A/N: Last time, we saw the Runners are about to have a battle with Vanis's bodyguards, who happens to be PKers! Can they able to defeat them to move on? Let's get online with Part 2!

Cheat It: Part 2

Jordan rushed in with her sword and slashed at one of the guards, who ducked and tried to grab her. Jordan then dodged the grab and kicked the guard hard in the gut. As the guard recoiled in pain, Jordan then jumped and hit him with a spin-kick to the head that sent him sprawling to the ground.

Then, another one of the guards quickly charged to Zeus, which he was quickly tackled and was thrown into a nearby cafe table, causing two dating avatars to flee. When he recovers, he noticed a bleeding data-like scar on his left arm and upon seeing the guard that attacked him has a blade on his collar, Zeus became very angry at this.

"Oh, it's on," he said with venom in his voice.

As the guard straighten his suit, he noticed a loud clanking sound and when he turns around, he saw Zeus dropping his katana and change his position to prepare his attack, which he's trying to prepare to punch him or something.

"Huh? Why the heck did he ditched his katana like that?" Calla asked in confusion.

Seeing what he's doing, Jordan guesses, "I know! His secondary weapon is his -Hidden Katar-, as what the name says, is hidden on his only sleeve. If Zeus can charge in and use his -Hidden Katar- skills on that guard, he's toast!"

"But that would make him a PKer? I thought he's not into those stuff."

"It's called a -Self Defense- PK rule. If an avatar kills a PKer, that's considered as a self-defense. Meaning his status won't change into Player Killer if he uses that rule. Trust me, he can deal anything with his katar in a flash."

"Wrong."

The others are shocked at what Itzal just said as Mako asks, "Why did you just said that, Kurosawa?!"

Itzal just answers by pointing at the guard behind him, which when Jordan takes a closer look at him, she was completely shocked to see he's holding a knife behind him.

"Oh no," she said in horror, which the others saw the same thing.

"I don't get with that guard holding a knife behind his back," Aries said in confusion.

"Me too," Calla agreed. "I don't get it."

"I do. When Zeus charges in with his katar, that guard just simply stabs his stomach with that knife," Itzal explained. "I believe that's impossible since Zeus is very fast, but that evil smile of his makes me think otherwise."

Aries now realizes what Itzal said as he guesses, "He's going to hack his own stats."

"Yes. In other words, he's a hacker," Itzal said in a serious tone.

"Oh snap! We got to warn Zeus!" Calla said as she was about to call him.

"Oh no, you don't," the leader of the guard said. "Vocal Constriction!"

With that, the leader creates a thorn whip-like aura, which it wraps around their throats before it disappears. When the Runners tried to speak, they found themselves unable to and feeling a pain in their throat when they tried.

"Just try and warn him now, wiseguys," the leader quipped as he and the other guards cackled evily.

"Drat! Even if he has -Battle Premonition-, he can't predict that attack on time!" Itzal thought as he painfully tries to talk, but to no avail.

"Bring it on, Mr. Twinkle-Star," the guard said.

"Oh most certainly, lunkhead," Zeus said angrily as he charged in with his katar.

"I got you now, kid!" the guard thought as he prepares himself to stab him.

But suddenly, Zeus suddenly stopped running, much to the guards and the Runners' shock. And then, his hand where his katar supposed to be starts to glow a white aura around it.

"WHAT?!"

Zeus just simply smiles at the guards and shouts:

"Solar Blast!"

Shouting an unknown custom skill, he shoots off a white light blast onto the guard, causing him to stand firm for a few moments before falling backwards to the ground, unconscious, much to the others' shock.

"One tip, next time someone has his hand behind their back, watch the hand," Zeus said to the unconscious guard.

As the Runners stared in shock, Amica secretly approaches to them and quietly roars at them. Before they turned around to see her, green aura starts to envelop them, which they start to feel a calm wave of relief as Jordan now spoke up, "Amica! Hey, I can talk again!"

"Me too!" Calla said.

"Me three!" Mako said.

"Looks like that little furball can heal status ailments just like Kani's subclass!" Aries guessed, which Amica roared in approval.

"Good job, Amica! Now time to clean these jerks off!" Itzal said in determination.

"I'm on it! Stay back, guys!" Mako said as she puts her sword back into her inventory and quickly summons a big black steampunk-modern-mixed-designed cannon barrel with the size of the tree.

"Whoa, Black Rock Shooter reference," Jordan said in shock.

"She ain't kidding when she said she's a big fan of Hatsune Miku's songs AND that song," Calla put in.

Mako then aims her cannon to the guards and shouts out, "Rapid Gem Blast!"

With that, she used her cannon to rapidly fire gems at the guards, who all scrambled for cover.

"Now time to erase these guys!" Itzal said as he readies his scythe.

"Uh, before you consider to use that trump skill of yours..."

She puts her cannon back into her inventory as she summons back her sword.

"Prepare for a boost everyone! Remix Aid!"

At that moment, a large musical-theme dice appeared in her hand, which she rolled. After a few moments, it landed on G clef, which boosted their attack by 40%.

"Okay, guys, lets end this," Jordan said as she raised her sword. "Frost Slash!"

"Shadow Rush!," cried Itzal.

"Supernova Slash!," cried Zeus.

"Whirlwind Slash!," Calla called.

"Sledge Smash!," Aries shouted.

"Space Slash!," Mako called.

They, boosted by the -Remix Aid-, flew at the guards hitting them hard with their blows and slashes. They hit them so hard in fact, that the guards were sent flying high into the air. As the Runners watched, the guard screamed as they flew high and out of sight, leaving a twinkle in the sky.

"Huh, reminds me of Team Rocket blasting off in Pokemon," Jordan said.

"Well, apparently Vanis doesn't want us investigating him," Calla said.

"Yeah, this has to mean he's behind this," Layla said.

"Most likely," Itzal said with a yawn. "But I'm tired. We best log out for now, we still have many midterms tomorrow."

"Right, we'll pick up this investigation tomorrow," Jordan said. "Runners, LOG OUT!"

The next day at school, the gang, minus Bren and Andre were walking in the halls talking about the fight in ULO.

"So this Vanis guy really is bad?," Kani asked.

"Why else would his men tell us to back off from investigating," Itzal said.

"Well we're gonna keep at it," Jordan said. "No way are we gonna let this jerk cheat anymore avatars out of their earned victories and winnings."

"Speaking of which, I have my English midterm with Lena in 10 minutes," Kani said. And I'm gonna make sure she doesn't cheat this time, 'cause I have a plan. See ya later, guys.

"Good luck, Kani," Zeus said as Kani left."Speaking of which, I wonder how Bren's doing?"

Suddenly, they saw Bren and Andre at the latter's locker, and walked over to them. Getting close enough, they saw a familiar looking tricked-out helmet on Bren's head.

"Is that…," Calla asked.

"Yep, the Cram-Master Visor Helmet!," Andre said. "Bren said that cramming the old fashioned way was taking too long, and giving him a headache, so he asked me to loan him the helmet to help him study."

"And it's amazing guys!," Bren said loudly, as the helmet's visor screen displayed facts, pictures, names, dates, and all other kinds of info, and describing them with a computerized voice. "Looks like I won't have to cheat after all!"

"What's with the shouting?," Zeus shouting.

"Sorry, it's a little loud," Andre said. "But it helps his brain learn subconsciously, so he doesn't have to do a thing."

"Well, I'm outta here to learn guys," Bren said as he walked off wearing the Cram-Master. He then bumped into a locker, shook it off and continued walking, bumping into more stuff along the way as the others watched.

In Classroom #222, the teacher, Mr. Farber had handed out the exams and the class started them. Lena, once again, started trying to cheat off Kani's exam. Kani, however, was wearing a large sombrero, to hide her answers from Lena. This worked for a while, until Lena grabbed a fan and used it to blow the hat off Kani's head, to her shock. As Lena then started copying Kani's answers again, Kani could only clutch her head in annoyance and dismay.

"Ugh, I almost had her that time," Kani said back in the Mid-School Zone with the rest of the gang.

"Don't' worry Kani, you're getting even closer," Itzal said. "You'll get her on the next one."

"I hope so, because if I don't stop Lena before the end of this week, she'll never stop cheating off me."

"Speaking of which when do we get back into ULO to continue our investigation," Layla said.

"Later today," Jordan replied. "Wonder how Bren's doing?"

Suddenly they gang heard a scream. They all ran outside just in time to see Bren get thrown out of the girl's bathroom, having accidently walk in, due to the Cram-Master obstructing his vision with it's pop-ups.

"Bren, what were you doing in the girls' room?," Jordan said as she and the other came over and helped Bren up.

"I must've walked in there by accident," he said. "I can't really see with this thing on flashing these images into my brain."

He took the helmet off and handed it back to Andre, "I think I'd rather fail than go in the ladies' room again."

Suddenly, a light bulb went off in Kani's head. She'd finally thought of away to stop Lena's cheating!

"Bren, you just gave me the perfect idea to stop Lena's cheating once and for all!," Kani said as she hugged him and ran off as the others watched.

"Anyhow, Andre, I think I'm gonna go back to the old fashioned way of cramming."

"Well that's your choice, Bren," Andre said. "But know that with my Cram Master, plus all my other inventions and new technology, I can get all the info I need, anytime I want, anywhere I want."

"Anytime and anywhere, huh?," a voice said. The group all turned to see Mr. Bishop, the high school Science teacher, and one of the strictest teachers in the whole school. "You mean like during my midterm today, Mr. Renald?"

"What? No way! I don't cheat!"

"Yeah, Andre would never cheat!," Jordan said in agreement.

"And besides why would he need to anyhow?," Calla asked. "He's a genius."

"With a 196 IQ," Zeus added.

"Yeah, well believe it or not, I had some very intelligent kids last year who cheated just to feel the thrill of it," Mr. Bishop said. "Plus, I might be in my 40s, but I'm hip to all the latest tech, and I'm gonna make sure that you take today's test with no digital help whatsoever. Come with me, Mr. Renald."

"To where?," Andre asked nervously.

"The nurse's office, I know just how to solve this little problem."

With that, Mr. Bishop grabbed Andre's collar and pulled him along with him, much to his and the gang's dismay.

Meanwhile, in the nurse's office, the school nurse, Ms. Goldberg, and Mr. Bishop had forced Andre to hand over all his tech, and made him strip down to his underwear to ensure he didn't have anything tech-wise hidden in his clothes, since Bishop was making him take the test in the office.

"Don't worry Mr. Bishop," Ms. Goldberg said. "Andre won't be doing any cheating today."

"I never was gonna cheat in the first place," Andre protested. "My technology is for studying, not cheating."

Both teachers simply rolled their eyes at this.

"Fine, don't believe me. Then come on, bring the Social Studies on."

"It's science," Mr. Bishop said as he handed the exam and a pencil to Andre.

"Works for me," Andre said as he started the exam with Mr. Bishop and Ms. Goldberg watching him closely.

At the same time, in Classroom #177, the Spanish Lvl. 2 class, the teacher, Senora Gonzalez, had passed the test out. Kani started the test, and after quickly marking the answers on the first page of the test, she sat back and didn't even try to stop Lena from copying the answers from her paper, much to her surprise.

"I knew you'd come around," Lena said. "Popular people like me have more important things to do than memorize trivia. And you wrote bigger too!"

"Yeah, just go ahead, just keep copying," Kani said with a devious smile as Lena continued doing just that.

Later on in ULO, the gang had regrouped in the Town square of Schwarz.

"So how'd it go on with Mr. Bishop," Layla asked Aries.

"I nailed that midterm," he replied. "That'll show him I'm no cheater."

"What about you, Kani?," Calla asked.

"Oh, I think Lena gonna be in for quite the shock when she get's that grade back," Kani said. "So what's up?"

"While you were dealing with all that cheating craziness, Zapper got us some intel that Vanis is going to participate in a soon-to-be-opened quest," Itzal said.

"Which one?," Jordan asked.

"The -Seeker Clean Up- quest. The objective is to eliminate as many -Black Seekers- as you can. The prize is the -Seeker Claw Ring-, great for increasing elemental attacks and defense."

"Whoa, now that's big," Zeus said.

"Which is why we have to enter and catch him cheating and turn him in!," Jordan said in determination. "I won't let this guy get my title by cheating!"

Later, at the starting site of the -Seeker Clean Up- quest, the Runners had arrived, accepted the quest and were searching around for Vanis and his men.

"Come on guys they've gotta be here somewhere," Jordan said.

"Yeah I mean, those guards can't be that hard to spot," Andre said.

"They're not, look!," Itzal said as he pointed to where Vanis and his men were. Vanis was talking to his men and it seemed like he was giving them instructions. Soon after, half of the men split off from the group and ran off into another direction..

"Where are those guys going?," Bren said.

"I don't know, but I have a bad feeling they're about to commit sabotage on behalf of Vanis," Zeus replied. "And the quest is about to start."

"Well we can't let him cheat," Jordan said. "Zeus, you, Layla, Calla, and Bren stop those guys from cheating for Vanis. Me, Itzal, Kani and Andre will try and beat Vanis to the punch."

"Right," the other Runners said. The quest starting clock finally hit zero, and as soon as it did, the gathered avatars headed onto the quest path to start battling their goal.

Ahead of the pack, one of Vanis's guards was planning to dump a sticky substance all over the quest path.

"This ought to stop those dorks in their tracks," he chuckled.

Before the guard can do anything, he was suddenly wrapped by living vines growing from the ground.

"What the heck?!" he shouted in shock until he saw Aries and Amica along with Layla with her cannon.

"Hey, boys! Got a little tangled?" Mako said as she raises her cannon onto the trapped guard. "Here, I'll help you out. Melody Shot!"

Shouting out her skill, she uses her cannon to shoot out a powerful Star-elemental blast to the guard. When the light disappears, the guard fly off from the sky again, leaving a twinkle in the sky when he's out of sight. However, Aries saw another guard trying to get away, which he quickly pulls out his whip.

"Oh no, you don't! Electro-Lash!"

The whip wrapped around the guards' foot, shocking him unconscious. Aries then reeled him in as Amica and Mako looked on proudly.

Just a little more up ahead, 4 more guards had set up a rope to literally trip up the competition.

"Alright guys, here they come. Get ready!," one of them said as they saw the avatars approaching. "1, 2, 3…"

"Vortex Palm!"

A tornado suddenly sucked the guards who were about to trip the avatars as it reveals that Calla made that tornado with her skill.

"Hey, boys. Are you little dizzy?" Calla asked in a mischievous tone. "Don't worry, we'll help you down. Hit it, Z!"

"My pleasure. Supernova Slash!"

With that, a white energy wave emerged out of his katana as it slashed the guards, sending them all flying out of the area and into the sky, leaving a twinkle when they were out of sight.

"Just like Team Rocket."

Later, 4 avatars encounter the first -Black Seeker-, which it's chewing on the wires of the power lines.

"Alright, team. Dragon Formation!" the leader ordered to them as they prepared their weapons.

Unknown to them, two of Vanis's goons were lying in wait for them.

"Let's see how tough they are when they can't attack anyone," one of them laughed sinisterly.

"Leave it to me," the other said as he prepped to make his move. "Vocal Constr-"

Before he can finish crying out his skill, someone approaches him behind, obscuring his vision.

"Hey! What gi-"

He was quickly grabbed by his forehead as the light shines on his attacker, revealing to be Itzal, who is now covered in black aura.

"Mind Blinding," he said in a cold tone. "Intercept your attack."

Now under Itzal's control, the guard instead points to his ally and shouts out, "Vocal Constriction!"

As a result the other found he couldn't speak and found it very painful when he tried. Itzal then used the opportunity to take his scythe and knock both guards out cold just as Jordan and her group arrived.

"Good job, Itz! But less detours, more chase to Vanis!" Jordan said to him as they continue to pursue Vanis.

Meanwhile, Vanis and his remaining bodyguards had just beaten another -Black Seeker-, but the former was frustrated that many players were still in the game.

"What are those idiots doing?," he growled. "Why are there still more players here?"

"Oh, they're probably just laying down on the job," Jordan said as her group approached them.

"Actually that's just what they're doing as we speak, courtesy of us," Zeus said as he and his group came from another end.

"Well, I must say, you so-called Runners really know how to get under my skin," Vanis said.

"We'll that's how we roll," Bren retorted. "And we are shutting you down and your operation down forever."

"You fools, I will soon rule this online game that has all these other lousy excuses for gamers!" Vanis gloated to the Runners. "I can do whatever I want, whenever I want!"

"'Lousy excuses for gamers'?" Zeus repeated in confusion, until he realizes who said that. "Hang on a second, I know one person who just said those same words to me! Don't tell me..."

"YOU'RE SIMON SANFORD!"

"How do you know my real name?!," Vanis asked in shock.

"Never mind that," Jordan said. "Your days of cheating, sabotage, blackmail, extortion and intimidation are over!"

"That's what you think!," Vanis said.

He then quickly pulls out his sword as he shouts, "Inferno Wave!"

Vanis's sword quickly gave out a wave of fire, pushing the Runners back as his recovered guards grabbed them. The Runners then try to struggle out of their grip, but to no avail.

"Now to dispose of you pests permanently," Vanis quipped with an evil cackle.

A/N: Oh no! How will they able to escape Vanis's cheating plans this time? Review and stay tuned!

And in other news, another Project: Arcanum teaser is up, along with another goal! If you guys reached 150 hits before Saturday, October 5, another teaser will put up. And if you guys reached 200 hits, a special character sketch or colored artwork is waiting in dA! So what are you guys waiting for? Share it to your friends and time to reveal what Project Arcanum is all about!