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Chapter 17: Might of the Sun

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Solinar smiled to himself, obviously enjoying the effect his appearance was having on the other navis.

'' I can feel it…'' Zero muttered. '' He has more energy and strength than any other navi we've fought before…''

Solinar chuckled. '' Thank you for your compliment. You should feel honored to be deleted by the strongest navi in T-Corp!''

He morphed his right forearm into a white cannon like blaster. '' Sol Blast!''

Solinar fired a fireball from it, forcing the other three navis to scatter as it exploded where they had just been standing. Dash quickly morphed his hand into a buster and fired a series of shots at the larger navi, but Solinar didn't even flinch. In fact, he showed no signs of damage at all.

Terry selected a chip. '' Burn Square! Slot in!''

Flames leapt up around Solinar's feet, but it had just as much effect as the buster had: nothing. '' I don't get it!'' Dash said in frustration. '' Why aren't you taking damage?''

Solinar idly brushed some of his hair out of his face with his free hand. '' I am aligned with the element of flame, so of course a fire chip does not harm me.'' he explained. '' As for your buster, that peashooter can't harm anything but the weakest virus!''

Terry remembered Pyroman. '' You know what?'' He selected an Aqua Tower. '' I really hate fire navis!''

Dash put his hand to the ground, and a geyser of water leapt up and began to move towards Solinar. He raised his cannon again and fired another shot. When it hit the water, the water instantly evaporated into steam. '' Weak!'' he taunted.

Slate frowned. '' Individual attacks aren't working, so let's try attacking him all at once!'' He selected a Variable Sword, while Terry inserted a Big Bomb and Karla chose a Super Vulcan.

Zero's hand morphed into a Variable Sword while a red bomb appeared in Dash's hand and Tyria's was replaced by a golden Vulcan.

Zero unleashed several sonic booms while Dash threw his bomb and Tyria began firing her Vulcan. The Big Bomb created a large explosion, so it was impossible to tell if Solinar had been damaged until it cleared. They shouldn't of bothered attacking at all, for when the smoke did clear, Solinar was still unharmed. '' Pathetic.'' he said disdainfully. '' You call this power!''

'' Hmph. Impressive.'' Slate reluctantly said to Lloyd. '' Your navi is very powerful. Most other navis would've logged out by now.''

'' Why thank you.'' Lloyd said smugly. '' It took me a long time to customize him to my exact preferences. He has high attack, defense, and speed.''

'' Speed?'' Terry said incredulously. '' He's just stood there and let us attack!''

'' Fine then, don't blame me for what's about to happen.'' Lloyd said. '' Solinar, attack!''

Solinar morphed his cannon into a long orange sword. With a burst of speed, he was suddenly right next to Zero and brought down his sword. Zero held his saber out in an attempt to block, but his saber was nearly torn from his grasp by the force of Solinar's downward cut.

Zero jumped back a bit and fired off a Saberwave, but Solinar weathered this attack as well. He jumped back as well, then raised his arms. '' Prominence!'' he shouted.

A column of flame and magma burst out of the ground, flew high into the air, and then arched back down towards the ground. Dash and Tyria dove away as the flame pillar landed where they had just been, leaving a scorched crater and burning embers.

'' Tyria!'' Dash said. '' Why don't we try to attack him with the same chip at the same time?''

'' But he'll just dodge it.'' Tyria pointed out.

'' Not if we attack with a melee chip.'' Dash answered. '' He can't dodge two physical attacks at the same time!''

'' If you think so… then let's try it!'' Terry said, taking out a chip. Karla selected an identical chip. '' Long Sword, slot in!'' they shouted in unison.

Solinar turned to see the two bringing their swords down on him. As expected, he raised his own sword to block Dash's attack, but he blocked Tyria's attack with his gauntlet!

'' How?'' Terry exclaimed. '' He blocked both of them!''

Solinar forcefully thrust his arms upward, sending the two navis flying. Dash slammed roughly to the ground, and then used his Long Sword to haul himself up.

Metool…

He turned to see a red Metool standing nearby. It was staring at his sword and was emitting a growling sound. Judging from the scorch mark on it's helmet, it was the same one that Tyria had tried to blast.

'' Oh, you're afraid of this?'' Dash asked, morphing his sword back into a hand. Then he spread out his empty palms. '' See, I'm not going to hurt you.''

The Metool slowly stopped growling and the look in it's eyes changed from determined and steadfast to a look of curiosity.

Dash got an idea. '' Hey, can you do something for me?''

Metool?

Dash glanced over his shoulder. Solinar and Zero had gotten into a sword duel. Solinar was clearly winning as Zero was merely trying to block the blows, and wasn't putting up much of a fight. '' Can you attack that white navi for me?''

Meee…

'' Oh don't worry. If he attacks you, just use your guard ability.''

The Metool pondered over this and then leapt into the air. Metool!

'' You'll do it?'' Dash asked happily. '' Great!''

Meanwhile, Zero's fight wasn't going very well. It took all of his energy just to block Solinar's powerful attacks. Solinar himself didn't seem to run out of energy at all.

'' Ha ha ha!'' he laughed. '' Is this it? I expected far more from the famous Zero.exe!''

Zero gritted his teeth. '' Curse you…''

'' Go Met, attack!''

Dash stood pointing at Solinar, while the Metool stood at his feet. It drove its pickax into the ground, unleashing the energy wave.

'' What the… wargh!'' Solinar cried as the wave swept over him. He whirled around to face the Metool, his cannon ready and a look of fury on his face. '' Why you! Sol Blast!''

Dash leapt forward out of the way, snatching the Metool in his arms, as a fireball hit where he had just been. Slate took advantage to this to execute another move.

'' Sword, slot in!''

Zero's saber vanished and his right arm morphed into a Sword.

'' Wide Sword!''

Zero's left hand morphed into a Wide Sword.

'' Long Sword!''

The swords began to glow as Zero raised them over his head. They merged together to form a giant energy sword.

'' Dream Sword!''

He brought the thing down right on top of Solinar.

When all of the energy dissipated, Solinar was still there, but looked like he had finally taken damage. He was panting slightly, and pixels were lazily floating around him.

'' Wow…'' Tyria said, slightly impressed. '' He took a program advance head on, and he's still standing…''

'' You… rebel… scum…'' Solinar muttered as he slowly straightened. '' I'm going to delete you all here and now!''

He morphed his arms together to form a larger and nastier looking cannon. '' Rosetta Flare!''

'' No!'' Lloyd shouted. '' I'm not going to take anymore chances! Plug out!''

'' You got lucky today rebels.'' Solinar growled as his data morphed into the words PLUG OUT.

Slate looked at Lloyd sternly. '' Give up.'' he said. '' You have nowhere to run.''

'' And what will you do with me?'' Lloyd asked. '' You don't know, do you? Well that's okay, for I have no intentions on being captured!''

He vaulted over Arman's desk and ran past Slate, Terry, and Butch before they could do anything. The only other person in his way was Karla, whom he roughly shoved off of the stairs and onto the floor below.

Butch, Terry, and Slate hurried after him. Lloyd made a break for the door, but Terry managed to intercept him and slug him hard in the stomach. Lloyd staggered, wheezing, then shoved Terry back into the door. Terry cried out as his head hit the metal surface.

Lloyd turned to find Slate right behind him, and received a straight to the face for his trouble. He put his hand to his face, and when he pulled in back he found several red drops of blood on it.

He next tried to attack Slate. He ducked down low in an attempt to avoid another punch, but Slate brought his elbow down on his head, stunning him, then grabbed the back of his neck and applied the appropriate amount of pressure, dropping him with ease.

'' Hey, I'm back!'' Vick called as he re entered the room, carrying with him what looked like the entire contents of a filing cabinet under his arms. He stopped, taking in the scene in front of him. '' Uh, guys…'' he began, looking unnerved. '' What happened here?''

'' Lloyd was really one of the heads of T-Corp.'' Terry explained, his head throbbing. He hoped that he didn't have a concussion. '' He killed Arman and tried to escape, and Ryn was really a navi named Solinar. He was pretty powerful too…''

Vick scowled. '' So we attracted the attention of the administration…'' He put the papers down on the floor. '' By the way…'' he added. '' What's Karla doing over there?''

They had forgotten about her. She was sitting against the staircase, clutching her arm. Just below the elbow there was a nasty looking black bruise.

'' What's wrong?'' Slate asked, concerned.

'' I-It's my arm.'' Karla grimaced. '' I landed on it funny when Lloyd pushed me. I, I think it's broken.''

'' Everything is going to Hell!'' Slate spat. '' Butch, find something that we can use to bind Lloyd with, and something that we can use to make a makeshift sling.''

Butch left. Slate walked over to the unconscious Lloyd and took out his PET, and then handed it over to Vick. Vick opened up the back and yanked out the rechargeable battery. '' Now he won't be able to use his PET until the battery is replaced.''

He then turned to Terry. '' All of those documents I found are on that venom project Arman mentioned. When we get back to HQ, I'll see if it says anything about curing it. I can also probably calibrate our scanner to pick up the venom.''

'' Thanks.'' Terry said. '' I hope we can end this nightmare.''

'' I hope so too.'' Vick agreed.

'' Are my pupils dilated by the way?'' Terry added.

'' No.''

'' Good.'' Terry said. He would probably have a splitting headache the next day though.

Butch returned a few minutes later. For the sling, it appeared that he had torn apart a bed sheet. For the binding, he had found a large amount of duct tape.

While Slate fixed Karla's arm, Vick and Terry worked on Lloyd. When they were down, he was wrapped in a virtual cocoon of tape from the shoulders down. '' There, let's see him get out of that.'' Vick said, satisfied.

'' Never really did like him anyway.'' Terry nodded, slapping another piece over Lloyd's mouth for good measure.

In the cyber world of the now disabled virus controller, the navis were standing in front of the Metool. '' I think it's safe to let him go.'' Tyria was saying. '' Without Arman's influence, he's harmless.''

Zero looked down at it with his arms crossed. '' Hmph. You better be right about this…''

Dash bent down to the Metool's level. '' Hear that? You're free to go. Just, don't cause any trouble, okay?''

The Metool's eyes adopted a happy look. Metool!, it said joyfully, leaping into the air. In midair, it turned into a mass of pixels and vanished.

'' You know,'' Dash said, straightening up. '' I think that we've got a reformed virus.''

'' It seems highly improbable.'' Beta, who had joined the others, said. '' But it looks like viruses aren't inherently evil, there can be good ones too. Fascinating…''

'' Yep.'' Dash agreed. His navi symbol then began to glow purple. '' What the… AHHHGGG!''

'' DASH!'' Terry screamed. '' What's happening!''

'' There- there's something…'' Dash groaned, clutching his head. '' Something is trying to… Argh! Something is trying to take over my body!''

He began to scream again, and fell to his knees, still clutching his head. Zero, Tyria and Beta stood around him, helpless.

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What will the rebels do now? Find out in the second to last chapter! (AKA, the next one.)

By this point, it's real obvious, but Solinar is a reference to the sun, as Lunare is a reference to the moon. Solinar, Lunare. Sol, Luna. Sun, Moon. Fire, Water. Get it?

They're both pretty powerful as well. No where near as strong as Slur was, but as far as terrestrial navis go, they're very, very tough.

Dilated pupils are one of the symptoms of a concussion.