Serenade wasn't entirely confident about getting aboard the digital motorcycle. There wasn't a whole lot of risk involved, and she wasn't unsure about her riding skill, but it was her policy to take life slowly and surely - something that bikes were not built for. She always walked everywhere in the real world. After all, what was the rush? But this was a little different. She couldn't deny that the group had reason to hurry in this case. With a small shrug that didn't quite mirror the excitement of some of her friends, she climbed aboard the stylish machine and fired it up.

Since it wasn't required that she take point for combat situations just yet, Serenade followed behind the group at a comfortable distance, making sure to keep up. The world rushed by, and though it was intangible, she got the sensation of the wind rushing through her long white hair. Things like that transferred to the DgtWld quite handily, and even in her digital form, Serenade did not find it particularly unpleasant. It was a little bit like being on horseback, she mused, which suited her combat style well. Perhaps they would learn to get along after all.

As they reached their destination, their targets became obvious. Two hackers were in the middle of something, looking at... she couldn't tell what. Serenade quickly scanned and spotted the same thing that Ice had noticed: the two hackers had given themselves weapons. Melee weapons. Not the usual glitches and hacks which manifested as spells or monsters in this world, but lines of code designed for the two of them to use to directly attack their opponents. Or their victims. Silent as usual, Serenade calmly summoned her large pike without any fanfare, and waited out the conversation between Ice and the two. Ice was far better at speaking than she was, and would be able to get them either into or out of a combat situation, depending on necessity. Her chips weren't exactly down on a non-combat scenario.

Of course, her instinct was on the mark. The female of the pair lashed out with a gust of wind carrying... god knows what. Spears weren't exactly well-suited to dealing with nasty area attacks such as this, but Eternal Grace had worked up a bit of a shield, which Serenade jumped behind, not quite making it all the way in time. She was just agile enough to turn her back to the assault before taking cover, and she felt splashes of the acid burn spots in her back, through her clothes. They had no armor to them and offered little protection. It was painful, but thankfully not disabling in any way. 

As music began to ring out across the field, the unsettling silence which Serenade loved so much was broken, replaced with a sense of unsettling out-of-place-ness. There wasn't supposed to be music here. To Serenade, who needed and used music as a sort of emotional regulator, the intense battle music only served to make her angry. [i]Why did they have to do that? Why were they here now?[/i] She was getting steamed, and as she fingered her weapon lightly, she knew exactly where to point that steam when the cork blew off.

The battle began, formally, and she grasped her polearm tightly, ducking low in her default battle stance, coiled low like a jungle cat, ready to spring forward, or dodge to the side. Amongst her peers, she had a near-flawless track record in defensive battles. She could hold a position better than almost anyone she knew, and while she lacked offensive power, she was good at dodging, parrying, and blocking, which meant that it was difficult to hurt her, and equally difficult to get at something that she was protecting. In this case, her target was Fright, and she needed to protect Eternal Grace, who was behind her. On paper, scythes were good against spears. A scythe was an angled weapon, and could easily hook around her guard and attack her. She needed to dodge and parry, rather than block. Her battle plan set, she was ready to receive whatever her enemy wanted to throw at her.

It looked like Ice, Futen and Eclipse could handle Fury, and the girls were going to have a party all their own. That was fine with her. E.G was a fantastic support, and Serenade was confident that she could keep Fright off of her. She was willing to take a lot of hurt to use herself as a meatshield if she had to, which, in a crunch, [i]should[/i] be a good insurance policy against any sneaky tricks like the gust from before. Most hackers were selfish. They didn't think about the possibility that you could sacrifice yourself to help somebody else, so most of their attacks were targeted. Sneaky attacks directed towards a group healer or other target were difficult to block with code like weapons or walls, but were easily absorbed into one's own body. It was dangerous, sure, but one of the basic rules of strategy was to always fight on your own terms. Letting hackers do whatever they pleased was akin to letting them fight on their turf. It was a bad habit to fall into.

As the newcomer, Serenade wasn't completely accustomed to every support skill that E.G could use. Oh, she had been told, but without a lot of practical application, the words meant nothing. They had practiced quite a bit, but she was sure that she hadn't experimented fully with E.G's full repertoire. Meaning, if the situation called for something nonstandard, she would need to adapt. She spread her hands farther apart on the haft of her spear. This grip lessened any lever-like force, but allowed for quicker movements and a more versatile range of motion. 

In what seemed like an instant, Fright had swung her weapon with great force. It wasn't like Serenade expected otherwise, but the hacker was not kidding around. Or if she was, she had a sick sense of humor. Serenade's back still hurt from before, so she made sure to be hyper-focused on her enemy, and her reaction time was as short as she was going to get. From her low stance, the lancer was able to rocket forward at an odd angle, both to the side and towards her attacker, putting her on Fright's left side, hopefully out of her angle of attack. It was, however, right in range of a spear thrust. Angling herself carefully and without hesitation, she struck out with the bladed point of her weapon, at Fright's gut, below where she would have swung her scythe. The easiest way to dodge this would be to jump backwards, which is exactly what Serenade wanted, as the action would put distance between the enemy and Eternal Grace, giving her space to cast her spells. If the hacker did something other than jump back, well, Serenade would need to be ready for that too..