Muramasa lovers out there (if any at all -_-;;) BEWARE!! Some Muramasa bashing ahead. Didn't like it myself, but I had to.
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Pyrogirll23: I'm suspecting you got my email? Right?
Song: See? And, yeah! Greatest comic in the world! ^_^ I'm trying my hand at it, but it ain't too good. In my own opinion I mean.
maverickzero: That's okay.
TJ and Rikumon: Thanks.
Enigma: I'm doing my best.
Scrambler: Eh? What's this "Get Ability Program"? And yes, I knew that. That's one of the reasons I chose that name, because Muramasa's more dangerous if she's hurt. And, you're welcome.
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--
Chapter IV Part 1: Power Drill
"That bakayoro thought he could fool me. I showed him!"
"Heheh, I can only guess what you did."
"Try."
"Okay… hmmm… he pissed you off and you suckerpunched 'im."
"Not really."
"Oh. Okay, what did you do?"
"I kicked him in the family jewels! That's what I did!"
"Ouch! That must've hurt!"
"I'll bet! He sounded like either Chip or Dale after that."
--
Two pairs of laughs sounded across the Net of a certain whitehead's house. Two gray-haired Navis, both a different gender, the girl sitting on the sink, and the boy on a chair, were laughing their heads off, both having gotten rid of their helmets, sipping energy every now and then. Much to the girl's surprise, the boy's eyes were the exact same color as her own. After they both did some research, they discovered that their hair, was also identical.
They found it odd at first, but now, they were okay with it. They never told their Operators though.
Muramasa took a large swig of her drink and said, in a strange, squeaky voice: "Aaaah!! You bitch!! I'm gonna get you for that one!!" then resumed in her usual voice: "Oh yeah!? Well take this!! WHAM!!" and kicked an imaginary person in front of her.
Proto laughed wholeheartedly at the scene, and said: "Man. I can suspect he was sorry!"
"Hai, hai, he was!" she said with a nod, calmly sipping her drink again.
After downing the can, Muramasa jumped off of the sink, and stretched a little, making her spine pop.
"Crack, there goes my spine again," she muttered darkly, before straightening up.
Proto rolled his eyes, crushed his empty can in his hand, and tossed it blindly into the trashcan.
"Three points," Muramasa chuckled.
As the duo headed for the Net, they both put on their helmets, not wanting to risk anything.
"Found anything about those Navis being revived?"
"Iie. But they're keeping quiet for some reason."
"Odd…"
"You're telling me!"
--
Shine woke up that day around 11 in the morning, due to the fact that she'd made it quite late last night. That's also something about her, once she's got her nose stuck in something, it's practically impossible to make her do anything else, which includes sleeping. There've been quite some times that she didn't sleep at night and slept during the day instead.
Right now, it involved all those resurrected Navis. Something was definitely going on around here. The Navis were either from World 3 or Gospel, though Shine needed Muramasa to figure out whom they belonged to. She was confused, like practically everyone, and she was unsure of where she had to look for information. Muramasa was doing her part by searching the Net, and Shine was doing her own part.
It wasn't easy, but she was doing the best she could.
With a yawn, the young whitehead sat up, stretching her arms above her head, popping her fingers in the process. While still rubbing the sleep from her eyes, she got up and walked over to the desk-chair, where she'd left her clothes on.
After getting dressed, she combed the messy white tresses that were her hair, and tied them in the usual four ponytails, two on each side of her head, with a small batch of hair hanging loose on her back. Her hair now came past her shoulders, and it unnerved her a little. She'd have to cut it soon.
Still rather drowsy, she walked into the bathroom, and poured some water into the sink. She then cupped some of the water in her hands, took a deep breath, closed her eyes and…
"WAH!!"
Shine cried out in surprise as the freezing water hit her face, waking her up instantly. She shook her head wildly to get rid of the water on her face, and wiped of the remaining droplets with a towel.
"Okay! I'm awake!" she announced to herself with a smile, before heading downstairs.
Chaud was probably already awake, as he always was. And he went to bed around the same time as she did. Actually, he'd been the one to literally rip her away from the computer and throw her in bed.
When she came down, she saw Chaud watching the news on TV in the livingroom. When he heard her come into the room, he looked up briefly, then turned back to the TV.
"You slept in," was all he said.
"Yeah, konnichiwa to you too," Shine said with a smile, and took a seat in the armchair, looking at the TV too.
Apparently, there was a new drilling company opening up a few miles away from Den City, which happened to have one of the largest drills imaginable. And it was going to make a test run with it somewhere that afternoon. Shine already knew what Chaud was thinking off. There was no way in hell that any new NetCrime-Organization was going to let an opportunity like this slip through their fingers.
If they did, then they were pretty stupid. The need wasn't really necessary, as long as they brought panic to the people.
"I'll go get my stuff, okay?" Shine said, and headed back upstairs.
"Whatever," Chaud mumbled.
THWAP!!
"OW!!"
Chaud frowned angrily, rubbing the back of his head where Shine had hit him.
Shine turned in the doorway, and said, smiling: "Can you get Muramasa for me? She's probably out somewhere on the UnderNet. Arigatou!" before vanishing upstairs.
The older whitehead groaned and rubbed at his eyes tiredly. Not because he was tired, but because Shine just wouldn't calm down. She was always so unnecessarily hyper all the time.
Nonetheless, he contacted Muramasa, using his PET.
"Muramasa.EXE," the girl Navi's voice said calmly.
"Chaud here, Shine wants you back here, we're leaving in about an hour," Chaud said.
It had been silently decided upon. Shine seemed to understand that Chaud always went at something right away, and she was okay with it. Muramasa was too.
"Understood. I'm on my way," Muramasa said, and broke the connection.
Chaud then contacted his own Navi and told him to come back too.
Shine came down just as Muramasa and ProtoMan returned from the Net.
"So, what is it this time?" Muramasa asked calmly.
"A drill company," Chaud said.
"Uh-huh," the girl said with a nod.
'Hmmm… why do I get the feeling this is going to get tough?'
--
After showing their ID's, the two whiteheads made their way into the large factory, where everyone was quite busy, probably preparing for the test run that afternoon. The two were walking across a special bridge placed high above the people below. You could see anything from their position.
"Ugh! What's that smell?" Shine asked, pinching her nose shut, making her voice sound a little squeaky.
"That's the amount of oil and gas they use here. They've got a lot of machines here, and they have to run too, you know," Chaud said calmly.
"I know that!" Shine said. "But can't they use air-fresheners or something?!"
Chaud groaned softly, while Muramasa simply shook her head and ProtoMan sighed.
After Shine finally got used to the smell, they began to walk around, examining all computers for viruses, but finding everything clean. They also questioned a few of the people working there, who gladly answered all their questions, safe for a few who, apparently, didn't quite like their jobs.
--
"Whadaya mean 'have I seen somethin' peculiar'?!" a quite bulky man asked, glaring at the smaller boy.
Chaud wasn't intimidated, and said, keeping his cool: "That, would be none of your business. Just answer the question, and I'll let you get back to work."
The man growled, black eyes sparking with rage, but he answered anyway.
"No. Nothin'. Ye satisfied!?"
"Not yet," Chaud said. "You're sure that all machines are in order? We don't want anything to happen on the test run, do we?"
"They're all fine! Now scram befere I beat ya ta a pulp!"
Chaud scoffed, but let the man get back to work.
"Chaud!" Shine's voice shouted above the sound of the machinery.
He looked over, only to see Shine waving at him to come over. With a simple nod, he started walking toward her.
"Check this out!" Shine said, once Chaud was standing beside her, and turned to a blueprint in front of her. "This factory's made atop a volcano that's died quite some decades ago. I had Muramasa do some research on it."
Muramasa nodded and said: "That gigantic drill they have is aimed straight at where the neck of the volcano had been. And it has the capability to reach the magmaflow below it within an hour. And if they reach that, it's goodbye Den City. Because this was one heck of a volcano!"
"That, spells trouble," Proto said softly.
"Normally, I'd say it spells an organization's name, but it just occurred to me that we don't even know the name of that organization," Shine said.
"If, something's going to happen here, I suspect it's going to be an inside-job," Chaud said calmly.
"Aha, one of the employees. But who?"
"We'll just have to wait and see."
"Makes sense."
--
And they did, keeping a close eye on all employees, estimating about twelve PETs amongst them, meaning that it was getting easier. Still, all of them seemed to be doing their jobs properly. They weren't messing anything up.
But the two kids knew that looks could be deceiving.
"Hora, aren't we forgetting something?" Muramasa suddenly asked.
Shine blinked, pulling out her PET.
"What do you mean, Muramasa?" she asked.
"I don't know, but I've got the feeling we're forgetting something… something important…"
"What could we have missed?" Proto asked. "We checked every machine here, so which could we be forgetting?"
Muramasa frowned and raked a hand through her upright strands of hair.
"If I knew, I'd tell. But I don't, and that's the problem!"
Chaud thought for a moment, then said: "Let's split up. The test run is in half an hour. Meet me here in 25 minutes."
"Okay," Shine said, and the two kids each went their own way.
--
"Hey, was this door here before??" Shine asked, as she stopped in front of a pretty strong looking door.
"Probably," Muramasa said. "But we must've missed it."
"Aha! So this is what we missed! How about we check it out? It might contain the infected machines."
"Ii ten."
Shine slid her ID through the slot, and went inside. She stopped after the door slid shut behind her, staring up at the large contraption in front of her.
"Homina homina homina!!"
"Chikuso… talk about BIG tools!!"
That it was. It was absolutely gigantic! The room was 50 feet high, and the drill almost reached the ceiling already. And it was also stuck in the ground for a large part. It was a piercing red and silver, shining brightly in the artificial light.
"This must've taken a lot, and I mean, A LOT, of time to make," Shine mumbled, walking up and touching the smooth, cold metal of the drill with the flat of her palm.
"Kala…" was the only word Muramasa could utter at the sight.
The machines all around were bleeping madly, showing schematics that neither of them would be able to figure out. Their lights blinked on and off, which was reflected on the surface of the drill.
"Hey, hey! I can see myself on this thing!!" Shine said, smiling brightly.
"Shine, how 'bout we check if this thing's infected?" Muramasa finally suggested.
"Okay."
--
Muramasa arrived inside the drill within a few seconds.
"Oh… WOW!!!" Muramasa exclaimed. "Just look at this place!!"
The inside was bleeping and blinking with thousands of lights, screens were flashing everywhere, and the tiles were so smooth, you could slide over them easily.
"Any viruses?" Shine asked.
"Give me a few seconds and I'll---"
Suddenly, the connection was broken!
"Shine??" Muramasa questioned.
No response.
"I've got a bad feeling about this."
Muramasa pulled out a timer she'd set for when the drill would launch. She had ten more minutes until launch, and five to get back to Chaud.
"Shine!!!" she hollered.
Again, no response.
"Oh kusotare! I need to contact Chaud and Proto!" she mumbled and tried to get in touch, but failed. "Just my luck!!"
--
"You checked everything?" Chaud asked.
"Yes, sir," Proto Man said.
"Good, then let's head back. Nothing we can do now," Chaud said.
"Yes, sir!" Proto said with a salute.
Chaud calmly walked back, hands in his pockets, thinking about where the infection could be. He wasn't quite sure, but he hoped Shine and Muramasa had more luck.
But when he came to where they were supposed to meet…
"That's odd… they're not here," Chaud mumbled.
"Maybe they got lost," Proto said.
"Maybe… let's go find them!"
"Right."
--
"I've got two more minutes… shimatta! What am I going to do?!!?" Muramasa asked no one in particular.
But the silence was getting to her.
A sudden sound made her look up, and she noticed something crash down as a blast of lightning.
"Nani???"
--
Chaud kept on walking, when he suddenly heard something. Or… he thought he heard something.
"Proto, did you hear something?" he asked.
"I… think so… I'm not sure."
Just then--
"Mmphh, mmph!!!"
"It's coming from that closet over there!!" Proto said.
Chaud quickly rushed over to the door, and tried to open it, only to find it locked.
"Darn! Looks like I'm going to have to do this Muramasa's way!" he mumbled.
"Sir??" Proto asked, not understanding what his Operator meant.
The whitehead took a few steps back, glared at the door, before kicking it down!! The door crashed into the ground loudly, having been knocked off its hinges.
"Whoa! That's effective!!"
"And a lot easier than keys."
Chaud walked into the room, and looked around, before he spotted a head of white hair.
The younger whitehead looked up as she heard the door collide with the ground, looking rather confused. Her hands were behind her back, most likely tied together, her feet were tied together as well, and her mouth was covered with tape.
Chaud rushed over and helped the girl sit up.
"The hell happened, Shine?!" he demanded, before ripping the tape from her mouth.
"ITAI!!! Chaud!! That hurt!!!" Shine shouted as Chaud untied her. "He's after the drill itself! He was waiting for the very last moment to jack in his Navi but he caught me when I jacked Muramasa in to see if it was infected. He dragged me out, took my PET, and tied me up here!!"
"Damnit!!" Chaud hissed. "C'mon! We have to stop the launch! Now!!"
"Right! Oh KUSO!!!" Shine suddenly cursed, slapping her forehead.
"What?!" Proto asked, confused.
"I never jacked Muramasa out of the drill's network!!"
--
Muramasa was having her own difficulties. She'd seen a lot of viruses in her life, but these motherfuckers were brand-new, and deadly! They reminded her of the enemies she had seen in the intro stage of MMX2, such as those strange little robots with screwdrivers for noses.
"KYAAA!!!" Muramasa screamed as one of the viruses embedded its sharp nose in her leg, which she kicked away hurriedly.
Cyberblood was pouring from the rather deep wound, and it stung like crazy, but Muramasa didn't have the time to tend to it. She ducked out of the way of some sort of bat-like virus, and quickly fried it with her Buster.
"Shi-shimatta!" she cursed angrily, as she continued to bust all the viruses she saw in her way.
The drill had already been launched, and there was no going back. Muramasa continued through the drill's network, dealing with all the viruses she encountered. She had to shut the drill down! Because the drill was taken over from the inside, the controls on the machines outside the drill couldn't do a thing. The only way to fix the problem, was to stop the drill itself!
"Kuso, kuso, kuso, KUSO!!!" Muramasa kept on cursing as a virus banged against the armplate just below her shoulder.
She was losing more and more blood, and she was weakening with every second, but she refused to give up. There was no way in hell that she would EVER give up!!
--
"What?! The drill's infected?!!?"
"Yes sir," Shine said. "And whoever did it, stole my PET as well!! But you MUST stop the drill!!"
"If you keep drilling at this rate, you'll kill us all!!" Chaud said, voicing the younger whitehead's thoughts.
All employees looked at each other in shock, safe for one. No one noticed, safe for Shine.
"That's him!!!" Shine shouted, pointing at him.
Chaud looked at her and asked: "How do you know??"
"One; he's not shocked. Two; he looks suspicious. And three; that's MY PET he's got on his belt!!!" she screamed, ripping off the familiar black and gray PET from the guy's belt.
The PET was empty though, and Chaud knew that Muramasa was still in the drill.
Angered, all employees turned to the man, who blanched and tried to run off, but was stopped by a certain pair of whiteheads.
Shine had kicked him straight to the ground, and Chaud handcuffed him easily.
"That'll hold him for now, but now what??" Chaud asked.
"I wish I knew… I just hope Muramasa's alright."
--
"You're the one behind this?!!?" Muramasa demanded of the Navi standing before her.
"So wha'f I am? Eh? Wha'cha gonna do 'bout it?" the smirking Navi asked.
The Navi was a furious red and silver, and had two large drills where his hands were supposed to be. He had a third drill on his head, and his face was a little squared, though not freakishly so. All in all, he didn't look bad with exception of those drills.
Muramasa snorted, trying not to choke on blood that had come into her mouth, and said: "Alright handy---"
"'Ey!" the Navi interrupted angrily. "Jus' 'cause I dun've 'ands dun mean I can't kick yer arse!"
Muramasa blinked in confusion, then asked: "What's with the accent? Did they forget to fix your speech?"
"Ah, drill ya!!!" the Navi said.
Silence, with Muramasa staring at him oddly.
"Uh… I ain't allowed ta screw…" the Navi clarified, rubbing the back of his neck (as best as he could without hurting himself).
Muramasa was silent for a while, then said: "And here I though I saw the weirdest of Navis already!"
"Grrrr!! I'll get ya fer tha one!! No one messes with DrillMan and ge's 'way with't!!"
"We'll see about that!!!" Muramasa screamed and fired a bolt of plasma at DrillMan.
DrillMan engaged his right drill, and aimed it straight at the plasmabolt. The bolt of plasma burst apart into harmless sparks on impact.
Muramasa gasped in horror. Her Buster was her main-weapon, and if that had little effect, she'd have to fight like she always did, but with this guy, she'd rather not.
So, to put it plainly, she was screwed.
--
Jumping out of the way, Muramasa managed to fully charge both her Busters, and sent the large bolt of plasma at DrillMan. The red and silver Navi gave a yelp as the blast hit, but it only scorched his armor.
"I'm gonna getya fer tha one!!" he hissed angrily.
Muramasa thought quickly right before she had to jump aside to avoid another flurry of stabs from the other Navi. Stabs she'd rather avoid. She couldn't dodge them all though, being already weakened from the viruses she'd fought.
A scream tore from her throat as DrillMan hit her right thigh, before he kicked her against the already weakened thigh. Muramasa rolled to a stop, before jumping up, firing another charged bolt. It missed by a mile.
"Kuso…" Muramasa cursed around a mouthful of blood.
Something suddenly waved into view, and when she looked over, she realized it was her tail. It clicked in her mind and she smirked, turning to face DrillMan again.
She quickly dashed at him, and DrillMan lashed out again, but Muramasa jumped up, flipped over him, and managed to grab his neck with her tail.
"GAACK!!!" DrillMan cried out as her tail slowly began to choke him.
"I'm not through with you yet!!" Muramasa hissed, bent through her knees, and catapulted herself into the air, taking the unfortunate DrillMan with her.
"'EY PUMME DOWN RIGH' NOW!!" DrillMan screamed.
Muramasa smirked, and DrillMan blanched.
"No! No NO NO NO!! NOT LIKE THAAAAAAAAAAT!!!!"
Too late.
Muramasa started flipping forward quite a few times, spinning around violently as she reached the peak of her jump, which was quite high for one Navi. Finally, she spun around one last time, and flung DrillMan from her grasp and to the ground, who went down screaming. Muramasa then shot after him, using the aerodynamics of her armor to make her drop faster than DrillMan. When she reached the Navi, she flipped again, and kicked DrillMan into his spine harshly, sending both of them to the ground with deadly speed.
When they collided, Muramasa had already jumped away, and was smirking silently in victory.
But DrillMan wasn't finished yet.
"Oh KUSO!!!" Muramasa cursed as DrillMan got back up.
"Ye're gonna pay fer tha!! I won' le' anyone, especially ye, mess with ZAHLER!!!"
"Zahler??? That's the name of the new organization??" Muramasa mused silently.
DrillMan screamed and rushed at her, and before Muramasa could respond----
"KYAAAAA!!!!"
Muramasa screamed in agony, managing to kick DrillMan aside, and pushed the balls of her thumbs in her eyes, screaming in absolute pain. Blood began to pour down her arms and face, and she finally removed her hands.
She could feel the pain, feel the blood trickling down her face and arms, taste it on her tongue, feel it slide down her throat… but couldn't see it…
--
"You should be able to jack in now!" one of the men said, and Chaud nodded.
"Alright," Chaud said, and jacked in quickly.
"I'm off!!" Proto said, and was off.
--
He was instantly transported to the control panel.
"Okay, here goes nothing!" Proto murmured, and turned of the panel.
It whirred, hissed, clunked… and stopped.
"It stopped!" Shine's voice called out, relieved.
"Good. ProtoMan, go look for Muramasa."
"Yes, sir!" Proto said, and was about to leave, when he heard a scream.
One that was quite familiar.
"Oh shit!!"
The red Navi instantly dashed off, and was quite shocked at what he saw.
--
Muramasa fell to the ground, having received another stab to her arm, which was now furiously bleeding gallons of cyberblood.
"Shi…mat…ta…" Muramasa muttered, trying to stay awake, and pushed herself up.
That wasn't very easy though.
"Hehehe! 'n' now!! Ya DIIIIIIIIEEEEEE!!!" DrillMan's voice screamed out from behind her.
Anger suddenly started to build inside the young Navi, and she growled in absolute anger as her eyes burned, not only with pain, but with absolute rage as well.
"IIE FAKKUDE SH'KATTA NI JIGOKU!!!" Muramasa screamed, whirled around, aimed her palm at where she heard the voice, and did something she would've never been able to do were she completely calm.
"Oh SHEEEEEEEEIIIIIIIIIIIIIT!!!!!"
DrillMan's voice died out, and Muramasa breathed in and out deeply, her chest aching from the blow she'd received there earlier, before dropping onto her back on the ground.
Tears poured from her burning eyes, trying to soothe the pain, but the salt in them only made matters worse.
"Muramasa!!" a familiar voice shouted, and Muramasa turned to where she heard the sound come from.
"Pro… to… Man…?" she asked, unable to speak normally.
"Are you alright? What happened?" Proto's voice asked, and she felt him check her body for the most serious injuries.
"I… itai…" she whimpered softly, and she knew Proto heard.
--
Proto was confused, not at her wounds, but at the tears coming from her eyes. Her eyes were shrouded in shadows, so he couldn't see them.
"What happened?" he asked again.
"He… he caught me by surprise… so… sonabitch crashed my… my optics…" Muramasa moaned raising her head slightly, making the red armored Navi see her eyes.
Two bleeding tears were carved on the two orbs, and the irises were completely out of focus, unable to recognize anything.
"Oh… god…"
--
Chaud and Shine watched as the authorities took care of the man responsible for the entire mess. He was cursing all the way, and didn't seem to be stopping any time soon.
"You know, sometimes I wonder what causes people to act like that," Shine suddenly said.
"Most times… it's a lot of things. Hate, anger, lust for revenge…" Chaud said, though a response hadn't been necessary.
"I know… but… what good will it do them? Don't they realize that they're hurting people by doing that?"
"They do… it's just that they don't care anymore."
"How come?"
"Once you're buried up to your neck in your own hatred, you stop caring about everything around you. You could even hurt everyone you love and not give a damn."
"………………"
"What's wrong?"
"………………Nothing…"
"………Let's head back. I might be able to fix Muramasa up."
"Okay. Arigatou."
"You're welcome."
--
Z: That came out fast…
D. Zero: Big surprise.
Z: Shut up!
Miri-chan: Well, looks like you're completely back in the OtN-business.
Z: Yeah, but who knows for how long? Cause I sure as hell don't.
Delta: We'll just see how it works out.
D. Zero: …………(I hate that dog!!)
D. X: Hey Z! Don't forget the Sneak-Peak!
Z: I know!!!
Chibi-chan: So, who's next anyway?
Z: Next up, is ………, get it?
Miri-chan: OOOOOOOH!! I like that one!! ^_^
Chibi-chan; Who's Ragna going to face?
Z: 0_0 I dunno.
D. Zero: Why not ask the readers for an idea?
Z: Shut it, Zero. Anyway, if anyone has an idea for the next Navi, send it in and I'll see what I can do.
--
SNEAK-PEAK OF: Crystallized:
"Uh-huh, yeah right. In any case, did you make all that crystal?"
"I did, only because I commanded to do so by my Operator."
"Dost thou know that tha--JEZUS CHRIST!!! NOW YOU'VE GOT ME TALKING LIKE YOU DAMNIT!!!"
"………"
"Don't you know that if you crystallize the Net, the weather'll slowly be destroyed!?"
"And I am supposed to care about something as measly as that?"
"………Fine, but I'll be forced to delete you then."
"Thou couldst not harm a fair maiden such as myself."
"Maiden??? I see no maiden."