A few days passed by, rather uneventfully. Matt and L-Drive had mastered the Program Advance, NetCrime dropped slowly and Ray kept training hard in order to defeat Firewolf. He never did, but each battle was as grand as the one before.

"Hand Blaster!"

Woodwiz's held out one hand, and launch an attack that threatened to end the match prematurely.

"Not so fast!" interrupted Matt. "Battle Chip! MetGaurd! Slot-In!"

The blasts pinged harmlessly against a shield that covered Firewolf from damage. He wasn't worried one bit about losing.

"Let's finish this!" He smiled. "Matt, try the Program Advance!"

"Battle Chip! Sword ... Longsword ... Widesword ... Slot-IN!"

Each chip was slid into Matt's PeT in turn with almost perfect timing. The Beta Sword hovered over Firewolf, who grabbed hold of it, knowing how to handle its power more than before.

"BETA SWORD!"

He swiped the sword in front of him, and the shockwave careened towards Woodwiz. Ray grinned slightly, probably knowing it was all over. The wave made contact with Woodwiz, and created a large flash of light.

"YES! We did it again, Firewolf"

"Not so fast, Matt. You're too hasty"

The light cleared, and so did the smoke. Woodwiz was still standing ... with a MetGuard chip active.

"Never count your Battle Chips before they're downloaded!" Ray grinned.

"No problem, we'll just take this here and now"

"Give me your best shot!"

"Fine"

Matt fumbled in his pocket, and brought out three new chips.

"Battle Chip! Cannon! High-Cannon! Mega-Cannon! Slot In!"

"W-What!? Where did you get those chips?"

"They were in the pack that Netto gave me. I found this Program Advance on my own!"

Firewolf held out one arm. Rather than it transform into a small cannon, it morphed into a large block with holes for varying powers of blasts. He grinned, aimed then fired. All at once, shots flew from each barrel and exploded around Woodwiz. His MetGuard had ran out, so he was done for. The explosions rocked the network, literally. Bystanding Navis found it difficult to stay upright as blast after blast hit Woodwiz's area, leaving behind devastation. The dust cleared once more, and Woodwiz was nowhere to be seen. He had logged out as a result of losing. Firewolf jacked out to return to Matt's PeT.

"Heh, I knew you only had one MetGuard, you use the same folder over and over. You need to have a bit of variation between battles" Matt advised.

"Yeah. You're right, I guess. Maybe you can teach me those Program Advances sometime?"

"Heh, maybe once you manage to beat Firewolf, huh?"

"Looks like I'm gonna be waiting for a while"

"Nah, you'll do it sooner or later"

The duo exited the NetBattle store. The staff had become to know them for being regulars, and were thankful for it. Matt and Ray's fights always brought in all the NetBattlers from miles around, all vying to see Matt use his Program Advances. L-Drive didn't show off as much as Matt did. He was always fine-tuning Cyberlink's programming so that he would be more powerful than ever. As for Daniel ... he kept himself to himself. A trait which bothered the others, especially when he failed to show up for school one day.

"Hey, have you seen Daniel today?"

Matt was on time, for once, and had caught up with L-Drive on campbus.

"No, I thought he would be coming with you"

"And I thought he was coming with you"

"Hmm, you think he's okay?"

"Well, we got time before school starts, so why don't we run by his place and check on him?"

"I can't, I've got to hand in the school newsletter Data"

"Hmm, I'll get Ray to check on him for us"

Matt brought out his PeT. Firewolf already had the E-mail screen open.

"Lemme guess" he started. "Could you check on Daniel for us? He hasn't shown up for school yet and he's normally here by now"

"Pretty much, thanks Firewolf"

Firewolf sent the E-mail, then returned to his usual activities, which was really just standing about waiting for Matt to pick him up. The bell rang out through the campbus. Matt and L-drive looked at each other, then headed into class. Things didn't change any during class, either. Daniel still didn't show up, which left Matt even more worried. Firewolf jacked into Matt's desk, where Cyberlink already was.

"Hey, any word from Ray?" asked Cyberlink.

"Nothing yet, but even I'm starting to wonder. You think he's ill?"

"He looked fine yesterday, so I don't think he would be"

"Hmm, I don't know what could be wrong, then"

"Hopefully, it's not too bad"

Unknown to the pair, the thing that worried them would be answered the very same day.

In the Cyberworld, things grew dark. Very dark. Something unfathomably large obscured the light that penetraded into this digital world. NetNavis that stopped to look up were taken aback by the sheer size of this gargantuan apparition. Navis crowded around on the walkways, trying to see this ... thing. However, these Navis forgot what curiosity did to the cat. The figure lifted one hand and clicked its fingers. Immediately, meteors rained down and obliterated every Navi that stood in its path. Anyone who survived was deleted by a virus, which followed this apparition around as if it was a loyal army.

"Nice work, Omega" said a voice, which clearly belonged to Daniel. "Keep following the path and don't Jack Out. We need to enter every network to find the entrance. Stupid file. It didn't tell us. But at least we know the password for the door. Once we get there, you just need to absorb the Guardian. No-one can stop us ... for no-knows! HAHAHAHAHAHA!"

"GWAAAAARR!!" Roared Omega, stomping down on some fleeing Navis.

Once this area was cleared, it moved on to the next network in its path; the ACDC High network.