Enzan and Meiru had run to find out where Laika's room was; then, keycard in hand, they went to confront him. "He can't be behind this," Meiru said. "I'm sure there's some reason he's helping them..." Enzan was in disbelief himself. What on earth could make Laika, of all people, do this? "We just need to talk to him."
"I told you, I don't know! Shut up and leave me alone!"
"What if he won't tell us?"
Meiru stopped and looked at Enzan, baffled. "What are you talking about? He's still Laika. He's a friend - you know that even better than I do. He's got way more to fear from the mastermind of this thing than us, and he probably knows it."
Enzan nodded. "Right." He wanted to believe that. But he couldn't banish that doubt, or that memory. They were at the door, a welcome reprieve from those thoughts. He knocked. Silence. He tried again, calling, "Net Saviors!" Still nothing. He swiped the card, and the door swung open.
"Nobody's in here," Meiru said. She sounded relieved. Enzan didn't blame her. He was looking forward to accusing Laika of all this even less than she was. The more he thought about it, the more he was able to tell himself there had to be some mistake. Perhaps Laika was being forced to do this - he was the last Net Savior left in Sharo, after all. But that was suspicious in itself. He couldn't make up excuses - he had to face the cold facts, no matter where that led to.
"What's going on up there?" It was Meijin, checking in on them through the PET's videophone.
"He's not here," Enzan explained. "Think we should take a look around?"
"Go for it. Report back as soon as you can - I'll see if I can't figure out where he's gotten to."
"The sooner you find him, the safer we are," Meiru said. "Good luck."
"You too," Meijin said, and closed the connection.
The room was tidy, almost sterile, which didn't surprise Enzan. Laika had always been organized. He saw where to start right away: the laptop on the desk. Almost in tandem, he and Meiru pointed their PETs at it. "Plug in!"
Roll and Blues landed in total darkness. Blues wasted no time booting up the system. From there, he and Roll pulled up windows and started searching. "Just like Rock said," Roll realized, closing her window and accessing the memory. "Meiru-chan, send Meijin an email with this attached," she said, pulling out a large file.
"You got it," Meiru said. "Nice work, Roll." The file folder vanished from Roll's hands, and soon Commandoman was safe on his way to Meijin.
"See anything else?" Enzan asked the Navis as they continued their search.
"Not in the obvious places," Blues said, "but I wouldn't expect him to make it easy for us." What Enzan found odd was what they weren't finding. He would have expected more security, but he and Meiru had easily been able to start digging up evidence.
"There isn't that much on here, is there?" Meiru noticed. "No wonder the security's so low - he really travels light..."
"I'm going to give it another minute, but I think we're about done here, Meiru-chan," Roll reported.
"Well, well, well. What do we have here?" Roll and Blues turned to see five or six Net Savior Navis enter the computer. Floating over them was a window displaying Laika, smiling like a cat that had just caught dinner. "Looks like a pair of Irregulars have come to attack when my defenses were down."
Some of the Navis stepped menacingly toward the two, angered; but there were others looking from Laika to the so-called Irregulars in confusion. "There must be some mistake," one of the Navis said. "Those are the Navis of the Japanese Net Saviors. They haven't even been to Sharo while the Irregulars have been attacking."
"A perfect ruse," Laika said. "Commanding the forces from afar, so as not to raise suspicion. They're in my computer - need I say more?"
"Yes, because what we've found makes you our prime suspect in the kidnapping and Navi disappearance cases," Blues said.
"Don't be ridiculous," another of the Net Savior Navis said. "Laika may not be the friendliest man on earth, but he's a second-to-none Net Savior. He's no criminal."
"Then why does he have to send you guys after us?" Roll asked. "Where's Searchman? Isn't it Netbattling that guarantees someone a spot in the Net Saviors?" Now all the Navis had stopped.
Enzan and Meiru had joined the conversation. "That's right," Enzan said. "Why would he get rid of Searchman - unless Searchman refused to cooperate?"
"Refused to -" Laika scoffed, "Like I'd 'get rid of' my own Navi -"
Enzan continued, "And what on earth would an upstanding Net Savior be doing with a PET like yours, Laika? One that can't even hold a Navi?" The green-haired Net Savior's eyes narrowed. "Well?"
"I won't let them fool you any longer. Requesting a Dimensional Area!" Laika barked. The other Navis looked at Roll and Blues - some skeptical, some apologetic - but did nothing to stop their Operators from plugging out. "Enclose everything from the second floor of the hotel up to the roof. We'll lock them in."
There was that familiar rising swoosh of the dome going up, but it was another noise that caught Enzan and Meiru's attention. "He's sending viruses in!" Meiru yelled, but it was too late; the communications had been cut with the Dimensional Area's closing.
"Plug out," Enzan said, returning Blues to his PET. Next to him, Meiru did the same. They didn't have to tell each other to run - they were bolting for the door the minute their Navis were back, crashes sounding behind them as the Metools fired a first round of Shockwave attacks.
"If we lie low for a while, I bet Meijin will be able to get hold of whichever base sent that Dimensional Area out," Meiru said as they dashed down the hall.
"Besides, it's not like we can fight off this many," Enzan agreed. "This way!"
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Neither Net Savior had a good feeling after two hours had passed and they were still hiding from viruses in the same broom closet. "It shouldn't be taking this long," Enzan said.
"But almost none of the Net Savior bases use Dimensional Converters anymore," Meiru sighed. "So there's still nothing we can do... This sucks!"
"Oh!" Roll's hologram lit up the closet. "Meiru-chan, there's a call coming in..."
"Same here, Enzan-sama."
"It's Meijin-san! He's trying to get through. We'll help stabilize the connection!"
Static was all that showed up on their screens. Then, a pixelated blob that might have been Meijin appeared. "Mei...an! Can you...me?"
"You're barely getting through!" Meiru said.
"Just a moment..." Meijin's face became clearer and smoother on their screens.
"Much better!" Meiru said. "What's going on?"
"Rockman and Gateman can only keep this up for a short amount of time, so listen up. Laika's using something along the lines of Dimensional Converters to power this Area. Wherever he's gotten them from, it's not a base the Net Saviors have approved. We've been trying to find it to tell them to deactivate the Converters, but nothing so far."
"Where's Laika?" Enzan asked.
"We don't know that, either. It's chaos out here-people have heard you're behind the disappearances, other people are saying your Navis are Irregulars; Yuuichirou, Manabe, and the Net Saviors who've managed to keep their heads are trying to talk them down." There was a flicker in the connection before Meijin said, "You need to find and destroy those Converters as soon as you can, because I don't know when we'll be able to send help." They were starting to lose the connection already. "Good...luck -"
"We've lost him," Blues informed the Net Saviors.
"Doesn't matter. We know what we need to do," Enzan said.
"Let's split up. There'll probably be one on either end of the hotel, so we'll be able to get it taken down faster," Meiru said.
"Good idea," Enzan said. "I guess now's as good a time as any." With that, they left their cover and sprinted for the elevators on either end of the hallway.
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"Well, well, well. You're just giving the game up, Laika! I expected a little more fight from you." Black was typing rapidly.
"Those Converters gave you that much?" Punk asked.
"You bet. Calculate the trajectory, find the satellite, trace the signal, aaaand..." Black took his fingers off the keyboard to give them a creepy twitch and cackled, "I know where he lives!" He dropped the act as he continued working. "Or I'm about to."
As his Operator got back to work, Punk said, "Thought you'd be more worried about those two Net Saviors."
"No use worrying over it - it's out of my hands. You pretty much have to be in the Dimensional Area to get rid of it. Close works, too, but it's in Ameroupe and I'm all the way in Japan." There was a ping from the computer, depositing numerous pieces of information onto Black's screen. "Ah-ha! I've got your number now!" He grinned. "Punk, how do you feel about Sharo?"
"I dunno. Cold. Large."
Black shrugged. "'Kay. How do you feel about beating the shit out of some Irregulars?"
"Now, that sounds like a vacation."
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"Found it," Meiru panted as she skidded to a halt in front of a cylinder alive with blue, glowing energy: the Dimensional Converter. "Now I just have to take it out..." She looked around at her surroundings. Though she was in pretty good shape, she knew she couldn't throw one of the huge, heavy potted plants with enough force to break the gleaming cylinder in front of her. And there was nothing else in the hallway. She looked up at the Dimensional Converter. "Maybe..."
"Oh, aren't you a cute Net Savior!" Meiru turned around and saw a bizarre, long-necked Navi clad in green and yellow floating in the air. The floppy petals framing her face fell forward as she curtsied and introduced, "I'm Optic Sunflower, your chauffeur for today."
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Enzan ran down the hall as fast as he could, not even bothering to waste time looking back at the viruses coming after him. "Blues, how close am I?"
"Take a left here and you'll be right on top of it, Enzan-sama." Sure enough, the familiar hum of a Dimensional Converter grew louder as he turned the corner and headed toward it.
He looked around for something to crack the blue cylinder's tough exterior with. "Nothing. Guess I don't have a choice..." He waved his arms at the viruses wandering into the hall. "Oi!"
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The bells on her staff's leaf-like tips jingled as she summoned it. "You're going for a little ride!" Optic Sunflower giggled as she sent a spark of electricity at Meiru. The teen shrieked as it hit her, then fell silent as she lost consciousness. Optic Sunflower was there to catch her before she fell. "Let me take a peek," she told her victim, lifting the PET on her wrist closer.
"Who are you?" Roll yelled as Optic Sunflower began to push buttons. "What do you think you're -" The PET-confined Navi was forced into sleep mode. Optic Sunflower let Meiru's arm drop; the PET on her wrist was worthless to her now.
"All right, take us back," the girlish Navi called. Blue waves of energy swept them up, and they disappeared into the air.
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He quickly dove out of the shockwave's path. Enzan looked up and smirked - the Dimensional Converter was sparking after the hit it had taken from the viruses. The shriek of the receding Dimensional Area was followed by the viruses' disappearance from the velvet carpet. "Looks like Laika has a lot of property damage to own up to," Enzan noticed, looking around at the dents in the walls and the broken pots along the hall.
There was a long moment before Blues said, "I can't believe Laika-san would ever do something like this."
For a moment, Enzan's thoughts went to another person he'd met recently. "A lot can change in a few years," he said bitterly. He shook his head. "We'll see what his reasons are when we've caught him. Let's find Meiru first."
"I'll call her..." The silence from his PET was enough to tell Enzan something was wrong. "I can't find her PET, Enzan-sama," Blues said. "If it's still nearby, there's no Navi inside it."
"Damn it." The elevator was still working. Enzan hit the button for the ground floor with the side of his fist. "Blues, tell Meijin we need a plane to Sharo."
A/N: Gasp! Continuity between the fic parts! If you've forgotten the bit of italicized dialogue Enzan's remembering at the top of this chapter (and I wouldn't blame you, it was posted a while ago), take a look at chapter 22 of Grand Championship.
Also, I've been watching that horrible Marvel Disc Wars thing. If you're a fan of the comics or the movies, you'll appreciate its terribleness. In fact, you may appreciate it more if you only know the movies, because then you won't know who the Wrecker is and it'll make episode 2 look even worse. But I bring it up here because it's got bonus unintentional humor for EXE fans: it features, unusually enough, Mitsuki Saiga voicing a hot-blooded shonen lead character. (In other words, Enzan acting like Netto.) It's also noteworthy for followers of this fic in particular because Kaori Mizuhashi is the Wasp and sounds a lot like older Meiru probably would. So... in short, it's the best kind of awful, check it out.