Chapter 6: The Tech Alps Zone:
The next day, a large pyramid looking spaceship was landing just in front of the U.A.V academy. As the spaceship was touching down, all the students marched towards the front of the ship and stood in single file waiting for their teacher to exit the ship and approach them.
Among the students standing in single file were Void and SNT. They were still feeling uneasy after the dreaded seek test that nearly killed the blue robot.
When the spaceship doors opened. Minister AVG exited the ship and stepped forward. He then began to pace left and right repeatedly in front of the students as he was introducing his class to physical education.
"Welcome to P.E. This is a class that will prepare you all physically and mentally for your first exam in 3 days time." Said AVG as he turned his head to face the students while pacing.
"Now I'm gonna be as cut throat with you as much as possible. Because the harsh reality of this entire course... Thousands of students applied to become a programmer or a minister for this anti-virus movement. But only 15% of these students have passed the first exam." Said AVG as he stopped pacing and stared down at Void.
Void looked up towards AVG and swallowed his saliva. "Gulp."
SNT looked next to Void and slowly held his hand to reassure him that everything was gonna be fine. Despite the fact that she also felt uneasy after yesterday's events.
"We want to increase these statistics, but we cannot achieve this unless you are ready physically, mentally and psychologically." Concluded AVG as he resumed pacing left and right.
Suddenly, AVG stopped pacing and pointed to the spaceship.
"Listen up children!!! for your first assignment... at exactly 3 hours ago, the tech alps have been breached by spyware and scare-ware. We believe this could be the work of Optical Illusions. However, we are not certain if they're involved." Shouted AVG as he explained the briefing.
"Our only other clue to indicate that Optical Illusions may be involved with this breach is the sighting of nanobots. Macroscopic robots with red armored suits. Their weapon of choice?... dual bladed kendo spears. Created and programmed by hacked and bricked game consoles stolen from millions of gamers around the world."
As AVG continued to describe the history of the nanobots, Void suddenly began to have a flashback to the last time he encountered a nanobot back at Optical Illusions HQ.
SNT curled up into a ball and began to spin around and around the nanobots as her speed increased with every spin. She performed a tornado attack in which the force of her spins sent the nanobots floating in the air. Once the spinning stopped, she used a blue and aqua looking blaster to blast all 5 nanobots that were caught in her tornado.
"Nice shot SNT." Said Void as he smiled at her.
"Thanks!" Said SNT as they were getting closer and closer to the rocket.
Void also began to remember a couple of aqua and silver nanobots activating their invisibility powers and electrocuting Void as they played a game of tennis with Void being the ball.
Having had enough, Void drew his network tap sword and surprisingly stabbed one of the nanobots which caused the robot to glitch out and stab the other 5 nanobots that were patrolling alongside it.
"We did it!!!" Shouted SNT happily, "We destroyed all the nanobots!"
"Well... not quite." Said Saki Chao who stood next to SNT and pointed towards the Gigabot.
After eliminating all the nanobots in the launch site, only one nanobot remained, it was Gigabot, and he was pissed off as hell.
Minister AVG suddenly snapped his fingers in front of Void to snap him out of it. "Void Ranger, focus!!"
Void shook his head to snap out of it. "Forgive me minister, I remember those clowns." Said Void as he bowed his head in shame.
AVG crossed his arms and looked curious, "Oh really? What do you know about nanobots mister Void?"
Void began to speak as if his whole mouth swallowed an encyclopedia. "Nanobots are created when programmers of Optical Illusions communicate through personal messages with gamers from all walks of life to challenge them to a one on one match of the best popular games worldwide. What the gamers don't know is that they're secretly playing a game of jackpot for their console."
"Once a connection is established and the match is currently played, the programmer uses their computer to access the gamer's profile which contains personal information. They then insert either USB sticks or SD cards into the computer to copy and steal personal information and install malware onto the victim's account via spam messages. If the fools fall for it, their consoles get infected by the Stuxnet virus which can overheat the consoles causing them to self-destruct and kill any victim during the explosion." Void explained.
"Now while Stuxnet destroys the console and possibly kills victims, a second virus steps in and activates it's payload. The virus is called MyDoom, and it's capable of distributing a denial of service attack for 11 days. This method of infection leaves victims vulnerable to a false sense of security where a family member would get a phone call in 24 hours after the attack. And thanks to the personal information that was stolen, programmers would contact the victim's family to have their destroyed consoles seized." Void continued.
"Finally, when the consoles are obtained by the programmers of Optical Illusions, the consoles are then rebuilt and heavily modified to control at least 4 nanobots per console. And as long as Optical Illusions continues this method of infection, more nanobots will propagate, creating an army powerful enough to destroy the U.A.V." Void concluded.
AVG and the students looked shocked as their eyes widened. "Impressive, looks like Void ranger is ahead of all you. Top marks Void Ranger." AVG said with a smile on his face.
"Thank you sir." Said Void as he bowed before Minister AVG.
But AVG was still confused, "But how do you know about nanobots?"
Void and SNT looked at each other and smiled before explaining what happened to AVG.
"Well... last year, as Void and I blasted off into cyberspace to defend the computer world, we encountered an army of nanobots." SNT explained.
"They were easy to destroy, but I remember one nanobot did a number on us, right SNT?" Void asked as he turned his head towards her.
She looked behind her and showed off her tails wagging slowly, indicating that her tail had healed since the fight aboard the space defense platform last year.
AVG looked impressed towards the pair. He then resumed pacing left and right towards the students. "Now listen up! Your mission should you choose to accept it..." Shouted AVG.
AVG then points to both Void and SNT as he gave out their orders. "Void Ranger, you will lead the left side. SNT, you'll take care of the right side. Remember children... all viruses must be deleted from the equation... Is that clear?!!!"
"Yes minister!!!" The students shouted. Minister AVG then stepped to the side as the students began to march onto the spaceship as it was preparing to leave the academy and fly off to the tech alps.
Before the spaceship doors closed, Minister AVG gave a soldier salute to the students. The students followed suit and the spaceship doors closed.
Just then, a text to speech computer voice sounded on the intercom as the ship began to start it's engines. "10, 9, 8, 7, 6, 5, 4, 3, 2, 1... We have liftoff."
The spaceship took off and slowly began to fly away from the academy and began it's course to the Tech Alps. Inside the spaceship, all the students stood in single file by the windows and watched the U.A.V academy get smaller and smaller as the ship flew further away.
"Man, those people look like ants down there." Said one random student, "They are ants Brutus, they are ants." Responded another random student.
As the students began to joke around and have conversations with each other about the academy, Void and SNT exited the single file line and stood out front to address the students about the dangers of the nanobots.
"Shut up!!!" Shouted SNT who was able to get the students attention.
"Students, listen! These nanobots are no joke. Are any of you students gamers?" Asked Void as he looked at the students.
Very few students in the single file line raised their hands.
"Did you know that these nanobots are being created and controlled by game consoles owned by gamers like you who lost their lives?" Shouted Void.
"Void and I have fought these nanobots before. I can promise you; this is no cakewalk. These nanobots are very dangerous." Shouted SNT.
SNT then turned her body slightly to the side and grabbed one of her tails to show the students. "Without Void ranger's help, I would have lost one of my tails to those nanobots. And if you're not careful, you may lose a limb." SNT explained.
"Does everybody understand the risks they're about to encounter?" Void asks while looking at every single student.
"SIR! YES SIR!!!" Shouted the students.
When the briefing between Void, SNT and the students was over, the ship finally landed in an area which looked like wire-frame mountains. It wasn't the Swiss alps where the mountains were covered in snow, it was called the tech alps because every mountain looked like generic mountains and a neon blue grid replacing all the snow and rocks.
The spaceship doors opened prompting the students to exit the spaceship and begin their mission. Void and half the students trekked up to the top of the mountains while SNT and the others ventured into the lower tunnels deep within the mountains.
As Void and the students arrived at the top of the mountain, they saw an abandoned factory which was probably inoperable for hundreds of years. Curious, Void and the students carefully walked inside the factory to investigate what it was used for.
When they arrived at the front gate, Void turned to 4 of the students and pointed them to step forward.
"Alright students, you 4 are gonna help me figure out what happened in here." Said Void as he drew his sword.
"Yes sir, and if anything happens?" Asked one of the students who was concerned.
Void looked at the concerned student with a serious look on his face; he then placed his hand on his shoulder, "We run like hell."
Void and the 4 students then proceeded to walk inside the abandoned building where he opened the door to let the students inside.
Once inside, the factory was completely empty, the room they were in had dust everywhere and contained pipes and machinery that haven't been used in hundreds of years.
"Alright everyone, lets split up and start searching for clues that can lead us to what these people were working on in this factory." Void suggested as all the students began to wander around the room.
As Void and the students began to inspect the machines, one of the students called for, "Void Ranger!!!"
When Void went to check on the student who called for him, the student grabbed a taped up cardboard box with a fragile sticker and presented it to Void Ranger.
Without hesitating, Void used his sword to cut open the box to find a dozen game consoles still burnt and broken. Void looked shocked when he and the student made the discovery.
"Are these the consoles that got exploded by the Stuxnet virus?" Asked the student standing in front of the opened box.
"You bet your a* they are." Said Void as he grabbed one of the destroyed consoles to inspect it.
He then placed his finger on the broken console and began to count the controller ports located in the front, "1, 2, 3 and 4. 4 control ports... 4 nanobots per console." Void concluded looking very concerned.
"These are the consoles that Optical Illusions could have used to create at least 48 nanobots." Said Void as he held the console and spun it around.
He then pointed to the power supply in the back of the console that looked destroyed and had burnt marks and a hole inside. "There, that's how Stuxnet destroys these game consoles. When Stuxnet infects, it's the power supply that overheats, thus causing the explosion that can kill any gamer while he or she is playing jackpot for their console data."
Void then places the console on the floor and grabs the box to flip it over causing 11 more destroyed consoles to fall to the floor in a pile of junk.
"So with this box alone, Optical Illusions managed to kill at least 12 victims with Stuxnet. But we already know for certain that there are hundreds of nanobots out there." Said Void as he shifted through the broken consoles.
Another student then began to call for Void's name. "Yo Void, check this out!!!"
Void followed the sound of the student's voice to find the student sitting in front of the computer with an empty chair next to him where he saw a black command prompt window open and a virus that was ready to be activated.
Void inspected the virus carefully.
"This is the Rat virus. I remember learning about this at the U.A.V's last seminar; long before I met SNT. Tis a virus that can shut down internet routers and disable phone lines." Said Void as he began to sit on the empty chair and carefully studied the command prompt window.
"I'm guessing that whoever ran this factory forgot to shut off their internet routers and phone connections when they abandoned this dump." Said Void who was trying to piece the puzzle together.
Void's hands then slowly approached the keyboard as he closed his eyes and tried to remember how to infect the computer. He then began to type the command line required to activate the Rat virus. "Now lets see, C drive, system 32, Rat dot execute and run." Said Void as he pressed the enter button to complete the infection.
Void and the student sitting next to him then watched as the internet router and the phone next to the computer shut off after 5 seconds.
"And with that... the company is now dead." Void announced while turning his head to the student.
Suddenly, as Void and the student were just about to get up from their feet, a red spear spun towards them like a propeller and maneuvered towards Void and the student like a boomerang.
Void quickly ducked out of the way, but the student next to him wasn't so lucky as his throat was slit by the speed and impact of the spinning spear.
As Void bent down to check on the deceased student. Void turned his head around and saw 6 nanobots surrounding him. 5 of the nanobots had body parts of the students stabbed onto their spears as the 6th nanobot caught the spinning spear that flew back towards the red looking robot.
Frightened, Void slowly got to his feet to put his hands up in the air, prompting to the nanobots that he surrendered.
Meanwhile, down in the tunnels bellow the mountains, SNT and the remaining students slowly walked down towards what looked like a mine. The students accompanying SNT suddenly opened up their knapsacks and took out flashlights for the group to see in the dark.
"Flashlights, good thinking!" Shouted SNT in delight.
As the group continued to walk towards the mines, they saw stasis tubes with nanobots frozen inside.
SNT paced left to right repeatedly while observing the stasis tubes. "So this is where the nanobots are built." SNT wondered as she approached a control panel. "But why in the mines, of all places?"
SNT then heard one of the students call for her. "SNT, come here! I found something!"
SNT went to check on the student who called for her. The student had discovered debris of weird colored metals lying around like a waste dump. Luckily for SNT, the student knew something or two about metals.
"This is platinum!" Shouted the student as he picked up a piece of the metal from the junk pile.
SNT then held onto it to inspect it, "So these nanobots are built out of the Platinum that gets collected from these mines."
She then saw a red looking canister and grabbed it from the floor. "The robots are then painted red." SNT then smells the canister. "Still smells like fresh paint... I can't believe it. I'm actually watching paint dry."
SNT then threw the canister away and kept looking around the mine for more clues as to how the nanobots are created.
"SNT!!!" Another student cried out,
She then met up with another student who called for her. The student was looking at what looked like a forging rock with a metal plate. The student then picked up a nearby sledge hammer and gave it to SNT. "This must be where they forged the weapons for the nanobots." SNT pondered.
SNT placed the hammer onto the metal plate of the forging rock and began to retrace her steps. "So, the platinum is collected here in the mines. Here, the metal is used to build the nanobots. The nanobots are then painted red and their weapons... forged. But where do the consoles come in?!!" Shouted SNT as she was still confused about the collected game consoles.
"I believe I can answer your question SNT." Said a young voice that only she knew too well.
She turned around and was terrified to what she saw.
It was Void Ranger who was severely injured and hanging with his cape caught in one of the spears of a nanobot. The 5 other nanobots slashed and stabbed the rest of the remaining students that accompanied SNT.
Filled with rage, SNT tried to quickly spin dash towards the nanobots. But before she can curl into a ball. One nanobot approached her and smacked her face so viciously that she fell to the floor and began to cry.
As she layed on the ground and cried in pain, the nanobot that attacked her turned his back and ordered the other nanobots, "Take the prisoners to our leader."
The other nanobots then walked towards SNT and picked her up to carry her. The nanobots then took the prisoners and carried them to the top of the mountain where the abandoned factory was located.
"Ughhh." SNT groaned as she was slowly recovering from her pain.
She looked around to see where she was and what was happening. The room apparently looked to be a once luxurious now abandoned relaxing lounge with lots of dust everywhere. "Well someone needs a good decorating tip or two." SNT snarked in her head.
She then tried to grab her forehead as she was in pain. As she tried to touch her forehead, she suddenly noticed her hand was handcuffed to another blue looking hand. It was Void's hand. Scared for her life, SNT grabbed and pulled onto the cuffs as she realized she was handcuffed with Void Ranger inside the abandoned factory patrolled by nanobots.
As she slowly continued pulling onto the cuffs, Void finally woke up, "Huh? Where am I?" Void asked as he looked around until he turned his head to face SNT.
"SNT, is that you?" Asked Void, Void then looked down at his hand and noticed he was handcuffed to SNT's hand.
Void immediately grabbed for SNT's hand to stop her from pulling onto the cuffs. "SNT, please stop! You're only gonna hurt yourself." Cried Void,
SNT released her other hand and stopped pulling, she then held onto Void's hand and looked into his eyes all scared.
"What are they gonna do to us?" Asked SNT as she was ready to cry.
"I don't know, but as long as you stay close to me, everything will be fine, I can assure you." Void promised, he turned around to see a golden looking nanobot open the doors and enter the room to confront the aqua looking chimera who she once fought last year.
"Gigabot! We meet again!" Shouted SNT who was furious to see the Gigabot once again, "Let us go!!!"
"Hey SNT, wasn't that the same Gigabot that tried to dismember your tail previously?" Void asked while looking nervous,
"Don't... even... remind me." SNT turned to Void Ranger and frowned.
Void looked deep into her eyes and swallowed his own saliva, "Gulp."
Gigabot drew his own sword and gently positioned it to touch SNT's cheek.
"You both made a smart decision to surrender yourselves to us. Not many victims I've met have had the opportunity to have their lives spared you know. You may as well be our first." Said the Gigabot as he used his spear to turn SNT's cheek to the left and to the right.
SNT angrily flinches away from the spear as the Gigabot walks away from SNT to inspect Void.
"Alright Gigabot, you caught us, now what do you want with us?" Shouted Void as he and the Gigabot got locked into a tense stare down.
"Tis just a simple task of holding you children as ransom just in case the United anti-virus movement do not meet our orders." Said Gigabot as he slowly walked around the lounge in circles.
"You see, the U.A.V had stolen something from us. I demand that they return Total AV's dev codes back to us or it will be curtains for the entire academy." Threatened the Gigabot.
"WAIT!!! WHAT?!!! YOU'RE WILLING TO INFECT THOUSANDS OF INNOCENT LIVES JUST FOR A STUPID SCRIPT?!!!" Shouted SNT who was shocked after hearing the dastardly plans of the nanobots.
The Gigabot became offended by SNT's remarks, "These aren't innocent lives, miss SNT. These are thieves. They stole from us. They kidnapped our brother and have insulted our intelligence." Shouted the Gigabot as he walked up to Void and grabbed him by his cape and hoisted him in the air.
The Gigabot then slams Void onto SNT, injuring them both in the process.
"If they should refuse to hand over what rightfully belongs to me, I will not hesitate to send out an army of spyware and scare-ware to infect all students within the academy." Shouted the Gigabot as he turned his back on the prisoners to observe the factory.
As the Gigabot was distracted, Void and SNT slowly returned to their feet as a small army of spyware and scare-ware entered the room with their pistols drawn and ready to fire.
Having quarreled with a group of spyware before, Void and SNT looked at each other and smirked.
Void proceeded to grab a couple of spyware and body slam them onto another spyware. Void and SNT then held hands and ran to hide behind a thin pillar. Unfortunately, because the thin pillar was small enough to hide only one person, SNT held onto Void for dear life as the spyware opened fire towards our heroes.
The battle with the spyware, as always was pretty straight forward. They just had to stay there and wait until the spyware ran out of bullets.
When the ammo was finished on the spyware's guns, SNT spin dashed into half the remaining spyware while Void was being dragged onto the floor.
"AHHHHH!!!" Yelled Void in pain.
"Oops, sorry!" Shouted SNT as she picked Void up and brought him back to his feet. "I meant to do that!" She smirked.
Void looked back at SNT very frustrated, "Well played SNT, well played..."
Turns out, performing single attacks while being handcuffed to their partner was proving to be difficult for our heroes.
Void then thought up a crazy idea, "SNT! Speed kicks!!!" Void shouted excited.
"Huh?!! What are you woah!!!" Shouted SNT as Void hoisted her up in the air sideways causing her to kick and wave her arms wildly.
"Put me down, what do you think you're doing?!!!" Shouted SNT who still wasn't quite sure what Void's idea was.
Void then began to run towards the nanobots while SNT was still kicking, SNT eventually realized her kicking was knocking out every nanobot that stood in their way.
SNT finally smiled at Void as he thought of another idea, "Hey SNT, have you ever tried a drill dash?!"
"What's that?" SNT wondered.
"Hold onto me!" Shouted Void as he held onto SNT's waist and began to spin her around and around.
SNT held onto Void's chest and spun with him faster and faster.
As Void and SNT spun as fast as possible, Void then drew his sword and hoisted it in the air. He then looked at SNT and smiled at her, "Do you remember when we first got to know each other?" Void asked,
SNT slowly started to remember. "Yes... I remember, we danced together... and..."
SNT suddenly realized what Void was trying to do.
With the speed and force from the momentum they built together, they performed a triple axel while Void held his sword in the air causing them to leap off the ground and drill their way into oncoming nanobots.
"Void, how did you do that?!!" SNT asked him looking surprised.
"You'll find that I'm always chalk full of surprises" Void smiled.
Void then quickly reached for a nearby cupboard and opened it; revealing some keys inside. He quickly grabbed the keys and removed the cuffs that were attached to his hand as well as SNT's.
After throwing the keys and the handcuffs onto the floor, the pair then held hands and began to run for their lives as they attempted to leave the abandoned factory.
Back in the factory, the Gigabot finally turned around only to find Void and SNT were no longer present in the room.
The Gigabot then looked around the factory where he spotted Void and SNT attempting to escape.
"So... you have chosen death." The Gigabot growled as he was furious that he accidently let Void and SNT run free. The Gigabot whistled for a group of scare-ware viruses to chase after the heroes and attempt to block their exit.
The scare-ware that the Gigabot sent forward approached the pair and led out a mighty lion's roar towards our heroes.
SNT hid behind Void looking all terrified.
"Stay back!!! Get away from me you evil creeps!!!" Shouted SNT.
But Void calmly walked towards one of the scare-ware standing in front of him. He picked up the scare-ware, placed it onto the side and made a run for it with SNT following from behind.
"C'mon SNT, let's get the hell outta here!" Shouted Void as they ran for their lives.
As Void and SNT were making their escape, the scare-ware looked at each other confused as to what just happened while an army of spyware came forward with their pistols drawn. They opened fire on the duo, but Void and SNT were already long gone. So in a way, you could say, the spyware were wasting bullets.
SNT was surprised, "Void, what were those things?"
"Scare-ware. Simple viruses that tend to scare users through joke programs, rogue anti-viruses or ransomware." Void explained.
Both Void and SNT managed to make it out of the factory and onto the front gate where the pyramid looking spaceship was waiting for them.
Unfortunately, they had to leave the deceased students behind; as there was no way they were going back to the factory to risk their lives to fight off more nanobots.
The heroes climbed onto the spaceship and opened the nearest door where they approached the cockpit. Inside the cockpit sat a pink and yellow muscular armoured robot who was observing the tech alps from the window. The pilot then spun his rotating chair around as he was wondering why they were the only ones back and the students weren't.
"Pilot, take off! We must leave this place immediately!!!" Shouted Void.
"I'm sorry mister Void, but i'm afraid I cannot do that." The Pilot refused to follow Void's orders and bowed his head in sadness.
"But we completed our mission, we made it out of the tech alps alive!!!" Shouted SNT.
"Look kid, I know you want to leave this place. But we've been losing people every day. And death is something that these students never wanted for the fate of our computer world. They wanted to become heroes and they tragically never got their wish." The pilot responded.
"These casualties from both programmers and ministers will lead to the destruction of the firewalls and the eventual downfall of either the U.A.V or the entire computer world!!!" The pilot yelled as he got off his rotating chair.
The pilot then sat on his seat and began typing in a report to send to Minister Norton. "I'm reporting to the ministers that you failed your mission. Your orders were to investigate the factory, delete those viruses and return to the ship with all students alive!"
After completing the report and sending it to Norton via email,
"But Pilot sir, these children were defenseless, they couldn't even fight a single virus to save their lives." Void complained as he tried to explain the situation to Pilot.
The Pilot then rose from his chair again and grabbed Void's cape as he tried choking him. SNT put her hands on the pilot's grip to pull the pilot's hand away to free Void. "And now, because of the both of you, we of the anti-virus movement are screwed!! And it's all your fault because you couldn't defend these innocent children from being slaughtered!!"
"Our fault?!! How were we supposed to single handedly fight off an army of nanobots, spyware and scare-ware all together with no one to help us?!" Shouted SNT who was offended as she struggled to pull on the pilot's grip to release Void from being chocked.
"FIGURE IT OUT!!!" Roared the pilot as he struck SNT into the ground and hoisted Void into the air before slamming him to the ground. Immediately after impact, SNT grabbed onto Void and brought him back to his feet as the pilot grabbed his backpack and stormed out of the spaceship. "I've had enough adventures in this pathetic excuse of an academy... This anti-virus career isn't worth watching people die before your very eyes!!!"
"Hey!!! Where do you think you're going?! Get back here you coward!!!" SNT yelled as she called for the pilot to return to the cockpit.
"I'm leaving this stupid school; Norton will expect my letter of resignation in the mail tomorrow morning. As for the both of you, you're on your own. I quit!" Shouted the pilot as he stormed out of the ship and walked towards the tech alps with his backpack in hand.
As Void and SNT watched as the pilot stormed out of the spaceship never to be seen or heard from again, Void took a few steps forward and looked out into the distance with anger on his face.
He then said something very important that would eventually black ball the pilot from ever working another day in his life.
"Fine, if you wish to stand by and watch millions of computers blue screen and die, then be my guest. We don't need you, we'll find our own way back. Right SNT?!!" Shouted Void as he looked back at SNT who reached into Void's belt to pull out his walkie talkie.
"Hey Void, can I use your walkie talkie for a minute?" SNT asked with a determined look on her face.
"Uhh, sure. Who are you contacting?" Void asked,
"A friend of mine." SNT said with a smile as she began typing on the walkie talkie's keypad.
Meanwhile, on a beautiful floating island called Angel Island, inside a garage where a red airplane was being repaired for damages. A yellow fox with 2 tails and goggles named Tails was screwing up a few loose nuts and bolts on his airplane engine.
As he's just about finished, his walkie talkie on his work desk begins to beep.
Tails walks towards the desk to pick up the walkie talkie and presses the button to hear SNT on the other end.
"This is Miles Tails Prower speaking?" Tails announced as he spoke into the walkie talkie.
"Tails!!! Am I glad to hear your voice, I need a favor." SNT's voice spoke from the other end.
"SNT!!! So glad to hear your voice again, how are you?!!!" Tails asked.
"I'm doing fine, but I seem to be running into a pickle. I'm unfortunately stranded with a friend of mine in the computer world; on a mysterious grid-looking mountain area called the tech alps. And we were supposed to fly back to the academy on a spaceship, but the pilot just abandoned us and quit." SNT explained. "Can you please help us?"
"I'm on my way!" Shouted Tails as he shut off the walkie talkie and took his wrench to screw in the last bolts on his Tornado before closing the hood.
Tails then turned on his interdimensional portal and typed in a random I.P address where he opened the portal to see binary coded skies and a runway in front of him.
Tails then hopped onto the plane and jumped in the cockpit where he pulled out a key from his pocket.
He then placed the key into the ignition and twisted the key to start the propellers.
Once the tornado's engines were up and running, Tails entered the portal and began to taxi the plane onto the runway where he prepared for takeoff.
Tails then floored the tornado at top speed and took off towards the binary coded skies.
Tails spent at least a good 2 hours in the peaceful skies.
"Wow, now this is what I call a beautiful sky." Said Tails as he was admiring the beautiful clouds slowly passing by.
Tails then opened up his front compartment where he took out his binoculars, as the plane continued to fly, Tails looked down at the ground with his binoculars where he saw a familiar aqua looking chimera waving up to him and a blue robot standing next to her.
"SNT, is that you?!" Shouted Tails, "Hold on, I'm coming!!!" Tails thrusted the plane nose down and prepared to land the plane near where Void and SNT were located.
When the plane safely landed, Tails put down his binoculars and turned to SNT.
"Tails!!! Thank goodness. I'm glad you came to save us!!!" Cried SNT who was very happy to see him.
"Hi SNT, who's your friend?" Tails asked looking at Void.
Void bowed down before the yellow fox, "Good afternoon sir, my name is Void Ranger."
"Void huh? So you're the blue robot SNT told me about." Tails said as he turned the key into the ignition before turning his head back to face the heroes. "Do you two need a lift?"
SNT and Void quickly jumped onto the plane's wing and Tails proceeded to taxi the plane onto the ground in preparation for take off.
Tails once again floored the tornado at top speed and took off towards the binary coded skies.
Tails then turned his head to both Void and SNT and began to ask them questions.
"So SNT, are you enjoying your time at the academy?"
"Yes Tails, I'm having so much fun. Although we did lose a couple of students along the way." SNT sighed as her emotions shifted from happy to sad,
"I'm very sorry to hear that SNT." Tails responded while bowing his head in mourning.
Both Void and SNT closed their eyes and bowed their heads for a moment of silence.
"So what kind of activities have you done in school so far?" Tails asked looking curious while trying to lighten the mood,
"Well lets see... Fighting viruses, learning about cyber security, digital dancing..." SNT went on an on.
Void suddenly raised his eyebrow, "Wait... digital dancing? Since when did we ever do digital dancing together at the academy?"
"When we performed the spinning drill here at the tech alps, remember?" SNT remarked.
Void then remembered, "Yes, when we fought the nanobots. In order to perform the attack on the nanobots, we had to hold onto each other and spin around and around and around until we gained enough momentum to strike. I'm sorry SNT, I never knew that one of our specific attacks would be considered dancing." Void confessed.
"Actually, there is such a dance that exists." Tails began to explain. "Have you ever heard about the dance of the swords?"
Void and SNT shook their head in unison.
"Combining dramatic gestures and movements from classical theater with martial arts swordplay, the sword dance depicts the fierce nobility and powerful grace of warriors." Tails said.
Void then slowly drew his sword and looked down at it before looking at Tails, "People dance with these?" Void asked looking confused.
"Yup. And who knows. If SNT ever gets her own sword, you can both try the sword dance together." Tails answered with a smile.
Void looked at SNT and began to blush, "Would that be something that you would like to try SNT?"
SNT blushed back, "Sure, I'm always down to try new things."
Tails then turned his head towards SNT as he continued flying, "So SNT, how did you and Void meet?"
"Well... It's kind of a long story." SNT nervously answered.
"Not to worry, I have plenty of time. Saddle up everyone, we're gonna be stuck in the air for a good 2 hours." Tails announced.
After a long 2 hours of SNT and Void explaining to Tails how they met and managed to save the computer world from destruction. Tails then asked for directions on where to land.
"So, where shall we be landing today?"
"Well... ummm...ahhhhh..." SNT mumbled as she had no idea where the U.A.V was located in the computer world.
Void then approached Tails and pulled out a map from his belt where he pointed to the location of the U.A.V academy. "Right there." Void said.
Tails then slowly thrusted the plane nose down once again and prepared to land the Tornado in front of the U.A.V academy.
When the tornado finally came to a stop, Void and SNT jumped off at the same time and Void shook Tails' hand, "Mister Miles Prower, thank you for everything." Void said,
"Please, call me Tails." The fox responded.
SNT then walked up to Tails and shook his hand, "Thanks for helping us out Tails, I appreciate it." SNT said.
"Always happy to help. Anyway, gotta go help Sonic fight Doctor Eggman once again. See ya!!" Shouted Tails as he turned on the keys to start the plane for the third time. He then taxied the plane and took off into the skies above as Void and SNT waved their hand to wish safe travels for the yellow fox's journey home.
As SNT and Void turned around to head back to the academy, their face of joy suddenly shifted to fear when they saw Minister AVG standing behind them looking angry; as he was blocking their way into the school.
Both Void and SNT began to tear up as they walked towards Minister AVG. They both hugged AVG and tried to explain to him what happened in the abandoned factory hours ago.
"What happened?" Asked AVG as he bent down to comfort the pair.
"The students... they're all... they're all..." Void tried to speak what happened but couldn't muster up the strength to finish the sentence.
Finally realizing what had happened, AVG hugged the 2 remaining students and reassured them. "Shhh shhh, everything is gonna be okay children. It's not your fault."
When the group hug ended, AVG began to explain to the pair what was eventually going to happen. "Listen to me. I'm gonna report this incident to Norton. We will then send in our ground forces and they will help us recover the bodies that were left in the factory. Their parents will be notified about this... I promise you."
AVG then hugged the pair once again before returning to his feet. He then gestured for Void and SNT to follow him back inside the school.
Meanwhile, inside the security room of the U.A.V academy filled with computers and holographic screen projections, both Mistress ClamWin and Minister Webroot were looking onto the computers as they watched Void and SNT outside with Minister AVG through the security cameras positioned in front of the school.
Minister Webroot crossed his arms and began to scold the trio,
"This is absolutely unacceptable. Every student who took the exact same class, has been killed in action during their exercise. They stormed into an abandoned factory in the tech alps only to be slaughtered by nanobots?!! And to add insult to injury, Void and that blue beast activated a virus... A virus!!! Virus activation goes against our rules and regulations. And for what? For shutting down a company?!!!"
"Perhaps they were trying to shut down the factory to prevent further infections?" ClamWin questioned, "I mean, that is how WiFi should be handled during an infection."
Minister Webroot suddenly turned to ClamWin and became furious, "You misunderstood Mistress ClamWin, this boy and that brainless monster of his have violated our rules and regulations of not only this academy but of the entire united anti virus movement."
Webroot then turned his back to ClamWin and revealed to her a shocking revelation. "...Just as his own stepmother violated the same code of conduct when she purchased the boy in the first place."
Webroot then picks up a chair and tosses it across the room. "We wanted programmers, NOT ANOTHER DAMN VIRUS!!!" Webroot roared in rage.
Mistress ClamWin tried comforting Webroot by placing her hand on his shoulder.
"Calm down Webroot, at least he assessed the situation before acting, which is what every anti-virus should do before making decisions."
But Webroot pushed ClamWin's arm aside and turned around to continue raging on.
"We're trying to prepare these children for the real world, when they're gonna have to face viruses head on without any of our assistance!!! Not send them to their death, and how the hell do you know Void Ranger?!!"
ClamWin bowed her head in sadness and slowly walked away before stopping before the door to leave.
"I was very close with his stepmother." ClamWin responded as she closed her eyes and shed tears. "She bought Void Ranger as a piece of malware and was able to reprogram him from the ground up."
"When I found out about what she was doing, I honestly thought she was insane. I watched them both during the end of her life and the beginning of Void's; when he finally became a fully fledged anti-virus; despite once being classified as rogue software." Said ClamWin as she wiped her face with her hand and stopped crying.
Webroot had heard enough and began to yell to her face, "One more word out of you regarding rogues and i'll send you into quarantine for the next 15 years, do you understand me?!!!" Webroot shouted.
Mistress ClamWin slowly bowed down towards Webroot to apologize, "Forgive me for violating the rules and regulations, minister Webroot."
Minister Webroot bowed back, "You are forgiven."
Webroot then turned his back once again while staring at the large holographic monitor showing the trio,
"As for Norton, he should have never accepted the boy within our ranks... but if he truly is to be a programmer or the next minister of the U.A.V, we still have to train him in preparation for his upcoming exam."
"I'll see what I can do, please excuse me Webroot." Said ClamWin as she opened the door to exit the security room.
But just as Void, AVG and SNT were walking by the hallway to approach minister Norton's office, Void quickly noticed Mistress ClamWin was passing by. Still feeling uneasy by unanswered questions about his past, Void began to approach her.
ClamWin was shocked when she saw Void, SNT and AVG waiting for her. Void crossed his arms and gave ClamWin a serious look.
"Excuse me, Mistress ClamWin, I wish to have a word with you. I overheard you said something before about being close to my stepmother?"
ClamWin wasn't comfortable to continue talking about Void's stepmother. She decided to deny his request.
"Void, whatever you do, please don't make this personal."
"I'm not, are you?" Void responded as he was demanding for answers, "You're the only other minister of the U.A.V besides Norton who knew her... No one else."
ClamWin turned her back on the trio and then closed her eyes as she bowed her head in sadness,
"As you know mister Void, we of the United Anti-Virus movement do not negotiate with viruses. As a mother myself, I saw the pain and suffering she went through to raise you as her own. She thought she had time on her side."
"What happened to her?" SNT asked as she was just about to cry.
Void suddenly became shocked after hearing the last sentence that ClamWin had said, "Mistress ClamWin... was my stepmother... infected?"
Mistress ClamWin turned around and gave an angry look to both Void and SNT,
"Yes. But not just by one virus... 3 viruses. Virut, Sasser and Stuxnet."
Void slowly backed away to a wall as he was even more shocked to hear what she told him.
"So all this time... my stepmother was a ticking time bomb?! Sasser with the system shutdowns, Stuxnet with the destructive payload... But what is Virut?!"
ClamWin puts her hand on their shoulders and gives them a very stern look,
"Virut is a polymorphic file infector with IRCBot functionality which infects files, downloads malware onto your system, and opens a backdoor that compromises your computer."
"You see, Virut infects the host file and blocks access to security related web sites. Other variants of Virut can even penetrate and infect .exe files within compressed files. It can also embed macro scripts into the body of web-related files and infect script files. It also creates non-functional files that are corrupted beyond repair and in some instances can disable Windows File Protection."
"In many cases, the infected files cannot be disinfected properly by your anti-virus. When disinfection is attempted, the files become corrupted and the system may become irreparable. The longer Virut remains on a computer, the more critical system files will become infected and corrupt so the degree of infection can vary." ClamWin concluded.
"So... when she reprogrammed me... My... my codes infected her with Virut... Which... in turn infected her with Sasser and Stuxnet..." Void said as he slowly backed away from his friends looking terrified.
SNT was outraged, she approached ClamWin and tugged onto her hand, "Alright ClamWin! Tell me!!! How did Void infect his own mother?!!!" SNT shouted.
"When Total AV sold Void and the clones together, he placed macros into Void's dev codes just in case they were sent in for disassembly. These macros would then activate Sasser and Stuxnet simultaneously if any code is to be rewritten or altered by the U.A.V."
Just as Void was ready to tear up and cry, both SNT and Mistress ClamWin gave him a group hug to make him feel better.
"Thank you ladies, I really do appreciate it." Said Void as he wiped his tears away.
After releasing Void from the hug, ClamWin slowly walked to a nearby water station to grab a Styrofoam cup and poured herself some water.
"Now listen children, I understand that you both want to be promoted to a higher tier anti-virus. And as a result... I hereby send forth to Minister Norton my authorization to have the both of you take the first exam of virus culture." Mistress ClamWin announced.
The trio were surprised, "Wait a minute? Are you serious? Are you seriously wanting to go through with this? After all the hell you gave us?!!!" AVG asked his rival looking shocked,
"Precisely minister. It's high time these students begin to excel in their studies. And the only way to do so is to administer the first exam." ClamWin responded with a smile towards the pair.
Void and SNT smiled in unison and bowed before her, "Thank you Mistress ClamWin."
"So, for this first exam... What must we do?" SNT asked as she was curious to experience for the very first time what anti-virus exams were all about.
Mistress ClamWin smirked towards the robot and the chimera, "Be afraid children... be very... afraid." As Mistress ClamWin walked away, Void and SNTs joy slowly shifted into fear as they slowly hugged each other.