Bass stood amidst the rubble of ShadowMan's inner fortress, clearing away rubble. It had been almost a week since he spoke with ProtoMan about the missing Dimensional Area technology, and he had spent a good part of it clearing away rubble to get into ShadowMan's old fortress' inner sanctrum. True, he could've used the Earthbreaker, but then he would run the risk of destroying valuable information. Now, he moved a rock and climbed into his nemesis's lair.

The computer room was like any other you'd see, filled with computers and files. Not to mention a Navi containment tube where a fake Starfire had been created.

Looking around, Bass grinned. "Right, let's get to work." He remarked to himself almost cheerily.

First, Bass went to the file cabinets and began to flip through the papers. There were plenty on Starfire and he, not to mention some magazines. Pulling one out, Bass raised an eyebrow. "Playboy? Oh ho, ShadowMan you naughty boy." He tossed it aside and kept working.

The clatter of rocks made Bass whirl around. Standing in the hole he made was a large Spikey, dark forest green with sea foam green fur on its chest. It stared at Bass, who stared back for a moment.

"Treble?"

The virus bounded over to the Black Shadow and began to examine his old friend who rescued him from a life of enslavement.

Chuckling, Bass pushed Treble's big furry head away. "All right! All right! I'm fine Treble, just chill out and help me find something useful."

After emptying the file cabinet and saving some files concerning the Ultimate Program, Bass proceeded to check every nook and crevice for any hidden documents.

In frustration, Bass pounded the wall. "Curse it! ShadowMan sure knows how to hide his stuff." Looking over at Treble, Bass smiled. "Isn't this ironic? I, the master of evasion am being evaded!" He sighed. "Looks like there's nothing here. C'mon Treble, let's go."

Turning towards the entrance he had made, Bass was about to leave when something caught his eye. He turned back around and looked at the computers.

ShadowMan had activated the self-destruct of his fortress last time Bass had been here. He also got the life kicked out of him by Starfire, much to Bass' enjoyment. Nothing was spared the giant explosion that ensued.

But then why were the computers still running?

Hurrying over, Bass began prodding keys. No doubt about it, something, or someone, had activated this computer recently!

Rapidly, Bass watched different files open before his eyes.

Plans for the Dimensional Area Technology.

Notes on altering Dimensional Area technology.

Theories on Navis in the human world.

And so it went, unbroken for five minutes straight. Finally Bass saved every file and dashed out, the Spikey at his heels. Outside, he opened a channel to Starfire.

"C'mon, c'mon, c'mon…"

"Hello, this is Starfire speaking…"

"Star! Listen, there's…"

"I'm not in at the moment, but if you'd like to leave me a message, please leave one after the tone. Thanks!" Beeeeeep.

Shaking his head, Bass frowned. What an inconvenient time for Star to be out! "Listen, Star, there's something BIG going down. I'm at ShadowMan's old place and I found a ton of stuff on Dimensional Areas. I think we've gotten in over out heads this time Star!"

Bass was about to go into more detail on what he found when abruptly there was a bright flash of light and he felt himself black out.