The PET beeped. And beeped. And beeped again. Arthur inwardly groaned, forcing an eye open. Even though it was late summer and there was a lot of light each day, it was barely dawn. "Treble... is it urgent?"

"It's from Chaud. Probably? I'll read it... 'Arthur, your requested week is over. Come to Scilabs by 8AM. We'll discuss what you can do. Your two friends William and Joe are also being sent offers to rejoin us.' I guess we'd better get going."

"What's the time now?"

"Six?"

"Ugh."

The journey was uneventful. Joe was a bit stiff from the early start, William shrugged it off. they walked straight into Scilabs. Arthur turned to the front desk. "We're here to see Chaud."

"He's in room three. is it urgent?"

"No ma'am."

"Okay, if you could just wait here for ten minutes? He's briefing someone at the moment." Said the receptionist.

"Got it." Arthur sat down. He looked around. "I wonder where Denny is right now? He's practically started living here."

"He's been here all this time?" Said Joe. "I was wondering why he was never in when I went to call for him. How's his replacement navi?"

"They're getting along alright." Said Arthur. "Although the navi comes off as... a bit stuck up, to say the least."

William made an incredulous face. "Oh my god. Arthur just voluntarily insulted someone. In other news, pigs are flying and all the planets have aligned."

"Come on, I insult people sometimes!" Said Arthur.

"...Do you?" Questioned Joe.

"Um... emphasis on sometimes."

"Still, who is this navi?"

"Beta. They're a really, really big perfectionist."

"But I bet they can fight pretty well!" Added Treble.

"Wait, we mustn't reveal anything about them. Remember the situation?" Said Arthur. "Especially when you factor in Gregar."

"Well, we now know Beta is linked to Gregar." said Joe. "Watch your tongue."

"Chaud is free now." Announced the receptionist. "Have a nice day."

"I'll try." Said Arthur. The three got up and started going down the corridor. Arthur stopped when he ran into a certain scientist. "Oh, wait a moment!"

Wily turned. "Hm? Arthur. I see you've come to help out."

"Yes. I just wanted to say thanks for that signal booster you made a while ago. It really helped me out! I just didn't get a chance to say thanks."

"Yuichiro did the hard work, I only made the core. But your thanks are appreciated." Said Wily.

"I'll see you later. I shouldn't keep Chaud waiting."

"No, you shouldn't. Off with you."

The three stepped into the room Chaud was using. "Just in time." Said Chaud. "We need some competent operators right now."

"How can I help?" Said Arthur. "I would like to know the general state of things, as well."

"Eurasia is striking only in sneak attacks. They can't match ProtoMan, let alone MegaMan- and they know it, unfortunately. Plus they're going heavily against their own government. The problem is that that government can't do anything to stop Eurasia right now because of two very important reasons. Firstly, we don't have enough evidence to prove Eurasia is behind the attacks. But their tactics are a perfect match and nowhere else, barring us, has the technology to make use of programs like Treble, so I don't see another possible cause."

"What's the second problem?"

"Eurasia makes up a very large part of Wirope's current standing in affairs on the net, and it nearly has a monopoly on their development. If Wirope loses them, then as a country the economy will crash."

"...They're using an entire country as a meat shield?"

"Not how I would have worded it, but not inaccurate. We have to tread delicately. The officials are international and we have a lot of authority, but we're not above law. For now, we're focusing on protecting our five superprograms. But we need to gather evidence on exactly what Eurasia is doing, and how, when, and most importantly- why?"

"But that's obvious, right? Treble alone can stand up to Bass, even if we can't quite win a fight. that kind of power makes millions."

"Euraisa already has billions. And replicating any of these programs would need the knowledge of the original creators, so they couldn't patent the coding techniques either."

"Can you just call me a navi instead?" Asked Treble. "Program sounds weird. it would be like me calling you Human all the time."

"Either way, Eurasia wants to use them for something, so we mustn't let them have them. But the problem is that they're also doing something else."

"What?"

Chaud brought up some images on a screen. "They've been attacking random places. We can't work out why, but I think it's meant to try and bait out our stronger fighters. We need to intercept these attacks and find out who's behind them, or the public's going to start losing faith in the officials."

"Then that seems like our job." Said William. "If you're right and it's to bait out Treble then we need to counter-bait, and be ready to jump in when they strike."

"Glad to know we're on the same page." Said Chaud. "We're assigning you two as guards, but all three of you will be kept up to date on Eurasia movements. Your job is capture, not delete, since we need information."

"Question." Said Arthur. "What about Ethan? Is he protected?"

"Yes, actually." Said Chaud. "He may not know it, but we've had ShadowMan trailing his navis at all times. If there's an attack before I can formally bring him in for protection and service, then he should be okay."

"Right, then. Give me orders and I'll follow." Said Arthur.

"...We want to try and find and intercept Eurasia's next strike force. Denny has been a surprisingly good recruitment for us, and he should be able to direct you. He's in the aviator room. Joe, William? If you could stay here for a moment, there are some things I need to explain to you regarding Treble and our other superprograms."

"Denny?"

"In here. I take it you've joined us in our secret war?"

"...'Secret war'... that sounds pretty cool." Said Treble.

"So, give me the details." Said Arthur.

Denny pulled up a screen. "This is a map of places Eurasia has tried to attack. They haven't managed to cause damages, we wouldn't have let you go on break if they could have, but personally I think they've just been testing the water, so to speak."

"But where do we fit in? I want to be useful." Said Arthur.

"Heh, you remind me of... never mind. They strike in small squadrons, so I want you to take on the enemy leader when we intercept. Your goal isn't to delete them, we need to capture them to get the information that will bring down Eurasia."

"Battle is my forte." Said Treble, before looking confused for a moment. "...Weird feeling I've said that before somewhere."

"Okay. Who's going to deal with the underlings?"

"That would be me." Said a new voice. Arthur turned to see Burn. "Judging by our data, they'll have to pass through this choke point, where they can't run."

"Oh, a pincer move? I get it. Who's blocking the retreat, who's hitting the front?"

"Treble's signature is extremely distinctive, and therefore hard to hide." Reminded Denny. "So SteamMan will be the one who flanks."

Treble giggled a bit. "The massive heavy guy is going to be playing stealthy assassin, and the speedster is going to be walling enemies off."

"You're hardly a speedster when you transform. I'd say this'll be more like putting them between a rock and a hard place." Said Arthur. "When do we move?"

"Twenty minutes until we set up the ambush. Prepare yourself as best you can, and I'll be watching over you." Denny sounded different, more confident. Arthur thought he seemed like he belonged here, being 'mission control' seemed to suit him... although perhaps anything would suit Denny.

"Ready, Treble?"

"Of course? Destruction but totally allowed AND for a good cause?" Treble was hiding in plain sight. The choke point was quite remote, so no other navis were around, hence the reason it was a great ambush site. Treble was just standing around, looking out over the area like a moody teen, while wrapped in Bass' cloak. He wasn't immediately recognisable with the cloak's hood pressing his frills down and masking his body, so most passersby wouldn't give him a second thought.

"...Just how comfortable is that cloak? I'm curious."

"Hm. It's pretty soft, and kind of warm, but having my frills pressed down is really just..." Treble put a hand to the back of his head. "Don't like it."

"Strange to think something that was just a token of respect could help us out so much."

"Yeah..."

They waited for a while, until Burn spoke. "Here they are. I have a positive identification, and there's no innocents nearby."

Treble walked out to the centre of the path, seeing the oncoming band of foes. Five were just mass-produced underlings, one was clearly a custom-made program.

"Throw the cloak off like a badass." Suggested Arthur.

Treble grabbed the cloak, and managed to follow the instruction, sending it to the side in a mass before it disappeared back into the PET.

The leader of the squad seemed to hesitate, before moving forwards. "...Stand aside. I have no business with you."

"Not even my kidnapping? Or attacking my friends?" Said Treble. He could have managed to sound like he was actually some kind of tough badass, but he said it lightheartedly and surely. "C'mon."

"Attack!" Yelled the squad leader. The five others were as tough as bricks and twice as dumb, or they clearly didn't know what Treble was capable of. The leader started running away.

"Transform. Let's see if we can capture." Said Arthur. The advance was pre-loaded.

Two of the five were knocked flat on their backs by the transformation, but the other three didn't hesitate at all to keep charging.

"AirHockey, Thunder in. Spread the attacks."

As it turns out, bricks are not actually very tough. They're brittle and they shatter when you hit them with a giant drill. The third enemy furthered the whole comparison with bricks by having their reflexes, and standing in front of that drill. Treble hadn't been trying particularly hard, but they were blown to dust. He stepped forwards and fried four and five with a wave of lightning breath, leaving only the two he'd floored intact.

"YOU GUYS NEED TO HAVE BETTER ARMOUR I'M TRYING TO NOT DELETE YOU IN ONE HIT!" Said Treble in frustration.

They got back up without so much as a response. "I think they're mindless." Frowned Arthur. "Like, drones or something. Try just stepping on them."

Treble batted one into the floor without putting any effort into his attack. The damage from the blow was still almost enough to delete. "WOW, THESE GUYS ARE REALLY FLIMSY."

"Burn, how are you doing?"

"If you want to take on this guy, be my guest. I can't get too close without risking him getting past me."

"Treble, change of plans. Let's just go straight for the leader."

"HERE I COME, YOU COWARD!" Taunted Treble.

The leader immediately tried to run past SteamMan, who punched him back. Treble tackled them at running speed, knocking them into the floor and dragging them along for a bit. Much to his satisfaction, they weren't deleted by that. SteamMan stepped forward. "You're under arrest. Will you come quietly?"

The leader's eyes suddenly widened. He activated some kind of radio on his torso and shouted "Two is in play! Repeat, two is in- glhk!" SteamMan was holding his mouth shut. The enemy glowed for a second, and Arthur realised what was happening.

"He's self-destructing! Let go!"

SteamMan couldn't get his hand off in time, but was made of sterner stuff than the tissue paper Eurasia's strike force had been. His front was blackened a little, but he seemed fine. But the capture was gone. "Darn."

"WHAT DOES HE MEAN, TWO IS IN PLAY? IS THAT ME?"

"It has to be." Said Burn. "We were already intercepting them full-time."

"...I don't like this. Something feels wrong. If only I could explain it..." Said Arthur.

"Well, I suppose the mission is a success. It was really just a practice thing to give you a feel of what we'll be doing, honestly." Shrugged Denny. "I'll get back to info-gathering."

There was a huge crackle outside. "What was that?!" Said Arthur. "It sounded electrical!"

Burn peered out of the window. "...Is that smoke?"

Arthur followed his gaze. "It's coming from the train station! The timing on this... you don't think it could be-"

"Let's not rush out." Denny's voice was stern. "I- uh, Chaud'll have Lan investigate first, since he's not a priority target for Eurasia despite his amazing record. You and I will get into position to act as his reinforcements."

"And me?" Said Burn.

"Get Wily and Blaze, and organise yourselves defensively around Scilabs. Bait can be to draw people away from a target as well as towards it."

"Oh, there goes Lan." Said Arthur, watching the boy hop down the flight of stairs on rollerskates like it was nothing. "Is it too much to hope this is a co-incidence? ...Probably. Let's go, Denny!"

"Beta, jack out." Said Denny.

They ran up to the train station to see a crowd outside. Lan was at the gates. "Oh, hi guys. Did you come to help?"

"What's going on?" Asked Denny.

"The power's gone haywire." Said Lan. "An important capacitor was blown out, and the system is refusing to stabilise... I can't seem to get to the main computer, either. I need the CopyBot, but it's recharging..."

"We'll back you up. You're legendary at resolving crises like this." Said Arthur.

"Follow me! I'll show you the problem." Lan gestured for them to come into the station. Once inside, Arthur couldn't see what was wrong until Lan opened a large metal door. "This is the station control. I have a friend here, actually. He's managed to stop the trains, so we only need to worry about ourselves."

"Yeah... Is that wire live?" Said Denny with a scowl. He pointed to the ceiling. A mass of cables were hanging down.

"This is the problem." Explained Lan. "When that capacitor blew up, the force knocked all these wires off the ceiling and melted off the insulation. I can shut off the power to them briefly, but I couldn't get through without getting shocked."

"I used to have an Elec navi. Let me shut off the power, I can probably do it better." Offered Denny. "...But judging by the positioning of these wires, I won't be able to get in further before the automatic routines reboot it."

"So then it'll be me and Lan." Said Arthur. "Hopefully we can adapt to the situation."

"With teamwork, everyone is stronger." Said Lan.

Denny pointed his PET to the console. "Beta online. Find the program, first disable the subroutine 32, then shut it off. You are not to damage it."

"Acknowledged." Responded Beta.

"Okay power goes out on three... One, two, three!" Shouted Denny. Lan and Arthur quickly pushed past the cables.

Arthur flinched as he brushed one that was hot. "Ow! ...We better fix this quick, or the station might catch fire! ...Aw man, I liked this jacket." The sleeve had charred, but not burned through.

"I see a jack in-port." Said Lan. There was a 'pop' and suddenly the room was plunged into darkness.

"Power surge." Called Denny. "Looks like they're running through the system. Watch out in there."

"Jack in, MegaMan! Execute!" Said Lan. "We'll find the power and shut it off!"

"Okay!" Arthur nodded, looking around. If this is a trap... WHERE is the trap? "I'm going to go ahead and try and get the door to the next room open. It has an electronic lock. Treble, hunt!"

Treble appeared in the door computer, and looked around. "I see a LOT of viruses! No way these got in here by accident!"

"Can you still open the lock?"

"Not sure, the layout in here is a bit weird! Just give me a few minutes!" Said Treble, charging. A few viruses turned to attack, and battle began.

"They're all elec. CornShot2, in twice!"

While Treble still had no idea exactly why corn was one of the most effective weapons available, the blast of grass from the strange weapon first sent a PulseBulb to deletion, before he turned nimbly to dodge a Magneaker, and raked it with one expert slash before blasting it. "Get any data?"

"MagBomb1, but push on!" Urged Arthur.

"Right!" Treble ran forwards, and saw a series of strange panels. "Something's wrong with the floor here!"

"Lan, is this door connected to the mainframe?"

"Yes!" Called Denny. "For some reason. What kind of idiot connects the locks to the easily hacked main system?"

"Yeah, everywhere does it honestly." Said Lan. "Terrible for security, but hey, it lets us save this place!"

"Oh, I see the locking mechanism ahead!" Said Treble. He stepped forwards, onto the strange panels, and then jumped back. "They've been affected by the power surge! I think if I put too much weight on them, they'll collapse!"

"Good thing you're fast, then." Said Arthur. "Don't try jumping, the sudden force would be worse than running over normally. If you think one's not safe, don't go over and find another way. I'll keep watch for viruses."

"Okay, here I go!" Shouted Treble before sprinting forwards. True to prediction, the walkway started crumbling behind him until he reached the next 'safe' area.

"On your left! LongBlade in!"

Treble just managed to duck under a blast of lightning from a scarecrow, before cutting it apart in one solid swing. "Nice! Where next, the path branches..."

"Left. If I transform you, you can leap across to the lock from there." Said Arthur.

"Here I gooo!" Repeated Treble, dashing across the dissolving walkway. He tried to jump at the end, which was a bad mistake. The floor gave way like putty, and his foot went right through. "Ah!" The path was crumbling behind him fast.

"Dash in!" Arthur slammed the chip he'd been searching for in.

Treble clutched the green artifact and held it forwards, before being accelerated through the floor until he bumped against solid tiles and hoisted himself up. "Too close!"

"Here's your combo. Let's get that door open, I don't want this place burning." Said Arthur as he fed in the chips.

Treble shared the sense of urgency, and jumped the moment he'd transformed. "YEAH, THIS WAS DEFINITELY SOMEONE DOING THIS ON PURPOSE! THERE'S A BATTERY OF CANGUARDS SET UP!"

"Charge them!" Ordered Arthur. "They can't stop you!"

He was right, and the CanGuards blazed uselessly against Treble's iron hide, before he bowled one over and crunched another one into junk data. He turned and eviscerated another one into three strips, before Arthur fed in a fire chip and let him end things there and then with a sea of fire breath. Treble shrunk back and went to work on the lock. "Can I just bug it open?"

"...Okay, it'll need replacing anyways." Said Arthur. There was a flicker on the door as a little red LED turned green. "Door's open, Treble back! Lan, how are you doing?"

"Pretty well! I just need to restore this and we can keep the surges from spreading to the town... Done! Let's go, we have to save the station!"

They burst into a room. Someone was already sitting at one of the desks, operating furiously. He looked over to see Lan. "Just who I need!" He said jovially. "ChargeMan's got the trains to stop, but if one of those surges gets down the line to reach them we're going to have a problem!"

"Okay! We'll go after the cause of the surges, we're good at fixing data! Arthur, you find whoever did this! They're likely to still be here to try and see things through! Jack in, MegaMan! Execute!"

"Once again, Treble hunt!" Arthur went for a port marked 'main access', reasoning it would be able to reach most of the areas.

The TrainStationComputer was a mess. While the outer areas that Lan, Arthur and Denny had dealt with were something of pushovers, this was flooded with stronger viruses and worse, a lot of the flooring was wrecked. Treble picked his way through, and saw a Navi in the distance. "Hey! You there!" He shouted.

The navi turned, and Treble realised they were really bulky. In fact, they were... a train? "I'm ChargeMan, Whoo Whoo! On your side!"

"He's mine." Confirmed the conductor. "Ohh... I don't like this crumbling ground! It's hell to get around when the ground's broken!"

"Does anyone have PanelReturn?" Said Arthur.

"Back at Scilabs." Sighed Lan. "Oh, I do have Sanctuary. That could replace some of these damaged walkways, I guess."

"Ah, I know." Said the conductor. "Do you have a fire navi? I have a LavaStage here, so if you can walk over lava without taking damage... ChargeMan has to stay there, or trains might try coming through this station."

"Do you think you could handle lava if you were transformed?"

"Arthur, I'd walk through fire for you anyday. It doesn't even hurt that much if you're not a wood-element."

"...Thanks." Arthur took the chip off the conductor. "Let's try using this if anywhere's particularly broken."

Treble continued to go through the area, walkways crumbling away behind him. The constant stream of viruses was annoying, but the fear of just dropping into the coding void was worse. "We've searched everywhere! Where are they?!"

Arthur focused, trying to think if they'd missed anywhere. Then he realised. Faintly, he could smell smoke. Nothing was on fire yet, Denny would have warned him, but... Of course! "Use your sense of smell." Said Arthur calmly. "Maybe it could give you a hint."

"..." Treble sniffed. "...Clever." He said, to nobody in particular. "I've got it. They're this way, we're close!" He got over a large area, and then looked forwards. "Darn, the walkway's totally broken!"

"I'll send LavaStage. Are you ready?"

"I wasn't kidding about walking through fire. I have loads of health, anyway!"

"LavaStage in. I'll have a recovery ready." Said Arthur. The smell of smoke was getting stronger. He felt a twinge of fear, but shoved it aside.

Treble gestured and the ground was replaced with a sea of lava, solid and walkable, but painful. He didn't say anything, and just ran forwards. "AAAAaaahooo!" He hopped off the end. It wasn't actual lava, at thousands of degrees and instantly lethal, but it still hurt a lot to a non-fire-element.

"Recover120." Said Arthur. "Good job... and thanks."

Treble looked around as his damage was repaired. "They're here. I'm sure of it..."

"Your buster auto-targets. I know we hardly use it, but maybe it could find our target?"

Treble formed the weapon, and fired it. It bent upwards, and the pellet pinged off a hidden target, who flickered and became visible.

"...Damn! I didn't expect you'd be able to find me in the air!" They said. They were dressed in green, oddly enough for an elec user. A flowing robe of coding ran around them, fading into nothing near the feet, but it had no sleeves. Their arms had small wing-shaped bits of armour as gauntlets, and their navi mark was on their forehead.

"Here to ambush me, I guess?" Treble stared at them, and by the moment of silence knew he was right. "Face me!"

"I will not falter!" They shouted.

"Treble, destroy!" Ordered Arthur. He looked at the name of the enemy, that appeared on the screen on his PET. SageMan.

Treble went for a melee engage, and SageMan clapped his hands together, quickly arranging his fingers into some kind of sign. A bolt of lightning struck between them, and Treble halted his attack and started to fire with his buster. It wasn't particularly fast, but each shot found its mark and stung.

"BugAura, UnifyCode, FlareEX in!"

Treble was enveloped in the protective bubble and went in for a charge again. SageMan frantically dodged the first swipe of claws, and twisted before thrusting out his hand and letting out a sudden bolt of lightning. He moved gracefully, leaping from the floor by small amounts and blasting out electricity, but it was absorbed harmlessly by the aura.

SageMan held one arm up. "Winds! Obey my command!"

Treble felt the winds trying to strip the aura, but they weren't from a NorthWind chip and he was just about able to keep it up, until SageMan loaded an ElecSword and brought it down, faster than before and breaking through the weakened Aura. Treble would have dodged, but realised these winds were making it harder for him to move, and easier for SageMan. But he had the perfect answer.

Flare's copy appeared next to Treble, and they attacked together. Flare easily handled the winds, and her buster sprayed over SageMan ruthlessly. Treble forced his way forwards, and as Flare darted up and delivered a one-two with her talons, he was waiting on the ground. SageMan tried to keep out of range, but Treble leapt up and drove his claws into SageMan's leg. SageMan grimaced. "N-no!"

"Yyyes!" Said Treble. He'd bugged him. There was a reason he was effective at fighting navis in particular. SageMan shakily descended, his flight starting to fail.

"Thunder, GregarEX, LongBlade in!"

In a single blow, the odds had tipped dramatically in Treble's favour. SageMan held his hands out to the sides, and two beams of thunder appeared. SageMan took a combat stance. Treble went in, and clashed attacks. The electricity coursed through him painfully when they locked strikes, but he could see the fear in SageMan's eyes, his own battle lust keeping him on the offensive. SageMan parried valiantly, but eventually his lightning swords were too bugged to use. One failed, and that was it. Treble slammed the thunder into his face, and then Gregar's copy appeared. Treble mimicked it, and fired his buster, before leaping forwards. Gregar struck with his claws from the right, Treble from the left, and then Treble followed through with the LongBlade as Gregar stabbed him with an aura attack.

SageMan was nearly knocked off the platform. Treble was about to land a deleting blow when Arthur called. "Wait! We need him alive!"

Treble pinned him.

SageMan groaned. "...I will never talk. My loyalty is absolute!"

"Well. You're still under arrest." Said Treble, shaking off the combat fever. It had been a while since he got into a good fight.

"Lan, surges?"

"Got them while you were fighting. We should be safe."

An explosion in the computer snapped Arthur's attention back to it. Treble seemed okay, but he'd been made to take a few steps back by the unexpected attack. Two more navis were standing next to SageMan. One in blue, wearing an honestly beautiful dress and with gauntlets that had a wave design. And one in red, wearing what appeared to be a martial artist's Gi with heavy-set fists.

"You will not capture him!" Said the one in blue, levelling a large polearm out of nowhere, the dress obviously not impacting her dexterity. The polearm had a curved end, one side a blade and the other like a cresting wave.

"You're goin' though us first! If ya can!" Said the red one.

Treble looked like he was about to attack, when Arthur noticed something wrong. A shadow on the ground behind Treble, moving closer. "Hidden enemy behind you!" He warned.

Treble tensed, then spun and made a vicious strike across the air behind him. A fourth navi became visible, in gray. They were covered in the same flowing code as the other three, this time wrapping his face and torso only, they rest a simple jumpsuit. He staggered back, hand over the three grooves.

"Who are you people?!" Demanded Treble. Arthur was worried. Four to one was NOT good.

"..." The gray one frowned.

"It doesn't matter! You're coming with us!" Said the red one.

"Keep them talking." Said Arthur. "Lan, help! I don't want to try a one-versus-four with these guys."

"Aw, come on!" Said Treble casually. "I have to know your names, what else do I call you? Red, Blue, Green, Gray?"

"Your distraction tactics will not work on us!" Said Blue.

"Well they are, you're talking to me!" Argued Treble.

"S-shut up!" Red.

"..." Gray sprung to his feet, and tried to strike with a throwing star of some kind. Treble dodged to the side.

"See, he knows what he's doing!" Said Treble.

Then a white panel appeared behind Treble and Gray. Arthur's spirits soared. "Now! Here's your combo, attack!" He fed in the chips as Treble was just about able to get past a jab of the spear and a palm thrust from the red one, and then he transformed. As the largest and therefore by default biggest threat, all four of the team tried to attack Treble, and failed to notice someone coming out of the link behind them. Gray was the first casualty, as an orange sword went straight through his back. As Red darted around to see what was wrong, there was a blast from a smart bomb, knocking him to the floor with his head spinning. Blue was putting up a good fight, until she tried to spear Treble in the mouth. He bit down, and while he did take a fair amount of damage from the spear, the spear didn't come out. He tossed his head, and Blue let go of her weapon just a moment too late, getting catapulted away. All four started to get to their feet, but Treble growled. "STAY DOWN." They hesitated.

MathMan and CommandoMan walked over to either side of Treble, facing the three foes in front of him, Blue Green and Red. "Just in time. Good thing NetGaia can be reasoned with in emergencies." Said MathMan. Then suddenly a pair of gray arms wrapped around him from behind.

Gray shouted. "Run!"

As Treble turned to see what was happening, there were four logout sounds. CommandoMan tried to interrupt, but the moment of distraction had been enough.

MathMan couldn't try to interrupt, because he'd also been taken. "MATHMAN!" Yelled Treble. But it was too late. The four navis had gone. And MathMan with them. "NO! NO NO NO!"

"Both of you, log out. They might return!" Said Arthur, keeping his head clear. Treble looked confilcted, but obeyed. CommandoMan followed. "...It can't be..."

"We played right into their hands..." Said Treble, devastated. "You warned me about running off into a trap, and..."

"Hey, I didn't spot it either. For now, we need to work quickly if we want to save MathMan. Let's get back to Denny!" Said Arthur. "Lan, can you handle the station?"

"Leave it to me!" Said Lan. "Go help your friend!"

"It's no use." Said Joe. "They took him with them in the logout. If they were from Eurasia, then he's halfway across the world now."

"I'm so sorry..." Whispered Arthur. "If I'd just had the presence of mind to take SageMan into holding more quickly-"

"But you didn't. It's no use wondering what could have been." Said Denny. "Just let that be a lesson. You can't go anywhere alone."

"Right. I won't let one loss stop me protecting everyone, but... no, how can I say that after just failing to protect MathMan?"

"Hey, MathMan was my fault too!" Insisted Treble. "I could have saved him, if I'd just been faster!"

"Anyway. MathMan is the least of our worries now." Said Denny. "I think Eurasia was waiting for you to come into action, Arthur."

"What?!"

"Their activity has almost quadrupled in the last few hours. They may be about to launch something major." Said Denny.

"That's bad." William considered everything for a moment. "Strategy meeting?"

"In progress." Said Denny. "I want to know more about those four navis you encountered. They were clearly a cut above."

"I got their names when they fought me." Said Treble. "SageMan. FightingMan. LeviathWoman, and PhantomMan. They were strong, but... I feel like they weren't well-trained."

"Typical Eurasia." Said Joe bitterly. "PhantomMan must have been the one to take MathMan."

Blaze came into the room. "Arthur! Is Treble okay?!"

"We got outplayed." Said Arthur. "Treble's fine, but one of my friends had his navi kidnapped."

"No way..." Said Blaze.

"Let's go get Ethan, before anything else." Said Arthur. "Eurasia is a lot more dangerous than I anticipated- we can't leave him vulnerable."

"If you're not called on for something, good plan. Remember though, they're gunning for you." Said William. "Do you want me to go?"

"Please. Are you sure you'll be alright if you're attacked?"

"We're soldiers." Said William. "ArsenalMan, jack in, we need to get down to Eastfall immediately!"

Arthur put a hand on his forehead. "If I'd known that my break ending would unleash this kind of mess I'd have... nevermind."

Joe shrugged. "For now, take this." He held out a chip. "Eurasia wants to mess with us like this? Well I'll have you know, two can play at that game. I'll go get all my chips and zenny, start us something of an armory." He was trying to play it off, but Arthur could hear the hurt in his voice.

Arthur took the chip. It was FolderBack. The chip prized by any netbattler worth their salt. Normally Arthur would have been shocked, but right now? He was far too determined to let that show. "...Thank you. I'll do everything I can not to make a mistake again. I'll protect this country- AND I'll keep Treble safe while doing it."

"We're all behind you." Said William, looking to the side.

"But speech won't win a fight. Everyone, make yourselves useful." Instructed Denny. They obliged.

Author's notes: So, there's a pretty obvious inspiration behind those four antagonists! While I'm basing their abilities and personalities on the originals, I WILL be changing aspects lot to be more battle-network styled. Also, don't take Eurasia lightly- they're fighting dirty.

Reviewer answers!

JaneValentine007: Thanks! I love worldbuilding, it really adds to the immersion and fleshes out characters so much. Although it can be hard to write. Lemonheads can hurt, but once I had a load of salt and vinegar pringles and sort of burned my mouth- that wasn't painful, but it was oddly scary when the 'burn' lasted three days. Auugh, getting randomly hit with terminal-velocity puke would be one way to wreck a day.

RandyPandy: Oops! I'll get and fix that, thanks for catching me. Claw machines are honestly the purest form of thievery on the planet, I DESPISE them. Vertigo is honestly much worse than actually falling, in my opinion.