One after the other, R-Blues cleaved a pair of fat bullets in two with his Samurai Sword, leaving them to explode harmlessly behind him as he dashed toward Vava. The purple Navi hadn't stood a chance under his opponent's onslaught. With a yell, R-Blues brought the Samurai Sword down on Vava's head, ripping through the Navi's body. Vava's two halves fell to the ground, lifeless.

"That's got your bodyguard taken care of," the swordsman said, turning to Laika. "Now, tell me where -" He didn't know what had happened until he was on the floor and Vava was on top of him, showing no signs he'd ever been cut in two.

"You can't just cut me down and expect me to give up! You'll need to go a little deeper than that," Vava taunted, grabbing R-Blues by the head and smashing him into the ground. The knock stung, but it didn't daze him thanks to his helmet.

"That can be arranged." R-Blues threw a punch at Vava, but the larger Navi caught it. His other hand also formed a fist, but this one didn't go anywhere; a many-sided polygon formed over it, and a Long Blade shot out, burying itself in Vava's throat. The Navi gasped, scrabbling at the blade. R-Blues ripped it to the side and out, leaving a long gash behind. With Vava not pushing him down, the red swordsman could draw his legs up to his chest and deliver a solid kick to Vava's purple armor with them, sending the Irregular staggering back. He wasted no time getting to his feet, letting the Long Blade disappear from his hand. "Sword, Wide Sword, Long Sword!" Vava was leaning over, still clutching his throat as the Sword and Wide Sword were bonded together into a blue-white beam of energy. With a growl, the purple Navi trained his cannon on R-Blues as he swung downward, creating a wave of light that swallowed Vava whole. By the time it dissipated, nothing could be seen of Vava. R-Blues turned to Laika, who was still smirking.

"You must be thinking, 'There's no way he could come back from that.' However, if you would just turn back around..."

"No way!" Particles were flying through the air, stopping in the place where Vava had been incinerated. Before long, they were knitting themselves into half-shapes and stacks of internal programs. The last hole in Vava had pieced itself together before even half a minute had passed.

"I'm afraid so. You see, as long as I'm connected to the Internet, Vava cannot fall." He showed R-Blues exactly why he'd opted for a larger hat when he removed it. There was a slit cut in its back. Two wires extended from the back of his seat, through the hat, and into two knoblike ports on either side of his head. Enzan had no doubt those ports were attached to his brain. "And as you can see, I'm always connected." He unclipped the hat from the wires with unconcern, setting it to the side, then looked over at his enemy. "What's the matter? You look a little pale. Aren't you going to tell me it's disgusting?"

He got no answer for a moment. "What are you?" Enzan asked.

Laika's face twisted into a smug smile. "Now, what kind of question is that? I'm here, aren't I? My lungs provide my body with air; my fingers feel the smoothness of my armrests… and I remember you so well, Ijuuin Enzan. I am nothing other than human, and you cannot ask me what I am unless you're willing to ask yourself what you are. That is, if you live long enough to…" He snapped his fingers, and Vava opened fire.

0110100101100100011001010110111001110100011010010111010001111001

"Enzan..." Meiru's hands drew closer to her mouth. Now, Vava was in command; he followed up his onslaught by throwing a punch at R-Blues' head, leaving behind a hairline crack in the spiked helmet.

"We can't tell him," the real Laika said as they watched the Navi in his body laugh triumphantly. "We'd have half the place after us, and we can't fight." He explained, "If we can undermine this system somehow, I bet it'll distract Sigma from - what's he done to my head?"

Meiru felt a little less sad and more disgusted with the distraction. It was a bit like someone who'd had brain surgery - around the two ports, Sigma had completely shaved his hair off. "Yikes. You need to grow that back out." Then, her focus returned to the real problem at hand. "I just don't like leaving him here like this against Vava..." Down below, another Program Advance ripped through Sigma's henchman. He staggered, his torso blown off, then stood still and let himself knit back together. "If there was some way to make Vava disappear..."

Laika clearly remembered something, judging from his exclamation of, "Of course!"

However, Meiru was clueless. "Huh?"

"You remember the first time we encountered Videoman, right?"

"Netto was too angry about it to tell me much. Sorry," Meiru said sheepishly.

Laika explained, "Searchman can disable Dimensional Areas from the Internet. Even with Cross Fusion, Enzan can't hold his own forever against something like Vava - if the fight's between Navi and Navi, he and Blues stand a much better chance."

"I agree."

Meiru turned to see who'd joined them and groaned, "Things've just gotten much worse."

"The feeling's mutual." Punk rested his hand on his spiked hip, letting the other arm trail on the ground. "Now that we've gotten the insults outta the way, this place is on full alert. Irregulars everywhere; lucky for you, I took care of a bunch on my way. Thank me all you want." Meiru just waited for him to keep talking in stony silence. "Black told me to give ya these." With a wave of his hand, two spheres materialized in front of Punk. One was red, the other green. He explained, "They're weapons and armor. Won't get installed into your core programming, so there won't be any harm done to your brains. Not that yours'll be in that great a shape to begin with, havin' that nutcase in it," he told Laika.

"How do we know you're telling the truth?" Laika asked. "Sakurai's opinion of you doesn't seem favorable."

"That's because he's a criminal and someone who knows nutcases very well, seeing as he and his Operator are both good examples of one," Meiru informed the other Net Savior.

Punk seemed unfazed by the name-calling. "You don't think I'd tell the truth? Then I'll let the results do the talkin'." He whipped his cable arm out and had Meiru entwined before she or Laika could react. With his fingered hand, he grabbed the red sphere and lightly tapped it on her head, where its glow spread to cover her completely. When it faded, Punk let her go. She was wearing a red helmet, vest, gloves, and boots over her black bodysuit, with white armor around her upper arms and thighs. A white gun with red accenting was sitting in a holster resting on her hip. As Meiru looked over her armor, Punk said, "There, ya see? Not lying." He turned to Laika, tossing the remaining sphere in his direction. "We don't have all day! Hop to it!" Laika's armor was identical to Meiru's, only it was green. A sniper rifle was strapped to his back instead of a gun like Meiru's.

"Well, I guess I have to thank him," Meiru said. "How come he's always useful when we're facing a crisis?"

"That's just the way he works," Punk said. "Now, this place is gonna be swarmin' with Irregulars in a second, so you just get a move on an' let me take care 'a business. Right now, you two need to find those Navis of yours."

"Right," Laika said.

Before she left, Meiru turned back to say, "Thanks."

Punk shook his head in exasperation. "Don't stick around. The Irregulars ain't gonna let up on you for bein' nice!" With a quick nod, Meiru joined Laika in running toward the exit.

A/N: I've been so busy over the past week organizing my room and songwriting that I completely forgot about this! How my priorities have changed. Sorry about leaving you hanging, MI3 and other followers of this story! Hopefully you'll bear with me and I'll try and be more punctual, like I was the week before this.