Ok, now you get to find out who Max was talking about.

Back Up and Max's Past Meetings

"Max, other than Wily, who the hell do you know who would have this kind of tech know-how," Will asked.

"You'll see," Max said, setting up the coordinates of the two zones for the remote. "Alright, you go ahead and bring them here. I, uh, have something…to think over." He handed the remote to Sasuke and promptly left the room.

"Maybe we should move to a more open area," J said. "We don't want to have to pay for damages." They walked out of the study into the foyer and then went outside.

"Alright, this'll take a bit," Will said. "Trying to pull them from there to here is really gonna tax the teleporter."

"We may have to rely on you and Max to get us home after this, J," Sasuke said.

"Yeah. Damn, it's been a long time since I've had to do a zone transfer. Max and I may not even be able to do it," J said, kicking a clod of dirt. A flash suddenly lit the front of Smash Manor, blinding those present. Once it was gone, standing there was Wily and beside was a red robot. The robot looked strangely familiar to J and then he remembered. "You're the robot that tried to kill us at Beamer's."

"Ah. You must be J," the robot said. "Name's Packer. It's nice to meet you on better terms." He looked at Will and J, Will with his G Blade at Packer's neck, J with his right wrist blade at Packer's gut. "Um…we are on better terms, aren't we?"

"Will, J, I do not believe that this being presents any threat to us," Sasuke said. "If Max asked him to come, then he can obviously be trusted." Will and J finally lowered their weapons, their armor returning to its spot.

"Alright then," Will said. "First sign of trouble…"

"Come on. Do I really look like a trouble maker," Packer asked, holding his hands palm up. He then looked at his claws. "Ok, ignoring the claws, I don't really look much like a bad guy…do I?"

"I don't think so," Master Hand said. "Now then, if you'll all please follow me, I will show you to the main computer server. Feel free to make yourselves at home." He headed into the building, the others following him.

***

"What's this," Tabuu said, looking between computer screens. One showed data for tomorrow's line up. The other was the newcomers. He opened a third screen, playing back the scene from Master Hand's study. "So, those fools plan to stop me. Or rather, Erazor, as they believe it. Well then, I suppose I'll play along for a bit." He started extending data tendrils from the fingers on his right hand to various data streams. "Let's see how they handle my tests."

***

CHINK

A robot split in half, Max panting heavily. He had come to the Smash Room and set the survival mode to its hardest setting, changing out his aura fusions from time to time. He was currently in one of his first ever fusions, Kendo Fusion. He looked back on memories as the training program ran through a list of possible enemies for him to fight. "Program end," he said aloud. He had come to this room to sort through things, thinking that strenuous exercise was just the thing he needed. But all it did was to help bring other things to the surface. He went back to his room, jumping onto the bed, sighing to himself. "Why does everything have to be so damn hard?" He just sat there, thinking back to the conversation that he and Z just had no less than half an hour ago. "Am I really always saving her from death's edge?" He thought back to the first time that they had ever met.

-Flashback starts-

"Maybe you need to learn some manners," a rather large, heavy set man said to a young girl with purple hair. Max was just walking by, on his way to pick up some things that Will claimed was necessary for that defense system of his and happened to be in the right place at the right time.

"Just…leave me alone," the girl said, trying to run out of the alley, but another goon had blocked her.

"Oh no. You don't get off that easy, ya little bitch," the man said. He drew a knife, stepping towards her. "You need to learn some manners. And we're going to teach you some." He laughed, wheezing as he did so.

"You know, from where I'm standing, you're the ones who need to learn some manners," Max said, causing the goon to turn around and face him, the man with the knife to stop his advance temporarily.

"Rod, take care o' the punk," the man with the knife said Rod advance towards Max, smirking. He took a swing at Max, but was surprised to find his fist had been caught. If he had still been conscious, he would have been even more surprised by just how hard the uppercut hit. "Why, you little!"

"You're next, piggy boy." Max held up his hand, flicking his fingers towards himself, telling the man to bring it.

"You're gonna wish you had stayed outta this." The man swung with a speed that surprised Max, who managed to dodge just enough to avoid getting grazed with the knife. The man took another swing, missing once more. But this time around, Max waited until the blade was completely over him and then brought up his head, hard, into the man's chin. The man coughed a bit and then spat, blood coming out with it. There was also a small white object that seemed very familiar to the man. "My tooth. The little bastard knocked out my tooth." He suddenly felt a tap on his shoulder. He turned around to see Max with his right fist drawn back. "This is gonna hurt, ain't it?" Max just nodded before his fist hit the man's nose dead center.

Max rubbed his knuckles. "Damn. Shouldn't have done that without armor on." He turned around to see if the girl was okay, but she was nowhere to be found.

"Is it safe to come out," a voice said from behind three trashcans. Upon closer inspection, Max saw that the girl hadn't quite ducked far enough beneath it, seeing as how her hair was visible.

"Unless there's a third guy who's invisible, then yes, it's safe." Max went over to the trashcans, looking at the girl. He offered his hand and she took it, using him to pull herself up.

"Thank you."

"No problem. I'm Maxwell. But just Max is fine. And you are…?"

"Ummm…Zaria. But please just call me Z." Max felt a pain in his arm and looked down to see that Z had apparently latched onto his arm with her free hand, gripping tightly. She must have been really freaked out, he thought to himself.

"Would you like to come with me?"

"Huh?" She then noticed that her one hand was still holding his and her other was gripping his arm tightly. She hurriedly let go. "Oh, sorry!"

"Again, no problem." He suddenly felt like someone was watching them and he began to look around. "Anyone there?"

"Um…me," Z said.

"No, I meant…" He then noticed the purple flames at the corner of the alley, the end that was away from the street. "Hey!" The flames moved a bit. Ok, now I know it's either a navi or wave being, he thought. "Come on out. I'm not gonna do anything." The flames moved once more.

"Jen, it's ok to come out," Z said. The flames moved fully into view this time.

"…"Max just stood there, trying to understand how his day had taken such a strange turn.

-Flashback ends-

"Huh. Guess I did save her from certain death that time." He continued to lay there, thinking over other meetings he'd had in the past. "There was the first time I met Beamer. I remember thinking how crazy strong he was, wanting to be as powerful as him."

-Flashback starts-

"OW!" A thirteen year old Max jumped at the sound as he walked past the old pizzeria. He stared in wonder at the restaurant, which had been closed for a couple years now. "Damn movers. Can't pack anything right." Whoever was in there continued to say a few choice words about the movers, getting louder as the owner of the voice came back out. It turned out to be netnavi with what looked like bat ears and a trench coat on his body. His navimark was visible, which looked like a lower cased f, except italicized. "What do ya want, kid?"

"Um, nothing," Max answered. "Just wondering what you're doing at this old pizzeria."

"I own this place now." The navi turned to look at the building, a hint of pride on his face. "First thing in my life that is truly mine. Gives me a warm feeling, ya know?" He turned back to Max. "May as well introduce myself, since you'll probably be hearing about me around town. I'm Beamer."

"I'm Max. It's nice to meet you." Max looked around the boardwalk. "Uh, do you need any help?"

Beamer followed his eyes, seeing the piles of boxes. "Sure. Just grab what you can carry."

"Ok." Max bent down to pick up a box and was surprised at just how heavy it was. He turned around to ask Beamer what it was, only to find he had disappeared and a couple of piles of the boxes with him. Beamer then came back out the front door, dusting his hands. "Did you just…move all of those boxes at once?"

"Yep. Thought it would be more of a workout, especially with my limiters. Damn things must be broken again. Shouldn't have been that easy to move those three ovens." He went over to another pile of boxes, picking them up with ease. He looked at Max. "Well, don't just stand there gawking, grab something. If you can't pick it up, then find something else you can carry."

"Oh, right." After a couple of hours, all of the boxes were inside and another three hours passed before they were all unpacked. Max and Beamer were sitting at one of the tables that they had set up, drinking tall glasses of ice water.

"Thanks for your help kid." Beamer leaned back, noticing how Max was looking at him. "Something bothering you?"

"Well, no. It's just…well, you moved most of those boxes like they were nothing. How did you get so strong?"

Beamer chuckled. "You don't remember me complaining about limiters?" He took something off of both wrists and ankles, setting four large rings on the table. "These are why I'm so strong. These limiters normally suppress my true strength to a tenth of its potential. But they've been acting up lately. I need to get them checked."

"I know someone who could help you with those."

Beamer looked surprised. "Really? I didn't think that there were many people outside of my home town who could work on these kinds of things." He sat there, looking at the limiters and at Max. "Tell ya what. I send you to this guy with my limiters to fix 'em up and you come back with them once my restaurant is officially set up. I'll make you guys my top priority as customers. Sound fair?"

"Sure." Max tried to pick up one of the limiters, but couldn't. "Uh…I can't move it."

"Sorry. Should probably turn these things off." Beamer picked one up, doing something on the inside of the ring, putting it down and repeating the process for the other three. "There you go."

"Alright. I guess I'll be back at opening time." Max left the building, going home to the HQ to see what Will and J could do with the limiters.

-Flashback ends-

"I remember all too well how they fixed those things. They ended up making them too good, enough that they were forced to add an adjustment switch to the limiters." Max laughed at the memory of Beamer pinned to the floor by his own limiters. "Now that I think about it, he's probably been increasing the strength of the limiters over the last three or four years. I wonder just how powerful he's gotten."

***

Packer and Wily were furiously tapping at individual keyboards, Sasuke, J, and Will staring at the individual screens. "So, this Erazor," Packer said, his tone of voice very casual. "He's supposed to be from the book Arabian Nights, right?"

"Yes," Shahra said, trying to understand the 1s and 0s on the computer screens. She looked at Packer, who returned the look, his fingers not once slowing down. "But how did you know about that book?"

"Well, I did research zones and zone portals. So it was only a matter of time before I accidentally fell into a few of them. Yes, I remember falling into a zone that seemed to be more of a desert. I later learned that I had ended up in a book by that title."

"But how did you…," Sonic begin, trailing off.

"Ah, I thought I recognized you two. You were running by when I first arrived and I remember overhearing your conversation. Although I doubt you would remember seeing me. I was half buried in sand." He returned his attention back to the screens and the keyboard. "I must admit, for a djinn living in such a…technologically challenged environment such as the Arabian Nights, the little bastard certainly knows his way around binary code. Perhaps I should try using tertiary."

"You can use tertiary code," Wily asked.

"Yep. All my computer systems back in the Prime Zone are mostly based off of the tertiary code. I can also use hex decimal, which is no mean feat for me."

"Very impressive. And you may have a point. Why not try to combat this djinn with hex decimal right now? I'm sure he'll get a kick out of it if he really is the one doing this."

"Isn't hex decimal used for game programming," J asked Will.

"Yeah. These guys are crazy. Good," Will said, "but crazy."

"We heard that," both Packer and Wily said.

***

Tabuu was trying to keep up with the two tech enthusiasts, but was on the verge of admitting defeat. Or at least, he was willing to switch to something much harder. "I may have some fun with these two," he said, a smile flashing across his lips. "Hmmm…it seems they've switched to hex decimal. What kind of idiot uses a code used for game programming?" Suddenly, Tabuu's arm jerked. "Oh, shit." His body began to go into spasms, forcing him to disconnect from the system. He stood there, gasping. "Damn it. Didn't think that would happen."

***

"Hell. Looks like our little hacker suddenly logged off," Wily said, stopping his typing, Packer following suit. "Well, that was certainly fun." He turned to Master Hand. "But there is definitely something in your system. There were doors all over the place, although they were incredibly hard to find. And that was just in the item storage alone. There could be more in other sections of the system."

"We can try to set up some safeguards, but they won't hold up for very long," Packer piped in. "Whoever is in your system, and I highly doubt that it is Erazor, they know their way around your system intimately. I would suggest postponing this tournament." Master Hand was about to say something, but Packer held up a hand. "Now, let me finish. Normally, that is what I would suggest. But Max told me what's at stake for them. Instead of suggesting postponing, I'm going to suggest that you put me and Wily at a terminal whenever you have a match. We may not be able to stop the hacker, but we can at least slow him down."

Master Hand considered and agreed. "Alright then. As I said, I can give you free access to the system. But that is all."

Wily turned to look at the three boys who had just stood there and watched. "You boys can move along. Concentrate on the tournament. Packer and I can handle this much," he said.

"Well, if you're sure," J said.

"I'm absolutely sure. Now, go on. Get back to the tournament." The boys left, still unsure if the two men could really do it by themselves. "I know that look. We can do it. Now, keep your mind on this tournament and do the best you can."

***

Tabuu was rubbing his temples, sitting at the table in the common room that he had set up for the three of them. "Those two are much better than I anticipated. I never would have thought of using a hex decimal based defense. But next time," he said, his tone one of determination, "I won't be caught off guard like that again."

"So, the great blue data scrap was beaten," Erazor said, walking into the room. "This is so very interesting. How will Master Kalar feel about this?"

"You breathe a word of this to him, you half time magician, and I'll make sure that you end up back in that prison of yours. Got it?" Tabuu was now standing, face to face with Erazor.

"I would suggest you back up," Erazor said, malice in his voice. "Lest I show you what kind of 'half time magician' I really am." Even with that threat, Erazor was still the first one to leave the room. Tabuu sat back down, planning out he would deal with the two computer specialists.

Well, that was rather interesting. And from my limited knowledge, I'm fairly sure that computers can't read tertiary code. But that's just how good Packer is. You know who belongs to whom. Please Review.