"Hi, Yumi." Black stepped inside, then looked at his peer in confusion. "Hey, it's just me, I'm on the same team. Nothing to fear here."
"No. Of course not." Black plugged in and started scrolling through the readout on his PET. Yumi ran a hand through her hair, making its spikes stick up wildly. "How's the setup?"
"I like it. I don't need to be dropping in personally any longer..." He eyed his colleague as she twiddled a pen in her fingers. "Though I wouldn't be averse to defending the fort if someone shows up."
She gave him a nod and a polite, "Thanks."
"Hey, no problem. And just remember: even if the Net Saviors or those kids show up, we've got three other stations to pick up the slack. You're fine." He turned to go. "We should go out sometime after this is over. To celebrate, y'know?"
"Black?" Black paused at the door, turning back so only his metal lens could be seen. "Black... I'm scared."
Black's shoulders slumped a little. He half-ran back to Yumi's side. "I know," he said, looking into her eyes, seeing the genuine fear with genuine pity. "We're asking a lot of you, I realize that."
"I don't think I like being successful..."
He took her hands, as if trying to press his comfort into them. "Listen, it's just for a little bit, okay? It's almost over."
"Your hands are cold."
He laughed at that; after a moment, she did, too. "You won't see anyone else get hurt. I promise."
Yumi looked down at their hands, Black's bony ones wrapped around her own. "You don't mean that, do you."
"Course I do. You just have to believe me." Slowly, Yumi looked back up at Black. "There we go. Now, where's that old Yumi spirit?" She smiled at him. He smiled back. It didn't reach his eye; that remained as cold and dead as it had been for a few days now. It reminded Yumi of the distance he'd kept when he'd first arrived in Japan; how nothing could ever reach him, good or bad. She could understand why he did it now. Perhaps it was the smarter thing to do. "Atta girl."
She let him go. When the door swung shut, she looked back down at her hands, her chest tight.
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"Y'know, considering how often typhoons form, you'd think there would be a lot more pictures around of what we want," Ring grumbled as she and Turboman left yet another image gallery to join the masses on the street of Internet City. "Just one waterspout! Or one person saying there wouldn't be any waterspouts!"
"Maybe we're just looking in the wrong places," Turboman said. "That Navi curating the photos didn't look like the daredevil type—he probably does the smart thing and stays indoors when a storm rolls around."
"Any luck yet, Ring-chan?" A window opened overhead, displaying Mary and Kaita.
"Afraid not," Ring said. "But if we can't find any evidence either way, we can always simulate it ourselves! Just imagine, Turboman—the wind at our backs, the stormy sea air—"
"Us flying away, never to return..." It was then that Turboman noticed something strange. "Hey, where is everybody?" This section of Internet City was deserted. It wasn't just Navis that weren't there anymore; shops had been gutted, and buildings were missing chunks of data. Holding the remains upright were strange wires-or, as Turboman got a closer look, pulsing veins. "Ring, I think we should get out of here!" It was too late—fine tendrils were springing out of the ground, aimed for Turboman and his friend. "Turbo Wheel!" The veins were burned away before they could touch him. Meanwhile, Ring had sawed off her attackers with her Ring Boomerang. The two Navis retreated to a safe distance before a second round of veins could appear to seal them in.
"This has Nova written all over it!" Ring said.
"You're right. They're taking in more programs," Mary agreed. "What in the world could they be trying to build...?"
"And where are they?" wondered Kaita. "If we knew that, we could just go in and stop this."
"I've got a feeling all we need to do is go deeper," Mary said.
"On it!" Turboman said. "Let's motor, Ring-chan!"
"Motoring away!" With rings and tires at the ready, they dashed into the strange area. "Say, Mary-chan," Ring asked as she did a front flip away from a cluster of web-like veins, "are we looking for something in particular, or are we on the right track as long as it keeps getting worse?" It was certainly getting worse. Turboman held his burning tires in front of him as he jumped away from a huge vein underfoot, incinerating the finer ones overhead. His friend was forced to use her default weapons as well, clearing out what looked more like bushes than clumps of veins all around her with a shout of, "Ring Boomerang!"
Though burning or slicing away the veins had given them some relief earlier on, soon the area around Ring and Turboman was teeming with them-and taking some down just let others expand to replace them. "We've got to focus our attacks," Turboman said. "After me! Turbo Wheel!"
"Right! Ring Boomerang!" The rings took care of what tried to replace the tires, and Ring and Turboman wasted no time running ahead before the way closed again. Up ahead, they could see light—but to their sides, dark masses of veins writhed up into the sky. Ring whipped her pigtails to the side and ahead, clearing away most of what tried to grab her. Turboman did something similar with his tires; but they weren't as numerous as Ring's pigtails were, and he could feel the wet, slimy veins on his legs even as Ring made it into the light just ahead.
"Hang on, Turboman!" Ring yelled, wrenching him out. The two landed in a heap on the ground, but no veins came to swallow them. In fact, they seemed to be in the only vein-free patch in their side of Internet City.
"They've already taken everything, but this place looks good as new otherwise," a familiar, girlish voice noticed. As Ring and Turboman looked up, Roll turned her head to see, "Ring-chan! Turboman-kun!" Blues was at her side, observing the strangely clean area.
"Roll-san! Blues-san!" Ring and Turboman hurried over to meet the two Net Savior Navis in front of the storefront.
"This is the place, huh?" Blues said, "There's no telling what sorts of security are on this area—it might be easier to just jump from place to place via plug-in. Enzan-sama and Meiru-san are en route to the real-world analogue of this complex. We'd suggest your Operators do the same."
"Right," Turboman said. "Hear that, Kaita-kun?"
"Yeah," the boy said. "Let's go, Mary-chan!"
"In the meantime, we'll see if we can't get a sense of what we're up against," Roll said. She and Blues led the way toward the dark hole that had replaced the back of the shop.
"I sense that it's viruses," Ring said as she and her friends flicked their eye-lights on, casting light on a pile of Metools surging over themselves. "At least they seem to be staying in one place..."
"Let's clear them out before that changes," Turboman said. "Turbo Wheel!"
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Though Kaita had tried to convince Mary that he could drive the Bratmobile on his own, she was adamantly against it. Fortunately, the location their Navis had dug up wasn't far from Mary's house—a shopping strip where nothing was left but a cheap-looking salon. As they got to a building that would've been the flagship store, the children could see Meiru and Enzan just inside. "Did you just get here?"
"Not quite," Enzan said. "Why don't you look around for yourself and see?" It had been a spa once upon a time; this was the waiting room. A few old magazines and bottles of shampoo were still lying around, their colors starting to fade from the sun.
More importantly to Kaita, both doors that had to lead further back had locks on them. "Plug out!" No matter how many times Kaita tried, the display didn't change from the empty menu screen at all. "It's not letting me access it!"
"Mm-hm," Meiru said. "Whoever's in here must want us further in."
"So it's a trap?" Mary asked, worried.
"Or just another way to keep our Navis from receiving Battlechips until it's too late," Enzan theorized.
"That sounds more likely. I don't think... Nova wants to cause us any physical harm," Meiru said. A hint of concern crossed Enzan's brow as he looked at her, but he said nothing.
"Maybe we should split up," Mary suggested.
"Yeah!" agreed Kaita. "Mary-chan and I'll go one way, you guys can go the other, and whoever finds the right place first gets the first shot at this!"
"Sounds like a plan to me!" Meiru said.
As she accompanied Kaita through the other door, Mary said, "I just hope they're doing okay in there..."
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"Viruses!"
Turboman and his comrades sprang into action, sending everything they had at the oncoming swarm of viruses. Though many fell, the six Lava Dragons among them were still going strong. Turboman and Roll wound up dodging to one side of the oncoming monsters, while Ring and Blues went to the other.
As the Lava Dragons began to part to deal with their scattered prey, Roll said, "I'll start working on the first two—concentrate on that other one!"
"Right!" Turboman didn't bother worrying about Roll, who was already back-handspringing away from the Lava Dragons' opening attacks; instead, he sent his Turbo Wheels at the last member of the group with a yell of, "Over here!" The burning tires caught the beast's attention and sent it flying backwards, and it charged at the source of its annoyance. Turboman jumped over it, twisting around in midair to land facing his enemy; from there, he sent out a second Turbo Wheel attack before the Lava Dragon could spit its fire at him. The flame died in its mouth as the tires caught its chin and it was whipped backwards. "Take this!" Turboman yelled, jumping up and planting a kick in the middle of the dragon's gray-plated throat. The Lava Dragon broke into smaller cubes before vanishing around him. He turned to see that Roll had polished off Dragon One and was well on her way to vanquishing Dragon Two.
"Mind if I get that?" Ring asked, heading over while Blues sliced the last of their attackers in two.
"Not at all!" Roll said. With that out of the way, Ring tossed over one of her larger rings, decapitating the last of their attackers. But before anyone could celebrate, she cried out as her body jerked into a stiff stance, then noiselessly stumbled forward.
"Ring-chan, you okay?" Turboman asked. Nervously, Ring nodded, coming closer to her friend. But at this close distance, Turboman could see that her eyes seemed frosted over.
"Are you sure?" Roll asked. "I've never seen you so quiet—" Ring shoved Turboman toward the two Net Savior Navis, who managed a narrow dodge while he fell over.
"What was that?" the car-like Navi asked, bewildered. Ring pounced toward him, but he rolled to the side, leaving her to turn the dive into a tumble.
"Someone's controlling her," Blues said, a note of disgust in his voice.
"I hate people who have to stoop to dirty tricks like this," Roll said, hands balling into fists. She explained to Turboman, "We just need to knock her out—either she'll return to her PET, or the controller'll lose interest."
"What I wouldn't give for a paralyzing chip," Turboman said, watching Ring spring into the air. Even though she didn't seem able to use her boomerang attacks, she was still capable of putting up a good fight—a series of flips and twists built up momentum before she delivered a kick downward to Turboman's head. The red Navi quickly dodged backward, but Ring's controller was more than capable of keeping up-she sprang forward to dig a fist deep into Turboman's gut. She aimed a second punch at his head, but Roll's antennae smacked her away first, toward where Blues was ready. Ring ducked before he could grab her, sweeping his legs out from under him in the same movement before knocking him away from the other two. She turned on them next, looking from one to the other as they cautiously approached; then, she went for Roll on her right, running past the pink-clad Navi's kick and yanking her backward by the ponytail. Turboman tackled her before she could punch the other Navi girl in the face, sending them both skidding along the ground. Ring struggled—Turboman had to fight to keep from squeezing his eyes shut against the elbows and feet that she rammed into his body—but she wasn't as physically strong as he was.
"Give it up," Blues ordered her, standing in front of her head. "Nothing you do will deter us from our mission."
Ring just looked at him with contempt for a moment. Then, her head fell forward.
"Ring-chan?" Roll asked. "Are you there?"
"What's going on?" she asked sleepily. "Turboman, 's that you on top of me?" Ring looked behind her, cracking one eye open. "This is awkward."
"Ring-chan!" Turboman quickly got off his friend. "Are you feeling okay?"
"Pretty much," she said. "A little sore, maybe..."
"No kidding," Turboman said. "You hit pretty hard."
"Of course I do!" she said cheerfully. "But, wait, why are you saying that?"
"Someone was controlling your frame," explained Roll, offering a hand to help her up.
"What?! Are you serious?!" Just looking around at her friends' faces was enough to tell Ring that they were. "Eww..."
As Ring took Roll's hand and got to her feet, Blues said, "I bet it was Punk."
"That was kind of like him," Turboman said. "Overwhelmingness and all."
"For him to interfere like this, we must be getting close," Roll said.
Ring added, "I just hope our Operators are, too..."
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Once upon a time, Meiru would probably have been in a salon like this every week. Steam machines sat in a row against the wall, plastic so they'd never rust, gleaming in the soft light; she ran a hand over one of the chairs and felt the plastic crack under her fingers, brittle from the heat. But no one else had touched them. They still looked ready to seat some customers. To give a girl's hair that extra bounce at the ends, just big enough to be noticeable and just small enough that people would almost think it was natural. Too large, and she'd be the laughingstock of her friends...
The memory jolted her back into the present. Nova. The little net mafia that killed. And at its center, somehow, the greatest threat of all...
"Why do you think we haven't heard of them?" Enzan wondered next to her.
"The organization controlling…" It still felt somewhat taboo to say the name aloud, but Meiru pushed ahead. "Controlling Netto?" she finished. "Maybe they're mercenaries of some kind, who hire Netbattlers out to organizations."
"But wouldn't we know of them by now, if their operatives are this skilled?" Enzan pointed out. "They must be doing things like this very rarely. No, they have to be doing something else to sustain themselves."
"Or they're so big that they don't need to," Meiru said. "It seemed like whoever they are supplied the Pulse Transmission Systems to Sigma, and it was old technology by the time we came along. They've got their own research wing, they've got the resources to support Nova and train up… evil henchmen or whatever… and I bet they do even more besides that. They'd have to have a pretty good support system."
"Some kind of large corporation, maybe?" Enzan shook his head. "But then why wouldn't we have heard about their more advanced Pulse Transmission System?"
"If they're not profiting off their scientific advancements, then where is it all coming from? They'd have to have the resources of a—a country!" Meiru realized.
"A country, huh?" Meiru nearly jumped out of her skin as a resounding bang sounded from the next room over. "Eureka."
As they headed for the nearest door, Meiru asked, "At the noise, or the country?"
"Both." Enzan tried the door; it was unlocked.
"But how are we supposed to find a country?" Meiru asked quietly as they inched the door open. "Even we can't go barging into other nations' networks without permission. And in countries without Net Savior programs, there's no way we're getting in."
"I know. It's little wonder Netto thinks we can't do anything."
The sensible thing to do was to accept that. Meiru couldn't bring herself to, and she could tell Enzan couldn't, either. "But we have to try…"
There was no one actually in the room, but it was easy to see something was in the server stack nearby; near the top, something was smoking. Enzan and Meiru lined up their PETs and were greeted with the sight of Blues and Roll taking down a swarm of Elebees, with Turboman and Ring helping out nearby. "Variable Sword, slot-in!" Blues finished sawing apart the bees nearby before firing a pair of Sonic Booms into the cloud, reducing it considerably.
"Flame Tower, slot-in!" Roll slammed her fist into the ground, taking care of most of the rest when the resulting pillar of lava crashed into the viruses. Turboman and Ring's attacks made quick work of the rest.
"You guys go ahead," Ring told Roll and Blues. "No use waiting around when you're this close! Kick their butts!"
Roll flashed Ring a victory sign and said, "You got it, Ring-chan!" Meiru plugged Roll out, and Enzan did the same with Blues. "Meiru-chan, it looks like the program behind this in the next room over!"
"On it!" The next room looked like it had only recently been deserted. There was a paper on the desk with squiggles on it and a dark, thick line that had been traced many times over with a pen. "Someone's fidgety today," Meiru noticed, looking at the two pens sitting side-by-side at the edge of the desk. But that wasn't what she was here for; the still-lit monitor at the far side of the room was. "Plug-in, Roll! Transmission!"
"Plug-in, Blues! Transmission!"
Arrow watched her opponents appear silently. Then, she said, "Phantom Scout." A faint shimmer surrounded her before she faded from view, leaving what she'd been set to guard visible-a dark, engine-like lump of a program sitting low to the ground, the deep crimson pouch at the bottom pumping in and bulging out like some warped attempt at a heartbeat.
"Careful, Roll. Ice Wave, slot-in!" Roll clasped her hand around the attack, ready to counter any sign of arrows. Though Meiru hadn't been impressed by Arrow's skill in the past, she did have to say that the green-armored Navi was quiet. Roll nearly lost the Ice Wave as a triad of golden arrows darted into her and Blues's backs, sending both of them sprawling. "She'll use her stronger attack next," Meiru recalled. With that knowledge, Roll sent the Ice Wave directly behind her, while Blues fired a Mega Cannon-both knocking Arrow out of invisibility and out of the sky as a frozen lump.
"Heat Cross, slot-in!" First Arrow's gun arm, then the rest of her was freed from her ice encasement-readying her to receive another round of attacks from Roll and Blues.
"Ready to give up yet?" Roll's question was answered by the burst of sound that accompanied viruses arriving-Kiorushins, which jetted toward both Net Savior Navis. The pattern of their attacks forced them to the center, where a Roulette Shaft was waiting for them. A massive waterspout swallowed them both, battering them with jets of water as well as each other.
"Air Hockey, slot-in!" Blues's oversized hockey puck disrupted the attack, leaving him and his partner to crash to the ground earlier and a few hit points higher than expected. When the Kiorushins swooped toward them, Roll managed to reduce their number down to two before she and Blues leapt away. But it had been a long day for both Navis, and neither could hide how their stamina was nearly at its limit. One way or another, the fight had to be finished soon.
"I don't think we need her deleted, just incapacitated," Meiru said. "Stone Cube, slot-in!" Now, it was Arrow being forced on the retreat.
While Roll was picking off the last of the Kiorushins, Enzan called, "Neo Variable, slot-in!"
"Sonic Boom!" Blues produced a pair of waves aligned in an x-shape, which sent Arrow flying into the wall.
"Engetsu Kunai, chain slot-in!" Roll hurled two blades at Arrow, catching her under her arms and keeping her stuck where she'd landed; she then followed up with two at the Navi's feet and one between her legs so she couldn't easily slip out.
"What's really going on here?" she asked, heading toward the Navi with another blade outstretched.
"I won't get Yumi into trouble with Black or the Boss," Arrow said resolutely. "You can hurt me all you want, but I won't answer."
"It's fine, Arrow," Yumi said. She sounded defeated, and when her window came up, it was obvious she hadn't been getting much sleep. "We each have an absorption program we're in charge of—Black and I stayed in town, but the other two went to international networks."
"You guys went all over the world?!" Kaita had arrived, with Mary right behind him. "Then they could be anywhere! Just where are they?"
Yumi shook her head. "I can't say anything more. I've already—" Her window winked out before she could say anything else. Arrow logged out moments later. With nobody left in their way, Roll and Blues fired a Heart Slash and a Sonicboom at the absorption program, deleting it.
"Where is she?" Mary wondered. "What if she tries again somewhere else?"
"She won't," Kaita realized. "I mean, just look at what she was saying."
"I can't stand this," Meiru sighed. "I was hoping Yumi would be able to escape, but now it seems like that's impossible."
"And now, even the other Nova members know Black's just as important as their leader," Enzan noticed. That worried Meiru even more.
"I guess... all we can do now is keep an eye out," Kaita said thoughtfully.
"I hate this," Meiru said. "I feel like they've been in control this whole time. We've only ever seen what they..." She corrected, "...what Black wants us to see."
"No way," Kaita said. "I mean, I know he tries controlling how we see him, but he's been doing it with all of Nova? There's no way he could slip that past everyone else there!"
"I doubt it affects all of Nova. Just the operations that matter." Enzan's eyes narrowed in thought. "He's timed this perfectly," the Net Savior said, slowly walking toward the end of the room. "We could get to the bottom of this easily just by locating their new base." He spun on his heel, pacing back toward the center of the room.
Meiru realized where that thought was going. "But we can't right now," she said. "Navis and systems everywhere are in danger, and we've got to focus on the greater good—shutting down those programs. Considering what happened last time we found a Nova base, it might just make things worse if we tried again."
"Then we've just got to get it done really fast, right?" Kaita asked.
"If they're shut down too early, maybe their final weapon will be unfinished," Mary theorized.
Both Net Saviors looked at their younger counterparts, then at each other. "I hope so," Meiru said. "I really hope so."