange, it also moved forward, attempting to cut off several feet of distance between them.

The attack in the bird's beak was finished: a black orb, surrounded by what appeared to be an aura of crackling red electricity, was created. It was small in size, but it contained what was necessary.

Once out of the way, the bird aimed its body at the fox, firing out a barrage of sharpened feathers that flew similarly to knives: one at the base of each foot, and one at the back.

As the bird fired the feathers, Shobatsu leaped back, away from the bird, moving his paws out of the path of the four feathers. The laser destroyed the one feather on-course for the DaCre, the continuous beam still following the bird's path. Even were the feather to have not been destroyed, it would have been thrown off course by the laser, or delayed long enough for the fox to evade it.

Shobatsu saw that his Flash had been ineffective, and resolved to refrain from using that technique for the remained of this battle. He also noted the completion of the orb, and the bird's attempts to close the distance between it and himself. He decided that the orb attack would be most effective at close range, and so it was prudent that he keep his distance.

Carlos pushed aside some of the tall grass, catching sight of the raven. Shobatsu was still out of sight, however, which was slightly concerning. The bird still seemed to be fighting, however, which meant the kitsune wasn't dead yet. He continued to inch to the side, trying to catch sight of his custom companion.

The two feathers aimed at the back feet, by the fox's method of dodging, instead dug into and through both sides of the fox, slicing through with a pure physical attack. The lascerating edges of the frayed feather increased the depth of the attack somewhat: although the cuts may require treating, it was, by no means, a lethal attack. Collectively, however, increased blood loss would eventually mean rapid fatigue.

The bird saw the fox's damage, and, seeing the path of the laser, dove again, quickly moving forward, the distance between the bird and the fox rapidly closing. The lower the bird was, the easier it was to predict the fox's movement or aiming; the higher it was, the easier it was to attack. Since it only wanted to evade, it stayed low, and refrained from a second attack.

A slight smile flashed across Shobatsu's face as the feathers cut slightly into his sides, and the raven descended.

It had fallen right into his trap.

As the bird descended, it came within ten feet of the fox. As it did so, the laser abruptly cut off, and the light underneath the raven shifted. The area near the ground vanished from sight into pitch blackness as the light flooded upward, targeting the raven.

Shobatsu moved backward swiftly, using his Sunburn technique. The light between him and the raven condensed into an amorphous shape, flooding toward the bird from all angles. The light was less thick above and behind the bird as that was where it was closer to the edge of Shobatsu's range.

The light would burn the bird anywhere it made contact, increasing in severity with amount and time sustained, of course. Due to the bird's dive, which gave it a lot of forward and downward momentum, it was likely that it would move right through the front and bottom area of the light, where it was most dense, taking severe burn damage.

Meanwhile, Carlos had caught sight of Shobatsu, and was slightly amazed at the battle. He knew what the moves did, yes, and he'd even seen them in a battle tutorial, but... It was one thing to see the move played out on a little screen, and quite another to see them performed in person.

The Vulture dove through the light, closing its beak to protect the orb, increasing the density of its body as it approached the light. The attack was literally searing to the virus: although it had shut off its physical eyes, it could feel the attack, and sense its range by looking at the fox's data.

Sharpening its wings, it quickly shifted to an upward glide, away from the main edge of the fox's attack as it quickly elevated, wounded but not destroyed. This potential puppet had too strong of a shield... it was too early to attempt an attack on this creature.

Surprisingly fickle, it flew over the fox, out of the fog, and quickly out of range, molting its wounded feathers as they converted into pure data.

Shobatsu launched a laser after the bird, following its expected path for a few seconds before stopping. He knew this wasn't likely to finish off the bird, but the possibility of inflicting one more disgrace upon the virus wasn't something to be passed up. After all, it had the audacity to attack a DaCre.

The fox closed its eyes, focusing for a moment. The data feathers that had just a moment ago been drifting down through the fog suddenly expanded into a red dust, flowing into the kitsune. The two scratches on his sides vanished, and he absorbed what little strength remained from the data with relative ease.

Carlos got to his feet and stepped out of the grass, watching Shobatsu carefully. "Well, that was certainly... impressive." he said, screening the sentence for anything that could be provocative.

The kitsune sighed. "There's no need to be like that. I'm not going to bite. Well, not you, at least." he said.

Carlos smiled. "Thanks for that. But... exactly why are you here? Or, should I ask, how?"

Shobatsu didn't open his eyes. "I am here to get stronger. That is all you need for now. As for how... That will become clear in time."

Carlos scratched the back of his head. That answer didn't really clear much up for him. He supposed he would just have to suffice for that for now, however. The fox obviously didn't want to talk about it.

"Well, I'm off to the store, still." said Carlos in a manner that left the unvoiced question hanging in the air.

As an answer, Shobatsu padded forward, brushing against Carlos' legs before continuing off in the direction that Carlos had been walking in before the encounter with the bird.

Carlos smiled, and started walking. It would be quite a few more minutes before he realized he had completely forgotten what it was he needed to buy.