NarutoEXE: Subspace (Discontinued)

by NeoNazo356

After Grave's last attempt at world domination, despite the impending conflict on the horizon, peace seems right around the corner. However, mysteries within the SubSpace Army arise, events of the past begin to collide with the present, and the Multiverse-wide conflict threatens to expand onto new frontiers as the world faces its greatest challenge yet. Multi-Cross-Over.

11. Magnum Opus

"*huff huff* Damn Net Police…!" cried out a gorilla-like NetNavi, running along with a chimpanzee, mandrill and baboon-themed Navi.

"To think the Saru Gang could lose to a couple of swinish fuzz! The nerve!" seethed the baboon Navi, running on all fours.

"We've been planning this raid for so long, and it's all for nothing if we get caught!" screeched the chimpanzee.

As they ran, small data cruisers driven by generic NetPolice Navis came in hot pursuit. Suddenly, something caught the mandrill's eye; a slight reflection at human height of the face and a beckoning right hand; it was a furry hand of a silky brown, cuffed by an open white sleeve from a thin silken coat.

"In there! That alley!" yelled the mandrill. Quickly they ran in and hid behind the dumpsters along the wall. As the cruiser stopped outside the alley, the NetPolice scanned the alley with a strange blue light. After several seconds, they shrugged and continued advancing down a street.

"…Is he gone…?" cowered the chimpanzee Navi.

"I think so…" whispered the gorilla.

"But…how come they didn't detect us with that data tracer?" pondered the baboon.

"No thanks are necessary," came a carefree-sounding voice. Alarmed, all four Navis unleashed Busters, aiming them at a fire-escape, of which a six-foot-tall figure stood, his features concealed by shadows. The only details they could make out as he jumped off the escape and on the ground without recoil, hands at head's height, were a pair of thin sunglasses obscuring a humanistic right blue eye with white sclera, the edge-line of milk-chocolate spikes of hair etching in a mountain-peak pattern to cover his left eye, a white silken overcoat with a tall collar at ear height, a black T-shirt, a charm necklace, white pants secured by a large red obi sash, sandals and… a canine-like form?

The figure had, smothered by silky milk chocolate hair, a pair of tall, triangular dog ears with a light pink inner-ear, a hazel-tan muzzle and chest fur surrounded by the same fur color as his head of hair, a Japanese drummer rope headband, clawed human-like feet and a long fluffy tail poking from under the overcoat with fine, silky fur. His fur –which seemed quite realistic to be data – hinted that his being was kept in rather exceptional condition, judging by the generous and luminous sheen given off his body.

On his dog-like muzzle was a large grin, and considering how he was being held at gunpoint, it wasn't the smartest idea.

"Is this how you treat a friend? I fear to learn how you treat an enemy."

All four monkey Navis blinked. "Huh?" inquired the gorilla.

"To think that a couple of lowlife NetPolice did such a good job chasing you like dogs, but failed to clinch the final move. Of course, the 'dogs' avoided capture with sheer twisting of fate. Perhaps… you had a 'guardian angel'?"

"Angel…?" cocked a furrowed brow from the mandrill.

The dog-like creature, which stood on two legs, smirked devilishly. "Well, when you think about it… an angel isn't the word for me. After all…" he trailed as he sheepishly fished through his outer coat pocket for something. He smirked as he seemed to grab what he wanted. The four Navis adorned shocked faces as in the figure's humanoid hand were four DarkChips; the vestige of pure evil given BattleChip form –the forbidden fruit bared originally from the garden of Dr. Regal. "…Would a servant of God be carrying such a destructive power his coat pocket? My bets are on 'no', if you asked my opinion."

"D-DarkChips?" gawked the gorilla, almost defensivly.

"Where'd the hell'd you get those? Dr. Regal stopped making them since he went straight!" screeched the chimpanzee.

The figure smiled with a strangely innocent and sickeningly sweet feeling to it. "Sorry, dude; my boss would exterminate anyone who learned our secrets, and I don't like the idea of losing clients through… spilling the beans. But that isn't why I came to you."

"…What do you mean?" asked the baboon, almost hesitant.

The dogman's smile remained. "Why do you think I worked my magic to fool the NetPolice and hide your presence from them? I have a job for you, o exalted Saru Gang."

"E-Exalted…?" the gorilla blinked, not knowing whether this guy was being complimentary or dissing them.

"That's right. Y'see… I'm sorta the leader of a fan club. A 'coalition' if you will," said the dogman with sunglasses, stretching his neck to his left and exposing his other blue eye "Damn kink," he muttered.

"A coalition…? What are you, some kind of politician? Then again, no politician would dare be stupid enough to carry the 'Black Candy' in their coat pocket," the chimpanzee muttered. Dark Chips had no longer been produced in the numbers they had, or at all really, so any Dark Chips were worth a mint, and any NetNavi seeking power knew the Black Candy was the way to go.

The dogman blinked. "So that's what the underground calls 'em these days. Who would've thought?" he muttered before pushing up his glasses up his nose ridge. "Anyway… I happen to be assembling many underground Navis; supporters of overthrowing the established order and wreaking horrible vengeance in the 'pristine and just' world that shunned them. The NetPolice who hunted those of you down who were exiled from everyday life from forces beyond control will pay multitudes fold for your collective grievance. And to do that…well, an all-out assault would be absolutely pointless on the home front, especially with alliances from the Sharo and Neotopian militaries, the NetSaviors, and two factions that have recently come to light. They will be their trump cards in our plan against, which is why the plan is to attack them first; eliminate the secret weapon and the army is powerless. They'll fall like dominoes."

"So why the DarkChips?" asked the gorilla. He heard all of this, and seemed interested, but was not entirely convinced. "You actually expect us to believe this story? And even if we accept it, who's to know if it's a trap?"

The canine man looked genuinely surprised, which slowly became an impressed look. "Bravo, my friend; I was hoping you'd say that."

"Huh?" was the gorilla's reply.

"I have no intention of inducting brothers into our group without fully understand every gamble, every risk they are about to take. Loss, despair, corruption, insanity, even death it not above the events to unfold. That's why for a contract… well, to be specific, the DarkChips are the contract. That, and the tools needed for your end."

"'Tools? The hell're you talking 'bout?" quipped the chimpanzee.

"It's part of phase one: Tonight at midnight, there will be staged robberies and riots throughout DenTech City and NetCity – all in strategic locations. This will divide their united front into easy-to-pick-off squads of these second-rate carbon copy security drones. And while the NetSaviors may show up to intervene, flaunting their justice like expensive jewels, it will be certain targets that'll be the real prize. And I do mean that in the financial sense."

"Huh?"

Wagging a finger in midair, a screen appeared, showing the profile of many individuals, classified under the groups "NetSaviors", "Smashers" and "NME (CAUTION)".

On the very top wrote "Anonymous", with his profile and the message:

Warning: Extremely Dangerous and Very Unpredictable
PRIZE: 250,000,000z (Dead, at least 80% of lump data recovered), 500,000,000z (Alive; data intact)
Mission Note: Participants will be provided with DarkChips upon partaking in this mission.

"That's a lot of zeros, ain't it? While this is a group effort, my bosses, my faction and myself want to give each and every willing participant 2 gifts: a complimentary DarkChip –specially modified to be rid of that pesky 'downside' of corrupting your soul data, and a chance to win it big. And as as you can see, the number don't lie. Question is: since every one of these targets are worth something…who will live the life, who will die the death, who will remain standing, and who will go out in a blaze of glory? It something… to relish in the moment."

The figure walked slowly away deeper into the darkness of the alley, dropping the DarkChips lightly between the four simians. "If you're in, await the 'invitation' on a private channel issued through the DarkChips. Oh, and… if you plan to squeal… you better pray to God almighty that my homeboys of the Subspace suck at playing 'Where's Waldo' Remember: 'The walls have eyes'," he said motioning to the walls around, a strange sense of foreboding perforating the air as though eyes really were looking down on them. Before the Navis could attempt to follow him, the dogman was gone. Only they and the DarkChips remained in the discreetly shrouded alley; just four sons of Adam and four Apples of Knowledge.

…Do they dare take the first bite, condemning them to life forever expelled from the haven of Eden?

The gorilla Navi smirked devilishly. "Well boys? What say we… get rich quick?" he asked, clenching a DarkChip in two fingers. As the four prepared to indulge themselves, the same figure from before had begun making appearances all across the UnderNet, bringing yet even more of society's dregs to the forefront of SubSpace's dark plans.

---

For a network complex, it was a nice day in NetCity; the everyday hustle and bustle of the day-to-day life of the average Navis. Shopping, errands for their operators, hangouts, and battle at the NetBattle Colosseum. Speaking of which…

"ProtoSword!" roared a certain red-clad Navi, the etymology of his attack originating from his name.

"Ha! You'll have to be better than that!" yelled a cocky brunette Navi as he parried his opponent's attack using what looked like a medieval sword forged of smooth silver metal; its cross guard was shaped like an eagle's wings, the pommel in the shape of an eagle's head, its hilt wrapped in dark brown leather.

MegaMan, Naruto and co. watched the unfolding brawl between Protoman and Anonymous, who had generously decided to spar with the silver-haired Navi out of boredom. He and Chaud saw this as a chance to finally seek retribution for their humiliations at the brown-haired duo's antics a couple weeks prior, though Anonymous was fighting solo; from his window Onii-San preemptively stated that something else had his attention at the moment, and from what the group could see before the link was shut off, he was tending to a small animal. Although it seemed dishonorable to Protoman to fight Anonymous without him able to link up with his Operator, it was the perfect chance to learn his opponent's moves up close; it was an opportunity that Protoman would be absolutely foolish to pass up. In addition to that, a sudden world-wide raid of dozens of facilities had the NetSavior on edge, since the coordinated assault had cost the NetPolice several thousand PoliceNavis, most of which would have to be replaced on the taxpayer's dollar, and no one was going to like that.

"Anonymous is really on fire isn't he?" MegaMan noted. Considering that ProtoMan and Chaud had always showed him and Lan up for the longest time, to finally see them getting a taste of their own medicine was a welcome sight, and all the more entertaining. Or at least from Lan's perspective, who was watching from MegaMan's shoulder in the form of a hologram, a parody of what the Link PET allowed NetNavis to do in the real world.

"So he is," Roll said from beside him, noting that his style seemed to focus more on defense than offence. While this didn't stop him from lashing out with a few nicks to ProtoMan's armor, the two seemed to be circling around one another on the field and not really doing much. It was obvious the two of them were holding back, ProtoMan doing so in order to get as much data on the seemingly-unregistered enigma as possible, while Anonymous did so purely for the entertainment value. That is, if the smirk had anything to do with it.

"I have to ask, how are Maylu and Jasmine?" Naruto asked both Roll and Medi, who was kicking back behind them with a CyberCola in her hand.

"Tired and incredibly sore," the two female navis sighed in return. It may have been a few days since the group had gotten back from the ninja mansion and fought off a horde of Ghost shinobi with only minimal training and assisted by angels from heaven, not that anyone would believe them, but despite how they could make illusionary clones, it still didn't change the fact that they lead a pseudo-sedatary lifestyle up until a couple weeks ago. They might've exercised on a sub-frequent basis, but with their hand-eye-coordination being their greatest asset in that regard, they weren't going to be entering any Olympics any time soon. Being NetSaviors meant they had to be held to a certain regard, but that was just them being able to get from one place to another quickly and on foot. They weren't exactly ninja, and while Naruto was one, since he technically did not possess a NetNavi of his own, he couldn't be officially inducted into the NetSavior's ranks.

"Yeah, I kinda figured," the blond thought to himself as he kicked back, thinking about the next stage of the group's training. It was true that he never thought they'd be able to make clones, but now that he'd started training them, he finally realized why the shinobi of his village became sensei; it was so much fun to see others grow through your teachings. Hmmm... Maybe I'll teach them to climb trees without using their hands next. That would be fun, the blond thought to himself as he watched the fight. Maybe I'll pull out some mats though. Just to be safe, he added as an afterthought. Not everyone was as durable as him, especially since he'd had a lightning covered hand shoved into his chest, twice.

"You've gotten better. I'm impressed," commented Anonymous, parrying a strike at his right hip with a twist of his wrist and a flicker of his silver blade. "But this dance has only begun, and I got a few moves up my sleeves," he said sidestepping ProtoMan's next slash before rushing him, empty palm out and striking his opponent's chest while his left foot snaked around behind his opponent's own, forcing him to fumble backwards. Flat on his back, the sword-navi was about to get up, only for an obsidian-colored tri-barrel revolver with silver dog patterns on it to be drawn, the three snarling Cerberus heads glaring right between his visor.

"Checkmate," he said with a smirk as he cocked the tri-ended hammer back, ProtoMan huffing in defeat once his opponent half-drew the trigger back. One wrong move and he'd be deleted, if he were so lucky. He honestly didn't like having to be "resurrected" from a Backup file since he always had gaps in his memory, and being recalibrated to the standards of the Original took forever.

"GutsMan thinks that was anticlimactic, guts," GutsMan grunted.

"You said it," Iris noted aloud as she blew a loose bang out of her face. Her hair had grown a few inches since her impromptu haircut at the hands of one Arma Geddon, though it was nowhere near how long it had been before. Not that I mind, she thought to herself as she kicked her legs in the air. I kinda like it short, she thought to herself as fantasies of a certain blond running his fingers through her hair flittered through her mind, the soft smile on her face unnoticed to the others as her mind wandered.

The next moment the jumbo-screens scattered across Net City flared to life, a news bulletin appearing on the screen with a humanoid NetNavi designed after a news anchor appeared on-screen.

"T-this is Rick Porter, standing in for Onda Seen at DNN 6! It's chaos here in NetCity as hordes of UnderNavis have mysteriously appeared out of nowhere and are destroying everything and anything in sight! Navis are already retreating back to their PET's and this reporter suggests you do the sa—Wh-what are you- GAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHH! UNCLE! UNCLE!"

That was the last of the reporter's cry as he and the cameraman were attacked by a series of HeelNavis yelling "Dump Pile!". The camera fell to the and was smashed by being stepped on, and to the shock of those that recognized it, some of them were being powered by the DarkAura. Following the news footage being cut off, the majority of the NetNavis present jacked out, more comfortable with letting the officials handle things here than put themselves in danger. Some were still a bit scarred from the kidnappings a few months prior, others unable to even lookat a Mettuar without cringing. In addition to the sudden raids the night before and everyone was on edge.

"Geez, barely even a week after those weird ghost ninja attack us, and already we have to deal with something like this," Meddy sighed.

"I think you mean Ghost ninja," Roll commented.

"I just said that."

"No, you said it in the common tense, not proper tense," Roll returned.

"Will you quit talking about your weird fantasy adventure games and focus on the task at hand?" Chaud, who was unaware of the group's recent escapade, huffed in annoyance from his Window.

"I take it those evil auras are bad," a familiar voice said from behind them, the gathered Navis turning to see Sonic, Pit, Falco, Fox, Samus, Snake, Pikachu, and Lucario walking up to them, the voice having belonged to Samus.

"Not just bad, Samus. Even from here I can sense the malicious power eminating from their bodies," Lucario snarled, as though the lingering and faraway scend of the DarkChips' taint had wafted right into his nose.

"Well I guess it's a good thing we're here, eh?" Falco asked, having finally found out how to enter the Cyber World. Wasn't as fun as flying the Arwing, but meh, he managed.

"Let's just be careful here. There appear to be a lot of them," Fox noted as he ran some last-minute calibrators on his Blaster and Deflector Shield.

"Not that I'm not confident in our ability, but I think we may need a helping hand, even with our numbers," Sonic sighed. He may've been the fastest thing alive, but even then with those numbers someone could get a lucky shot in. Last time he was Logged Out, he was thrown into a wall face-first.

"Aw screw it, that's our cue sis!" a familiar and feminine voice said from above, the group looking up to see a pair of girls close to five feet tall on the jumbo screen. The two, jumping down in front of the two groups, looked eerily familiar to the blond shinobi of the group, but for some reason he couldn't place them right away.

The first was an attractive woman with spiky blond hair, sky blue eyes, and slightly tanned skin, her eyelashes long with a light pink eye shadow on. Her nails were painted bright red, matching the short sleeveless red dress, matching heels, and hoop earrings she wore, a golden necklace and two golden bracelets on her neck and wrists. The second was a stark contrast to her partner, though that wasn't to say she wasn't attractive. Her hair was long, violet with pink highlights, eyes teal with a bit of mascara on. Her clothing consisted of a black Lolita-like dress with a blue bow at her back and neck, black and blue stripped stockings on her legs while she wore black pumps on her feet. Since there was no NaviMark, or at least not one that could be seen, it was the general consensus that they may've gotten into the cyber world from the real world like the Smashers and Arma.

"The hell...?" Naruto balked for a few seconds as a row of dim bulbs above his head appeared, each going on one by one until all five were illuminated. "DAAAAAAHHH!-!-!" he suddenly blurted out shocking the others. "You're the two from the Ninjutsu School! The ones in the scantily-clad kunoichi outfits that turned out to be angels!-!"

"The what school?" ProtoMan deadpanned, though the two newcomers appeared to be engaged in their own conversation.

"I told you it was a bad idea," the gothic-dressed woman known to Onii-San as Stocking huffed at her sister, referring to wearing such scandalous outfits during their trip to the ninja mountain for a workout.

"Shut it, sweet tooth, I got it the first time!" the red-clad woman known to Onii-San as Panty growled in return at her sister.

"Yeah right, Pussy Galore! Maybe if you cut down on the men once in a while you'd increase your brain activity to moderately intelligent!"

"This coming from the Diva of Diabetes? Seriously, you pack enough sugar and calories to occupy an entire timezone!"

"And eating spicy food constantly helps? No wonder you constantly have the runs, Panty! Pepper enzymes go right through you!"

"Oh, you'd KNOW about through wouldn't you, Stocking? When was the last time you did anything good-looking?"

"Is there anything horny you refuse to jump on? I'll stick with sugar."

"At least I'm the social one, fatass! Get some sun once in a while – It's good for your skin!"

"You'd know, wouldn't you? Especially since you prefer showers from a 'fire hose'!" Stocking verbally barbed in return.

"Why you...!" Panty growled irately as the two exchanged lightning-fueled glares, the women present sans Samus blushing at the language the two were so blatantly using while the men -or at least those that cared- tried to catch up.

"BOTH OF YOU SHUT THE FUCK UP!-!-!" Onii-San suddenly shouted from a Window that appeared behind the two, the women whirling around to face him only to somehow get smacked upside the heads with what looked like a bible from behind the holographic screen. "If you don't wanna be stuck here forever, the only option you pathetic excuses for anything resembling angels have, is to buy your way back into heaven with Heaven Coins you collect exterminating evil Ghosts!"

"You know, you're starting to sound a lot like Garterbelt right about-"

"Shut up! Get your lazy fucking asses to the scene immediately!" the brunette screeched like a black man before the screen shut off.

"God, how the hell can you stand working with this guy?" the one now known to the others as Panty asked the red-eyed brunette.

"As long as it isn't me, who the fuck cares?" Anonymous replied, the others in the background trying to figure out just what was going on.

"Hey Pit, you're an angel too aren't you? Any idea who these two are?" Sonic asked the winged teen, who pulled out a beastiary decorated with an angel's wings and flipped through the pages before coming up to blank entry. Almost like magic, profiles of the two girls labeled Panty& Stocking Anarchy appeared on the yellow pages.

"According to this, the two of them were banished from heaven after several dozen counts of skipping school, unholy debauchery, and lastly displaying the Deadly Sins: Lust and Gluttony respectively," the brunette read out before closing the book. "I just can't believe my sorta-cousins would do stuff like that. I thought angels were supposed to have more class," he sighed while the others gaped at the seemingly-noble angel being related to... those two. Debauchery was one thing, but angels participating in unholy debauchery was quite another altogether.

"Don't only half of them seem to be using DarkChips?" Samus noted as her long-range scouters picked up a small percentile of DarkAura-powered HeelNavis.

"Does it matter? We need to stop them!" Roll shouted as she got up.

"Wait a second... Where did your chick cousins go?" Sonic asked looking around, noticing the absence of the two who Pit had introduced as his cousins. The next moment a strangely-familiar music started playing, accompanied by a myriad of colored lights, a sense of dread welling up in the pit of Naruto, Roll, Meddi, and Iris' stomachs, prompting them to shut their eyes as two silver stripper poles suddenly appeared out of nowhere.

Cue Panty & Stocking with Garterbelt Soundtrack – Fly Away

"O pitiful shadow lost in the darkness. O evil spirit born of those drifting between Heaven and Earth. May the thunderous power from the garments of the holy delicate maiden strike down upon you with great vengeance and furious anger, shattering your loathsome impurity and returning you from whence you came. Repent you mutherfuckers!" the two shouted as their garments were weaponized, neon blue halos and wings appearing before they shot off in twin contrails in one direction. After getting over the initial shock of what just happened, the Smashers and present Net Saviors scattered in the directions where the HeelNavi concentration was the strongest, the sound of scuttling cardboard across the ground fading into the background.

---

"Looting! Loot everything in sight!" a random dreg roared as he and his brethren busted down the market district, damaged, abandoned, monkey-themed, and mis-matched netnavis stealing everything that wasn't bolted to the ground, some doped up on DarkChips and causing even more damage. The next moment a blue blur suddenly shot by, the sonic boom knocking them over before shooting off into the distance.

" . . . What the heck was that?" one asked as he got to his feet as the dust cloud left their line of sight. Before anyone could ask, the blue blur shot by them again, slash marks appearing on those closest to it, some deleted while others were simply thrown back. Within moments of the blue blur disappearing once more, a hail of glowing blue arrows shot at them from above, prompting one to scream- "Sniper!" While some tried hiding behind cover, the arrows seemed to curve around everything in their paths, and if that wasn't enough, dozens were being whipped out every time that blue blur shot by.

"What's going on here!" one of them shrieked before an anthromorphic blue hedgehog suddenly flew into him spinning like a buzzsaw, yet more arrows striking anything that wasn't running or trying to. Essentially, everything.

"Heh! Too easy!" Sonic and Pit shouted as they continued to lash out with guerilla tactics, Sonic's Excalibur combined with his speed cutting through everything in his path, while Pit's bow and Mirror Shield kept him in the game whenever someone was able to take a shot at him.

---

"Bone Club!", roared Lucario, swinging his club of Aura with severe force at a group of HeelNavis, knocking them out of the park with a home-run. Instinctively the jackal Pokemon backflipped using the pole as leverage, dodging an incoming swipe of a HeelNavi's LongSword, which was deleted when it was impaled by Lucario's club at the skull

"Tch. There's no end to them!"

"Then we'll make an end.", cocked Falco. "You ready Fox?"

"Maneuver 1-12?", asked the vulpine.

"Maneuver 1-12.", replied Falco. In a blitz of gunfire, the two fired their blasters rapid-fire, jumping over one another's backs and firing at anything that moved towards them. When a HeelNavi would attempt to move up on Fox, Falco would appear over his back and take him out, vice versa happening when one tried to approach Fox, the maneuver being expertly performed because they didn't need to speak to one another as they fought, but that they knew where the other was going to be, and that both counted on the other to cover their backs. Using his senses to read their auras, Lucario batted aside HeelNavis with his Bone Club and Force Palm as his body weaved between the laser blasts. After a few minutes, the hundred or so HeelNavis attacking them had been reduced to only a small baker's dozen.

"Anyone else with bright ideas?" Falco asked smugly. Cowering, the hiding HeelNavis screamed and ran away at top speeds in different directions, fanning away from the Smashers for dear life.

---

"Pika!" Pikachu cried as he scattered electricity into the advancing HeelNavis, Samus firing off bombs and missiles into the ranks as she ran forward, lashing out with spin kicks and arm cannon whipping for anything that got in her way. The ones empowered by the DarkAura fought more fiercely than their non-augmented brethren, but the combined efforts of Samus and Pikachu took them down after a few well-placed attacks.

"Based on my readings and the data I've collected..." Samus said as her visor analyzed the ambient energies wafting off the defeated HeelNavis as they retreated. "While DarkChips empower netnavis beyond their normal limits, the cost comes at the near-irreversible corruption of their data. However..." she trailed off as another window came up. "Something doesn't add up. There isn't any sign of deterioration, yet there's some underlying energy I can't currently identify," she said as she analyzed another wavelength beneath the DarkAura's.

"Pika..." the electric mouse squeaked, looking around with ears twitching.

"Don't worry. Snake's a tough guy. He won't go down that easily," Samus returned, having noticed a spot of cardboard in the corner of her eye before she and the others scattered.

---

"Fuck! Holy Weapons only work on the DarkAura!" Panty cursed as the HeelNavis abound felt themselves over, grins behind their helmets as the two angel-like NetNavis' attacks were useless against them. Just their luck that they'd run into the thickest throng of DarkAura-powered HeelNavis out there. The two didn't hesitate to remove the rest of their undergarments to dual-wield Holy Weapons, cat calls going out before the object were weaponized, which of course was nothing new to them. From there the two angels proceeded to eradicate the DarkAura with their Holy Weapons, and while they were able to succeed in doing so, just like with humans, their Holy Weapons only worked on Ghosts or concentrations of ill intent; nothing else. "Alright sis! Time to break out the big guns!" the blond then said with a wicked grin as she pulled out what appeared to be a Giga-Class BattleChip, the picture of a laughing skull on the small black plate up at the top, from the inside of her bra.

"Got it!" Stocking said in return as she pulled a like-Chip from her bra, the two slotting the two Giga-Class battlechips into their own Holy Weapons through slats that appeared as the BattleChips neared their surfaces. Plugging them in, the weapons glowed brightly, temporarily blinding all the HeelNavis in the viscinity until the light faded, a sense of dread welling up from the pits of their stomachs as the two angel-like navis suddenly had drastically different weapons from before. Panty now carried what appeared to be a large mini-gun, the six barrels replaced with even smaller mini-guns creating a total of 36 gun barrels on one weapon, the coloring like that of Backlace though without the tiny bow, the weapon itself whirring to life as the main assembly spung clockwise, while the mini-mini-guns spun counterclockwise increasing stabliity. Stocking now carried what appeared to be an extra-long chainsaw, only instead of teeth, there were more chainsaws, the miniature chainsaws whirring to life before the main one did, the sheer number of cutting blades creating a small typhoon around the blade blowing Stocking's hair backwards.

"REPENT AGAIN, MOTHERFUCKERS!" the two angels then shrieked as they went completely ballistic, HeelNavis crying out in terror as some fought while others ran, only for them to be mauled by hundreds of bullets or mutli-bladed chainsaw strikes that ate through even the strongest Defense-Type battlechips like paper in a paper shredder. At the same time in the distance as HeelNavis scattered in every direction, the watching dogman's eyes narrowed at the sight as hundreds of bullets tore through the air every second, while an undefeatable mass of blades flew out in a spiral. Somehow or other, the two did not harm one another, this causing him to say-

"I think these angels reinvented the hell out of the word 'extreme'..."

---

"Meddy Capsule!" Meddy called out as she scattered white, yellow, black, and purple capsules into the surrounding HeelNavi ranks, spreading a myriad of status-inflicting effects.

"Roll Roulette!" Roll called out as she spun while using Roll Blast, the heart-shaped projectiles scattering in every direction and striking those who were paralyzed, confused, blinded, or bugged.

"Guts Quake!" GutsMan roared as he brought his arms down in a double axe-handle, the hammer head sending a shockwave in all directions and knocking those still standing from the Roll Roulette off their feet.

"Glyde Gattling!" Glyde called out as his gold-colored gattling gun scattered bullets in a wide sweep. After the failed ambush, the gathered HeelNavis scattered like cockroaches when the lights turned on, those blinded by Meddy bumping into the sides of buildings and lamp posts.

"I'm beginning to wonder if whoever made NetCity planned for this to happen," Roll said aloud, considering Net City had been invaded at least a half dozen times in the past since it was brought online.

"There's no way of knowing for sure. Let's just focus on the here-and-now!" Meddy said as she rallied the others forward, Glyde and GutsMan sighing as they were once again dragged along.

---

"Man, how many times is Net City going to be invaded like this?" Naruto asked as he and Iris ran through one borough of the cybernetic city, occasionally stopping to shoot anything colored purple and/or evil. So far they didn't shoot anyone that didn't need to be.

"I don't know. This is... what, the third time this has happened?" Iris asked as she fired off another shot. After acquiring a basic Buster program when she became more dedicated to becoming a front-line fighter instead of always being support, she was able to modify it to its ultimate extreme, since she was the "Ultimate Controller", capable of manipulating any machine or program to her will. The Iris Buster was colored violet with purple highlights, a pair of butterfly wings like on her barrettes acting as the sights as she fired white-colored blasts every which way, Naruto covering her with his own black-colored blasts, the blue portions of his NetNavi attire now colored black given his recent paradigm shift. "Of course that might be since you arrived to this world."

"Geez, you'd think they'd shut the place down for a while and overhaul security between these catastrophes," Naruto huffed in annoyance as he fired a charge shot into a throng of dregs. As it turned out, HeelNavis were formerly regular navis that were abandoned when the next model of Navi in their type came out. From a psychological standpoint, HeelNavis all wore purple and saucer-shaped helmets to gain a sense of anonymity, thus giving them less hazard in concern to their own actions. Apart from that, they were decorated with spikes, saw blades, or fake bones.

"Unfortunately, an entire firewall cannot be overhauled," Iris said plucking a barrette from her hair before it began to glow. "All anyone can really do is find the hole, plug it, and repeat. Butterfly Buzzsaw!" she shouted out as she let the bladed accessory fly, ducking down as Naruto aimed over her shoulder to nail a HeelNavi that had almost jumped her.

"Still, you'd think they could at least mass-produce security navis for Net City. Certainly make our jobs a lot easier," Naruto grumbled as he released another charge shot past some enemy ranks, only for it to burst like a Spreader and go backwards hitting the opponent's rear flanks, the Back Shot as he liked to call it and nearly impossible to dodge. "Whose bright idea was it to leave the fate of the world to kids anyway? Shouldn't the adults be handling this kind of thing?"

"You know... In all my times posing as a human, I could never quite wrap my head around that," Iris said as she looked up, noticing that the HeelNavis had begun retreating, though they all seemed to be going to... "Naruto! We need to start moving! Now!" Iris cried out as she grabbed the blond's hand before running off, surprising him with her strength completely disproportional to her petite stature.

"I just realized something. Where are your sisters?" Naruto asked as he noticed something was missing in that picture.

"I left them back at the Colosseum," Iris answered as she ran. "If what I think is about to happen will happen, we'll need to double-time."

"Don't worry," Naruto said as he took back his footing. "I'm sure they'll be fine. He may be a bit unorthodox... but Anonymous can handle a few backnet dregs like this."

"It's not him I'm worried about," Iris said worriedly.

---

Meanwhile, the dogman from earlier watched as the events unfolded in NetCity, watching agents of the NetSaviors and Smashers battled with the hordes of DarkChip-empowered grunts at his disposal, though the NME-affiliated navis seemed to be absent today. Though the "good guys" had been scattered, not finding who they were looking for, the horde began to peel away from those they were fighting before, heading towards their true objective once word began to spread.

"Ah, I remember it like it was yesterday," the dogman sighed as he looked up into the sky.

There were only two figures in a secluded dark room. The dogman knelt on one leg to a small throne-like chair, housing a sitting figure of which the only visible features were his left arm and cheek, along with some brown hair. His skin was a peach tone, his arm cuffed by a white dress shirt. If one looked close enough there was part of a tied string from the revealed patch of skin on his face.

"You understand what needs to be done, yes?"

"Of course, boss. I've read through the reports and have come up with a strategy worthy of our cause I believe is to your liking."

The figure grinned. "Ah, yes. You certainly live up to the Geddon name. In fact, I am so pleased that I wish to give you my blessing personally."

"Huh?" asked the canine in the overcoat before instinctively grabbing a thrown object – a royal purple sphere encased in a thin glass box. The dogman's eyes flew open.

"B-boss! Isn't this a-?!", he started before a soft 'shhhh' escaped. "Don't spoil it. Relish the moment; the moment that you've been trusted with one of the Subspace's greatest weapons.

"But won't you get in deep shit for this?! To allow an unacknowledged subordinate to use a weapon like a Joshou (Limit-Removal Treasure) is-"

"Let me take the brunt of any rage from the higher-ups; consider it a reward for you efforts."

Onishiba stared at the jewel in his hand, still encased in the glass box. "For the boss to trust me with this..." he thought as a look of determination glinted in his eye. I refuse to let him down!

Pocketing the Joshou after reminescing, Onishiba continued to observe the efforts of those below. He was enjoying the display of attacks and screams of battle, painting the city like a brush on a canvas. After a few minutes, he then took a breath and said- "You're not that bad at hiding. But your curiosity is giving you away." -to no one in particular. There was, however, a large carboard box tucked in the corner of the rooftop where the dogman stood, which was heaved off and sent to the ground below, revealing Snake.

"Had to happen eventually, y'know. You're a tough bastard to track down. That was, until you started to leave an obvious trail of slowing your pace; you did that intentionally, didn't you?"

"All for a valuable lesson my friend."

"That being?"

The Shiba-Inu antromorph smirked. "That you just stalked the wrong target."

"Huh?" asked Snake, cocking a brow, before realizing that his target had already vanished instantly before his eyes. "?!" The next time Snake knew, he felt a strong jab in the back of his neck. Looking out the corner of his eye to see the dogman in the white coat, he soon slumped over before passing out, the prompt "Snake: Logging Out" chiming as he was returned to the real world, where he would remain unconscious until he came around again.

"Check and mate, dude. Check and mate," he said slyly before lightly hopping off the rooftop and onto the one next to it at a lower elevation. "So a Smasher was able to pick up on me after all. I must be losing my touch," he laughed, running a hand through his maple brown hair leftwards.

---

Slowly but surely, the Smashers and Net Saviors seemed to be pushing back the HeelNavi invasion as they were either deleted, or ran back to the UnderNet from whence they came. After around a half hour of battling however, the allied forces began noticing a trend. While the HeelNavis were wrecking and looting everything in sight, they acted as though they were looking for something, or someone, indicated by them pulling out files and looking them over, taking in the faces of every Navi they came across before moving onto the next target, only to either flee when the Smashers or Net Saviors showed up, or in groups attempt to capture them.

"This is starting to get annoying," ProtoMan groaned as he ProtoSlash'd another trio of HeelNavis, bisecting them at the waist and deleting them.

"Well what can we do? There's no way of telling just how many of these guys there are until they leave the UnderNet and appear in the OverNet," MegaMan said as he booted another HeelNavi out of the way, file in hand flapping through the air before the blue netnavi caught it, eyes widening in recognition at the face that greeted him. "ProtoMan! I think I know who they're after!" Following a DeltaSlash, ProtoMan ran over to MegaMan's side as the HeelNavis chose to run for greener pastures, eyes widening behind his visor as he too realized just why the HeelNavis were doing this.

"Wanted... 250,000,000 zenny dead, 500,000,000 zenny alive?" ProtoMan before his eyes landed on the bottom line. "What the hell is this about a signing bonus? Is someone handing out DarkChips to motivate these guys?"

"Can't be sure, but it makes sense. Still... haven't you noticed something odd? Their DarkAuras aren't as strong as the ones we've encountered in the past," MegaMan noted aloud, considering it had been a little too easy to dispatch the DarkAura-powered HeelNavis than it should've been. Darkchips were estimated to increas a NetNavi's power by over ten times after converting them into DarkSoul Navis, yet these ones only appeared to be two-to-three-times as strong as before, and considering most HeelNavis were only as strong as Standard or BasicNavis, highly-skilled CustomNavis could easily dispatch them without much trouble.

"We can over-analyze later. For the time being, we need to move Anonymous to a safer location, or at least outside of NetCity. The HeelNavis nearly caused a system's crash when they first came here, and technical is going nuts trying to keep this place running," ProtoMan said as he ran towards the NetBattle Colosseum, the last place Anonymous was sighted. "Attention all NetSaviors, return to the NetBattle Colosseum immediately, this is a Level 1 priority. Break away from engagement and follow the Waypoint Markers I'm sending you," he instructed as he sent out the call to all the NetSaviors. At the same time, MegaMan was sending out messages to the Smashers he could by using the electronic IDs they'd acquired once entering the net.

---

At the same time, Anonymous and Iris' sisters Key, Karat, and Phoenix stood in the middle of the NetBattle Colosseum, the two prior looking over a real-time map of Net City while the latter two kept their gaze on the entrances to the ground floor. With no hidden amusement, Phoenix watched as Anonymous and Key continued to blush whenever their eyes met, though the enigma did a better job of hiding it. As this was going on, Key looked at the Burst Mode chip Anonymous had given her and the others. None had tried using yet since they would have no idea what the coding did until it was actually used, but with the way things were going, they would have to use them eventually.

"Anonymous, where is your sister by any chance?" Key saw fit to ask.

"I sent her home as soon as things got rough," he answered, then noticed a trend in the enemy's movements. "Awwww crap. Guys, we've got company."

"Yeah, we've noticed," Phoenix huffed as Anonymous and Key looked up from what they were doing, a large number of HeelNavis flooding into the Colosseum. As soon as they entered, at least half used DarkChips, the DarkAura enveloping them and raising their power tremendously, while others saw fit to use them more conservatively in lieu of illegally-modified BattleChips.

"Alright, I'll take the ones on the left, Phoenix, you take the ones on the right. The rest go to you two," Karat said as she cracked her KaratWhip across the ground.

"Fine then. I guess now's as good a time as any to test out..." Anonymous said as he rose a couple feet above the ground, twin rings of data rotating around him as his features began to change. "Style Change: Ainzer!" he called out before the flash, anyone looking directly at it having to shield their eyes until the light died down.

"Ooh! This one's got teeth!" Karat said in awe as she eyed his sleekened form.

"Eh, green's not really his color though," Phoenix stated.

"Kind of resembles BeastMan," Key noted to herself as she eyed the brunette's new form, radically different in shape from what he was originally.

Overall, Anonymous' new shape looked like a mix between a shark and a T-Rex. His legs were longer and digitigrades, marginally thinner and more angular than before with green armor on his feet, shins, and thighs. His body was now clad in a cream-colored bodysuit, a small amount of armor on his forearms, his fingers now tipped in claws. His head of course looked drastically different, resembling a shark's only with the top and bottom flat with a row of white teeth set concave into the helmet, a pair of round red lenses on the sides of the helmet. Last but not least was what looked like a shooter's platform on his back, equipped with a chair and riot shield equipped with a gun mount, a white booster-like barrel jutting out of a green-colored cube on his lower back. His size of course had at least doubled, leaving him standing at least a head above anyone there when hunched over.

"Key, hop on. We're going for a little ride," SC Anonymous said as he crouched down, allowing Key to hop onto the chair jutting out of his back. Setting her KeyBlade onto the weapon mount, streams of data flowed over it before it gained a rifle-like look.

"ATTACK!" a HeelNavi, voice distorted by the DarkAura, shouted as he threw his arms forward, the darkly-colored throng rushing forward. With thruster-like barrel burning, SC Anonymous rushed forward like he was on nitros, his pointed helmet carving a path right to the outside of the enemy's ranks while Key swiveled her chair 180 degrees, firing off electric shots from her KeyBlade, firing as many as she could while SC Anonymous strafed around the enemy's ranks, taking some of the pressure off of Karat and Phoenix, who were still in the middle.

"Alright boys!" Karat smiled as she cracked her whip through the air. "Who wants to play first?" she asked as she made a 'bring it' motion with her free hand, a portion of the HeelNavis rushing her as she began to spin around, her KaratWhip lengthening and creating an impenetrable perimeter around her, anything entering a twenty-foot radius of her being thrown back with jagged score marks across their bodies.

"To use this or not to use this, that is the question," Phoenix said as she lazily tossed the yet-to-be-calibrated Burst Mode chip in her hand, the HeelNavis choosing to keep their distance since anything that got too close to the other three were bit, shot, or lashed. "Ah fuck it. LET'S DO THIS THING!" she said slapping the chip against her NaviMark, the initial burst of flame incinerating the nearest HeelNavis to her as a massive fireball raged around her form.

Cue Kamen Rider OOO Soundtrack – Time Judged All

The next moment a powerful firestorm burst outwards, several dregs deleted while others were badly burned, a feminine figure clad in a black bodysuit descending to the ground as the flames slowly ebbed, though her armor appeared to be made of living, breathing flame. Her boots were colored black with red wing-shaped accents at her knees, hexagonal panels over her kneecaps and the sides of her ankles, red plates running over the tops of her feet, a golden claw jutting up from the top of each foot while another pair jutted back from each ankle. Her forearms were covered in black gloves with gold bands around the wrists, red plates on the backs of the hands and wing-like accents up the forearm and over the elbow. Spread across her upper chest was a larger, armored NaviMark bearing a more detailed phoenix with flame-like wings spread and talons drawn, shoulder guards resembling folded wings. With fiery red hair flowing out the back of a black helmet, her face was guarded by a clear red beak-shaped visor stopping just above her chin, a wing-like crest running from the sides of her jaw to the sides of her head and above her eyes ending with a gold-beaked phoenix emblem at the top.

"Blazing... Combo!" Burst Phoenix cried as she spread her arms, a massive wall of rainbow-colored peacock like plumage bursting behind her. Throwing her arms forward, the hail of plumage turned into ballistic missiles, exploding in fiery bursts and incinerating the dregs by the bunches. Spreading her arms again, a pair of red wings burst from her shoulders before she took flight high above the Colosseum, all in the area looking up at the impressive sight before Burst Phoenix shot headfirst into a dive, flipping forwards mid-flight as her shins and feet split into three parts, transforming into a large pair of talons. "Raptor Edge!" she cried as the pointed claws tore through everything she swooped through, HeelNavis scattering like mice from a falcon, only for her to come around for another pass.

"Whoa... Is that what all our Burst Modes will look like?" Key asked in surprise.

"Not exactly, and while this power won't corrupt you like the DarkChips will," Anonymous said as he crushed a HeelNavi's skull between his teeth with the force of an industrial vise. "This blade isn't without its double-edge."

"What do you mean?" Key asked worriedly, wondering just what she and the others had been given.

"Prominence..." Phoenix called out as she flew high into the air, arms and ankles crossed as her wings closed around her. "DROP!" she roared as her arms, legs, and wings spread, a massive phoenix made of pure flame screeching loudly before it flew down into the throng of HeelNavis surrounding Karat, who threw a large her KaratShield over herself as the massive phoenix proceeded to carpet bomb them with the flaming embers that fell from her form. After every HeelNavi and DarkAura had been incinerated, the massive phoenix just as quickly cut a groove through the ground, her Blazing Combo armor peeling off her body in fragments until the Burst Mode chip she had used returned to her hand, the phoenix-like symbol on Blazing Combo's chest now etched onto it. "Whooo... What a rush..." she panted out as she tried to rise, only to fall to one knee. "Heh... Guess I used a little too much power. Well, I had my fun. The rest of you... take care of yourselves," she said giving the others a thumbs up, the prompt "Phoenix: Logging Out" playing as she retreated from the Cyber World.

"That's what," SC Anonymous spoke as the fiery-haired navi left. "The use of Burst Mode is like turning a faucet on all the way. You get more water out of it, but you'll burn through your supply faster."

"So it's only for emergencies then..." Key summarized as she took a couple breaths, waiting for the collective of HeelNavis to get over the shock of what they just saw before returning to the battle. "I can see why you didn't use yours as soon as the fight started."

"Yeah... That's why..." SC Anonymous replied as he took note of the field at present. At first they'd been waylaid by at least 500 HeelNavis, but the herd had been considerably thinned to less than 200. The next moment however, the sound of thundering footsteps alerted his and Key's eyes to the presence of yet more HeelNavis, who began pouring into the Colosseum after the last wave was extinguished. "Oh you have got to be kidding me!" he shouted as even more than before showed up, malicious gleams in their eyes. "Geez, how many of these guys are going to show up?" he asked as his Style Change tapped out, and Key hopped off his back.

"Does it matter?" one HeelNavi asked in a voice distorted by the DarkAura.

"Give up now and we won't hurt you."

"Yeah.Much. Hahahahaha!"

"If you think I'm giving up to a munch of mini-bosses like you all, you've got another thing coming," he said as his fist went to his pocket, drawing out a Giga-Class BattleChip with the image of a fist over a red and yellow backdrop on it. "Both of you hit the decks! Heavy's Minigun! BattleChip in! Download!" he shouted as Key and Karat dropped to the ground with their hands over their heads. A moment later, the brunette was now holding a large, dark gray minigun with a light gray ammunition barrel attached to the bottom, high caliber bullets feeding into it, while a long magazine wound itself around his chest.

"I am Heavy Weapons Guy. And this is my weapon," Anonymous said in a foreign accent, most likely from the USSR, as he adjusted his grip on the Heavy's Minigun in his hands. "She weighs one hundred kilograms and fires two hundred zenny custom-tooled cartridges at ten thousand rounds per minute," he said before leaning forward slightly with a wide grin plastered on his face. "It costs four hundred thousand zenny to fire this weapon... for twelve seconds," he said causing a few to pale. If that thing fired 200 zenny bullet sat 10,000 rounds per minute, and he was more-than-eager to use such a weapon on them, a few were considering cutting their losses and heading home.

"So... Who wants to get a kiss from Sasha first?" he asked as the gun's barrel began to spin in preparation for firing, a few stepping back from the imposing weapon and having second thoughts. "No one? Really? Well that's a shame, because Sasha wants to kiss you!" he said before he began firing rounds into the hoard of Heelnavis, the purple and black-armored forces dropping left and right like flies as bullet casings piled out around Anonymous' feet. "Waaaaaaaaah, huuuAAAAAHHHHH! AH HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA! CRY SOME MOOOOOOOORE!"

This of course happened to be the scene that Naruto, the NetSaviors, and the Brawlers came upon as soon as they were told where the HeelNavis were heading, the collective heading for higher ground or ducking behind cover as the red-eyed brunette went completely ballistic on everything evil, the two at his feet covering their eyes even as they were buried in spent shells.

"H-He's like a bear!" one HeelNavi screamed amidst the chaos. "He's like a big shaved bear that hates people!" he shrieked before he too, was gunned down, his body deleted like the rest.

"If that thing's firing over a hundred sixty-five rounds each second, how much will this cost him exactly?" Key asked as she pushed some shells out of her face.

"I don't know... I lost count after these shells covered my face," she said as she shook some of the casings out of her hair, the brunette standing above them shooting at anything that got too close, or moved, or got to close to him while moving.

---

At the same time on a high building, the shadowed figure from before had finished dusting his hands after dispatching Snake and keeping him out of the fight, while ensuring his own presence remained hidden. After the short-lived display of fireworks before the gun show, the shadowed figure sighed at how epicly the various dregs of the UnderNet were failing. Even if the mass-produced DarkChips were a little watered-down as to keep up with the demand, they shouldn't have been losing so easily, or quickly.

"*Sigh* If you want something done..." he sighed as he withdrew a sniper rifle from the folds of his coat. "You've got to do it yourself," he finished as he watched yet more HeelNavis deleted by the red-eyed navi's hand. As he affixed the scope onto his objective, debating whether to go for the heart, between the eyes, or whether to hit his target or the official leader of the Net Saviors, he quickly turned his aim a couple degrees to the left before his finger went to the trigger.

---

A few minutes before, down in the Colosseum as the last of the HeelNavis were either deleted or ran with their tails between their legs, a certain camo-colored navi noticed something out the corner of his eye before he brought out a sniper rifle of his own and took aim.

"SearchMan, do you see something?" MegaMan asked the visiting NetNavi. He and ProtoMan had run into him during the raid, having been taking out HeelNavis from a sniper's nest before they joined up.

"Yeah..." he said as the lenses focused on the distant target, having made its presence known by the light's glare off a scope similar to his own. The shadowed figure looked like he was trying to take a shot at the center of the Colosseum, most likely at Anonymous. Before the Sharo navi could take the shot however, the end of his target's barrel suddenly aimed straight down his own.

BANG

"Shit!" Searchman cried as the bullet launched went straight down the barrel of his own sniper rifle, the two rounds colliding inside the chamber and completely destroying the weapon, as well as his right arm and a portion of his chest and face. "I'm sorry... but it seems I won't be able to help any further than this..." SearchMan sighed. "SearchMan: Logging Out"

"Everyone! Sniper!" ProtoMan cried out as he and MegaMan dove for cover. Fox and Falco readied their reflector shields over their vital areas, Sonic and Pit hid behind the latter's mirror shield, Samus scooped Pikachu into her arms as she ducked behind a barricade, Karat aimed her KaratShield in the direction the shot came from, while everyone else ducked for cover wherever they could find it.

"Lucario! Samus! Any idea where they are?" MegaMan shouted out as he readied a MetGuard chip.

"No good, he's too far out of my range," Samus cursed while Lucario shook his head.

"Whoever did this must have also taken out Snake. I cannot sense him anywhere," Lucario spoke as his sensors clacked, only to fall once more.

"Awwww. Don't ruin the surpriiiise..." an echoing voice said from everywhere at once. "Now, I'm afraid I'm going to have to make someone pay for this," it said before a myriad of targeting lasers dotted Anonymous, Karat, and Key from all sides, the prior throwing his body over theirs as the sound of cocking guns prompted ProtoMan into action.

"DreamAura! Sanctuary! Battle Chip in! Double-Download!" ProtoMan called out as he threw the chips in a straight shot at the three in the center of the Colosseum right as the bullets began to fly. As a clear white dome was erected over them and the floor glowed from golden panels, the hailstorm of bullets buffeted the barrier, cracks spreading across it much to everyone's shock. With the damage-reducing properties of Santuary combined with the near-impenetrable properties of DreamAura, this defensive tactic could stand up to even Bass' attacks, yet somehow this attack was causing cracks to spread out to the point that the barrier was about to give.

"MetGuard! Battle Chip in! Quadruple Download!" MegaMan shouted as he threw the four chips right at the vulnerable trio right as the barrier began to fail, a quartet of giant Mettuar helmets falling over the three and guarding them from all sides. However, that measure soon failed one by one until the center was bombarded by bullets, a massive dust cloud kicking up.

"Key! Karat!" Iris cried out as she ran out to them, only for Naruto to tackle her to the ground and pin her.

"Hold it! You go in there and you'll be hit too!" Naruto shouted. Colonel had left his and Iris' sisters in his care, so the orange-clad human-navi could only hope they were alright. When the smoke cleared, the ground at the target site was riddled with bullet holes, while at the center was a gaping hole, as though someone had dug a hole at the last second. The next moment the rafters behind them burst open as Anonymous shot out with the DrillArm battlechip and leapt back into the center of the Colosseum, Iris' sisters both ducking behind what cover they could find.

"Enough's enough! No more heelnavis! No more bystanders! Come out now or I'll make you!" Anonymous threatened as his eyes panned over every dark shadow they could find. It was one thing having someone after him, that was nothing new, but you mess with bystanders and you're asking for it.

"Hey hey, no need to get melodramatic. I'm right here," the same voice from before echoed out of nowhere before a cloaked figure leapt down into the Colosseum across from Anonymous, the shadows peeling away from him and revealing their assailant's form.

The one who had taken down SearchMan, and nearly did the same for Anonymous, Karat, and Key, was an anthromorphic tan-furred dog standing on two legs, a beige-tan face and muzzle with the colors separated by an angular jagged fur line. His eyes were colored sapphire and shaped like a human's, a pair of polarized black sunglasses set on his snout, a pair of triangular ears poking out of a largh bushel of spiky human-like hair, which spread out in many directions, styled so his left eye was mostly covered. His attire consisted of a black shirt beneath a long white trench coat with a high collar, a pair of green pant secured by a red slash bearing black vertical straps, and blue sandals over his clawed, human-like feet. The last two details were the Asiatic charm necklace around his neck, a braided rope headband around his head, and the absence of a NaviMark in any way, shape, or form across his body.

"That guy doesn't have a NaviMark on him... Does that mean...?" MegaMan asked aloud.

"It seems so. Another being from the real world, capable of entering CyberSpace," ProtoMan said as his sword materialized, everyone around either stepping back or getting ready to fight. Whoever this guy, with the power to punch through the near-impenetrable Santuary/DreamAura combo, was no pushover.

"Congratulations! You hit the nail right on the head with that one!" the dog-man said with a grin as his ears perked, eyes closed an partially obscured by his sunglasses.

"So I assume it's you that put this hit on me," Anonymous hissed as he tossed the wanted poster with his face plastered on it across the ground, the data file stopping just short of the shiba-like figure's foot.

"Yep. And I would've gotten away with it too, if it weren't for these meddlesome children and their pet monkey," he said jovially jabbing a thumb at GutsMan, causing a tick mark to appear on his forehead before he beat his fists against his chest and rushed in.

"GutsMan! Wait! Stop!" MegaMan and Roll shouted as the massive navi charged at the anthromorphic navi head-on, who simply gave him a dismissive glance as a powerful GutsHammer came down at him. When the dust cleared however, the barrel of a sawed-off shotgun burst out from the dustcloud, the dog-man standing just to the right of the hammer's head as he cocked the barrel back.

"You know... It's really quite rude to interrupt someone as they're talking," he said as he tapped the twin-barrel against GutsMan's navimark before pulling the trigger, a loud CRACK ringing through the air as a massive hole was blown clean through his chest, the navi thrown back into the wall as his body began to break apart.

"GutsMan! GutsMan, hang in there!" Roll cried as she ran to his side, about to heal him only for him to raise a hand to stop her.

"Don't worry... guts... GutsMan... made a Backup of himself this morning... guts..." he panted out before his body was deleted.

"Awwww, a Backup? What a pain in the ass. That's practically a cheatcode," the dog-like navi said dismissively, the pink-colored Navi's ire rising only for Glyde to hold her back. Even if GutsMan had been able to back himself up, it would still take days if not weeks for Dex to re-calibrate him to the way he was before Deletion, and he didn't want Maylu to have to go through that.

"That's enough! Just who are you?" MegaMan shouted as his arm configured itself into the MegaBuster, ready to fire at a moment's notice.

"Oh me? Just your friendly-neighborhood executioner, Onishiba. Souka Onishiba," he said with a condescending bow, sawed-off shotgun extended to his side.

"Well enough's enough! I don't know why you targeted Anonymous like this, or how you managed to get all these HeelNavis to do what you told them, but we're taking you down, and taking you in!" MegaMan shouted as he jumped onto the field before firing a ChargeShot from his buster, the massive purple round sailing through the air directly at Onishiba, the anthromorph dissipating the shot with his sawed-off shotgun in a single shot only for ProtoMan to appear immediately after the shot was fired with StepSword, blade descending to his exposed side, only for Onishiba to lash out with a snap kick, sending ProtoMan sailing right into MegaMan, the two of them flying through the air before slamming into the wall and making it collapse on top of them.

"Iris, get your sisters out of here and head back to the real world," Naruto said bringing the brunette up to her sisters.

"But Naruto, what about you?" Iris asked worriedly.

"I'll be fine. I've fought guys tougher than this," the blond replied. I think... he trailed off to himself as the three retreated, a bit of the pressure taken off of him as not only did the last of Colonel's sisters retreat, but so did, Roll, Meddy, and Glyde. This only left himself, MegaMan, ProtoMan, Anonymous, Pit, Sonic, Fox, Falco, Lucario, Pikachu, and Samus. Wait a minute... he trailed off. Where are-

"Now to answer the questions you've just been dying to have answered," Onishiba said emptying the spent cartridges from his sawed-off shotgun before loading a fresh pair. "I targeted mystery boy here because I was told to," he said jabbing a thumb at Anonymous, who flicked his wrist causing a glint of metal to leap out his sleeve before it was called back, the gesture unnoticed. "As for how I got all those useless punks to do what asked, well..." he said reaching into his coat pocket before pulling out a fistful of DarkChips. "You can put two and two together to make four, can't you?" he asked, the other's eyes widening in shock.

"Are you mad? DarkChips are extremely dangerous, to both the user and everyone around them!" MegaMan cried out. Before he could go on a rant about how they were dangerous to everyone and the user however-

"Which is exactly why I used them as motivators in the first place," he said as he tossed them in one hand before singling one out. To the everyone's shock however, instead of using the one and pocketing the rest, he pocketed the one while crushing the rest in his hand. The next moment a maelstrom of DarkPower reverberated off his body in every direction, the dark storm shaking the Colosseum to its foundations and turning the entire place into a ruin as the winds tore through everything in their path, a massive DarkAura, larger than any of them had ever encountered, towering over Onishiba with a malicious glint in its three eyes. When the malignant power was absorbed by him, much to everyone's further shock, he appeared to have experienced no corruption from the DarkAura. "Oh, and did I forget to mention I'm immune to the corruption of the DarkChips? Something as trivial as this, is nothing more than a cool breeze against my fur," he said brushing some of it back through his fingers.

"That many DarkChips... the energy readings are off the scale..." Samus spoke before a crack suddenly appeared across her visor, Pikachu worrisomely looking up at her, only for the bounty hunter to stroke his head. "Don't worry about me. I'm fine."

"All of that malignant intent, and yet he remains unchanged... Never before have I felt an aura this powerful," Lucario said as he disengaged his senses, Onishiba's aura as-is nothing more than a black void, threatening to suck everything in.

"I've faced my fair share of Final Boss characters, but this guy's something else," Sonic said with a grin on his face as he flicked his thumb across his nose, anxiously awaiting the challenge. Final Boss-level characters like this were always tough in the beginning, but once you broke down their pattern it was childsplay.

"So what do we do then?" Pit asked, a bit worried that his angelic weapons would fall short of beating this guy. He'd fought Medusa more than once in his career, but this malignant aura was almost stronger than even hers.

"We do what we've always done in the face of insurmountable odds!" Naruto shouted as he stepped up. "We charge in head-first, and kick this guy's ass!" he shouted as he ran forward, the others doing so to engage, Onishiba's eyes glinting as he took a step forward, only to suddenly disappear from view. "What the-OOF!" Naruto cried as a sandaled foot was suddenly buried into his gut, knocking the air out of his lungs as he doubled over.

"One Hundred Blood Oath Kicks!" the dog man shouted as he kicked the blond 1000 times, the kicks connecting so quickly the blond wasn't pushed back until the final one, which sent him spiraling backwards and into a wall, which collapsed on top of him as soon as he hit the ground. The next moment the sky darkened, and Pikachu rushed at him top-speed, covered in electricity before diving right at his chest only for the dog-man to catch the fearsome Volt Tackle on the bottom of his heel. Sending the electric mouse pokémon high into the air with a snap kick, the sky brightened up again from the end of the Final Smash, only for it to darken once more, Samus' Zero Laser catching his leg as it came back down, the groove made by Pikachu lengthening considerably as the blast carried him backwards, only for Onishiba to lash out with a snap kick with a shout of- "Heaven Rending Heel!" -, the shockwave slicing the Zero Laser in half down the middle and to the siges. Right as Samus' armor digitized and transformed into a Super Class battlechip with her helmet on it, the air wave struck her head-on and sent her tumbling backwards, bowling Naruto over right as he pulled himself up. "Come now, is that the best you guys got?" Onishiba asked as he dusted off his jacket.

"Not even close!" Sonic said as he rushed by Onishiba with Excalibur in hand, only for the dog-man to bring his sawed-off shotgun to guard before shooting at Sonic, only for the blue blur to have already bolted off. Pit soon swooped in and slashed at him with his twin swords only for the dog-man to dodge the swipes and lash out with a snap kick to his stomach sending him back. Dropping into a crouch and lashing out with a roundhouse kick, he tripped Sonic up and sent him rolling right into Naruto after he and Samus had distangled themselves, said blond blushing slightly since her Zero Suit left little to the imagination

"Metal Claw!" Lucario roared out as the bone spikes jutting up from his paws extended into long silver claws, blindfold over his eyes billowing in the breeze as Onishiba parried the attacks with his shotgun, which was soon damaged beyond use. Whipping out a pair of pistols with silver bayonets beneath the barrels, he and Lucario continued to lash out at one another before they separated, a hail of laser fire from Fox and Falco who strafed around him giving the jackal-like pokemon some breathing room. In response the dog-man deflected the beams with his bayonets before Lucario closed in from behind with a Force Palm, only for the attack to strike an empty coat as soon as the hit connected, Onishiba appearing behind Lucario and slashing his exposed back with a bayonet, only for Lucario vanish and lash out with an aura-powered kick a moment later, the two dancing around one another in a high-speed dance before Onishiba snapped out with a kick that doubled Lucario over, a heel drop to the skull sending him crashing into the floor, the jackal-like pokémon rolling out of the way of a bullet that would've gone between his eyes and caught Pikachu on the way down, Onishiba tossing his guns into the air as he slid his arms back into his jacket sleeves before arming himself once more and taking aim at the two pokemon. Before Onishiba's bullets could hit them, Fox and Falco appeared via Mirage before activating their deflector shields and deflecting the bullets. To their surprise, the continued onslaught managed to break through, the two's bodies riddled with bullet wounds before they were thrown out of the net.

"Fox/Falco: Logging Out."

"Hold on..." Onishiba said as he recognized something was off. The next moment a blue blur shot by him before an orange blast struck him in the chest, his body temporarily stunned as Samus in her Zero Suit rushed by him, her energy pistol lashing out at him with a whip and sending him skidding back, Pikachu latching onto the small of his back and shocking him, only for him to throw the electric mouse forward and stab him with his bayonets. To his surprise, Pikachu was soon replaced by Naruto via substitution, before he disappeared in a plume of smoke. "Shadow Clones. Pheh," he sighed as he aimed his pistol over his shoulder before shooting a round, a cry of pain ringing out as he got the blond right in the shin. "Now... Where is-" he trailed off before Anonymous dropped down from above, a blade hidden in his sleeve aiming for the back of his neck, only for the dog-man to stab his bayonets into the brunette's stomach before firing off a few rounds, throwing him off and a hand going to his stomach as he landed. "Anonymous, so nice of you to drop by," he said jovially.

"I don't care how powerful you are..." Anonymous growled as he forced himself to his feet, streams of data flowing out of his stomach and dissipating into the air around him. "I don't plan to give up without a fight."

"That's good then, because if you did come of your own free will that'd be-"

"REPENT MOTHERFUCKER!" two voices suddenly called out from above, the dog-man looking up and blood suddenly streaming out of his nose as two pantiless angels descended towards them, hexa-minigun and double-chainsaw roaring and ready to go. Panty's sandal-clad feet slammed down onto Onishia's shoulders nearly making his knees buckle, the dog-man readying his guns to counter only for the sight that immediately greeted him to make him pause. His face soon paled as the multi-barrel of the hexa-minigun was aimed right at his face, the blond smirking as she pulled the trigger fully back, hundreds of white-glowing mini-bullets pelting his form with each round pushing him further into the ground, the DarkAura wafting off his body evaporating little by little before the blond angel dismounted. The moment the dog-man wiped the blood from his nose, Stocking suddenly came at him from the front with her double-chainsaw, the mass of revolving teeth biting into his stomach with a mighty thrust. Though the DarkAura was the first to be targeted, being munched away at by the revolving teeth in a shower of black sparks, he was able to leap away at the last moment, if the state of his stomach was any indicator.

Holy... If I had dodged a moment later, she would've gutted me like a fish, Onishiba thought patting his shirt, a large tear mark made and a few strands of fur missing, showing just how close he'd been to being taken out.

"Don't worry guys!" Panty called over her shoulder. "Onii-San's Angels are here to save your asses!"

"More like Charlie's Angels," Onishiba said to himself as is face was still flushed red. Shaking it off, he withdrew the last DarkChip he had, about to use it for another round until a yellow bullet made of sunlight cut through the air and obliterated it, everyone turning to a remaining portion of the bleachers, a figure wearing a long scarf shadowed against the artificial sun in the sky.

"*Gasp* It's you!" Naruto gaped as he rolled Sonic off of him, the shadowed navi leaping into -what was left of- the Colosseum as his identity was revealed, SolarGun with gleaming blade in hand.

"Move one inch... and you'll get a heaping helping of sunlight to the face," Solar said in as threatening a tone as he could manage, aiming his GunDeSolGX at the dog-man with end blazing.

"You sure you're not just going to give me a free tan?" the dog-man asked with a cheeky grin.

"Oh, looks like we have a comedian in the house, huh?"

"I aim to please," the dog-man replied.

"What was the point of placing that hit on Anonymous? You have a grudge against him or something?" Cain asked with a scowl from his Window, the effeminate male having a surprisingly assertive tone. Solar was slightly impressed with the gesture, since when he was first assigned to this guy, Solar honestly thought Cain was a chick.

"... A grudge, huh?... I guess you could say that," Onishiba suddenly said with a grin.

"For what purpose? What did Anonymous ever do to you?" Cain asked angrily.

"I'm really out for his NetOp's hide, but until I find him, I'll settle for halfway by killing Anonymous here," he said jabbing a thumb at the cyber-enigma. "Unlike that big lug from before, this guy can't just bring himself back with a Backup. After all..." he said with a pause, before a fanged grin pulled itself onto his features. "There is no equivalent for a human soul."

"What kind of jibberish are you going on about now?" ProtoMan asked as he dug himself out.

Anonymous... MegaMan said looking to the enigmatic navi. Are you like me? A human in life reborn as a program? But wait... he said with a pause. I came back through a Backup once before after I was deleted, so why not him? Something isn't adding up.

"12 years ago... The immortal sin committed by one human, who attempted to have his crimes absolved by an ill-gotten witch... Once you are all out of the way, we shall eliminate all who shared the traveler's path," Onishiba said cryptically with a malicious grin. Listening in from the cloaked Window over Anonymous' shoulder, Onii-San's body seized up at the mention of the words "absolve" and "witch", his head once again on the verge of splitting as memories flooded into his mind. None however pointed towards why Arma wanted him dead.

Twelve years... Didn't Arma Geddon's tale take place around the same time? Naruto asked himself as the gears began to mesh. What exactly happened back then?

"Personally, I don't care one way or another for Subspace," Onishiba said aloud. "But... the boss' orders are absolute. Sorry, but it's time to die," he said aiming his pistols at Anonymous, cocking back the hammers and readying to fire.

"Not by a long shot!" Cain shouted angrily. "Trick Vent! Battle Chip in! Download!" he called out, nine duplicates of Solar being created, making a total of ten.

"Eat this!" the clones shouted as they whipped out the Ninja, a hail of sunlight-colored bullets sailing at Onishiba forcing him to dodge, the cover fire giving Anonymous time to get to his feet and get away.

"Sorry, man, not hungry," Onishiba replied coolly as he shot every clone in the head with expert precision, before rounding and pointing his pistols at the original's head, who was a foot away from having the Ninja pistols at his opponent's skull.

"You're good," the dog-man said after a moment's silence. "I'm surprised. To think there was another with immunity to the DarkSoul. I must say, I'm genuinely impressed, and it take a lot to do that."

"Oh? You could tell that by just looking?" Solar asked with a strained grin. "Immunities aside, something tells me you're holding back. The Anarchy Sisters may've extracted most of the DarkSoul from you, but there should still be enough that you'd have more power than you're showing. What, don't like to flex your muscles?"

"You could say that. In my opinion, only those who are arrogant or can't think ahead flaunt their strength; I see it as a sign of weakness."

"You do now, do you?" Solar asked as he lunged forward, only for Onishiba to sigh, blocking Solar's pistol whip with a sidestep and a palm strike to the elbow. Attack turned off-angle, Onishiba grabbed his opponent's scarf before throwing him onto the ground, left foot stomping down on Solar's right hand before he could grab his weapon, the dogman's hand extended in a jab position just above piercing Solar's neck.

"Checkmate," Onishiba smirked.

"That's far enough!" ProtoMan shouted as he sent a SonicBoom at the dog-man, who merely leaned out of the way. "What is the SubSpace Army after? What are they planning for this world?"

"Can't tell ya," he replied honestly, the red-armored navi about to interject before he was cut off. "Let me finish. I can't tell you because I don't know enough. Sure I'm a high-ranking officer, but that doesn't mean I'm part of their inner circle with my master, or privy to all their little secrets."

"Then who is your master?" Naruto demanded as he stepped up alongside ProtoMan, MegaMan, and Anonymous, forming a loose perimeter over the dog-man, who removed his hand from Solar's throat.

"Hm. You'll find out soon enough," Onishiba said with a dark grin.

"Not good enough!" Lan shouted as his window appeared over his navi's shoulder. "Gregar! Battle Chip in! Download!" he said slotting in the green and orange star'd chip, a torrential swirl of crimson energy shooting upward from his body as he released a loud roar. At the same time, Solar withdrew the Witch and fired a round at Onishiba's face, the dog-man stepping off the solar-themed navi right in time for the torrent to pass and for BeastOut MegaMan to lunge at his opponent with claws at the ready, ProtoMan following behind with Sword and WideSword combo, with Naruto trailing behind with a pair of clones generating spiralling spheres in his hands. BeastOut MegaMan unleashed a fireball from behind his mask at Onishiba, who simply parted the flames with a kick before he began deflecting MegaMan's claw swipes.

"I've hear of a fight going to the dogs, but this is going kinda overboard don't you think?" Onishiba asked as he continued to effortlessly dodge the frenzied swipes.

"As if I care!" MegaMan growled. "You attacked my friends, and tried to assassinate an ally! You used DarkChips to put countless lives in danger, and you're a part of the organization threatening to destroy our world!"

"Your point being...?" Onishiba asked dismissively.

"That you're evil! And I have to stop you!" the now-wolf-themed navi spat dryly as he went in for another swipe, only for Onishiba to throw him over his shoulder and slam him into the ground. ProtoMan then activated the LongSword chip and launched the LifeSword's wave at Onishiba, who simply kicked it in half with the Heaven Rending Heel before the blond brought his Twin Rasengan forward, only for the dog-man to catch them both, sparks flying off his fur as a grin pulled itself onto his features.

"Aren't we all evil on the inside? Good can't exist without evil, darkness can't exist without light, and vice versa. A world without evil? Pah! Words more ignorant, hypocritical words have never been spoken. There's a reason all creatures exhibit the Seven Deadly Sins and the Seven Gracious Virtues. It's to create balance between the two halves of the same world," he said as he crushed the two Rasengan like balloons, the blond's eyes widening before he received a foot to the face that sent him spiraling backwards once again, Lucario and Samus catching him before he could ram into another wall, his NaviMark flashing before returning to normal.

"Good and evil are necessary for the balance," Anonymous said as he got to his feet, his Recovery1000 repairing the damage to his stomach completely. "However what you plan to do threatens to destroy both. Who's the hypocrite now?"

"Still you!" Onishiba growled as he rushed forward, only for Anonymous to draw a battlechip from his pocket and crush it in his hand.

"Double Soul: Zer0. Battle Chip in. Download," the brunette called out before his form changed drastically right as Onishiba's bayonets and bullets connected, only for the one hit to rezz out before reappearing on his right, Solar's Knight thrown through the air and landing in his hand before the shot fired out, scratching Onishiba's cheek as he rolled with the damage before coming to a stop, taking note of Anonymous' changed form.

This one was clad in a gray bodysuit with portions of light-gray-alternating-to-white armor on his chest, shoulders, and hips, a red 0 printed over his heart and tabi-like shoes on his feet. In one hand he held Solar's Knight pistol, while in the other he carried a long straight-edged katana-like blade, its edge glowing electric blue. Last was his helmet which encompassed his entire head and colored gray, a swept-back visor obscuring his features.

"Oh come on. That guy... girl... thing? You must really be scraping the bottom of the barrel for Double Souls huh?" Onishiba grunted as he wiped the blood off his cheek with his sleeve.

DS Anonymous merely responded by readying his sword, a holographic :( appearing in front of the narrowed visor before he rushed forward, Panty and Stocking slipping around his sides before rushing at Onishiba with their own weapons, the dog-man feeling his face heat up as the two lunged at him with a double heel kick, the dog-man repelling them before dodging a shot from the Knight in DS Anonymous' hand. Raising a pistol and shooting it out of his grip, he fired off another volley at DS Anonymous himself, only for the enigma to once again disappear as the bullets pierced a hologram, the dog-man bringing his twin bayonets to bear behind him as his opponent lashed out with another attack, camouflage once again failing.

"That move won't do you any good. You might be able to hide from my eyes, but not from my nose," Onishiba said with a grin.

"Oh yeah? Well what about this?" a voice suddenly called out, Onishiba's back suddenly going rim-rod straight as a foreign presence invaded his body. Glancing to the right, he caught sight of a vastly different orange-clad navi from before.

Crouched with his hands in the Rat Sign, Naruto now had a spiky black hair pulled back making his head resemble a pineapple. His new attire consisted of a fishnet bodysuit beneath a gray short-sleeved shirt and green compartmentalized vest, gray shorts on his legs and blue sandals on his feet. Set onto his left bicep was a NaviMark that resembled a few bricks out of a brick wall, only with wavy horizontal lies. Looking to his feet, he saw that the now-brunette's shadow had pooled beneath his feet like oil, and that it had stretched all the way across the field and connected to his own.

"How do you like this? I think I'll call this Style Change: Brilliant Shikamaru. Pretty cool huh?" he asked with a grin as he finally had the anthromorph right where he wanted him, tightening his hold on Onishiba as much as he could for all the trouble he'd been giving them.

"About as cool as watching paint dry," he retorted dryly. "Clearly a borrowed idea, no originality whatsoever."

"We'll see how cocky you are once I do this!" Naruto shouted as he tightened his form of the Rat Sign. "Shadow Neck-Binding!" he called out as a black tendril wound itself up Onishiba's left leg, before it began spiraling around his chest, coalescing into a hand that went for his throat as he was further bound in place. "Now everyone! Hit him with everything you've got!" he called out, those who were able to firing their most powerful projectiles at Onishiba only for him to call out-

"BANISHING CRIME!" he exclaimed as his eyes widened and his pupils shrunk. The next moment, everyone's projectile techniques and attacks suddenly vanished, Naruto's hold on him evaporating completely. "Like I just said, that technique's name is Banishing Crime, and like you just saw, it completely eliminates any attacks within my territory. I was hoping not to have to unveil it, but..." he railed off as his eyes went to the watch on his wrist. "It looks like I've got other places to be and not a lot of time to get there, so it looks like you're off the hook for now. So, until the next time you wind up on my schedule, I'll leave you with this little parting gift," he said reaching into his pocket.

"Stop him!" ProtoMan shouted, since whenever Onishiba had used a battle chip from his pocket, things always went badly for them.

"DarkChip: Corpse Soil! Battle Chip Activate!" he said as he drew another DarkChip from his pocket before slamming it into the ground, this one colored in shades of red instead of purple. The next moment a crimson wave rolled across the ground, the ground shaking before a hand burst upwards, then another, before dozens of HeelNavis began to rise out of the ground like in horror movies, much to MegaMan's ire, the collective in various states of disorder and decay, their eyes glowing an off-yellow color, and a bellowing moan left their throats. "See ya! Wouldn't wanna be ya!" he called out over his shoulder before he ran off.

"Fuck! Dog boy's getting away!" Panty cursed as Onishiba retreated from the Colosseum.

---

Meanwhile, with Onishiba running through the Cyberworld's corridors…

"Shit, shit, SHIT!", Onishiba hissed under his breath. "Not only did I underestimate the targets, but now I'm late for my next job. And I HATE tardiness!" he shouted before an ankle suddenly jutted out into his path from behind the wall, his foot catching causing him to fumble over his feet before slamming into a wall. "So... clichéd..." he groaned as he rubbed his head, DS Anonymous stepping out from the shadows like a ninja.

"Maybe so, but I find the classics always stay in style," DS Anonymous said with laser katana drawn as he rushed forward, only for Onishiba to round on the original from behind, barring his attack once more.

"Haven't I told you already? Decepti0n doesn't work on me," Onishiba said as he blocked Zer0's laser katana.

"It doesn't have to. All I have to do is stall you," DS Anonymous said as he suddenly flickered out of existence. From behind where he was, a bright flash from the GunDelSol's scorching shot singed Onishiba's fur before he rolled out of the way, the dog-man rendered blind as acrid smoke rose off the ends of his fur and clothes. Before DS Anonymous and Solar could apprehend him, the dog-man drew a black ball from his coat before slamming it onto the ground, a mass of Shadow Bugs enveloping his being before they scattered in an unseen wind. With that, he vanished, no trace to be found or to follow up on.

"Drat... he got away," Solar cursed, his fist going to the wall and leaving a dent.

"It's alright," DS Anonymous said as he returned to normal, collapsing against the wall with a sigh. "We've chased him and his dregs off. It'll be harder for another attack of this scale to be launched, now that efforts to reinforce the firewalls above the set standards have been deemed necessary."

"Anonymous... I have a question for you," the scarf-wearing navi said as he leaned against the wall as well. "Why did Onii-San give me away like he did? I mean, Cain takes good care of me, keeps me updated and everything, but I just... I want to know why he put so much effort into making me immune to the DarkSoul, giving me all these cool weapons, if he was just going to give me away to a flowerboy."

"It's because if you hadn't been given away, with nothing to prove yourself up against," Anonymous said jabbing a thumb at himself. "You wouldn't have the drive to become stronger. To prove you shouldn't have been given away in the first place."

"That's... uh... I just don't get you," Solar sighed. "Think we should help the others with those HeelZombies?" he said as the sound of terrified screams rung out from what was left of the Colosseum.

"The NetPolice can handle that if our friends can't. I'm heading home, going to bed, and not getting up until this all blows over," Anonymous said as he threw something onto the ground that flashed brightly, Solar having to blink his eyes a few times before his sight returned, only to find Anonymous gone.

---

Author's Note: I'd like to thank Dr. Weird for being so patient with the development of this chapter. Onishiba is a character designed by him for use in this story. The Style Change: Brilliant Shikamaru is a following-up of the Style Changes previously seen so far (Mighty Sakura, Noble Hyuuga). Phoenix's Burst Mode: Blazing Combo, is based off of Kamen Rider OOO's Taka Kujaku Condol/TaJaDol Combo. Anything else recognizeable to a specific franchise, I do not own.

Oh. But wait. There's more.

---

Meanwhile, high in the sky in a distant corner of the ether, MetaKnight had been wandering around the Halberd for what felt like forever, and as much as he didn't want to admit it… He was lost. Somehow, the SubSpace Army had made the interior of the Halber larger than the 3s534io4, much like the Final SubSpace Zone Tabuu had created in order to increasehis own power. Most of the corridors were similar to the Halberd itself, what with the unique myriad of traps, various SubSpace Army patrols, and the occasional door to another area entirely. At first he'd entered the ship through a maintenance hatch on the side of the ship, but any attempt at making a map without any real sense of orientation proved futile.

It feels like I've been going in circles… It's almost as if someone wants me evicted from here simply by inflicting the loss of senses and orientation… a normal person would go mad, Meta-Knight thought with certain conviction. But not me; not while my pride is on the line, he thought to himself, not wanting to end up like Mario, though given, there was a difference between the two ladies in their lives. Mario's was a petite princess of her own country, while his is a little more "heavy-set" and can take out a small country. Eventually, his persistence was rewarded him with a small shining patch of brilliance ebbing at him in the air ducts.

I know that 'walking towards the light' thing's a death cliché, but it's better than nothing at this rate.

Slowly shuffling towards the luminous vent opening, he peered through the blinds, and obscured the view inward with his cape and mantle, providing enough shadow to remain unnoticed.

It wasn't very easy to surprise Meta Knight, that was for certain. But what he heard next certainly had something to say to that.

"I see. Kirby is dead."

"!" Meta Knight mentally gasped.

"F'course, master.", came a scratchy Primid's voice on an LCD screen. "He was minding his own business. Munching on some Oreos b'fo' one-a-me chaps blew 'is head open like a rigged watermelon. Sorry ta disappoint ye, boss, but there's still no answer to how Kirby's stomach works. I guess that's th' way…",the Primid trailed before slowly putting on a pair of sunglasses and looking at the figure in the room. "…the cookie crumbles.", the Primid concluded with his slight Cockney accent.

The figure in the room burst into laughter, much to Meta Knight's surprise.

"Ahhhh, a Horatio Caine joke. And who says Primids don't have a fine sense of humor? I don't see where they get the idea you're all mindless."

"Your praise is truly appreciated, Master. Also, the top operatives are in position. Onisiba has just returned from his assignment; he got into a scruff with the NetSaviors and Smashers, but returned without being back-traced. And he got both jobs taken care of without any problems."

The figure grinned. "The data retrieval? Both of them?"

"Even with death staring 'im in the face, Sir Onishiba is one-of-a-kind; we all know he won't go down that easily. Wouldn't be surprised if another of them blokes were killed off"

The figure's grin widened. "Excellent…!"

Meta Knight began to fidget. Kirby's…dead? No, that can't be!... And now they say others are joining him? It has to be a lie! But this aura… it's not fake either..."

Meta Knight kicked the air vent downward and charged at the shadowed figure. His rage was unparalleled. However, the Star Warrior failed to see that the figure warped behind him, and precariously tapped him on the forehead area of his mask, cracking it down the middle, a red pentagram mark painting itself on his forehead. A moment later he crashed and lost consciousness.

"I knew this whole 'Kirby is dead' façade would work like a charm. I even went to great lengths for this little sketch to seem as subtle as possible, and now… you, my rotund little friend… will be working for us now!" the shadowed figure said with a malicious grin as Meta Knight's eyes flung open, a dimmed yellow glow present as he sluggishly walked forward, the Star Warrior walking toward the Halberd's helm before taking the wheel.

---

Meanwhile, in the deepest, darkest depths of the Cyber World, the retreating HeelNavis and dregs of the UnderNet returned to their home with a bit of relief in their cybernetic hearts, having performed a mass exodus after the nutjob with the minigun mowed down countless of their brothers. They had thought with their numbers at over 100-to-1 that they would've had the advantage after initial projections, however, after the Smashers and those two angel-like Navis appeared, some had thought with a 50-to-1 advantage at the least that some of them they would've succeeded anyway, albeit with a little hard work. Yet once again, the netnavis of the OverNet seemed too powerful for them.

"No not worry my brethren. Our day will come soon," an exhausted black-armoed HeelNavis with a missing arm huffed as he stood on a tall spire. "While the more foolhardy of our allies used their DarkChips almost immediately upon getting them, we were wise enough to keep ours, until a better opportunity approaches us," he said raising his remaining fist into the air, a pair of DarkChips held between his knuckles.

As the remaining HeelNavis cheered, some raising their acquired DarkChips up in victory while the more paranoid among them chose to keep them concealed, a shadowed figure, whose body was badly fragmented and damaged, skulked amongst the edge of the throng. Quick as a thought, its hands went over his prey's mouth before it pulled them back and drove its free fist through their backs, assimilating what it could their data before pocketing the DarkChips they once had. This went on for a few minutes before feral eyes turned towards the one-armed HeelNavi atop the spire, a malicious grin forming before it circled around, the HeelNavi up top stepping down after boosting the troop's moralle. As he reached the bottom of the spire, out of sight of the others, he noticed a lone figure in black and purple armor approaching him, most likely for a little one-on-one time with a veteran.

"Man, you look like you've had a rough day," the HeelNavi noted as the lone figure approached him, receiving a throaty growl in return. "Not much of a talker eh? That's cool. So... Where'd you get that helmet?" he asked taking note of the figure's uniquely-shaped helmet, only for a hand to lash out at his throat and hoist him into the air, impeding his speech as his limbs flailed about angrily. The figure, holding a dozen DarkChips in his hand, shocked the HeelNavi by crushing them in his palm all at once, a massive DarkAura rising over the upcropping and alerting the collective horde to its presence. With a throaty growl over its shoulder, the malignant spirit of the DarkAura seemed to... submit, to the figure's whim, being completely absorbed into its body. Within moments as a thin black miasma wafted off its form, the cracks, dents, and breaks in his armor, visor, and mis-matched shoulder guards began repairing themselves. Once repairs were complete, the one-armed HeelNavi's throat was crushed with a SNAP, two DarkChips falling into the figure's hand.

"Hey! This guy's stealing DarkChips!" a voice shouted from behind it, the helmed figure turning around to see a small but growing mob gathering around him, comprised of the various dregsof the UnderNet, each fisting their own DarkChips defensively after what they had just witnessed.

"Let's show this fucker what happens when you try to steal and not split the takings!" one shouted as he crushed his DarkChip in his hand, DarkAura rising off his body, as did it for several more HeelNavis, the odds over 300-to-1. The helmed figure simply crushed the two new DarkChips in its hand, a throaty growl leaving its throat as the doubly-large DarkAura submitted to its will before being absorbed into the figure's body, purple and black-colored armor bleeding to white and brown as the figure walked towards the thickest gathering of dregs at his back, the last of the cracks across its visor repairing himself. With a furious scream the dregs chared forward, some doping themselves up on the DarkAura while others readied their best -and illegally modified- weapons and lunged at the white-and-brown-armored figure head-first. In response the lone figure simply strode forward like one would across an open field they had to themselves, a throaty growl rising from its throat as eyes glowed bright red behind the golden visor.