Well, due to the delay, I have decided to release this chapter a little early (it's now a bi-weekly thing. I really hope to introduce the characters that you who sent in ideas soon, but I do not know if they will be included in this chapter. Also, yes, I completely stole two characters from RvB, but it's a fanfiction. I like the characters and there are so many jokes that open up if I use them.
"Carbon copy of myself like two o'clock struck on a bell;
Who could tell? Duplication.
I'd be heaven he'd be hell
Give him the worst of me as well…"
Lazo Bane, "Carbon Copy"
Nick was in his lab. He hadn't shown Sean yet, and was right now working on what seemed to be a black PET, as well as a program.
"Now if I just leave this here… Modman, try using this." He said, sending it to his navi.
'Okay." Modman ran the program, and the black PET beeped.
"Yes!" cried Nick, jumping out of his seat, " I finally simplified it for a navi to use! Now, Modman, I need you to go to the undersquare."
"Why?"
"Well, I want an independent navi that will allow herself to be put in this PET"
"Her?"
"You know who I'm talking about." Nick said, grinning in a way Modman didn't fully feel comfortable with.
"Please no."
0 0 0
I knew I'd get away. The Heelnavi thought to himself as he ducked behind a rockcube. Now, all I need to do is hide… he didn't get much farther as a navi clad completely in futuristic black armor with an orange mirrored faceplate ((Mark V armor from halo 2)) materialized in front of him.
"Hello, check!"
"But I'm from Sharo!"
"I meant, paycheck"
"Ohhh… crap,"
"Well, there's 100,000 zenny in the bank" the navi said as it shot the navi and walked away. It went back to the undersquare to find its contractor, only to be stopped upon entering the link by Modman, wielding an Elecsword, poised to cut off it's head.
"Hello, Allyson." He said.
"You know, I haven't been called that in along time. How ya doin' Mod?"
"Pretty good. How are you?"
"Better after you get out of my way so I can get my pay from my contractor."
"You mean the blue Heelnavi?"
"Yeah."
"He…departed about a half an hour ago."
"Damn it!"
"Hey Tex." Said Nick.
"Hey! How's it going, slugger?" Tex said, putting a tone of sarcasm at the last word.
"You know I don't like to be called that."
"Exactly. What do you want?"
'Why do think I would want anything?"
"Well, seeing how you saved my life, and then haven't talked to me much since then, I'm pretty sure you want something."
"Fine. You know how you always said that Modman always beat you because he had an operator?"
"Yes… What exactly are you getting at?"
"How would you like an operator?"
"Depends. What do I get?"
"I expunge your… sizeable record, as well as the passcode to the nanoassembler."
"And…."
"One hundred million zenny."
"Still, why should I agree?"
"Because I really don't want to have saved your life only to kill you." At this Modman tensed, and held his sword closer to Tex's neck
"You know, your screwed up sense of logic is starting to make sense… I can give you a discount off that fee…"
"Good. Follow Modman back to my computer. I'll need to analyze you and run some tests."
" Tests?"
"So the whole O'Malley thing won't happen again."
0 0 0
On the way back, Modman asked Nick "Are you doing this to impress Holly?"
"You realize it's never going to happen" Tex interrupted
"Me? Holly? Pfft… Why not?" Nick said
"Because, Nick, you waited way to long, and now you're in 'the friend zone'" Modman said
"Whatever. What's really happening is that I'm getting one step closer to-
"Priesthood?" Modman interjected.
"Not funny. Get back here as soon as possible, and when you do have Tex get in the chamber that's on the homepage." Nick said, severing the connection to Modman.
Sean had had a good day of school, and was sitting outside, because there was heavily overcast, with a couple of his drama classmates practicing a scene for Macbeth, when Holly walked up.
"Hey Sean, how's it hangin'?" Holly said. Sean noticed that Holly sounded slightly different.
"Um… Pretty good. How about you?"
"I am great! Say, you wanna go to this new movie I heard about? It's called, When Mr. Progs Attack!"
"I haven't heard of it."
"It's an independent film, but the theater in San Juan is showing it."
"Okay, when's the next one?"
"It's in… a half an hour." Said Holly, glancing at her PET. It was made of a metal that seemed to constantly be changing colors when the light hit it
"Cool. Hey, since when did you have a PET?" Sean said.
"I got it yesterday after school. Isn't it neat! It's Carm & Dia, so, when I saw it I just like, HAD to buy it!"
"That's… cool" Holly had never been into "fashion", so her statement set Sean off a little. I guess she's just trying to impress me, since she hasn't had that great of a history concerning guys, Sean thought.
"C'mon, Sean, we're going to be late!" Holly said impatiently, then turning and leaving.
"Okay, I'm coming!" Sean shouted after her. He walked with her to her car, a white Mustang convertible, and got in.
"I heard this was really a good horror movie. Pretty much what happens is that a virus mutates a Mr. Prog, who then becomes evil, and he starts to split himself, like an amoeba or something like that, and then he finds this old abandoned homepage that is connected to a computer that runs a copybot factory, so he make tons of them and make all his copies enter them and goes and like, kill people. I also heard that Lan and Megaman (Lan is sooooo hot, isn't he?) make a cameo…" Sean listened to this, and tuned Holly out. He never really did this to girls, but today, it just seemed like Holly was talking just to hear her own voice. Also, Sean was pretty sure that Holly hadn't seen Lan before, much less knew who he was. She was the kind of girl, who, though smart, didn't read the news. He didn't really pay attention until he noticed that they had passed the movie theater.
"Uh… Holly? The theaters back there…"
"I know." She said, slamming her fist down on Sean's neck.
"Ow! The back of my head!" The last thing he heard was Axl yelling something as the girl picked up the PET and tossed it out of the car.
0 0 0
Great. Now what am I supposed to do. Axl had thought. He was stuck in his PET, with nowhere to jack into, on the side of a road. He had Sean install a long-range jack in sensor, but there wasn't anything nearby that he could jack into. Great… this has got to be the worst day ever. Axl thought to himself. Wait a second, maybe I can jack into a passing car… Axl prepared himself to jack into the next car. Three, two one! He jacked into a passing hummer. Now all I have to do is… Hey! This car has Clear Wire! Clear Wire was a new fad in San Juan. It was pretty much a wireless connection to the internet, from just about anywhere.
"Sweet!" Axl exclaimed as he stepped on to the link that connected him to the net, "Now all I have to do is find someone to help me…"
0 0 0
The first thing that Sean thought when he came to was, That bitch threw Axl out of the car! Then he looked around. He was strapped in a chair in a plain room, with only a small window on the wall that he facing. In front of him As he was looking around, a hooded figure walked in.
"Who are you?" Sean asked the figure.
"I am your successor." The figure said, enigmatically.
"You know, this is totally, totally predictable, and totally, totally lame."
"What?" The hooded figure seemed surprised.
"Okay, it goes like this. You're a Gospel fanatic. You had Holly kidnap me so that I could either help head your organization, or just be there to be part of your 'organization'. I have to say, I give you a 1 for originality, but, actually, a 9 for effort. How did you get Holly to kidnap me?"
"Why don't you ask her yourself?" The figure said, moving away from the door. Holly stepped in.
"Hello, Sean. I'm surprised you didn't realize that I was an imposter."
"An imposter?"
Holly took her PET and took out a chip slotted into it. She… changed into someone else. She had brown hair, about five feet seven inches tall, and was very slim.
"How?"
"My navi, Mimic."
"That still doesn't explain anything."
"Exactly."
"Why did you kidnap me?"
"Because, I wanted to formally introduce my organization." The hooded man said. "You've already met Sunyama and Courtney, and their navis."
As the hooded figure was talking, Sunyama walked in. He was wearing his trademark red cowboy hat, and with Desertman's PET clipped to his belt. Three other people followed him
"Allow me to introduce you to Josh." The hooded figure said, as a teenager stepped up. He was about the same height as Sean, with brown hair and hazel eyes. He had a purple PET clipped to his belt. He was wearing jeans, and a blue polo, as well as a short sword clipped on his left side.
"Hello." The teen simply said, stepping back.
"Also, meet Elizabeth."
"Hi there," the girl said in a seductive voice, stepping forward. She was just less than five feet tall, with blonde hair and brown eyes. She did not seem to have a PET with her.
"Also, meet HB." A boy, obviously younger than the rest, with brown hair and a round face, stepped forward, tripping on his own feet. "He's new."
"I see," Said Sean.
"And we are, Like, the net?"
"Yes. It stands for Net Ending Transmission! Turning the one thing people rely on the most into the thing they fear the most!"
"Well, that original, and… stuff, but you still haven't told me who you are."
"Why, you already know me," Said the hooded figure, pulling back the hood of his cloak.
"No! You can't be!"
"But I am." What Sean was looking at was Nick.
"Now don't worry, this is going to hurt you more than it hurts me…" The Nick look alike said, stepping forward with a syringe.
0 0 0
"Finally, I made it," Said Axl, having reached Nick's computer. "Hello?" He yelled. Huh, no-one home. I guess I'll just wait… Axl thought. Then he saw something that gave him an idea.
0 0 0
Marco and Julie were taking a stroll down by the river that the school backed up to, when they were rudely interrupted.
"MARCO!" something yelled, heading towards the couple as they were walking.
Marco turned around, only to see Axl hurtling towards him. "Whoa, slow down"
"But Sean's in trouble."
"Obviously."
"Can you-"
"No. Julie and I are on a date."
"But-"
"No." Julie coldly interrupted. Axl decided to try something different.
"Uhh… Do you know where Nick is?"
"He's in his lab. Now, go away."
"He has a lab? Cool!"
"Yeah. Just go up there to the fountain, and go into the woods for about fifteen, twenty feet. You'll see what looks like a manhole cover, but it's really just an entrance into an old bomb shelter that Nick uses."
"Thanks" Axl said, zooming off.
"Nick, I'm reading a Nanoform close by, heading towards the main entrance" Modman said to Nick, who was running tests on Tex.
"Get me a visual." Nick said
'It's Axl, and he's alone."
"Why would he be alone?"
"I'm not sure. I'll let him in."
Nick sat and waited, an in about a minute his watch beeped, the face turning into what looked like an old radar screen, with a blip headed his way. He looked up and saw Axl headed toward him.
"Nick! You have to help! Sean's in trouble!" Axl yelled.
"I kind of guessed, seeing as you're in nanoform, and missing Sean," Nick said calmly, "What happened?"
"Holly said she was going to take Sean to a movie, but she passed the theater, and then she drugged Sean and threw me in my PET out of the car!"
"That's impossible. Holly hasn't left campus yet."
"How would you know that?"
"She swims, and practice gets out in an hour, and I actually talked to her while she was taking a break from swimming. Did you notice anything different about the Holly that took Sean?"
"Well, she had a weird PET…"
"Was it weird like it was constantly changing colors?" Nick said, with a very serious tone. Axl notice there was a bit of surprise in his eyes.
"Kinda. It was made out of a metal that did that."
"Shit! Courtney's back."
"Who?"
"An old…. Friend."
"Yeah, if a person who tries to kill you, get you tagged, then tagged the person agreed to kill you, and yet admitting that she didn't exactly want you dead counts as a friend." Tex said from the computer. She had finished the tests that Nick was running on her, and was listening to the conversation.
"Who's that?" Axl asked, looking at her.
"I'm Tex. And yes, it's a guy's name."
"Why does she know all this stuff about you?"
"She and I go back. Unfortunately." Nick said
"I'm bored. Hey Mod, wanna do target practice?"
"I am not doing that again. I am not a target!" Modman said, backing away from Tex.
"Wimp. You weren't a target, I just shot as close as I could to you without hitting you."
"But there's always the chance that you could miss." Modman said. Tex stared at him. "I mean, just once. It doesn't say anything about you." Tex walked off.
"Okay! Great talk!" Modman yelled after her.
"So… Axl, do you know where your PET is?" Nick asked.
"No, but I was hoping you could help me with that. I know it's on the side of the road near the theater, but that's it."
"That good enough. I should be able to pinpoint the signal from your pet to you."
"What?"
"When you're in Nanoform, chips are sent directly from your PET through a wireless transmitter, which I installed in your PET awhile ago."
"Ok."
Nick entered a command of the computer, and brought up a map of San Juan. "Hmm… There we go! It's where the old fountain used to be. Signal's really weak though. Modman, Get to the nanoassembler and go and get Axl's PET. Axl, jack out of the nanobots and into the computer."
"Why do I need to do that?"
"Because, there's no sun here and I'm pretty sure that the nanobots didn't get a good supply of solar power. I really don't want the nanobots to go into energy save, which would cause you to be trapped inside until there was a sufficient solar supply."
"I guess I will listen to you." Axl jacked into the computer and let the nanobots lose shape and fall to the ground
"Good."
0 0 0
"Wow, this is a really nice homepage." Axl commented as he jacked in.
"I know! He even installed a navi generator so I can practice my aim!" Tex said.
"I don't see any navis…."
"PULL!" A regular navi was shot in the air, flying in an arc perpendicular to Tex. She shot it clean through the head with a sniper rifle. "Yeah! Headshot!"
"Umm…. I'm really not sure how to respond to that."
"Then don't. Hey, do you see that weapons rack over there?" Tex asked, pointing over to it.
"Yeah."
"Get yourself a weapon."
"Wait… that's not a battlechip?" Axl asked gesturing towards Tex's sniper rifle.
"Nope. Its actually the product of Nick's newest invention."
"Which is…"
"The digitizer!"
"Which is…"
"Nick can take objects from the real world and scan them into the net."
"Oh, my GOD! He can do that!" Axl said. He could see himself now: Riding a horse, wielding a battle-ax…
"Unfortunately, live things don't exactly go through the process in one piece."
"I guess I'll have to settle for coconuts."
Tex looked at Axl. "I don't even want to know."
0 0 0
Sean woke with a start. He looked around. Where am I? He thought. He took a few steps forward and kicked something. He looked down. It was Axl's PET, but it was inactive, and the battery was low. Axl wasn't there. I guess he took off to save me.
"Freeze, dirtbag!" A voice shouted behind him. Sean threw his had up in the air and turn around. "Oh… Sorry about that." Said Modman, canceling the Elecsword that he was using. He looked the same, but had Bass' cape draped over his shoulders.
"Where's Nick?"
"He's back at the school. I've let him know that you're here."
"How?"
"I have a long range transmitter built into my PET, so I can communicate with Nick over long range.
"Oh. So that's how you got that battlechip."
"Actually, no."
"Then how?"
"My main ability is that I can mod my primary weapon," Modman said, holding up his right arm, to which a keyboard was attached, "to just about any standard battlechip, as well as a few megachips, and one gigachip."
"Which one?"
"Blue Moon."
"Oh. That's really neat. I should get Axl to copyshot you."
"What?"
"That's what Axl does. He can use his pistols to take 'DNA' from just about any navi or virus."
"Oh. Neat."
"Yeah, but unfortunately, when he does uses the DNA, he gains all the weaknesses of that navi as well."
"Well, that's a good sacrifice." Modman said as Nick's Lotus pulled up.
"Nick, you have a lot of explaining to do." Sean said.
"We'll talk when you get back." Nick said.
"You aren't in the car?"
"No, I'm remote controlling it. You get to drive back."
"Sweet." Said Sean.
0 0 0
"What the hell Nick!" Sean yelled, barging into Nick's lab.
"Look, I didn't know that Courtney was in Electopia." Nick said.
"Oh, I don't care about her. I care more about kicking you ass!"
"Then what are you yelling about."
"You are the head of a Gospel fanatic group."
"What!"
"Courtney kidnapped me, and brought me to somewhere, where I was introduced to group. And don't play dumb! You are the leader! I saw you WITH MY OWN TWO EYES!" Sean screamed, two inches from Nick's face.
"Oh. Great." Nick said, slumping down into a chair, "He's back."
"What?"
"Look. I need to show you something. It related to this" Nick said, brushing back the hair over his right ear. Attached to the back of it, there was what looked to be a metal hearing aid.
"Whoop-de-frikin-doo! A hearing aid!" Sean said sarcastically.
"I didn't think you'd understand. Here. Take this." Nick said, handing Sean a disk.
"What's this?"
"It will allow you access to the sneakernet."
"Isn't that the term used for physically transporting data?"
"Yes, but Modman and I have gained access to a part of the net that actually corresponds to it. It is constantly shifting due to the removal and adding of devices, but it's pretty easy to access if your navi has that program installed."
"I'm not sure, but if you really think that you'll placate me, I might as well do it and if it doesn't I will personally hit you so hard you'll be breathing and shitting out of the same hole." Sean said, installing it into Axl.
In the lab computer, Axl felt something change in him, "Okay, so I'm ready to go into the Sneakernet."
"Well, you may want to use a battlechip, because you can't use them in the Sneakernet effectively." Modman said.
"Ok." Sean said, slotting in a battlechip. Axl was then equipped with a fires word
"Okay, let's go." Axl and Modman entered the sneakernet through the USB port that the lab computer had installed. They went deep into the sneakernet, having to stop and wait until it shifted to clear a path. Nick stopped in front of what looked like a vision burst doorway.
"Nick, can you make the call?"
"But I don't wanna talk to Vic…" Nick whined
"Just do it."
"Fine"
0 0 0
Sitting in front of his computer, Nick turned to Sean. "Do you want to call Vic?"
"I don't even know who Vic is."
"Fine." Nick directed his call through his PET's speakerphone.
"Hello, dude?" Someone asked on the other end said.
"Hey Vic. It's me?"
"Me who? I know a lot of me's. There's me from Mexico-"
"Me, Nick, from Greene!"
"Oh! Hey dude! What'cha want?"
"Can you unlock the chamber?"
"Why do you want to go in there, dude? It's kinda scary in there, dude."
"Because he wants to show me something." Sean said
"Hello? Who's that?" Vic asked.
"I'm Sean, a friend of Nick's."
"Oh. Okay. Well, dude, let me get back to talking to Nick."
"Just unlock the door!" Nick yelled in frustration.
"Hey, dude, that tone of voice won't get you anywhere-."
"Vic, open the door." Nick said, in a very threatening voice.
"But that one will. Okay dude, Adios."
"Who was that?" Asked Sean.
"He's the self claimed controller of all Official activity in the sneakernet."
"There's actually a position for that?"
"No, but it's useful."
"How?"
"Well, since I'm one of few Officials able to get into the sneakernet, Vic can pretty much tell me anything that anyone else does."
"Oh."
0 0 0
Modman and Axl were listening to the conversation, and were ready when the door unlocked. Axl started to open the door, but Modman stepped in front and blocked the way
"Before you go in there, I'd just like to tell you that what you're going to be told is a secret, and nobody knows about it."
"Okay…"
"Also, trust me, you don't want to tell anyone."
"Okay, just let me through." Axl said. He stepped in the door, only to fin a circular room, with screens filling up every inch of the wall. On those screens, every single part of the net, including those that Axl didn't even recognize, were displayed. In the middle of the room, there was a chair facing away from Axl. Modman stepped in and stood by the door and motioned for Axl to step forward.
"Um… Hello?" Axl said, stepping toward the chair. It swiveled around.
"Ah! Hello Modman. Nice to see you again! And you've got a friend, too!" The person in the chair said, swiveling around.
"Hello Wily." Said Modman from the door.
"You can't be Wily." Axl said, "He's in the custody of the Officials."
"A clever decoy. He's merely a copy of me, just like Modman is a copy of Nick."
"What? That doesn't make sense."
"You see, during my final plan, with the Cybeasts, I wasn't just experimenting with those."
"What you were also doing was wrong." Modman interjected
"But it was truly magnificent! What I did was further my research with transferring a person's brain patterns to the net."
"You mean like the time with Alpha?" Axl asked.
"Yes, but only this time, I tried to figure out how to copy a person directly into the net, completely separate from the body!"
"Wait, like a copy?" Axl asked.
"Yes, but a copy with all your memories and instincts. What I wanted to do was create and artificial intelligent, but with out the artificial part. And I succeeded."
"But with a price." Modman said
"Yes… you were the product of my final test. I had captured Nick, and tried to scan him. Unfortunately, I had to use the Pulse Transmission System, and then make a copy of him."
"But there was a glitch."
"If you would call it that. I ran too much power through the machine. It worked, but… in an unexpected way. I had copied him, yes, but I did it twice!"
"And one was me, and the other was… him"
"Yes… It seemed that I had split my subject in two, with half being pure evil, whilst the other half was almost angelic."
"Said the devil. You almost killed Nick in the process."
"How was I supposed to know that the other would try to kill him and take his body?" Wily said, grinning devilishly, "Although… the power and skill of him combined with my mind…."
"He was fine the way is was!"
"Says you."
"I've had enough of this… filth, " Modman said gesturing towards Wily, "Axl, I'm leaving. You know the way back. Follow me when you are done with him. Vic will lock the door automatically."
"Is that the cloak of Bass I see on your back?" Wily said, to the closing door."
"So. Why did Nick have to have that thing put on his head?"
"Not on; in. As I said, I ran to much power through the system, completely ruining it. I had to take Nick's body, which was still alive, although he was brain-dead, and attach that, so that he could 'jack in' to his own body. Unfortunately, his evil duplicate tried to take over, and control his body; Nick fought back, and thought he had killed it. But he was wrong, and I kept it, and supplied it with one crucial thing."
"A body." Axl said.
"Not technically. Really it was just a modified Copybot, made to seem just like a human, and never run out of power! Now, if you will go, I must face my punishment."
"What's that?"
"Nick thought of it. I am to watch the thing I tried to destroy constantly, without rest, until I am dead. I still hate it, though someday Nick says that I will learn to accept the net."
"It serves you right. Even now you still hate the thing that lets you live." Axl said, leaving. He heard the door lock behind him.
0 0 0
"I've got a fix on his location," Josh said to Evil Nick ((Just for future notice, I'm going to call him Nikolai)), both of which were watching a computer
"Good. Do you know who controls the lock?"
"Yeah…. Some guy name Vic" Josh said, looking at his computer screen
0 0 0
Vic was sitting at his computer terminal, watching the activity of the Sneakernet, when the phone started ringing.
"I wonder who that is… Hm… No caller I.D. Better let the answering machine pick it up." Vic said to himself.
"Yo dude, no solo mio. Not in the casa right now, leave a message and I'll call you back. Just leave your what's up at the yo……… yo."
"Vic! It's me. Pick up!" Nikolai said to the message machine.
"Hey, it's Baron Von Evil Satan! What's up dude?"
"Don't you screen my calls, Vic."
"Dude, you don't come up on caller ID. I'm not just going to answer any-"
"Caller ID? I'm in hiding you buffoon."
"Also, we're on the 'do not call' list" Josh added
"Oh shut up you moron. Vic, why didn't you tell me you knew where the door to Wily's server?
"Well, dude, you didn't ask."
Well, another chapter, finished. I'm sorry if the lines didn't work right, I'm using word to do that. Well, Read and Review
Nick