Early the next morning, just as Sam and Star were finishing their breakfast, the boys returned.

"Proto!" Star hurried to him, throwing her arms around his neck.

The silver haired boy stroked her hair but said nothing. He had decided late in the night that he had to tell her today about his plan. If not everything they had worked for would crumble. Then again, if he told her, then there was still the chance everything could fall apart.

Bass stole a half of Star's toast and ruffled her hair. "Hey Starry!" He sniffed the air. "Something smells nice."

Breaking away from Proto, Star smiled. "That would be Sam and I. We used scented soap."

Settling into the couches in the living room, Chaud addressed the little group. "I suppose there's not much we can do until Doctor Cossack finishes his scan."

Across the room, Bass scowled at the mention of his father's name, but remained silent otherwise.

Just as the group decided to go out and have fun for the day, a tremor sent them reeling.

Bracing himself against a wall, Chaud looked around. "Not again…we've got to figure out how to stop this!"

From where she was on the floor, Sam put a hand on the couch. "That was the biggest one yet!"

Looking around, Star wanted to look out the window but gritted her teeth as another tremor shook them. "Curse it! If I was still on the assignment I could have the unlimited resources we need to solve this."

With a slightly guilty look, ProtoMan decided it was now or never. "Umm…about that…"

Unfortunately, he never got farther than that because a wall screen had turned on and an out of breath Doctor Cossack appeared. "I figured out what the tremors are!"

"DO TELL!" Bass growled loudly, steadying himself against the couch.

"Well, allowing Navis to appear wasn't the only modification ShadowMan made," Began the blonde doctor. "ShadowMan modified the generators to allow the whole cyber world to merge with the real world! That's what these tremors are, the cyber world trying to merge itself with the real world!"

Bracing against another tremor, Chaud looked at the screen. "My god… the damage that will cause in the city…Thousands will be killed!"

Holding up his hands, Cossack shook his head. "No, it's fine. NetCity was planned to be an exact replica of your city, so nobody will be hurt. The buildings will just merge into one. You might have some unwanted Navis around, but that's about it."

ProtoMan struggled to stay upright near the couch. "But what about those of us in the suburbs?"

Cossack opened his mouth to answer but the power was cut at that moment.

Star screamed.

And with an eerie rushing noise, everything went black.

Moments later, Chaud risked opening his eyes, loosening his protective hold on Sam, who had her head tucked to his chest. "Is everyone all right?" The young Netbattler asked, standing and helping Sam up.

A cough from the corner made them turn and Bass let go of his sister, who tumbled out of his embrace. "I'm all right…" The solemn black Navi stated, easing himself up. "Nothing broken at any rate."

Looking around, Star's blue eyes were concerned. "Where's ProtoMan?"

"Here…" Rolling out from under the couch, ProtoMan propped himself up on his elbow. "Glad to see everyone's okay." The red Navi stood and a small gasp went up from the rest of the group. He looked at them. "What?"

Sam tried to suppress a smile. "Proto…. Your hair…"

Hurriedly, ProtoMan ran a hand down to the nape of his neck, where his hair had been cut off. Strangely, his hand felt hair. Turning, ProtoMan caught sight of his long silver hair; once more it's usual length. Crowing with delight, he promptly kissed Sam on the cheek and ran a hand though his hair again.

Bass, who had climbed onto the fire escape, softly called out. "Guys…you might want to see this…."

Hurrying over, the group stared. On the ground was a covering of sand. With Bass helping Sam and Chaud, the friends climbed to the top of the building, only to find themselves looking over a hauntingly familiar dusty brown landscape.

Chaud exhaled. "The Undernet…."

After admiring the change of scenery, the group situated themselves back into the living room where Bass led the discussion. "There's no doubt this is ShadowMan's doing. But why and how?"

"Those are questions I'm going to ask him personally!" All eyes were on Starfire, who had reappeared in her usual Navi attire. "He's gone far enough. And I'll bet you anything he was the one who got me taken off the assignment!" The blonde slipped on her helmet and headed for the window. "I'm going out."

"Star wait!" Now it was Proto's turn for all eyes to be on him. Sighing, he continued. "It's not ShadowMan's fault you were taken off."

Climbing down from the windowsill, Star looked at her boyfriend with a mixture of apprehension and curiosity. "What? Then who…?"

Lowering his eyes, ProtoMan looked ashamed. "I did."

Never before was there such a deafening silence in that household before Star spoke, her voice barely above a whisper. "Y-You…. what?"

Taking yet another deep breath, the red Navi turned his head aside. "Mr. Famous ordered me to spy on you and Bass, but I couldn't do it. I couldn't betray my friends. So I told him that you two were working to undermine the Net Agents and take over."

Trying to lighten the situation, Bass weakly laughed. "There goes that plan…" But he backed down when the tension did not lessen.

Desperately trying to control her anger, Star clenched her fists. "And what…made you tell him such an…an…outrageous lie?"

Wincing at the venom in Star's voice, ProtoMan meekly continued. "Well…. Mr. Famous gave me the idea…I was supposed to report to him and when I got there he went on a rant, asking me all these questions if we were undermining you and I just said yes… I never meant for it to go this far, I swear…"

Even though he had trained for years to be the best of the best, nothing could prepare ProtoMan for the slap he received across his face. Turning his eyes to Starfire while rubbing his cheek, the red warrior found that the look of anger and hurt on Star's face was worse than the slap.

"I don't know you any more ProtoMan."

Then she turned and climbed out the window. Sam took a step towards the window, but Chaud placed a hand on her shoulder, shaking his head.

Bass turned to ProtoMan, who pulled a face. "Yeah, yeah…I had it coming."

"And this…" Growled Bass, who pushed ProtoMan against the wall. "What the heck were you thinking? You lost Star her job! You'd better start cleaning up this mess ProtoMan, because I ain't paying for your mistakes."

Sadly, ProtoMan looked down and off to the side. "Yeah…I suppose…I should apologize." He raised his blue eyes to Bass. "Starting with you Bass. Sorry. I never meant to put you and Star in this position but I didn't want to rat you out either…"

Taking a step back, Bass studied the silver haired Navi. "You know, you could've said no to Mr. Famous."

Sheepishly grinning, ProtoMan blinked. "Yeah…I should've. But I'm a first class idiot." He held out a hand. "Never again. Next time I'll let the experts handle it."

Taking the offered hand, Bass smiled, his red eyes softening a bit. "Don't worry about it. You may be an idiot, but you're our idiot."

Stepping around Bass, the red Navi looked to the other two in the room. "And I owe you an apology Sam. I hurt you and your Navi. I-I can understand if you hate me." He bowed his head, expecting another slap, but then he felt a hand on his shoulder.

"Proto…"

Raising his head, ProtoMan found himself looking at Sam, who was half smiling. "Yes Sam?"

The brunette sighed. "I'm not gonna say you didn't screw up, because you did. Royally so. But I can't hate you. You're my friend ProtoMan! Although you will need to work on gaining my trust back."

Nodding, ProtoMan allowed the corners of his mouth twitch upwards. "Thank you Sam." He turned to Chaud. "I apologize to you too Chaud. I should've let you know what I was up to."

Jamming his hands into his pockets, Chaud smiled at his partner. "It's all right. Just so long as you make sure that you patch things up with everyone who was involved in this."

Turning to look out the window, ProtoMan spoke softly. "Yeah…"

Outside, an orange figure leapt between the buildings and after a moment was lost in a cloud of dusty brown sand.