Disclaimer: I don't own any of the Megaman series or anything related to them. Capcom does. All other characters are the monetary property of the Chaos Coalition.

Author's Note: First fight scene, everyone! It might be different from how you remember, because that's how I want it. Be prepared, the small changes I've already made are the least of what you'll be seeing. So make sure you tell anyone you know about this story, including random strangers. Enjoy!

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The sun rose on a misty morning, fog drenching the rooftops of the Chaos Union Headquarters. Nothing stirred upon the roof, but only a floor below, its members trained.

Their recently upgraded Labyrinth was currently in its most basic form, an average-looking gymnasium, although one that took up the entire seventh floor of their facility. Various equipment was strewn about the area, and two or three members were exercising. But the majority of the others were in the Watchtower high above, watching the members below. The Watchtower was nothing more than a control room built into the north wall, but from it, one entered or exited, and could set up a session.

Currently, J.G. was sitting at the computer, typing in the specifications for the two battlers that stood beyond the large glass window of the Watchtower. Irine sat beside him, looking intently at Shroud, and Link, Matthias and Golex were also within, wither seated at a terminal of against the walls of the small room."All right, you two. I've locked the battlefield into position around you, so you won't be able to interfere with the others. Ready?"

The two competitors nodded at the same time, and J.G. couldn't help but be amazed at how much alike Shroud and his cousin were. Mikoto Sakura, sometime CU member, might not have shared her cousin's last name, but they were nearly mirror images of each other, or as close as possible without sharing parents. She was clad in a red jumpsuit and held a steel katana in her hand, rubies set into the hilt. Her cousin, on the other hand, wore only his simple black ninjitsu robes, and openly had no more than two shuriken as weapons. Of course, he surely had a dozen or so more and a dagger hidden somewhere on his person.

The simulation settled itself around them, a solid-light construct developed by Matthias and SH. This was only it's third usage; all prior simulations had been created with robotics or simple holograms, which proved to be awkward when you leaned up against a tree and fell down. The environment chosen was a dark forest, which gave Shroud the initial advantage due to his skill of hiding in shadows. But Mikoto had a few skills of her own.

She began the fight quickly, reaching into a pocket and grabbing a flare of some sort, which she tossed at Shroud. Her cousin rolled aside,vanishing amidst the foliage but true to life, the trees around burst into flame. She tossed another flare into another set of trees before holding her katana in both hands and cautiously stalking Shroud through the jungle.

From his position leaning against the back wall, Matthias could see how effective his work had been. He himself had been a member of the first trial of the new system, and it hadn't been nearly as good as this. He and SH had fixed it then, and again, and this third version seemed like a winner, in his eyes. He'd have to wait until SH saw the footage when he returned from a Recovery Mission to get his opinion.

"Matthias Terre, please report to the atrium. You have a visitor." The AI computer Matthias had dubbed Jazz came over the intercom to the Watchtower, and luckily the motherly system had seemed to notice that the Labyrinth was active, not projecting her voice into the simulation.

"That's odd," Matthias said, standing upright. "I wasn't expecting anyone..." He waved to the others, trying to control his emotions upon viewing the engagement ring Irine had recieved several months prior, and stepped out of the room and into the elevator, traveling down to the first floor.

The elevator was a fast one, and Matthias scarcely had time to think before the doors open and he stepped through the door to see a man standing in the atrium, his back towards him. It had been a long time since he'd seen him, but Matthias recognized his father even before the astronomer turned around to face him.

Dr. Nathanial Terre was no high profile scientist, but he had still managed to work his way up through the ranks at NAXA, the Netopian Astronomical and eXtraterrestial Administration. His father had stayed out of the alien division of the place, but he was the head of the Astronomy department, second only to the leader of the entire administration. It had made him distant from Matthias and his brother, even before their mother had died. The combination of losing their mother and his shipping off to boarding school had certainly destabilized his brother, and had most certainly led to the malicious deeds Matthias was half-positive he was accountable for. Then again, the loss hadn't made him any better of a person either.

"I see you're...home, I suppose." His father had seemingly aged in the past year or so since Matthias had seen him. The last time they had seen each other, it was the summer of his sophomore year, the Chaos Union was leaving their base on NAXA, and his father was stil oblivious to the fact that the Chaos Union was more than a group of kids from school, practicing their Netbattling skills over the summer. Now, he would be a senior, had he not been taking his classes online over the last year, and his father's once black hair was now flecked with gray hairs, and his temples were nearly pure white.

"Yes, father. This is my home now. I am surprised to see you though." Matthias knew what this conversation would likely entail, and steeled himself for the demand to return to his home on NAXA.

"How is your brother?"

That wasn't the question he was expecting, and it threw Matthias for a loop. After all, how was one supposed to tell his father that Alex was most likely the head of Checkmate, an evil syndicate that intended on killing off the "White team", who apparently seemed to be a majority of the Chaos Union. In the end, Matthias had to tell him something.

"I haven't seen him lately, not since a bit after he graduated."

His father seemed to accept that, and then pressed on. "That's not why I'm here. Matthias...I would certainly like an explanation."

"Of what?"

"Your...excapades with this 'Chaos Union'! While you were with them at NAXA, I thought nothing of it, but apparently now you're an ONB strike team, if rumor is to be believed. And you're also no longer a full time student at Den Academy, which I only learned when they sent me a letter asking if you still wished to participate in graduation, at which time I discovered you'd been secretly taking classes online!"

It seemed that his father knew more than Matthias had been expected. But that changed nothing. "I will not return to NAXA with you, father. My time there is done, both with you and with the Chaos Union."

His father didn't take that well. "So you would stay here with these fools who think that they can save the world! Open your eyes, Matthias! You want so desperately to save the world, but you never think of the consequences!"

"What price might be so high that you wouldn't have me pay it for justice?"

Nathanial Terre had no answer yet. But he soon would. "If this is what you feel you must do, then you cannot be my son. My son is no vigilante, no 'hero'. My son is a teenage boy, almost an adult now. But not quite yet. I pray I see my son again before I die." He turned on his heel and left the building, leaving a man behind who had become more fully Chaos Gamma.

Nathanial Terre never said another word to his firstborn son.

-

Chaotic We Stand

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Chapter 3: Principis Clausula

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-- Saturday, March 29th, 3: 53 PM, Southern Outpost, Twilight Desert, Neo Arcadia --

Shroud exited the taxi and tipped his driver, a human who seemed rather irked to have been hired to drive all the way from the Housing District in the northeastern portion of the city to the Southern Outpost, which, despite its name, was more southwest than anything. "This is why I usually take Copyroid-driven taxis," he thought to himself as he gave the driver a zenny or five extra. If they failed today, he wouldn't have much time to spend it anyways.

The taxi sped off, and Shroud began walking towards the Outpost, checking the time on his empty PET. Juno had slipped himself into his Copyroid sometime last night, leaving a message stating that he would meet him near the Vile 5's base. To be honest, Shroud had no idea what his navi was doing, especially since this mission would be requiring the use of Synchro Chips rather than Copyroids. Still, he trusted his navi, and entered the building, flashing his security ID at the guards as he passed.

"I'm here on a mission for Lord X," he said as he approached a military officer standing behind a desk. The officer nodded and informed him that the mission he was speaking of would begin in the loading bay, where his superior was waiting for him. Shroud didn't like the sound of this 'superior', but thanked the officer and made his way to the loading bay, opening the steel door to an immense garage, housing a majority of Neo Arcadia's land-based vehicles. He was about to ask someone where he was to go, but a gruff voice called out to him from the right.

"Shroud! Get over here; I don't have all damn day!" Shroud turned to see with a moderate amount of dismay that the voice was coming from the mouth of Fefnir, one of X's children and generals. Unfortunately, Fefnir was the least liked general, and took pride in it. It seemed that he would need to be a bit more assertive than usual today.

"Keep your circuits on!" Shroud called back, not meaning anything of the sort. He walked over to the fiery general, his crimson armor glimmering with the same sheen as his overly polished flamethrower. "Is anyone else here?"

Fefnir nodded, pointing to a room behind him. "There's 2 or 3 in there, I lost count."

"I don't doubt that," Shroud muttered to himself as he walked past and pushed open the door. Within, Link and Pavo sat at a table, discussing something that sounded suspiciously like the consistency of liquid cheese, and Matthias and Brian were looking over the Synchro Chips they had apparently been provided with. They all looked up as he entered the room, and Matthias spoke first, a grin masking his apprehension.

"Nice of you to join us, Shroud. Traffic too thick?" The group chuckled, but Shroud only did so half-heartedly.

"Nah, I was out looking for Seija. She ran off last night. None of you ran into her, did you?" The others shook their heads, and Shroud was about to continue speaking when the door burst open behind him, revealing Fefnir and a teenager held captive by the navi's firm grip, who looked as though he wished he hadn't come.

"This kid says that he's supposed to be on the mission, but he's not on my list." Fefnir said, the kid in question trying to break free from his iron grip. "Says his name is Alistor."

"Alistor?" Shroud said, looking around at the others. "Isn't that Raymond's navi?" His friends nodded, but Alistor spoke up in his own defense.

"I'm Raymond's nephew! Look, he gave me this Synchro Chip and shipped me off this morning." Alistor fished through his pocket with his free hand, pulling a chip from his pocket, which Shroud took and inspected.

"Hmm…looks legit. Let him go, Fefnir." Shroud handed the Synchro Chip back as Fefnir relaxed his grip. The boy began rubbing his arm to restore its circulation, and Matthias spoke up behind Shroud.

"If this kid is here in Raymond's place, then let's get going. We won't have daylight for long." The others nodded and got up, waiting for Fefnir to show them where to go.

"All right then. Follow me." Fefnir turned and led the group out of the room and down a ramp towards a large vehicle that resembled a boat with tire treads. The seven of them boarded, and Fefnir typed in some coordinates on the bridge and then headed back to the main portion of the ship. Everyone else had already seated themselves and strapped in, so Fefnir simply stood and addressed them as the ship began to move. "Now, we'll be at the general area of the base in an hour or so. The ship is locked on to Juno's signature, and he's supposed to have already found the general area. When we get there, we search for the entrance. Got it?"

"Yep," the group answered in unison. Fefnir nodded and returned to the bridge, leaving the Chaos Union to themselves for the moment. Normally, this was the moment where Shroud would try to brief them on their plan, and Link and Pavo would interject with something completely random. Brian and Matthias would roll their eyes, Shroud would laugh, and they'd grow closer and stronger as a group.

But that wasn't happening today. Almost guiltily, Shroud sat down and brought up a map of the Twilight Desert on the folding computer attached to the chair in front of him. As he looked around, he saw that Matthias was on a laptop of his own, working with Gizmo on spreadsheets. Link was using his PET to hold a conversation with his children, and Pavo held a quiet conversation with Alistor in the back, about the relatively serious topic of navi programming, from what he could hear. Brian sat a row ahead, and looked back at Shroud with a sad smile before reclining and trying to sleep.

Shroud sighed and put his head in his hands, thinking to himself. It seemed like eons had passed since they'd fought alongside each other, instead of less than two decades. Apparently, his curse was now to lose everything he'd once had in life; the Chaos Union was broken more than he'd ever believed, he was now a wanted criminal for a crime he'd never committed, and his daughter was slipping away from him. Not even thoughts could describe the anguish he felt as he sat silently among friends who had become strangers.

-- 4:49 PM, 8498 Floppi Place, Electown, Electopia --

Luke lay on the couch in a state of lethargy, bored out of his mind. His father had grounded him when he had gotten home, which meant no friends, no television, and limited computer access, as he defined. This time, he was allowed to turn it on.

His sister hurried down the steps, thin cords attached to her navi-less PET quickly being inserted into her ears, the small buds already sending their music into the room. Marie was 11 years old, and already fueled by fashion and popularity. This month's latest oddity was long blue-green hair, quite a change from her natural blonde. She wore a puffy-sleeved white shirt, with a teal sleeveless vest over it, and a black skirt that appeared to have bites taken out of it. Her sandals jingled as she walked over to him, minute bells having been added to it.

"I'm going over to Gina's. Tell Dad I'll be sleeping over." Luke waved a hand dismissively, and Marie left with a sniff of disdain. No sooner was she gone than his brother Sam hurried over, a stuffed Bunny's ears pinned in his hand.

"Luke, I'm hungry. Can you make me dinner?" Luke tilted his head to observe the small boy, and slowly got to his feet, leading the way into the kitchen.

"Just a snack, Sam. Dad ordered us take-out for later." This didn't please his brother, but Luke ignored his whining, opened a cupboard, and took out a box of graham crackers, giving Sam five or six. He rushed off again, leaving Luke alone in the kitchen.

"Cheer up, Luke." Aeon materialized on one of the countertops' monitors, elevating it so he could look at his NetOp. Luke's netnavi was fairly tall, and clad in blue and black armor. A golden scarf was wound about his neck, a gift from his 'father', Gizmo, and he leaned against an obsidian glaive with odd scrollwork winding along it. "So your father lied to you. He's Chaos Gamma! At least his lies are justified."

"That's true. But he didn't have to ground me for it. All I did was stow away on his plane." An eyebrow raise from Aeon caught his attention. "What?"

Aeon sighed, but an idea came to him. "Hey, why not just use another computer? Like your sister's?"

"My sister's Net access got cut off a month ago because Dad found out she was downloading illegal music, remember? And Sam doesn't have one, and Dad's…" A new light came into Luke's eyes, and he hurriedly rushed out of the kitchen.

"What? No, get back here!" Aeon began to race through the house's mainframe, appearing on several viewscreens as Luke walked past them. "You can't use your Dad's computer! He password-locks everything, and you don't have a chance of breaking his firewall."

But Luke ignored Aeon as he hurried up the steps. He stopped outside his father's room, its door slightly ajar, and looked over at the screen beside him where his navi now stood. "But you can. That scarf contains bits and pieces of Gizmo's data; that should be enough to find a loophole to get through. Look, all you need to do is get in, and find Dad's parental controls. Override them, and maybe get an uplink to my computer while you're at it. That's all. Easy, right?"

Aeon opened his mouth to protest, but Luke was already passing through, sitting at his father's computer desk and moving aside a picture of the two of them and his mother, taken while he was an infant. Aeon finally resigned himself to his fate and entered Matthias' computer.

He appeared in a desolate environment of what appeared to be organic metal. He wandered about, trying to keep remarkably lifelike copper rats from crawling up his legs. "Nice place your dad has here. Any clue as to what I'm looking for?"

From his side of the computer, Luke simply shrugged. "No idea. Try to find something that seems to call out to you."

"Easy for you to say. You're sitting comfortably in a padded chair while I'm traipsing around in one of the more frightening servers I've ever encountered." Aeon's words were mocking, but truth to be told, he was feeling somehow drawn, to a tree off to his left. "Hang on, I might have found something."

"Nice. I'll plug in my PET for a full-screen view." Unclipping his PET watch, he loaded into a slot designed for the purpose, and the computer's screen changed from the desktop picture of the four living Terres to the barren wasteland of his server. "You weren't kidding about this server, Aeon."

"I know," he replied, stopping before the tree. Like everything else, the tree was made of metal, in this case a lithe silver or platinum, and similarly colored apples hung from its boughs. "False alarm, Luke. I don't see anything important. Except…" His eyes caught a glimpse of another apple, this one golden. Impulsively, he plucked it, and when nothing happened, he took a bite out of it.

Its juice glowed like the sun as it began to drip from Aeon's lips, and he dropped it in shock as a wave of euphoria struck him, bringing him to his knees.

"Aeon? What's wrong?" Luke leaned intently in towards his computer, unable to see whether his navi was in danger of deletion or not. Luckily, his navi got up, and Luke zoomed the camera in on him to check over his status. "Are you alright?"

Aeon nodded. "I think so. But Luke…something tells me that was a forbidden fruit." Gesturing to the side with his hand, Luke panned the camera over to see that the tree had been changed into a steel terminal.

"Well," Luke said, pulling the camera back to look the scene over fully, "it looks like our next item of business is to find out what's in that computer."

-- 4:50 PM, Twilight Desert, Neo Arcadia --

The transport stopped, jolting Shroud awake. He'd apparently been asleep for about a half-hour, judging by the last time he'd checked his watch. Pavo and Link were already leaving the ship, and Alistor was jostling Brian to wake him. Matthias was nowhere to be seen for the moment, but by the time Shroud had gotten out of his seat, he had entered from the cockpit, Fefnir following him.

"Nice to see you and Brian are awake, Shroud. Fefnir needed to consult me on the mission since you two were asleep, but it's nothing too important. I'll let you know if it becomes a problem." Shroud nodded, and Matthias led the way off the plane, the others following.

Shroud brought up the rear, and therefore was the last to see his navi and the three standing behind him. Juno was as opulent as ever, his ivory armor covered with jewels and gold scrollwork, and both pairs of his radiant wings folded behind him. His mighty sword, the Chrono Saber, was sheathed at his side, and his fingers slightly twitched in anticipation of using it. He wasn't an overly tall navi, only six feet tall, but his sheer presence made up for it. Golden eyes locked into Shroud's, and he stepped back to allow the three beside him to be better seen.

Farthest to the left was a man clothed in a traditional desert costume. His garments were a faded gray, and long-sleeved to hold his own sweat close to his skin, for cooling. A thin cloth had been wrapped around his head several times to shield it, and he reached up and removed the veil across the front of it to reveal his face. Paler than he remembered, and with a thin beard across his face, but the face of Steve Hurr wasn't one that Shroud would forget any time soon.

Beside Steve stood a less familiar but still recognizable Chris. The formerly trigger-happy teenager had been replaced by a man wearing a gray sleeveless shirt and black cargo pants. Around his waist was a belt similar to one Shroud had worn once during his training in Nation Z, and the silver necklace faintly visible around his neck and an ornate dragon tattoo upon his left shoulder marked him as a graduate of Nation Z's Setan Academy of Ninjitsu, an accomplishment Shroud had nearly earned himself.

Finally, beside Chris stood a serious-looking man whose clothing was a pale tan to match the color of the sand beneath his white tennis shoes. Golex Tjon hadn't changed much since the disbanding of the Chaos Union, but he didn't openly carry weapons anymore. Of course, openly was most likely the key word in that statement.

The group smiled as they slowly recognized their former friends, and hurried over to greet them. Juno nimbly walked around him and stood beside Shroud, who hadn't moved. "Juno…this is…how did you…"

Juno answered the unspoken question without much hesitation, as if he'd been expecting this response from Shroud. "After you and Irine went to bed last night, I made my way into several government databases to search for any other Chaos Union members that we hadn't been able to contact. Turns out that SH is second only to Matthias in supplying Electopia with gadgetry, Chris used to be on Nation Z's payroll, and Golex's name popped up in just about every two nations' list of people they need to hire."

"And how'd they take you stopping on their front doorstep?" Juno shrugged, and Shroud decided to let that question go until later. "Well, what's your initial reaction to each of them? Can we trust them to side with us?"

"I think so," Juno replied, crossing his arms over his chest. "SH didn't sound interested until I told him that X might be giving him a reward, and I think he wants a Synchro Chip to study, now that they aren't as frequently given out by the ONB. Chris is a lot harder to read than he ever was before, and Golex is just…Golex. A bit shadier than I recall, but still Golex."

Shroud pondered this a moment. "So we really shouldn't trust any of them, but we're going to anyways." Juno nodded. With this taken care of, Shroud called the group back over. "All right then. Where's this base that you apparently found, Juno?"

"It's beneath our feet. The readings X picked up were triangulated easily, and this is the spot they found. There must be a secret entrance around here, so we'd better start looking." Juno exited his Copyroid and reentered Shroud's PET, appearing on his shoulder. "Everyone should Cross Fuse now. You might need your navi's extra energy to survive the sun's heat for the next few hours."

Shroud nodded and pulled his Synchro Chip from his pocket. "A majority of you never ended up Cross Fusing before we were disbanded, so I'll go first to demonstrate the procedure." Sliding his Synchro Chip into his PET as if it were a battlechip, Shroud began to shimmer with Juno's data, eventually ending with his body covered in his navi's armor. R Juno and the original looked almost exactly the same, save that the Cross Fused version had only one pair of wings and Shroud's blue eyes.

"All right," the Cross Fused warrior said to his companions. "You all try it now, starting with Brian since he's done it before as well…"

"Hey!" Fefnir's cry alerted the Chaos Union, and they turned to look over at him. The fiery navi had grown bored of listening to them talk, and wandered off. Now, he was several yards away from the transport, and looking down into some shifting sands below. "I don't think this is normal for--"

A large explosion blew Fefnir backwards, and the Chaos Union fell back. When the smoke cleared, Fefnir lay on the ground, his copyroid body sparking and smoking, and a new navi stood in his place. Its Copyroid body was at least 8 feet tall, and it was large as well. This foreboding figure wore white armor over his arms and legs, and a similarly colored white cloak was worn over his black bodysuit. A jagged crest of red hair protruded from its helmet, from which two red eyes stared, and in his right hand was a crimson energy saber with a lethal-looking cross upon its edge, poised to attack the Chaos Union.

"Welcome to the Twilight Desert, Chaos Union! It's a shame your first mission after all these years shall be a failure!" The unknown navi then dashed towards the group, and R Juno leapt forward to stop him, his Chrono Saber deftly wielded against his foe

"Guys! Hurry and Cross Fuse!" His blade was easily swept aside every time by his opponent, and Shroud hoped that he could hold out until his friends supported him.

He wasn't disappointed. Brian had begun to Cross Fuse the instant after the explosion, green and yellow armor already covering his legs and torso while crimson gauntlets materialized along his arms. A crimson helmet completed the ensemble, and a mouthguard and blue visor slid across his face as he drew the mighty Mystic Blade he could wield as R Hika, slicing through the new navi's blade and forcing him to leap back to avoid being hit by R Juno.

Their foe quickly reignited his energy saber and rushed at R Juno and R Hika, but was stopped by a powerful energy surge. R Gizmo stepped forward, green sparks of electricity flowing across his armor. "Nice try, but I think that we've gotten you beat."

"Not at all. You shouldn't underestimate a navi as powerful as I." Their foe leapt over the trio, landing beside the others and attacking the weakest link, young Alistor. Unfortunately for him, a red-armored warrior with a golden sword and reflective shield blocked him, and the others were surprised to hear Link's voice exit the warrior's mouth.

"Why don't you pick on someone your own size?" R Legendman pushed the navi backwards, towards another Cross Fused member of their team, this one clad in the semblance of a turkey. Unlike the others, Pavo's navi wasn't humanoid, so his armor had more bestial characteristics, such as small wings attached to his arms and a mouthguard that looked suspiciously like a beak. He formed a glowing green sphere and threw it at the incoming copyroid, blowing it away.

When their impromptu foe got to his feet, the nine of them had encircled him. The four remaining who hadn't Cross Fused yet had done so; the only one to look familiar was SH. While his navi, Kyra, had been cured of her viral infection some time ago, she retained her raccoon-like attributes, including her gray skin, pointed ears, and bushy tail, all of which were passed on during Cross Fusion. The next most similar was Golex, whose navi had only been upgraded, not changed. He was known as Hyperion now, and he hadn't changed much from his basic white armor, save for his new pair of wings and powerful-looking sword.

The other two were much different than expected. Chris had apparently received a new navi since his time in the Chaos Union, because the form he had taken was unknown to the others. His navi was now known as Volnutt, and his armor was almost robotic, a mix of blues that left his black hair exposed. As for Alistor, the others had expected him to have simply a copy of his uncle's navi. This couldn't be further from the case. His navi was a warrior known as Bladeknight, who wore gleaming silver armor over a red bodysuit, and had a pair of longswords attached to his back, now held in his hands.

"Just give up," R Juno shouted, pointing his saber at their mutual foe. "We have you outnumbered."

"Numbers mean nothing to the mighty Omega!" Omega sheathed his sword at his side and fired large beams of light into the group, dispersing them. R Bladeknight impulsively leapt back at Omega, but was casually knocked aside by a backhand from the massive navi. Still, this gave R Kyra an opportunity to slip in, delivering a thin gash on his side from a paper epée he had fitted together. Omega fired a laser at him as well, however, and he scattered.

Suddenly, four of the Cross Fused warriors attacked simultaneously, Brian, Link, Golex, and Shroud. Their blades sliced into Omega's 'flesh', and he cried out before detaching his hands, which spiraled out and forced his assailants to move back. R Kyra sent out a few origami birds to try to distract him, but his hands clapped together, crushing them.

"We need to find his weak point," Matthias said to Chris as they huddled behind a sand dune. "I'll stun him with my attack, you gather up anyone who can help and we'll finish him now." Chris nodded and hurried off. As soon as he was far enough along, Matthias popped over a sand dune and began firing an electrical surge at Omega. The unexpected jolt froze him in place…for now. Matthias could only hope that it would be enough time for Chris to return.

Chris himself had managed to find only one person so far who wasn't incapacitated, Pavo. Several of the Chaos Union members who had just attacked were unconscious or unable to fight effectively, and others were dealing with Omega's hands, which now spiraled around the battlefield. "It looks like it's just you and me, Chris," Pavo said, charging one of his radioactive attacks.

Chris sighed and charged his cannon. "Yeah. It's all or nothing." Just as Omega began to recover from R Gizmo's assault, he fired an attack of blinding light, which struck Omega instants before a radioactive sphere tossed by Pavo did. As the sphere brushed across the beam of light, something that was never thought possible occurred: the sphere broke. A bright burst of green light extended outwards, hitting what seemed like millennia before the sound of the explosion ever touched their ears.

-- 5: 02 PM 8498 Floppi Place, Electown, Electopia --

"So what is it, Aeon?" Luke's netnavi had been perusing the terminal for a few minutes now, occasionally taking small bites of the golden apple.

"Luke, it appears to be some sort of program for reviving fallen netnavis. But it's flawed; your dad apparently couldn't get it to work properly and restore the navi's personality as well. They just ended up empty shells." Aeon nibbled on his apple again, a glistening bit of perfection, before returning to the main menu of the terminal. "There's nothing left to go over except this last file, Project: Fallen. Sounds like it's just an overview of the failed project. Should I look it over?"

"Sure, why not? It's better than going back downstairs and waiting around until the pizza shows." All thoughts of breaking through his father's firewall were forgotten as Luke watched his navi open the latest file.

"Hmm…that's odd. This seems almost like a continuation of Matthias' failed project. I'll look over the specs, you read through the overview." Aeon touched a file on the screen and plucked it from the terminal, flicking it through the portal to Matthias' PC. Minimizing the window that held the camera view of his navi, Luke opened the file and began to read.

Project: Fallen

My efforts to resurrect deleted netnavis without any frame have proved useless. While my breakthroughs are wonderful for those who make their living restoring navis, my true goal (to revive navis deleted more than 30 or 40 years ago) is apparently out of reach. Still, I hope that this latest step in the process will be a benefit to my research, my family, and the world

For I have managed to create a powerful program, one that allows a netnavi to assimilate the data within the net and filter it, eventually enabling them to 'reassemble' a previously-deleted netnavi within themselves. The prototype of this program is much too dangerous to lie around, however, so I have hidden it in both the most secure and least likely place, a netnavi.

Netnavis, being among the most protected electronic data units, are an obvious choice for security reasons, and no one would expect an untested project to be applied to a netnavi, for fear of corruption. Yet I have faith that my program is as complete as possible, and I shall willingly risk this danger.

There is only one problem: which navi to apply the program to. My own has been corrupted too much over the years, both because of age and because of his prior experience in hacking, and a generic navi is not suitable for such a program. Therefore, I have latently hidden the software for Project: Fallen within my son's netnavi, Aeon, and left the actual data within this terminal. When the time is right, I will inform both Aeon and my son of this program and allow them to claim it for their own.

As to the program itself, I have managed to piece together the data of seven initial navis: Iceman, Sharkman, Knightman, Stoneman, Thunderman, Plantman, and Burnerman. Due to the corruption of their data over time, they have taken on different forms upon reassembly. These forms are Glacios, Azul, Ector, Alexander, Ramuh, Exodus, and Adremmalech, respectively. I have not had time to fully test their potential, but when Aeon receives them, he shall innately know what can be done with them.

That said, I encase this document within this terminal, and will disguise it as a silver tree, with a golden apple. The image came to me in a dream, and its symbolism was not lost. For this program, this tree, is like the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil, within Eden, and its golden apple, a catalyst, is the Forbidden Fruit.

I only pray that the results are better this time than the last.

Matthias Terre

Luke quickly skimmed to the fine print at the bottom of the page and noted that the document was dated from two years before, around Christmas…the Christmas he had received Aeon. Closing the document hurriedly, he expanded his camera view, contacting Aeon. "Aeon, it's for us! Project: Fallen is for you and me!"

"I know." Aeon stood solemnly before the terminal, and Luke vaguely noticed a handprint scanner had appeared to the side of it. Before he could say anything, Aeon pressed his hand to it, and a dark light filled the screen, blinding Luke.