A/N: Hony Kong has turned into a shithole city. If this fic never gets updated against just assume I died from Conora-chan.


"You do realize that was almost a complete disaster, right?"

Princess Pride frowned at him. "I don't need a child to tell me that."

Sean shrugged in response, though he was sighing to himself internally. He and princess Pride had spoken on various occasions while he was still in charge of Gospel, though he had masked his own identity whenever he communicated with the rest of the Gospel members. The boy had never once showed his face and altered his own voice using a voice-changing program whenever he reached out to them, mostly because he didn't want the net police to use the footage to identify him in case it got leaked, but also because he knew eight-year-olds don't tend to wield much authority over those much older than him, regardless of his intellect. This had worked quite well for him during Gospel, allowing him to get quite a few things done where he otherwise couldn't have, yet one of the unforeseeable consequences of this action was becoming blatantly clear; Princess Pride didn't appear to realize she was talking to her former employer.

Well, Sean supposed there was nothing else he could do about that but to re-introduce himself. "Listen, lady- I know I don't look like it, but I'm working with Den City's net police. That attack on Creamland's cyberworld just now? I've been researching the guy behind it for a long while, so I would really appreciate it if you could tell me anything you know, or at least let me look through some of the data logs while the attack happened."

"Why would you need access to such data?" Princess Pride still seemed skeptical.

"I don't know- To find the guy who did this? To find some way to prevent another similar attack from happening?" Sean raised both his arms in an exasperated manner. "You can choose either explanation. It works either way."

"It's fine. He's with us." The princess was about to come up with another retort when a new voice spoke out. Both Sean and Princess Pride turned to see that Enzan had dropped in on their conversation.

"He doesn't look like it, but he's quite good with technology." Sean didn't miss the bit of side-eye the other boy gave him as he spoke. "Regardless, we hope you'll be able to cooperate with us on this, Princess Pride. Any information you might have on the attack would prove to be useful for us to investigate this matter further."

"...I'm not sure how much I'll be able to tell you. I don't know much about the attackers myself." Realizing that she was now talking to a Net Police Officer, Princess Pride relented, and Sean resisted the urge to sigh and groan out loud at the blatant age discrimination that was happening.

'This is completely unfair- He's barely two years older than I am and I get disregarded while he's respected? That's so unfair!'

"In that regard, I don't think I will be of much help to you." Princess Pride continued, oblivious to Sean's displeasure.

Enzan narrowed his eyes at the response. "I don't think you understand the scope of this attack, Princess Pride," he said, clearly unhappy with the lack of useful information he was getting at the moment. "Whoever attacked Creamland's network also targeted Den City's common net and Sharo's network as well. Any other region could be next. If we don't figure out how they're conducting these attacks, or which area they plan on attacking next, the results could be more serious than we can imagine."

Princess Pride appeared to consider his words, though she quickly shook her head once more, "I'm sorry. I already told you- I don't know much about the attackers, how they conducted the attack, or where they plan on attacking next." Then, apparently deciding that that was the end of the conversation, she quickly interjected before Enzan could reply, "I must leave now. The cyber attack just now has damaged a huge portion of Creamland's network, and I must come up with a course of action for my people." With that, she quickly disconnected from the conversation.

"Damn it." Enzan cursed.

'Yeah, now you know how it feels like to be age-discriminated.' Sean couldn't resist the urge to smirk a bit, though he quickly recovered. "That's cold. But I'm not surprised. Maybe she's still not over the whole Gospel thing just yet."

"And who's fault is that?"

"Not mine." Sean decided. He looked over at the Net Police Officer. "Well? What do you suppose we do now? Without any leads, we're pretty much just waiting for another cyber attack."

'Perhaps I may be of assistance?'

Sean gasped, while Enzan jerked towards the newcomer with alarmed shock. Neither of them noticed that someone else had intercepted their call. "Who are you?!"

'Me? I guess you can say that I'm… a benefactor.' Both of them could hear the voice, though there was no video feed which allowed them to identify the mysterious caller, and Enzan also suspected that whoever was talking had used some sort of voice-altering program to hide further hide their identity as well. 'Really, you don't need to concern yourselves with who I am- All you need to know is that I know where the Dark Soul is, and I can find you a way to access the Dark Soul's hideout in the Undernet.'

Sean cast a quick glance at Enzan, noting the look of suspicion on the other boy's face, which was good. He shared the same suspicion as well; They had just been talking about being unable to track the Dark Soul, and now this unknown newcomer intercepts their call, not only saying that they know where the Dark Soul's location is, but that they can also lead them to it?

"We have no reason to trust you." Enzan said, eyes narrowed.

'I know that.' The voice responded, rather nonchalantly, 'So feel free to turn down my offer if you have any better leads.'

"...I mean, he's got us there." Sean merely admitted. Enzan groaned and rubbed the side of his head.

"Fine. What's the catch?" Enzan asked.

'I want you to provide me sanctuary until this Dark Soul business blows over.' The voice sounded pleased. 'As I'm sure you can understand, the Dark Soul would not appreciate if its base of operation were to be revealed, and I have no doubt it would come after me, should I reveal such information to you. If you can ensure my safety until the Dark Soul can be deleted, then I will be more than happy to provide you its location in the Undernet.'

"...I'm sure we can arrange something for you." Enzan said after a brief pause. Witness protection wasn't an uncommon thing when working with informants.

'Excellent!' Sean could almost hear the smirk in the voice. 'Then I shall meet you at SciLabs soon. I will let you know the location of the Dark Soul then.' With that, the voice disconnected from the call.

"Well? Any ideas on who this mysterious person could be?" Sean asked as he looked towards Enzan again.

"None yet." The other boy crossed his arms, a slight scowl on his face. "...Who would know about the whereabouts of the Dark Soul and also be willing to share such information with us?"

Sean shrugged in response. "I guess we'll find out, won't we?"


Shademan attempted to keep his form unobstructive as he slowly approached the Dark Soul. It was still looming over the slab where the Blue Myth was kept unconscious. "...M-master?"

"It's not enough." The Dark Soul said, suddenly, after a long while of silence.

Shademan was both equally baffled and unnerved by the response. "...Master? What's-"

"ARE YOU FUCKING DEAF? I SAID IT'S NOT ENOUGH!" Shademan shrunk back, practically cowering as the Dark Soul whirled on its heels, eyes blazing with fury. "ARE YOU THAT GOD DAMN INCOMPETENT? OR ARE YOU JUST FUCKING RETARDED?!"

Shademan didn't quite manage to suppress a terrified shriek as the Dark Soul flung a ball of energy at him, exploding the ground next to the bat Navi. "P-perhaps now would be a good time to open the gates to the Dark Web!" He hastily suggested, hoping the promise of overrunning the entirety of the common net with certain doom would be enough to calm the Dark Soul. "All your enemies would be annihilated in an instant!"

"Oh, they would, wouldn't they." The Dark Soul hissed through grit teeth, eyes narrowed. "But that won't do… They have to suffer for insulting me. I'll make sure of that. But how…"

Shademan struggled to swallow the lump in his throat as he watched the Dark Soul slowly turn back to look down at the still-unconscious NetNavi. While he knew that Dark Soul would want revenge for his defeat at his NetNavi counterpart's hand, their enemies appear to be wising up to their tactics. It would be difficult and risky to confront them so soon.

...Right?

Then, Shademan noticed a strange smirk forming on the Dark Soul's expression. The bat Navi felt a chill go down his spine.

"...I shall have my revenge yet." The Dark Soul appeared to be talking to itself with twisted amusement. "I will take the final piece of power I need from him. The world will be plunged into darkness then. Just you wait…"