Bass was quiet and thoughtful as he led ProtoMan deeper into the Undernet. His own sister, captured! It hardly seemed possible. And by ShadowMan no less. In the past, ShadowMan had captured countless Navis, and there had always been rescue attempts. None of the rescuers or Navis were ever recovered. Glancing over at ProtoMan, Bass was reminded why this would be different.

ProtoMan had a look of utmost determination on his face, his stride bold and purposeful. His thoughts were of Starfire as well. Was she all right? What had ShadowMan done to her? And how was she going to take Bass' plan?

Abruptly, ProtoMan nearly had the wind knocked out of him by Bass' arm. "Hey, what's wrong?"

Bass stared straight ahead, not taking his eyes off of what was before him. In all his years in the Undernet, he had never seen something like this. Two cliffs rose up before them, rearing hundreds of feet into the perfect blue sky.

The red Navi also realized what Bass was looking at, and couldn't help but feel a certain level of awe and respect for these cliffs. "Is this it?" He asked in a hushed tone.

Bass nodded, drawing his hand back beneath the dusty brown cloak. "Yeah…this is it."

Both began walking cautiously into the long canyon created by the cliffs above them. A gust of wind sent dust spiraling down into the gorge.

ProtoMan coughed and shielded his mouth from the dust. "Man, I wish there was some rain to dampen this dust!"

Bass held out his hand and caught some of the dust. Examining the dust against his palm, the black Navi nodded. "I do too ProtoMan, but it's been a dry season. No rain whatsoever. There's a field on top of these cliffs. I can see some grass seed in the dirt."

ProtoMan looked ahead and saw a cliff face that was unnaturally smooth. Jogging over, he examined the face before turning to his partner. "Hey Bass! Take a look at this!"

Picking himself up, the black Navi floated over and set himself back down next to Proto. "What am I supposed to be looking at?"

Shaking his head, ProtoMan dusted off the carvings on the smooth cliff. "I don't know, it looks like a message of some sort."

Clearing his throat, ProtoMan proceeded to read the message. "Many brave warriors have entered this place, but none have ever returned. If you make it to the end, come back and carve what you have seen here. Beware, for it is rumored that at the end, there is a terrible beast that lurks. Perhaps this is why this place is called The Labyrinth. Good luck."

Bass nodded smugly. "Oh, this sounds just lovely! Well, we know what the beast in here is. ShadowMan!"

"Well, if you're quite done," ProtoMan said, a frown crossing his features, "We have a choice to make."

Following Proto's gaze, the Black Shadow spotted what his partner was talking about. Only a couple yards away there was a fork in the trail. Both boys began examining the paths.

"What do you think?" Called ProtoMan from where he was inspecting the left trail.

Bass shouted his reply. "I think ShadowMan can go straight to…"

"I meant about the trails."

"Oh. Well, I think I found something."

Scrambling over, the silver haired Navi found Bass kneeling, looking at something in his hand. "What is it Bass?"

Holding his hand out, Bass gave a grim smile. "See for yourself."

In his palm, ProtoMan saw a blue guitar pick with a silver star etched onto the surface. "Star's guitar pick," he breathed, taking the pick gently, "I never knew her to go anywhere without it."

Nodding, Bass stood. "Yeah. It must've slipped out of her grasp or something while ShadowMan carried her. So we take this path."

As they walked, ProtoMan thought over the warning at the entrance of the maze. "Bass," He spoke slowly as they walked, "They say none have ever made it out of here alive. So do you think…. are there other things in here aside from that creature they talk about?"

Bass snorted. "If I know ShadowMan, he'd have booby trapped the whole place. So yeah, there's something else here."

Then it was Bass' turn to run into ProtoMan's arm. The tall red Navi was stock still, staring at the path ahead. "Bass, don't take another step."

Confused, the black Navi frowned. "What? Why?"

Without any further explanation, ProtoMan held out his right arm. "Bubbler, battle chip in! Download!" Raising the Bubbler to the sky, ProtoMan fired, sending little droplets of water raining down.

Blinking a drop of water out of his eye, Bass was almost sarcastic. "Whoopee, you made it rain."

Smiling smugly, ProtoMan pointed. "Not exactly."

Following the finger, Bass saw that the droplets would abruptly stop and hang in midair, clinging to tripwires. "Woah…that was a close one!"

Nodding, ProtoMan began to carefully navigate his way through the trap. "Yeah. Now come on, and be careful."

On the other side, Bass shook his head. "I'm sorry about that ProtoMan, I'll trust you more next time."

With a nod, ProtoMan smiled. "No offense taken Bass. Just be careful, or there might not be a next time."

Several hours later, ProtoMan and Bass lay down on the sand, utterly exhausted. In the past hours or so, they had fended off at least 53 attempts on their life, disarmed 5 different bombs, navigated 15 spike pits, two pools of lava, a bottomless gorge, and a pool of acid that opened up beneath their feet.

Glancing over, the red toned Navi panted. "Wow…that has got to be the fastest I've ever seen someone disarm a bomb while dodging swinging axes."

Chuckling, Bass sat up. "Yeah, well, you learn to expect the unexpected out here."

High above them, a familiar evil face peered over the edge of the cliff.

StoneMan opened a link to ShadowMan, who seemed slightly surprised to see his blocky companion.

"StoneMan! What's going on out there?"

"The two Navis are here. A red one with girly hair and one wearing a cape are down in the gorge."

A flicker of surprise crossed ShadowMan's face. "Good. Spring the trap, and make sure that they don't escape."

If he could smile, StoneMan would be grinning from ear to ear.

Bass got to his feet, wiping his brow before looking down at his silver haired partner, who was still lying on the ground. "C'mon Proto, time to go."

ProtoMan seemed utterly exhausted. "Just a little while longer Bass…"

With a shake of his head, Bass moved towards the fallen Navi. "See, that's your problem ProtoMan. You're used to fighting in little spurts, like in a net battle. You've got to learn some endurance fighting." Reaching down, the cloaked warrior pulled ProtoMan to his feet.

Opening his mouth, ProtoMan was about to make a comment, but then he stopped, listening. "Bass…Do you hear something?"

At that moment, a good-sized rock tumbled down, hitting ProtoMan squarely on the head.

Bass caught the unconscious Navi and leapt out of the way of another boulder. "Hold on Proto! Don't go!" Looking up, Bass had only one thought on the thousands of boulders crashing towards them

Oh sh-