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Chapter 6: Evolution
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''Crud, we've activated the security system!'' cried Butch.

This was a classic: prevent an intruder from plugging out, sic viruses on them, and wait. It was rather crude, but effective. However, Scilab's staff had put a new spin on this old technique by siccing a Dreamvirus on the unlucky navi.

Dreamviruses were usually large, bigger than most navis, but this one was huge, towering over Dash, Crushman, and Tyria.

With surprising speed, the monstrosity reared its humanoid torso back, and slammed its claws into the ground, trying to smash the navis flat. The three of them managed to jump away, but only barely, and they were thrown to the ground by the sheer force.

''Uhg,'' Tyria groaned, ''How did it get so big?''

''With no one around to control it, it must have mutated and gotten bigger.'' explained Crushman.

''We're in luck though, it doesn't appear to have a Dreamaura.'' observed Dash.

The jewel on the creature's head glowed, and a meteor appeared far above, then it began speeding towards the ground. But this time the operators were ready.

''Airshoes and Areasteal! Double slot in!''

The three navis teleported away, then appeared in midair as the meteor slammed into the ground, creating a huge explosion.

''Now it's our turn to go on the offensive!'' Terry shouted. '' Neovariable Sword, slot in!''

Dash's right forearm was replaced by an oddly shaped orange sword. The Airshoes were still in effect, so he soared downwards toward the virus.

''Take this! Sonic Boom, Sonic Boom, Sonic Boom!'' he shouted, swinging his sword three times, each time sending a sonic wave towards his enemy.

The three attacks hit the virus, creating a triple explosion, but when it faded away, the Dreamvirus appeared relatively unharmed.

At that same moment, Airshoes expired, sending Dash plummeting to the ground. He landed hard and rolled... right under the Dreamvirus!

Dash quickly rolled to the side, just as a spider-like leg came crashing down on the spot where his head had been. The thing was trying to skewer on him!

Left, right, up, down he rolled, trying to keep from being impaled. Then he heard a deep voice shout, ''Goldfist!'', and looked up to see Crushman slugging one of the legs, one of his fists turned gold.

The monster recoiled, allowing Dash to extract himself.

''Thanks.'' he breathed. ''No problem.'' said his rescuer.

''Well that didn't work, so I'm gonna try something else.'' Dash said as his sword expired.

He formed both of his hands into busters and raised them. ''Energy Rain!''

He fired many small, green balls of energy. But instead of exploding, they flanked the Dreamvirus on all sides. Then, many smaller beams flew from those balls, so the effect looked like a cyber laser show.

The Dreamvirus responded by sweeping the ground with a laser that threw up a shock wave that knocked everyone over.

After seeing this, Terry turned to his fellow operators. ''Individual attacks aren't working, why don't we try Program Advances?'' he suggested.

''It's worth a shot.'' said Karla, taking out three chips. ''Wideshot, triple slot in!''

Butch also took out three chips. '' Vulcan, triple slot in!''

''Hi Cannon Hi Cannon Hi Cannon, triple slot in!'' Terry cried.

Tyria's hands morphed into a shooter with a wide, thin barrel. ''Program Advance, Super Spread!''

Crushman's right hand morphed into a large machine gun with a rotating barrel. ''Program Advance, Mugen Vulcan!''

And finally, Dash's hands fused and turned into a blue cannon. ''Program Advance, Giga Cannon!''

Tyria fired several Wideshots, Crushman's vulcan fired many small energy shots, and Dash followed up with a huge energy blast. The three attacks combined, and struck with full force.

The Dreamvirus' data fragmented into a meta cube, then vanished.

Dash let out a sigh of relief, then noticed a small cut on his arm, complete with a small trickle of data.

''You okay?'' asked Terry.

''It's nothing, just a cut I must have gotten when the virus was trying to step on me.''

''If you say so then. Plug out.''

With the plug out lock lifted, the three navis returned to their proper PETs.

''Well, we come here to solve a mystery, fail to, find another, and then get attacked by a mutant virus. I can't keep doing this.'' sighed Terry.

''But we still have that Meijin Eguchi's message though, we should follow up on that.'' Karla reminded him.

They then proceeded to their jeep in silence, leaving the ruins of Scilab behind.
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