Sorry for the long delay, my parents thought it would be nice to send me on "vacation" to a friend's private island in the Abacos, and it didn't have Internet! Oh, my god, I though I was going to die! Anyway, I tried to make this chapter doubled in size. Thanks for reviewing; I just really want feedback, pretty much anything. I apologize for the erratic posting schedule; I post the chapters as soon as I write them, other than this one.
0 0 0
Nick was waiting impatiently near the mailbox. The synchro chips that Chaud was supposed to send him were arriving today. Nick couldn't have been more excited.
"Modman, what time is it?" he asked for seemingly the millionth time.
"30 seconds since the last time you asked." Modman said irritably. As he said this, a mail truck pulled up, and a mailman got out, holding only a few letters.
"Hey! Is there a letter for a Nick Amend?" Nick asked anxiously.
"Uh… Jenna, Jun Suk, Jun Seo, Mauritz… Nope."
"Oh."
"But these are just high priority letters. Yours is probably in this." The mailman said, pulling out two large crates out of the back of the truck.
"Oh, you've got to be kidding me." Nick said, eyeing the crates.
"Ah, don't worry; it'll only take me two or three hours to sort all of these."
"That's it. The first thing I'm going to do is kill Chaud when I get my synchro chips."
"Now Nick, think about the consequences…." Modman said. Nick normally was a peaceful guy, but recently things at school had taken a turn. Some of his "friends" had really just tolerated him, and since they like Sean better, had decided to retract their friendship.
0 0 0
"Now, class, if A is equal to X, and X is a right angle, A must also be a right angle." Said Sean's geometry teacher, pointing to two triangles. Sean had taken calculus, but unfortunately, due to class sizes, had been forced to take geometry until he could prove that he could be a student that would be able to keep up.
"But right triangles can't go left!" Said Michael Sargji, a boarder, who was the class dunce. Sean liked him because even though he had an I.Q. barely above room temperature, he was a really great actor and a nice friend, as well as being very empathetic to everyone.
"Sargji, we've gone over this before…" The teacher started.
"Hey, Sean. We need to talk." Sean sat up in his seat, because he couldn't see anyone talking to him. "It's me, Nick. In your classroom there's this weird thing where sound goes through the open window behind you and bounces off the wall. Only you can hear me. I just wanted to let you know that I got the synchro chips, and I'm going to be in the lab for the rest of the day." This was not very surprising, since Nick had worked ahead in all of his classes and his teachers didn't mind having him do "independent study".
0 0 0
"Modman, how's the duplication process going?" Nick asked Modman. He was duplication the synchro chips so that he could use them in various ways.
"Well, using the algorithms that you gave me, there's a 90 success rate of creating one chip every two hours."
"Very good. Now, to get to work on one of my favorite ideas!"
"Which is…?"
"A teleporter."
"How are you going to do that?"
"Well, if I tweak the Digitizer, and just link it…" Nick stopped, deep in thought, and grabbing the necessary tools.
"I'm going to go and check on Tex…" Modman said, jacking himself into the lab computer.
0 0 0
Tex was in her area, a homepage connected to the lab computer. It was mostly a shooting range, but there was also the receiver for the digitizer.
"Hey Tex." Modman said walking up to Tex. She was holding a grenade launcher.
"What's up?"
"Nick's building a teleporter"
"Cool."
"By the way, where are you getting all these digitalized weapons?"
"I know a guy that catches gun runners, and has nothing to do with the weapons…"
"So you get him to ship one of each model of weapon, as well as ammo…"
"And Nick digitizes them and copies the ammo data."
"That's really neat, but illegal."
"Not really, since the weapons are technically not useable to kill people in the real world."
"I see…"
"Don't you love how the net is totally screwing up the legal system?"
"Yup."
0 0 0
Sean was on a date with Holly. They were going to dinner and a movie, and were on their way to see Borat when he got a call.
"Hey, Sean here."
"Sean, what are you doing?" Nick asked, on the phone.
"I'm on a date with Holly."
"Oh. Do you think that you could come to the lab?"
"But we were going to see Borat."
"Umm… Sean, if you want Holly to continue to be your girlfriend, don't take her to that movie it's terrible."
"Okay… We'll come." Sean said, hanging up.
"Who was that?" Holly asked
"It's Nick. He needs us to go to his lab."
"He has a lab? Where is it?"
"It's on campus, in an old bomb shelter." Sean had Holly drive onto campus, and then showed her to the lab.
"Hey guys." Nick said.
"Hey" Sean said. Holly was looking around the lab, muttering words of amazement
"This… is the coolest place ever!" Holly said, "Why are we here?"
"Well, there's a shifty navi on the net paying out very large sums of money for bugfrags" Nick said," And I think he may be connected to why us? Marco and Lisa are free right now." Holly said.
"Because I'm connected to the original NetMafia." Sean said.
"You mean you were part of Gospel?" Holly said, slightly shocked.
"Not just part, I was the leader." Sean said.
"COOL! I'm dating a convict!" Holly yelled.
"Don't ask" Nick said aside to Sean. Then addressing both Holly and Sean, he said, "Okay, let's go and find this guy!"
"I'll go first and scout the area," Sean said.
"Holly," Nick said aside to her, "I have something for you…"
"What is it, Nick?" She asked.
"Here, this is yours." Nick said, holding out a black PET, "It's linked to Tex, a navi that used to be independent, so that you could have your own navi."
"WOW! Thanks Nick! You're the best friend ever!" Holly said, hugging Nick.
"Th-thanks." Nick managed to sputter, "W-we should jack in and help Sean…"
0 0 0
Axl was waiting, when two beams of light deposited Tex and Modman into the lab's homepage.
"Are your guys ready to go?" he asked.
"Just let me grab a few weapons." Tex said, heading over to her guns and selecting two sub-machine guns (SMGs) and a shotgun. Modman walked over as well and grabbed a sniper rifle.
"I'm ready" Modman said, "The navi has been reported around the Point Beach area ((Different from the area in BN3, just want to get that clear, because I can see the complaints already))."
They went out into the net, and got to the beach area. They all had been given bugfrags by Nick, and had decided that Tex was going to approach the navi when they found it.
"I think that's him," Modman said, pointing to a navi with spiky black hair, a brown cape, two rapiers in sheaths on his belt, and a broadsword attached to his back who was standing near the link to the Point Beach Square, "Allyson, go and check."
"Just call me Tex!" she said, walking away from Axl and Modman, towards the navi.
"Hey, would you happen to have any bugfrags on you?" The navi asked politely, "I'll pay 100,000 apiece for them."
"Uh, yeah. I have… five." Tex said, giving them to the navi.
"Thank you very much. My name is Paladin, and I can give you the same price if you get more." Paladin said, paying Tex the half million zenny she was owed.
"Thanks. I'll see if I can get some more." Tex said, walking back. As she passed by Modman and Axl, she whispered to them, 'Yeah, he's up to no good. I can feel it. He paid sticker."
0 0 0
"Hey, Paladin, how's the mission going?" Josh asked his navi.
"It's far too quiet," he replied, but as he said this a bullet whizzed by his ear, "Now it's far too loud."
"You stay where you are, Paladin, or the next one goes right in the middle of your forehead!" Modman shouted at him.
"You really think you can make that shot?" Axl said.
"No. I was trying to do that the first time. I swear someone messes with the sights on this thing when I'm not looking." Axl was looking at Paladin, who had drawn one of his rapiers, and had an m-cannon equipped.
"Uh… I think he's getting closer!"
"No he's not."
"Compared to that link he is."
"There's no link" just as he said this Paladin fired an m-cannon, hitting the ground near them. He then canceled the battlechip and grabbed his other rapier
"RUN!" Axl yelled.
"Mod, follow me Axl, take this." Tex said, dual-wielding the two SMGs and shoving the shotgun into Axl's stomach.
"Ok. " Modman said as he typed a few commands into the keyboard above his right hand, causing it to change into a Bamboo sword, and ran right towards Paladin, meeting him in a clash of blades.
"Do you really think you can rival me skills as a swordsman? I rival the best!" Shifting his weight, he caused Modman to fall forward. He was about so slash down on him when he was shot in the back by Axl.
"You know, I really like this gun." Axl said, hefting the shotgun in his hands. Paladin leaped up, sheathing his rapiers and drawing his broadsword.
"Umm… Holly, I really need a battle chip." Tex said, since she had exhausted her SMGs' ammo.
0 0 0
"Uh… how do I do that?" Holly had never had a PET, due to the fact that she still did everything on the computer.
"Here. You take a battlechip, and put it into that slot right there." Sean said, digging through his folder and handing her a chip. Try this. It's a Wideblade.
"Okay…Tex, I'm slotting in the Wideblade chip…"
0 0 0
A hilt of a sword appeared right in front of Tex. She picked it up, and it activated. "Why didn't it just be a part of me, like when Nick slotted in an Elecsword?"
"Uh… I had to modify the PET since you were an independent navi."
"Okay." With that, Tex focused on the battle. Axl was in trouble, since Paladin was attacking him, and he was trying to defend himself with the shotgun.
"Axl! Get out of the way!" Modman came running up, having a Varswrd battlechip equipped. He slashed the sword creating a sonic boom that hit the ground between Paladin and Axl, the shock wave throwing both of them backwards.
"Nick! We need some type of protection. His attacks are just too strong!" Modman yelled to his operator.
"Okay… Sean, take one of these." Nick said, rummaging through one of the drawers in the lab near the computer, and handing Sean what looked to be a blank battlechip.
"Um… What is this, exactly?" Sean asked.
"It's a battlechip I created. It's completely legit, so feel free to use it in netbattles." Sean slotted in the chip. Axl was instantly surrounded by a glowing orange barrier, which seemed to be burning, although he felt no heat.
"What's this battlechip called?" Axl wondered out loud.
"It's a firewall chip." Modman called. He had locked blades with Paladin, but was losing ground as the swordsman navi pushed harder on his sword.
"Okay." Axl said, activating his Axl pistols, "Hold him steady! I want to take a copyshot of him!"
"I can barely prevent from getting my head chopped off! How am I supposed to hold him still? And where the hell did Tex go!" as Modman said this, Paladin gave a titanic push on his sword, throwing Modman to the ground. He then activated a Yo-Yo chip, using the string to tie up Axl.
"I am going to enjoy killing the navi of my operator's master's enemy. Your death will only make us stronger, so in a way you will be aiding the enemy."
"Will you just get on with it and kill me?" Modman asked.
"With pleasure." Paladin raised the sword in both hands over his head, gathering energy to unleash a devastating blow that would probably slice Modman in half. Modman closed his eyes and waited for the killing strike, which didn't come, due to the fact that there was a wideswrd growing from Paladin's chest.
"What the!" Paladin gasped, staring at his torso. "Josh! Log… me… out!" as he said this, Josh jacked him out, leaving the wideblade behind, revealing that Tex had thrown the weapon.
"Thanks," Modman said, getting up. He cut Axl free, and canceled the battlechip, "We should head back."
0 0 0
"I presume that you managed to collect enough Bugfrags before the… interruption?" Nikolai asked Josh.
"Yes master, more than enough for what was originally planned." Josh was on one knee, with his head bowed.
"Good. Do you thing the… optional modifications could be succeeded?"
"Yes. All we need now is the equipment."
0 0 0
"So, what do you think they are going to do with all those bugfrags?" Nick said. He, Sean, and Holly were still in his lab, but Nick was bent over the pieces of his watch, modifying it. Modman, Axl, and Tex had jacked into the lab computer and were also participating in the conversation.
"Well, the obvious. They probably plan on recreating or reviving the Gospel beast."
"Reviving? I thought it was dead." Holly interrupted.
"Well, sometimes data from a deleted navi or powerful virus remains, but fragmented so much that it has no physical presence on the net. Upon given a body, though, they would be able to posses it." Sean explained.
"Oh"
"I think that Nikolai, our 'twin', is more original than just reviving the Gospel beast. Most likely he would make it more powerful, or make it different." Modman said, and Nick nodded his agreement.
"So, what are we supposed to do? I mean, it's not like we can just bust into their hideout and spy on them." Holly said
"Well…" Tex started.
"I think I know where they are, so Tex, you could scout." Nick offered, cutting Tex off.
"Where are they?" Tex asked
"Right there." Nick said, putting his watch back together and putting it back on and hitting a button. A holographic display showed a topographical map of the area surrounding Greene, "The abandoned warehouse with an underground lair, on top of a volcano, in the swamp, in the desert."
"Um… that seems just a little redundant." Sean said
"Hey, I never said the hideout was a perfect one."
"Nick, you brought the nanoassembler down here, right?" Tex asked
"Yup." Nick reached into his backpack, and pulled it out. He plugged it in, and let it power up and create Tex's Nanoform, "Now how are you going to get in?"
"Just watch me." Tex said, activating the active camouflage in her armor.
"How are we supposed to watch if she just turned invisible?" Axl said
"And yet I was still able to check out her ass. That's why I'm a pro." Modman said confidently.
"You are so asking for it."
"Asking for what?"
"You know… it."
"No, I don't, and I'm guessing you don't either."
"You're impossible." Axl said, jacking back into his PET.
"So… what did you add to your watch?" Sean asked. He knew that Nick was very attached to his watch, adding features on to it almost constantly, and yet still having it the same size.
"I have added the possible coolest modification ever to it." Nick said
"Okay, I'll bite. What does it do, I say as if I don't know… Because I don't"
"Well, behold!" Nick took a sword chip out of his pocket, and slotted it in to a slot in the back of his watch that Sean hadn't noticed. Instantly, an eight inch long energy blade (A.K.A. sword battlechip) materialized out of another slot in the front of the watch, projecting it over the back of Nick's hand. Nick then pressed another button on his watch, and the sword disappeared
"Nice! How'd you do it?" Sean asked.
"Well, I copied one of the synchro chips and piggybacked a chip downloader so that it pretty much cross fuses the battlechip, without a navi. Unfortunately, the downside is the reduced size, and I can't maintain enough energy in such a small watch for extended use."
"Yeah, but still, that's pretty kick-ass."
"Yeah, I guess. "
"So… what are you doing for the break?" It was the last day before thanksgiving break, and many of the boarders had already left. Sean had stayed because he didn't really have anywhere to go, and he liked the school anyway.
"I'm probably going to go to my condo. If you aren't doing anything, you can come."
"Thanks for the offer. I think I will"
"Can I come?" Holly asked. Nick jumped, not realizing she was still there.
"Uh... sure, I guess. You do have a car, right? 'Cause I'm taking the Lotus and there are only two seats…"
"I could sit on Sean's lap." At this suggestion Sean went a peculiar shade of red
"Uh, I could just ride with Holly, and you could take the luggage." He quickly offered.
"Okay. I guess I'll invite some other people as well."
"You want me to ask Marco?"
"No!" Nick said, very abruptly
"Uhh… dude, you're kinda over reacting..."
"Not really," Holly said, sitting down very close to Sean, "Marco goes through stages of friendliness to Nick to absolute hate."
"And I've had enough of it." Nick said, "Now, I think Sean and I should start packing, if we want to leave tonight.
0 0 0
Michael Sargji was on the way to the kitchen to get some mayo when he passed Nick and Sean's room, and heard them arguing.
"Look, I told you, I am not taking the nanoassembler."
"But it would be fun! We could netbattle!"
"Sean-"
Michael Sargji thought it would be best to interrupt. "Hey guys."
"Hi Sarge." Nick said, reffering to the nickname based on his last name.
"Hey. What'cha doin'?" Sarge said, peeking into one of the open suitcases on nick and Sean's beds
"Packing." Said Sean.
"Where are you going?"
"Nick condo with a few other friends."
"Can I come?" Sarge said enthusiastically
"Well…" Sean looked over at Nick, who nodded.
"I could use some company on the way. Sarge, you need to go pack."
"Okay!" Sarge walked out, and Sean glanced over at Nick
"I'm really sorry. I should have just made something up."
"It's okay. Sarge is a really great guy. I probably would have invited him anyway."
"Oh… Okay. I'm ready." Sean said, closing the lid on his suitcase and latching it shut.
"Good. I just need to run down to the lab and then I'll be back up. You can take your stuff down and wait for Holly." Nick said, closing his suitcase and walking out.
0 0 0
"Man, what's taking him so long" Sean said. He was waiting in Holly's car, for Nick, since neither of them knew the directions to the condo.
"Hey Sean, what's up." Sarge said, walking up.
"Oh, nothing really."
"Hey, Sean, do you want to go and get a coffee while we wait for Nick?" Holly asked.
"Oh here he comes!" Sarge said. Nick was walking towards them.
"What took you so long?" Holly asked, "I thought you died or something."
"I was just locking up the lab." Nick said, "Are you guys ready to go?"
"YES!" all three of his friends shouted.
"Lets go, then" Nick said, adding, "You don't have to be rude about it." He got in his car, waited for Sarge to get in, and started it, pulling out of his parking space and pulling out of the school's parking lot, with Holly and Sean following him. He went out of the school, and turned left. After about five minutes, he turned into the local yacht club.
"I thought he lived farther away…" Sean said.
"I thought so too. Maybe he has to pick something up." Holly agreed. They were both proven wrong when Nick parked in the parking lot, turned off the car, and got out. Holly pulled up next to him, and parked as well.
"Don't tell me that five minutes is far away…" Sean started.
"No, of course not. We're taking my boat!" Nick said brightly.
"Your… boat?" Sean echoed.
"Yeah. It's that one, down on the end." Nick pointed to a large catamaran docked right outside the marina.
"Wow. You have a lot of money… or have a lot of shipmaker friends!" Sarge said
"I have to go talk to the harbormaster, but you guys can start loading the boat," Nick said," There are two cabins, and Holly gets one automatically, since she is a girl and deserves such, and I get the other because I am the skipper."
0 0 0
"You know, I just realized that there's no food in the fridge." Sean said. He and Sarge had put their luggage in Nick's boat, and Sean had gotten a drink out of the fridge.
"Maybe we will be sleeping the whole time. That way, since food-time comes after sleep-time, we won't need food!" Sarge offered.
"Sarge, I'm really not sure how you made it this far in Green." Holly said.
"His parents paid the way." Nick said, walking up, carrying fishing poles.
"Nick, how far away is your condo? And what will we do for food. And why take the boat?" Sean asked.
"Two days, fishing, I wanted to." Nick said, counting the answers on his fingers, "Anything else?"
"I want to help navigate, because I like telamascopes." Sarge said.
"Do you ever shut up?" Sean asked.
"Not really. I'm not telepathic." Sarge whispered the last part. Nick covered his face with his hand.
"Well, I'm going to unpack." Holly said, stepping up the gangway.
"So, what fish are we going to catch?" Sean asked.
"Sean, 'I' means we!" Holly said, sticking her head out of the cabin door
"Well, I'm gone."
"C'mon Sarge, help me cast off."
"Cast off?"
"Untie that rope."
"Oh. Okay."
0 0 0
Once they were on their way, Nick had set up the fishing poles and was tending to them. It was later in the evening, and Holly had gone to bed and Sarge had broken into the liquor cabinet that Nick forgot that he had and was in a drunken stupor on the floor in the cabin.
"Hey." Sean said, steeping on to the rear deck.
"Hey." Nick responded. He reeled in on of the fishing lines and swapped the shrimp on the line for another frozen one.
"Caught anything?"
"Other than the two snapper, the baitfish and the shark, nothing else." The snapper and the shark had been cooked by nick, while the baitfish had been used to catch the shark.
"Oh… So you really like Holly?"
Nick sighed. "You know how there's this one person that you look for all your life, and you don't know who she is, but you know you're in love with her? She's like that for me. I hang on every word she says, I can't find anything wrong with her, and I think she's always attractive."
"Wow. If you lover her that much, I can break up with her and-"
"No, don't do that. I love her so much that I just want her to be happy, and dating you, she's been happier in a long time."
"Really?"
"The only time I've seen her happier was when she talked to her grandmother."
"Well, that's not special."
"For her, it was. Her mother was a high school student who got pregnant. She dumped Holly in an orphanage right after she was born."
"And the father?"
"No-one knows. I managed to help Holly find her mother's mother, though. Unfortunately, she had been diagnosed with cancer and dies a short time after Holly first met her."
Sean was filled with a greater respect for Holly than he had before. "Wow, I didn't know that."
"Not a lot of people do. I told her about my twin, when she told me. That way, we trust each other."
"Yeah. Hey, Nick, you need to sleep. Go rest. I'll watch the fishing lines."
"Okay. I'll go jack Modman into the boats control system." Nick got up and walked up some stairs to the 'control system' that was really just a computerized panel that nick had made to that Modman could sail.
"Wow, Nick really does love Holly." Axl commented
"Yeah, and because of it I'm faced with a difficult decision."
"What's that?"
"Make Holly happy, or make Nick happy, and possible Holly."
"Well, I think Nick was telling the truth when he said that he wanted Holly to be happy, even if you were the one dating her."
"Yeah, I guess."
0 0 0
The rest of the trip was uneventful. They were near their destination, and Nick was trying to teach Sarge how to sail.
"Okay, so when you're 45 degrees from the wind, you…"
"…"
"Sarge, are you paying attention?"
"Not really…"
"You're hopeless." Nick got up, after setting the boat on autopilot (A.K.A. Modman) and grabbed a telescope.
"Oooh! A telemascope!" Sarge exclaimed.
"Sarge, go away" Nick said, looking through the telescope, "Hmm…." He glanced down at his watch.
"What is it?" Sean said. He had climbed up right after Sarge had spoken last.
"We made record time." Nick said, "It'll take me about ten minutes to get to the condo, given that the wind stays this strong."
"Sweet!"
"Yeah. You should go tell Holly and Sarge to pack up their stuff."
"Okay."
0 0 0
Nick was the first one off the boat, tying it to the dock. "Well, we're here!" he said
"Sweet. Which floor do you live on?" Sean asked. The condo building was eighteen stories tall, with two floors being split between two two-floored penthouses. The exterior of the building was painted an off white, and the first floor had some shops in it.
"The sixteenth." Nick responded, from under a pile of luggage. He had offered to carry it. "I'm fine, by the way."
"Here, let me take a few bags" Sean said, grabbing two suitcases from the top of the pile. The walked in the rear lobby, since the condo was technically facing away from the river, and passed Paco, the security guard. From the look of the building, it was a very expensive place to live.
"Well, this is our stop." Nick said, holding the door while everyone got out. He walked to the far end of the hallway, and was in the middle of unlocking the door when someone called his name from behind the group.
"Nick, is that you?" A woman called. She was in her mid-twenties, with brunette hair and a very happy voice.
"Hey Pam!" Nick said, putting the walking over and giving her a hug. "What's new?"
In response she held out her hand. On it, there was a very large ring.
"No! Is it him?"
"Yup!" she said happily, "He proposed two weeks ago."
"I guess that whole documentary did work out."
"I guess so…"
"I'm so sorry about Dwight, though."
"Yeah I guess he just wasn't able to cope… Who are your friends?" Pam said, glancing at the group of people behind Nick.
"Pam, this is Sarge, Sean, and Holly."
"Pleasure to meet you." She said
"So, is Phil around?"
"Nope, he's off chasing his roommate."
"Ah, too bad. I guess I'll see him later"
"Yeah, he's home a surprising amount."
"Any explosions?"
"Nope."
"Evil hanging around?"
"Yeah, but he's less annoying now, sort of."
"Sort of?"
"He's trying to be good."
"Oh, God that's got to be interesting."
"That's what I said. He a surprisingly good cook."
"Really?"
"Yeah, but he can't make a chili"
"Maybe I'll give him some lessons."
"That'd be nice."
"Well, I'm going to unpack." Nick opened the door, and walked into his condo it was a three bedroom, three-bathroom condo with a balcony and a kitchen, as well as a large living room.
"Wow, talk about spacious!" Holly said, walking in, "Which one is mine?"
"The farthest to the right." The condo was arranged so that the door to the condo was in the middle, with the living room, kitchen and the master bed/bath room was to the left, with the two other bedrooms in a short hallway to the right.
"I call the other one." Sean said, running in and throwing his bags in it.
"And I'll sleep in the living room." Sarge said.
"Well, I'm going to run downstairs and get some food."
0 0 0
HB was standing behind Josh, who seemed to be asleep, watching a large computer screen.
"Did you get it yet?"
"No." Josh said, typing a few commands into the computer.
"Did you get it yet?"
"No."
"Did you get it yet?"
"Yes."
"Did you- Cool! Where is he?"
"Yes, where is he" Nikolai said, walking into the room.
"He's here." Josh said, pulling up a large map on the screen that showed the area around Nick's condo, with a red point flashing in the building. "I can't believe that they didn't check Sean for a tracer."
"Hm…. And have you hacked Nick's lab?"
"No, but it should take… thirty seconds more." Josh said, tapping the air like he was using a calculator. "There we go! What do you want to know? Hmm… everything's encrypted except for his computer usage and his e-mail files."
"What did he do last on his computer?" Nikolai asked.
"It's right there." Josh said, printing out Nick's computer usage list and highlighting the last object. And handing it to Nikolai.
"Hm… this could be interesting, if not a good way to buy time for our plan. Courtney, HB, do you want to cover this?"
"Sure honey." Courtney said, walking over and kissing Nikolai.
"Uh… what do I need to do?"
"Okay. Both of you are going to kidnap Nick, Sean, Holly. You will leave their PETs their."
"Why?"
"I have my reasons."
"Okay. Hey, runt. Let's go!" Courtney said, gabbing the keys to her car and leaving, with HB running after her.
Oh no! I have to warn Holly and Nick! Tex thought. She had bunkered down in Nikolai's lair and was observing what he was doing. She was pretty sure he knew she was there, or at least was extremely paranoid, because she had no clue as to what he was doing with the bugfrags.
0 0 0
Nick was sitting on the balcony of his condo, smoking a cigarette when he heard someone come out.
"So, it really must bother you." Holly said, walking up and sitting beside him.
"What?" He said, jumping a little.
"Having the pure evil twin." Holly had noticed that since Nick had found out about his twin, he had become more withdrawn, even though he tried to hide it.
"Well, it's not the fact that he exists so much is that I could have the ability to do what he does, if I choose. To see just how bad you can be really scares you."
"Yeah… I didn't know you smoked." She wrinkled her nose as Nick lit another.
"It's a bad habit. Fortunately I don't do it a lot, maybe a pack or so a month."
"Still, that's not good."
"I know. I'm trying to quit." Nick looked at the lit cigarette, as if contemplating each cinder that burned on the tip of it individually, then stubbing it out in the ashtray. Holly noticed that there were at least six already in there.
"So what do you think of Sean?"
"I think that he's a really great guy. He's devoted to what he likes, and he's really kind."
"Are you attracted to him?"
"Holly, I'm not bi," Nick sighed, "I'm not sure where you got the idea."
"Well, I rarely see out with a girl, and you are always talking about your guy friends…"
"I have an extremely bad history with girls, so I don't like to date unless I absolutely sure that she and I could actually form something serious."
"Wow, that's deep."
"Yeah. Have you heard from Tex at all?"
"Not since I told her that we were going to be at the condo."
"Oh. I have Modman checking the net for any suspicious activity."
"I meant to ask you about that. Is it normal for operators and their navis to be so… distant at times?"
"No, not really. But because Modman is technically me, and since I made him as powerful as he is, I trust that he can take care of himself.
"Oh. And me and Tex?"
"Tex is an independent navi. She's used to being isolated. After awhile, she'll warm up to you. I mean, look at her and Modman. She tried to kill him, but know Modman's attracted to her."
"HEY!" Modman shouted a computer that was behind Nick and Holly on a wall.
"I'm sorry, I didn't realize you were there," Nick said, making sure that only Holly could see him wink.
"You rascals." Holly said.
"Oh my god Sarge! You don't put mayo in a toaster!" a shout came from inside the condo.
"Well, I better go." She said, getting to her feet and walking inside to help Sean explain the cons of condiment toasting to Sarge.
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Oh god, oh god, oh god. Tex thought. She was flying as fast as she could (in nanoform, she had a jetpack added to the back of her armor) towards Nick's condo. She was trying to outrace Courtney and HB, but she had no idea what Courtney's car was, due to the fact that she had switched halfway, as evident that her old one had been ditched in a river, and she had had trouble getting out of the hideout. Finally! She saw the condo. What she didn't notice was the white van racing in the opposite direction as her.
0 0 0
Shit shit shit shit "Shit!" The door to Nick's condo had been practically torn off the hinge, and there weren't signs of a struggle.
"TEX! IS THAT YOU?" Modman yelled. He was on Nick's bedside table, far enough away that he couldn't jack into anything out of his PET.
"Yeah." She said, flying over and picking up his PET. "What happened?"
"Courtney and HB flooded the entire floor with sleeping gas."
"That would explain the lack of people investigating the break-in."
"Yeah. Here, I'm going to jack into the net from Nick's computer over there. Once I do that, go and get everyone else and get them to jack in."
0 0 0
In no time at all, all four Navi had congregated in the condo HP. Sarge's navi, Detman, was an entirely black normal navi with a short fuse running out of the top of his head.
"What the hell happened to our frickin' operators!" he said. The tip of his fuse lit."
"Calm down, Detman. Exploding won't solve anything." Modman quickly, but soothingly said.
"Yeah. Does any of us have any idea where our operators are?" Axl asked. He had been abnormally calm.
"Well, Josh had hacked the lab computer-"
"I told Nick to triple the firewall." Modman interrupted.
"But all he got access to were e-mail files that had been downloaded and his computer's recent activity logs."
"Ohhh… crap. I know where they are." Modman said.
"Where?"
0 0 0
"What happened? Where are we" Nick said, opening his eyes. He was lying in what seemed to be a forest, in a simple red shirt and jeans.
"We were trying to figure that out." Holly said. She, Sean and Sarge were sitting on a fallen tree.
"Oh… shit." Nick said, looking up. Instead of an empty sky, it was filled with a large planet. It can't be… Yavin?
"What the hell?" the other three said
0 0 0
"A galaxy far, far away." Modman said.
"What?"
"Back in the day, when online games were still 'cool', there was a game, based on a series of movies, called Star Wars Galaxies. It pretty much was an online universe, including all parts of the galaxy in the star wars universe, right up to, but not including, the Yuuzhan Vong invasion, although you wouldn't understand that. Know, if I know my evil half, he's used pulse transmission systems to jack our operators into the server, in hopes of buying time to execute his plan. The only solution I see is to create accounts for you guys (I already have one) and find our operators. After that, we'll have to go full synchro in hopes of protecting them, and figure out how to get out."
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"You're telling me we're stuck in Star Wars?" an incredulous Sean asked.
"Yup." Nick said. He had finished explaining their situation.
"Wow." Sean said. Then he punched Nick in the face.
"Ow! What the hell!" Nick said, clutching his nose.
"Sorry, thought I was dreaming."
"If you think you're dreaming, you get someone to hit you. If you broke my nose I swear I'll kill you."
"Sorry…"
"So, we should try to find the Academy."
"The whazza?" Sean asked
"You know, the Jedi Academy" Sarge said.
"Yeah, where Luke and Mara are." Holly said.
"Wait, you're an EU fan?" Nick asked her.
"Yeah, the movies just weren't enough."
"Wow!"
0 0 0
"SO, IS EVERYBODY HAPPY WITH THEIR CLASS, RACE AND GENDER SELECTIONS The Mr. Prog that was in charge of the access to the mmorpg said.
"Yes. I am good." Detman had chosen to be a slightly force sensitive Wookie.
"Yeah. Let me in." Tex had chosen to be an extremely talented force sensitive human
"Yup." Axl had chosen to be a Chiss bounty hunter.
"Then let's go." Modman said. He had taken the semblance of a human, with the clothing of a Jedi Master. He had two lightsabers clipped to his belt.
"NOW, IF YOU WOULD PLEASE STEP ON THIS PLATFORM" the Mr. Prog said.
" Wait a second. First, set the entry location to these coordinates" Modman said, reading off a sequence of numbers, " and also, I want the commission for three new players."
"FINE… 12,000,000 NEW REPUBLIC CREDITS HAVE BEEN ADDED TO YOUR ACCOUNT"
"Good." Modman joined the rest of his friends on the platform.
"PLEASE KEEP YOUR HANDS AND YOUR FEET INSIDE THE PLATFORM BOUNDARIES. DO NOT HAVE ANY CHIPS EQUIPPED AND/OR AURAS ACTIVATED. ALSO, A BRIEF FLASH OF PAIN IS TO BE EXPLECTED FOR N00BS."
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AAHHH! MY HEAD! Detman roared in Wookie.
"Calm down! It's just your data trying to re-orient itself in this form." Modman said, trying to restrain him. They were in what seemed to be a crowded spaceport, with Axl and Tex watching nearby " Your drawing attention to yourself."
BUT IT HURTS!
"Here." Nick pulled a small liquid filled ball (around the size of a golf ball) and shoved it into Detman's mouth. He swallowed it in surprise.
What was that? Detman asked, calming down a little.
"Bacta pill. It's an all around painkiller, and I've found that it also helps new members to the game acclimate to a new body"
"I'm just glad I didn't choose a Noghri." Axl said. He was in a suit of armor that looked similar to Boba Fett's, but with a red and blue color scheme rather than the green and gray and tan. He had the blue skin and glowing red eyes trademark to the Chiss, inhabitants of the unknown regions.
"So, where do we start looking?" Tex asked. She was wearing tight fitting black cloth, with a matching cape. She had red hair, and blue eyes, and a slim but muscular human figure.
"I'm not sure, but I have to go to the Academy, because I need to ask Skywalker a few questions, as well as see if there are any new force techniques."
"But how will we get there?"
"I can hire a ship, as soon as I find K-5PO."
"Who?" Tex asked
0 0 0
Nick and the gang had made it through the jungle without incident, and found themselves near the Jedi Academy.
"Sweet! I always wanted to walk the hall of the Jedi Order's training ground." Holly said, running forward.
"Wait!" Nick said, running after her.
Sean and Sarge looked at each other. "You first," Sarge said. Sean ran forward, towards the academy." As he approached, he noticed Nick talking animatedly with one of the older men walking out of the academy, with Holly standing nearby.
"So that's why you look different." The man said.
"Yeah. Oh, hey. This is Sean, and that's Sarge. Sarge, Sean, I'd like you to meet Kyp Durrant"
"It's a pleasure to meet you." They said.
"You'll have to tell me what happened to you ex-gal." Kyp said, "But now I have a record to keep up."
"A record?"
"I run the belt at Lando's Folly."
"Ohhh. I'll have to stop by, and totally blast your record out of the sky."
"Yeah, when nerfs fly" Kyp said, laughing and walking off.
"So what was that he said about 'ex-gal'" Sean asked.
"I told him the reason why I was different was because I went ex-gal, and something strange happened. I also told him that a few hours of Jedi meditation would fix it, probably." Sarge tilted his head and Sean nodded. As he said this there was a large bang, causing all Sarge, Sean and Holly to turn and look where Nick was already staring. There, a large, decrepit freighter was falling, more than flying, out of the sky. It managed to land rather hardly, but safely. As soon as the gangway had extended, a platinum protocol droid flew out of the doorway to land on the ground.
"K-5 I told you to find a reputable transport! A reputable transport!" a voice called out as Axl, Detman, and Tex walked out of the ship, looking very shaken
"But sir, the company that we employed has never repotted the loss of a passenger."
"Reported! Do you think they would report something that would cause a decline in business." Modman asked, stepping out of the ship.
"Well, they should…"
"Just stop while you're ahead." Modman walked over, and hugged Nick.
"It's good to be able to see you like this again." Nick said.
"Yeah. I really enjoy it." Modman agreed, "Now, everyone know how to do full synchro via Pulse Transmission System?" The group nodded.
"Well, okay, let's do it!" Nick said. "FULL SYNCHRO!" He and Modman became white silhouettes, and then merged into one. FSNick looked like Modman in the game, but he emanated a slight aura of power. "Hm… Feels… Different. You guys can go ahead and do it." The rest of the group synched up. As the final glow from Holly transformation faded, a voice called out from the temple.
"Nick, is that you?" A tall, blond man, with a lightsaber clipped to his belt and a glove on his right hand.
"Grand Master Skywalker." FSNick said, kneeling to show respect.
"Why are you here? I thought you were going to police the crystal star area."
"I was, but I found Holly. She shows a great potential in the Force." He said, gesturing her to step forward.
"H-h-h-hi…"FS Holly stuttered, "It's an honor to meet you."
"A pleasure to always find more Force sensitive learners, no matter what age." Skywalker said, shaking her hand. " Now I just need to confirm how sensitive you are. You must clear your mind and open your thoughts to my mental probe. I promise that I won't invade your memories or thoughts, just find this one mental point that will, depending on how sensitive you are, repel me mentally and physically."
"O-okay…" Skywalker closed his eyes, and after about ten seconds he seemed to be shoved backwards a few feet, before he got tangled in his robe and was dumped unceremoniously on his rear.
"OhmygoshI'msosorryisthereanythingyouwantmetodoI'msosorry" Holly said, so quickly that it took a few seconds for Nick to register what she was saying, while Luke just laughed.
"You have great talent and potential." He said with a wide grin. "Not even Nick, one of my most talented apprentices, did that to me."
"Really?" Holly said.
"Yeah, I just pushed him back a couple of feet" Nick said, blushing.
"Wow. So, how long does the training take?" she said aside to Nick
"Well, if you take his training, about a year. If you convince him to let me have you as an apprentice, a few days."
"Yes, Nick, I think it would be a great idea you Holly was your apprentice." Nick jumped.
"Th-thank you, master."
"You need not worry, I'm pretty sure that only I could sense your motives." Luke whispered aside to him, causing nick to turn almost as red as Sean's eyes ((Well, in Chiss form, that is.)).
Hey everybody! I'm Fluffy, the alien that only loves! Sarge said.
"I see you've gotten used to your body, Sarge." Nick said. Everybody turned and looked at him.
Uh, Nick, I forgot to set their characters to be bilingual with Wookie Modman told Nick.
Oh.
"Hey! Come back! We need a return ride!" Sean shouted. He had been watching the ship, and it had retracted the gangway and started to take off.
"Oh dear… maybe I did make a wrong choice." K-5PO said.
"No, you really think so?" Holly asked.
"Well, if you want, I can provide transport for you, but only to one place." Luke said, stepping up "I can have one of the Jedi take you"
"Well, if you don't mind, I have the perfect place to go to get our own ship." Nick said.
"Where?"
"Lando's folly."
"Nick, you know that you're only going to lose money to Lando…"
0 0 0
"So this is Lando's Folly." Sean said, stepping into the spaceport that was Belt Runner 1
"Yup. I plan on making a bet that Lando won't refuse." Nick said.
"What are you going to do?" Holly asked.
"Well, I'm going to go and place a very large Sabbacc bet, and lose on purpose."
"Why?"
"So he'll take notice in me." Saying this, Nick walked over to the lift, and rode up to the spaceport's cantina, with K-5PO, Sean, Sarge (Who didn't say much since he realized that no-one could understand him but Nick), and Holly.
"Okay, I'm going to lose. You guy's get a couple of drinks, and I'll be back, hopefully with Lando." Nick walked over to the Sabbacc table, and sat down. He was dealt two cards, which equaled a positive 23, a Pure Sabbacc. Wow, I really did get lucky he thought. He put twelve million credits on the table, and immediately folded, but showing his cards, surprising just about everyone at the table.
"You must have money to burn" The dealer said, " Do you need to get your credit checked?"
"No, his credit is just fine," a black man wearing a blue shirt, with a gold and blue cape walked up behind Nick. "Would you like me to escort you to the VIP tables?"
"No, Lando, I'd like to talk to you." Nick said, turning in his chair and looking at him.
"You'd better come with me," Lando said, a frown quickly replacing his smile. He led Nick out of the cantina, into a private room. "Do you want to tell me what a Jedi master is doing loosing in my cantina? Just about everyone knows who you are! If you go on a loosing streak, everyone will start to realize my decks are fixed."
"So I wasn't lucky."
"Well, obviously. No-one gets a Pure Sabbacc on the first deal."
"Solo did."
"He's different. So what do you want?"
"I want to bet against you."
"Why?"
"I need a ship."
"So?"
"I know for a fact that you had a replica of the Falcon built, just in case you really wanted to peeve Solo."
"Or swap it out for his. I never could get it to fly as fast as the Falcon."
"That's because you were flying it."
"Hey. Besides, I wouldn't trade that for my life."
"What about an hour long belt run?" One of the main attractions of Lando's Folly was that people could "run" modified TIE fighters through one of two asteroid belts, and be timed for it. A lot of people bet on it, and others just watched for entertainment.
"For you? I might as well give the ship to you. You have the Force on your side."
"Load the cabin with Sylmar." Nick said, referring to the creature that created a bubble around it that canceled out the Force.
"Hm… that does make it interesting…" Lando said, rubbing his chin, "But where would I find them?"
"I know that you have at least one. I could sense the anti-force bubble as I walked in here."
"Well, there goes that surprise."
"Lando, you have to spring a Ysalmiri on someone when they're not expecting it, not lead them into the bubble."
"Fine, I'll do it. But if you lose, you have to clean out this rival casino."
"How?"
"Use the Force to win a Sabbacc."
"I guess I better win, then." Nick said, walking to the door, "I'll go suit up. When I get out there I want to be in the belt right away. Also, there are a few friends of mine in the cantina. Take them to the VIP viewing lounge."
"Whatever you say, hotshot." Lando said, holding the door open for Nick.
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Yeah, I know you're going to hate me for the cliffhanger. Not much more to say, other than that I need you to read and review. Here, I'll start a sample one for you.
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Wow, that took only 30 seconds! And it wasn't that hard! Writing as you read this, Nick.