Hello, Rick.

Several friends of mine have told me of a few rumors that, apparently, you have been spreading about the status of our relationship, and how quickly we are proceeding to engage in certain… activities. And while I find it most unlikely that you would do such a thing, I cannot ignore them. I'm rather surprised you haven't sent me a message warning me about them yourself; that worries me.

Do not worry yourself over this letter; I'm not breaking up with you, but after our mission tomorrow, we will have a serious talk about how something like this happened. I have a few theories, but I'd like to hear from you before jumping to conclusions.

I look forward to this chat, perhaps at your apartment tomorrow evening? Maybe dinner afterwards?

Rick went over the email Sam had sent the night before, shortly after Lisa had left his apartment. As he sat in the Dive Cafe booth with Sarah and Jayne Lieber, waiting for when they would dive into the UNF. He'd read the message more times than he could count since last night and each time he did, his nerves jumped around his body and his heart beat irregularly.

Sam was pissed!

Sure, the letter wasn't written in an angry way, no cursing or threats, but he knew Sam and this was so much worse. Worse because she wasn't speaking like Sam; she was speaking like Sam; she was speaking like Crystal Seraph, his Legion Master and Governor.

He removed the email from his digital display and glanced at the clock in the corner of his vision. He and his team had a very specific time - down to the millisecond - when they were to dive in, and a delay of even half a second had serious implications, since a single second in the real world equaled roughly sixteen minutes in the Accelerated One! Luckily, all neurolinkers in the U.S. were connected to the National Atomic Clock, which was accurate within 1/1,000 of a second. Unless someone stuttered or sneezed, diving at the same time shouldn't be a problem.

Rick shook his head in an attempt to clear it and a hand gently rated on his shoulder. He turned to see Sarah smiling at him. "You okay, Rick?"

Another hand, this one not so gentle, plopped onto his other shoulder and Jayne let out a loud laugh. "Of course he's okay! Here he is, sitting in this locked-from-the-inside dive booth with two attractive older women and he's dealing with it like a pro! I tell yea, Ricky here's got big 'ol brass… er, copper ones!"

Sarah sighed. "Don't be crass."

"What are you? A grandma from the 1850's?" Jayne asked.

Rick interrupted what was certain to become an argument, patting both sisters on their respective shoulders. "I'm fine, ladies. Just trying to clear my head, is all. I've never been to the UNF, after all."

Jayne grinned, tucking her long hair - split black and neon-pink down her scalp - behind her ears. "It's no biggie, buddy! It's just like a regular duel stage, except there's no time limit and you can go anywhere in the city. Also, Enemies controlled by the system roam around and the three of us together might be strong enough to defeat the weakest class of them, so death is always lurking.

"Oh! And if we're discover and information is passed forward, the Lupus Guard could easily set an ambush and put us in a cycle of death and rebirth as we revive every hour just to be killed again, and we'll lose all of our Burst Points until we've been farmed dry and have Brain Burst uninstalled from our 'linkers. Did I miss something?"

Rick smiled as he shook his head. "Nope! You've successfully been able to list each and every one of my fears and put them into one convenient, easy to handle statement so I can freak out all at once instead of a little at a time. And I can't wait to jump into what could be my impending doom. Also, I might have peed a little."

Jayne met this with a laugh and even Sarah stifled a giggle.

"Don't forget to set your 'linker to disconnect from the global net exactly ten minutes after we dive. That way, if we get stuck somewhere, we'll have a forced log-out," Sarah said, scooting back to her seat in the booth.

"Thanks, mom," Jayne said sarcastically. "But you've already told us twice."

Sarah blushed a little. "It's important."

"Well, I appreciate it," Rick said. "I need constant reminders for just about everything, as you know."

Ten minutes was the time limit they had agreed to on Tuesday, which equaled almost seven days in the Accelerated World. But would that be enough time for their individual groups to search the entire Bronx? Rick found it unlikely. Plus, wouldn't they have to sleep? Certainly, with the amount of strain Brain Burst put on a Burst Linker's mind, they would. That meant they didn't even have a full six days!

The seconds ticked down, until the three of them began to countdown at ten. At around six, Rick glanced at his companions. Sarah gave him a curt nod, while Jayne flashed him a thumbs up. At the exact same time, all three called out the command that gained them entry into the Unlimited Neutral Field.

"Unlimited burst!"

Rick opened his eyes and saw a world that looked more or less the same as the world he'd just left. There were less large buildings and more open sky. Thick black clouds hung overhead, though the sky was a clear and pleasant blue. This was the Unlimited Neutral Field? Why did it look so… normal?

Periwinkle Pigtail stepped up beside him, her child-sized avatar looking up to him. "What's the matter, Tarn?"

"Huh? Oh, nothing," he replied. "We were all forced outside, but that's all that's really changed. What kind of stage is this?"

He heard a chuckle behind him. "Haven't checked behind you, huh?" Bluebell Bonnet asked.

Turning around, it took Rick a minute to register what he was seeing. The building he had been in had been shrunk, only about sixty stories tall, and was made out of a hodge-podge of different materials, including stone, wood, iron, and steel. But the biggest change was a massive cog sticking out of the side of the building, slowly rotating.

Behind the building, the cityscape was much reduced, though the skyline was still very crowded, but everything looked like throw-back buildings, built in the late 1800s. Several factories belched black smoke into the sky, creating the black clouds he'd seen earlier and large clockwork robots could be seen walking the streets.

"Wow!" Bell exclaimed. "A Steampunk stage! These are super rare! I've only been to one once or twice! Its attributes are: Regular day/night cycle, you can't enter some of the buildings, and gusts of wind are stronger the higher up you are," Peris said, ticking off her fingers. "Also, buildings are almost indestructible."

"Hear that, Tarn?" Bell asked. "No fighting on the roofs of skyscrapers."

"But moooom," Rick moaned.

"Guess, I think we should move," Peri said. "I don't know if those clockwork people are Enemies, but they look like they could probably hit hard. And a few are coming over this way."

The two nodded, knowing that they also had a time limit and all three took off at a run, heading north towards 110th street; or at least there they figured 110th street was, as there were no street signs. They moved quickly, not quite a sprint, knowing that the other groups had also dived into the UNF and were headed to their respective positions.

As he ran, Rick looked around in awe, seeing the world so…open! Really, it was no different than a regular duel stage, but those were fairly small - a few city blocks at most. This world though was…felt… so much bigger! And he understood then that the UNF wasn't simply unlimited in terms of time but also, in terms of scope.

Not for the first time, he wished he had the ability to fly. Come to think of it, had there ever been a Burst Linker that could fly? Like, legit fly with wings or jet packs or something? As far as he knew, Yolk Glider was the closest he'd seen so far. A flying Burst Linker would be cool, but a real pain to fight!

They were past their Legion's border by this point, even though there were really no borders in the Unlimited Neutral Field. As you couldn't be randomly challenged here, there was no real reason for territories to exist in this field. The only way to fight another Burst Linker here would be to find one.

Still, knowing they were past 110th street sent a little jolt through Rick's nerves. They were getting closer and closer to the Lupus Guard, to the challenge of their mission.

The cobblestone streets they ran on eventually became a dirt road, deep ruts displaying the travel paths of wheels that had worn the road down over centuries of use. Rick knew that that wasn't true, but with nothing to focus on but the constant running, he enjoyed imagining a fictional history for the road.

Wow. That's where my life is right now… he marveled.

"Passing 116th street," Bell announced suddenly, though how she knew was anybody's guess. It was also a dirt road, intersecting the road they ran on, Park Avenue.

"This isn't anybody's territory, is it?" Rick asked.

Peri shook her head. "No, it's a buffer zone between us and the Lupus Guard. Technically, since nobody controls it, Silver Lupus COULD take it in the weekly territories, but he's made it clear that he has no wish to expand his borders past the Bronx. Nobody knows why."

He pondered that for a while. Why would Silver Lupus, controller of the most zealous followers, not want to expand? The Lupus Guard was known for keeping to the status quo, so maybe that was it…

"So what's the plan for crossing the Harlem River?" he asked. He was so glad he didn't have to breathe!

"There are bridges, aren't there?" Bell asked back.

"Won't that be an ideal place to put guards? You know, the guards we're trying to avoid?"

Bell laughed. "Oh, don't worry! The way we're getting in, they won't see us!"

"Plus," Peri said, "If Grass Bruiser and his folks have caused a big enough distraction over in Throg's Neck, there may not be many guards to begin with."

That was the hope, at least.

Still, Rick couldn't help but feel kind of bad for the Burst Linkers that were assigned to guard duty when they probably just wanted to play the game! But then, considering what both Peri and Bell had told him about the normal Lupus Guard weekend training regime, maybe a nice, quiet afternoon of guarding the border with a few friends was more preferable.

The blast of a whistle suddenly surprised Rick; so much that he stopped running and lifted his fists defensively. He didn't know what was coming, but dammit, he would be ready!

Both girls stopped running and started laughing. About that time, Rick noticed an old-school steam powered locomotive chugging slowly down a railroad track towards the Bronx. Wasn't that the location of the Lightrail Highspeed Train? They must've been close to MLK, then.

"Are we hopping the train?" he asked excitedly.

"Yeah," Bell replied," but you can't enter the train in a Steampunk stage, so we'll have to climb to the roof. Luckily, the trains go way slower than normal."

"And we're going to have to run faster to catch it if we stand here talking much longer!" Peri said, breaking into a run.

The other two looked at each other and laughed as they followed, heading towards the train.

Outside of Brain Burst, Lisa was a fast runner - she was forward on the girls soccer team after all! But in the world of acceleration, she was lighting, despite her body not being so aerodynamic. Which was why she was really quite surprised to see Slate Plate keeping up with her fairly easily. Her other teammate, Vanilla Butterfly, was in her usual place, Plate's shoulder, in her shrunken-down form. That was all for the best, as far as Lisa was concerned; nobody could run that fast in high-heels.

Her thoughts began to drift to Rick and the fight they'd had yesterday. She wasn't being nice when she told him she was impressed; he'd really grown as a Burst Linker, considering his avatar's limits. Had he been able to dive into the UNF all right? Was he on time? At least he was grouped with Sarah; she'd keep him on the ball! He was a good guy, that Rick, but he had a lot of trouble focusing. Was that a trait among all boys their age?

She had made good time, diving into the UNF at a small dive-room at 155th street, meeting up with Plate and Van, who didn't want to reveal themselves in the real just yet, and crossing the bridge onto 161st street, turning into Jerome Avenue.

No guards patrolled on the Bronx side of the bridge.

Now THAT was suspicious. For a paranoid guy like Silver Lupus, not protecting his borders when he knew they were holding a top-level - and high level, for that matter - prisoner. Well, maybe it was hubris? Shift change for the guards? Grass Bruiser was doing a really good job pulling people into Throg's Neck?

More likely, it was a trap.

Still, she knew better than to look a gift horse in the mouth, which was why she'd started sprinting at that point, zooming across the bridge as fast as she could, Slate Plate clomping loudly behind her, still somehow keeping up. Their first stop was The Hall of Fame for Great Americans. It was a Lupus Guard safehouse with a small shed next to it, which was used as a jail.

What the Lupus Guard needed a jail for in the UNF was beyond her. She Just knew it was their first target.

Again, her mind slipped to Rick. She couldn't help it! The guy was just too clueless to deal with some of the things they might stumble upon during their search for Peach Parfait. Then, she thought about Mauve Dictionary - Leander - and how he was getting along with his group. She would've paid money to see how he interacted with the two unknowns, and how they might deal with him!

Granted, Leander was compatible with just about anybody. His quick wit, high intelligence, and wide variety of support skills allowed him to easily slip into any party and increase their efficiency. She couldn't wait until the whole Conclave could go on Enemy hunts here together so they could all benefit from his awesome skills!

Turning her focus back to the matter at hand, she made a quick left, heading for the University Avenue, knowing that Plate was keeping up, but remained just behind her, probably so he could ogle her butt as she ran in front! Oh, the next time they dueled, he had to know she was going to bring the hurt!

The ride was bumpy.

Really, that was about all that could be said about it, other than it was faster than walking. He'd heard about how some people loved horseback riding, and racing horses looked so steady in their gallop, but riding on Dusty Bronco wasn't quite what Leander had been expecting.

Not that he particularly minded. Life was all about new experiences and trying new things. This was just one more thing he could cross off his list and then never do again.

The party of himself, Dusty Bronco, and Raspberry Revolver - he refused to call her Razz - had dived into the Unlimited Neutral Field, met up, and ridden to Ward's Island. From there, they went straight up 278 onto 87, which was really just a cut-through that put them further up 278. He'd mapped out the route they'd take himself, proud of how quickly they would get to their first stop, a small warehouse at Clason Point.

They needed to be quick and extra quiet though. Clason Point was close enough to Throg's Neck that they might bump into members of the Guard. He didn't want any attention from them, if possible.

Dusty Bronco suddenly jumped over some obstacle in his path, forcing Leander to grab around Raspberry Revolver's slim waist to keep from flying off.

Once that was over, Raspberry Revolver laughed and looked over her shoulder at him. "Easy, partner. No need to squeeze the life outta me! Or were you just usin' that as an excuse?"

"I, uh…" He couldn't think! What would Rick say? Oh, right; nothing! When it came to the opposite sex, they were two peas in a pod!

"Oh, I don't mind," she drawled, "but don't go writing checks yer butt can't cash!"

"I…I'm only seven," he stammered sheepishly.

Raspberry Revolver laughed, turning back around. "Well, I'm eight, so it's all good!"

Oh great! This was not what he needed! Contrary to what people might've thought about him - including his parents - he did feel an attraction to girls. He was fascinated by how different they were! Them flirting with him just hadn't been an issue yet, so he hadn't felt the need to learn what to do if one did.

"We, uh, should probably focus on our, uh, assignments," he managed to get out.

Her laugh was the only response she gave, so he shook his head, sat up straight, and put his mind on the task at hand. He knew though, that this was going to be a long six and a half days….

Crystal Seraph glided across the bridge, using her powers of light refraction to render herself and Sakura Dragon invisible to the bored looking guards. As she'd expected, Sakura Dragon could easily keep up. Her light refraction drained her special attack gauge quickly, but it was really the only way to do it without gaining attention; dispatching the guards would only delay the alarm by an hour.

The two avatars made their way quickly up Broadway, making their way to Riverdale and Mt. St. Vincent College. From there, the northern border was theirs to search. She had hoped for a Demon City stage or a Century End stage, where eternal night sky would've made sneaking so much easier. The Steampunk Stage had a normal night/day cycle, though, so she'd have to wait a few more hours for darkness.

Hours they didn't have.

They only had six days to find Peach Parfait, get her to a log-out point, then alert the rest of the teams of success and pray that they all made it out as well. It was a longer than long long-shot, but she believed in her Legion even if that boyfriend of hers could be a clueless idiot sometimes!

She let herself slip into "Sam-mode" for a minute, allowing her persona, Crystal Seraph, to fade back into that of Samantha Watt. It wasn't a split of personalities, per se, so much as a shifting of priorities, a different list of things that took center stage. And Sam's top priority right now was to slap Rick upside his head!

How could he let a rumor like that spread!? She didn't believe for a second that he was responsible for that rumor, but she needed an explanation. Why hadn't he told her about this earlier? If her parents got wind of it, both of them would get an earful! And while she'd explained to Rick when they first met that she didn't care much about the gossiping of seventh-graders, that didn't mean that she wanted to be at the center of it!

Their first target, a large warehouse sitting to the side of Broadway, near Manhattan College, came into view. She became Crystal Seraph again, Governor and level 9 Burst Linker. Looking over her shoulder, she confirmed that her teammate was still keeping up. There was something about Sakura Dragon that rang some bells, though she couldn't quite put her finger on what.

"Read?" Seraph asked, already certain what the answer was.

Sakura Dragon nodded silently, not missing a step.

Rick and his party made their way up Webster Avenue, progressing towards Yankee Stadium, their first destination. Both Peri and Bell promised that, while the Lupus Guard controlled it, they rarely used it for much. Only if Silver Lupus wanted to address the entire Legion and that was rare enough. Due to its size, it was too impractical to guard so it wasn't used to hold captives.

But according to the twins, the basement had cells and champers that could hold people so it needed to be searched, even if the chances of Peach Parfait behind there was very low. The strategy for all the teams out searching was to start at their borders and work their way inward while checking all the most likely - and most unlikely - places they could think of, plus all the other spots Peri and Bell had mentioned.

A quick tap on his shoulder caused Rick to skid to a stop and turn towards his companions. "What's up?"

"Oh, I just thought I should tell you to turn left because otherwise, you'd just keep following Webster until you hit Yonkers." Bell said dryly.

"That's okay," Peri said. "He just wants to see where we were born, that's all!"

"We're there already? That was quicker than I thought." Had they been moving that fast?

They were standing beside a building that had several large cogs and gears cranking on its roof. Several large piles of gears, cogs, and springs, dotted all over the yard. Large sheets of rusted and corroded metal sat around the building as well. Rick was curious if he could pick up some gears to use as projectiles in battle.

"Looky, looky!" a bright, chipper voice allied out from behind a particularly massive pile of junk next to the building. "Looks like ignoring that call for backup at Throg's Neck was the right choice! We got ourselves some intruders!"

Rick looked towards the pile the voice came from. A small, off-yellow F-type avatar stepped out followed by ruddy-red and light pink avatars, also F-types. All three had very stylized armor, though it was tough to make out details from a distance.

"Oh crap, not these three," Bell moaned.

"What's that supposed to mean?" the yellow one yelled. "You have the great honor to battle the greatest pop-music trio in the history of the Accelerated World!"

Rick, as usual, was confused. "I'm sorry, who are you?"

"No!" Peri called, while Bell said "Don't ask!" both trying to interrupt Rick's question.

The three new girls heard the question anyway, bristling when they heard it. "What!?" the yellow one shouted. "Impossible! How do you not recognize us!?"

Rick said nothing. Were these people famous or…

"I'm Amber Idol!" the yellow one cried.

"I'm Umber Popstar!" the dark red one yelled, striking a pose.

"And I'm Blush Sparkle!" the pink one called out, striking a pose of her own. "And together, we're-"

"The Femme Fatales!" all three shouted as one, Amber Idol throwing her fist into the air, flanked by the other two.

"Who?" Rick was still just as clueless as always.