Disclaimer: I don't own Megaman Battle Network or any of its characters. Capcom does. All other characters and ideas are the personal property of the Chaos Coalition.

Author's Note: Sorry this is coming out a day late, but I had a busy week and didn't get around to editing this until a few days ago. In other news, tell your friends about this novel. As to your numerous questions about when the children of the Chaos Union will make their appearance, you'll meet three of them in this chapter, and several more in the next few. I will most likely introduce them sooner than you expect, and keep the adults more active within the novel as well. That said, let's begin!

The three boys entered the hotel room, throwing their stuff upon the futons within. "It's a shame that we haven't any place better to hold these meetings in," Matthias said, plugging his PET into the wall and loading a web browser screen on the television. His netnavi moved in as well, setting aside a portion of the rather warm server for the navi's rooms.

"I've loaded my hiberation program in over near these digital springs. Feel free to join me." The normally battle-ready Galaxyman was wearing only his bodysuit, and the blue-black cloak of shadows that clung to his body. He removed the cloak as he spoke, tossing it over onto the hibernation program Matthias had recently bought, which took the form of a bed, naturally.

"I'm game." Crusaderman activated his wireless connection and beamed over from his PET on the bed, their fellow navi Shadow X following. The former navi had left his bulky armor behind, arriving with only his green bodysuit and his supposedly-legendary mace, while SX was wearing clothing that bordered on human, a black tunic and loose blue pants with dark slippers.

With their navis able to take care of themselves, Matthias, Link, and Shroud sat around the low table, crossing their legs and trying to adjust to the stiff pillows. "Now, I call this session of the newly named Chaos Union to order," Shroud said.

"Pecans and blueberries!" Link shouted, as he had at the beginning of every meeting.

"Link, for the last time," Matthias sighed. "we're not ordering pizza. And I must say, your choices of toppings are a tiny bit sickening."

"All right, come on, you two. How is our recruitment going? You two get any members to join?" Shroud's companions looked at each other a moment, and then shook their heads.

"Sorry, Shroud," Matthias said. "But Den Academy is supposed to be a prep school, and netbattling isn't a priority. Most of my classmates don't even have more than a generic netnavi."

"And I don't have enough friends in Kotobuki Middle School that are even interested."

Shroud sighed. "That's all right. I think that my cousin might be coming soon, to see the continent. I'll see if I can get her to join then. In the meantime, let's just do what we need to."

"What's that?" Link asked.

Shroud smiled. "Save the world, of course."

-

Chaotic We Stand

-

Chapter 2: Mysteri Acclatus

-

-- 11: 07 AM, X's Office, Core Building, Neo Arcadia --

Matthias could honestly say he was stunned. Truth to be told, he'd suspected something of the sort the moment he'd seen Brian enter the building. Yet he now realized he hadn't really thought Shroud would go through with it. Did he really think that his answer would be any different than it had been last time?

Yet both Pavo and Link were eagerly smiling, and Raymond looked disappointed, but for the wrong reason, he feared. Brian was the least interested looking of all of them, but even he had an even face, one Matthias couldn't accurately read. But X began to speak again, and Matthias felt compelled to listen for some reason, and returned his attention to the copyroid.

"The mission is truly nothing too dangerous. But the ONB will not help us, and I cannot risk throwing my people into a panic. We have discovered their base, in the Twilight Desert. I'll have a guide accompany you so you won't lose your way. You don't need to fight them, just find out their plans. Please. My country is in dire need."

Matthias tried to find it in himself to refuse, but he wasn't able to. "All right. I'm in, X." Link and Pavo chimed in moments after Matthias with similar agreements. Brian gave a curt nod after much deliberation, but Raymond spoke up, dismay within his voice.

"Sadly, I won't be able to attend. I have a job interview. But…I could send my nephew. He is easily as talented as I was when I joined the Union." Matthias gave Shroud a sideways glance at that. Raymond had been talented, true, but inexperienced upon his joining. He had learned, surely enough, but Matthias wouldn't have sent Raymond on a mission such as this. From the return glance Shroud gave, he wouldn't either.

But X must have been more desperate than he said, for he nodded. "Send him then. We shall need all the help we can get. That goes for the rest of you as well. Your families, or other Chaos Union members unable to arrive at this meeting, may come along, as long as you or Shroud can vouch for them. Meet at the border outpost to the Twilight Desert by four o'clock tomorrow evening; the sun should be descending by then." With that, X dismissed them, Shroud leading them into the hallway.

"That's that," he said as they reentered the elevator. "If any of you would like, you can stay at my home in Neo Arcadia. I need to finish some things at work here first, but I'll be done at about 5:30. The address is 1580 Iota Complex, in the Housing District. You should be able to find it; the district is well mapped. If not, I'll see you tomorrow." The others nodded, and when the doors opened, Shroud headed for his office, leaving the other five alone.

Brian and Raymond both left right away, Brian near-silently, Raymond with a mutter of 'needing to train Alistor'. Matthias then looked at the others. "And where are you going to? Back home?" Both shook their heads.

"I think I'll stop in at Shroud's once he gets off work," Link said, Pavo nodding in agreement. "Until then, I'm just going to stay here and enjoy the culture. Maybe I'll rent out a copyroid for Legendman."

"Is that your new navi?" Matthias asked as the three of them walked outside, migrating towards a table set out for a nearby café. As Link nodded, Matthias continued his blithe questioning. "So what happened to Soulman?"

"He was deleted back in Hyrule. Of course, it was a small price to pay to save the realm and marry my princess, Zelda. His basic personality is still existent though, so Legendman's more of an upgrade that just looks different." Link looked at his watch as he spoke, and hurriedly got up as he realized what time it was. "Sorry to talk and run, but I told Zelda I'd meet her and the kids at 11:30 after they got settled in at the hotel. Will you be coming to Shroud's, Matthias?"

Matthias shook his head. "Sorry. I need to get home to be with my children." He considered mentioning that Alysse had died, but it didn't seem to matter. No need to mar the occasion. Link waved to the others and ran off, still agile at only thirty-one. "It's funny, isn't it? When you're kids, five years age difference is a lot, but when you're older now, that difference never goes away like they say it does."

"It just changes a bit," Pavo finished. "I think Link and I had it lucky. When the Chaos Union was disbanded, he and I were still teenagers. Heck, I think Link had to go to school for a year or two. But you, Brian, Raymond…you had to jump right back into life."

"And let me tell you, it wasn't easy," Matthias replied. "I still don't know what happened to Brian, and from the brief correspondence I had with Raymond, he was feebly trying to make it in the ONB, even though we were looked upon with disdain for Shroud's alleged murder. I never really heard much from anyone else, not after the base was destroyed and we lost hope of acquitting Shroud."

"And what about you? Weren't you engaged to someone, Anna or Allison or…" Pavo trailed off at the look on Matthias' face, grief mixed with anger.

"Alysse. We had three children, two boys and a girl. She…she died a few years ago." Pavo looked truly stricken and opened his mouth to apologize, but Matthias forestalled him with a hand. "No, there was nothing you could have done." He got up, wryly smiling at Pavo's puzzlement. "I had to have picked up a few of those mind-reading tricks from Shroud over the years, didn't I? I'll see you tomorrow."

"Yeah, tomorrow." Pavo stood as well, taking Matthias' hand for a handshake. 'I'll see you then." Matthias nodded in assent before leaving the plaza and leaving Pavo alone, wondering why life could be so cruel and joyous at the same time.

-- 2: 21 PM, Terretronics, Electown, Electopia --

"If I have to help another old woman find a USB cable, I think I'm going to scream," Luke said as he passed into the employee's lounge. Technically, since he was running the store for the day, he was supposed to be out on the floor the entire time, but he knew nearly everyone on staff well enough to trust them to their own devices. Of the twelve people currently working this shift, eight were his age or so, the ninth was a single mother who only worked Fridays, the tenth and eleventh were two dating seniors who largely ignored them, and the twelve was himself, of course.

Sitting in a chair across from the door, Luke's best friend John tried not to laugh. "Careful, boss, or you'll be a bad influence on us employees." Luke rolled his eyes and resisted a temptation to chuck what was left of the pizza they had ordered at him.

"You know, I'm almost half tempted to make you go back out there and help me fend off the invasion of elderly women that seems to be plaguing both our store and our great nation of Electopia." The jape was only half in jest. "Besides, your fifteen minute break was over fifteen minutes ago, and the seniors have vanished again, as usual."

"And we wouldn't want to find out what they're doing, would we?" For that wonderful mental image, John got a slice of pepperoni to the face, one he promptly consumed as he followed Luke out the door. "But seriously, can't they at least wait until their shift is over at 2:30?"

"Apparently not," Luke replied, stopping to adjust a display case for one of his father's many unique gadgets. "Allie," he said, snagging the sleeve of a passing employee. "We need to restock the memory discs on the left wall. They're in the storage hall, third door on the right."

"Cover your eyes!" John called after her, prompting both an 'ew' from Allie and an elbow from Luke. "What? I think she likes you, you know."

"Yeah, right. And my netnavi can do ballet."

"Really?" Luke rolled his eyes and resisted the urge to elbow John in front of all these customers.

"No, I'm serious," his friend continued. "I mean, she's still dating that Bruce guy, but it's not going to last much longer. He can't handle commitment, he just wants--"

"I know what he wants," Luke said, slipping behind the customer service desk with John. "But I'm really not that interested in her. I mean, it'd be nice to have a girlfriend, but I already know that it'd never work out between us."

John only shrugged. "Whatever. Fair game for me then." Luke laughed at that, but stopped as a girl walked into the store.

She wore a light blue dress that seemed a bit too cool for only spring, but it made ones' eyes instantly notice hers, one an oceanic azure, the other an emerald green. Her hair was jet black, save several white strands from her forehead, which gave her an appearance of agelessness. Luke couldn't tell whether the strands were natural or dyed, although he couldn't imagine anyone who would have white hairs as a teenager.

John kicked him in the ankle as the girl began looking around inquisitively. "Quit drooling," he whispered in his ear, prompting another elbow to the gut, which he accurately blocked. "I mean it. I mean, she's pretty good looking from every angle, although I wish she was closer and I was taller…"

Luke briefly flushed and glared at John before looking back at the girl, who was walking up to the counter. He was a bit taller than John…Luke pulled his eyes back to the girl's face before she could notice.

"Hello. Might you have the latest PET in stock?"

"Certainly. Let me show you to them." Luke stepped out from behind the desk, leading the girl to a glass display case full of PET models. "Here are the latest models. The one over here is the official one, put out by Scitown. It's about the size of seven credit cards on top of each other, but you can't slot in chips without an adapter, sold separately." Luke could see the disdain in the girl's face, so he moved on to the next model.

"In contrast, this one here is called the PET Watch, and it's custom made, only available here at Terretronics. It straps right onto your wrist, and extends for netbattling, so you don't need an adapter. In addition, to save time, you can log your entire chip library into it, so you don't even need to slot new chips into it every custom. It's a bit pricier than the official model, but it's well worth it if you plan on netbattling." The girl seemed much more interested in this one.

"How much--" Her words were cut off as a boy turned a corner too quickly, running right into her. He hit the ground, and Luke barely managed to catch her before she fell as well, her watch bouncing against the counter. She looked at him in relief, and Luke smiled hesitantly as he helped her to her feet.

"I'm so sorry," the other teen said, getting to his feet. His alarmingly silver hair and eyes contrasted with his tanned skin as he got to his feet. He appeared to be unsuited with an occurrence like this one. "It was a shoelace--shoestring--are you all right?"

The girl nodded, politely indicating to Luke that he could let her go, before examining her watch. "Oh, no, my watch! It must have broken when I fell against the counter." She took the watch and inspected it carefully.

"I could fix that for you," Luke said as he examined the watch over her shoulder. From first glance, the only thing that seemed the matter was that the glass had been cracked, and the sudden blow had stopped the watch's hands.

"Really? Oh, thank you, Mr.…what did you say your name was?" The girl looked at Luke, who wasn't wearing his ID badge.

"Luke."

"Lee." They both looked over at the other boy, Luke only now realizing he was still there. He seemed embarrassed to have answered. But the girl simply smiled at him.

"Don't worry about bumping into me. It's not a big deal." She smiled, and a similar smile began to grow on Lee's face. She then looked back at Luke, who was intently looking at her watch. "What is it?"

It took Luke a second or two to register her question, and he looked up at her, puzzled. "This watch, it's not a woman's watch, is it? It belonged to your father."

She stepped back, surprised. "Yes…but how could you know?" Wordlessly, Luke turned over the watch revealing the back, with an engraved message: To Chaos Alpha, for his efforts to maintain justice within the ONBA. She looked about her a bit nervously, and then whispered, "Yes, Luke. My father led the Chaos Union."

Luke was surprised, and multiple thoughts ran through his head, not the least of which that her father was a murderer. But Lee spoke up, startling him even more. "My father was in the Union as well." As Luke and the girl stared, Lee removed his watch, revealing a similar message: To Chaos Theta, for the lending of his power to the ONBA. "So your father is Shroud Taruka then," Lee continued, making no mention of his part in the murder of Dr. Hikari almost fifteen years ago.

The girl smiled and nodded. "Yep. My name's Seija, his oldest child." Luke was now feeling quite left out. Even if Shroud had ended his career an assassin, he had once been leader of the Chaos Union, a group whose fame eclipsed even the ONBA. And as for Lee…his father could only be Brian Aurion, both a prominent ONB agent and Chaos Union member. His father was nothing more than a simple gadgeteer.

"Well, I'll head into the back and fix this. Stay right here and I'll be out in a few minutes." Luke then walked off towards the back of the store and entered his father's workshop, seconds before his father himself entered the store and headed towards the front.

"Luke should be working customer service," he thought to himself as he walked down the aisles. But as usual, his son was nowhere to be seen. He sighed and prepared to search the employee's lounge for him when a phrase drifted into his ear.

"I just can't believe both our fathers were in the Chaos Union."

He spun to face Lee and Seija, amazed to have heard those words. "What did you say?"

Seija and Lee both froze, hoping no one else had heard them speaking. Seija respectfully bowed to Matthias as she replied, "What did you think we said, sir?" But Matthias had only seen one woman bow like that in his life, and the boy was beginning to look familiar too.

"Don't play dumb. You're Shroud's daughter, aren't you? And you couldn't be anyone's son than Brian's." Both children seemed surprised, but only for a moment. Unlike his son, Matthias' ID badge had been pinned on after he walked through the door.

"Matthias Terre?" Seija gasped impulsively, her hands leaping to cover her mouth. "Your meeting is finished already? But I had hoped--I mean, well…"

Matthias had heard a similar tone before, and since he didn't see Irine anywhere…"Your father doesn't know you left Neo Arcadia, does he?" Seija slowly shook her head. "It seems I'll need to get you home then. Have you two seen my son around? He looks just like I do, only younger." The family resemblance between him and his son was uncanny, and impossible to miss.

Seija and Lee nodded. "We just spoke to him," the latter replied. "He's fixing Seija's father's watch right now."

As if anything else could happen today. "The watch, was there an engraving on the bottom?" Seija nodded, and Matthias looked at his own watch, careless of the time. "Listen you two…you can't tell Luke that I was in the Union. He doesn't know about it."

Both teens nodded slowly, curious as to why any former Chaos Union member wouldn't want his son to know the truth about his past. Lee started to voice his concern, saying, "Mr. Terre…" but Luke returned with Seija's watch too soon.

"I see you're back, Dad. This is Seija and Lee." He walked over to Seija and gave her watch back.

"They've already introduced themselves to me," his father responded. "And it seems Seija here needs a ride back to Neo Arcadia. Her father and I met while I was in school, so I feel a bit obligated to help her get home. Let the employees know that they should close up at six." With that final word, Matthias began to walk towards the back of the store, leaving Luke as puzzled as he had been when his father had left in the morning.

Lee almost left the store then and there, but something stopped him. "Luke…" he said, causing his new friend to turn around. "I can't tell you why, but…you need to go to Neo Arcadia with your father somehow. Trust me."

For some reason Luke could never understand until much later, he did trust Lee. He nodded briefly before hurrying over to the customer service desk and contacting his netnavi Aeon via one of the computers.

"So, how was that girl?" John asked as he finished instructing a 72-year old woman on where to find USB cables. Luke shrugged as he began sending a list of commands to his netnavi. "And what's that supposed to mean?"

Luke straightened up and looked over at his friend. "Listen, John. I can't explain now, but I will later. Tell the rest of the employees that we're closing at six, and they need to report in to Aeon before they can leave. He'll be residing in the huge television at the front of the store come six. Can you do that for me?"

Confused, John nodded. "But where are you going?" he asked as Luke grabbed his coat and hurried towards the back.

"Neo Arcadia!" the impudent youth replied as he grabbed Lee and began dragging him along, despite his protests. "Come on, Lee," Luke said as he reached the back and typed in the security code. "If I have to sneak onto a jet to get to Neo Arcadia, I'm not doing it alone."

Lee groaned, but followed Luke up the steps as the faint sounds of the jet's engines charging emanated through the staircase. They burst open the door on the roof and kept running, for the plane's engines were mere seconds from full charging. "Hurry!" Luke shouted, the plane recognizing his biorhythms as he ran towards it and opening the door. "My father shouldn't be able to see us if we keep tight to the inside!" Miraculously, they managed to reach the door and pulled themselves inside, closing the door just in time to keep the roar of the engines from deafening them.

Lee collapsed in exhaustion. "I knew I never should have stopped in for that memory card," he muttered softly as the jet rocketed back towards Neo Arcadia.

"Are you kidding me?" Luke replied as he unsteadily got to his knees and crawled towards the back of the plane. "This is the most excitement I've had in a month."

-- 5:45 PM, 1580 Iota Complex, Neo Arcadia --

Shroud slowly walked through the streets of the Housing District, looking around at the mirth around him. A child rushed past his feet, chased by a copyroid no bigger than she was. There was a time, long ago, where seeing a child chased by a copyroid would be among the most alarming occurrences of his day. Now, it was among the happiest.

Seeing his doorstep ahead of him, Shroud veered slightly to the left, walking up the steps to his door. He palmed the scanner outside and the door opened, revealing a cozy home, slightly bigger than average. As he stepped inside and took off his shoes, a small blur raced towards the door, screaming, "Daddy's home! Daddy's home!" at the top of his little lungs. Shroud chuckled, bending down and scooping up his son.

"Yes, yes, I'm home now, Saishi." Shroud lifted the 5-year old onto his shoulders as his wife descended the stairs. Irine was holding Seitoka in her arms, and he was miraculously asleep. Shroud walked over and gave her a kiss before looking at the woman he had married. Irine had always been beautiful, but having three children had only matured her, making her beauty more motherly.

"Nice to see you're home on time," she said with a witty smile. She then turned your attention to Saishi. "Now, Saishi, your brother's finally asleep. Be quiet, okay." The impish youth giggled and put a finger to his lips.

"You too, Daddy." Shroud laughed at that and looked up at his son.

"All right, run along now." He reached up and pulled Saishi over his head, setting him on the ground.

"Daddy, did you meet with King X today?"

"Lord X, Saishi. Yes, I'm going to do him a favor tomorrow with some old friends. Now go play with your sister or something, all right?" Saishi nodded and ran upstairs again.

"Seija's not here. She said she was spending the night at a friend's or something," Irine said, bouncing her newborn son lightly up and down. "I haven't seen her since breakfast though, so I wonder whose house she'd be at this long." Shroud, of course, missed the subtle accusation Irine was pointing towards her daughter.

"Well, I'm sure she's fine. Now, the Chaos Union and I are going to be going on that mission tomorrow as planned. Are you going to be fine here?"

Irine nodded, but realized that Shroud didn't understand: Irine was positive that Seija was no longer on Neo Arcadia. She opened her mouth to inform him, but a knock on the door silenced her.

"Let me get that," Shroud said. "You should go sit down or something." Irine rolled her eyes, but went off into another room and put the baby in his crib. She then moved into the comfortable living room, sitting upon one of their fluffy couches. Meanwhile, Shroud opened the door to reveal Pavo, Link, and a tired-looking woman standing next to Link. Behind them, a pair of children was tussling in the street.

"Kids! Get in here!" Link shouted, before returning his attention to Shroud. "Hey, Shroud. Mind if we come in?"

"Sure, by all means." Shroud stepped back inside the house, giving his guests and the whirling dervishes room to remove their shoes. "Come on in." He led the way into the living room, sitting next to Irine as their son barreled back down the steps.

"Are you Daddy's friends?" he asked, bouncing up and down the steps.

"Yep. I'm Link, and this is my wife Zelda," Link replied, introducing her to both Saishi and the others.

"And I'm Pavo. Want a Cactusman campaign plushie?" Pavo pulled a green cactus-like toy from his pocket. The pseudo-navi was holding a sign that read: Vote Queso! Shroud caught a glimpse of it and raised an eyebrow, prompting Pavo to explain. "I started the Cheese Party for Mexico. Vote Queso was my campaign slogan, and I made about seven tons of these plushies before I found out plushies can't be handed out to gain support."

"Yay! Squishy!" The toy was apparently a big hit, because Saishi squeezed it to his chest before running over and showing it to Irine. "Look, Mommy! It's a prickly man!"

"Eh. Close enough." Pavo walked into the room and gingerly sat in a rocking chair that looked to be about eighty years old. In the meantime, Link and his wife sat on another couch.

"Don't mind the two small forces of destruction, they're mine. Dakota, Jade, meet everyone. Everyone, meet Dakota and Jade," Link said. The forces themselves ran in and plopped onto the floor.

"Dad, I'm almost 13." From this close, Shroud could see that the children were of opposite genders, the boy being the elder, and the girl now opening her mouth as well.

"And I'm 10!"

"Shh. You're supposed to be 7 and 4," Link replied, obviously in denial.

"And I presume they like liquid cheese?" Pavo asked, correctly assuming Link's kids were as random as he had been.

"Live on it," they both replied in unison.

Pavo just shook his head. "Zelda, how do you manage to put up with so much randomness and liquid cheese 24/7, 365 ¼ days a year?"

"Friends. Lots of friends." They all began to laugh at that, which seemed to amuse the Blades children.

"Speaking of randomness, let's have another Copyroid battle," the elder said, pulling a miniature copyroid from his pocket. His sister copied him, pulling a similar one from her pocket and loading it into her PET. Within seconds, two miniature navis formed from the electronic devices, one a semi-generic navi with an overabundance of armor, the other a Mettaur with arms, legs, and a body.

"No, you two. Busterman and Mettaurman can't fight inside. Have them go out in back," Zelda said. The two siblings nodded and raced towards the back door, their navis following. "And don't break anything!" she shouted after them.

Outside, Matthias and Seija were walking up to the door. "Now, remember, Seija. You can't tell your father that I haven't told Luke about the Chaos Union." The girl nodded, and palmed the scanner, opening the door. She attempted to slip up the stairs unnoticed, but her mother's sharp eye caught her.

"Stop right there, young lady!" Seija froze involuntarily, looking hesitantly at her mother.

"What's the matter, dear?" Shroud asked, thoroughly confused. "Didn't you say she was at a friend's house?"

"That's what she said. But I checked with all her friends, and she wasn't there." Understanding began to grow on Shroud's face.

"But if she wasn't at any of her friends' houses, then where--" Shroud suddenly noticed Matthias in the doorway. "You went to Electopia, didn't you?"

Seija swallowed, and then nodded stiffly. Shroud frowned, and both Taruka women flinched. "Shroud, please, not now. The baby--"

"SEIJA! GO TO YOUR ROOM! YOU ARE OFFICIALLY GROUNDED!"

No one moved for a moment. Then Seitoka started to cry, and Irine leapt to her feet, scurrying into her son's room. As all eyes went to Irine, Seija stifled a sob and ran up to her room. Saishi followed, although whether to comfort or tease his older sister was anyone's guess. Shroud sighed, rubbing his temples to alleviate a minor headache that was slowly growing.

"If it's any consolation, she came to visit me," Matthias lied smoothly. "She said she wanted to know more about the Chaos Union, from a different point of view." He entered the room and sat in another chair. Link and Pavo attempted to add some comedic flavor to the atmosphere, but their efforts were futile. Yet this was the least of the problems that would soon fall on this evening.

-- 6:03 PM, Theta Complex, Neo Arcadia --

Luke and Lee wandered the streets of Neo Arcadia aimlessly, hoping they could find their way to Seija's house. They'd somehow made a wrong turn while following Luke's father, and were somewhere in Theta Complex, the complex adjacent to the one where Seija lived, according to a passing netnavi. It still surprised Luke that netnavis walked the streets freely.

"These copyroids are really something else," Luke said, watching a brown navi with a rifle clipped to his back jog down the streets, inspecting anyone unfamiliar, including them. "Netnavis in the real world…why aren't there other cities like this?"

"ONBA doesn't trust them. Humans they can keep an eye on, for weapons and stuff. But a navi in a copyroid can pretty much do just about anything they want, since most of them are wirelessly connected to the Net." Lee rummaged through his pocket and pulled something obviously mechanical out of it. "This is a pocket copyroid my father got for me. They're only manufactured in countries that haven't been fully linked to the Net, and aren't bound by the laws of the ONB."

Luke took the copyroid and looked at it while he walked. The device was a thin sheet of metal with lights woven across it, about the size of an ancient floppy disc. "Interesting…but I think I'd prefer Cross Fusion."

Lee simply shrugged and took the copyroid back. "It's apparently not all it's cracked up to be. My father used to be an S-License, and he says Cross Fusion is mainly just a power boost. And a risky one at that. You don't have to be in sync to Cross Fuse, but if you're not…" He let that thought trail off as they came to a large gate. Across the top of it was a large sign, reading Iota Gate II.

"This must be it," Luke said, walking up to it and looking for a scanner and finding nothing but a card reader. "It looks like you need a card or something to get through here."

Lee stepped up to the reader a moment, studying it intently. Then, he pulled his copyroid from his pocket, the metal shrinking to accommodate the thinner slot. After a moment, the gates began to open. When Luke looked at him, puzzled, his friend simply replied, "Copyroids can't carry cards on their persons." Appeased, Luke led the way into the district.

About midway through the district, something caught Luke's ear. "Did you hear that?" Lee looked at him oddly for a moment, before hearing it as well. "Yeah…"

"Mettaurman, killify!"

"Busterman, eliminate!"

Lee and Luke looked at each other a moment, and then crept closer to the voices. Looking around a corner, they could see two children and two copyroids, the latter apparently fighting a battle in the streets. The house behind them was brightly lit, and Luke faintly heard his father's voice coming though an open window. "This is the place," he muttered.

Unfortunately, his soft words were apparently loud enough to be audible to the copyroids, because the heavily armored one stopped to listen, which caused him to be body-slammed by his opponent. "Quit it, Mettaurman. I think I heard someone." The navi got to his feet and looked around, causing the two lurking friends to drop to the ground, hiding behind some crates stacked along the corner.

"We need some way to distract them," Luke muttered. Lee nodded, picking up a pebble and tossing it across the street, hoping the others would think they were over there.

Unfortunately, the children and their navis weren't nearly that stupid, watching the rock fly through the air with disdain. "Busterman, find out what's behind that crate, please." His navi obliged, firing his buster at the crates and blowing them up, revealing a singed Lee and Luke behind. "Okay…want to play target practice, guys?"

Luke looked over at Lee. "Run?"

"Run." The two teens darted down the alley, making a left towards the house when they first could. Giggling with the delight of mayhem, Dakota and Jade followed, their navis taking them seriously. Halfway down one of the alleys, Luke leapt towards one of the walls, bouncing off it once or twice and landing roughly on a rooftop. "Thank goodness I keep in shape," he muttered before swinging his arm over the side and extending it towards Lee. "Hurry up!"

As Lee grabbed his hand and Luke began to pull him up, a window next to him opened up, revealing a teary-eyed Seija. "Luke? What are you doing here?"

"Right now, I'm not too sure," he replied, finally managing to pull Lee over the side but falling through her window as a result. Both boys unsteadily got to their feet and helped Seija up, and below, the Blades children realized their quarry had escaped.

"Too bad," Dakota said as they jacked their navis out of their copyroids. "That was one of the more enjoyable things I've gotten to do in a long time."

His sister agreed. "Let's go upstairs and bother them," she said as she raced inside and scurried up the steps, Dakota following at a slower pace.

"Nice to see you again," Luke muttered as he brushed off his sleeves.

"Luke? Lee? What are you guys doing here?" As Seija finished speaking, Jade and Dakota burst into the room.

"Hey, Seija! Do you know these guys? Is one of them your boyfriend? Why were they running?" Jade somehow managed to shout out all three of her questions without breathing, and Luke began to worry about her sanity.

"Umm…yes, no, and I presume it was because you were shooting at them," Seija replied, a bit flushed at Jade's impertinent second question.

Luke turned a bit red as well, but felt compelled to answer Seija's earlier question. "We stowed away on the jet when my dad flew you back. Lee said that I should, for some reason. And who are you two, anyways?"

Dakota spoke up this time. "I'm Dakota Blades, and this is my little sister Jade. Our father was a member of the Chaos Union. He's downstairs."

Luke sighed and sat on Seija's bed, depressed and confused. "This doesn't make any sense. If all your parents were in the Chaos Union, then why is my dad downstairs talking to them as if they're old friends?" A look passed between Seija and Lee, and they quickly attempted to warn Dakota and Jade without Luke noticing, but they were too late.

"Don't you know?" Dakota asked obliviously. "Your father was Chaos Gamma, a member of the original three Chaos Union members."

Silence reigned throughout the room. "What'd I say?"

"How could my father be in the Chaos Union?" Luke finally managed to spit out. "He was in the ONB while they existed, and ever since then, he's been a gadgeteer!"

But Dakota shook his head. "Nope. See, here's a group photo they took a bunch of years ago." Dakota pulled a crinkled picture out of his wallet and gave it to Luke, who stared at it in disbelief. There his father stood, right next to a teenager that could only be Seija's father. "The picture was taken after they became an ONB strike force," he continued as he took the picture back.

"But that's impossible…" A thought struck him, and he glared at Seija and Lee. "You knew, didn't you? That's why my father was talking to you back at Terretronics. And that's why you wanted me to get on the plane and come here, so I'd find out."

Lee feebly nodded. "He told us not to tell you, so…you had to find out for yourself." Seija nodded in agreement, tears not far again.

Luke stood then, enraged at his father's deceit. "I guess I'll have to have a talk with dear old dad then, won't I?" He stormed out of the room, leaving the four children to stare after him.

Downstairs, the Chaos Union members had decided to begin planning for their mission tomorrow, and Zelda was helping Irine in the kitchen. Currently, Matthias was discussing some logistical aspects of the plan. "So, as I was saying, if we're going into the desert, we'll need some way to keep cool until the sun sets. In addition, we should keep trying to contact--"

"Ahem." All heads turned to face Luke, standing on the stairs a few steps up. "Planning a trip, Chaos Gamma?" Matthias stood silently, staring at his son, unable to answer.

As the other children descended the stairs, stopping behind Luke, Link hesitantly got up and stepped between the Terres. "All right, let's not kill each other, Matthias and…Matthias' son."

Luke ignored Link, pushing him aside as he finished walking down the rest of the steps. "Oh, I wouldn't dare fight the brave Chaos Gamma. He might stab me with his Spear of Ice, or cut me to ribbons with his Cyber Slashers. Every night you told me tales of the adventures of the Chaos Union, Dad. But no one else knew those stories. So I just assumed that they were bedtime stories, not meant to be true. But I guess lies turn out to be the most truthful tales of all, don't they?"

"I didn't tell you for your own good, Luke! I couldn't! You want so desperately to save the world, but you don't think of the consequences!"

"But justice is its own reward, Chaos Gamma! What price might be so high you wouldn't have me pay it for justice?"

"Your grandfather died because of me!"

A chill ran over the room. Matthias' face was now a mixture of red and gray, and a specter of death had draped itself over the group. Luke simply stared at his father, his friends behind him only moderately more surprised.

"Is that price enough for you? He died in my arms, because I was too busy 'saving the world' to save him. And I fought on, until the day we were forced to stop. I promised your mother that I would never fight again, and I've kept it until now." Matthias looked over at Shroud, and his former leader's eyes held sorrow, and even regret. But they still burned with the passion they always had, and Matthias then knew that tomorrow, he'd be risking his life again.

Turning towards the door, he spoke softly as he put his shoes back on. "Say goodbye to your friends, Luke. We're going home." With that parting blow, he walked out the door. Luke hung his head, and then turned it wordlessly towards the others, giving a half-hearted wave before walking out, leaving a very silent Chaos Union behind him.