"Eureka."
The search for the Navi storage room had been uneventful. Meiru supposed that was thanks to Punk and Enzan being much bigger threats than she and Laika were. But if the chamber she was looking at was any indication, that was about to change. Searchman's chamber was identical to the one Laika had been inside, only without as many windows around it. She and Laika walked into the room. From what she could see, it was like a library of Navis. On either wall, rows of white rectangles marked with Navi symbols were shelved away. "How did you get me out?" Laika asked, looking down at the bewildering control panel.
Meiru looked down at the sea of buttons, lost. "I have no idea," she said. "Not with the big one, though..." She screamed as something bright, wide-eyed, and yellow dropped in front of her face.
"I knew you'd come here!" giggled Optic Sunflower as she flipped herself back up. "They thought you'd stick with the big guy, just like they thought you couldn't do any damage." She growled, "Well, nobody fools me! I knew the minute you woke him up you'd be looking to cause even more of a disaster, you hag! Do you have any idea what danger you're putting Laika in? This little guy's critical to his plans, and here you are exposing him to the big, nasty Internet!" To the real Laika, she cheerfully said, "Don't worry, sweetie. This is just a bad dream. We'll have you safe back asleep in no time." In a flash of light, her staff appeared in front of her. She twirled it, creating a quintet of bright sparks. "Shining Ray!" The sparks flew forward, leaving a multicolored trail behind them. When they dodged the attack, Meiru and Laika were surprised to find that their jumps took them much farther than they had before the armor, in this case well out of the Shining Ray's path. The two Net Saviors wasted no time in testing out their new weapons as well. From how she screamed as she went flying into the wall, Optic Sunflower didn't seem to like the new defenses her targets possessed.
Meiru took another shot at the plant-like Irregular as she said, "This is great!"
"No, it's not!" Optic Sunflower wailed. "Bright Bombs!" The bulb on her staff spat out a succession of smiling, winged bombs, which floated toward the Net Saviors. They picked off each one. But once they were finished, Optic Sunflower was nowhere to be seen. Meiru cried out as a huge beam of light struck her in the back, sending her sprawling. Laika turned to retaliate only to have another beam hit him in the side. Optic Sunflower flew back into the front of the room. "Not so smart now, are you?" she taunted as Meiru and Laika struggled back to their feet. The bud on top of the Irregular's staff burst open as she cried, "Shock White!" Meiru was knocked back before she could fire, and she couldn't move for a moment afterward - the damage the attack had done was nothing to scoff at. Optic Sunflower zipped by Laika to take advantage of the opportunity without a care. That backfired when he scored a solid hit, making her reel back and leaving Meiru free to nail her with one of her gun's large energy blasts. "Ugh!" She zipped away again. Meiru and Laika kept their eyes open and their weapons ready. "Just stay out of the way for a second, honey - Optic Jolt!" Somehow, she'd reappeared between the two Net Saviors - and much like she'd paralyzed Meiru at the hotel, she had now left Laika immobilized. She rounded on Meiru. "You can trick him into following you, but I can see right through your ugly tricks. They'll wear off soon enough when you're dead, hag!"
"Ever looked in a mirror?" Meiru fired as quickly as she could, but her gun was built for power, not speed. Her enemy flew away from every shot before diving at her, furious at the taunt.
Suddenly, Optic Sunflower winked out of sight - and reappeared right in Meiru's face. She whacked the Net Savior across the face with her staff. The effect was the same as when she'd been knocked out - electricity coursed through her, though she was only paralyzed this time instead of unconscious. "You may have a couple of cute tricks, but you can't change the fact that you're a miserable hag!" The bud on her staff began to glow as she leveled it at Meiru, still paralyzed. "Get ready for the tan of your life! Shock White!" Meiru couldn't even turn away or shut her eyes against it. Just as the bud was about to snap open, Laika stepped in front of her, rifle raised. Optic Sunflower squeaked in shock, quickly pointing her staff away to blow a hole through the ceiling. "What are you thinking, little guy? You've got to go back! It's not safe to associate with ugly girls!"
"I'm not little." Laika fired into the plant-like Navi's chest, punching straight through. "And I'm not going anywhere." His next shot left a hole in her head. She staggered backward, dropping her staff.
It was only when Optic Sunflower was starting to dissolve into data that Meiru began to get a bad feeling. The Irregular smiled at them, now more genuine, and Meiru realized that there should've been another way to stop her. "Thank you," Optic Sunflower said. "The alarm's already sounded... use the emergency release..." The dissolution reached her head, and she could say no more. Meiru looked at the spot where she'd disappeared in silence, while Laika went over to the chamber where Searchman slept on.
The hissing sound of the chamber shutting off jolted her back into action. She ran over to the rows of Navis. Her own symbol was near the front. When she pulled on the block, it slid out and revealed Roll in two-dimensional form - sleep mode. The pink Navi was quick to shift into a solid form and wake up. "Meiru-chan?" she asked, amazed. "Where are we?"
"Sigma's network," Meiru told her Navi. "It's a long story."
They ran over to join Laika and Searchman. The latter said, "I've found the location of the Dimensional Area. Let's move!"
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Punk was finally starting to be glad he'd come. Between all the sneaking around and all the talking, he'd been beginning to think the fighting would never come around. He was delighted to see that he was wrong.
He raised his shield with perfect timing as his enemy dropped down from above him. The blue Irregular's stinger squeaked against Punk's shield, but he knew this fight was over. Blast Hornet was sent flying backward with a Vulcan, and Punk hurled his shoulderplates up to finish the job with a yell of, "Double-Go-Round!" The Irregular was cleaved in half, and unlike his comrade below, he didn't recover from it. Once he was sure both halves of his opponent had trickled away into deletion, Punk returned to a ready position, waiting for whatever came next.
It was a lot larger than he'd expected. There was a flicker outside, and suddenly the tiring Net Savior below had fallen out of Cross Fusion and Vava was materializing right in front of Punk.
"Good," Vava said. "Fresh meat."
"I was gonna say the same thing! Imagine that!" A flash of red light at Punk's side signaled the arrival of Blues. "Well, Little Red, I'm sure you'll be draggin' your feet after all that pointless fightin' down there, so if you'll just stay out of my way..."
Vava opened fire, and both Navis dashed out of the way. "His close combat's more of a threat than this attack," Blues reported. He rarely rose to the bait; it was the most annoying thing about him, in Punk's opinion. "I'll be giving my assistance for as long as I feel it necessary." A Variable Sword appeared on his arm, and he sent out a powerful energy wave with it. "Sonicboom!"
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Down below the group of Navis, the Dimensional Converter that serviced the Irregular base was sparking. "What's our plan now, Laika-sama?" asked Searchman.
After a moment's thought, Laika said, "We need to see what's going on in Sigma's room before we can say what needs to happen next."
Before they could get anywhere, a window blipped to life above them. It displayed a scrawny-looking young man with dull brown hair. "Ah, I see you found it! Very good!" He explained, "Whatever's passing for Laika out there has already made my acquaintance, so there's no point holding back. Oh, and nice to meet you, little Laika! Funny seeing you here..."
"I'm not little," muttered Laika. "And that thing out there is Sigma."
Meiru crossed her arms as she looked up at the screen. "So, Black, do you even have an excuse for helping us?" she asked.
"Sure I do. Who are we going to gloat to once Nova's plan finishes if you and Enzan aren't there to lose? The kid and his friends are less victories for us than cakewalks, after all." He said, "Now, I'm sure you're planning on going back and helping with Vava?"
"Of course," Laika said.
Black flippantly replied, "Well, that's totally pointless. You're better off going to the storage room, which'll be much easier if you're following my lead."
Meiru sighed in disgust. "You always say stuff like that."
"That's 'cause it's always true." More seriously, Black explained, "It could be life or death for a number of people. Vava's trick is nothing but a clever piece of programming, but the other Irregulars... Well, they're why I was told to investigate." To Laika, he added, "And depending on what I find, getting you back to where you belong could depend on our search as well."
"That's right," Meiru recalled. "How's Laika supposed to get back to our world? I'm guessing I'm connected with the PTS, but what about him? And those things in his head -"
"I'm telling you, all that will probably be a lot clearer after we go do this," Black cut in. His window started to float forward along a blue line that had appeared on the ground. "This way, please!" A little reluctantly, the Net Saviors and their Navis followed.