Battle in the Network: With Soul - Part 2

This isn't a game anymore...


Deep in a dark neglected corner of the Undernet, an array of figures stood in the shadows as another, parts of the figure's body glowing eerily in the darkness, stepped up to address the rest.

"My fellow darkloids! The time is upon us! The time when we shall go forth and cover the world's networks and beyond with darkness and despair! The time when we shall show humans and navis alike their true nature and liberate them from the foul 'Justice' they cling to! The world of Evil is at hand!"


"Blah-blah-blah-blah-blah..." Apollo mocked. "We know who you are! Your shadowy meeting isn't fooling anyone!"

"Hush," Hephaestus insisted before Apollo did something ill-advised. Like go down and start saying that to their faces. Apollo would probably be fine, but such an action would wreak havoc with the timeline predictions.


Dr. Hikari grinned as he saved his work. It had taken so much time just to analyze the data and even more to adapt and improve it, but he was finished.

"Heh... Lan is going to love this..."

And so, he suspected, would the rest of the world.


"Ooo... what is it? What is it? What is it? It's..." Apollo paused as he snuck a peak and blinked. "Wow, that early? The great Apollo knew the mighty Lan's dad was good, but he was unaware the man was this good."

"Hush," Hephaestus hissed.


"Okay, Lan," Hub admonished, "have you even started your homework?"

"What's the point?" Lan sighed. "It's not like it's any different from the first time around."

"Exactly!" Hub insisted from his place in the PET. "There's no excuse for why you shouldn't already be finished! Heck, you should be making straight 'A's if you really remembered this stuff from the first time, not barely scraping by worse than before!"

"Sorry," Lan apologized. "I'm just thinking about all that stuff Django told us, Duo, our sketchy memories, you know..."

"Again?" Hub raised an eyebrow. "It's not like there's a whole lot we can do about it. At least tell me you've been practicing that subspace pocket trick Django taught us. I'm getting kind of tired of you misplacing all our best battle chips."

"Hey!" Lan protested. "I've been practicing! I'm up to a full folder of our favorites!"

"And where's the Blue Moon chip we won at the tournament?" Hub accused.

"Er..." Lan hedged nervously.

"Lan..." Hub facepalmed.

"Hey, I at least saved the GunDelSol chips!" Lan protested.

"Lan?" the two's mom called from the kitchen. "Could you come here for a second?"

"Coming mom!" Lan called back before turning to address his NetNavi/twin brother. "Bets that she's gonna ask us to deliver a stew recipe to her friend?"

"No bet," Hub shook his head. "I'm more interested in if we can prevent Dr. Regal from kidnapping dad..."

"I don't like our chances," Lan said as he picked up his PET and went to go help his mom. "I mean, I remember being out for three days after that gas bomb went off. How about we talk everyone into leaving their NetNavis behind so they don't get stolen with their PETs?"

"Worth a shot," Hub replied. "We'll tell them we've got a bad feeling again and I'll stay with everyone as a show of good faith."


"Yes mighty Hub! You can have a slumber party with just you and the lovely Roll! All alo–"

"Will you cut that out already!"

Apollo stopped talking.

"Fina–"

"Probably not."

"I'm sorry?"

"The incredible Apollo is probably not going to cut it out any time soon."

Hephaestus groaned.


Dex huffed as the group arrived at Lan's Dad's lab. Sure, Lan had a pretty good track record for knowing when things were about to go down and how to prepare for them, but still... leaving Gutsman. exe behind didn't sit well with him. After all, how were they supposed to handle something bad happening if they didn't have their navis? But... Lan had insisted, Mayl had backed him up, Yai had gone along with Mayl, and he'd been officially outvoted. The four navis were probably gossiping about him right now and–

"Ah, there you are!" the voice of Lan's Dad cut into Dex's internal griping. "And I see you brought almost everyone with you."

"Uh... almost?" Lan sounded confused.

"Well, I suppose it would have been too much to ask for Chaud to have been included," the man sighed. "He does tend to be rather busy after all. In any case, the reason I've asked you all here today is to show you something very special. Two things actually. The second I found while going through some old documents, but the real reason I'm so excited is that I just completed a very special project. One that most of you are a part of in fact, which is why I was hoping Chaud could be a part of this as it concerns him as well. But no matter," Lan's dad turned to the giant terminal behind him. "Let me just... Heh... I seem to have left my ID in my desk drawer again... Lan, would you mind getting it for me?"

"Sure thing da–"

Lan was interrupted as alarms began blaring. Dex began looking around wildly in the hopes of spotting the problem.

"Emergency! Emergency!" a voice over the intercom blared. "A group of unknown navis has infiltrated SciLab's network! They have already occupied... H-hey! Who are you?! What are you–hrggh..."

*krsh-sssshhhhhhhhk*

"SciLab's under attack?" Lan's Dad looked wide-eyed. "But who would...?"

Dex was now 100% certain that leaving their navis behind had been a bad move. After all, if they had them then they cou–

"What's this?" Yai's voice cut into his thoughts. Turning, Dex had just enough time to see a purple orb roll to a stop a few feet away.

"Everyone! Hold your–"

*Psssssshhhhhhhhh...*

"–brrrreeeeeaaatthhhh..." Lan finished with a woozy sound that Dex barely heard as the gas the orb expelled caused the room to tilt, blur, and then fade to darkness. (1)


"That's right you walking villain cliche!" Apollo yelled as Dr. Regal was informed that none of the people in Dr. Hikari's lab possessed PETs on them. "You are going to have to walk out of there without the mighty Lan's mighty friends' mighty navis! What's that? You're mighty disappointed? Well, the mighty Apollo is mighty sure that you'll soon be mighty sorry! But if you put the genius Dr. Hikari down and offer a mighty apology, you might be forgiven and..."

Hephaestus did his best to tune out Apollo and his determination to abuse the word 'mighty' and continued examining the Loop. It looked like success chances had gone up a bit from that decision.


"Lan! You're awake!" Mayl's voice sounded happy through the connection.

"Yeah, just a bit groggy," Lan smiled.

"That's what happens when you sleep for three days!" Dex grinned from his end.

"Still... what happened to the net?" Lan asked, trying not to let on that he already knew. He was just glad he could talk to his friends, even though they were all confined to their respective rooms. It was good that they still had their PETs. "I've never seen it this dark..."

"That attack on SciLab was just part of something larger," Yai explained. "That weird Nebula group swept in and took over practically the whole net. Again. People can still jack their navis in, but there's large parts of the net that can't be accessed and forget about sending anything farther than the local network areas..."


"Tacky..." Apollo scoffed as he examined an area under Nebula's control. "Tackier... Tackiest... Tackiester... Ew..."

"What did you expect an organization steeped in evil to decorate like?"


"I'm glad that our trick worked," Lan said as he and Hub answered the 'distress call' from SciLab. "Mayl and the others still have their NetNavis, so we should have an easier time of things."

"Right now I'm more interested if we're gonna be tested by Chaud and Protoman or Baryl and Colonel," Hub wondered.

"I'm betting it'll be Baryl and Colonel," Lan said as the two entered the building.

"I'll take that bet," Hub replied.


"Lan, just promise me one thing. That you absolutely will not go anywhere dangerous."

'Yeah, that's a hard promise for us to keep, mom,' Lan apologized mentally as he sent Hub another set of battlechips.

"Pathetic..." Colonel. exe scoffed as he dodged a cannon blast effortlessly. "I can scarcely believe that you shouldered the world's fate not so long ago..."

The military navi's arm transformed into a cannon of his own. One much larger than the standard Cannon chip. It looked more like it belonged on a giant tank and as the evaded blast shook the cyberscape, its greater power was not in doubt.

"Screen Divide!" Colonel. exe bellowed as he slashed his blade in a sharp diagonal corner across the cyberscape, only for the odd ninety-degree shockwave to clang off a Guard chip at the last moment.

"Ready, Hub?" Lan called out.

"Ready!" Hub called back and raised his arms. A runic circle formed around Colonel. exe and Hub declared the attack. "Program Advance! P–"

Hub stumbled as his attack was disrupted. By an Interrupt chip if he wasn't mistaken. But those had been discontinued... Right?

"That's quite enough," a new voice interrupted as SciLab's alarms shut off and Hub turned to look at the newcomer who had jacked in directly behind him. Out in the real world, Lan whipped around to see who had just entered the room. From one even more interior than Lan was in.

"Protoman/Chaud?!" Hub and Lan declared in confusion. (2)

"Lan and Megaman had you dead to rights right there," Chaud sounded smug as he spoke to someone else.

"Hmph," another voice answered as a second figure joined Chaud. This one was taller, older, with long hair that fell haphazardly over one eye and facial stubble commonly known as a 'five o'clock shadow'. The form of Baryl, Colonel. exe's operator, had entered the room as well. "That we shall never know. However, I do suppose they have passed our little test..."


"Ah, so this is where the mighty Lan and Hub recognized those two from," Apollo nodded sagely.


Lan and Hub were in shock. The fight may have been against Colonel. exe, but it had been Protoman. exe who had called a halt to the fight. A convergence neither had been expecting to happen.

And now... now they were being asked to join one of two secret teams in fighting the forces of Nebula. One headed by Chaud, the other by Baryl. And due to conflicting memories of their first lifetime neither of them could say which one would prove the better choice.

"I... I dunno," Lan tried to stall for some time to think. "I like the idea of saving my dad and all, but I'm not sure which of you to go with..."

"Choose quickly," Baryl glared at him sternly. "This is not an offer I make lightly."

"Actually," Chaud mused for a moment. "Why not put him on call for both our teams? I've noticed that Lan and Megaman are not only accomplished battlers, but they have an intuition about important events that borders on precognition. Case in point, Lan's decision to leave his NetNavi along with his friends' behind when he came to SciLab the day it was attacked and his father kidnapped."

"Yes..." Baryl admitted. "It's perhaps the only reason he still has his netnavi at all..."

"My point is," Chaud continued, "if they're this uncertain about committing to either of our teams there may be a tactical reason we have yet to see why they shouldn't."

"...Agreed," Baryl allowed after a long moment. "I don't rightly believe in such things myself, but I've seen the reports all the same. Only a fool ignores results like that. Very well, Lan and Megaman will be on call for missions from both of us and our teams as they arise."

'And we just went off the rails, didn't we?' Lan thought to himself nervously. (3)


"What are you doing?" Hephaestus asked.

On one of the walls of the forge god's office, the sun god was making a list of names on a whiteboard he'd gotten from... somewhere.

'Mighty Lan' graced the top with subdivisions for 'Team Colonel' and 'Team Proto'. But further down were listings for 'Team Famous', 'Interoff', 'Undernet Numbers', 'NAXA', 'Sharo Military', 'Scilab Elite Corps', 'Thunder Tribe', 'Wind Followers', 'Junkyard Disciples', 'Gospel Redux', 'Agents of BEEF', and even 'Team Jammer'. And he wasn't finished adding names.

"The amazing Apollo is just setting up the betting pool for who takes out the most members of the nefarious Nebula!"


"So, you really intend to start him with one of Nebula's smaller holdings... When they control many much more critical areas of the net..."

"Of course. Those areas still need to be liberated after all, and despite Lan's credentials he does need some time to get used to the way such places block all but the minimal amount of outside access. It is the perfect first mission for him."

"I suppose..."

"And besides, this particular area is of personal importance to Lan and Megaman. How can we expect them at their best when Nebula retains hold on a portion of their own home?"


Lan steadied himself as he got ready for the liberation mission. He'd handled worse before, but even so operating multiple navis at once...

"Seriously Lan? What happened to the hero who defeated Wily and the WWW, destroyed the netmafia Gospel, and defeated Regal once before? Not to mention defeated me and Protoman at our best in an international tournament. Or am I mistaken? Was that a different Lan Hikari and Megaman that did all that?"

"What...? No!"

"Good. I'd hate to have to go and find them after all the trouble I already went through to vet you to Baryl. You should be perfectly capable of commanding this liberation mission and freeing the area of your local net that is under Nebula control. I trust that I leave Protoman in good hands."

Lan shook off his doubts and firmed his features. "Let's get this party started!"

"Very well," Protoman. exe nodded shortly. "Lord Chaud has instructed me to show you how to proceed on this liberation mission. I expect you will learn quickly."

"Roger!"

"Let us proceed, Megaman."

"Sure, just..." Hub trailed off as he looked at the door sealing off the claimed area of the network. The DarkPower saturating it hadn't abated even though there was evidence of numerous dents about the right size for Gutsman. exe to have been pounding on it.

Protoman. exe humphed and turned, his blade arm flashing as he rushed at the door. A single long line carved across the battered door at a diagonal and darkness seeped from the mighty barrier like blood from a mortal wound as it groaned and collapsed, dissipating into raw data soon after.

"Now, are you coming?" Protoman. exe asked impatiently.

"Sure..." Hub responded and followed the sword navi into the claimed area. As he crossed the threshold, the difference in the datascapes hit him like a physical blow.

Where he'd come from was dark, foreboding, and dreary, sure, but here... Here darkness permeated every byte of datascape like a cross between a thick fog, a murky swamp, and a persistent parasite. It was everywhere. It oppressed the air and seeped up from the ground all at once where it bubbled and oozed ever further along. Even the digital sky pulsed with sinister patterns and images.

"What in...?" Hub and Lan gasped as one. Even in their memories, it hadn't been this bad...

"Wh-wh-whoosh..." a chilling laugh echoed from the depths of the dark miasma. "So someone dares to enter my personal ski resort?"


"That snow navi!" Apollo accused.

"Actually..." Hephaestus paused and re-examined Apollo's accusation before facepalming. (4)


The BigBrute roared in pain from within the DarkHole as its body reached critical damage and was deleted. Without its Guardian virus to sustain it, the hole began to close and the murky darkness surrounding it evaporated as its primary source was removed.

But there was still more clinging to the datascape around them. Particularly around an area that seemed to be made of a solid version of the stuff, formed into a bunker of sorts.

A bunker that shivered and lost cohesion, collapsing into the same manner of murky sludgy darkness that poisoned the area. And in the center...

"So you actually made it this far *whoosh*..." a skiing-themed navi with the spherical torso chuckled sinisterly. "I didn't actually think it possible... I shall enjoy deleting you!"

"Hmph!" Protoman. exe scoffed. "In your dreams... It's over, Blizzardman!"

"Such arrogance *whoosh*..." Blizzardman. exe glared right back. "I'll freeze you to the bone!"

"Better than you have tried!" Hub shot back.

"No such thing exists!"

"It seems he wishes to do this the hard way," Protoman. exe stated calmly. "Ready, Lan?"

"Of course! Battle routine: set!"

"Execute!"

"It's snow use *whoosh*!" (5)

"Protoman!"

"On it!" the crimson navi dashed forwards, only to be brought up short as viruses emerged from the dark murk surrounding the darkloid. "I'm clearing the way! WideSword!"

Protoman. exe slashed with all his might, cleaving the viruses formed from darkness in twain. So sudden was their deletion that the murk they'd emerged from, and every trace of it around Protoman. exe, was blown into data dust.

"Wh-whoosh..." Blizzardman. exe seemed surprised. "So you have some skill after all... It will do you no goo–"

Blizzardman. exe sidestepped at the same moment as a digital cursor locked onto him, leaving the MarkCannon blast to hit empty air.

"Whoosh... That was close," Blizzardman. exe backstepped from a follow-up of AreaGrab and a CyberSword, "but I'm not that easy!"

"Try this then! Thunder!" Hub unleashed a rolling ball of electricity, only to watch it dissipate as his foe countered with a giant rolling snowball, followed by another that he had to dodge around, and then evade again as Blizzardman. exe skied right up to him and blow out a frigid wind.

"I'll bury you under the frozen slopes!" Blizzardman. exe began to glow darkly as he drew in the darkness of the area and prepared to unleash a powerful blow. In a few seconds Hub and Protoman. exe would be sitting ducks.

"Lan, we need something fast!"

"I've got just the thing on its way!"

"I'll turn you into a snowman!" the darkloid yelled as he spun on his side and began rolling at Hub like an out of control boulder. Hub dove out of the way and rolled to his feet between blobs of falling snow as he accepted the chip data and took aim at his opponent.

"Program Advance! Hyper Burst!"

The blast hit Blizzardman. exe dead on and exploded into bright fireworks with the darkloid at its center. When it was over, Blizzardman. exe had great gashes in the data of his body.

"Wh... whoosh..." the darkloid gasped as his remaining data began degrading fast. "I can't... can't believe... I can't... lose... NOOOO...!"

As he screamed his death cry, the oppressive darkness around him, on the ground and in the air, seemed to... pop... As if it were nothing more than a series of bubbles trying to imitate fireworks. With each pop, the datascape seemed that much brighter, that much cheerier, and that much cleaner.

"Liberation complete," Protoman. exe intoned as the last of the oppressive darkness dissipated. "ACDC's network is now safe."

"Good," Hub sighed with relief.

"But we can't let our guard down," Protoman. exe continued. "This was only one part of Nebula's control, and a small one at that. There are still many battles ahead."

"Of course."

"Either Lord Chaud or Commander Baryl will be in contact as soon as the next mission is planned."

And with no further delay, Protoman. exe jacked out, leaving Hub and Lan to their thoughts.


Dr. Regal tapped his console as he read the report that Megaman. exe and Colonel. exe had deleted Blizzardman. exe in the ACDC area. He stood up and began pacing as he digested this news. "So, they've put the Official hounds on the hunt? Little do they know the Net occupation is just one piece... of the grand plan. Just try and stop us! Keh heh heh..."

Suddenly one of his underlings ran in urgently to stand before him. "Master Regal, preparations are complete."

"Very well," he told his underling formally. "I'll be right there."

"Yes, sir!" the underling saluted before exiting.

Dr. Regal smiled to himself. "...Keh heh heh. It's all going according to plan!"


"Really? What part of your plan involves the mighty Lan kicking you to the moon and back?"

"Don't you dare send that as a subliminal message..."

"Would the grea–"

"I will tie you down if your fingers so much as twitch towards a keyboard."


"Umm... what?" Lan blinked. Even knowing this was supposed to happen, he still had trouble processing it. He wasn't the only one. Next to him, Mayl, Dex, Yai, and several other kids his age were much the same way.

"School's been cancelled," his teacher Ms. Mari repeated with a despondent sigh. "With the occupation of the net and the tightened security... It's... I'm sorry... so many of our lessons these days rely on access to the net and..."

Lan could handle many things, but watching his teacher begin crying over this wasn't one of them.

It took a few minutes, repeated promises to keep working on their school projects, additional promises to stay safe, and Mayl running to get tissues, but they got Ms. Mari calmed down enough that they felt confident (6) leaving her alone.

"Geez..." Dex muttered as they left. "First we get gassed and wake up to the whole friggin' net taken over by those Nebula jerks, and now this? Gah!" Dex paused to punch a wall. "I'd love to pound one of those guys who occupied the net, but someone beat me and Gutsman to the punch..."

Lan kept quiet. He had been sworn to secrecy after all.

"At least ACDC's net is free now..." Mayl offered. "It's better than it is in several other places from what I hear. I mean, Nebula went after the whole world... Just like last time..." (7)

"Yeah..." Yai fought back a shudder. "Mary was off visiting her family for the week back in Netopia when it happened. I still haven't heard from her..."


"Ohohohoho!" the woman laughed at the proposition. "What an interesting young lady you are, eh? And such a strong man you're with. Mmm... yes..."

Raoul sweatdropped at the hungry look the woman gave him. "We are called the Thunder Tribe, after my navi Thunderman," he explained. "We are mounting a resistance against the forces of Nebula to free the net from their control."

"Y-yes..." Mary gulped and steadied herself, calling upon the strength her friends had taught her. "A-and..."

"And we want you to join us in kicking their sorry carcasses all the way back to Nation Z!" Ring. exe piped up from Mary's PET.

"Hmmm..." the woman known as Ms. Millions considered. "Fighting against an army of ne'er-do-wells that control the net? Why it sounds positively... diverting!" (8)


"Come to think of it, I haven't seen Kai or Turboman in a few days either..." Dex mused. "I hope nothing bad happened to them either..."

Lan blinked as he thought about that. Now that Dex called attention to it, he hadn't heard from Kai either. Which was odd. His self-proclaimed disciple should have done something when he heard Lan was awake.


"Misteriyu! Black Rose!" a man in a mask and cape yelled as the group of Nebula members started at his appearance. "Cut off their escape!"

"Right!" a pair of masked women appeared at the most convenient exits.

"Who the hell are you wackos?!" one of the Nebula members shouted.

"Who cares!" another yelled as he pulled on a gas mask. "Just have your navis activate the gas and be done with it!"

"I am Commander Beef!" (9) the man declared, striking a pose, "and we are the Agents of BEEF!"

"The hell does that stand for?" a now-masked Nebula member asked, causing 'Commander Beef' to jerk halfway towards a face-plant.

"Er... that doesn't matter!" the man recovered. "For Racer X and his navi have already disabled your vile servants of darkness!"

"Didn't even work up a sweat!" a voice called out as a display activated, showing a navi themed like a racecar. "Right K–er... Racer X?"

"They didn't give Turboman any trouble at all, commander!" a young voice answered back over the same connection the navi was using even as the masked face of what had to be a young boy appeared on the screen.

"Tch..." one of the Nebula members twitched. "Whatever! We've still got you outnumbered!"

"Be that as it may," one of the women answered, "your fate has been sealed. You will not win."


"Hey, Lan," Mayl asked suddenly, "didn't one of your opponents in the Blue Moon tournament have a system that managed their village's water supply?"

"Yeah..."

"Wow... I hope Nebula doesn't go after that or anything..."


"Whee!" the little girl squealed happily. "This is great! It's even better than facing a strong and handsome navi in a netbattle! We get to be superheroes! Right Ponta?"

"Right! I'm glad we came back one more time for this!"

"Hahahahaha!" an older boy with a scar on his face laughed. "This is a challenge worthy of a man!"

"It's not exactly what I was expecting on a trip to Netfrica..." a significantly more nervous young man known to many as Koetsu gulped as he got ready.

"Focus everyone!" the youngest (though most would think that of the girl) member, a native Netfrican boy, chastised. "We can't fall here! If they take the WaterGodComp, then they could taint the water for not only this village, but everywhere for miles around!"

"Unthinkable!" a pudgy youth growled under his chef's hat. "I need clean water if I'm to continue my training in world cuisines!"

"Now there's incentive!" the scarred boy laughed. "A man's meal after a man's battle! I'm getting fired up!"

"Then let's go!"

In the net, five navis stood against the approaching Nebula forces.

"Stop right there!" a GuardNavi whose orange color had been modified to a bright red. "You will not claim the WaterGod or taint the life-giving water it guards this day! So says Net Red!"

"Y-yeah!" a blue-colored male FaceNavi stuttered, but held his ground. "Retreat now or... or else face... N-net Blue!"

"Serving Justice with a side of rice," a green NormalNavi in a chef's apron declared, "Net Green!"

"Protecting the world from devastation! Uniting the peoples in every nation!" the yellow female FaceNavi did a magical girl pirouette. "Net Yellow!"

"Ha! This man's fist has been clenched!" the sole HeelNavi present not on Nebula's side shouted. "There's no backing down now! I'm Net Black!"

"Net Rangers! Go!"


Apollo blinked as he watched the events unfold and hurried to change the name for 'Team Jammer' on his betting board to 'Net Rangers'. (10)


"And Higsby's shop is still closed..." Lan finished. "Where is he anyway?"

"Who knows?" Dex sighed.

"Yeah..." Mayl moped as the group of four friends entered the park across from Higsby's closed shop. "While I'm thankful to still have Roll and all, things are looking pretty bad."

"True," Yai looked dejected. "Even though we still have our navis, SciLab got attacked, we were all knocked out, the net gets invaded while we were asleep, and now school's cancelled..."

"Yeah," Dex kicked the ground angrily. "I wish I knew where these Nebula jerks were holed up so Gutsman and I could punch 'em in the face!"

Lan kept quiet. He knew his friends were capable, but... he had been sworn to secrecy... again.

"How about we go somewhere to take our minds off all of this?" Yai asked suddenly.

"Yeah!" Dex jumped up. "Somewhere we don't have to think about net invaders and all that!"

"Good idea," Yai agreed. "Let's go swim in the ocean! I know a deserted island. We

could go splash up a storm all by ourselves! Sound like fun, Mayl?"

"...Yeah!" Lan's sort-of girlfriend cheered.

"Then let's get going! Gotta make hay while the sun shines and all that!"

"Do you mean leave right now, Miss Yai?" Glide. exe's voice made itself known with a tone that matched Dex's gobsmacked expression.

"Not like we have anything pressing here in town with school cancelled and access beyond the local network on lockdown," Yai retorted.

"True..." Dex allowed as Yai pushed forwards with orders for them all to go home and get ready.

'I guess some things just don't change,' Lan mused as the group parted ways to get ready for an immediate trip to the beach, before being interrupted as the phone function on his PET rang.

"I'll get it!" Hub declared.

"It's me," the voice of Baryl made itself known. "I heard about your successful liberation mission. Good work."

'Huh,' Lan blinked in surprise. 'I was expecting Chaud...'

"Listen," Baryl continued when Lan didn't respond. "I've got a mission for you. Patrol the ACDC area and make certain all of Nebula's agents are gone. Also, we restored the section that was under Nebula control, so investigate and report back on its status as well."

"You can count on me!" Lan assured the man.


"BEEF!" Apollo declared, striking a pose (and wearing an outfit) similar to the mortal who called himself 'Commander Beef'.

"Is made from cow," Hephaestus replied blandly, causing an instant deflate in Apollo's mood. (11)

"You just suck the fun out of everything, don't you?"


The patrol had been as routine as they came, and Lan was ready for the swimming trip in short order. He met up with the group at the station and within the hour they were on a boat headed to the (supposedly) deserted Oran Isle.

As the boat sped towards Oran Isle, Yai noted that Mayl would fidget a bit, glance at Lan, blush, look away, and repeat. After watching several repetitions of this, she couldn't hold herself back anymore.

"You brought your bikini didn't you?"

"Yai!" Mayl hissed sharply, glancing to see if Lan had heard either of them. It appeared not.

"Oh, yeah," Roll. exe's grin was painfully evident. "The smaller one too."

"Oh-ho!"

Mayl blushed harder as she endured the teasing of her friend and navi. (12)


Lan was looking around for a place to change when Dex's laughter reminded him of something that would likely have been best forgotten.

'Uh-oh...' Lan thought to himself as he turned around to see Dex's grinning face.

"I know the perfect thing for changing into a swimsuit!"

"Oh please don't tell me..." Hub moaned from Lan's PET.

"Yep!" Dex's grin grew wider. "The forbidden art of suit-changing!"

"Let me know when it's over..." Gutsman. exe vacated the display on Dex's PET.

"Houdini of the Beach!"


Apollo gave a loud gasp. "The most ancient and difficult art of changing on the beach without once baring oneself to air? Even the mighty Apollo does not practice such an art lightly!"

Hephaestus studied Apollo for a moment. "When was the last time you changed out of your swim trunks anyway?"


"Quit it Dex!" Lan yelled, resisting the urge to cross his legs out of reflexive sympathy.

"What are you two babbling about?" Yai's voice called out.

'Darn it, I let Dex go on and on and now Yai and Mayl have already finished changing and–Whoa...'

Lan had been expecting Mayl in a two-piece swimsuit. After all, he recalled her wearing one for this before. However, that had been a pink swimsuit that could have probably doubled as a two-piece exercise outfit. This was... well, it was clearly meant for swimming rather than just lounging on the beach all day, but... there was no two ways about it. The pink with yellow polka dots thing Mayl was wearing was a proper bikini.

Lan knew for certain he'd forgotten something important in that moment, but he couldn't help himself. He needed to clear memory space so there was ample room to burn that image into his brain.

"Dang!" Dex exclaimed as he looked himself.

"Ok guys!" Yai smirked at Lan's expression as Mayl blushed from the attention. "We're going to have a swimming race so hurry up and get changed!"

"We'll be waiting for you in the water!" Mayl recovered herself and smiled sunnily.

"O...kay..." Lan cleared his throat and rushed off behind the steps to change out of sight.

"Wimp!" Dex called after him loudly. "It seems like there's only one Houdini of the Beach today!"

"Houdini of the...?" Lan heard Mayl wonder.

"Who knows?" Yai answered. "Some silly boy thing I thi–"

A loud ripping sound pierced the air followed by a scream from Dex that was a few octaves higher than normal.

"Ohmykami!" Mayl gasped. "Dex! Are you okay?"


"What in creation are you moaning about?" Hephaestus asked a groaning and writhing Apollo from the latter's position on the floor of his office. "It's not like it happened directly to you."

"Where is your masculine sympathy brother?"


"Can you all believe Mayl asked Lan to rub suntan lotion on her back?" Roll. exe asked from where the four PETs were linked and arranged so they could watch the four operators in the water, three of which were staring at Yai rocketing along in a jet-powered inner tube.

"I can believe it," Hub nodded. "Though with how red they both were, you would have thought it was a little late for it."

"I still can't believe Dex tried Houdini of the Beach..." Gutsman. exe moaned. "I told him that was a bad idea..."


"Hey!" Dex yelled as he tried to dance away from his assailant. "Hit the watermelon, not me!"

"Woo! Go Yai go!" Mayl cheered.

"Right! Left! Right! Left!" Lan called out directions.

"Excellent form Miss Yai!" Glide. exe complimented.


Lan reflected that it had been quite a morning already. Enough of one that it was now into the early afternoon and late for lunch by the way everyone's stomachs had growled like Gospel's bug beast. Which was why he and Dex were looking for materials to fish with. Right now he was psyching himself up to try and catch that whopper of a fish he recalled getting away as the warm sun dried his wet skin and swim trunks.

Come to think of it, why did his memories suggest that they'd all changed out of their swimsuits and back into their normal clothes by this point? (13) That was kind of silly for a day at the beach, wasn't i–

His thoughts were interrupted by the beeping of his PET's urgent e-mail alert.

"Lan, it's from Baryl," Hub explained.

'Oh, right... Oran still has an active, if mostly disused, cyberworld that Nebula's occupied...' Lan remembered with a groan.


"Nothing to be ashamed of mighty Lan! The lovely Mayl's beauty is ample excuse to forget such a trivial thing!"


Hub approached the spot where Colonel. exe was already waiting.

"The area occupied by Nebula is through there," he stated, staring in the direction of the part of Oran's net that was covered by a veil of darkness even deeper than the shadows over the rest of it.

"Understood," Hub nodded. "Though what are we going to do about those cannons?"

Indeed, an embankment of giant three-barrelled cannons stood between them and the one spot in the dark veil that was open enough to enter through.

"There's no other way in but along this path," Colonel. exe stated redundantly. "We have no choice but to risk it."

"Okay..." Hub gulped nervously. If he recalled correctly, those things had long range, rapid fire, and power to spare. Baryl and Colonel. exe were supposed to be tactical geniuses and if they could see no other way... "Might it be better to see if we can recruit some defense to shield us from their shots before charging in?"

"Perhaps," Colonel. exe allowed, "but our intel suggests that whatever power Nebula has been cultivating here will be unleashed soon. On ACDC's network."

Hub sucked in a breath. He knew that was coming, but still...

"Nebula feels it important to show that liberating their occupied areas is useless by retaking ACDC," Colonel. exe continued. "By the same token, we cannot allow Nebula to retake liberated areas."

"Still... I don't like our chances of getting through that..."

"Nor do I, but I see little option. Our intel suggests that they may be moving as soon as today."

Hub understood. Time constraints like that could prompt even the coolest heads into foolhardiness. It was something he and Lan were no strangers to. (14)

"Okay, let's try this."

With a nod, they both charged, only to skid to a halt moments later as a very literal wall of explosions appeared in their path when the gun batteries opened fire.


"According to the great Apollo's calculations; taking into account rate of fire and the type of munitions to replicate the explosive effect; were those guns to exist in the physical mortal realm they would each cost a minimum of 40,000,000 zenny to fire for twelve seconds."

"Too bad they don't. Then they could bankrupt Nebula by giving them false targets."


"Okay!" Lan declared after he'd gotten off Oran's net, found the parts for a makeshift fishing pole, and relocated the spot he remembered. "I'm gonna catch that whopper this time!"

"Good luck Lan!"

"Heh... All this time on the beach reminds me of how Mamoru liked to stare out at the ocean when he was in the hospital..."

"Yeah... I wonder how he's doing..."


"Graaooooaaarr!" the feral darkloid howled at those who dared to invade his personal sanctuary. The dark realm of Nebula that he'd found home with after his humiliating defeats at the hands of that... that... "Grrooowwwlll!"

"Gah!" another navi wearing an identical form to the darkloid cried out as one of the TinHawks that had emerged from the Dark Holes dove down and raked his form. "I'm taking too much of a beating here!"

"Stand down for a few moments Copyman," Mamoru spoke into his PET from his room in Ura Inn. "Mistman, cover him. Bowlman, take out that Dark Hole! We can't let Beastman retain a hold on Yoka's net!"

"Understood Lord Mamoru!"


Lan's declaration had been all well and good, but he'd forgotten about the over half hour of just sitting around listening to Dex catch fish after fish and how utterly boring and frustrating it had been.

"Ugh... I didn't just imaging that huge fish in my memories... did I?" he wondered.

A moment later and there was a tug on his line.

"What the...?" Another tug nearly tore his bamboo pole out of his grip.

"Lan!"

"I got it!"

Lan gripped the pole with all his might and jumped to his feet to better brace himself as he fought to pull his catch from the water. He tugged this way and that mightily, wondering if his pole might break before he hauled the fish in when–

*Sploosh!*

"Holy carp!" Lan yelped as the giant fish flew out of the water and towards him with its giant mouth wide open as if to swallow him whole. In that moment of surprise, Lan lost his footing and his ability to pull the massive fish in the rest of the way. His rear hit the ground as the fish fell back into the ocean to swim away.

"Ouch... tough luck Lan..."


Apollo played a disturbingly accurate *wah-wah-waaaaahhh* on his harp.


Lan sighed as he trudged after his friends through the small forest on the island. He'd really wanted to catch that fish this time... Oh well, at least the ones Dex had caught were still tasty enough and Mayl was...

Lan looked up ahead as the other three stepped into a clearing and gaped at the sight of the old Oran mine.

Yep, Mayl was still wearing her bikini. There was one upside to this whole thing.

"Alright everyone!" Dex declared from the head of the group after Yai gave some mildly spooky exposition about the old mine. "This will be the Dex Expedition Team's next conquest!"

"Yeah! Woo!" Mayl and Yai cheered, causing Lan to grin a bit as...

*rrummble...*

Lan's eyes widened as he remembered what was about to happen right as his friends marched forward.

"Watch out!" he yelled, rushing as fast as he could to stop them. Mayl and Yai stopped and turned to ask why as Lan tried to grab Dex and pull him back. Only for the awkward charge to push Dex further away instead and sending Lan stumbling backwards.

*rrruummmbllee...*

"Lan wh–" Dex began angrily, only to watch as the ground under his friends' feet cave in and swallow them up.


"Okay, what the heck?!" Hephaestus asked as Lan falling into the tunnel instead of Dex caused the Loop's success chance to dip and rise rapidly like a motor vehicle hitting a bump in the road.


"A long time ago, Oran Isle prospered due to the coal mines, but then the coal stopped coming. The mines dried up and the island became deserted. With nobody to bother us, we can have all the fun we want!"

Dex had thought it sounded like a real adventure at the time. Now... now he would have preferred a bit less adventure. Like the kind where his friends weren't trapped under an abandoned mine counting on him and Gutsman. exe to somehow save them all...

"Once prosperous, now abandoned, the long tunnels form a maze."

'No kidding!' Dex growled to himself as he rounded another corner. He didn't know if he was coming or going anymore!

Suddenly his PET rang.

"De..." a voice came through as Dex answered his PET. "..me in De.. .an you re.. me?"

"Yeah! Don't worry you guys! I'm on my way!"

"...he net. Som..ne mi..t hav...key!"

Dex took a moment to puzzle what Lan was saying... Someone on the net might have a key for the mine? Worth looking into...

"Us...vator!"

Dex looked around and saw what looked like an old mine elevator.

"Gotcha!" he called back, noting the location of the elevator and looking for a possible access point for the net before he delved deeper. "Hang on you guys! Dex is coming!"


"Yai, where are you going?" Lan asked, once again trying fruitlessly to brush dirt from his bare torso and legs after the tumble down the shaft. Mayl had given a few token efforts to trying to climb back out before it became apparent that the sides of the sinkhole were nowhere near stable enough for that.

"Well, I'm not just going to stay around here waiting for Dex!" Yai huffed and began wandering down the mine tunnel they'd landed in. "I feel a breeze in this direction, so there must be a way out this way!"

"Dex!" Lan called with his PET. "We're going to try and make our way out from here!" 'and try to keep ourselves away from the giant drill' he added mentally.

"..ger that L...'m open...p the doo...nd movi...per int–"

*rrrruuummmblle...*


Dex regained his footing after the mine had shaken violently.

"An earthquake?!" Gutsman. exe exclaimed.

"We gotta move faster Gutsman! If my friends get buried alive in here I'll never forgive myself!"

"Right on!"


"We need to take cover!" Yai screamed as another quake rocked the mine, causing some loose dirt to fall from the ceiling.

"Yai, wait!" Lan yelled as his friend took off deeper into the mine. Muttering something he'd likely never say aloud under his breath, he took off after her with Mayl hot on his heels.

"Dex!" Mayl called on her PET. "Please hurry up!"

"I'...y w–"

*boop boop boop*

Mayl stared as her PET's phone signal was cut off before chasing her friends deeper into the mine.


"Help us Obi-Dex Kenobi! You're our only hope!"

"I'm not looking..." Hephaestus muttered. "If I don't look, then you can't be in drag..."


"Yai! Don't go in there!" Lan yelled as his friend spotted an open door and dashed through it seeking shelter. Lan hurried in after her to try and pull her back out when the rumbling started again, causing the door to the room to swing shut and lock itself. "Aw great..."

Yai looked around as the rumbling subsided and realized that the room she'd dashed into had no exit. "We're trapped! Lan! You have to get me out of here! I'm too young and beautiful to die!"

Lan did his best to remain calm as Yai shook him, but realizing that the inside of the door had no jack-in port for access didn't help.


"We've got to get them out of there Roll! Jack in!"

"Exec–" Roll. exe was cut off as the door's access panel rejected the connection. "Mayl! The door control needs a key before it can be accessed!"

"Call Dex! Tell him he needs to hurry!"


"There's cracks in the ceiling now!" Yai screamed hysterically. "We're going to die!"

"Dex! You need to hurry up! Something's coming through the ceiling of the room we're stuck in!"

"I'm almost there!" Dex's reply came in clearer than before. "I can hear a machine up ahead and–Holy crap that thing's huge!"


Dex stared at the massive machine before him, its size second only (and then not by much) to the cavern it was contained in. The rumbling was almost constant here as the machine, the power behind a giant drill boring straight down, continued its work despite the vocal protests of a young blonde woman at the control panel.

'Wait, what?'

"Stop the drill this instant!" the woman yelled at the control panel. "Damnit! Listen to me! There are life signs directly below! You have to stop now!"

'Life signs bel–Lan! Yai!' Dex's blood ran cold. "STOP THE DRILL! My friends are down there!"

"I can't!" the woman yelled back, and only Dex's concern kept him from gawking at how beautiful she was, even with her face creased by worry. She had to be a princess for sure! Even though she was wearing an outfit and beret more suited to the rugged work of a miner than a princess. "My navi Knightman's gone out of control and won't listen to me!"

"What?! Then how do we stop it?!"

"Those control boxes!" the woman yelled, pointing to the four mainframe-sized devices pressed into the chamber's walls on the ends of thick support struts. "They have emergency manual shutdown switches in them!"

"Gotcha!" Dex yelled back as he ran for the nearest one. "Jack in! Gutsman!"

"Yeeehaaw!"


"What's that little program?" Apollo asked, holding a hand to his ear as if to aid his hearing. "Code to smash cyber rocks? Hah! The ever-mighty Gutsman has no need of such piddling aid to smash rocks as puny as those!"


"OH MY GOD! A DRILL JUST CAME THROUGH THE CEILING!" Yai screeched in a panic as she ran back and forth, barely dodging the stones that had become dislodged from the roof of the room they were in. "WE'RE GONNA DIIIIIEEEEE!"

"Dex!" Lan yelled into his PET's phone.

"One down, three to go!" Dex reported back, huffing with the exertion of racing across a shaking cavern to get to the next control box. "I'll get this thing shut off even if Gutsman and I have to beat up this Knightman guy!"

"You got me. I'm a Gospel leader... On my boss's order I infiltrated your organization. But, Official NetBattlers sure aren't any big deal. All too easy to fool. And now... for the good of Creamland... you will die."

"MegaMan... Doubting the princess is not in my programming... Even if she is wrong I must protect her. It is my way... Now... En garde!"

"Knightm–" Lan began, only for the panicked Yai to grab his PET and yank it away from him.

"DEX! YOU HAVE TO STOP THIS CRAZY THING! I'M TOO YOUNG TO DIE!"

Lan wrestled his PET back from Yai and shoved them both up as far back against the wall and away from falling debris as possible.

"Dex, Knightman is the navi of Princess Pride from Creamland! He's got extremely tough armor! Plus he's Break element!"

"Got it Lan!"

"Oh, and tell her I said 'hi' would you?"


"Lan...?" Princess Pride gasped as she overheard the name as the young netbattler... yes, he was the same age as the boy who defeated Gospel... and his navi powered through the second control box and raced towards the third.

"If you wish Creamland to remain prosperous, you will do as I command."

"Yes... For the good of Creamland..."

"I'm sure no good can come from what you're doing!"

"Yeah! You really think this is going to make folks happy?"

"Oh, yeah, Lan and Megaman say hi!" the large boy called back. "Don't you worry! Gutsman and I are their biggest rivals! There's no way we'd let them die before we got a chance to beat them!"

"You feel some doubt in your heart... Don't you?"

Princess Pride smiled. Not anymore she didn't.


"The amorous Apollo smells a Love Tri–mphrg?!"

Apollo struggled against the unwanted and nasty intrusion for several moments before extracting it and glaring angrily at Hephaestus.

"At least use socks that have been washed! The disgusted Apollo shall never get this taste out of his mouth now!"


Lan watched as the drill slowed again, but it was still moving. Still coming ever dangerously downwards. He'd pulled the still hysterical Yai back along the wall to wedge the both of them as far back into the most distant corner as was physically possible. But if that drill reached the floor, then all bets could very well be off. (15)

'I am so going to memorize the layout of the DrillComp later. There is no way I'm going to waste so much as a moment shutting that thing off if my friends get trapped down here again.'


Dex almost pulled up short at the way the last control box's display was flickering and dancing with static, but he ignored the ominous portent and forged ahead. "Jack in Gutsman!"


"Dex, hurry!" Mayl pleaded with all her might as Roll. exe was rejected from the door controls yet again.


"Stop tha drill!" Gutsman. exe roared as he pounded towards the massive armored figure. Not many navis were bigger than he was and if the situation hadn't been so urgent it might have given him pause.

"Grr..." the armored navi growled in a voice that crackled with static as he turned Gutsman. exe's way, revealing piercing yellow eyes behind the metal bars of his visor.

"Aw, man..." Gutsman. exe felt for the navi. He had spotty memories of a time when Dex had decided to play with magnets and left a bunch too near his PET and the newly customized Gutsman. exe overnight. It had been weeks before all the glitches had been properly ironed out. "I don't think he's in any mood ta listen Dex!"

"Please!" the voice of Princess Pride called out from her spot atop the drill machine. "Stop Knightman and shut down the drill! Do whatever you have to to!"

"Grrrraaawggh!" Knightman. exe roared in a berserk rage as he swung his massive spiked mace arm towards the digital ceiling and knocked loose several rocks that rained down around Gutsman. exe.

"Hey! Those things sting!" Gutsman. exe huffed as he took the hit. "Let's see how you like it! GutsHammer!"

The literal hammer-fisted blow to the cyberscape cracked the ground and knocked loose a few more rocks from the ceiling, but they just bounced off of Knightman. exe's now-gray armor.

"Grraww!" Knightman roared as the gray on his armor receded to his normal purple and he swung his mace upwards again.

"Now!" Dex ordered. "GutBuster!"

Gutsman. exe opened up with his rapid-fire machine gun as he ignored the rocks falling on him, concerned with taking down his opponent fast more than he was with the possible damage to himself. He stopped only when the shots began pinging off gray armor again.

"Geez! Lan wasn't kidding when he said this guy was tough!"

"Hrawr!" Knightman. exe growled as he hopped forwards, landing hard on the ground and sending more cracks along the ground and destroying panels that Gutsman. exe's earlier hammer attack had damaged. He then wound up and threw his giant spiked mace directly forwards before retracting it with the attached chain.

"Take this ya–ow!" Gutsman. exe winced as his follow-up attempt to punch his opponent clanged off the gray IronBody armor. "That's... That's not yer normal IronBody program..."

"Okay, here we go Gutsman!" Dex held a specific chip at the ready and waited patiently for his opponent to stop using what might be the best IronBody program he'd ever seen. After all, Gutsman. exe could easily crush the average example most netbattlers used. "Areasteal! Now do it!"

"GutsPunch!"

"Rawr!"

Gutsman. exe's massive fist connected directly with Knightman. exe's face, only for the circular swing of Knightman. exe's massive mace, the Royal Wrecking Ball maneuver, to hit Gutsman. exe as well in a superb cross-counter, leaving both navis to be sent flying backwards from the other's blow.

"Ow..." Gutsman. exe winced as he got back to his feet.

"Wha... whe*sksh*rgg..."

Dex paused in selecting the next round of chips when he heard that and reconsidered his options.

"Okay Gutsman! We gotta time this just right! I'm sending that prize we won in the strong navi competition!"

"You mean?" Gutsman. exe grinned. It had been a while since they'd used that after all.

"Yep! Now get ready to mark that ball 'return to sender'!" Dex ordered as Knightman. exe's armor turned purple once more.

"Grawr!" Knightman. exe roared as he wound up for his Kingdom Crusher maneuver.

"I'm gonna knock some sense inta ya!" Gutsman. exe declared as he wound up himself, his fist shining brightly as it changed color. He waited as the spiked mace shot forwards to time it just right.

"Now!"

"GoldFist!"

The legendary fist met the Kingdom Crusher, and the latter, having no force beyond its own momentum to sustain it, reversed direction to strike Knightman. exe square in the face.


"Slow-mo replay!" Apollo declared before Hephaestus could stop him.

Hephaestus groaned as multiple images of the event from every possible dramatic angle appeared to show it again in slow motion even as the knight-themed navi regained his senses and activated the final shutdown switch himself.


"I'mgonnadieI'mgonnadieI'mgonnadi–"

*vreeeeeeeennnnn...*

The drill suddenly began to slow even more before finally coming to a halt. They were safe at last. Lan would have to stoop a bit to avoid possibly hitting his head on it when leaving, but the danger had passed.


Mayl fidgeted for the few minutes it took before Dex found his way down to the door and use the MineKey he'd somehow found to bypass the security lock and open it. There had been a minor moment of panic regarding yet another layer of security, but that had been resolved fairly well. And now Lan and Yai were free and safe.

"Lan!"

"Oof! Glad to see you too Mayl..."

"That was worse than having to handle those bugs for the Den Battle Prelims!" Yai shuddered as she finally calmed down enough to panic rationally instead of blindly.

"I thought you hired someone to handle them for you?" (16)

"Well, yeah, but I still had to look at them! And they were creepy and gross!"

"I am so sorry!" Princess Pride apologized before Yai could continue, prompting the group to turn to her (and Mayl to let Lan back up from her tackle hug). "We've been developing a new style of PET in Creamland and we need a rare substance called MagnoMetal to continue development. I'd gotten reports that this island was rich with MagnoMetal and came down personally to secure the mineral rights, but when I activated the equipment... a burst of interference from the MagnoMetal caused Knightman to go out of control!"

"My humblest apologies as well," Knightman. exe's voice sounded from Pride's PET. "My actions were most unbecoming of a noble knight."

"Please, if there is any way we can make up for the trouble we've caused, then you have only to ask!"

While the other three all assured her that all was well that ended well, Pride noticed the considering look Lan was giving her. One that said he definitely had something in mind she and Knightman. exe could do, but that he didn't want to say in front of the others.

"Lan, I'll turn off the trap switch!"

"Nice try! But even without KnightMan, I can manipulate the traps!"

"Princess Pride! Wait! You're standing on a tr–"

"Aaaaahhhhh!"

She'd lived through the fall with only minor injuries, but had been arrested and sent back to Creamland. Her diplomatic immunity had prevented a trial and the sure-to-follow incarceration, but the sanctions that had brought against her country as a result of her actions with Gospel had been more painful to her than any time in prison could have been. Sanctions that could have been far worse yet had the boy known as Lan, her adversary at the time, not spoken on her behalf to the Officials.

The research and development for the new PET was the chance for her country to make a comeback after her mistake. It was a chance her country very well might not have if the boy in front of her hadn't called for leniency.

So as the other three made their way out of the mine, the sovereign princess of Creamland remained behind to hear his proposal.


"And full marks for our amazing military man Baryl calling at exactly the right moment!" Apollo declared as Baryl indeed called right as Lan was about to recruit Pride to say the liberation mission needed to proceed immediately, ready or not. "What a sense of dramatic timing on the man!"


Dex was halfway back out of the mine when he realized that Lan and Princess Pride (holy crap, he'd met a real princess!) weren't following them. "Guys, I think Lan and that Pride lady took a wrong turn! I'm gonna head back and find them! Just keep following the open doors and the elevators and you'll be fine!"

"Okay, Dex!" Mayl nodded before Yai could protest and steered the smaller girl towards the mine entrance. "Good luck!"

Dex turned and made his way back, knowing exactly where to go now that he'd been there. As he approached the chamber with the massive drill machine, he heard Lan's voice.

"–cupied by a group called Nebula."

"I'd heard something had happened, but I was so busy getting things here set up that I haven't kept up with the news for a while. Oh dear... I hope Creamland is getting along fine..."

Dex thought she must have been really focused on getting this place up and running if she'd missed Nebula taking over the whole net.

"Hard to say since communication is a big issue right now," he heard Lan reply. That was an understatement. Dex hadn't been able to even send an e-mail to Chisao lately! "In any case, Hub and I are with a team whose mission is to free these areas from Nebula's control."

Dex fought the urge to yell out right then. Lan was... he'd been... And he hadn't told them?! (17)

"We're about to head into battle with Nebula forces, but the area is defended by a series of gun batteries that no one on the team can handle. If we're to succeed, then we need a defensive powerhouse like Knightman running interference."

"I see..." Dex heard Pride consider the proposition. "Yes. We would be happy to help. Right Knightman?"

"Of course m'lady."

"If we can be of any help at all, then it shall be our honor to fight alongside you this time."

Dex fell back, missing a good deal of whatever followed, until he felt he was at a spot where they wouldn't suspect him of having overheard before calling out. "Lan! Hey Lan! You didn't fall in another sinkhole did you?"

"We're coming Dex!" Lan's voice sounded from the chamber. A few moments later and the two appeared, looking hilariously mismatched between Princess Pride's working clothes and Lan's swim trunks. "Sorry, but we met back during the Gospel incident, when I went to Netopia. We were just catching up."

"Yeah, well, don't catch up too much or Mayl might get jealous!" Dex ribbed a blushing Lan playfully.

"Dex!"

"Well, well," Princess Pride smiled. "Does the hero Lan have a girlfriend now? Let me guess... The redhead with a fondness for pink, right?"

"Princess!" Lan blushed even more as the other two laughed. Princess Pride behind her hand to try and keep some measure of decorum and Dex with full belly guffaws.


Apollo yawned a bit as he watched the group head back to the beach landing. Mayl half-carried a shell-shocked Yai, Lan and Pride looked for opportunities to subtly break away from the group and go to their mission, and Dex watched for the moment that Lan and Pride would break away so he could follow them.

And Hephaestus wouldn't let him speed up relative time so they could get to the good stuff sooner. It wasn't like the mortals would notice! Everything would pass at the same rate from their perspective!

As he often did when he was bored, he began scanning nearby events in an expanding radius, looking for something interesting to alleviate his boredom.

He found it a little sooner than he thought he would.

"Hello... what are you doing at the island?"

"Did you say something Apollo?"

"Nope! Nothing at all brother!"


Mayl sighed as she left the small sleeping cabin on Yai's private yacht. Yai was more than just shocked by her near brush with death, she'd been exhausted. Despite protests, the smaller girl had nodded off practically the moment she'd so much as sat on the bed, falling into a lying posture so fast Mayl was worried she'd roll straight off the tiny bed. But she was sleeping now and...

...and had that other boat been there earlier?

Mayl looked out and saw another small yacht like Yai's moored just past the bamboo grove, almost completely hidden in small alcove. She'd wonder if it was Pride's but the princess had said she'd moored her own craft much closer to the mine itself.

So whose boat was this? Looking around, Mayl spotted Lan and Pride talking by an old speaker, and apparently an access point for Oran Isle's network from what they'd said. They weren't looking in her direction. Dex was nowhere in sight. He'd possibly hung behind to... no, there he was spying on Lan and Pride from behind a tree.

Why were her friends so weird at times? It wasn't like Lan was going to cheat on her with Princess Pride or anything. Sure, any girl would be jealous of Pride. She was a honest-to-kami princess after all, but Mayl trusted Lan. He wouldn't hurt her like that.

Rather than watch that tableau unfold, Mayl quietly slipped down to the beach.

"Mayl, what are you doing?" the voice of her navi piped up from her PET.

"I spotted another boat Roll," Mayl informed as she reached the sand and hugged the retaining wall between her and the strange craft. "One that's trying to stay hidden. I want to know why."

"Shouldn't we tell the others?"

"I want to check it out first," Mayl said, "and besides they've gone through enough today. Still... be ready to call them at a moment's notice."

"Understood," Roll. exe nodded as Mayl hooked her PET to her bikini strap, made certain it was secure and closed for maximum waterproofing, and slipped into the water.


'Okay... Wireless adaptor is secure... Stealth operation is go! Jack in!'


"There you are," Colonel. exe stated as Hub and Knightman. exe approached the guarded entrance to Nebula's stronghold in Oran. He looked at the latter, and craned his neck rather significantly to meet the armored navi's eyes. "Who have you brought with you?"

"This is Knightman, Colonel. I think he's our way past the gun batteries. His defense is without peer."

"Is that so? Princess Pride's navi..."

"Indeed," Knightman. exe replied. "So these are the gun batteries you need me to block..."

"Quite the surprise this is..." Colonel. exe mused. "Very well, let's see what you've got!"

"Verily. I will not disappoint!" Knightman. exe declared and advanced on Colonel. exe's signal. Like before, a wall of explosions sprang up the moment the gun batteries opened fire, but this time the wall parted around the imposing gray form of Knightman. exe in his IronBody form. "Hrggrahh!" Knightman. exe grunted as explosions rocked his body. His armor held firm, but the digital panels beneath his feet cracked from the force of the explosions trying to push him back.

"Incredible..." Colonel. exe marveled for a moment before getting ready to dash through Knightman. exe's legs and the gap in the wall.

"Chhhaaaaarrrrgge!" the bellow came from behind, causing Colonel. exe and Hub to whip around in shock.

Colonel. exe made ready to cut the advancing figure down, but Hub reacted faster, grabbing the military command navi and firmly holding him in place.

"Wait! He's a friend!" Hub pleaded as he recognized the form of Gutsman. exe barrelling down the stretch of cyberscape like a runaway truck.

"How did he find out abo–"

"I don't know!"

"Now Gutsman!" Dex's voice sounded across the connection.

"You followed us?!" Lan sounded incredulous.

"Up and over!"

"GUUUUUTTSSSS!" the hefty navi yelled as he literally ran up Knightman. exe's back and jumped into the air over the deadly no man's land between Knightman. exe and the gun batteries. "IMPACT!"

Gutsman. exe landed on top of the barrels of one gun and the hit with all his weight behind it twisted the gun on its support. With agility few would attribute a navi of his size, Gutsman. exe swung down the side and used his weight to twist the gun even further. Until it was firing on the gun batteries to one side of it instead of those trying to advance on the position. The damaged gun batteries exploded with a dark miasma and no less than a full half of the explosion wall vanished with them.

"Now!" Colonel. exe took the opening for all it was worth and dashed through before cornering into the area inside the remaining gun batteries' firing arc. "ScreenDivide!"

The mighty slash carved at right angles through all of the remaining gun batteries, including the one Gutsman. exe had twisted to take out its brethren, and they bled the same dark miasma as they disintegrated into data dust.

"Such strength..." Colonel. exe complimented Gutsman. exe and Knightman. exe both.

"Aw shucks... it was nothin'!" Gutsman. exe rubbed his head sheepishly.

"Such shots were like pebbles to my steel hide," Knightman. exe boasted.

"What were you thinking Dex?!" Lan yelled on his end.

"I was thinking that you didn't have to go save the world by yourself for once!" Dex yelled back as Princess Pride's barely-demure laughter was heard.

"Oh just give it up Lan. You know we can't stop them now."

"Indeed," Colonel. exe noted. "Dex and Gutsman, was it? You will accompany us on this liberation mission. Know that the dark interference means that only one operator may command all navis on the mission at any time. Also, this team operates in secret. You may tell none about it unless they are necessary to aid the mission. Not even your friends. If you cannot agree to these terms, then jack out now."

"Geez... harsh much?"

"I do not have time for games or those who play them. Now, let us begin the mission."

"I have been waiting for such a noble adventure!" Knightman. exe declared, clanging one hand over his armor in a fisted salute.

"Then let us proceed."

The navis all walked through the one opening in the dark curtain over Nebula's controlled area. Hub steeled himself for the sight, and was not disappointed. The darkness choked everything in the cyberscape. The bubbling pits of darkness oozed up from the Dark Holes and along the ground. The guardian viruses bellowed their feral cries from within as other darkness-infused viruses peaked out of the dark ooze in response to their presence.

The main difference this time was the fact that the digital sky was so infused with the power of darkness that it formed a haze which blocked out all from view. A haze that poured out of the Dark Holes in the tainted cyberscape.

And Hub felt a familiar presence hovering within that haze.

"Wh-wh-wheee! And here I thought I would have to go out for dinner..."

"Shademan!" Hub growled. But... hadn't he and Django purified him? (18)

"Long time no see Megaman... wh-whee... I have been resurrected by the DarkPower and given another chance to destroy you!"

"The one who spread the DarkChips across the net..." Colonel. exe growled.

"Ah, my reputation precedes me... wh-wheee..." Shademan. exe laughed unseen from within the haze and the brief flapping of wings was heard.

"Be careful," Colonel. exe warned. "His flight will allow him to strike from the haze without warning... We must seal the DarkHoles in order to draw him out into the open."

"All while Shademan takes potshots at us," Hub reminded him.

"Worry not," Knightman. exe declared. "I shall shield you from his attacks."

"Wh-wh-wheeee!" Shademan. exe's laugh echoed all around them. "But who will shield you?"


Mayl looked around quietly as she slipped aboard the mystery craft after climbing up a small ladder that hung over the side as if forgotten. It had been all too easy to accomplish. Like whoever's boat this was didn't care to try and stop anyone from boarding. But whose boat was–

"Oooh!" the cry of frustration came from the boat's interior and Mayl ducked down to try and avoid detection even as she crept closer to hear better.

"Mayl? Who is–" Roll. exe whispered, stopping when she spotted her NetOp's finger over her mouth in a very clear 'quiet' gesture.

"That damned princess!" a woman's voice cursed. "Does she sleep on this island?! Doesn't she know that I have frustrations to work off? That damnable board of directors! That extra damnable Sunayama! The whole damned DNN takeover! Oooh! If I don't get to break something I'm going to scream! But no! Stupid miss princess needs to mine MagnoMetal... Stupid miss princess needs to save her stupid little country! Stupid miss princess has to go and buy the rights to an abandoned island that I've enjoyed using for free and lay claim to my stress reducers for her stupid legal mining rights! And stupid miss princess is here every day from sunup to sundown! ARGH! Doesn't she know I can't afford to be arrested afterRRRGGGHHH!"

Mayl nearly lost her balance when the boat jerked into sudden motion. Whoever this woman was, she'd apparently decided to leave rather suddenly, and she was taking Mayl with her! Mayl considered jumping off and swimming for it when the yacht picked up speed so fast that she fell to the deck with a sound that was drowned out by the boat's own motion even to her own ears.

"Okay Roll, time to call Lan and the others..." she admitted quietly as she saw Oran Isle shrink much too fast for her liking in the distance.

She heard the, thankfully quieted, ringing sound and immediately after the tell-tale click of it going straight to the PET message system. Oh, great. Lan was probably neck deep in something again. When would he tell his friends about these things up-front? Another ring as Roll. exe tried Dex, only for the same thing to happen. Lan wasn't that big a surprise, but Dex? Another ring as she tried Glide. exe, and yet another click for the message system. Glide. exe probably thought Yai needed her sleep.

"I'd try Princess Pride's number, but I don't know it," Roll. exe apologized. "I think... I think we're on our own for now."

"Maybe not..." Mayl thought of someone else she could try. It was a long shot, but... "Try calling Chaud. Tell him it's an emergency. Possibly Nebula related."

"You really think so?" Roll. exe asked.

"I think Nebula was about the only thing that woman wasn't cursing..." Mayl mused.


"GUTSHAMMER!" Gutsman. exe bellowed as he brought the weapon down on a patch of darkness. The immense power from the shockwave forced the surprised viruses inside that patch, and all those surrounding it, out from hiding where they were quickly disposed of. "Heh..." Gutsman. exe chuckled as he surveyed the team's handiwork. "This ain't so tough..."

"Don't underestimate the Darkloids!" Shademan. exe chastised from above them right before a blurry form dove straight for Hub from the haze above. "Wheee!"

But as he was about to strike, a massive gray form interposed itself and Shademan. exe's talons clanged off of the armor and he retreated back into the haze quickly before anyone could retaliate.

"Thank you," Hub said gratefully.

"Such is the duty of a knight," Knightman. exe replied.


In the area of Den City known as Beach Street, a shoreline drive that included the DNN broadcasting station as well as a state of the art hospital, a boy with black and white hair waited to meet the one who had called him with a seemingly urgent matter. Of course, she had to sneak off the boat she'd stowed away on first. After the owner had left to enter the building the boy, one Chaud Enzan, stood before.

As if the thought summoned her, Chaud spotted the girl, one Mayl Sakurai, approaching his position.

Chaud's only concession to surprise when he spotted Lan's girlfriend was a raised eyebrow. "Nice bikini."

"Yeah, well," the girl blushed, "I didn't exactly have time to change first. Thanks for coming."

"Don't thank me yet," Chaud warned. "I haven't decided if this is a waste of my time or not. You're just lucky I have official business in the area."

"Lan was right," Mayl crossed her arms in challenge. "You are a big sourpuss."

"Whatever works," Chaud shrugged the challenge off. "You still haven't explained why you think this is related to Nebula."

"Right... The woman I spotted was putting a lot of effort into not being spotted–"

"Oran Isle is hardly off limits," Chaud interrupted, but Mayl simply kept going.

"–and she seemed angry at Princess Pride for preventing her from doing something at the mine–"

"Intent to trespass... Possibly worth an investigation considering the circumstances, but still not–"

"–and while I'm listening to her on the way back, she's cursing out everything under the sun for her problems. Her board of directors, that Sunayama guy from the N1 Grand Prix, her father, Princess Pride, DenCity News Network, the Officials, the way the sun is in her eyes, her grade school teachers–"

"Your point?"

"Everything except Nebula."

Chaud paused at that last claim. There was nothing inherently incriminating or even remotely illegal about the woman's choice of condemnations. The woman was entitled to her own opinion after all. However, the omission of Nebula from her long list of ire, especially in light of current circumstances, was a gigantic red flag. With Nebula's occupation of the Net, everything was impeded from government to businesses to private life. There were only a few reasons why someone wouldn't be angry at Nebula these days.

"Okay..." Chaud sighed heavily. "We'll investigate quickly, and carefully. If we're caught doing this, then we will be the ones in trouble. Not her."


"Wh-whee... Let's party!" Shademan. exe laughed as he dove out of the haze again, this time for a member that the titanically armored Knightman. exe couldn't defend in time.

"Argh!" Colonel. exe cried out as he took a slash across his back. Though he reflexively swung his blade arm at his attacker, Shademan. exe had already vanished back into the haze as rapidly as he'd emerged from it.

"We have to take out the last DarkHoles!" Lan yelled as Hub blasted a BigBrute back into its DarkHole, sealing it. "Gutsman! Knightman! You get the other one!"

"We're on it! GUTSQUAKE!" Gutsman. exe bellowed as he slammed his GutsHammer arms down at the same time Knightman. exe threw his KingdomCrusher into the air. The shockwave along the ground tore through the viruses surrounding the DarkHole while the boulders that fell from above pummeled the TinHawk until it fell back into the DarkHole it had emerged from and self destructed, sealing the final source of the black haze that obscured the cybersky.

With the DarkHoles sealed and no longer belching the black haze, the sky began to clear and gradually reveal the disturbingly warped background of the Nebula occupied zone, as well as the vampiric Darkloid it had hidden from view.

"There's nowhere to run now!" Colonel. exe declared, pointing his blade arm into the slowly dissipating haze.


"Coast is clear," Chaud declared and waved Mayl into the 'employees only' area of an office near the DNN building.

"So... you think this place has something to do with the DNN takeover she was ranting about?" Mayl asked quietly as the two moved in the general direction of a main terminal.

"Possibly," Chaud explained just as quietly. "Several companies are trying to leverage control of DNN, but even in prison and most of his assets seized, Sunayama still owns the majority of shares. And he's refusing to sell."

"Why? I mean, he can't actually use them, right?"

"Sort of," Chaud checked another door and nodded before motioning Mayl into what looked like a server room. "I'll explain more later. For now, we need to find whatever this woman is hiding and get out."


"Alright ya two-bit vampire wannabe! It's clobberin' time!"

"Whee... I didn't expect you to make it so far..." Shademan. exe chuckled as the dark haze obscuring him cleared enough that his position became clear to all. "Or so soon... It is still too early for such a banquet, but I suppose I have no choice... Welcome to the party of darkness!"

"Foul shade-thing!" Knightman. exe accused. "We have you now!"

"Come... give me a taste of your power... A taste I can savor..."


"Well, well..." the female voice declared from the entrance of the room as Mayl and Chaud turned to see a brunette woman in a bold red business suit and tastefully made up glare at them with arrogant condescension. "What have we here?"

"It appears to be trespassers," the voice of a new navi agreed behind Roll. exe and Protoman. exe as they whirled to meet him. Both readily recognized him as Magnetman. exe.

"Hello Tesla Magnus."

"Magnus?" Mayl started in recognition. "As in Gauss Magnus? The man who almost crashed that plane Lan was on?"

"You!" the woman hissed over the connection. "Chaud Enzan! It's all your fault! You and that horrid Lan boy with the blue navi!"

"What happened to your father was his own fault for trying to commit an act of net terrorism," Chaud replied evenly.

"I could care less about you arresting my father! He deserved what he got! But what happened after was all your fault! I was supposed to succeed my father as head of the company, but his arrest made the board doubt my fitness! I've had to claw my way to where I am now tooth and nail! You wouldn't believe the stress I'm under! My lovely hair nearly fell out and it's ruined my beautiful skin!"

"...Seriously?!" Mayl gaped. The woman looked groomed to a perfection most would envy. And how was any of that Chaud's fault? Or Lan's for that matter? (19)

"Sounds like an excuse to us," Chaud humphed.

"Magnetman!" Tesla fumed. "Trash those interlopers for me! Finally! A chance to burn some stress off!"

"Anything, Miss Tesla," the large red magnet-themed navi replied as he hovered in the cyberscape.

"Here he comes Roll!"

"Protoman, get ready! Battle Routine, set!"

"Execute!"

"Max Magnet Power!"


"Apollo?" Hephaestus blinked as the sun god's failure to make any cheesy vampire puns registered. "What are you–"

"Hmm?" Apollo looked up from his own view of a completely different set of events, and his tub of popcorn, to see Hephaestus halfway between a look of surprise and a fierce glower.

"Why didn't you let me know about this development the moment you spotted it?"

"Umm… The Great Apollo thought you knew about it?" (20)

Hephaestus folded his arms. "More like you were hoping for a cat fight for your personal enjoyment."

"You said it, the wise Apollo didn't," Apollo hastily pressed the delete key before Hephaestus could see the partial subconscious message he'd been composing.


"We'll give you a taste alright!" Colonel. exe had yelled, throwing his cape over Shademan. exe's form as the vampiric navi charged at them. "Blind Rain Rush!"

With that, Colonel. exe and Hub had charged at the blinded Shademan. exe to attack up close, only to be surprised when the darkloid's form had shattered under their assault and the resulting quartet of cyber bats had emerged from under the cape to flap away.

"What tha?" Gutsman. exe blinked in surprise and astonishment at the sight.

"Despicable creature!" Knightman. exe bellowed as he flung his mace at the beasts, dispersing one of them while Hub and Colonel. exe shot two more out of the sky, but the fourth got away and reformed into Shademan. exe a short distance away.

"Surprised? Wh-wh-wheee!" the reformed Shademan. exe chuckled. "Realizing you've never faced me at my full strength? Wh-whee... Face it Megaman! You still aren't good enough to beat me!"

"We'll see about that!" Hub challenged as he began firing his MegaBuster rapidly, causing Shademan. exe to sneer as the hits did damage to him. Minor damage, but damage nonetheless.

"Such scratches are beneath me," Shademan. exe growled as he snapped his fingers and caused a navi-sized clawed hand to emerge from the ground and swipe at Hub. "You'll need to do better tha–"

"GutsPunch!" the bellow from behind cut off Shademan. exe's taunting as the massive fist of Gutsman. exe, having circled around to flank the Darkloid, slammed into Shademan. exe's back... and through the shadow form he melted into in the next moment. "Wha...?" Gutsman. exe's eyes widened in shock.

"Wh-wh-wheee..." the vampiric Darkloid's chuckle sounded as the shadow form melted into the tainted ground. "I thought I recognized you... Such mindless brawn... One of those needlessly filling side dishes that tried to keep me from that troublesome dessert..."

"Don't..." the brawny navi tried to sound defiant as the disembodied voice echoed around the Nebula-controlled area, but the fear crept in anyway.

"Don't what? Say what is true? Wh-whee..." the voice echoed sinisterly across the tainted cyberscape. "All the pathetic little navis who live in the light are my food. No amount of strength can change that. Not yours. And not Megaman's."


"Here we go!" Tesla shouted with a manic look on her face as her navi Magnetman. exe opened by laying a grid of magnet panels in the cyberscape before launching a series of magnet-shaped missiles at his two opponents.

"Watch out Roll!" Mayl called, prompting her navi to teleport out of the way even as Chaud directed Protoman. exe to sidestep the missiles, even as they changed direction mid-flight, with ease.

"MagnetBall!" Magnetman. exe bellowed as he charged up a crackling ball of dark purple magnetic energy and threw it at them. It moved slowly, but it tracked their positions as it did. And then Roll. exe found herself stuck in place. Looking down, she spotted a field of purple magnetic energy on the ground below holding her in place as the magnetic ball inched towards her.

"Ohohohoho! How easy you're making this!" Tesla laughed condescendingly.

"Not so fast!" Mayl retorted as Roll. exe broke free and easily sidestepped the magnet ball, which proved unable to completely reverse direction. "Boomer chip in! Download!"

"StepCross! Battlechip in! Download!" Chaud declared at the same time.

Tesla cursed as she directed Magnetman. exe to backstep from Protoman. exe's charging attack, and put him directly in the path of the wood-element Boomer chip.

"RollArrow!"

"Shockwave!"

"Magnet Barrier!"

A forcefield sprung up around Magnetman. exe to absorb the attacks.

"Finish it, Magnetman!" Tesla ordered. "North-South Tackle!"

Suddenly Magnetman. exe was in line with Roll. exe and charging straight at her in a shoulder rush that put the larger navi's bulk to good use. Along with a blue copy of him from the other direction.

"AntiDamage!" Mayl cried out and sent the chip with not a moment to spare. The impact from both directions hit only a dummy as the real Roll. exe threw a giant shuriken in response and Protoman. exe unleashed a Slasher chip in retaliation to the charging attack.

"Hmm..." Tesla's eyes narrowed. "It seems you both do have skill after all... Very well! Magnetman! Time to stop playing around!"

"Yes, Miss Tesla!"

Mayl and Chaud directed their navis to regroup and ready themselves for the next attack, but as they did Mayl noticed that Tesla's demeanor seemed to change. Before she had seemed to care little that it was the two of them (well, mostly Chaud) that had broken in, seeing them as little more than targets for the rest of the anger she carried around. Now... now she actually seemed focused on their fight.


"Show yourself base coward!" Knightman. exe challenged, looking around for any sign of the darkloid, ready to throw his mace as soon as the blackguard showed itself.

"Wh–"

Colonel. exe whirled to slash as the sound, and hit only a minor virus that had crawled up from some remaining dark ooze, liberating a minor chunk in the backwash.

"wh–"

Hub whirled this time, using a sword chip to bisect a darkly tainted mettaur in the middle of trying to attack him.

"wh–"

Hub's eyes widened as he and Lan reacted in unison. That had been right behi–"gurk"

"wheee..." Shademan. exe finished chuckling from where he'd thrust his taloned hand right through Hub's chest. He was still halfway through reforming from the shadows.

"Megaman!" Gutsman. exe cried in alarm.

"Oh god! Lan!" Princess Pride's alarmed scream was heard over the connection.


"Lan?" Dex froze as he saw what had happened. The moment that vampire navi had hit Megaman. exe like that, a gaping wound had appeared on Lan's own chest and started bleeding furiously. He'd heard of the dangers associated with Full Synchro, but the feedback of a navi's pain had never seemed that big a price to pay to him. The pain he'd felt while synched with Gutsman. exe had always faded with no real lasting effect. To see this happen...

"Hold on, Lan!" Princess Pride began tearing strips off of her shirt to start making a bandage.


Hephaestus recoiled in shock as the Anchor was hit with what could have been a mortal wound had it not been induced wholly from sensational feedback. It was fortunate that the young woman present knew first aid or the boy could have easily bled out despite the wound itself being just a flesh wound.

Looking over at the success chance, he further goggled as the numbers shot up and down like they were noting the position of a Richter needle in real time during a major earthquake. (21)


"Why do I have to learn this?"

"As princess, it is your duty to look after the people of Creamland. Whether that means defending their interests as a whole on the political stage or dedicating yourself to binding the wounds of a single citizen. They are your people and your purpose is to see to their defense in every way you are capable. The job of myself and the rest of your tutors is to see that you are as capable in as many ways as possible."

Princess Pride did her best to bandage Lan up, silently thanking her old tutor for insisting she learn every level of first aid possible.

"Ohgeezohgeez," the larger boy, Dex, nearly hyperventilated nearby as he did his best to keep pressure on the sudden wound Lan had received. "Lan don't you dare die on me!"

"Dex..." Lan groaned.

"Save your strength, Lan," Princess Pride ordered firmly. Hero or not, the boy needed it. There. That would hold long enough for her to get him to the boat and some proper bandages. Then she would see if he needed to be rushed to a hospital.

"Dex..." Lan insisted, gripping the other boy's arm pretty firmly considering his injuries. "You need... to stop Shademan..."

"But..." the larger boy blinked as Lan fumbled an attempt to force his own PET into Dex's hands. He only stopped when the larger boy accepted the item.

"You can do it..." Lan grinned weakly as Pride hefted the boy into the rather ironic princess carry. "After all... you have guts..." (22)

Dex looked like he was fighting back tears as he stood straight and saluted in a manner that would have done the knights of Pride's homeland proud (even if they'd never have been caught dead wearing swim trunks on duty).


"Magnet Missile!"

"Scuttle!"

"Katana!"


"Screen Divide!" Colonel. exe did his best to cover the wounded Megaman. exe as the vampiric darkloid harried the rest of them.

"Megaman! Speak to me!" Gutsman. exe sounded worried.

"Nnnngh!" the blue navi grunted as static sparked over his form, emanating from the gaping hole in his chest. "C-can't... mov-ve..."

"Knightman!" Colonel. exe ordered, taking charge of the situation. "Watch over Megam–"

"WHEEEEEEEEEEEEE!" Shademan. exe screeched as a massive blast of sound shot from his mouth to drown out Colonel. exe's words as it slammed into the military navi, causing his body to jerk and convulse.

"No!" Knightman. exe bellowed, sending a Kingdom Crusher at Shademan. exe, only for the impact to cause the vampiric navi to melt into shadows without any visible sign of damage while Colonel. exe collapsed from the hits he'd sustained.

"C-c-curses..." the military navi shuddered as static gripped his injured form and immobilized him. The emergency jack-out measures every navi tied to a PET had were completely blocked in the darkness-infused zone, otherwise he'd have been automatically logged out rather than have to suffer such serious wounds and be rendered so helpless.

"Two down... wh-wh-wheee..." Shademan. exe's echoing laugh taunted them. "Let's see... who will be next? Perhaps..." Shademan. exe suddenly appeared in front of Knightman. exe, "you?"

"Royal Wrecking Ball!" the massive knight navi swung his chained mace protectively in response, only for the vampire navi to again melt into shadows with the hit. Shadows that moved and flowed to Knightman. exe's back and reformed.

"Yes..." Shademan. exe hissed right before he sunk his vampiric teeth into a seam in Knightman. exe's armor and began siphoning his life force.

"Gnnnnn..." the massive knight tried to struggle, but his heavy bulk left him less able to shake off the persistent foe as he clung. And raising his defense wasn't possible while the vampiric foe was latched onto him.

"G-get..." Megaman. exe's voice struggled just before a series of poorly aimed blasts peppered both Shademan. exe and Knightman. exe both. The former hissed and disengaged so he could turn to strike at the more helpless target, only for a massive fist to pummel him back into the melting shadows again.

"Thank you..." Knightman. exe said to the smaller navi as the brawny Gutsman. exe took up a secondary protective position, and dumped the immobile form of Colonel. exe next to the blue navi.

"Kn-nights... p-p-prot–ngh!" Megaman. exe grinned weakly before the static immobility claimed him again.

"Indeed they do..." the armored navi acknowledged.

"Yeah... but we're gettin' hammered here!" Gutsman. exe declared as he looked around frantically for his opponent. An opponent who calmly reformed a short ways away, looking entirely unconcerned with the two remaining navis.

"Wh-wh-wheee... Such fierce struggles..." the vampire navi smirked arrogantly. "Surely you realize it's pointless by now? I've taken out your best fighters with ease. What hope do you have?"

"We have enough!" the voice of Dex cut in as the boy took over the role of liberation operator. "And we're gonna pound you into the ground!"

"Really now?" Shademan. exe snorted in amusement. "How? I command the power of darkness. It strengthens me. Protects me. Makes me invincible to the feeble likes of you. All you are to me are side dishes to consume."

"We'll show you!" Dex yelled. "Get him Gutsman!"

"Yeeehaw!" Gutsman. exe charged and swung a punch directly at Shademan. exe's face, causing the navi to melt into shadows again rather than receive injury.

"Pathetic..." The vampiric navi reformed quickly a short ways away and formed a trio of red bats that he sent at his larger opponent. "You reall–"

"ROCKET PUNCH!" the flying fist pummeled the bats and forced Shademan. exe back into shadows.

Shademan. exe reappeared behind Gutsman. exe and slashed across the larger navi's back.

"ARGH!"

"Wh-wh-whee... Really now... what did you expect to happen differently?" Shademan. exe chuckled as he dissolved into shadows again due to frantic shots from the GutBuster. "I defeated you easily last time we met even with your friends helping... Without the power of darkness, you can't hurt me... All you can do... is wait for deletion."

"D-dex..." Gutsman. exe backed away nervously. "I... he's..."

"He's full of it Gutsman!" Dex growled back fiercly.

"Oh really?" Shademan. exe drawled. "And what would a boy like yourself know about darkness? You know nothing!"

"Actually," Dex sounded a lot calmer than he had any right to, "I think I've got you all figured out."


"Oh, the mighty Apollo has to hear this."


"Do tell..." Shademan. exe grinned arrogantly, not pressing his advantage. Acting as if he had all the time in the world to finish them off.

"Honestly, I wouldn't have figured it out if you didn't talk so much, but yeah, I know all about the secret of your dark power now..." Dex stated firmly. "The great secret that makes you so 'invincible'."

"And what secret would that be?" the vampiric navi had the tone of those who were curious solely because they desired to know how wrong the other person was.

"It's doubt," Dex declared and Shademan. exe's arrogant grin slipped just the tiniest amount. "You brag so much about being invincible not because you believe it, but because you need us to believe it."

Shademan. exe charged with a feral hiss suddenly, but Gutsman. exe, newly resolved met the charge with an uppercut that didn't so much cause Shademan. exe to melt into shadows as it caused him to nearly explode into them.

"Because that's what darkness does," Dex continued with an audible smirk, his theory all but confirmed by Shademan. exe's hasty actions. "It seeps through the cracks and gets into your head. Eats away at your confidence and morals, promising power and more if you let it in. But all it delivers is an easy way out."

"WHEE–" Shademan. exe reformed right in Gutsman. exe's face and unleashed a sonic blast point black at the same time Gutsman. exe slammed both massive palms together over the reforming darkloid.

"The easy way where you don't have to take responsibility for yourself or bother with anyone else. Makes you doubt you can succeed any other way. Makes you so dependent on the easy way that you never realize that you're cutting off all your other options."

Shademan. exe reformed above Knightman. exe this time, and was caught straight on by a Royal Wrecking Ball that caused him to break not into shadows but into a quartet of bats that flew off in different directions.


"'Only those who can overcome darkness after being exposed to it', huh?" Apollo glared at a grinning Hephaestus.

"I stand by what I said," Hephaestus smirked. "It is true, after all."

Apollo just grumbled curses at everyone who spoke of 'certain points of view'. (23)


'Heh...' Hub thought as he forced himself to his feet despite the static. 'So that's what changed...'

He and Lan had been so worried about figuring out a way to hurt Shademan. exe that they'd doubted their ability to do so until they'd purged Roll. exe of his DarkSoul.

"Well, we're through doubting!" Dex yelled as Gutsman. exe slammed Shademan. exe with another punch, this time forcing him apart into shadowy bats.

"We will stand!" Knightman. exe declared as he blasted the vampiric navi into bats with the Kingdom Crusher the moment he reformed.

"We... will... defend..." Hub added as he contributed some buster shots, feeling a resonance pulse between souls as he stood next to Knightman. exe.

"Fools..." Shademan. exe weathered the buster shots with a growl. "I have the darkness!"

"And we have GUTS!" Dex and Gutsman. exe yelled as one as the latter slammed his massive fist into Shademan. exe's back. The vampiric navi's eyes widened comically from the impact before he broke apart into bats once more.

"It'll take more than th–"

The taunt was cut off as Gutsman. exe's fist closed around one of the bats, and the others vanished in puffs of shadows.

"Thanks fer runnin' yer mouth again," the brawny navi said as he clenched his fist around the struggling bat. "Made figgerin' out which one ya were easy."

"I... I can't believe I've..." the bat form of Shademan. exe wheezed out as Gutsman. exe continued squeezing the life out of him, "been disgraced... again! And by... such a... gyaaaahh!"

With a mighty puff of dark miasma from inside Gutsman. exe's fist, Shademan. exe was no more. Within moments, the area claimed by Nebula began to brighten as the darkness permeating it started to dissipate.


"RollFlash!"

"StepSword!"

"Hrgh..." Magnetman. exe grunted from the hit. "Why you...! You don't have me yet!"

"Magnetman, stop right there!"

"But... Tesla!" the magnetic navi protested as Roll. exe and Protoman. exe paused in confusion.

"That was an incredible fight Magnetman," Tesla Gauss sounded so much calmer now. In fact, she almost sounded like a different person... (24) "Ahhh... I must have worked off a decade of stress! I think we can cooperate with these two fine youth now."

"As you wish, Miss Tesla..."


"Ah, mighty Lan..." Apollo lamented. "How excruciating this must be for you! To be in the company of a lovely princess who has torn away her modesty, but have it be due to your own injuries!"

Hephaestus just pinched the bridge of his nose as Chaud began proposing an alliance between himself, Mayl, and Tesla to liberate the Nebula controlled Hades Isle, an area from which they could potentially invade Beach Street as well as one of the back doors into the undernet.

"Do not worry, fallen warrior! The fabulous Apollo will see that it is made up to you!"

Hephaestus had a sinking feeling when he heard that.

"The wise Apollo knows just the thing! Tender bedside care from the lovely Mayl in a hot nurse's un–Ackpbth! Not the *spit* spray bottle! Merc–bth!"


Princess Pride wiped some sweat from her brow. Her shirt was a goner, but it had held long enough for her to find a nice proper first aid kit on the yacht the kids had come on, complete with a rather generous supply of bandages. Enough to stop the bleeding and get Lan stabilized. He still needed a hospital, but it was no longer critical that he get there as fast as possible.

"Nice bra..." Lan complimented weakly before turning a bit less pale in the face. "Geez... I'm glad I can... blame that on the blood loss... And I need to... stop saying stuff out loud..."

"Speaking of which," Princess Pride adjusted her hair so it fell over her front with a mild blush, "you need to rest young man."

"Lan!" Dex burst onto the boat a moment later. "Are you okay?"

"He'll be much better without all the shouting," Pride admonished.

"Er... sorry," the large boy rubbed his head sheepishly before holding up a trio of occupied PETs. "But we won! That vampire is a goner!"

"Indeed," the voice of Knightman. exe intoned. "The blackguard has been most thoroughly trounced!"

"Most excellent," a new voice sounded and Pride turned to look at the face of a brown navi displayed on a control panel. "I trust we can get underway now?"

"Sure thing Glide!" Dex grinned. "We're all here now!"

"Mostly," the named navi corrected. "It seems miss Mayl has had a bit of an adventure while you were busy and has already returned to the mainland." The formal-sounding navi held up his hand to forestall the complaint already half-formed on Dex's lips. "I have received a follow-up message stating that all is well. She should be there to meet us when we dock."


"Interesting defenses," Magnetman. exe mused as he spotted the row of heavy digital artillery.

"And hard to get past without any sort of opening," Protoman. exe nodded.

"Are you ready to take over navi operation when they get in?" the voice of Chaud asked.

"Yes," the voice of Mayl replied hesitantly. "I mean, if you're sure that I'm–"

"He won't be if you keep doubting yourself, girl," the voice of Tesla teasingly chided.

"Yes," Mayl corrected much more firmly. "I'm ready."

"Good. I'm curious to see how strong you've gotten. Now. Let's go!"

"Magnet Barrier!"


"This may actually be more fun to watch the second time..." Apollo mused. "It would be even more fun if you let the mighty Apollo down now."

"Can you promise beyond any shadow of a doubt that you won't put inappropriate ideas in the mortal's heads?"

"Er... Define 'inappropriate'..."


"Great kami..." Mayl gasped as she saw the tainted cyberscape within the Nebula-controlled Hades Isle area.

"I know..." Roll. exe agreed. Even the former Gospel navi Magnetman. exe looked ill at the sight. "It's like I can taste pure anguish and torment with every breath..."

"Stay focused..." Protoman. exe admonished them both. "It's time to begin the liberation."

"Right!" Roll. exe took a deep breath and focused on cleansing the taint she'd breathed in with her positivity before letting it out. Opening her eyes, she hardened her resolve to the task before her. "Okay! Let's get go–"

*crunch*

All three navis paused at the sound and looked towards the source. For Protoman. exe, that was straight down to his feet to see what he'd stepped in.

"Sand panels?" Magnetman. exe wondered in confusion.

"Not even sand traps," Protoman. exe confirmed. "Though there's probably some of those around too."

"Zuuuuwooooo... Zoooohaaa..." (Who dares enter the domain of Desertman?!)

Protoman. exe grimaced as he heard a voice he'd have happily gone the rest of his life never encountering again. (25)


"What's wrong?" Hephaestus asked as Apollo shuddered.

"The disgusted Apollo is remembering the last sand creature he battled," the sun god grimaced. "The embarrassed Apollo was cleaning pieces of said creature from unmentionable places for–"

"Okay, I really didn't need to know that."


"Zaashoooo! Zuooooooooo!" (There is no escape! Desert Mirage!)

"What in the–" Roll. exe and Mayl gasped as the tainted cyberscape changed to an unbearably bright (if a blood red sun and a sinister purple sky could be called such) desert area that wavered and distorted all around them.

"Don't trust your eyes!" Protoman. exe advised them. "Find your opponents by sound and movement!"

"There was a DarkHole several meters to your one o'clock," Mayl reminded them. "Watch out for the flaming dog thing guarding it!"


"Wonder what... Mayl's up to..." Lan wondered as the boat sped back to Beach Street and the dock nearest the hospital. Pride had gone off to see if she could find a shirt that fit. And considering that this was Yai's yacht, that could be a long fruitless search.

"Dunno," Dex mused. "Usually it's you getting messed up in weird stuff without us. I'm still having to pinch myself a bit."

"Hey guys..." Yai's voice sounded out tiredly as she stepped into view, "has anyone seen Mayl? We didn't leave her on the island did–What happened to you, Lan?"

"Mild mishap..." Lan smiled weakly.

"You shoulda seen it!" Dex grinned. "Pride ripped off her shirt to patch Lan up before hauling him back to the boat single-handedly! It was like something out of a TV show!"

"Wait... Princess Pride's on my boat?! Right now?!"


As the latest viral beast collapsed into the swirling sandpit that represented the DarkHoles in the mirage, the illusion wavered to reveal the actual cyberscape, and a large patch of sickly looking sand a short distance away.

"That's the last of them!" Magnetman. exe declared. "Now for whoever's in charge of this giant litterbox!"

"Zeeee..." (That would be me.) the voice like so much grinding sand grumbled as the patch of sickly sand bulged and rippled oddly, forming a head with a gaping black mouth and two eyes glowing a sinister purple as well as two giant blocky hands. "Zuzaaaaa... Zuuukkooooo..." (I'll devour you slowly. You will be buried in my desert forever.)

"We'll see about that!" Magnetman. exe sneered and fired a Magnet Missile at the sand navi's head, only to stare in confusion as the direct hit blew the head into so much sand. "That was eas–"

"Watch it!" Protoman. exe yelled as he rushed in and cut apart a hand that had formed into a lion head and shot at the magnetic navi with great speed. "Desertman is no pushover!"

"Zuuurraaaaaggaaaa!" (Antlion Vortex!)

Suddenly the sand underneath and around the three navis opened into multiple sand traps and tried to pull them under.


"Wait, that's Desertman?" Tesla gasped as she saw the navi. "Sunayama's navi?"

"Yes," Chaud nodded as he and Tesla observed Mayl directing the liberation attempt.

"Would it be possible to capture him? Seeing his navi again is the only thing Sunayama actually wants, but no trace of his navi was ever found after the N1 according to my sources."

"Hmm..." Chaud mused. "It'll be difficult given Desertman's nature. But having a captive darkloid to study would be advantageous... Mayl–"

"Already got a plan," Mayl cut the boy Official off. "Trust me. Lan loves to talk about his fights and I've heard plenty about this one. Here we go Roll! Ball! Geyser! Battlechips in!"


"Download!" was all the prompting Roll. exe needed to throw the chips one after the other into the middle of Desertman. exe's tainted sand patch. The geyser of water burst up from the fresh hole in the cyberscape to drench all of Desertman. exe's form, darkening it with wetness.

"Now!" Roll. exe shouted.

"Magnet Slash!" Magnetman. exe and Protoman. exe yelled as the former used his magnetic powers to hold the pieces of Desertman. exe in place while the latter slashed at them. This time instead of being blown away into loose sand, the body of Desertman. exe held together due to the water the Geyser chip had added.

"Program Advance!" Roll. exe shouted as she prepare the follow-up attack. "BubbleSpread!"

"Keep him occupied you two!" Mayl ordered. "Aquaman! Navi chip in! Download! AquaSword! Battlechip in! Download!"

Magnetman. exe summoned an avatar of the pint-sized aqua navi who proceeded to drench Desertman. exe with a giant hose while Protoman. exe slashed with the blade of water.

"Here we go Roll! HolyPanel! Barrier! Repair!"

The area tainted by darkness was suddenly lit by a bright flash of light centered on Desertman. exe's head.


"Interesting trick..." Hephaestus mused as he watched the makeshift purification take place. "Though there can't be much left to save..."


"Lan?! What in the world happened to you?!" Mayl shouted when she spotted her bandaged boyfriend.

"Hey Mayl... just a... scratch..." the bandaged boy replied woozily.

"Just a scratch?! You call this just a scratch?! I'll show you just a scratch..."

Chaud watched as Mayl Sakurai, still in her bikini, angrily followed Lan (being at least half carried by Dex and Princess Pride (26) with Yai trailing behind) down the street towards the hospital.

"Interesting group that," Tesla remarked.

"That they are," Chaud agreed. "Have you thought about my offer?"

"I have... This Nebula group and their occupation of the net has made business exponentially more stressful lately. It would be a great relief to see them taken down a peg or twenty. I accept your offer, mister Chaud."

"Excellent. I'll be in contact with you when the next mission is planned."

"One moment," Tesla interrupted, holding up her PET to display a blank screen save for a single sand-colored pixel. "Are you certain it is fine for me to keep hold of this?"

"Of course," Chaud nodded. "There's not enough there to get any proper data even if any DarkPower remained, and none does. Beyond that, the researchers would shred whatever's left of Desertman's program trying to attain answers that he likely no longer possesses. It is better if you transfer it to a very basic subPET and return it to Sunayama in exchange for... whatever you need from him. The prison will transfer it to where the inmate's navis are kept of course, but..." Chaud trailed off and shrugged.

Inside Tesla's PET, within a tiny stasis sphere, lay a single pristinely pure grain of digital sand. All that was left of the former navi-turned-darkloid.


Pride resisted the urge to stretch as the hospital staff took Lan and rushed him towards a room, his friends following closely. She wasn't sure the borrowed, and small, shirt would take it well.

"M'lady," Knightman. exe interrupted. "A message for you. From someone named Baryl."

"Open it up Knightman," Pride commanded while cataloguing the nearest place to buy a properly-sized shirt for herself.


"Miss," the nurse halted the irate bikini-clad girl as the patient was led further into the hospital, "I'm afraid I'm going to have to ask you to step outside. You're creating a disturbance."

"I don't mean to create a disturbance," the girl apologized very politely. "I just need to knock some sense into my stupid careless boyfriend!"

The nurse blinked at that, and a moment later her expression slowly grew into a smile. "Your boyfriend, huh? Tell you what. He's going to be overnight for observation and an IV drip, so why don't you come with me and I'll get you something special for when you come back to pick him up tomorrow..."


Hephaestus stared as the nurse handed Mayl a–

"The amazed Apollo was not responsible for that! Honest! How could the upside-down Apollo be when you have not yet released him?"


Mayl blushed crimson and hugged the bag and its contents to her chest as she waited on Yai and Dex to return. There was no way she was going to let anyone see what was in it.

"So..." Roll. exe piped up with a mischievous tone. "Are you going to wear that tomorrow?"

"Ye–no... I don't know..." Mayl blushed even more. She hadn't even known that they made nurse's uniforms in her size! Apparently one of the nurses on the staff was really petite and they'd ordered a few too many uniforms for her or something.

"You really should. I bet they'd even let you wheel him out in the morning!"

"Roll!"


"There are bands of petty resistors meddling in our affairs..." Dr. Regal noted as he read over the reports. Several occupied areas lost over the last week or so to small bands of determined netnavis and other efforts to claim more of the global network repelled. And not just in Electopia where the Hikari boy would have been expected to make trouble, but all over the world too...

"Rgh... Good for... them..." Dr. Regal's prize captive, the stubborn Dr. Hikari ground out past the pain he must have been in.

"The research must be completed before we're interrupted. Perhaps it's time for you to tell us what we need Dr Hikari. Hmm...?"

"I... don't know... what you're talking... about..."

Dr. Regal sighed at the man's continued defiance. "I'm afraid my patience is not infinite Dr. Hikari... It would be... unfortunate... if I had to show you my bad side. Where was the data that was entrusted to you?!"

"I... don't... know...!"

"Hmm... I suppose it's possible you've forgotten... After all, it has been a while... Perhaps... this will jog your memory?"

*ZZZHHHKT*

"AAAAAAAAIIIIEEEEEEEEEEGGGGGHHHHHHHHHHH!"


"One little bolt! That's all the just and fair Apollo asks! It won't even be lethal! A small shock to the base of the spine to make the sinister Dr. Regal's bowels–"

"NO! INTERFERENCE!" Hephaestus yelled as he wrestled the sun god away from the terminal, just loud enough that he didn't have to hear the end of that sentence.


"Knightman, won't you take up the good fight and join us? Your defensive powers would be a great asset."

"It is my duty to protect Princess Pride... However, I know what she would say had she not needed to rush off and heal sir Lan. With her blessing and for the pride of Creamland, I will glady join and defend the innocent from these Nebula blackguards."

"Excellent. And you, Gutsman and Dex... You could also be assets as well. Expect communication from me and my NetOp soon."

Dex huffed as he climbed the stairs of the gigantic skyscraper. He'd have almost preferred a hike up a mountain to see some ancient martial arts master. It would probably have been less tiring... But the message he'd gotten...

You have good potential, Dex Oyama, but you lack training. As your classes have been cancelled and you have no immediate obligations on your time, I am, as your commanding officer of the Nebula Liberation Force codenamed: Team Colonel, requiring you to report to the following address for training. You will bring your PET, your primary chip folder, and clothes for one week. Nothing else. At the request of your assigned trainer, you will also not use the elevator. Do not be late.

Baryl.

And of course, the address was the very top of one of the tallest buildings in ElecTown... He was gonna die at this rate... He'd been climbing for hours... Or maybe days...! He was gonna faint... He was...

Dex blinked at the number on the door in front of him.

He was here...

"Oh, thank kami!" he gasped and threw the door open with as much force as he could muster. He almost didn't manage it.

"You're late," the voice of a significantly older man stated with disapproval. Dex looked up at the speaker and his jaw nearly hit the floor. If he wasn't so exhausted, he'd have had a fangasm right then and there.

"M-m-m-m-mr. Kaneda?!" he stammered out.

"Wha?!" Gutsman. exe shouted in astonishment from Dex's PET. "Ya mean tha legendary NetOp o' tha legendary Fist navi?!"

"Indeed I am," the man stated with stern evenness. "And you're Dex Oyama. The young boy who hacked our network and swiped the source code for our Punch chip series so he could customize his navi with it."

Dex gulped. He remembered that now... He'd had to agree to let them use Gutsman. exe's likeness on their chips to stop them from confiscating his navi...

"It is time to honor the other half of the bargain we struck with you back then. You were allowed to keep the stolen data as part of your navi in exchange for the use of his image on the Punch chip series. Now it is time you became a NetOp worthy of such a navi..."

"It is time you learned the ways of those who practice the noble art of the Fist," a powerful voice spoke from Mr. Kaneda's own PET. (27)


Mayl breathed out as she finished her hike to the shrine. The place was a little out of the way, but it was absolutely breathtaking!

"I can see a great deal of potential in the two of you. However, it's still largely untapped. You need training. Go to this address. I... know the people there. They can help you improve. Remember, a navi's abilities alone can only go so far. To reach the fullness of your potential, you must train yourself as well. And since your classes are currently canceled, this is the best time for it."

"Greetings and welcome to the Sutā Jinja," a shinto priestess not much older than Mayl herself greeted. "I am Andou Igarashi, and this is my navi Stargirl." (28)

"Hiya!" a voice from the priestess's PET chirped.

"Stargirl? Odd... Lan once mentioned fighting a Starman..." Mayl blinked. "Sorry. I'm Mayl Sakurai and this is my navi Roll. Chaud sent us."

"Of course he did," Andou smiled. "This is one of his favorite places to come and train. And it's funny you should mention Starman. I developed Stargirl after finding the data remains of such a navi."

"My predecessor was cruelly deleted in a cyber-attack on the shrine," Stargirl explained. "And I think I recall bits and pieces of fighting a blue navi from partial memory data my previous incarnation still possessed, along with his abilities. But I myself am a different navi."

"In any case, let's get you settled and plan out your training. Chaud tells me your navi uses arrows?" At Mayls nod, Andou gestured to a distant area of the shrine. "We'll get you started on archery then. It will not only help you better execute such attacks with your navi, but also improve focus. I also sense a powerful aura around you. If you'd like, I can teach you the ways of the priestess as well."

"I think I'd–" Mayl started, only to be cut off by a commotion from nearby.

"Lilly! What have I told you about putting sake in your water bottle?!"

"My apologies," Andou sweatdropped as a girl dressed in a different style of priestess garb came dancing drunkenly out while a voice from her PET yelled for her to get a hold of herself. (29) "My cousin from Scissor Island is staying here as well with a few friends. The network of her island was taken over by that Nebula group. Between you and me, she's been trying to break back in and kick them out."

"Maybe I can help a bit with that while I'm here..."


Lan yawned and stretched as he skated around town. It was strange how empty the place felt with his friends off doing... whatever they were doing. Shortly after he'd been released from the hospital with instructions to take it easy (while trying to ignore how good Mayl looked in the nurse uniform she'd gotten somewhere as she wheeled him out (30)), his friends had all packed up on trips.

Dex was off on something he claimed was top secret, likely meaning Baryl had something to do with it. Mayl had said she was going to a shrine to pray for the return of Lan's dad, but Lan suspected there was an ulterior motive there. He may have been a bit out of it from blood loss, but he recalled seeing her with Chaud and Tesla when they'd gotten back. Heck, even Yai had gone off with her father to learn more about her family's business. Mary and Kai were still missing and Nanako was managing Higsby's all by herself while Higsby was who-knew-where. He'd even tried looking in on some of his other friends from school, like Tory Froid, only to learn that most of them were out of town visiting relatives.

To put it simply, Lan was bored out of his skull. He was so bored that he was not only caught up with his homework, he'd worked ahead and gotten everything done that Ms. Mari had left them while school was canceled (31).

He'd given serious thought to looking in on Mamoru or Sean, but the former was likely busy with his secret job as undernet administrator in light of recent events, and he had no idea where to even start trying to find the latter. What was Sean up to lately anyway?


Sean narrowed his eyes at the familiar navi controlling the Nebula area of the net in Kotobuki. He'd expected to run into familiar faces when he'd decided to put together a team to take on Nebula, but he'd never expected it to be like this.

"Ho-hooo! Look who came to visit..." the blue navi with a large fan in his chest laughed. "If it isn't our old friends..."

"Airman?" Sean tensed upon recognizing the navi of one of his former Gospel subordinates. "Why are you working with Nebula? Why would you leave Arashi like that?"

"Leave? Ho-ho-ho!" Airman. exe laughed uproariously. "Leave he says! Hilarious!"

"Ha-ha-ha-ha! Yes it is!" a new voice laughed that Sean also recognized, and his blood ran cold.

"Arashi?" he gasped as the image of the man's face was projected into the tainted cyberscape.

"Bloody..." Mr. Match's eyes widened as he observed over Sean's shoulder, flanked by another former member of Gospel known as Speedy Dave.

"Like my new look?" the unhinged voice of Arashi Kazefuki chuckled darkly, as he turned to show off the extensive scarring on one side of his face extending down his neck and under his shirt. "You should... After all, you're responsible for it, aren't you 'Lord Gospel'?"

Sean grit his teeth as the man he'd once tried to blow up for failing his mission laughed with even less sanity that Sean had possessed when he'd tried to kill him.

"You... you're the one who took Anetta!" a plant-green navi with a white and pink flower for a head and thorny vines growing out of his back accused from within the cyberscape, right before being blown back by a blast of wind from Airman. exe.

"Careful Plantman," a crimson navi with gold trim and boomerang-shaped blades extending from his wrist, as well as one cresting his forehead, appeared in a blur of speed to catch the other. "We can't rescue Anetta if you get yourself deleted foolishly."

"So what if I did?" Arashi laughed. "She wanted to save the planet, and that's what Nebula's doing! I think you of all people might sympathize, Dave."

"This isn't saving the planet!" the former environmental terrorist growled out. "It's–"

"Save your breath," Sean ordered and Dave immediately ceased talking.

"Aye..." Mr. Match glared as both his navis, Fireman. exe and Heatman. exe, stood with Sean's own navi Freezeman. exe in the cyberscape facing down the arrogant wind-user. "It's clear he doesn't care one whit. A man like that is in this for revenge and nothing else..."

"How astute!" Arashi and Airman. exe laughed together. "Nebula promised us a chance to get revenge, and we both took it gladly! You tried to blow us up and now we'll blow you off the face of the earth! Do it Airman!"

"Ho-ho-ho! Gladly! Triple Tornado!"

"Ice Shield!"


Lan sighed as he sat down in the ACDC park. Whatever Sean was doing, Lan hoped he was alright.

"Lan the netbattler..." a voice sounded behind him, causing Lan to whip around and face the speaker. (32) The man was dressed in a purple tunic over black pants and had his back partially to Lan, and stared at the younger boy out of an eye that had a long scar over it but nonetheless was sharp and alert.

"What do you want?"

"No need to get all riled up," the man dismissed lightly despite keeping his piercing gaze on Lan. "I am not here to harm you. I am merely here to see the power you both possess. You and Megaman."

"Why should I show you anything?"

"Hmm? I see... Perhaps you don't have anything to show?"

Lan grit his teeth. It was painfully obvious the man was trying to rile him up, but dang if it wasn't working... "Alright, fine... What do you propose?"

"Nothing much... Just that you jack into this squirrel's network and find my navi. We've set up a little obstacle course for you. I wonder... How fast can you manage it?"


"Aaaaaahhh! What should the talented Apollo play for this occasion?!"

"How about ninja music?"

"Excellent suggestion brother! One question though... What is ninja music?"

"The kind you don't hear."


Inside the squirrelcomp, Hub stared at the familiar face after a rather short bout of navigating the makeshift maze, the search made all the easier from a few rounds of hide and seek he and his friends had played in the same network.

"I never thought I'd be defeated...! Dark... This is mortifying!"

"So you're Shadowman's operator..." Lan considered the scarred man in front of him. "I thought so."

Other than an involuntary blink, the man betrayed no sign of surprise. "Oh? And why would you think that?"

"His navi symbol is on your back... Dark Miyabi."

"...You seem very well informed, Lan Hikari."

"I have interesting friends," Lan replied, thinking of Sean again.

"Indeed... Shadowman, return."

"At once!" the ninja navi replied as he jacked out.

"Lan, you seem more competent than I expected, but you still rely more on your navi's abilities than your own. It will be an uphill battle against Nebula from here if that continues."

"Good thing you aren't working for them then," Lan crossed his arms pointedly. "And besides, Hub and I work best together."

"Hub...? Ah... I see... that is what you call Megaman now... Interesting. Very well, I shall take my leave with this warning. Dr. Regal seeks something your father possesses. Something that, if he were to gain, would spell doom for everyone. Innocent and mercenary alike."

With that, Dark Miyabi threw a smoke bomb at his feet and in the instant he was concealed from view, he was gone.


"Mercenary warriors hailing from the land of Sudanlee–"

"There is no such place in this universe, Apollo..."

"They are the Sudanlee ninjas!" (33)


Lan blinked as he finished reading Chaud's e-mail about Nebula agents still active in Oran Isle's network. Hadn't he done that mission with Colonel. exe? And... that had been Dark Miyabi earlier with Shadowman. exe, right?

Oh, well, he'd figure it out later. Taking out a few Nebula mooks was just the thing to break up the recent monotony.

As he raced for the metroline to Beach Street and a closer access point to Oran's network, Lan failed to notice a man leaning against the trunk of a tree watching him leave.

"So... this is what you're like when you're on your own... It's hard to believe you were in a world class tournament not too long ago..."


Lan exited the metroline onto Beach Street and looked around for a good spot to jack in from. What he spotted was a familiar face attempting to charter a boat.

"Hey! Mr. Famous!" he called out to the man wearing sunglasses and a labcoat over a sports uniform.

"Hey, Lan!" the navi expert greeted and headed over. "I can already guess what you're going to say: What am I, the famous Mr. Famous doing trekking out to an abandoned island?"

"Something like that," Lan grinned at the man's attitude.

"As it so happens, I have been developing an anti-Nebula navi to help my star apprentices free areas of the net under Nebula control. Unfortunately..."

"Let me guess, he won't listen to you?"

"Or anyone else," Mr. Famous sighed. "He's certainly willing to take on Nebula, but he seems to think he knows everything and just goes off on his own. I fear he may try to become an independent navi and attempt to face Nebula by himself."

"Which can't possibly end well," Lan nodded.

"Hey!" an insulted voice piped up from Mr. Famous's PET. "I can tackle those Nebula chumps with one arm tied behind my back!"

"Yeah, right," Hub scoffed back from Lan's PET. "They'd eat you alive."

"I dare you to say that to my face! I'll sack you so hard it'll uninstall your RAM!"

"I think I see the problem..." Lan sweatdropped.

"Big talker, huh?" Hub shot back. "You and me, right here, right now!"

"I'm sorry," Lan blinked, feeling a strange sense of role reversal, "how many times have you told me to not lose my cool over something exactly like this?"

"Gladly!" Famous's navi laughed. "Assuming your NetOp will let you out of your playpen to rumble with the big boys!"

"Actually, I think this might be exactly what Gridman needs..." Mr. Famous mused. "A hard lesson in the limits of relying solely on one's own strength would do him good."

Lan looked between Mr. Famous and both PETs for a few seconds as Gridman. exe and Hub kept trading trash talk. "Ah, what the heck... We've got a few minutes to kill."

"Alright! Hut-hut HIKE!" (34)


Apollo was dressed as a mortal sports announcer and doing his level best to fray Hephaestus's last nerve.

"The trash-talking Gridman throws a long bomb at the nimble Megaman, and oh does it ever live up to the literal definition folks! Just look at that crater!"

"Stop that..." Hephaestus growled.

"Oh, but before the titanic Gridman can reclaim the ball, the amazing Megaman grabs it and nimbly leaps over a quarterback sack! He thumbs his nose at the smoldering Gridman and heads for the goal!"

"Stop that or else..."

"He's going for the thirty! The twenty! He's at the ten! The five! TOUCHD-" The mighty Apollo then fell over, gagging and trying to get the unmentionable in his mouth out.

"I warned you to stop that," Hephaestus scowled. (35)


"I think that's the last of them Chaud," Lan spoke into his PET's phone as Hub stood at the far end of the formerly occupied area of Oran Isle's network. Where the net linked to Scilab.

"Good work, Lan. Oran Isle's network is an important strategical location from where we'll be launching our bid to liberate the Nebula-held portions of Scilab's own network. There are multiple entrance points into the area under Nebula's control, likely to facilitate the coming and going of their own forces, but the ones nearest to Scilab's inner network are the most well defended."

"And if we came at them from that direction, it would mean we were dropping Scilab's own defenses to do so."

"Correct. This is why we need to take advantage of outside links and backdoors to stage our liberation of Scilab's network."

"Okay, we'll get right on it Ch–"

"Fat chance!" a new voice challenged.

"–right after we take care of the last guy who's been tailing us while we took out his Nebula buddies," Lan finished.

"Yeah! I..." the HeelNavi tripped over nothing as what Lan said registered. "Liar! There's no way you knew I was there! I'm gonna delete you for trying to make a fool out of me!"

"Yeah, right..." Hub sighed. "Lan?"

"Got you covered, bro," Lan grinned. "DrillArm, sacrifice for unison chip! Battlechips in, download!"

"DoubleSoul!" Hub yelled as the massive purple form of Knightman. exe coalesced around him and burst in a sound of metal striking metal to reveal Hub clad in thick purple armor, bearing a shield on one arm and a spiked mace on the other.

"Ha! A pretty trick, but no match for my viruses!" the HeelNavi laughed and summoned a series of Battys and a couple of Mettaurs. "Destroy him my pretties! You'll regret messing with Nebula!"

"AirHockey!" Hub yelled as he dashed forwards at the viruses as they opened fire, his shield becoming a hockey puck that he threw even as the viruses' shots pinged harmlessly off of his armor.

"W-wha?" the HeelNavi stuttered in surprise as his viruses were destroyed by the rampaging hockey puck. "No... I... I refuse to lose to the likes of you! DARKSWORD!"

"AirHockey!"

The HeelNavi jumped over the deadly puck, but his darkness-fueled blade still clanged uselessly off the armor of his opponent. Armor that pulsed with invulnerability like that granted from a Trumpy the member of Nebula noticed too late.

"Royal Wrecking Ball!"

The spiked mace slammed into the HeelNavi so hard that both he and the world spun around and around.

"N-Nebula... is... almighty..." the punch-drunk and dizzy HeelNavi tried to state defiantly, but the effect was ruined by the fact that he couldn't stand straight.

"AirHockey!" was the last thing he heard.


"Well, well... They're not half bad when they get going..." another navi who'd been following Megaman. exe much better than the HeelNavi mused as he watched the two leave. "Gets me raring to go..."


"Sorry, Chaud," Lan apologized as he and Hub took in the cloud of DarkPower covering the entrance like some sort of perverse fog. And was it his imagination, or was the dark cloud slowly expanding? "I know you said this was the least defended entrance, but what they do have is impassable. Unless Protoman's got a pair of wings stashed away somewhere under his ponytail, I don't think we're getting through."

"Odd..." Chaud murmured. "He was supposed to meet you there... Whatever. Jack out for now while I look into this..."


"Aaannndd they're back to being pitiful..." the watching navi shook his head sadly as Megaman. exe jacked out.

"Keep watching them," the voice of the man who'd watched Lan leave for Beach Street ordered. "We'll see if they were worth the trip sooner or later..." (36)


"Curiouser and curiouser..." Shadowman. exe mused as he watched the navi tailing Megaman. exe. "Your orders, Dark?"

"Continue observation Shadowman. We shall see how this plays out before we make a move..."


"But who shall watch the watcher who watches the watcher?"

"...us?" Hephaestus hazarded a guess.

"None other!"


navi came and challenged me to a battle. He said he wanted to test our abilities, but instead he stole some of Magnetman's vital programs! I hardly know you, but Miss Sakurai recommended you ever so highly when I told her, so would you please help me?

Tesla Gauss

Lan glared at the thin blonde Netopian who simply grinned back from behind his red-tinted sunglasses. Behind him, Tesla Gauss did the same. Searching out Magnetman. exe's stolen data in the DNN building's network had been different from what he'd expected, but...

"Ngh... I... I never imagined such a day would come... I... Thank you... for restoring me..."

"Dear me!" the man grinned. "Such faces! I freely admit you've got power and technique on your side, but you guys are sorely lacking in speed! Even that Dex kid managed to put up a better fight than the big red guy!"

Lan blinked in astonishment. "You know Dex?" he asked while filing the speed claim in the back of his head to tell Mayl and Roll. exe later. Maybe they could take the guy's ego down a notch on that front.

"Beat me and Gyroman by that much in one of the Blue Moon exhibition matches," the man held his thumb and forefinger barely a millimeter apart. "Said nothing but good things about you and your navi though. Made us itch to take a shot at you ourselves so bad we hopped a flight on out here right before Nebula took over. But... well..."

"What?" Lan demanded. This was a lot different from what he recalled in his conflicting memories.

"You two are kind of lame, really," the man shrugged and turned away. "See ya around, kid. Tah-tah!"


"The stupendous Apollo doesn't know what it is, but he likes this guy..." the sun god mused as he tried on some red-tinted shades himself. "The confidence? The casual poise?"

"The way he reminds you of yourself?" Hephaestus deadpanned.

"That's it!"


'Oh, boy...' Lan moaned to himself as he finished looking up the man's information, preceded by watching a recording of his match with Dex. 'I cannot believe I forgot that... Dex bragged about that match for days to anyone who would listen.'

Charlie Airstar, former member of the ace helicopter group, the Red Thunders, and pilot for hire. Well, at least now he had an excuse to know the man's name after coming across so ignorant earlier. Especially since Chaud claimed to be tied up looking into another matter. Same with Baryl. Which was also different from what Lan recalled. Ugh... how long before he had no idea what was going on anymore?

Well, at least he knew what to do now. Stop Nebula from retaking Oran Isle's network.


Baryl grumbled to himself as he dialed the contact number again. It rang, rang, and then there was finally the tell-tale click of the call being answered.

"What is it? I am busy."

"Why haven't you reported in yet? The mission to liberate Scilab was supposed to start yesterday! Before they could mount their current offensive!"

"I am dealing with a personal matter. I will contact you when it is resolved."

*click*

Baryl twitched.


"Finally done your homework and looked up me and Charlie, eh?"

"Yeah, we know all about you and Charlie Airstar!"

"Ha ha! Excellent! Now we all know each other! You can just call me Charlie, though."

"What's your game?"

"Tell you what, you catch Gyroman and I'll tell you whatever you want to know kid!"

"Here I go! GyroForm! Catch me if you can!"

"Wait! Damnit! We don't have time for this!"

Hub twitched as he finally finished vacuuming up the last of the cyber clouds infesting the net from Oran to the connected Scilab area.

"Hey, you're not half bad at this! Come on, let's see if you can keep it up!"

He twitched some more as he spotted the yellow helicopter navi that had gleefully led him on the long chase, making him vacuum up all of the cyber clouds that Nebula had sent out as the precursor to their impending attack.

"Starting to slow down there a bit! I wonder if you'll make it all the way!"

And seemingly not doing anything to stall the invasion himself.

"Running away? Pfft... I could take you anytime I want–"

"Not now Gyroman. There's still fun to be had in our little game of tag after all!"

"Roger that!"

"Are you quite through playing around?" Hub glared at the helicopter navi.

"What do you think, Charlie?" Gyroman. exe pretended to give the matter serious thought.

"Eh... I suppose the grunts hiding in the clouds were a decent enough warm-up," the man stated with a shrugging tone.

"Wait... you were fighting Nebula's agents all this time?"

"Fighting is such a strong word for such pathetic forces. 'Cleaning up' would be more appropriate."

"And even in that you are lacking," a new voice interrupted as Shadowman. exe appeared in a puff of smoke. "After all, you missed half of them. We did not."

"What... Shadowman?" Hub blinked, looking between the ninja navi and the helicopter navi rapidly.

"Hey, nice entrance!" Charlie's grin was evident.

"You've been spying on us all this time, haven't you?" Lan accused.

"Of course," the voice of Dark Miyabi answered. "We needed to see if you had what it took after all. Nebula is a powerful force. Not just anyone could take them on and survive. You need information to combat their forces, not just speed."

"Heh... Big talk for someone who lurks in the shadows like a coward," Gyroman. exe taunted.

Shadowman. exe stiffened at the insult, but said nothing.

"Better than one who blows hot air and empty boasts," Dark Miyabi returned evenly.

"You want a piece of us?" Charlie growled.

"Um..." Hub tried to head off the train wreck he saw happening in front of him.

"You are not worth our time," Shadowman. exe ignored Hub to glare straight at Gyroman. exe.

"You wanna say that again?" Gyroman. exe sneered as the helicopter blades on his back whirled dangerously.

"If you wish a fight, I suppose we could oblige you," Dark mused calmly. "Get ready Shadowman."

"Yes, Master!"

"Here we go Gyroman!" Charlie yelled.

"This'll be fun!"

"What the heck do you two think you're doing?" Lan and Hub watched the two navis square off against each other.

"Battle routine, set!" Dark Miyabi declared stoically.

"Execute!" Charlie Airstar returned with a grin.


"It was a fluke I tell you!" Gridman. exe complained.

"You didn't land a single hit," Mr. Famous raised his eyebrow. "How is that a fluke?"

"It would have been different if it was a Nebula agent..." the navi of the gridiron grumbled.

"Really now?" Mr. Famous prodded.

"Yeah! I'd have punted them halfway across the net before they could blink! Like that hero navi you told me about! He never needed anyone's help!"

"Oh, I'm pretty sure he'd disagree with you. Probably on principle after you called him... well all sorts of impolite things really."

"Wait, that was him? Seriously? You're not pulling a Lucy on me, are you?" (37)

"Oh, that was them all right," Mr. Famous made sure to emphasize the plural pronoun. "And they've needed plenty of help to do everything they've done. And even when they don't have their friends by their sides, they still have each other to rely on. Neither of them would have pulled off half of just what I've told you about if they didn't have that."

"Yeah, yeah... I get it already..."

"So you'll start listening to me now?"

"...I'll think about it."


"Ninjas versus helicopters!" Apollo gushed as he watched the two mercenary navis duel. "It's the most awesome match-up the amazed Apollo never knew he wanted to see!"


"Bakuen!" Shadowman. exe yelled as he and his two kage bunshin (38) each threw lines of explosions at their opponent.

"Tornado Arm!" Gyroman. exe formed a horizontal whirlwind that blew out the line of explosions headed for him and allowed the others to pass right by.

One of Shadowman. exe's clones vanished to reappear behind Gyroman. exe to slash at him with a sword, only for the blade to be deflected by the whirling helicopter blades and the clone dissipated from the blade being deflected through his chest.

"Gyro Cutter!" the helicopter navi threw a whirling helicopter blade that passed through the other clone and then angled itself at the real Shadowman. exe.

"Kawarimi!" the shinobi navi declared as he activated an AntiDamage ability to replace himself with a paper doll likeness and threw a massive shuriken at his opponent.

"Gyro Counter!" Gyroman. exe jumped up over the attack and turned into his helicopter form before firing a Vulcan-style machine gun at the newest kage bunshin Shadowman. exe had formed. "Bomb Raid!"

"Muramasa!"

As Gyroman. exe flew forward and dropped bombs, Shadowman. exe dashed forwards as well and sliced them in half.

"Not bad!" Gyroman. exe complimented with a grin.

"Hmph..." Shadowman. exe scoffed, but there was a slight gleam in his eye.

"Time to finish this!" Charlie declared as Gyroman. exe formed a Gyro Cutter on his arm and got into a charging stance.

"Funny, I was thinking the same thing..." Dark Miyabi intoned as Shadowman. exe readied the Muramasa for a charging thrust.

At the same moment, both navis charged each other, and then a purple form appeared between them with a sound of metal striking metal and a cry of "CUT IT OUT ALREADY!"

The Muramasa clanged off of a sturdy shield while the Gyro Cutter was deflected by a spiked mace and both navis were held at bay by the armored form of Megaman. exe in KnightSoul.

"What the heck is wrong with you two?!" Hub grit his teeth and shoved both navis back.

"You are fortunate that Megaman intervened or I would have deleted you for certain," Shadowman. exe glared over the armored form of KnightSoul Megaman. exe.

"Yeah, right, you and what army pajama ninja?" Gyroman. exe snickered right back.

"I shall see you spitted on my blade, you–"

"That is enough Shadowman," Dark interrupted. "I have seen enough. Lan and Megaman are worthy, even if these imbeciles are lacking. We shall render our services."

"Hey! Who are you call–"

"Not now Gyroman," Charlie snapped. "As annoying as he is, the ninja guy's right. We came here to see if Lan and Megaman made the grade and they have. We're on the clock now."

"Roger that," Gyroman. exe snapped to attention with only the barest hint of reluctance in his tone.

"Oh boy..." Lan sighed as the two navis stepped back and Hub exited KnightSoul. "Okay, I think I know what's going on here. The only question I have is who hired who?"

"There you are!" Colonel. exe declared as he ran up and jabbed a finger at Shadowman. exe. "Why did you not report yesterday?"

"Our test was not complete then," Dark Miyabi replied as Shadowman. exe studiously ignored the irate Colonel. exe. "After all, that was the terms or our agreement was it not?"

"I understood that test to be completed yesterday when you met with the boy," Baryl's voice was just barely on the side of calm.

"As if a mere game of hide-and-seek would give us their measure," Dark Miyabi scoffed. "If I am to travel all this way from my hidden village and operate in the open, we require a better test than a child's game."

"I take it you have a similar explanation?" Protoman. exe asked.

"Yeah, we–GAH!" Gyroman. exe jumped an impressive height when he realized that the voice had come from right behind him. Shadowman. exe simply raised an impressed eyebrow at the scene. "When did you get there?!"

"About when Colonel showed up," Hub shrugged.

"Your explanation, please Charlie," Chaud asked more insistently.

"Eh, we were already in Electopia looking to challenge the kid and a few other locals I'd heard about when you contacted us," the pilot-turned mercenary replied casually. "Figured we'd get a match in as a bonus. Didn't work out that way, but no complaints."

"Indeed," Dark agreed. "Lan and Megaman could still use training, but they shall suffice to combat Nebula."

"Well, I suppose we should get on with our first job," Gyroman. exe grinned.

"Let me guess," Hub offered with a suddenly sinking feeling, "opening the way to the next area to be liberated?"

"Yes," Gyroman. exe and Shadowman. exe replied as one, and immediately glared at each other.

"To be more precise, this shall be a joint liberation mission," Chaud began, getting a snort from Baryl who had likely been about to say the same thing.

"Well, then, I suppose we should get started," a female voice interjected, prompting the group to turn to see four additional navis. The large forms of Magnetman. exe and Gutsman. exe were dwarfed by the even larger form of Knightman. exe, but the relatively small form of Roll. exe was the one who had spoken.


"So, Dex, when were you going to tell me you and Gutsman were on 'Team Colonel'?" Mayl asked from her room at Andou's shrine.

"Uh..." Dex sweated several miles away from where he was worn out for the day from Mr. Kaneda's training regimen and trying to think of a way to explain that he'd been sworn to secrecy. "Hey, wait... When were you going to tell me you and Roll joined 'Team Proto'?"

"Er..." Mayl bit her lip at the comeback. "Okay, that's fair. Allies for asking Lan when he was planning on telling either of us about any of this if we hadn't been invited?"

"Help me figure out how to avoid Yai demanding to know why she was left out and you have a deal."


"So, do you think you can handle it?" Colonel. exe asked Shadowman. exe as both teams stood before the massive cloud of DarkPower.

"No problem!" Gyroman. exe answered instead. "I saw the key point to the whole thing earlier. It'll be a snap! GyroForm!"

"Hmph..." Shadowman. exe sneered as the helicopter navi gained altitude to fly over the before forming a sign with his hands. "Weight of a feather, speed of a hare... Make me light as air!"

With that, Shadowman. exe was off running on top of the cloud at a blistering pace even as Gyroman. exe took off across from the air.

"That is so friggin' awesome!" Dex yelled from where he was observing.

"Yeah!" Gutsman. exe agreed. "Uh... which one?"

"Both of them!"

"Target acquired. It's a DarkChip!" Gyroman. exe informed the group. "Readying GyroBomb!"

"No need," Shadowman. exe snorted as he raced to the target. "It is no match for Muramasa..."

Hub gave Protoman. exe a sideways glance.

"Data can be copied," was all the red navi said. (39)

"Bombs away!"

"Hyah!"

There was the sound of an explosion from the far side of the dark cloud, and in moments it was dissipating back into the net.

"Hah! Got it!" Gyroman. exe crowed.

"I believe you are mistaken," Shadowman. exe scoffed. "My blade struck moments before your bomb."

"Oh yeah? Well your blade obviously wasn't up to the task now, was it?"

"Are they going to be like this the whole mission?" Mayl and Roll. exe asked as more insults were traded. The latter was visibly sweatdropping and the former sounded like she was as well.

"Knowing our luck?" Lan replied. "Probably."


Deep in the corrupted area of Scilab's net, under the massive thunderhead formed completely from DarkPower, the darkloid known as Cloudman. exe frowned as he sensed entry by forces not allied with the darkness.

"Cloudman... Your area will be breached soon... I have special instructions for you should a blue navi named 'Megaman' be among the strike force."

Stretching out his senses, the darkloid of storms examined the interlopers. Several navis of no true worth, a couple of mild concern, one who was a traitor, another who stank of the foul light all proper darkloids despised, and... yes... One blue navi who held captive within him a very powerful DarkSoul...

'I see Dr. Regal... I understand... I will do the duty you expect of me...'


"What in the world are you doing?" Hephaestus asked an Apollo who was hunched over an action figure of the dark storm navi that he'd suddenly produced from somewhere.

"Wait for it brother..." Apollo replied absently as he adjusted something Hephaestus couldn't see. "And... done! What do you think?"

Hephaestus blinked as he took in the alterations to the figure. The armor and thundercloud base were the same as the darkness-tainted mortal navi, but the face...

The face was now a dead ringer for his father Zeus.

"So you can imagine that they're beating up 'dear old dad'," Apollo grinned.

Hephaestus gave an involuntary snort, followed shortly by a low chuckle, that quickly grew into a full belly laugh.


"It seems that they've prepared for us..." Colonel. exe scowled as he looked across the corrupted cyberscape. Above was a massive thunderhead pulsing at irregular intervals with sinister purple lightning. Everywhere, the oozing sludgy darkness bubbled along the ground, with many viruses watching from where they hid within. In the distance, sparking miasma whirled forth from the Dark Holes fueling the corruption of the cyberscape. And between the teams and those Dark Holes were shimmering dark purple barriers.

"Yeah..." Hub agreed, noting a few holes in the barriers. But ones that were spaced irregularly and far apart. It was clearly a design meant more to slow them down than stop them completely. "With those barriers up, this is going to take forever..."

"Good thing you've got me then!" Gyroman. exe grinned and spun the helicopter blades on his back for emphasis. "I'll fly ahead through the openings and destroy the source of the barriers!"

"Hmph..." Shadowman. exe snorted with disdain. "As if an imbecile like yourself could handle such a task. I shall sneak behind enemy lines and bring down the barriers."

"Oh yeah? And just how do you think you'll get across all those DarkPanels?"

"I shall run."

"Yeah, right! Those things will swallow you whole the moment you step on–I do not effing believe that..." Gyroman. exe stared as the ninja navi proved his claim by stepping onto the oozing darkness like it was ordinary ground. "How the hell, man?!"

"The secrets of the ninja are many and mysterious," Shadowman. exe replied with amusement.

"Ha-ha-ha-ha-ha!" a booming voice rumbled like thunder. "So they do not know the truth about you, traitor..."

As the echoes of the voice died down, all eyes turned to a rigidly still Shadowman. exe.

"Explain," Protoman. exe demanded.

"Those who fall prey to the darkness are those who revel in it or become addicted to the power it promises. Those who are born of the darkness may not be the same," Shadowman. exe riddled, neither confirming nor denying anything. (40)

"I knew it!" Gyroman. exe accused with a pointed finger. "He's a spy!"

"I am a shinobi," Shadowman. exe glared right back.

"Several here have pasts they are less than proud of," Knightman. exe stepped between the two mercenaries and pointedly faced the yellow helicopter navi. "Unless and until he proves unworthy of our trust, he shall have mine."

"Come on man, help me out here..." Gyroman. exe turned to the red Magnetman. exe.

"Both Knightman and Shadowman were with Gospel, same as I was," the magnetic navi folded his arms pointedly. "And neither of them stripped me of vital programs like you did."

"By all means, argue amongst yourselves, ha ha!" the massive thunderhead over the area rumbled in time with the darkloid's laughter. "And when you're done, hurry back! I'll welcome you with thunderclouds!"

"We're wasting time," Hub cut into the brewing confrontation. "Whatever his past, Shadowman's with us now, same as you Gyroman. Both of you are going to go ahead and bring the barriers down for us. We'll catch up."

"Understood," Shadowman. exe nodded.

"I'll be keeping an eye on you..." Gyroman. exe promised.

"Yeesh..." Gutsman. exe sweatdropped as the two mercenary navis sped ahead, one flying above the murky dakness and the other running atop it.

"You said it," Roll. exe agreed with him. "I wonder if anyone else has problems like this..."


"Grr... Stand still already!" a green navi with black pants and clawed blades protruding from the ends of his arms slashed wildly at a hovering beige, black, and red navi with a long nose. "I know you kidnapped Pat you demented wind freak!"

"Ho-ho! I care not for the names of foul Nebula operators! Only where you and your cohorts have secreted away the great sensei Feng-Tian!"

"Shut your lying mouth!" the blade-user slashed again at his opponent.

"I'd like to see you make me!" the hovering navi swiped with a three-pronged blade and created a trio of whirlwinds.

"Cease this at once!" A strong voice demanded and a massive thunderbolt struck between both combatants, forcing them apart.

"Who the hell are you?" the bladed navi growled.

"I am Thunderman," a gray and black navi with orange highlights and a massive needle sticking up from his head introduced himself. Next to him was a cobra-themed navi emerging from a pot and an female navi wearing an outfit of yellow, orange, and blue with pink hands and feet as well as lime green rings formed like twin pigtails. "My companions are Snakeman and Ring. We are the Thunder Tribe, agents working against the likes of Nebula. We are currently investigating the disappearance of NetOps like your own."

"Yeah, then you should help me delete this liar!" the bladed navi sneered.

"Hmph... It is obvious that you are the villain here," the flying navi sneered back.

"Slashman," the female navi identified as Ring. exe began, getting a start from the blade using navi. "NetOp Pat Fahran, a chef in Netopia on business when Nebula occupied the net. Recently discovered missing from her hotel room."

"How did..."

"Tenguman," the girl navi turned to the other one. "NetOp Feng-Tian, elderly martial arts master in Netopia visiting an old training buddy. His friend recently returned home to see his house ransacked and no sign of his guest."

"Yes..."

"And the most interesting thing is that at each incident, witnesses placed an individual matching the description of the other's NetOp at the scene prior to their disappearance."

"What are you getting at?" Slashman. exe narrowed his eyes.

"Isssn't it obviousss?" Snakeman. exe hissed. "Nebula isss playing you both for foolsss..."

"Is that so...?" Tenguman. exe's eyes narrowed dangerously, but it was clear the target of his ire was elsewhere. "Then they shall soon learn the price of their folly..."


"There it is!" Gyroman. exe exclaimed as he flew towards a sinister purple glow fueling the first line of barriers. "Readying GyroBombs for liberation! Dropping in 3... 2..."

"Screee!" a large TinHawk guardian virus dove down from above, talons outstretched.

"Ack! Mayday! Mayday!" the helicopter-form navi yelped as he initiated evasive maneuvers and tried to angle for a return shot while Shadowman. exe dashed forwards below.

"Open the way, Muramasa," the navi shinobi gripped his sword as he approached the target and in a single motion, drew the blade and sliced through the barrier's power source. Along with a few small viruses that had popped up to defend it.

"The barrier is down!" Colonel. exe's voice sounded in the distance as the dark thunderhead rumbled as if in anticipation. "Press forward!"

"Oh I see how it is!" Gyroman. exe huffed as the TinHawk dissipated due to the souped-up SuperVulcan Lan had sent. "You keep up appearances while leading me into an ambush, eh? Plan to have your buddies take us out one by one?"

"Imbecile," the accused navi snorted. "You seemed intent on providing the distraction and I merely let you do so."

"Like I'd believe that! I'm going to bring the rest of these barriers down and no half-baked ambush is going to stop me! Keep up if you can!"


"DarkHole ahead!" Protoman. exe noted as the two teams rushed forwards.

"Leave it to us!" Roll. exe replied as she moved nearer to Gutsman. exe. "Ready Gutsman?"

"One fastball special, coming up!" the larger navi grinned and reared back one of his oversized hands in a pitcher's stance right as Roll. exe jumped to land in a crouch on the open palm. "GUTSSHOOT!"

Roll. exe was thrown forward wreathed in a corona of light to impact the DarkHole directly, deleting its guardian virus before it could even finish emerging to face her.

"Superb shot!" Knightman. exe complimented.

"Now it's our turn!" Magnetman. exe came up alongside the massive knight navi and extended his magnetic powers while Knightman. exe extended his chained mace right back. Both then hovered and crackled with electromagnetism, along with the chain stretched between them.

"MAGNET CHAIN!" they bellowed together and rushed through a patch of DarkPanels, destroying the viruses within and dissipating the murky miasma.

"Not bad..." the voice of the darkloid controlling the area rumbled with the dark thunderhead above. "But you're still too weak to defeat the likes of me!"

"Is it just me," Hub examined the thunderhead above, "or does anyone else feel like singing 'NetFrica' just to mess with this guy...?" (41)

"I hear the drums echoing tonight..." Protoman. exe sang so quietly it was practically a hum.

A few more hums that sounded like they could have been following lines were heard from Colonel. exe.

"The moonlit wings reflect the stars that guide me towards salvation..." Roll. exe picked up with a smile.

"I stopped an old man along tha way," Gutsman. exe joined in with his deep rumbling bass as he smashed a few viruses trying to ambush the group.

"Hoping to find some old forgotten words or ancient melodies," Knightman. exe and Magnetman. exe barely got out as they chuckled at the audacity of singing at a time like this. "He turned to me as if to say, 'Hurry boy, it's waiting there for you'."

"Stop that at once!" Cloudman. exe demanded angrily. "I despise that song!"

"It's gonna take a lot to drag me away from you," Lan's voice joined in over the connection, followed by Hub, just now getting over his amazement at the scene. "There's nothing that a hundred men or more could ever do."

"We bless the rains down in NetFrica..."


"That reminds the great Apollo... What are the Mighty Morphing Net Rangers up to?"


"Jammer!" Paulie cried in alarm as his navi was blown backwards from the blast. Four other navis groaned from prone positions deep inside the WaterGodComp as their single opponent laughed.

"Hehehehehe..." the darkly tainted GuardNavi; with limbs of dark gray, a body of navy blue, hands and feet of deepest purple, and a large antenna tipped with purple protruding from his dark gray head; chuckled as he stepped forward through the blast smoke and looked straight at his objective. A yellow figure sitting cross-legged behind a giant metal ovoid facemask with ornamental red lines on the cheeks and forehead, a blue circle in the center of the forehead with a blue wavy line like a river running down the middle of it, straight ridges above rectangular eyes that gave the appearance of a furrowed brow, a massive triangular nose, a rectangular-lipped mouth at the bottom, and what looked like blue and red hoses arranges like dreadlocks sprouting from behind. (42) The digital avatar of the WaterGod's control system. "And to think, when that idiotic tree navi deleted me, I thought it was all for nothing..."

"Ponta?" the worried voice of the ghost girl Yuko cried out pleadingly. "Ponta?! Say something!"

"Hold on Honami!" Koetsu frantically scrolled through options on his PET. There just had to be something here he could use...

"My time has finally come! Today the world will know my name as I corrupt the so-called 'Water God' and infuse the taint of DarkPower at the earliest access point of NetFrica's greatest river! Seeding the power of Darkness into the life-giving waters of half the continent!"

"But... that would..." Flave's eyes widened in horror at the implications.

"Damn you, you sick bastard...!" Testu growled from outside the comp as he and the other NetOps tried to revive their fallen navis in time to stop the agent of Nebula.

"And with my victory over the famous Net Rangers themselves," the modified GuardNavi turned to take in the five badly damaged navis trying to pick themselves up as he gloated, "I shall become famous! Known and feared the entire net over! The whole world shall know the name of BOMBERMAN! HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!"

"Hooohoohoohoohoo..." another voice joined in the laughter.

"HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!"

"Hoohoohoohoohoo...!"

"HAHAHAHA–Huh?" the self-proclaimed Bomberman. exe turned to look in the direction of the other laugh. All he saw was the large, almost navi-like, figure of the WaterGodComp's control system.

"Hoohoohoo...!" the system shook in time with the laughter. "Such a bold action to take, young one..."

"What in...?" the mad bomber stared at the laughing system as it moved.

"Hoohoohoo...! Tainting the waters of the whole river?" the figure slowly stood, stretching its thin limbs to lift the huge facemask off the ground, and the giant slab still pulled the figure's torso forwards in a bend until the bottom of the mask was level with the figure's knees. "I'm afraid I can't allow that... hoohoohoo...!"

The figure stepped forwards in a tottering sway, the space behind him rippling and leaving behind a utilitarian interface vaguely resembling a Mr. Prog.

"Who the hell are you?!" Bomberman. exe growled as he took a step back, taking a ready stance. "No system can just get up like that!"

"Hoohoohoo...!" the figure chortled in amusement. "You might say that I am the Water God this village has revered for ages. You might say that I am merely a water management program a bit too well made for its task. Hoohoohoo...! Such a conundrum! I suppose you may call me... Waterman... That is the naming system you kids use these days, right?" (43)

"Well, then, 'Waterman'," the invader sneered. "Prepare for deletion! ElectroBomb!"

The mad bomber navi threw a sparking explosive at the navi called Waterman. exe, who began doing a panicked dance as he watched the deadly explosive fly towards him.

"Oh me! Oh my! Oh–"

*Zapboom!*

"NO!" Paulie and a struggling Jammer cried out in horror as the explosive scored a direct hit.

"Oh right! Hoohoohoo...!" the voice of Waterman. exe laughed as the electric field dissipated to show he was unharmed, and dancing mockingly. "My mask makes for quite the shield! Hoohoohoohoohoo...!"

"Grr... Why you...!" Bomberman. exe fumed and readied more explosives. "CrossBomb!"

*Baboom!*

"Hoohoohoo...!"

"FlareBomb!"

*Fwabwoosh!*

"Not a chance, hoohoo...!"

"SpiceBomb!"

*SnapCracklePop!*

"A little to the left, sonnyboy! I've got an itch!"

"AquaBomb!"

"Hmm?" Waterman. exe perked up at the last and instead of letting it impact his mask, reached out and caught in in midair.

"Wha...?" Bomberman. exe stared in shock as his new opponent calmly held the device up to one of the mask's eyes.

"Hoo-hoo-hoo...!" Waterman. exe laughed. "Such an interesting device! Looks tasty, hoohoo...!"

And with that, the rectangular mouth on the mask dropped open for Waterman. exe to toss the aqua bomb into. The moment it closed, there was the sound of a muffled explosion and the river-management-system-turned-navi gained a bright blue glow.

"What are you...?"

"Hoohoohoo..." Waterman. exe laughed low and threatening. "Whether you think I am a god or a program makes little difference... Either way, I am a mighty river spirit, sonny... And you're trying to poison my waters... Such a transgression must be met with all the fury of the river itself..."

The mouth of the mask opened once more and the growing sound of rushing water could be heard from within it.

"RAGING RAPIDS!"


"Eeeheeheeheeheeheeheeeeee... Wipeout!" Apollo laughed as he started up a riff on his lyre.


"Objective in sight," Shadowman. exe readied his blade as he dashed forwards. "Ope–"

"GROWL!" a BigBrute burst forth from the dark mire directly in front of the shinobi and let loose a burst of flames, causing Shadowman. exe to halt his charge and leap backwards to avoid the attack.

"Looks like you didn't feed your pet on time!" Gyroman. exe laughed as he flew over the confrontation to the source of the next barrier. "Target acquired! Bomb Liberation!"

Shadowman. exe muttered several dark insults under his breath as he slashed the guardian virus with the Z-Saber Lan sent him while the imbecilic thrill-seeker continued to verbally pat himself on the back.


Lan sweatdropped at the intense rivalry developing between Gyroman. exe and Shadowman. exe.

"Man, if they keep that up..."

"Yeah," Hub replied from where he was with the main group, pressing forwards through the dark mire and sealing the DarkHoles, "it won't end well. I'll see if I can talk some sense into them..."

"Focus!" Colonel. exe's voice chastised. "We must seal these portals of darkness and remove the protections around the darkloid commander!"


With the final barrier down, the objective was plain to see. After all, it was surrounded by a near-constant barrage of sinister purple lightning bolts, in the middle of which sat Cloudman. exe.

"Okay, let's seal these last DarkHoles!" Protoman. exe urged the group.

"Excellent!" Gyroman. exe's voice interrupted as he flew by. "I'll go on ahead and take this Cloudman chump out the moment his protection comes down!"

"Gyroman, get back–!" Hub called after the helicopter navi.

"Fool!" Shadowman. exe dashed past at that moment. "You lack the finesse to slay one such as Cloudman. I shall complete the mission objective!"

"Oh for the love of–!"

"GROWL!"

"SCREEE!"

"Defeat the guardian viruses before they clear the DarkHoles!"

"Let's make things interesting, shall we?" Cloudman. exe's voice rumbled with the thunderhead above. "CrossSpark!"

Two bolts of sinister purple lightning lanced down from above, and two screams echoed across the tainted cyberscape.


"Roll! Gutsman!" Lan cried out in alarm.

"Nngh...!"

"W-we... can't m-move...!"

"Okay, that's it! Time to kick it up a notch! Triple Wideshot! Battlechips in! Download!"


Gyroman. exe grinned to himself as the barrier of lightning bolts slowed and vanished with the sealing of the final DarkHoles. Now he could fight the ruler of this area and see just how strong these 'darkloids' really were...

"Here I go! GyroBomb!" he yelled as he dropped bombs on the area below, deleting viruses and clearing away the dark mire leading to the target.

"Watch it, you fool!" Shadowman. exe snarled angrily as he dashed along below, narrowly avoiding the airstrike himself.

"What? Can't dodge a few little bombs?" Gyroman chuckled as he transformed and faced the thundercloud-bottomed navi Cloudman. exe.

"Just stay out of my way..." Shadowman. exe growled as he did the same.

"How amusing..." the darkloid said with a stoic frown, calmly raising his arms and forming multiple thunderclouds before him that glowed and shot electric balls at both his adversaries.

"Hah!" Gyroman. exe smirked as he danced around the shots and closed in on his opponent. "This is all you've got?"

"Clear the storm, Muramasa," Shadowman. exe intoned as he too dashed through the electric bolts and slashed through the clouds firing them.

"Hey!" the helicopter navi yelped. "You almost cut me!"

"I said to stay out of my way," Shadowman. exe scoffed.

"Yeah, right! I knew you were waiting for a chance to backstab me all along!"

"If you wish a fight, I am willing to oblige you," the ninja sneered and readied his blade.

"By all means, don't mind me," Cloudman. exe's voice penetrated their confrontation. They turned to look, but all they could see was a sea of the darkloid's clouds, along with one twice the size of Knightman. exe that was already upon them.

"Gaaaahhh...!"

"Nnnngh...!"

"Hahaha!" Cloudman. exe's disembodied voice laughed as both navis were electrified by the thundercloud.

"T-tornado Arm!" Gyroman. exe gasped out as he formed a wind to blow away the clouds, but as he did a barrage of giant shuriken were thrown by Shadowman. exe and the attacks intercepted each other and were sent off-target. "D-damn you..."

"S-stop interfering..." the ninja grunted back.

"It ends now!" Cloudman. exe popped out of one of his clouds. "CrossSpark!"

A bolt of purple lightning lanced down directly in between both navis and exploded into a long-lasting cross-shaped burst of electrical energy on impact.

"GAH!"

"NGH!"

"LeaderRaid!"


A cavalry charge sounded in Hephaestus's office as the forge god wondered where the heck Apollo had been keeping the bugle horn.


"Knightman!" Hub called as Colonel. exe and Protoman. exe engaged Cloudman. exe. "Stand guard over these two!"

"I shall guard them with my life!" the armored navi took his position, similar to how Magnetman. exe was even now protecting the recovering Roll. exe and Gutsman. exe.

"Good, now WHAT IS WRONG WITH YOU TWO?!" Hub demanded of the injured mercenaries, looking like he was seriously considering slapping them both upside their heads like he'd seen on some cop drama Dex had talked everyone into watching.

"I'm j-just making sure t-this traitor..." Gyroman. exe grit his teeth as sparks raced over his form.

"Hmp-ph... Y-you are only concern-ned with s-showboating..." Shadowman. exe did the same.

"Oh for the love of... I cannot believe you two!" Hub yelled. "I get rivalry, really, but trying to have it out right in front of someone who wants to kill all of us?! What did you think was going to happen?!"

"G-gotta–"

"What?" Hub interrupted sharply. "Prove yourself? Show everyone you can take out people like Nebula all on your own?"

"As I th-thought... He lacks–"

"Discipline?" Hub cut in mercilessly. "And just where was yours a few seconds ago, hmm?"

"H-he's a–"

"No, both of you shut it right now. Gyroman, I get that you're thrilled to be going up against strong opponents. I get that you see this as some big adventure. I do too. As bad as things are, I also feel the thrill of fighting at the highest level possible. Of being challenged by strong opponents. Shadowman, I know what it's like to have the darkness whisper at you. To be tempted to take the easy way out, but have the discipline to see things through no matter how hard it is. But–"

Bolts of purple lightning rained down from the battle a short distance away and a cry of pain was heard from one of their allies.

"Look," Hub decided to get straight to the point. "I don't care whether you two see this as the adventure of a lifetime or just another mission to complete, but what I need you both to understand is that no one can do this alone. You can't. I can't. They can't. So either you put whatever problems you have aside until later or you stay out of everyone else's way."

The two mercenary navis traded a quick look with each other.

"I'll fog you up! DarkCloud!"

"Gah!"

Hub swore and readied himself to enter the fray.

"Truce?" Shadowman. exe offered.

"Truce nothing," Gyroman. exe grinned and offered his hand to the other navi. "I have an idea..."

Shadowman. exe snorted in amusement and took the hand.

"Cavalry's coming!" a shout came from the distance as a recovered Roll. exe and Gutsman. exe charged in along with Magnetman. exe.

"Get ready!" Magnetman. exe floated up alongside Roll. exe as they closed in. "MAGNET FLASH!"

Cloudman. exe reared back from the flash of light the two navis produced as Gutsman. exe jumped into the air for a descending hammer blow from his fists. As this happened, Hub watched the former rivals fly up into the air, Shadowman. exe clinging to the rails of Gyroman. exe's helicopter form.

Shaking his head, Hub got ready to enter the fray himself as he felt the resonance of souls.

And promptly tripped over his own feet as he felt it a second time.

"Rgh..." Cloudman. exe growled as he recovered from Gutsman. exe's hammer blow. "Feel the wrath of my divine punishment!"

"No, you feel the wrath of ours!" Gyroman. exe and Shadowman. exe announced together as they both entered freefall straight for the darkloid. The former readying his Tornado Arm blasters while the latter manifested several giant shuriken.

"CROSSSP–"

"KAMIKAZE!"


Apollo whistled lowly at the sight. "Shuriken-laced whirlwind? Nice. The great Apollo is duly impressed and... Are you taking notes, brother?"

"I think it's been awhile since I gave 'dear old dad' a present..." the forge god grinned maliciously.

"Do let the predictive Apollo know when you plan to gift it so he can set up the cameras beforehand."


"Agh! Defeated...? It... cannot be...! But... hehehe... I don't think you'll... be making it out... alive...! Hahahahaha...!"

With that, the form of Cloudman. exe began to glow brightly with the sinister purple color of DarkPower.

"Magnet Barrier!"

"IronBody!"

"Sanctuary! Battlechip in, download!"

The electrical detonation formed like a massive lightning bolt and punched a hole in the thunderhead above, but otherwise was mostly absorbed by the hastily raised defenses.


Lan wiped sweat from his forehead as the darkness in the area of Scilab's net began dissipating rapidly with the removal of the darkloid maintaining it.

"Whew... commanding that many navis is tiring... And it feels like I'm forgetting something..."


Hub was in a mild state of shock as the dark miasma saturating the area dissipated. The events of Nebula's occupation of the net may have been proceeding in a strange mish-mash of both sets of conflicting memories with the inevitable results of his and Lan's changes mixed in; that Dex had joined Baryl and Colonel's team back on Oran and Mayl had joined Chaud and Protoman's was proof enough of that; but that had been not entirely unexpected.

The meeting with Dark Miyabi and Shadowman. exe at the park had been half-expected. That it was followed by Charlie and Gyroman. exe attacking Tesla and leading them on the wild goose chase from Oran to Scilab had been odd. The resulting fight between Shadowman. exe and Gyroman. exe that ended in the start of a joint mission to liberate Scilab had been surreal.

Yet somehow, between the more heavily fortified darkloid position in Scilab than either he or Lan recalled and the heated rivalry between the two mercenary navis, Hub had achieved a soul resonance with both Shadowman. exe and Gyroman. exe. That... had never happened before. The soul resonance had only ever happened between himself and one other navi at a time, both in current events and in his memories of other timelines, and he was lost in thought over the implications behind this new development.

So lost that he almost didn't hear Lan's warning.

"Hub! It's a trap!" Lan shouted just as the cloud of DarkPower appeared and went for him.

Had he really been paying attention, he could have dodged it. However, the moment it took him and the others to adjust to the sudden development was a moment too long. The dark cloud engulfed him and he heard Lan shouting as he lost consciousness.


"Well, damn..." Apollo swore as the success chances dropped by a whopping 50%.


Mayl sighted down the arrow at the hay targets in the distance and tried to clear her mind of anything except the target and Roll. exe. In cyberspace, Roll. exe was doing the same thing on the cyberspace archery range, only focusing on her connection to Mayl. When they were ready and in perfect sync, they would both fire their arrows.

Or at least that was the idea. As Mayl went to release hers, the connection with her navi twinged, throwing her aim off and sending the arrow wide. It had been like this since...

Since Megaman. exe had been taken by Nebula.

Roll. exe was worried about what was happening to him, and Mayl was worried about the effect it was having on Lan. The worry of each fed on the worry of the other when they synched up in a recursive feedback loop that inevitably destroyed any concentration they gained.

"I see you're still having trouble," Andou observed as she walked up, prompting Mayl to lower her bow and turn towards the young miko.

"I'm sorry, it's just..."

"I understand," Andou waved her off. "The pain of losing a friend is very powerful indeed. There is no shame in what you feel. But if you wish to aid your friend, you will need to focus past your pain. To turn what you feel into an aid for your focus rather than a hindrance."

"I know, but..."

"It is difficult," the voice of Stargirl. exe agreed. "When Andou restored me from the remaining data of Starman, I felt anger at the one who defeated my previous incarnation even though I only barely knew who he was and she felt anger at the ones who had deleted her former navi. It took us both time to move past that anger and work as one."

"But the both of you already work as one very well," Andou continued. "You simply must discover how to handle what you both feel and focus past it. It will be difficult, but I have faith in you both."

"Thanks..." Mayl smiled.

"That said, I was wondering if you would be willing to watch the shrine for a while?" Andou asked. "My cousin and her friends have found a way to infiltrate her island's network and–"

"Woooo!" the boisterous cheer from a somewhat heavyset man with a drill-shaped pompadour charged towards them.

"Hello Moliarty," Mayl turned and bowed in greeting.

"Didja hear?" the man wasted no time. "Mr. Press found a way into Lilly's home network! Scissor Island's gonna be liberated in no time! We're all going to charge in and give the bastards what-for! You coming?"

"Roll and I couldn't reliably hit the broad side of a barn right now," Mayl reluctantly admitted. "But I'm sure you all will do just fine. After all, you have Andou and Stargirl on your side!"

"Damn straight we do!"


"Ah, pardon me, ladies. I need to run a quick errand. I'll be back shortly. Hephaestus knows how to get ahold of me if there's an emergency. Good day to you."

Brynhildr, Eir, and Herfjötur were a bit worried. When Apollo had exited the inner office, they'd been expecting another round of bad pickup lines, self-inflating boasts, and not-really-veiled-at-all suggestions of possible intimate activity.

They hadn't been expecting the Olympian layabout to give the three of them a respectful nod and march out into the hall with business-like calm and demeanor.

"Was that really Apollo?" Herfjötur finally gave voice to what they were all thinking. "Where did the infamous Olympian beach bum go?"

"I have no idea, but I doubt it bodes well for the current activation attempt," Brynhildr replied to an agreeing nod from Eir.


"Focus!" Kaneda barked at his hefty student. "Anger can be a potent tool, but only when tightly controlled! You must rule your anger, and not let it rule you!"

"Easy for you to say..." Dex growled as he glared at the sandbag before him like it was personally responsible for everything that had gone wrong. "You didn't watch one of your best friends get swallowed up like..."

"The weakness of others is no excuse for your own failings! Your friend was unequal to the task before him and so you must–"

What Dex 'must' was drowned out in a bellow of rage as he turned and charged the older man in fury. His first punch was contemptuously caught in the older man's hand, as was the other one Dex tried to power through in his berserk fury. But Dex didn't stop even with both hands captured and launched himself in a rising headbutt that caught the man by surprise in the nose.

Dex's moment of triumph was short lived, as Mr. Kaneda responded almost instantly with a knee to Dex's stomach followed by a vicious series of blows that left the large boy groaning on the mat.

"And that is why you are yet unworthy," Mr. Kaneda snorted. "Weak operators make for weak navis and weakness is not tolerated by those who follow the way of the Fist."

"Why you..." Gutsman. exe's voice growled from Dex's PET. "Why don't you put yer money where yer mouth is in a netbattle! We'll pulverize ya, legendary Fist navi or no!"

"The weakest dogs still bark the loudest, it seems," the voice of Mr. Kaneda's legendary fighting navi snorted from the older man's PET.

"Yes," the man crossed his arms pointedly. "Which is why we've arranged for an interim trainer who may be more your speed. When she is finished with you, perhaps you will be ready to begin in earnest."

"Oh, stuff it 'uncle'," a woman's voice sneered from the doorway, prompting a recovering Dex to turn and look. "I only came because no one deserves having to put up with the self-righteous BS you call 'training'. There's a reason my sister and your son stopped speaking to you."

"T-Tamako?" Dex groaned out in pain and confusion as he looked at the woman, recognizing her as the aunt of Lan's friend Mamoru.

"Had my son and his wife done the sensible thing and–"

"I said stuff it, old man," Tamako growled while fingering her bladed hair clip threateningly. "I may not be able to beat you in a fair fight, but if you finish that sentence, I promise I will leave you less of a man..."

"Hmph..." Mr. Kaneda snorted disdainfully and turned away. "As you wish. The boy is your problem now."

With that, Mr. Kaneda left the room and pointedly shut the door behind him.

"W-what was that all...?" Dex grunted out as he tried to stand past his aching everything.

"Don't you worry about that now," Tamako moved to help Dex stand. "Just focus on healing, and then I'll be teaching you the way of the Fist in place of the idiot old man. Who knows? Maybe you'll be the one to finally put the stubborn old fart in his place."


Hephaestus worried as he examined the activation attempt for the umpteenth time, looking for any possible way to alleviate the current circumstances. DarkSouls were problematic things to begin with, which meant there was every possibility that one that sprouted within a looper could become a serious problem down the line.

Fortunately, there was a method of dealing with the issue preemptively called the Grima Patch. The particular patch prevented any manner of potentially dangerous entities from hitching a ride on a looper's code and becoming a looper themselves, provided the entity was a natural, and thus recognized, part of the Loop's code. What made the Grima Patch unique among such counter measures was that it could even lock out potentially dangerous entities from looping that were technically soul-bound to the looper in question, such as DarkSouls. The end result was that DarkSouls were unable to Loop at all, instead being limited to becoming Loop Aware when they manifested within an Awake looper. As a bonus, visiting loopers would be highly unlikely to keep their DarkSoul after a fused Loop.

Unfortunately, like most every bit of coding, there was a loophole. One that wasn't even worth mentioning most of the time, but in the current situation was like the fifty-ton pink elephant in the room. That loophole being that if Hub (or Lan for that matter) ended the activation attempt with a DarkSoul in control of their being, Yggdrasil would interpret that as their normal state and the DarkSoul would become the looping Hub (or Lan).

Hephaestus would sooner terminate the attempt himself than let that happen. Either to the Loops or to the Hikari twins.

Fortunately, the activation was far from over, and there was a good chance that Hub would recover. It would be painful and hard, given that the DarkSoul naturally possessed all the knowledge that Hub himself did. Including foreknowledge.

But that wasn't even the worst of it.


"How very interesting..." Dr. Regal pondered what his newest Darkloid had told him. How very interesting indeed...

"It's all true, Doctor," Dark Megaman grinned widely. "This body heard the whole thing from a visitor from another universe in fact. Time is repeating itself across the entire multiverse, and this boy is one of the ones cherry-picked to remember these 'Loops'. If you could only see the vast store of information he has on the years to come..."

"I suppose it is fortunate then that I have you to enlighten me," Dr. Regal smiled darkly. "Now, tell me again about the events you saw in Megaman's memories. And do please spare no detail this time..."


Lan shot up in bed, panting, wondering if what he'd just seen had been some sort of vision or just a nightmare. It had been Hub... strapped to a table...

"Just a dream..." he told himself. He wasn't entirely sure if he believed it. It felt like... It felt like a part of his soul had been ripped out when Hub was abducted... Like there was no point in continuing...


"Lan's up in his room," Mrs. Hikari told her visitor. "He's been depressed for a few days, doesn't say much, doesn't get on the net at all, barely eats... I'm really worried about him."

"Don't worry, Mrs. Hikari," the diminutive girl smiled. "We'll have him back on his feet in no time."


He sat and listened in on the two as they discussed the current situation. He'd been observing the developing situation for a while now since Dr. Hikari had been abducted, wondering what his role in the current drama was to be.

"The boy needs a stern reminder of what's at stake," the older man stated. "His skills are too valuable to waste feeling sorry for himself."

"What he needs is a target," the younger figure, a boy in name only, shook his head. "Something to unleash his anger on instead of turning it inwards at himself."

"He needs some sense knocked into him," the man rebutted. "This is no time to be soft."

"He needs his drive back," the other argued. "And there's no one better to do it than us."

"I disagree. He needs discipline and a replacement for his lost navi." (44)

"On that last part, we can agree. Though he has far more experience with my navi than yours."

"He is nothing if not a fast learner."

Hmm... Perhaps he'd found his role after all.


"Oh, hey Yai... What's up?" Lan's morose tone drifted down the stairs to where Mrs. Hikari was listening.

"What's up?! What's up?! I'll tell you what's up! Glide's informed me that you aren't answering your messages and that Megaman seems to be missing! Dex and Mayl both confirmed it even if they won't tell me what the hell happened! And now I learn that you're just moping around feeling sorry for yourself?!"

"Look, Yai, you wouldn't understand... I–"

"I 'wouldn't understand', huh? Here! Let me show you my 'not understanding'!"

"Hey, wait! What are–"

A sound followed that Mrs. Hikari had typically only heard when her son rolled out of bed on accident.

"Geez! Yai, what was–"

"I'll tell you what I understand, Lan! I understand that if Megaman saw you sitting around feeling sorry for yourself like this, then he'd tell you to get up off your sorry butt and do something about it! So that's what you're going to do if I have to kick you into gear myself!"

"What–Ow! Hey! Cut it–Ow! Those hurt you–Ow! Stop kicking me in the shins alrea–OW!"


"I must say, I am surprised you came here of your own volition," Baryl noted as he took in Lan's presence in the command center. "We were about to send you a message summoning you."

"Let's just say I got a few swift kicks," Lan winced, resisting the urge to rub his sore shins.

"I see..." Baryl noted.

"Lan," Chaud began, "you are an invaluable asset to our teams and with Megaman's capture, you need a navi to operate. After much debate," Chaud shot Baryl a stern glare that the other team commander didn't acknowledge, "we've decided that the navi you will be operating will be–"

"Me," a voice cut in from the giant screen behind both team leaders. Lan looked up to see a face he'd not encountered for a while.

"Zero?" he blurted incredulously. (45)

"What are you doing here?" Chaud turned to glare at the viral navi hotly.

"I have just as much a stake in the return of Dr. Hikari as anyone," Zero. exe returned calmly. "After all, he is my registered NetOp."

"You're my dad's NetNavi?" Lan blinked in total astonishment. This he hadn't seen coming. Not by a long shot.

"He was kind enough to make the offer after we parted ways," Zero. exe informed him, ignoring the joint dirty looks from both Chaud and Baryl. "Though I see he has successfully ignored my advice to tell you about the arrangement."

"Dad's generally busy," Lan defended while rubbing his head sheepishly.

"I know exactly how busy he is," Zero. exe retorted. "I'm the one who helps with his experiments after all, along with managing his schedule. But you haven't said whether you will accept me as your navi in place of Megaman for the time being."

"Absolutely not," Baryl insisted, folding his arms resolutely.

"Agreed," Chaud mirrored the stance.

"Thanks Zero," Lan wiped a tear out of his eye as he prepared his PET. "I accept."

"Lan!" Chaud whipped around. "You can't be serious!"

"He's a virus!" Baryl agreed. "A possible agent of Nebula!"

"He's a friend and I trust him," Lan said as his PET chimed the completion of Zero. exe's data transfer. "And besides, he's the one navi I know my brother won't be prepared for."


"Fools!" the darkloid holding Scissor island boasted. "You cannot best the one who flies free under the dark sky!"

"That's... nngh... what you think..." Windman. exe grunted as he strained to try and control the dark tempest corrupting the temple's network beyond recognition. But try as he might, the winds did not heed his divine command.

"As if your pathetic winds are a match for those of darkness!" the darkloid's laugh was carried by the howling winds rather than being drowned out by them. "Mewling little pretend god! You and your allies have no power here! Return from whence you came!"

"I'm... losing... my..." Stargirl. exe strained to hold on to Groundman. exe to avoid being blown away by the dark tempest.

"No you're not," Dustman. exe and Groundman. exe insisted together, continuing to use their larger and heavier navi bodies to guard their three teammates against the worst of the storm.

Three, you wonder? Well, the last was a recent addition. Picked up just outside the entrance to the temple's network worrying about the disappearance of his NetOp and the man's son. The navi without whom, they might not have even gotten inside. A navi by the name of Hatman. exe.

"Yes! Stand together in false bonds of friendship!" the darkloid laughed. "Make yourselves all the bigger a target for me! Lark Drive!"

The avian-themed darkloid dived suddenly out of the tempest winds, scything straight for the team known to themselves as the Wind Followers, intending to cut them down all in one swoop.

"Hat Trick!" Hatman. exe called out, and the group of navis was suddenly replaced by a line of top hats. The darkloid tore through two of them with ease even as the others were blown away to reveal... nothing.

"A pretty trick!" the now-angry darkloid screeched as he returned to the concealing winds. "But they will not save you from me forever! None can outrun Larkman for long!"


"How does End Area look Zero?" Lan asked. Chaud and Baryl, along with their navis, had argued about the arrangement for a good long while, but they'd accepted it in the end. Baryl more reluctantly than Chaud. Lan suspected his own stubbornness had played a role in that, along with the fact that there were still missions that needed to be carried out no matter what anyone's personal feelings on the matter were.

He'd had to resist the urge to ask Zero. exe to take a picture of Baryl though. While Chaud had just settled into his 'I hope you know what you're doing' look, Baryl's face looked like he'd been sucking on a lemon for the entire mission briefing.

"Like someone's been overclocking it way past intended parameters," Zero. exe reported as he looked upon the angrily red cyberscape. From the floor, to the walls, to the wallpaper background, to the air itself. And this wasn't even Nebula's stronghold area.

Lan watched on as Zero. exe walked through the eerily empty cyberscape, towards where they could both feel the source of DarkPower radiating. Until suddenly Zero. exe stopped cold and ignited his Z-Saber. Lan's breath hitched, knowing what was coming.

"Show yourself," the former virus demanded.

"Well, well," a heart-breakingly familiar voice sounded as the cyberscape rippled and a dark portal formed from nothing to produce exactly who Lan was expecting, and exactly who he'd been hoping it wouldn't be. Dark Megaman, in all his sinister glory. "I must say, this is a surprise. Zero."

"Megaman," Zero. exe glared at the figure, neither moving to attack nor stand down in the slightest.

"I am Dark Megaman," the twisted parody of Lan's brother grinned madly, "but Lan already knew that didn't he? Master Regal has placed me in charge of this area in preparation for your coming, over the... rather vocal protests of its former commander. But I must say... I was expecting Protoman... Or even Colonel! What an unexpected twist of events this is! I wonder though... Is dear old Zero prepared to do what's necessary?"

"Try me and find out," the viral navi glared stoically.

"Hehehe..." Dark Megaman grinned. "So ready to cut down the life of the one who saved you?"

"Ready to repay a debt in kind," Zero. exe replied without hesitation.

"Now, now... You both know you can't be soft when you're up against Nebula! Hahahaha–hrrgh!"

Dark Megaman's body shuddered violently and he clutched his chest.

"Z...Zero..." Hub's voice struggled from within, "hurry... and..."

"Hyaah!" Dark Megaman's body pulsed with DarkPower and he regained control. "Hehehe... right on schedule even..."

"What?" Zero. exe blinked in confusion.

"That's right, Lan... No easy way out for you two this time... I've got dear old Hub right where we want him!"

Three Nebula HeelNavis appeared between the two right then.

"Now, if you'll excuse me, I've got preparations to make and plans to adjust. Have fun you two!" Dark Megaman taunted before vanishing the same way he'd appeared.

"Kehehehe..." one of the HeelNavis chuckled. "Leave it to us. This pathetic navi don't stand a chance..."

"You will need far more than you've brought to stand a chance," Zero. exe declared.

"What makes you think there isn't a lot more of us?" the Nebula navis chuckled as more appeared in Zero. exe's way. Over a dozen in fact.

"A light warm-up," Zero. exe stated confidently. "You would need hundreds to even give me pause."

"Oh?" the Nebula navis didn't seem intimidated. "That so? Well..."

More Nebula navis appeared along the path to Nebula's holdings, all generic navis of varying types, all individually weak, but all steeped in DarkPower and all completely unafraid of how many might fall to their foe's blade.

"...hundreds we got." (46)

"Lan, I believe a tactical reassessment is in order," Zero. exe advised.

"Yeah, I think you're right..." Lan agreed with a gulp. That was a lot more navis than he recalled.


"Dust Bre–ARGH!" Dustman. exe screamed as he was struck, before falling over, body sparking.

"Hahahahaha!" Larkman. exe's laugh echoed along the tempest winds. "One down! Soon there will be nowhere left for you to run!"

"No," Groundman. exe growled, bracing his treads against the dark storm as he took aim at the guardian beast before him, "soon there will be nowhere for you to run! Rock! Crush!"

"Lark Cutter!"

The bird-shaped projectile carved through Groundman. exe, but the drill-themed navi didn't even pause as his treads revved ever faster and his drills whined at higher and higher pitches as they spun.

"BREAKER!"

The guardian virus perished with a great cry as the last of the area's Dark Holes was sealed with its demise and the dark tempest they fueled slowly became still dead air.


"Lan..." Zero. exe's voice spoke up moments after Lan had jacked him out. "Would you care to explain why Dark Megaman said 'right on schedule' when Megaman tried to break through his control?"

"It's... complicated..." Lan hedged.

"I see... Would this manner of complicated be why he was expecting Protoman or Colonel in my place? An expectation that would only have made sense if one was privvy to the debate between Chaud and Baryl earlier?"

Lan remained silent as Zero. exe waited patiently for an explanation, until–

*Ring-ring-ring!*

"Looks like a request from Chaud asking us to report in," Zero. exe sighed. "I suppose this will have to wait."

"No..." Lan replied. "Ask him to meet us somewhere. I... I think he needs to know this too..."


"I... I've decided... to give you my blood!"

Django just looked at the turned back and carefully exposed neck of his girlfriend and sighed.

"No, Lita..."

"Please?"

"Lita, I'm not going to bite you."

"Not even a teeny little nip?"

"No, Lita..." Django facepalmed.

"Well, poo..." Lita pouted, folding her arms. "How am I supposed to have an excuse for turning into a sexy werewolf girl and joining you on your immortal hunts this Loop, then?" (47)

"Why not use the 'mysterious Earth Maiden powers' excuse like you usually do?" Django folded his arms right back.

"Because that's not nearly as fun as you biting me," Lita insisted with a blush.

Django resisted the urge to pinch his nose. This wasn't the first time they'd had this argument after all. On the one hand, the fact that Lita didn't mind Django's half-vampire nature that he'd picked up many times over was heartwarming. On the other, she seemed to enjoy it a little too much at times.

"Lita..." Django trailed off, really not sure what he wanted to say to her.

"Well, I suppose I could always go the plant mistress route if you prefer..." Lita trailed off before doing a little twirl of magic, resulting in...

"GA–" Django slapped his hands over both his nose and eyes while trying to barricade any possible view of his girlfriend from the door with his body. "Put some clothes on!" he hissed in as loud a whisper as he dared.

"I'll have you know this is appropriate for a girl with plant powers and is perfectly modest!" Lita huffed.

"Only in the most liberal of societies on a technicality!" Django hissed back, resisting the urge to peek through his fingers.

"He's right," a new voice added. "The vines and leaves look is less 'battle maiden' and more 'illicit meeting in a secluded summer glen'. Though I do admit it's a good look for you. Seriously, Django, you shouldn't be ashamed to see your girlfriend like this, especially when she's doing it just for you."

"..."

"EEEEEEEKK!" Lita screamed and Django leaped between her and the new voice, readying both his Gun Del Sol and his Sol de Vice in case it was...

"Damnit Apollo..." Django glared at the smirking face of his Admin, "do you know how to knock?!"

"Yes, but this was more amusing," Apollo replied in a matter-of-fact way that set alarms blaring in Django's head. The solar boy glanced from the Admin to his girlfriend who was hiding behind him and doing her best to cover up with her arms, hands, and the vines that pretended at being a garment. A wave of Apollo's arm and she was suddenly dressed in a fine priestess robe of blues and greens with wisps of white. "I hope that will do as an apology, Lita, but pro tip? In the future if you're going to tease your boyfriend by threatening to wear something out in public, make sure you're actually willing to wear it out in public."

"What's this about, Apollo?" Django asked. "If you're dropping the act, it has to be important."

"Right to the point, eh? Well, it's about the new guys you met recently actually."

"Hub and Lan?"

"Got it in one," the sun god nodded. "You see, you have a bit more in common with them than you might think. And Hub's gonna need your guidance when you meet again."

"Well, I'll be sure to help however I can next Loop we cross paths, but–"

"Not next Loop, this Loop," Apollo corrected. "And Hub'll be coming here this time."

"...I thought you said the other points weren't stable enough?" Django's face hardened as Lita rested a hand on his shoulder.

"I did," Apollo admitted, "but recent events over in their Loop just made the kind of guidance you can offer that much more critical to them getting through their activation in one piece."

Django remained quiet, before performing a gesture with his hand, his fingertips becoming claws, his skin turning a bluish gray, his clothes turning black and dark shades, his canines elongating, his goggles elongating into a beak-like mask, and his crimson scarf flaring like a pair of wings. His Dark Trance form activated by tapping his half-vampire nature. He felt Lita's comforting embrace from behind as he spoke. "This is about the power of darkness, isn't it...?"

"Indeed it is," Apollo admitted. "As we speak, your friend Hub is trapped in its embrace. I foresee him breaking out of it, thanks in no small part to Lan and their very determined mutual friends, but it's a part of him now. He will need guidance in how to deal with it, how to resist its seductive whispers, and even... how to use it if he's to come out the other side of all of this in one piece."

"What do I–?"

"Whatever you think best," Apollo interrupted. "I don't always foresee details, and in this case I foresee precious few. I don't know exactly how, I just know that your guidance is going to be critical to Hub and Lan getting through their activation intact. Which is why I've arranged for both of the upcoming crossing points to be possible despite any potential problems. Plus... I did a little tweaking for the next one..."

"What did you do?" Django groaned.

"That's a surprise," Apollo winked. "Any more questions?"

"Yes, actually," Lita spoke up. "It's... I've been wondering for a while... but..."

"Yes?"

"Well..." Lita took a deep breath. "I looked up mythology last time we were in the Hub and most of the immortals and other enemies Django faces have names similar to figures from Norse mythology... But..."

"You're Greek," Django nodded.

"Honestly surprised this didn't come up sooner," Apollo shrugged. "Yeah, the Aesir were pretty hot to have you on their ticket, but, well, I had a vision that helping run this place would be a hoot and a half and made sure to beat them to it." Apollo then grinned at the memory. "Man, was Frey mad when I got the job." (48)


"Hmm..." Chaud laced his fingers together as he sat in the currently empty Den Dome, digesting what Lan had told him. "As fantastic as it sounds, it fits with what I've observed about you."

"What?" Lan blinked in astonishment. "Really?"

"Yes," Chaud reiterated. "Leaving aside the fantastic tale about meeting someone from a fictional universe, having your consciousness sent back in time would explain your exceptionally high level of foresight regarding certain events. You have literally done this before."

"Not exactly like this," Lan admitted.

"Of course," Chaud acknowledged. "The more you change events, the greater they diverge from what you remember. Nebula and the WWW's plans have likely only remained largely the same because they have been in motion for much longer than your alterations could affect."

"So, you are not going to conclude that Lan is crazy?" Zero. exe asked for clarification from Lan's PET.

"Of course not," Chaud scoffed, waiting for the sigh of relief he knew the other boy would let out before continuing. "Lan's always been crazy."

"Ye–HEY!"

Chaud just smirked as Lan fumed at the dig, allowing himself a few moments enjoyment before he had to be serious again.

"But this also means that it's safe to assume that Dr. Regal and Nebula now know everything about the previous future that you and Megaman knew," Chaud's tone turned grim.

"Futures," Lan corrected him. "Our memories about events have been conflicting lately. One set has you leading a team, the other set has Baryl, but neither set has both."

"Duly noted," Chaud accepted the correction. "It still means that we should be prepared to hit countermeasures designed for each member of the team, including those that haven't joined yet..."


"Release the NetOps you've taken hostage at once!" the spandex-wearing clod who called himself Commander Beef demanded of the Nebula agent.

"Where the hell did you guys crawl out of?!" he demanded, looking them over. The mildly overweight Commander Beef in his budget spandex and sentai helmet, the masked ladies Black Rose and Misteriyu, even that Racer X kid in his yellow and black tracksuit masked with racing helmet and goggles.

"It doesn't matter, foul villain!" the Racer X kid – seriously, who the hell did these guys think they were?! – accused. "Surrender and face justice!"

"Like hell, you litt–"

"Dmitri," a voice cut into the Nebula agent's headset.

"Yes, Dr. Regal?" he whispered back, causing the self-styled superheroes to tense up.

"I have a new assignment for you."

"I'm kind of under attack at the moment, boss, so–"

A door behind him crashed as it was knocked off its hinges and he turned to see a tall straight-backed man in a train conductor's uniform and a mask, and holding a rather large pocketwatch, stroll in.

"Another one?!"

"The Iron Countryman reports successful rescue of the hostages, Commander Beef! Operation: Chameleon Capture proceeding on schedule!" the newcomer saluted and placed his oversized pocketwatch back in his pocket in a single motion.

"It sounds as if your current mission is a loss," Dr. Regal stated dryly over the man's helmet. "Just as well, this new mission is of far greater importance. Escape and contact me when you are secure."

"...Damnit!" the Nebula Agent known as Dimitri pulled out several smoke bombs and threw them.


"...and I have to admit that Zero may very well be our most valuable asset in the coming fight," Chaud sighed, "given that he's the navi whose abilities you and Megaman knew the least about."

"Personally," Protoman. exe piped up from Chaud's PET, "I'm wondering why you're telling us all this now. I doubt you were planning to. And why just us and not Baryl and Colonel?"

Chaud raised an eyebrow to support the inquiry, locking his gaze on Lan and making the other boy sweat.

"Okay... yeah... If we could have avoided Dr. Regal learning about the whole time travel and loop thing, then... you're right, we'd have kept quiet. I probably should have told Zero immediately after he agreed to be my temporary netnavi, but I couldn't even try to hide it after Dark Megaman blew the secret right in front of him. As for you two, I trust you guys completely, and..."

"Are you saying there's a reason not to trust Baryl and Colonel?" Chaud seemed surprised.

"NO!" Lan denied quickly. "No! At least, not while we're fighting Nebula... And so much is already different that I can't even be sure that what happened after that the first time for me even will anymore, so..."

"Right," Chaud nodded, "no judging people for a crime they might not even commit."

"Yeah, no, what I meant was that... in one of the future missions we'll be running, there's going to be an ambush, like the one that got Hub. First time around, it got either Protoman or Colonel."

"And you want us to be on the watch so neither are captured."

Lan looked pained at the assumption. "I'm... not sure that'll be possible. You see... If I remember correctly... The attack wasn't on either of them, it was on someone else and they jumped to protect only to be captured in the other's place. No time to think, just react."

Chaud was silent for several moments.

"I am sorry, Lord Chaud," Protoman. exe broke the silence, "but I would not act differently even if you ordered me to."

"Nor would I even consider doing so," Chaud sighed in acceptance. "Same with Baryl and Colonel."

"We got them back in the end," Lan said, "just..."

"Let me guess," Chaud smirked. "Colonel had to help save Protoman in one set of events and vice versa in the other."

"Yeah..."

"Do not forget that this time I am a part of events," Zero. exe reminded them. "I shall be willing to aid in the recovery of either Protoman or Colonel should the time come, even both if necessary."

"The sentiment is appreciated," Chaud nodded. "However, we still need to figure out how to deal with an army of Nebula mooks guarding their holdings in End Area. That many is best dealt with by a navi who has wide area of effect abilities. We need a crowd-clearer, not navis more suited to single strong opponents or small groups. Though I have a suspicion you already know where we can find one."

"That depends on whether or not you had a mission for me regarding a certain cruise ship named the Queen Bohemia and a party hosted by Ubercorp," Lan smirked.

Chaud blinked rapidly. "Lan... how much have you been suppressing your need to talk about this to others?"

"You have no idea!"


"Again!" Tamako yelled to the two boys she was training.

Two, one might wonder? Dex had been a bit surprised to learn that he wasn't the only one Tamako was training. However, the other trainee wasn't learning the art of the fist.

He was learning the art of the blade.

"HAAAH!"

*Thunk*

Just... not a sword.

No, the boy Dingo, from the island of Jawaii and apparently good enough with his navi Tomahawkman. exe to compete in the Red Sun tournament even if he had lost in the first round, was learning the art of the axe. He was apparently referred to Tamako by a guy named Raoul, which made Dex wonder how a top Netopian netbattler knew Tamako. Regardless, Dex thought Dingo was a cool guy, even if he did have a weird habit of using his axe, or 'tomahawk' Dingo insisted it was called, to help him make decisions.

As for Tamako's training, Dex thought she was way better than the old man once you got past the fact that she wasn't as famous. She had even higher standards if that was possible, but she knew which buttons to push to work him harder and which subjects were taboo.

Like suggesting someone was weak just because they got ambushed once.

"And stop!" Tamako called out, surprising both of them. It wasn't near time to end training for the day. They both looked over to where she was watching over their PETs to see her holding up Dex's. "Dex, your boss has a mission for you!"

"A mission?" Dingo blinked. "What? Are you some kind of secret agent or something?"

"Or something," Tamako shot back. "Best not ask questions."

"Actually..." Dex thought for a bit, looking at Dingo as he accepted his PET from Tamako, "Hey Baryl, this mission you got... think there's room for one more?"


"You're nothing compared to Nebula!" Larkman. exe screeched as he swiped past Hatman. exe, knocking the magician navi over, "NOTHING! The free skies of darkness shall not be overcome!"

"Your foul skies shall give way to clear ones this day!" Windman. exe bellowed with divine confidence as he unleashed several Round Tornados at the darkloid. "I, the god of wind so decree it!"

"Your decrees are worth less than you, false god!" Larkman. exe laughed as he evaded the attack. "Lark Drive!"

"Star Arrow!"

The stellar energy bolt from Stargirl. exe pierced Larkman. exe's chest as he dove forwards, causing the darkloid's eyes to widen in surprise as his attack aborted. Below, a giant card flipped over to reveal an image of an explosion before it vanished and just such an explosion engulfed Larkman. exe. Without so much as a moment to recover, he was beset by a storm of digital birds that flew and cut like arrows, carving him to ribbons.

The three navis still standing watched as the Darkloid convulsed in pain before his body erupted in a detonation of DarkPower that left nothing behind, the taint of the area melting away with his demise to leave a much cleaner temple net through which blew a much kinder wind once more.

"Scissor Island's Temple of Wind has been reclaimed," Windman. exe spoke with audible relief and gratitude. "Thank you my friends. All of you."

"Heh... Anytime..." Dustman. exe limped forwards, he and the damaged Groundman. exe leaning on each other. "Someone's gotta... clean up the... messes these... Nebula guys made... might as... well be us..."

"I only wish we could have found out what happened to my NetOp and his son..." Hatman. exe lamented.

"We'll start asking around now that the island's free again," Stargirl. exe assured the magician navi. "Someone has to have seen something."


Hephaestus poked at his screen as he examined the coding around Scissor Island and its 'Temple of Wind'. Why was there an aspiring music conductor wearing a green tunic and a floppy hat living there?


"You guys got Scissor Island back?" Mayl grinned. "That's great! I'm so glad to hear it! I–Hold on, I've got another call coming in... Hello? Chaud? What is this about?"


"Raika," the young prodigy's superior barked to get the lieutenant's attention.

"Sir!" the best young net operative the Sharo military had snapped to attention.

"Get ready to move out. We just got word that Dmitri's been spotted in Electopia working for Nebula. I assume you understand what your mission is?"

Raika blinked and his militantly stoic expression twitched imperceptibly towards an expectant grin. "Loud and clear, sir."


"Thank you again for saving us," the stage magician informally known as Mr. Hat thanked the group who had come to everyone's rescue. He was especially grateful since the kidnapped individuals included his own son.

"All in a day's work, for the Agents of BEEF!" Commander Beef laughed, causing several of the former prisoners to sweatdrop.

"And thank you for helping us track him down," Black Rose turned to the man that had not only spotted the Nebula agent in his latest stolen identity kidnapping attempt; a trick that had kept the police in many jurisdictions busy chasing false leads; but had helped them crack the security

keeping them prisoner.

"It was the least I could do, huh," the man rubbed the back of his head sheepishly. "Dmitri and I have something of a history, huh..."

"Chargeman, take a message," Iron Countryman dictated where he was standing with a group of Netopians that had been held captive longer than most, and been taken farther from their homes. Among the group was a grim-faced Electopian woman and a short white-haired man. "To the Thunder Tribe from the Agents of BEEF: We've located the missing NetOps of two of your members and will be arranging their return as soon as we can. Unfortunately, while his captives were rescued, the kidnapper managed to escape and remains at large..."


"This is your team?" Dingo whistled as he took in the figures of Princess Pride, Dark Miyabi, and Baryl in the middle of Scilab's command center. "Nice, very nice."

"Dingo Stormchaser," Baryl nodded. "I remember you and your navi from the Red Sun tournament."

"Heh..." Dingo rubbed his head sheepishly. "Well, you did a lot better than I did..."

"Regardless, you competed in a world-class tournament and this team is honored to have you. As you may know, Nebula has claimed several areas of the net across the globe, cutting off vital communications and stifling crucial services in many areas while they plan to expand their holdings. We are one of many strike teams dedicated to liberating these areas from Nebula's control and preventing their organization from claiming or reclaiming additional territory. Perhaps it is fortune that you were just recruited because our latest mission involves this:"

Baryl brought up the image of a luxury cruise liner on the display behind him.

"The S. S. Anne, a luxury passenger liner set to sail for Jawaii tomorrow. Our intel indicates that a powerful Nebula agent, a darkloid no less, has infiltrated the S. S. Anne's onboard network and intends to claim it as Nebula territory so they can use it as a mobile staging area to attack any port city network they come within range of while remaining able to disconnect themselves to prevent retaliation. Our mission is to board the ship with the other passengers and find the darkloid before their plan can be carried out or, if all else fails, liberate the ship's onboard network afterwards."

"So we know who the darkloid is?" Dex asked.

"As a matter of fact, we do," Baryl nodded, bringing up a new image. "The darkloid in question was recently forced to abandon his post in End Area to undertake this mission."

"Isn't..." Dex recognized the image from Lan's descriptions even as Dingo's wood-type navi spouted a few choice swear words. "Isn't that one of Mr. Match's navis?"

"He was," Baryl confirmed, "but Flameman, like several of the WWW's last crew, was customized with black market programs crafted by Nebula specifically to influence the navi with DarkPower, driving them mad and eventually into Nebula's clutches. Many ordinary operators have lost navis to Nebula after using a fraction of the kind of dark programs that were installed in Flameman. So each of you remember to bring a good folder of Aqua chips for the mission."


Hephaestus stared at the screen some more. He knew he'd heard the name S. S. Anne somewhere before...


"Oh, you need my invite to Ubercorp's party on the Queen Bohemia? Sure, Lan! Baryl kind of has us all headed out on a mission tomorrow, so I couldn't use it anyway. Plus, I'm not one for such parties in the first place. In any case, I hope you have fun!"

Lan shook his head. Princess Pride had been all too happy to give him her invite to Ubercorp's unveiling party aboard the Queen Bohemia.

"Man, that is one heck of a ship," Lan observed from the docks. Sure he had no less than two sets of memories aboard the thing in his head, but that failed to make it any less impressive.

"It is, isn't it?" a familiar and excited voice sounded from behind him. Turning around, he spotted about the last person he'd expected on this mission.

"Mayl?" he blinked in total confusion. "What are you doing here? And where did you get that dress?"

"Chaud thought you could use some backup if things went south," Mayl told him as she sauntered closer in the form-hugging Choinese number that left no doubt she was beginning to mature as a female, holding up her own invitation. "And Tesla thought you could use a date if they didn't. Besides, Dex is off with Colonel's team and some new hotshot recruit from Jawaii on their own mission, Yai's off somewhere with her family and my new friends from the shrine are all sleeping off a hangover after Lilly spiked the celebratory punch by accident."

Lan decided not to ask about that last bit.

"We should get on board quickly so we can get Lan into his suit," Roll. exe piped up before addressing Lan's PET. "Nice to meet you, Zero!"

"Wait, suit?" Lan blinked in confusion.

"A pleasure to meet you both miss Mayl, miss Roll," Zero. exe's voice chimed in from his PET. "I have just confirmed with the ship that a suit in Lan's size is awaiting him on board courtesy of Princess Pride. There should be plenty of time to get changed for the event before it begins."

'Well,' Lan thought as Mayl grabbed his arm and dragged him to the gangway so they could board, 'this could prove interesting.'


"But, sssir!" the Nebula agent hissed into his PET.

"No, and that's an order," the voice of Dark Megaman growled back. "You are to take no action regarding the booster program or the ship itself until further notice. There is another thief onboard the Queen Bohemia right now, and–"

Dark Megaman's voice cut off as he spotted the sight of Lan and Mayl over the Nebula agent's shoulder, resplendent in a cut-to-fit suit that Lan was tugging nervously at the collar of and a form-fitting Choinese dress that hugged Mayl's developing curves, and felt the soul of Hub surge with a pure joy that nearly crippled him. But he forced it back down with a vengeance and glared at the innocent Nebula agent with unrestricted hate.

"B-b-b-bossssss..." the man gulped.

"You are to stay out of sight and do nothing to call attention to yourself," Dark Megaman sneered at the quivering man. "Observe everything and stay to the shadows. The other thief will do most of the work in stealing the booster program and will serve to keep official agents onboard distracted. They will work to recover the booster program and you will let them. Then, and only then, will you do exactly as I tell you."

"Y-yesss, bossssss..."

"Good, now if you'll excuse me, there's another plan I'm overseeing today."


Dex let himself fall onto the bed of the interior room with a sigh. "Oh, man! Now this is living!"

Sure, Yai would find it substandard, but then her family probably owned three boats just like this one or something.

"It is a decadent sin," Dingo insisted. "An affront to pure and honest living in harmony with nature."

The boy's indignity was somewhat undercut by the way he was mirroring Dex's contentment, sprawling out on his own bed in the double room.

"We're going to have to do so much training to make up for this when we get back," Dex observed. "Laps, reps, sitting under the waterfall, all of it."

"So worth it," Dingo agreed.

"What do we do first? Pool, buffet, or netbattle machine?"

The two boys looked at each other and grinned in unison.

"All of the above!"


"I still think that guy looked suspicious," Lan grumbled as he let Mayl drag him out onto the deck.

"And I think he was just probably getting chewed out by his boss," Mayl insisted.

"Yeah, his Nebula boss, perhaps."

"And if you're right and he pulls something, we'll both go running to stop him," Mayl told him, getting an odd look from Lan. "What? Did you think this dress was cut high just to show off my legs?"

"Er..." Lan blushed to laughter from both of their PETs.

"Welcome!" a man in uniform greeted them as they stepped out on deck. "Good to have you aboard the Queen Bohemia! We've got a number of fun events before the main party begins! In a short while we'll be starting free netbattles, the captain is currently entertaining visitors on the bridge if you care to stop by for a chat, and and we also have a mystery stamp rally going on!"

"That sounds fun!" Mayl perked up.

"Well, then!" the man smiled. "Allow me to give you a stamp book with the clues so you can start finding them all and earn a nifty prize!"


The S. S. Anne was underway. Guests had stowed their luggage, many had begun milling about on deck and exploring their options for entertainment, and the ship was already a few hours out from port. And two particular individuals were in their shared room, doing precisely none of the things one might expect a grown and unrelated man and woman sharing a room on a cruise ship to be doing behind closed doors.

"So," Princess Pride spoke to Baryl as the two sat on their separated, by request, beds, "what's the plan?"

"Dark Miyabi has joined the ship's staff to look for possible agents, as it is doubtful that a navi as aggressive as Flameman will be able to infiltrate a system like this ship's with any degree of restraint or subtlety. If he's on board, then he has the aid of a NetOp."

"Agreed," Princess Pride nodded, "and I'm guessing this NetOp could be anyone among the guests or crew, correct?"

"That is the assumption. We will need to be on the lookout for any suspoicious activity at all ti–"

Baryl cut off suddenly and held up a hand as he turned towards the cabin door. Shuffling footsteps could be heard stopping just outside, followed by a muffled voice.

"This the room?"

"Yeah, this is the where the boss said they were," another answered.

"Okay, let's do this then."

The proclamation was followed by a series of clicking sounds that had Baryl's eyes widening before the cabin was beset by gunfire.


Dex and Dingo had drawn a huge crowd of people around the poolside netbattle machine to watch the two try to netbattle each other while operating with only one hand and eating with the other, the battle pausing so the respective NetOp having to swim a lap in the pool every time Gutsman. exe or Tomahawkman. exe took a solid blow from the other before resuming again.

It was wild.

It was ridiculous.

It was surprisingly skillful at times.

There were also a fair number of cross-counters, which always resulted in an impromptu one-lap swimming race by the boys, to the cheers of the crowd. And their navis.

"Dex! Dex! Dex! Dex! Dex! Dex!"

"Dingo! Dingo! Dingo!"

"Guts! Guts! Guts! Guts! Guts! Guts!"

"To-ma-hawk! To-ma-hawk!"

"AAIIIEEEEEE!"

The entire crowd froze and turned as one towards the scream to see a group of men walk out onto the deck holding guns before one fired a pistol into the air.

*Bang-bang-bang*

A lot of passengers screamed, many dropped to the ground, a bunch started running, and a few even pulled out guns of their own and joined the attackers.

And at some point in the confusion, Dex and Dingo had managed to jack their navis out and slip away.


Dark Miyabi stood over the unconscious Nebula agent and debated his options. Once the ship had gotten a few hours out, a very literal mutiny had started among the crew, with armed Nebula agents revealing themselves and offering a very simple choice to the rest: surrender peacefully or die.

He hadn't stuck around to hear the rest of the crew's answers. He had a mission, and it had just gotten a lot harder...


Baryl lay on the carpet clutching his bleeding arm, his dive to the floor only mostly avoiding the surprise attack and unfortunately leaving him vulnerable to the Nebula agents that entered the cabin using what had to be a staff key. They were certainly being brazen about this, which did not bode well for the mission. They didn't fear knowledge of their actions among the ship, nor did they likely think anything could be done about it.

They also didn't see the uninjured Princess Pride hiding behind the wall until her foot collided with the first agent's face, sending him stumbling back into his partner who had stood far too close and tripping them both. The judicious use of the cabin's chair pinned them in place and prevented retaliation with their guns, and in under a minute, the princess of Creamland had the two Nebula agents disarmed, unconscious, and tied up in the cramped cabin shower stall.

Baryl had taken the opportunity field-dress his wound, and helped Pride with the last part.

"We can't stay here," he said as he shouldered one of the automatic rifles that the agents had been carrying, Princess pride doing the same with the other. "We need to find a safe place to assess the situation."

"We also need to find the others," Pride insisted, and Baryl decided to debate the point later when they actually had the luxury.


"What's going on?"

"I don't know! Try jacking into the ship's network, maybe they know what's up?"

"Good idea! Jack in–"

"FoR tHe GlOrY of NeBuLa!"

"What the–?! What's wrong with my navi?!"

"I knew those customizer programs that guy was handing out were shady! 'Compliments of the cruise line' my ass!"

"Oh god... the ship is under attack, isn't it...? Where are our kids?!"


"What the hell is the hold up?"

"Apparently the captain is sharper than he looks. He managed to take out our agents on the bridge crew, seal the room, and lock us out. I think he's going to try and turn the ship around and make for port."

"That's a problem then, especially with how long the ritual's taking this far removed from the Murkland portal. Okay, we're going to have to do this the hard way. You three go to the engine room and make sure it's secure. Deal with any troublemakers you have to. The rest of you start rounding up passengers."

Dark Miyabi remained still around a corner, unheard and unseen by the group of Nebula agents, attempting to decide which task was the more important. After a moment's deliberation, he decided to follow the group headed towards the engine room.


"Okay, I think we lost them," Dex huffed after having rushed down and up stairs and across corridors until he really wasn't all that sure where on the ship he and Dingo even were.

"I don't think they saw us leave in the first place, but yeah," Dingo steadied himself as well, keeping his voice down just in case he was wrong.

"Okay, you brats, line up against the wall and don't move."

Dex and Dingo froze and looked behind them to see... an open door. With muffled sniffles and sobs emanating from the room beyond. The plaque outside labeled it one of the places on the ship designed for young children.

Dex and Dingo exchanged looks, before Dingo pulled out the case he'd been carrying strapped to his side ever since boarding, even when swimming earlier, the one Baryl had to talk to security for an hour before Dingo was allowed to keep it, and opened it to reveal his axe.

"Oh, tomahawk of my ancestors," Dingo whispered as he grasped the handle and held the weapon before him like a divining rod, "guide me to the proper COURSE OF ACTION!"

"What the–?!" the Nebula agent in the room turned at the sudden yell to see Dingo dash past the doorway and throw his tomahawk blind. And straight at him. The sight of a whirling axe headed for his face induced a panic and he brought up his automatic rifle to block rather than trying to dodge or counterattack. The tomahawk clanged loudly against the firearm and drove it into the Nebula agent's face, disorienting him for a moment.

Just long enough for Dex to charge in with a "YAAAAAAAAHHH!" and bury his right fist in the man's stomach, driving the air from his lungs and causing him to drop the rifle from reflex. The left cross he followed with sent the man to the floor where he moaned and went limp.

'I'madeadman,I'madeadman...' Dex chanted in his head, expecting any second that the man's partner would start shooting and he'd become a great deal more holey than he'd like. It took a couple of seconds of frantically looking for where certain death was coming from before he realized that the Nebula agent was alone. By that time, Dingo had entered the room, closed the door, locked it, and jammed it shut with a chair for good measure.

Dex looked down at the gun resting at his feet and promptly shoved it with his foot until it slid under a desk out of sight before looking around for material to tie the man up with.


"Well, that was rather quick," the crew member congratulated both Lan and Mayl on their completion of the stamp rally, which had been a fair bit more than just the three Lan recalled.

"We'd have been faster, but we took some time to talk with the captain when we got the wheel stamp," Mayl admitted.

"Did you now?" the crew member looked impressed. "Well, you've certainly earned this prize, then!" he beamed, handing them both a chip. Lan's eyes widened as he confirmed that the chips were DjangoSP navi chips.

"Whoa..."

"You're the fastest to finish the stamp rally, so I think a bit of a better prize is in order, yeah?" the man winked. "In any case, the free netbattles are about to start with a special opponent just for this cruise."

Lan turned to see a large heavyset man wearing a dark apron over a red and white shirt, heavy boots and pants, and with a white bandanna wrapped around his head that had a blue fireworks pattern on it. Fyrefox according to his... baseline memories? Was that the term? Dang it... of all the times for him to forget Hub's reminders about Django's speech...

"So Lan, you want to challenge him first or should I?" Mayl asked with a grin.

Lan was about to reply when an older man in an expensive three piece suit nearly ran into him in his drive to get to the netbattle machine first.

"He he he!" the man chuckled, rubbing his hands eagerly as he approached the netbattle machine on deck, not noticing that he'd perhaps cut ahead of anyone in his eagerness. "I've been looking forward to this! I spent 10 million zenny customizing my navi! I can't lose! He he!"

"He was probably waiting longer than we were," Mayl shrugged, getting a reluctant nod from Lan. "Too bad, I was looking forward to challenging the guest battler."

"Hmm..." Lan mused, thinking.

"I'll challenge you first!" the clearly rich man declared as he reached one side of the netbattle machine.

"Alright, then," Fyrefox snorted back. "Jack in and let's get started."

"Oy!" Lan called up at the two. "So sorry to interrupt, but my lovely lady friend here would like to challenge the winner of your netbattle!"

"Fine with me," the burly man in the bandana shrugged.

"It will be my pleasure to entertain a fine young lady like yourself!" the rich guy boasted.

"I really hope he didn't mean that as creepy as it sounded..." Mayl sweatdropped as the two guys jacked in to begin their netbattle.

"Just sit back and watch," Lan grinned. "I think the big guy's about to show that it takes more than a lot of money to make a strong navi."

"I wonder how Dex's mission is going..." Mayl wondered.

"Eh, I'm sure they're just fine."


Pride and Baryl snuck around another corner. They'd been slowly advancing along the ship, telling passengers and crew that weren't Nebula agents to get somewhere safe while trying to take out Nebula agents they came across as quickly and quietly as possible.

There had been some mixed results on that front, but at least neither of them had sustained further injuries.

The good news was that there didn't seem to be that many Nebula agents on board overall when compared to the total number of passengers and crew.

The bad news... was that someone had handed out a bunch of fast-acting corruptive customization programs that had turned many of the passengers' navis to Nebula's side. So even if they could secure the physical ship, taking back the ship's network would be the bigger problem.

They just needed to take this slowly. Assess the situation and come up with a pl–

*Ding-dong*

"Attention passengers," a distorted voice sounded over the intercom. "This is Nebula. We are taking control of the ship. However, there seems to be some resistance to our methods. The following people are to report to the atrium: Captain Waverly, Baryl *skrch*, Princess Pride, Dex Oyama, and Dingo Stormchaser. If they do not report to the atrium and surrender themselves and control of the ship within thirty minutes, we will start executing passengers. Again, if the following individuals do not surrender to Nebula within thirty minutes–"

"Damnit..." Baryl swore.


"N-no way!" the rich man gulped as his expensive navi was shredded with ease. "I lost?! I-It's not possible! It cost me 10 million zenny to customize my navi! How can I be so outclassed?!"

'Maybe because you don't know the first thing about netbattling?' Lan thought with disdain. The match had been even more embarrassing to watch than he'd thought.

"Tsk!" Firefox scoffed loudly. "Netbattles have to be fought from the gut! Just spending a bunch of money to make your navi look tough doesn't cut it!"

"W-What did you say?!" the rich guy looked offended. Lan and Mayl, as well as a few others that had gathered to watch, looked unsympathetic. "Who let this lowlife on the ship?! I'll have you thrown overboard!"

"Wow... what a sore loser," Mayl blinked as the rich guy stormed off in a huff.

"Typical!" Fyrefox spat. "All rich people are pathetic! I hope the next challenger has a bit more nerve!"

"Thought I don't think the winner's much better..." she added.

The crew member running the stamp rally sighed heavily. "I invited him to spice up the netbattle challenge a bit. He's an old friend of mine named Fyrefox and no one's ever been able to beat him that I've seen."

"Well, let's see if the lovely lady can change that," Lan performed a bow with a sweeping motion inviting Mayl to step up and challenge the man. "

"Don't mind if I do," Mayl strolled up to the machine to cheers from the gathered crowd. "I'm Mayl Sakurai and I'll take you on!"

"A with lady with guts!" Fyrefox grinned. "Take care you don't strain yourself, missy!"

"Bring it on!" Mayl declared. "Jack in! Roll! Execute!"


Jesse Rocquet and her brother James weren't the most well-off of children. For one, the only reason they lived on a cruise ship was because their single dad worked there and got special permission from his boss. For another, their dad couldn't really afford to get them their own PETs since he was trying to save everything he could to get a home back on land for them all as well as put them both through school (which was also something of an interesting issue given their circumstances). In fact, the two of them had to share a PET and navi that had originally been left behind by a careless passenger and never claimed.

"Thirty minutes?"

"Yeah, not a lot of time to find and stop Flameman in the ship's system..."

That said, the two kids were made of some pretty resilient stuff as kids went. So when the two older boys that had stormed into the children's zone and taken out the bad guy started talking about how they needed help to take out a bad navi in the ship's computers, they volunteered immediately.

"Umm..." Jesse spoke up first. "Our navi knows her way around the ship pretty well... She can help you..."

"Yeah!" James added eagerly. "Meowtan's awesome! She can help you send the bad guys blasting off at the speed of light!"

"Meow! That's right!"


"I..." *wham* "thought..." *wham* "I..." *wham* "plugged..." *wham* "those..." *wham* "code..." *wham* "leaks..."


Roll. exe pressed herself to move faster than she'd ever done before as the walking purple arsenal known as Napalmman. exe did his best to blast her with rapid fire vulcan cannons on each arm and a flame-based bomb launcher on the top of his head. It was hard to do, and she could see how he and his operator had gone undefeated for so long. So few navis could evade the onslaught of weaponry that Napalmman. exe brought to bear, even one-on-one which was his clear weakness.

Against a large group, with his ability to cover wide areas with raw power and high damage, he'd be a total monster.

She felt her intent sync up with Mayl's and knew that her operator had realized the same thing. Chaud had told them about the small army of Nebula navis preventing access to the captured and corrupted Megaman. exe. Preventing them from saving Lan's partner and brother. He'd asked them to keep an eye out for anyone who might be able to even the odds a bit, and the duo of Fyrefox and Napalmman. exe were perfect.

Once more, for the first time since Megaman. exe's capture, Mayl and Roll. exe's wills became one and they prepared to unleash their power on their opponents. After all, it was clear the two respected strength, which meant that they'd have to prove theirs if they wanted a shot at recruiting him.


"Y-You'll n-n-never defeat N-Nebula..." the agent groaned out before losing consciousness and slumping up against the engine control console, bleeding from the head wound he'd taken.

Dark Miyabi said nothing in reply, concluding it to be pointless, as he surveyed the area. He thought he'd gotten them all, but...

He shook his head. No time to second guess things. The mission was now on a time limit. And from the looks of things, someone on Nebula's side had overridden the controls.

"Shadowman," he spoke.

"Sir," came the reply from his PET.

"Jack in and disable the engines from within. I shall do the same manually. Even if Nebula claims the ship, they shall gain no victory from it."

"Understood."


"There's too many of them," Pride reported as she snuck back to her and Baryl's hiding spot from peeking into the atrium. "Even if we take a few out, we'll never get them all before they start shooting hostages."

"I suspected as much... Okay, here's what we'll do..."


"Dear me, but that was quite the battle young lady!" yet another guest tittered, much to Mayl's embarrassment and Lan's amusement.

"That's my girlfriend!" Lan beamed. "Beauty beyond compare and skill more valuable than 10 million zenny!"

Several guests who had overheard, or at least heard of, the protestations of the first netbattle challenger laughed.

"Ladies and gentlemen!" the amplified voice broke through the various conversations around the room, drawing everyone's attention to the Ubercorp representative on the stage next to the special ViewComp. "I would like to thank you all for attending this party today, where we at Ubercorp are proud to unveil our new booster system!"

The announcement was greeted with polite and eager applause.

"When added to any existing program," the company representative continued, "this booster system radically enhances the program's performance. Construction work, software R&D... it can be used with anything, including, of course, NetNavis! And we are offering this amazing system for the low price of just three hundred million zenny!"

"Th-three hundred...?" Mayl gaped.

"How much you want to bet Yai would call it a bargain?" Lan asked.

"Three hundred million...? What a bargain!" a man near the two exclaimed as if to prove Lan's claim. "Let's see the device then!"

"Case in point," Lan tilted his head.

"B-but... I... I guess I never really thought about it..." Mayl admitted. "I mean, Yai's our friend and she's rich, but she never makes that big a deal about it really."

"I'd still bet your skill against that thing," Lan smiled as the presentation went on, showing the booster system itself inside the ViewComp surrounded by a squad of GuardNavis (49) that were all enhanced by the booster system as well, supposedly making them ten times stronger than they would otherwise be.

"Really?" Mayl blinked as the Ubercorp representative prepared to give a live demonstration of what the booster system was capable of–

–when the lights went out.


Meowtan. exe could be said to be feline themed. If cat ears, tail, and paw-like gloves stuck onto a shapely female form navi modded to appear like some adolescent male's personal trainer fantasy come true, leotard and legwarmers included, was enough to constitute a feline theme.

Dex, Dingo, Gutsman. exe, and Tomahawkman. exe had all tried to excuse the redness in their faces as being due to fighting off Nebula.

"I know exactly what I look like, meow," Meowtan. exe had rolled her eyes at the excuse. "My original operator was a perv, meow. Jesse and James were nice enough to find me something more modest than that stupid... thing... the lech had me in when he forgot me, meow. They're good kids, meow."

That had been as much an explanation as was forthcoming, and she'd begun leading Gutsman. exe and Tomahawkman. exe through the ship's systems, following navis corrupted by DarkPower to serve Nebula against their will, and taking shortcuts through employee access areas when necessary.

"Here we are..." Meowtan. exe paused as she approached the next link. The one all the Nebula-corrupted navis were gathering towards. "The ship's communication center. You know... I'd have expected the captain's navi to try something by now... He's pretty strong after all."

"Well, we're what ya've got and the clock's tickin'," Gutsman. exe reminded her.

Nodding, Meowtan. exe led the two through the link, and immediately gasped at what she saw on the other end.


"Why don't you put your little peashooter down ya whippersnapper and let me show you how a real man settles things?"

"Shut it, old man," the lead Nebula agent snapped for the umpteenth time, his patience with a couple of his hostages wearing thin to the point that if he had to listen to them anymore, he wasn't going to wait until the thirty minute deadline.

"Why don't you come here and say that to our faces, ya good for nothing!"

And there went the other one. He was glad for the face mask he was wearing, because it was the only thing preventing the hostages from seeing just how much those two old coots were getting to him.

"He said shut it, geezer!" another agent snapped, followed by a thwack as he struck the offending hostage with the butt of his rifle.

"Grampa!"

"Cool it," the lead agent ordered. "Let them spend their last moments however they wish. It's all futile in the end. None resist Nebula for long."

"Of course, sir."

"Sir," a new voice spoke and the lead agent turned to see two more masked agents joining them carrying automatic rifles. "The boss has ordered you topside for assistance. We're to take over watching the hostages."

He blinked, looking the two new agents over carefully. One male, one female. Dressed in Nebula uniforms and masks. Absolutely nothing seemed odd about them, except for that one minor detail.

"Interesting," he replied, drawing his pistol and pointing it at them, "except that I'm the boss of this mission."

Their reactions were quick, pointing their rifles straight at him. The reactions of the other true Nebula agents in the room pointing their guns at the pair were just as quick.

"...Damnit."

"A nice try though," he commended them. "Too bad fate favors Nebul–"

A chair to the back of the head cut him off as several of the hostages took the Nebula agents' mutual distraction for the opening it was and attacked. The sound of gunfire followed and the atrium descended into pandemonium.


"That's the captain's navi!" Meowtan. exe barely kept from screaming and alerting the couple hundred Nebula and Nebula-corrupted navis in the communication's center. All around were large cyber candles burning with a purple flame, and in the center was a large beast-like, almost demonic even, navi whose body burned with flames as purple as those of the candles, two of which flanked him.

That was Flameman. exe of course, with his back to the three intruders. The figure Meowtan. exe was referring to was the navi designed like a naval captain in full military dress, complete with ceremonial sabre, but battered almost beyond recognition and hung in the air just past Flameman. exe like he was being crucified. Or possibly sacrificed.

"N'Boooraaa F'Waaaar..." Flameman. exe chanted gutterally, dark flames dancing over his form and the cyber candles alike. "G'laaayuu F'woooosshh..."

"So..." the naval navi coughed weakly, "you always sacrifice navis like this?"

"Oh, no," a Nebula HeelNavi chuckled from next to the prisoner. "It's hardly necessary for our purposes, but sometimes you just like to go the extra mile."

"We have to save him!" Meowtan. exe hissed.

"We will, you just stay back and leave it to u–" Tomahawkman. exe began, only to be cut off by another gasp from Meowtan. exe as the Nebula HeelNavi took out a large cyberknife and darted forwards without her two companions.

"HEY CREEP!" the felinesque navi yelled, forming an odd cannon. "GUESS WHAT DAY IT IS?!"

The shout drew all couple hundred navis' attentions as the shot rang out, sped across the distance, and struck the HeelNavi in his surprised face before exploding into a small shower of digital zenny coins.

There was a bit of stunned silence.

"Did... did you just shoot me with money?!"

"Um... yes?" Meowtan. exe winced. She'd expected a bit more out of that. Especially given how much of Jesse and James's allowance she'd put into it. She'd need to scrape up loose digital change for at least a week to replace that.

"Kill her," the HeelNavi ordered, prompting the couple hundred other navis present to charge her.


"You guys should use the hero speech we made!"

"Yeah!"

Dex and Dingo looked at each other and shrugged.

"Sure thing, kiddo."

"But we do it our way."


"Not so fast!" Tomahawkman. exe yelled, landing in front of Meowtan. exe and swinging his axe in a wide sweep, sending out a cutting shockwave that bisected over a dozen of the foremost attackers. "You guys should prepare for trouble!"

The entire area shook as Gutsman. exe landed next to the feathered warrior navi with a double-fisted hammer blow, knocking most of the attackers off their feet. "And while yer at it, make it double!"

"Pledged to protect the world from devastation!"

"By unitin' warriors from every nation!"

"Forged in fires of darkness and strife,"

"Our strength'll be unbroken fer life!"

"We're Team Colonel, fighting for Justice and Light!"

"Ya get one chance ta surrender 'fore ya lose this fight!"

"Meow! That's right!"


Terry moped around in his cheap, dingy one room (heck, a quarter-room) apartment – all he could afford since being publicly disowned – feeling sorry for himself. Which was pretty much what he did every day. He did odd jobs to meet the bare minimum of his bills, and pretty much left Sparkman. exe to do the same on the net. (50)

There was apparently trouble going on, but he really didn't care anymore. His life was over after all. What was left? He'd been kicked out, cut off, and stripped of all his resources. His dreams for a robot lab were done for. He went through the motions of life out of habit, nothing el–

*knock-knock-knock*

'Go away,' he groused silently, having long since learned that doing so out loud achieved the opposite more often than not.

*knock-knock-knock*

'No one's home, you're wasting your time.'

*knock-knock-knock*

'Maybe it's the mob come to put me out of my misery...'

*rattle... jimmy... click*

Terry's eyes widened slightly as the lock on his door was picked and it swung open to reveal three people standing there. He thought he recognized one from that stupid Den City netbattle tournament a while back... the guy with the flame red hair and pointed goatee. There was another guy there dressed like he was going for a hike, but otherwise forgettable, plus a boy in front sticking a lockpick into his pocket. The boy had pale skin, chalk gray hair, and eyes so red that Terry was half sure a demon had come to claim his soul.

"Terry Jomon, I presume," the boy stated.

"You got the wrong guy," Terry snorted, not even bothering to get up. He was that far past caring. "I'm no Jomon."

"Yeah, I remember that, laddie," the red haired man smirked. "Quite the public debacle that was."

"What do you want?"

"You," the boy replied bluntly. "We need you for a job."

"Then you wasted your time," Terry shrugged listlessly.

"Listen here, you..." the backpacker made to lunge at Terry in anger, only to be stopped by a gesture from the gray-haired boy... had to be an albino Terry thought.

"My apologies then," the boy stared at Terry so intently that he felt a bead of cold sweat trickle down the back of his neck. "I thought I was talking to a prodigy with electronics and robotics. Perhaps I was mistaken."

"Whatever..."

"You see, we are in need of such an expert to rescue a friend of ours who is held by systems so state of the art most people have never heard of them."

Terry felt a twinge of interest in the back of his head. The kind of interest he used to feel working on his robotics projects using discarded items from his grandfather's store. The kind of interest he'd had when he'd designed Sparkman. exe, ungrateful little hoodlum that he was, from scratch. But he didn't let it show.

"What's in it for us?" the voice of Sparkman. exe spoke up from Terry's PET unbidden, causing him to glance at the screen and see his navi, so self-sufficient that he was nearly independent. How long had it been since they'd actually worked together on anything?

The albino boy stepped forwards, somehow managing to stare both Terry and Sparkman. exe in the eye at the same time with his unnervingly red gaze, driving an identical spike of fear into both as he seemed to peer straight into their souls.

"A second chance."


Mayl blinked as she watched Lan climb out of a ventilation shaft in front of her on deck, his formerly pristine suit rumpled from the act. When the lights had come back on, the theft of the booster system was clear. As was the fact that whoever had stolen it had easily defeated all eight of the boosted GuardNavis protecting it.

There had been some pandemonium as various guests started pointing fingers, accusing anyone in the room who looked even slightly suspicious (plus a few accusations that were probably fueled by grudges and spite more than anything else). At least until Lan had pointed out that the decorative mirrors lining the room were arranged in such a way that the thief could have wirelessly jacked into the ViewComp from outside the room. A quick flash of their Official NetBattler licenses, a double-S (Mayl had relished the surprise on Lan's face just a bit) and a triple-S, convinced all but the most stubborn of naysayers that they were on the level and they'd been allowed out while the room guards kept everyone else inside for questioning just in case.

They'd split up then, Lan headed towards the engine room as Mayl went out on deck, with an agreement that they'd contact each other the moment they found anything.

She hadn't expected to meet back up with Lan like this.

"Okay, so..."

"Either he came out on deck straight from the hallway, or he snuck out here through the vent system like I did," Lan said while he did his best to dust his suit off and straighten it.

"Th... they bridge!" a crew member stumbled their way, looking bruised. "They've... hijacked the ship... ungh..."

"Are you okay?" Mayl ran to check on the man.

"I'll just lay here until the deck stops rolling..."

Lan and Mayl looked at each other. The Queen Bohemia was so advanced and smooth-sailing that they could barely tell they were at sea.

"I think he'll be fine for now," Mayl admitted after a moment. "There's nothing I can help with at least."

"Okay then, let's get to the bridge!"

Mayl followed Lan into the ship's bridge to confront whoever was behind this, and felt herself brought up short when she saw the man from before. The netbattler Fyrefox...

"What...? Fyrefox... Why are you...?"

"Well, well..." the burly man looked back at them levelly, "if it isn't the lady from before and her boyfriend..."

"Fyrefox, what are you doing?!" Lan demanded.

"What am I doing?" Fyrefox blinked as if he thought it should have been obvious. "With the booster system, my fireworks will be bigger and more spectacular than anyone else's!"

"Fireworks?" Mayl blinked. She didn't think any amount of program enhancement would affect real world fireworks.

"Yeah, fireworks," Fyrefox repeated. "I work with normal fireworks, but I also make cyber fireworks as well! And I'll do whatever it takes to make mine bigger, got it?"

"But–" Mayl started, only to be interrupted as Fyrefox continued.

"If you really want the booster system back, then jack in and take on my navi in the ShipComp. Only this time..." Fyrefox grinned. "This time I want to see your boyfriend in action."

Lan and Mayl both blinked as one.

"I already know the lady's got guts," Fyrefox smirked. "Time to see if her boy's got 'em too."

Lan looked at Mayl and shrugged. "If that's how it has to be..."

"Then that's how it has to be. Help him out, Zero."

"But of course," the viral navi replied from Lan's PET.


The atrium was chaos and pandemonium. Baryl was bleeding from his leg, Pride had taken a bullet to her side in the confusion, and several of the hostages were injured after the surprise charge against their captors. But the Nebula agents were down and most weren't getting back up.

Except for one who was pulling out a PET...

"For Nebula!" he yelled, jacking his navi into something that seemed innocuous enough. A centerpiece for the atrium, at least until it opened up to reveal something that screamed 'explosive device' to Baryl's instincts. "Hahaha! You'll never stop my navi before he activates–"

"That's what you think you reprobate!" one of the old men who had led the charge yelled as he pulled out a PET of his own. "Get that upstart Topman!"

"Not if Kiteman gets him first!" another old man who could have been the first's twin joined the action.

"Hey, wha–" the voice of a navi from the device yelled out as the old men's navis jacked in after him. "Stop righ–Gah! What are yo–ARGH! That doesn't ben–EEEEYYOOOWW! DR. REGAL, SAVE M–!"

"What was that?" Baryl stared at the agent intently, standing tall despite his injury and looming over the other man.

"...I surrender?" the Nebula agent squeaked.


A couple hundred navis serving Nebula, willingly or otherwise, had charged the interlopers.

"Tomahawk Swing!"

"Program Advance! MOMQUAKE!"

They were getting their asses handed to them.

"Screw this..." the HeelNavi that had been assigned as Lord Flameman's interpreter snorted. "We're cutting straight to the chase..."

He readied his ceremonial cyberknife to carve open the captain's navi as his lord continued his chant. It might be strictly unnecessary, but the sacrifice of the navi's powerful spirit to the DarkPower would still serve to open the DarkHoles that much faster, and accomplish their goals that much sooner.

"Hold still..." he chuckled at the maritime navi. "This won't hurt... for long."

"WAVEMAN!" the feminine scream echoed from the other side of the melee. (51)

"Don't you worry none! GUTSSHOOT!"

He paid no attention to the sounds behind him as he raised the cyberknife high and–

"Heh..." the crucified sacrifice smiled at something behind him, but he wasn't about to fall for that old trick. "Incoming..."

Ignoring the attempt to delay, the HeelNavi prepared to make the sacrifice even as the sound of a dopplered scream registered as heading straight for him.

"What the–?" his resolve to not be tricked lost to his curiosity and he turned just in time to take a ballistic navi straight to the chest. The impact bowled him over and both he and the ballistic navi went tumbling under the sacrificial navi for a good ways before grinding to a halt.

"Me-owch..." the navi that had hit him groaned as she stood. Some pathetic little thing designed for leisure from the looks of it.

"Well..." he mused as he got to his feet and readied his cyberknife. "One sacrifice is as good as another at this point."

The female navi twitched. "You know what I hate most besides creeps? Getting hand-outs. I don't care what everyone thinks, I'm no charity case and neither are the twins. But I get donating to a good cause."

"Then you'll be glad to donate your life to the cause of Nebula!" he laughed, stalking towards her with purpose.

"I'm thinking more of the donation I just got towards the cause of kicking your ass," she hissed back, forming one of her paw hands into an odd-looking buster. "IT'S PAYDAY, CREEP!"

The blast struck him like a truck, before erupting into a very literal explosion of zenny.


"We gotta take out those candles!" Gutsman. exe yelled having noticed that a few of the purple candle flames had gone out when stray attacks hit them.

"I've got an idea!" Tomahawkman. exe called back. "Totem Pole!"

A pair of totem poles rose out from behind Tomahawkman. exe and Gutsman. exe grinned.

"Now I got an idea!" he yelled as he smashed the ground in a hammer blow, causing the totem poles to jump into the air where he grabbed them and then flung them upwards. They lanced high into the digital sky, twinkling in the distance and there was a moment's pause before dozens of twinkles came back as totem pieces rained back down.

"TOTEM RAIN!" they yelled together as the falling objects put out every candle except two. The ones flanking Flameman. exe himself.

"R'eegaaall K'Boooom..."


"So..." Napalmman. exe stated calmly.

"I understand wanting to battle," Zero. exe stated back with equal calm, "but we would have been honored to oblige without the need for a theft of this nature. We are already busy dealing with the DarkChip syndicate Nebula, and we do not need your arrest added to our duties. Return the booster system immediately and we shall be lenient."

"Hehehe...no," the walking arsenal refused. "We need this for our fireworks, so if you

want it back you'll have to beat us!"

"Very well then," Zero. exe sighed before igniting his Z-Saber. "Beat you we shall."

"I'll tear you apart first!" Napalmman. exe got into a stance that brought both of his gun arms and his head-mounted missile launcher to bear on Zero. exe. "FIRE!"

"AreaSteal!" Lan shouted.

Zero. exe vanished as the spot where he'd been standing was practically obliterated by the onslaught of bullets and flame bombs.

"Z-Saber!" his yell came from behind the walking tank as he slashed once, twice, thrice, and a fourth that unleashed a sonic shockwave that staggered the heavy navi.

"VulcanGun! BattleChips in! Download!" Fyrefox yelled, and a pair of guns popped up from the ground to take aim at Zero. exe.

"Invisible!" Lan countered with a chip to make his current navi vanish.

"Wide area attack!" Fyrefox ordered, and Napalmman. exe unleashed his vast firepower on everything around him, but nothing seemed to connect until–

"StepShield."

One bomb connected with a suddenly visible Zero. exe behind a barrier, who then vanished to reappear right in front of Napalmman. exe, far too close to attack with his armaments, his Z-Saber held for a rising strike.

"Holy Thunder Saber!"

The rising slash lifted Napalmman. exe off his feet.

"Triple Mag Saber!"

The spinning descending slash spiked him back into the ground.

"Napalmman! Get up! Counterattack!" Fyrefox urged as Zero. exe got into an odd stance and began gathering energy around his Z-Saber.

"Phantom–"

"Napalm–"

"ZERO!"

The large shockwave carved through the cannon on top of Napalmman. exe's head, and a large portion of the digital wall directly behind him, shocking the armed navi at how close he'd just come to being bisected. And he had no illusions that it could have happened. He'd just been spared very deliberately.

"It's over," Zero. exe declared. "The booster system is in my possession."

"Wha...?" Napalmman. exe blinked in shock.

"I recovered it while invisible," Zero. exe elaborated.

"Exactly as planned," Lan's grin was audible.

"As much as I would like to believe you would honor your word, we could take no chances," Zero. exe explained.

"You... You stole my fireworks dream!" Fyrefox gaped in dismay.

"Can it!" Mayl interrupted heatedly. "You honestly think you could make the fireworks you wanted with something you stole? Thinking you could rely on a magic solution rather than your own hard work and vision? What kind of craftsman are you? If you can't make your fireworks with your own heart, then you dishonor their meaning! Would you really disgrace your profession with fireworks devoid of feeling and lacking your own effort?!"


"Tomahawk Air Raid!" Tomahawkman. exe led by throwing his axe, the weapon spinning as it flew towards the burning purple and chanting Flameman. exe.

"Rocket Guts Punch!" Gutsman. exe sent a flying fist along.

The two projectiles flew straight and true at their target, impacting Flameman. exe head on... and being incinerated by the dark flames covering his form.

"Aw, nuts..." Gutsman. exe swore as an irritated Flameman. exe finally turned in their direction. "Well, only one thing ta do..."

"CHARGE!" Tomahawkman. exe agreed and the two navis did exactly that, charging full tilt at their seemingly invincible opponent who reared back as they approached, drawing in a deep dark breath and causing the Wood-element Tomahawkman. exe's eyes to widen. "Oh crap..."

"D'haarreek F'lllaaaayymmm...!"


Meowtan. exe fell back, clutching her chest where she'd just taken a hefty cut from the HeelNavi she was fighting. She'd gotten a good hit in with the most powerful Payday she'd probably ever fired at the beginning, but...

Well, that was the only shot she'd landed.

The quick donations from Dex and Dingo, using their 'virus busting funds', had given her zenny-powered Payday shot enough oomph to really hurt the creep with the cyberknife, but... he was more experienced. He sidestepped all the follow-up shots to close in and batted aside her claw attacks like they were a mere annoyance to slash at her with the knife before falling back to taunt her. And even with the generous donation, the zenny was quickly running out...

"Meowit..." she cursed as she pointed her payday cannon at the HeelNavi and didn't fire.

"Aw, all out of zenny?" the HeelNavi chuckled. "Good."

He dashed forwards in a burst of speed that Meowtan. exe barely followed and stabbed, burying the knife right below her cat-paw navi mark.

"Urk..."

"Too bad you wasted it all earlier," the HeelNavi laughed at her pain.

"Waste...?" Meowtan. exe chuckled back weakly, pressing the still-formed cannon more firmly into the HeelNavi's chest. "Jesse and James... taught me how to save..."

"F–" the HeelNavi was blown back by another eruption of zenny, losing his grip on his knife as Meowtan. exe was blown back as well to land below the captain's navi. Waveman. exe.

She hurt. She really did. But the creep was getting back up with only a few more bumps and bruises than before. She wasn't going to beat him. But she knew someone who could.

Pulling the knife out, she stood and started using it to cut Waveman. exe free of his bonds, ignoring the angry shouts of the creep. She kept it up when he started shooting her with his normal buster, running towards her. Instead, she pulled a FullEnergy subchip out that Jessie, James, and she had been saving and gave it to Waveman. exe.

She managed to remain conscious long enough to see the captain's navi bisect the creep with a crescent wave of water from his navy sabre.


Tomahawkman. exe had been sure he was about to become tribal warrior charcoal when he was lifted up and thrown over Flameman. exe just before the spray of dark purple flames issued forth, engulfing Gutsman. exe in its unholy inferno. The sinister purple flames of the candles on either side of Flameman. exe flared brighter as the net area suddenly grew darker and he knew what had to be done.

"Give it everything we got, Dingo!" he yelled the moment his feet hit the ground behind Flameman. exe and he charged, ignoring the spectral purple wisps that rose to impede his progress and raising his tomahawk hand high.

"You got it!" Dingo replied, their wills becoming one and their synchronization going through the roof. They thought as one. They acted as one. They swung as one.

"TOMAHAWK SWING!"

The biggest shockwave they'd ever produced with that attack blasted forth, sweeping just over the ground and striking Flameman. exe hard enough that the purple flames covering him flared up angrily, but no damage was dealt. At least not to him. The wicks of the candles flanking him on the other hand were severed below the flames and snuffed in an instant, taking the spectral wisps and Flameman. exe's protective covering with them.

"Hwaaarrrh?!" Flameman. exe roared in anger and confusion.

"That's more like it!" Gutsman. exe's voice called out and Tomahawkman. exe felt relief that his new friend hadn't been deleted. "Dex! You got the chips?"

"Right here! In and downloaded!"

"COLDPUNCH!" Gutsman. exe landed one of the Aqua-element punches in Flameman. exe's stomach, followed by a second in a right hook, a third in a left cross, and finishing with a ColdPunch uppercut.

"Dingo!" Tomahawkman. exe called out.

"Got it! Totem Pole! AquaBlade!"

Tomahawkman. exe jumped atop the risen totem and raised his axe to gather the energy of the second chip. 'Spirits of our ancestors, guide my tomahawk!'

He jumped towards the recovering Flameman. exe, his tomahawk glowing blue from the aque element infusion. "Tomahawk Rolling!"

"GWAAARRR!" Flameman. exe roared in pain as the attack connected and he retaliated with flametowers that didn't even come close to connecting.

"Program Advance!" Gutsman. exe yelled. "BubbleSpread!"

Flameman. exe's even louder roar was distorted by the mass of bubbles that erupted around him.

"Tomahawk Swing!"

The blade of the tomahawk buried itself in Flameman. exe's forehead. A moment later and the practically demonic flame navi split in half before disintegrating.


"...You're right," Fyrefox hung his head in shame as Mayl finally finished berating him for his theft. "I've been so fixated on making the best fireworks... I forgot what should be most important to a craftsman."

"I think we can overlook it this once," Lan offered. "Right Zero?"

"No," the viral navi disagreed, surprising everyone. And then his tone changed to one that implied a playful smirk. "At least not without some community service to make up for the trouble. Such as helping us fight Nebula."

"Wha–?" Fyrefox sputtered. "You want me to help you fight Nebula? I-I was gonna offer, but I didn't think... I-I still have a lot to learn. But in the fireworks of battle, I could improve. Then one day my fireworks will be the best! Right, Napalmman?!"

"Battle Nebula...?" the heavy artillery navi mused. "Give a bunch of bad guys a good pounding...? Sounds good to me!"

"Then it's settled," Mayl nodded firmly. "Welcome to Team Proto!"


Baryl was in the middle of helping one of the passengers, a doctor, tend to the wounded when another Nebula agent strolled into the room armed and caught them all flatfooted.

"Consarn it!" one of the old men swore, getting up and looking ready to charge the Nebula agent despite the agent having a gun and the old man having little more than an irascible mean streak.

"Ah..." the newcomer seemed surprised. "I see you already have things well in hand."

"...Blast it all Miyabi," Baryl breathed out the tension in his body as the mercenary removed the pilfered mask he wore, "don't scare me like that."

"I'll just make sure there aren't any more left before turning the engines back on," Dark Miyabi said as he turned and walked out of the atrium, leaving those capable to tend the wounded.

Baryl blinked. He hadn't even realized someone had turned the engines off in the first place until just then...


The booster program was returned without further incident and Ubercorp, at the urging of the young licensed netbattlers, had agreed not to press charges. And still his boss, the scary converted blue navi, had told him to wait.

Wait as the party resumed with no issues and orders were placed, though perhaps a bit fewer than expected and with a fair bit more haggling after it was shown that eight boosted navis had been no match for one customized navi with a decent operator. Skill, it seemed, thoroughly trumped even the highly touted booster system.

And still he waited for his orders.

The party wound down, several people challenged the young netbattlers to friendly matches, the ship turned towards port, and he kept waiting.

Then he got his orders and he had serious trouble believing them. Nebula wanting the booster system he could understand, the thing was cutting edge at its finest. This though...?

But one glare from the scary blue navi and he stopped protesting. It was one of those glares that promised bad things if you argued. He'd seen it happen before, and so he waited as the ship sailed back into port. He waited as it docked. He waited as the party guests for this day cruise all lined up to disembark and followed the two young netbattlers and the bug guy they'd caught. He followed them down to the docks and off across until the boy remembered that he'd left his regular clothes on board and turned to retrieve them, telling the other two to wait for him.

Well, that was the best chance he was likely to get. He followed the boy back to the boarding area and watched him go back to get his things. He waited patiently until the boy returned, having changed and apparently carrying his suit in a hanging bag to boot. He pulled out his own bag as the boy approached and when he had the perfect opportunity, he struck, shoving the bag over the boy's head–


Hephaestus froze as the Nebula agent who was supposed to be a thief grabbed Lan, lifted him off the ground, and started running. The moment the bag had been shoved over Lan's head the success chances of the Loop had plummeted into single digits.

He needed to do something fast before the kidnapper got away. If Lan was placed into Regal's clutches at this stage, then–


–out of nowhere a burly arm appeared and he ran into it neck first, his head coming to a halt as his lower body tried to keep moving forwards from momentum, sending him horizontal for a brief moment before gravity took over. He hit the pavement of the dock hard enough to knock the wind from his lungs and idly noted that he'd lost the boy in the impact.


Hephaestus breathed a sigh of relief as the success chances returned to where they'd been before. Perhaps even a percent or two higher.


"Thank you for such a timely intervention," Zero. exe declared from Lan's PET that he'd somehow managed to keep a hold of.

"Thank Fyrefox," Mayl replied as she took the bag off of Lan's head while the aforementioned man kept the would-be kidnapper pinned. "He noticed the guy following us. Lan was right. He was up to no good..."


"Okay, everyone, this is it," Charlie (52) spoke up from across his connection. "This is where Nebula's been jamming international communications from, preventing the world from launching an organized counterattack."

"It was a pain to arrange a signal that could get us into the satellite system even through the interference, but here we are," Kalinka reminded them.

"Speaking of interference, how's that door coming Gateman?" Quint. exe asked.

"Almost ready," Gateman. exe reported from just outside the static interference barrier preventing entrance into the Dark Area controlling the satellite.

"Everyone know their job once we're in?" Punk. exe asked.

"Defense," the androgynous Enker. exe replied readily.

"Blow the crap out of the DarkHoles," Ballade. exe grinned.

"Discipline off the foul miscreants they dare to send our way!" Kendoman. exe laughed.

"Open a path to the darkloid in charge," Gateman. exe confirmed as he continued working on making a doorway.

"Support as needed," Quint. exe nodded, summoning his support program Sakugarne.

"...run interference if we're counterattacked and push forwards with the team when we have the advantage," Gridman. exe sighed last from a sitting position. "Don't run off by myself."

"Yeah, we don't need a repeat of what happened with Vineman," Takeshi nodded.

"We really don't need a repeat of that," Bullet's wince was audible.

"Sensei, do you want to take command of this mission?" Charlie asked.

"Why?" Mr. Famous asked. "You've all proven capable. I'm certain that any of you is capable of handling this team and whatever's waiting in there just fine."

"Jan Ken Pow?" Takeshi shrugged.

"Charlie should take command," Gridman. exe interrupted to everyone's surprise. "If we get in there and he thinks someone else is better suited, he can hand over his PET."

"..."

"What?"

"Nothing," Kendoman. exe chuckled. "Just that you of all navis are the last we expected to speak in favor of teamwork, your design notwithstanding."

"Yeah, well..." Gridman. exe snorted. "I'm man enough to admit when I'm wrong."

"But only after being hit with a clue hard enough to leave a crater," Quint. exe quipped.

"Yeah, well, the helmet's not just for show," the sport-themed navi shot back with a snort. "Look, I've been a jerk since I came online, but... I can't lie to myself. You guys..."

Gridman. exe stood up, stepped forwards and held out his fist straight and proud towards the rest.

"You guys are the best team anyone could ask for."

Quint. exe's face split in a grin as Kendoman. exe threw his head back in a deep laugh and put his fist up to Gridman. exe's. It was swiftly joined by Enker. exe's, Ballade. exe's, Punk. exe's, and finally Gateman. exe's. When the last was sent a questioning glance, he simply pointed to the fully formed metal gateway that broke the static barrier to Nebula's controlled area.

"Who are we?" Gridman. exe asked.

"We are the bane of criminals everywhere!" Enker. exe, Quint. exe, Punk. exe, and Ballade. exe yelled.

"Who are we?!" Gridman. exe asked again, louder.

"We are the scourge of the underworld!" the four answered again, just as loudly, while Kendoman. exe and Gateman. exe exchanged a glance and shrugged.

"WHO ARE WE?!"

"We are the NetNavi Killers!" Kendoman. exe and Gateman. exe joined in this time.

"WHO ARE WE?!"

"WE ARE TEAM FAMOUS!"


"Well, well..." the HeelNavi chuckled as he saw a familiar face return. "Look who never learns... And what's this? Ha! You brought friends! Hey guys! He brought some friends!"

There was raucous laughter from the hundreds of DarkPower corrupted navis, all generic off-the-shelf varieties. All individually weak, but possessing a grand mob mentality that would terrify the most hardened netbattler.

To them, a tall red-armored navi with blond hair flaring out like a cape, a smaller red navi with a long white ponytail and wearing shades, a pink girl navi with yellow antenna, a large crimson magnet navi, a yellow helicopter navi, and a purple hunk of spindly metal was hardly cause for alarm. Sure, many of them would fall, but they were so deep in the darkness they no longer cared. They just wanted to take someone with them, and they could certainly manage that much against such a rag-tag group.

"Napalmman, if you would please?" the red navi with the blond cape-hair said, prompting the spindly purple hunk of metal to clunk forwards, swinging its unwieldy arms to keep balance.

"Well, since you asked nicely..." the thing got to the front and squared itself, setting its arms like they were heavy weapons.

"Pfft!" the mob leader laughed. "You think you can take us on yourself? Bwahahahahahahaha!"

"Prepare to be blown away!" the purple navi yelled.

And then the explosions started, but the mob leader didn't change his mind. It was hard to do that when said mind was incinerated in the opening volley.


Hephaestus realized that he'd perhaps gotten used to Apollo's presence in his office for this venture when he turned to start berating the sun god for playing the 1812 overture, only to realize Apollo wasn't there and hadn't actually done that. He'd just imagined it.

"...I've been working too hard," he sighed to himself. "I should probably take advantage of some of that stockpiled vacation time after this... Maybe take Pele up on her offer of a full Havaiki beach getaway..."

He idly wondered if Valkyries considered chainmail bikinis to be an insulting stereotype or standard beachwear. (53)


"Hah!" Napalmman. exe chuckled as the group strode through the devastation he'd left of the opposing army. "Those guys may have been weak, but that lit a fire in my heart! I hope there's stronger enemies ahead."

"That reminds me, who is our enemy anyway?" Gyroman. exe asked, turning to Zero. exe and Roll. exe. "Protoman said to ask you guys?"

"Yeah," the team's only female navi answered. "Chaud filled me and Mayl in on the situation when he called us in earlier. You see, this isn't just a liberation mission..."

"It's a rescue," Zero. exe finished.

"You mean...?" Magnetman. exe's eyes widened.

"Yeah," Lan spoke up across the connection. "Our opponent's the DarkSoul that's taken over my brother."

"Long story," Protoman. exe explained at Napalmman. exe's questioning look. "We'll fill you in on the details afterwards. But, yes, our opponent is none other than Megaman himself."

They crossed the threshold into the Dark Area, and all of them staggered from the sheer heat inside. It was like stepping into an active oven. If the net of End Area outside had been red from the heat that bled from Nebula's occupation, this place was an order of magnitude worse. Only instead of being red from the heat, the entire area seemed scorched like a fire had raged and burned out, leaving only its heat as a memory when all its fuel had been exhausted.

"The hell happened here?!" Gyroman. exe spun his rotors in a vain attempt to cool himself. Even the fire-element Napalmman. exe seemed unnerved by the heat of the place.

"Hell seems an apt description for a place such as this," the large magnetic member of the team noted.

"Well, well," a sinister and familiar voice echoed. "You're early. Are you that eager to enter a world of pain?"

"Megaman..." the only female member of the team's heart fell at the sound of her boyfriend's voice.

"We will save him," Zero. exe assured them all.

"Oh, and Lan, I hope you don't mind, but I changed a few things around," Dark Megaman grinned.

"What does he–?" Roll. exe started to ask.

"Doesn't matter right now," Protoman. exe interrupted.

"What matters is that we free this area and rescue our friend," Zero. exe gave the other sword-wielder an aside glance, and got a respectful nod in return. "Everyone knows what needs to be done."

"Heh..." Dark Megaman chuckled. "I wonder... which of you will be the first to taste my MegaBuster?"

"Napalmman," Zero. exe asked, "if you would?"

"You got it," the artillery navi nodded, locating the nearest DarkHole across the murk of tangible DarkPower infesting the area and taking aim. "Napalm!"


"Gateman!" Punk yelled out. "You got the key to that barrier yet?"

"Working on it!" Mr. Famous's oldest navi called back.

Team Famous had, to a member, gotten a great deal more nervous upon seeing just what navi was in charge of this area. Because, of course, out of all the myriad possibilties, he was the one jamming international communications and preventing coordinated retaliation by anti-Nebula forces.

"Hahahahaha!" the static laugh of Jammingman. exe boomed darkly. "Come on! You all should be happy! It's a Famous reunion all around! The overblown 'Elite Four', with some of Famous's own second-stringers tagging along, together again to fight the one foe they could only beat by a fluke!"

"Ignore the upstart!" Kendoman. exe snorted as he bashed a Guardian virus back into the DarkHole it had sprung from. "He was never a student! He has no claim to the legacy of Famous!"

"Oh, but my friend does," Jammingman. exe chuckled. "Don't you, Seijin?"

"Indeed, Jammingman," the unhinged chuckle of Famous's disgraced student was heard, causing all but one of Team Famous to freeze. "And it's time to show them what happens when they don't get lucky... Let's start with... How about this? TimeBomb1... TimeBomb2... TimeBomb3..."

"Program Advance..." the sinister static chuckle sounded out, declaring their doom. "GigaCountBomb... Nice knowing you all..."

"Aw, h–" Ballade. exe started in dismay, only for the one member of the team who didn't know the two at all to leap into action.

"Punt!" Gridman. exe kicked one of his exploding footballs high into the air where it whistled as it fell, before impacting at the site where the digital explosive had manifested and destroyed it before it could detonate properly.

"Good going, Gridman," Charlie commended the football navi. "Now, let–skkssssshhhhh...*

"Ah, ah, ah..." Seijin's voice taunted as their only connection to an operator vanished. "None of that now. Lets see how good you all are without the techniques you've spent years perfecting together. Let's see how well you get by when your best moves are sealed away. Oh, wait... that already happened to someone leagues better than you could ever be... He he he..."


"So, you actually made it this far without my help," Dark Megaman chuckled as he faced down the rest of Team Proto plus Zero. exe. "I'd be impressed if you hadn't taken so long to get here. Did I make things too hard, Lan?"

"Megaman, if you can hear me fight it!" Zero. exe stepped forwards, ignoring the taunt. "I know the real you remains alive within the darkness! You showed yourself once before, now do so again!"

Dark Megaman laughed in Zero. exe's face. "Oh, this is just too rich! What's my line again? I remember: 'You're wasting your breath! A DarkSoul inhabits this body now! If you want to defeat me, you'll have to delete the body too!' Does that sound about right?"

"..."

"Come on," Dark Megaman grinned. "Let me talk to Lan. I want to hear the emotional anguish he's going through having to fight me right now. I want to hear the doubt in his voice as he wonders how much of his precious brother is really left. I want to be able to tell him to his face that he's wasting his time. The future he's been fighting for has been rewritten. It now belongs to Nebula."

The answer he got was not the one he'd been expecting.

"Lan thought you might try something like this, so he handed off control to me," Chaud's voice stated. Dark Megaman was so surprised by the turn events had taken that he seemed to lose balance for a moment. "That's what happens when you know someone as well as you do, they tend to know you just as well right back."

"Cute, Lan," Dark Megaman regained his bearing and smirked. "But it won't change anything, I–"

"Have access to all of Lan's most frequently used battlechips as a result of being a recently formed DarkSoul and are able to access the impressions their data has left on you at a whim," Chaud interrupted. "In addition to the usual DarkPower navis steeped in darkness, particularly those working with Nebula, possess. We aren't ignorant."

"So it seems," Dark Megaman growled, before smirking again. "And what do you have? The 'power of friendship'? The 'light of souls'? What could any of you have that I haven't seen and beaten before?"

"M-Cannon, MarkCannon3, TankCannon3, Megaman," Chaud declared stoically, the last chip's name causing Dark Megaman's eyes to widen in shock. "BattleChips in, Download."

"Program Advance," Protoman. exe got into a stance as an avatar of the uncorrupted Megaman. exe appeared next to him. "Double Hero."

Dark Megaman sneered as the two charged up and when they unleashed a barrage of buster shuts and sword waved at him, he began dancing between the projectiles, avoiding as many as it was possible to before unleashing a pair of AirHockey chips in retaliation that sent Protoman. exe reeling as the advance ended.

"I'm surprised Lan actually had the guts to give you that, Chaud," Dark Megaman chuckled, ignoring the injuries he'd sustained despite dodging the worst of the barrage as he and Protoman. exe began taking potshots at each other. "But I know how you fight almost as well as I know how Lan does. This changes nothing."

"Sorry, Chaud's not here anymore," the voice of Charlie Airstar sounded out, making the corrupted Megaman. exe stumble again. "But I'm sure we'll have a good time! Typhoon! Hurricane! Cyclone! BattleChips in! Download!"

Dark Megaman whipped around to face Gyroman. exe, not noticing that it was actually Napalmman. exe manifesting the chips from what was now right behind him.

"Time to blow you away!" the heavy artillery navi laughed right before he blasted Dark Megaman with the wind-based chips straight to the back.

"ARGH!" Dark Megaman roared out in fury, whipping around to take aim at Napalmman. exe. "Eat this! Bub–"

"Roll Arrow!" the shot hit Dark Megaman in the shoulder, cancelling his counterattack.

"Now!" Tesla's voice ordered, prompting the team's opponent to look around for her navi Magnetman. exe and miss the real threat.

"MagShock!" Roll. exe yelled as she teleported directly in front of Dark Megaman, hitting him point blank with the magnetic attack and locking him in place.

"How...?" Dark Megaman grunted. Only one PET could be used to connect through the DarkArea's effects at a time! How were they all doing this?! (54)

"Time to light it up!" Fyrefox's voice yelled. "BattleChips in! Download!"

"Bombs away!" Gyroman. exe cheered as he dropped a series of bomb chips on the immobile Dark Megaman the moment Roll. exe was clear.

"GAH!"

"Magnet Fire!" Magnetman. exe and Napalmman. exe yelled, the former using a MagnetBall to pin Dark Megaman down while the latter opened fire with his vulcan arm cannons. Gyroman. exe landed and opened up with his Tornado Arm to keep their opponent pinned.

"Crimson Crusade!" the voices of Protoman. exe and Zero. exe sounded while the corrupted Megaman. exe was still pinned down, the two charging and swinging their blades in rapid succession.

Dark Megaman cried out in pain as he was brought to the verge of deletion before his eyes pulsed crimson, his arm formed a sinister purple blade, and he swung for all he was worth.

"DARKSWORD!"

He swung in a full circle, hitting all of the navis around him. Only two managed to escape the full strike. Zero. exe took a lessened blow due to a last second dash by Protoman. exe that allowed Chaud's navi to shield him from the blow at the cost of losing his shield and taking the full hit himself. He was still partially injured as well as knocked down when Protoman. exe's injured form was flung back into him.

Roll. exe escaped unscathed due to being out of range, but from the look in Dark Megaman's eyes as he turned and charged at her, he meant to change that.

"DARK–"

The shining arrow from Roll. exe shattered the blade of darkness and she warped forwards to grab Dark Megaman's wrists and hold him fast. The antenna on her helmet then shot out and latched onto the sides of her opponent's.

"Heh..." Dark Megaman grinned. "Nice. I'm barely hanging on thanks to that UnderShot program Lan likes so much. Go on. Finish it. End your boyfriend forever."

"I'm connected," Roll. exe reported calmly. "Do it, Lan."

Dark Megaman's eyes widened again as he realized what Lan's plan had been the entire time. He was going to try the same thing Chaud had done to–

"Invisible, sacrifice for Unison Chip," Lan declared fiercely. "Unison chip in! Download! Bring my brother back!"

Dark Megaman's eyes closed in pain as the phantom indigo form of Shadowman. exe gathered around him and his DarkPower flared in response, the two incompatible powers warring with each other for dominance.

"L-Lan..."

"It's working!" Lan cheered. "It's work..."

He trailed off as the DarkPower emanating from Megaman. exe's body began doing something to the phantom form of Shadowman. exe. The indigo parts turned a yellowing beige, the long crimson scarf turned black...

...and Dark Megaman opened his blood-red eyes to glare at a shocked Roll. exe.

"...these connections..." Dark Megaman grinned past the pain, "work both ways..."

The DarkPower flared suddenly, breaking the half-formed DoubleSoul and crashing into Roll. exe who screamed.


The PET in Lan's hands suddenly sparked purple and a static bolt leapt to strike him in the chest, eliciting a scream of pain as he was flung several feet back.

"Lan!" Mayl yelled, rushing to his side in an instant, only to yank her hand back as a tiny bolt of purple static zapped at her. The rest of the team present saw that and decided to keep their distance.

"Ow..." Lan groaned. "Mayl...?"

"I'm here, Lan."

"Plan B..." Lan managed to groan out before more purple static wracked his body.

"But...?"

"No time," Chaud argued, grabbing for Lan's PET only to yank his hand back as he got zapped as well.

"Ha..." Dark Megaman's sinister chuckle was heard. "Ha ha ha ha ha..."

"M-Mayl...?" Roll. exe's pained voice sounded from the PET. "Help..."

Hearing her navi in pain cut through any self-doubt more effectively than anything else, and the next thing Mayl knew she was grabbing the PET despite the residual DarkPower sparking over it trying to zap her into dropping the device.


Dark Megaman grinned sadistically as he formed another DarkSword and staggered forwards. Who should he cut down first? The corporate lackey? The mercenary? The destroyer? Maybe the rival?

His gaze stayed locked on the form of Roll. exe as she writhed in pain from the DarkPower he'd slammed back across the connection she'd forged between him and Lan. No, he'd start with her.

Chuckling, he advanced slowly, partly from lingering injury and partly from wanting to savor the moment. Only to find a crimson form standing in his way with a cape of yellow hair flaring dramatically behind it.

"I will not allow you to bring further harm to any of your comrades, Megaman," Zero. exe declared seriously as he ignited his Z-Saber. "You know this to be true."

"Well, then you'll have to delete me," Dark Megaman chuckled, raising his DarkSword. "There's no other way you'll ever stop me."

"How funny," Zero. exe remarked. "I seem to recall there was no other way of stopping me once. A virus that infected navis, only to become one itself. Far too dangerous to let live, regardless of what anyone felt on the matter."

Dark Megaman winced as he felt something stir within him and ruthlessly suppressed it.

"And yet here I am," the former virus stared down the newly minted darkloid, daring him to deny the parallel between their situations. "You can yet be saved, my friend. Until that happens, I can keep you busy. Without harming you if necessary."

"You'll fail," Dark Megaman swung his blade, and Zero. exe calmly caught it on his own, the two cyberblades locking together in a struggle of strength.

"We'll see."


"DarkThunder!" Seijin yelled out as the last DarkHole closed and the static barrier protecting Jammingman. exe went down. As he'd been doing ever since Seijin and Jammingman. exe had jammed Team Famous's connection to Charlie's PET, Gridman. exe formed his team clones and deliberately intercepted the attack.

"Charge!" Punk. exe yelled, turning into his spiked ball mode and rolling at Jammingman. exe, followed by the rest of the team. They wanted to end this as fast as possible, before Seijin threw anything more dangerous at them.

"Perfect!" Seijin laughed. "BattleChips in! Download!"

"Program Advance!" Jammingman. exe was obscured as an avatar of Shademan. exe appeared before him. "BigNoise!"

"ARGH!" Punk. exe, along with the speedy Kendoman. exe fell as the giant wave of noise hit them all.

"That's more like it!" Seijin laughed. "DarkCannon!"

Enker. exe did his/her best to defend, but without Kalinka's operational assistance he/she simply could not form the MirrorBuster fast enough and he/she went down hard when the shot hit.

"Eat this, jerk!" Ballade. exe yelled, throwing an explosive. "Ballade Cracker!"

"Static Barrier! Static!"

The barrier negated the bomb while the tainted digital wind tore into Ballade. exe who screamed in pain.

"GateCannon!" the shot finally did damage to Jammingman. exe, and he turned his attention to the remainder of his opponents.


Sunayama sat in the prison's media room, holding the SubPET that had been delivered recently. He wasn't exactly sure how long, and it didn't seem to matter. The SubPET had limited functionality, and if he wanted to actually use the Net, he had to use one of the prison's navis assigned for prisoner use.

But he didn't. None of that mattered to him. Just the precious contents of the SubPET in his hands, showing a small patch of sandy brown that would look like a worthless blob to anyone else, but was infinitely precious to him.

How long had it been since he'd lost his partner? Since he'd used those strange upgrades Lord Wily had 'procured' from questionable sources? Since...

When that Tesla woman had showed him the SubPET he currently held and told him what it contained, he'd nearly broken down right then and there. He'd sold to her soon after. He'd have sold a hundred times over for what she'd given him back. He just...

"Su... na... ya... ma...?" the slow, barely coherent voice sounded from the SubPET.

Tears streaked down Sunayama's face as he wished he knew who exactly was responsible for this. Whoever they were...

...they were a miracle worker.


Mayl did her best to tune out the sound of clashing blades between Zero. exe and Megaman. exe's DarkSoul, keep her grip on Lan's PET despite the apparent DarkPower sparks racing over it trying to shock her into letting it go, and focus on her navi. Her navi who was in pain after taking the full brunt of the DarkPower surge that had floored Lan and infected his PET.

She recalled the few lessons Andou and Stargirl. exe had given them regarding the Way of the Miko in between archery lessons and focus exercises. She hadn't gotten far, but what she had managed seemed familiar to her somehow.

She remembered watching Chaud go through something similar when his navi had been infected during the Blue Moon tournament. How he'd synched with Protoman. exe to snap him out of the early stages.

Taking a deep breath, she held on despite the pain and focused on her connection to Roll. exe. Focused, and pushed her feelings through the corrupting darkness and into her navi. There seemed to be a moment of resistance, and then the familiar sensation of full synchro being achieved amidst a complete absence of the sparks of DarkPower from before.

"Roll?"

"Feeling like myself again, Mayl!"

"That's good. Ready to go save Megaman?"

"Of course!"

"Okay, we need to time this just right..."

Not noticing the stares from her teammates as they helped Lan sit up, Mayl began selecting chips as Roll. exe waited to join the fray.


"Why are you so set on doing the impossible?" Dark Megaman growled as his DarkSword clashed against Zero. exe's Z-Saber. "Megaman's mind has been claimed by the DarkPower! There is no turning back! I am the one and only Megaman!"

"Fool," Zero. exe scoffed as the two combatants pushed off from each other. "You know not the power of his soul. He was able to save me once from a situation yet more hopeless than what he is in and now I shall return the favor!"

"That'll be hard to do when I kill you!" Dark Megaman sneered as he used data for a Recover300 chip and followed it with a series of AirShots that pushed Zero. exe back before forming a darkly glowing cannon.

"Battle Chip in!" Mayl yelled suddenly from her end. "Download! Static!" (55)

"Wha–?" Dark Megaman paused in surprise, preventing him from dodging as Zero. exe blasted him with the tainted digital wind, causing his form to waver.

"Now!" Zero. exe yelled as he slashed with his Z-Saber, knocking Dark Megaman off-balance.

"HolyPanel! Barrier! Repair! Program Advance!" came the voice of Mayl as Roll. exe appeared directly in front of Dark Megaman. "LifeSaver!"

"GAAAHHHH!" Dark Megaman cried out as Roll's protective program advance was used in a manner never intended and attempted to purge him of the dark power corrupting him.

"Did it work?" Roll. exe asked as their opponent slumped over, his darkened body flickering to the brighter colors of his real self intermittently.

"T-that..." the flickering form choked out, and then began laughing. "That... all?"

"It didn't work," Roll. exe backed up as Dark Megaman got to his feet. "He's still in Nebula's clutches..."

"Don't count him out yet," Zero. exe admonished, taking a ready stance. "He's stronger than any of us know."

"This... is the end!" Dark Megaman activated a cannon style chip. "DarkCann–AGH!?"

"L-Lan..." the voice of Hub, the untainted mind trapped in the darkness, struggled to make itself heard. "Ev...eryone... I-I won't... give in... As long... as I know... you haven't... given up... I won't give in... to the DarkPower...!"

"...Tsk!" Dark Megaman sneered as he took control once more, the DarkPower within him flaring like a bonfire. "Stay down where you belong! This body belongs–"

"–TO ME!" Hub yelled as the DarkPower around him burst like a bubble, leaving him to collapse into unconsciousness. But not before his soul resonated with the navi who had led the rescue effort. (56)


Seijin Yami growled as he kept up the assault with Jammingman. exe. Why wouldn't they just die already?! Any idiot could see that he had every advantage! He had the better navi, who was attuned to the environment, he had the superior operating skills (even when he hadn't disabled his opponents' operators), and he had the best chips! He was the only one who could use them thanks to the special trap he and Jammingman. exe had put together!

So why were these second-raters so bound and determined to keep coming?!

"Death Touchdown!" the football-themed navi yelled as he bum-rushed Jammingman. exe.

"Why are you so set on fighting a losing battle!" Seijin yelled as he directed Jammingman. exe to fire on the advancing navi, who just kept coming no matter the hits he took. Several of which should by all rights have forced him to abort the attack from sheer force of impact.

"Because!" the navi yelled as he hit Jammingman. exe's location, and caused the whole area to detonate and carve a large chunk out of Jammingman. exe's health.

"Gah! Get off of me!"

When the smoke cleared, Seijin saw the football navi grappling with Jammingman. exe and started searching for some good close range chips to force him off.

"Because when I listen to you, I hear myself and it makes me want to puke!" the football navi yelled.

"What?!" Seijin abandoned his search to sputter indignantly.

"All this 'I'm the best', 'I can do anything', and 'I don't need a team' crap I hear out of your mouth? That was me not even a month ago! I was so bad Famous had to go find someone to kick my ass and knock some sense into me!"

"YOU ARE NOTHING LIKE ME!" Seijin roared. "I'M THE DARK PRODIGY SEIJIN YAMI! YOU ARE NOTHING BUT ONE OF FAMOUS'S STUPID TINKER-TOY REJECTS THAT HE MAKES OUT OF BOREDOM!"

"Seijin! I need a chip!" Jammingman. exe called out in worry, but Seijin was too incensed by the football navi grappling with him to hear his navi's words.

"Yeah, and in another life I'd have probably been your navi," the sports-themed navi snorted. "We'd have been quite an all-star pair, I think... Too bad you never really learned how to play on a team. Do it guys!"

"GATECANNON!"

"BALLADECRACKER!"

"MADROLLER!"

"BARRIERSPEAR!"

"TRAINING!"

"SAKUGARNE! IMPACT!"

Seijin was halfway through realizing what was going on when his PET screen dissolved into static.

"No... Not again... I... I can't have lost again..."

He had to get out of here. If the Officials found him, he'd be arrested and go back to prison. He was never going back to prison if he could help it. If Nebula, the guys who had broken him out and revived Jammingman. exe, found him...

Well, prison would probably seem like a much better option at that point.

He scrambled to grab all the equipment he could carry and ran to the door, flung it open–

–and ran face-first into Bullet Baret's fist.


Dr. Regal sat in his office pondering the things he'd verified. Megaman. exe's escape from the DarkPower he'd been ensnared with was... unfortunate, but... not unexpected. Not after what he'd learned. The master of Nebula had, however, managed to grill Dark Megaman over some of the things he'd come to suspect since the incident with Duo.

He'd heard about their uncanny ability to prepare for scenarios despite having no possible way to know about them beforehand. WWW, Gospel, his early Darkloids, and even Duo had all fallen before their uncanny foreknowledge. And so he'd arranged to have them bugged and he'd heard some rather unbelievable things.

But with Dark Megaman's volunteered information pulled from the navi's own mind, he had to admit the likely truth. Lan and his navi had traveled back in time through some mysterious manner. They possessed foreknowledge because they had lived through the events before. And they had vocally anticipated events that could only come after his and Nebula's defeat.

Well, they'd learn. With even the slivers he'd gleaned, he could change the game considerably. But of course, for him to pull it off properly no one else could know. Not his underlings in Nebula, not his Darkloids, not even Cosmoman. exe.

But the world would find out soon enough...


1) Poll time! How many of you want to strangle me for teasing a big reveal and then yanking it away like that?

2) That Interrupt chip? Looks like Chaud kept a couple of things from the incident with Junkman. exe.

3) Reydrago: I think the train been on fire for awhile, young hero.

4) I tried to resist the pun, but it was snow use.

5) I tried to resist the pun but… wait a sec...

6) Or at least not completely guilty.

7) She means the communication disruption at the end of Battle Network 4, not a previous Loop.

8) Ms. Millions is kind of a creepy lady given the way she pretty much hits on Lan when they meet in BN2. That said, fighting Nebula sounds like something she'd go for.

9) Ah, Masa's (Sharkman. exe's operator) not-so-secret identity in the anime. Misteriyu is Miyu (Skullman. exe's operator) and Black Rose is Sal (Woodman. exe's operator).

10) Anyone else remember that little stage show in BN3 when you went to fight Mistman. exe or Bowlman. exe? In any case, the Net Rangers (here representing all five generic navi types in the series):

Net Red: Paulie and Jammer (as a GuardNavi recolored red)

Net Blue: 'Cyber Sage' Koetsu, named in-series for one of the main game programmers Koetsu Matsuda, and his blue male FaceNavi (rather than the NormalNavi he was shown with in Battle Chip Challenge), named Honami in the last Battle Network Activation installment.

Net Green: Flave and his NormalNavi Orr

Net Yellow: Yuko and Ponta (as a female FaceNavi), back from the dead again for funsies

Net Black: Tetsu and his HeelNavi Bo

11) Cows are Apollo's sacred animal. At least he had a herd of them and cursed Odysseus's men when they slaughtered one for food.

12) Glide. exe politely pretended he didn't hear anything.

13) Because the game's animators were lazy and didn't make movement sprites for the four in their swimsuits.

14) Now there's an understatement...

15) The whole 'trapped with giant drill coming down from above' thing makes this a scary-ass scenario, let me tell you. Now, whether it's scarier with Pride, whose navi is completely out of her control, or Tesla, who doesn't seem to care in the first place, is up for debate.

16) Admit it, you were wondering this when she showed up in the tournament.

17) Well, you see Dex, there's this whole 'sworn to secrecy' thing and... right, you can't hear me...

18) Clearly, he got better.

19) For all that she becomes an ally in the game, Tesla is amazingly petty to begin with.

20) The second part of this line (after the 'umm...') by burningclaw2. Also, if you don't know what a cat fight is, it refers to two girls/women (stereotypically attractive) in a knock-down, drag-out, hair-pulling, nail-scratching, clothes-ripping brawl. Males stereotypically prefer to stand back and enjoy the show since the other option is trying to break it up and likely becoming the target of both violent females.

21) Lan Down!

22) Okay, Lan... in light of your injury, I'll forgive the incredibly lame pun.

23) Conveniently ignoring the fact that he and his favored prophets were some of the most frequent offenders.

24) I'm not kidding. The difference between her personality before joining the team and after is so stark and sudden that I can't help but wonder if she's got some psychological disorder...

25) Once More Unto The Beach.

26) Having commandeered Mayl's shirt which, while still a few sizes small on her, was a better fit than any of Yai's spare clothes.

27) The 'legendary fist navi' is the guy whose image is on the BronzeFist, SilverFist, and GoldFist chips. If any of you readers knows who the heck (if anyone) that's supposed to be a reference to, I'd love to know.

28) A character in the anime named Andou Romeda became the temporary operator of Starman. exe. Though she was a fortune teller, not a shinto priestess... Odd, that...

29) Poor Windman. exe...

30) Not to mention the happy dance his mother was doing upon seeing how he and Mayl kept blushing and trying to pretend they weren't looking at each other. No one really held that against Mrs. Hikari considering that she needed all the positive thinking she could get with her husband's whereabouts still unknown.

31) Hub would have thought it a sign of the apocalypse if Nebula hadn't already gained an iron grip on the world. As it was, he'd snuck off to the message boards a couple of nights to see if anyone had spotted Duo. exe's comet returning a few centuries earlier than scheduled.

32) He totally meant to fall off his seat as he did so. Brilliant tactic to catch his possible assailant off guard. At least that was his story and he was sticking to it.

33) Pardon me for a moment. I need to hit myself for making this pun.

34) Suddenly, football.

35) The last couple of lines of this part by GammaTron. The unmentionable is another of Hephaestus's dirty socks. Shame on you if you thought otherwise.

36) You've already guessed who this is, haven't you?

37) Wait, was Gridman. exe modeled after Charlie Brown now?

38) This is another ninja technique not unique to Naruto's universe. I apologize if you think that should be obvious, but I've sadly learned otherwise.

39) Chaud acquired the chip to train the Muramasa Style, but rumor has it that the one Shadowman. exe holds is the original program that the chip is styled after.

40) Why, yes, I am implying exactly what it sounds like.

41) Lyrics from Africa by Toto.

42) The description is basically the WaterGodComp's appearance in BN4's overworld.

43) Because of how I like to call the PC Wave Man 'Water Man' (from Mega Man 3 for the PC), this means Waterman. exe is a navi counterpart to one of the PC Robot Masters.

44) Hmm... Getting Lan back in the game after losing Hub... Door #1, Chaud and Protoman. exe... Door #2, Baryl and Colonel. exe... Hmm...

Let's see what's behind door #3.

45) Finally! The reveal you've all been waiting for! (And some of you had likely already guessed)

46) Eep.

47) *blinks* Umm... what exactly did we just walk in on?

48) Sunna wasn't exactly thrilled either.

49) Whaddya know, they have an official name after all according to this scene... Though you'd miss it if you blinked during the appearance of that one line of text. Looks like I'm going to have to go back to the previous chapter and change it from OfficialNavis at some point.

50) I bet you were all wondering what happened to him after he lost to Mayl, right? *crickets chirp* Yeah... didn't think so...

51) Yep, that's right. The captain's navi is Waveman. exe.

52) No, not Airstar. I only just realized that we have two Charlies to keep track of... This is why the One Steve Limit exists. Except there's no Steves that I have to deal with. Just Charlies.

53) I think the Mega Man: Inside Out Loop implies the answer to this question towards the end.

54) Hot potato.

55) Static is part of a set of chips sometimes referred to as 'Evil Chips' that require the user to be a 'denizen of the darkness' to utilize (which includes DarkSoul navis), or to possess a workaround such as the DarkLicense program or having a DarkHole open on their side of the field. Zero. exe would count as a natural denizen due to his status as a viral navi, even though, like Serenade. exe, he's not actually evil.

Dark Megaman's surprise is because that group of chips was about the last thing he expected any of his opponents to be to be using.

56) Yes, that's right. ZeroSoul. I went there.

Next time: ...this is War.