Panting, ProtoMan leaned against a wall, and then glanced at Bass, who was also breathing hard. "D'you think we lost him?"

Shaking his head, Bass straightened up. "I think so, but just in case, let's take that hall right up there."

Pulling himself to his feet, the red Navi slung Muramasa at his hip, leading the way towards the next hall. Turning, he stopped dead, staring at a figure that was just visible through a cloud of dust.

Behind him, ProtoMan sensed Bass' presence, and he knew that he wasn't the only one who saw the increasingly familiar figure through the dust.

"Starfire?"

The beautiful golden haired Navi turned, her blue eyes immediately locked on ProtoMan.

No words were exchanged, but ProtoMan walked forward and embraced Starfire, relief flooding his entire system.

"Proto…. it's really you…. I thought you were…." The orange Navi whispered so only ProtoMan heard.

Not breaking the hug, the red Navi whispered his reply. "I thought I'd lost you forever."

Finally pulling away, Star looked up at ProtoMan, smiling. "What you thought was me, was actually a copy of my data known as CopyStar.EXE." Her look became serious as Bass approached, ruffling her hair and she nodded a greeting, flashing him a smile. "It's from that thing that ShadowMan has gotten his 'Ultimate Program.' He's discovered that when he copied me to the best of his abilities, he got something along the lines of a temporary Ultimate Program."

"Very good, Starry."

For the second time in under an hour, everyone turned to see ShadowMan at the opposite end of the hall, wearing a trademark smirk.

Making a movement to get at him, ProtoMan was halted by Starfire's arm.

"Let me handle this one."

Looking at Star, ProtoMan glanced up just as the Style Change happened.

In an instant, Starfire had gone from hazardous to deadly. And truth be told, she looked really cool.

Her entire body and helmet had been turned black, possibly to reflect her relation to Bass. The helmet had produced two fins, smaller than Bass' and a bright blue color. Between them, a purple five-pointed star gleamed like Bass' blue four-pointed star did. Around Star's neck was what looked like a strip of Bass' cloak that had been tied into a scarf. Two purple shoulder pads that looked like MegaMan's sat on her shoulders, and Star's hair was now streaked with purple. The crest on Star's chest had a blue triangle that pointed up towards Star's head and two diagonal stripes of blue meeting at the crest. On her arms was a gold band just below the elbow and one near the wrist, while between the two bands bright blue color sparkled at them. The bathing suit like bottom was now a deep purple, which was very different from the normal shade of red. Starfire's boots had also changed. Two triangles of 3D gold came up, bordered by thick stripes of blue. The gold band beneath that hadn't changed much, and the boot had changed from orange to purple.

In the silence that followed this miraculous Style Change, only Bass spoke, his voice barely above a whisper. "Forte Style…" He breathed, this show of hidden power surprising even him. "I never thought such a thing could exist…"

"And yet," Starfire had turned just a bit to look at him, "It does. Now, stand back and let me work, all right?"

Scarf fluttering, the new Forte Style Starfire glared at ShadowMan, who practically cowered in fear.

"You know," She remarked, purposely striding down the long hall towards her kidnapper, "I asked you not to call me Starry. But you know, some Navis just don't get the message. Or they don't know when to quit." Now she was standing eye to eye with ShadowMan, and for some reason, perhaps it was the style change, she seemed to have grown a bit. Speaking so only she and ShadowMan could hear, the blonde warrior leaned towards him. "I think," Star whispered dangerously, "I also requested that you leave my boyfriend alone. But did you listen to me? No…you…did…not!"

The last word was accentuated with a fierce punch to the face, which sent ShadowMan reeling. In a heartbeat, the now dark colored warrior leapt into action, using every power within her possession.

ProtoMan and Bass watched, wincing at the vicious blows Star landed. Turning away, the red Navi asked Bass a question that had been bothering him for some time. "Bass, if Star could do this the entire time she was here, why didn't she do it sooner? I mean," Casting a look over where Starfire was sparing no power to beat on ShadowMan, "Look at her!"

Watching his sister admiringly, Bass crossed his arms and shook his head. "See Proto, that's the thing about Starry. Ever since she was little and knew she had that power, she hid it. Star doesn't like the feeling of power in her blood. I think what happened with me…" Bass absently rubbed his chest, where ProtoMan knew that under the cloak was a long jagged scar that ran diagonally across the black Navi's chest. He continued to speak, " It scared her. It gave her the idea that if you had power or were too different, you'd suffer my fate. Perhaps this prompted her to hide her power for all these years. But for whatever reason, Star's decided to show it now." Then he winked, as if he couldn't hear ShadowMan screaming in agony and Starfire's muffled cry of 'Hold still you stinking…' But that's Bass for you. "I don't think she'd like that kind of life anyway. Being known as too powerful for your own good, I mean. She likes the normal life anyways."

"DUCK!"

Stooping low to the ground, ProtoMan glimpsed ShadowMan fly over his head. Standing, he saw that Starfire had leapt over him and was keen on pursuing her intended victim.

Standing, ShadowMan was in terrible condition. Parts of his data were flickering dangerously, plus he was missing a good chunk of data out of his shoulder and side. "You may have won this round," Rasped the battered ShadowMan, pulling out what looked like a detonator, "But mark my words, I'll be back. And when I do, that Ultimate Program will be mine!" Pressing the detonator, ShadowMan teleported out.

With a strangled cry, Bass made to go after ShadowMan, but Starfire stopped him. "Let him go Oniichan," She said quietly, placing a hand on his shoulder. "We will fight him another day."

With a flash of light, Starfire resumed her normal form and stared, embarrassed at her feet. "I'm sorry you had to see me like that. I've known for some time now what my form would look like when I fully utilize my Ultimate Program, but I hate…"

Whatever Star hated about it, we shall never know, because at that precise moment, an alarm began to sound.

"WARNING! SELF DESTRUCT OF FORTRESS IS IN SIXTY SECONDS! EVACUATE IMMEDIATELY! HAVE A NICE DAY!"

Swearing, Bass dashed to the end of the hall. "Great! Now what?" He growled loudly.

Dashing off, Star's eyes lit up. "I recall seeing a flight of stairs going up and out when being taken back to my cell! This way!"

Together, the reunited trio sped up the rapidly crumbling staircase, and as the countdown entered the last ten digits, they flung themselves out onto the top of the cliffs ProtoMan and Bass had seen at the beginning of this adventure.

Throwing the stone door shut, Bass smirked. His theory of a field on top of the cliffs was correct! A dry field, but a field nonetheless. Grinning at the muffled explosion, he turned to look at the two other Navis, who were recovering their senses nearby.

Sitting up, ProtoMan stared at the cyber sky. It was dark with storm clouds, and a wind stirred the dead grasses, rustling them eerily. "You okay Star?"

She looked at him and smiled. "Yeah, I'm fine Proto." Standing, Starfire looked up and a fat raindrop splashed her right on the nose.

In a matter of seconds, the dark clouds had split open, pouring their contents down onto the dry fields.

Spinning, Starfire laughed a wild laughter that rang from all the cliffs and into the ruins of ShadowMan's fortress. Dancing through the field, Star welcomed the rain like an old friend.

Grinning, ProtoMan walked over, catching Star as she spun into him. For a moment, both Navis just looked into each other's eyes before ProtoMan leaned forward and kissed Starfire.

Closing her eyes and leaning into ProtoMan, Starfire reflected. So the story had ended the way ShadowMan said, with a kiss. So what? If this was the way everything ended, she thought, then maybe it's not so bad after all.

Pulling apart, the duo looked at Bass, who had approached.

"Let's go home." He stated, a grin spreading across his features.

It was possibly the sweetest sentence any of them had heard in a long while.