"Air Shoes, slot-in!" Turboman shot into the air, eyes narrowed in concentration. "Minibomb, chain slot-in!" He resisted the urge to grab the Minibombs; they simply appeared below him and dropped to the ground in a steady stream, effectively carpet-bombing anything below. Kaita had gotten the idea from a history class the other day, and Turboman had agreed that it seemed like a keeper. But in practice, the journey from hand to ground had eaten up valuable time. Before, his opponent had picked him off with a Super Vulcan and followed up with a Reflector, making the attack fail miserably. Now, Ring was cringing away from Minibomb blasts as the field was enveloped in smoke.
"Hey! Watch it, de gutsu!" shouted a deeper voice from the side.
"Sorry, Gutsman!" Turboman called as the Air Shoes chip's effect ran out and he dropped from the air. No sooner was he in his crouch than Ring was swiping at him from behind, having used the smoke to cover her approach. He ducked the first hit and shot his leg back as the second whistled past his side.
"Oh!" Ring yelped. Turboman was pretty sure he'd missed her, and he was proven right when she crowed, "Eat this!" Some of the smoke was pushed away by an energy blast. At such a close range, there was little he could do to fully dodge the hit. It nicked his shoulder as he popped a tire out and hurled it at her, scoring a hit down her side.
"Elec Sword, slot-in!" Turboman popped off the other tire and held it up to defend himself as Ring tried to slash at him from his right. They stayed in a stalemate for a second before Ring drew her sword back and aimed lower. By the time Turboman realized it had been a feint, she'd left a cut on his shoulder.
Kaita said, "We'll finish this off now! Energy Bomb, slot-in!"
Even as the orange-speckled bomb appeared in Turboman's hand, Mary knew what was coming. "I doubt that! Barrier, slot-in!" As Turboman shot forward, Ring whipped her hand up to activate the shield. However, Turboman's speed meant she still received some of the draft as he dropped the Energy Bomb next to her. She was thrown into the Barrier and fell to the ground from there.
As Turboman circled around and the Barrier faded, Kaita called, "Mega Cannon, slot-in!"
Turboman leveled it at Ring's head. "It's over."
"Okay, okay! I surrender! ...For now, at least." Ring grinned as she got to her feet. "Not bad, Turboman!"
"Hey, you put up a good fight, too," Turboman said.
"And I beat you the last couple of times, so I don't have too much to worry about," she said, grinning.
"Well, if that's what you want to think..." They walked over to the window displaying a view of the room outside, where their Operators were exchanging similar compliments.
"I like that idea with the Air Shoes and Minibombs, Kaita-kun," Mary said. "But... Well, if I could just suggest something..."
"Go ahead!" said Kaita earnestly.
Mary smiled. "Well, I thought it would help throw the opponent off more if you threw in different bombs with the Minibombs," she explained. "Perhaps come up with a set pattern that only you know, like 'Minibomb, Bug Bomb, Energy Bomb, Minibomb'..."
"Yeah, so they're more disoriented," Kaita said.
"Or better yet, taking more damage," Turboman pitched in.
Kaita grinned and nodded. "Thanks, Mary-chan!"
Gutsman sighed. "I could do that, de gutsu," he complained to Chisao. "I'd knock them both away! ...Not that I'd want to do that to Ring-chan, of course..."
"Gutsman," Chisao said, "I think they could beat us with their hands tied behind their backs."
"No way! They'd be unable to use Battlechips and..." Gutsman caught the look on his Operator's face and sighed. "I know, de gutsu."
Ring turned away from the screen, and a sharp pull on Turboman's arm made him follow her. "Hey, Turboman, could you do me an itty-bitty teeny-tiny little favor?" she asked.
Turboman got the feeling he didn't have much choice. "Sure," he said.
"Brill!" She ran over to a grassy panel in the corner of her homepage and vanished, Turboman warping away after. He appeared in a large, plain area, the edges of which were swallowed by mist. Ring grinned. "Wait for it... Wait for it..." A text window popped up: Zinger Games presents FarmLand. Now Loading... "Behold!" Turboman watched as first grass, then squares of various crops—colorful flowers, peppers, and pumpkins the most prevalent—then trees of all shapes and sizes, and finally cartoonish animals filled the space.
"It looks pretty nice, Ring-chan!" he said, stepping away from the cow that had popped up in his face. Ring beamed.
"Gosh, Turboman! I'm flattered," she said, bringing up a window and 'harvesting' a square of ripe pumpkins. The crops vanished, and the words +90 Coins floated into the air. "But... that's not really what I wanted. Come on, I'll show you." She ducked between two rows of sunflowers, heading for the right side of the area. Turboman followed her to the end of the row, where the thick wall of mist stood. "Y'see, the problem... is this." Turboman followed her through the white curtain, where another blank space and a Clownman's Farm. Loading... sign waited. "Careful of the sheep."
"What does that—" Turboman ducked as a purple sheep, its wool falling out in patches and its teeth bared, hurtled toward him. When it tried for another tackle, he met it in mid-air with a fist. It dropped to the ground and didn't move. His attacker taken care of, he was free to look around. It was nothing like Ring's farm. The grass was dead, the trees' fruit looked more like daggers, and the crops were moldy-looking. "Someone hasn't been taking care of things here," he said, cringing as a bug unearthed itself from a watermelon. There were more rabid-looking animals on the far side, but they hadn't noticed their visitors yet.
"That's not it," Ring said. "These are ripe crops. Same with the trees—don't go near them, either. The fruit drops off."
"Can't this stuff be deleted?"
"Nope. It's slightly different in code to Navis and viruses. We can stun FarmLand objects, but not delete them, and we can't touch plants at all. This has been happening to tons of farms over the past few days - they're trying to work out a patch and stop whoever's doing this, but they said to keep an eye out in the meantime." Ring grinned at Turboman, who somehow knew she was going to say, "That's where you come in!"
Turboman sighed. "I'm keeping watch for you?"
"No, dummy. With me. As you can see, one set of eyes doesn't seem to do the trick." She bounded back over to the divide between farms, and Turboman ran after her. "It doesn't move like a virus—which farm gets it next is completely random. So I bet it's someone's Navi doing this." She stopped once they'd returned to her farm, holding a mitten over her mouth in thought. "Say, your farm's all right, isn't it?"
"I don't have one," Turboman said sheepishly.
"Whaaaaat?!" Ring planted her hands on her hips and lectured, "Nonsense! Everyone today has one! Or should have one. As soon as this mess is all sorted, we're getting you a farm!"
They were interrupted by two windows opening to show Mary and Kaita. "Ring-chan, you aren't trying to get him to stay up with you, are you...?"
"I don't mind if Kaita-kun doesn't," Turboman said.
"Sure, go ahead," Kaita said. "So, wait a second, what's going on?"
"You know about FarmLand, right, Kaita?" Mary asked. "Well, some prankster's been changing the farms so they start attacking the Navis maintaining them." Her eyes inched to the side as she admitted, "To be honest, I appreciate the help. I wouldn't want anything to happen to Ring, and I know how much time she's put into that farm."
"It's going to be the greatest farm ever! And I won't let it be a creepy farm!" Ring took Turboman's hand. "Now, the work begins!"
0110110001100001011100110111010000100000011000110110100001100001011011100110001101100101
Turboman could see why so many Navis liked these farms. When nothing was going on, it was a pretty peaceful space. The sky overhead had darkened to match the one outside, a deep blue with bright stars overhead. They didn't look like they were arranged like the real things, but it was the effect that counted. It ran on a timer; every five minutes, a shooting star passed overhead. Turboman counted it off, lying on the grass—fifty-eight, fifty-nine, now—and spotted the little dart of light. It was the only indication that time was passing. Otherwise, it seemed like the world had been put on hold. Inside this space, there was no indication of the mysterious fates of the other farms... or of the larger problems in the real world.
"Ring?"
"What is it, Turboman?" she said sleepily from the far corner of the farm.
"How do we make them stop worrying?"
For once, Ring didn't have the fast, lighthearted answer. "You know what?" she said quietly. "I don't know."
Turboman squeezed his eyes shut. "I hate this. I hate seeing him like this!"
"So do I," Ring admitted. "But none of us can ignore what's going to happen. They're out there. The other shoe is bound to fall... or however that one goes."
"I know," Turboman said, looking up at the night sky again. "I guess... even though I wish we could do more, we have to stick to doing what we can." With a little more confidence, he continued, "And right now, that means we've got to stand by our Operators."
"Well, duh, we're their Navis!"
"Just like always."
"Yep," Ring said. "Just like always."
They heard the cackling at the same time. Turboman and Ring got to their feet, Ring dismissing the 'night' and reverting it to higher-visibility day with a wave of her hand. The intruder turned to face them, his snowy white fleece bright in the sun. "More Navis?" he wondered mockingly.
"Or are they—yes, I believe they are!" At about the same time Mary and Kaita reconnected to their Navis, a window opened over the part-sheep, part-man's head. His Operator was wearing a plain, shapeless white mask, creating the effect of a blank head over his plain, black suit. His black tie read 'ROFL' in tiny, repeating, white letters. "Turboman and his trusty sidekick Ring!"
"Sidekick? Who are you calling a sidekick?" Ring asked indignantly.
"Believe me, darling, I know all about you two. The newest champions of the safe and acceptable."
"If you're with Nova, I won't show you any mercy," Kaita said.
"Nova? That... establishment," he said with obvious distaste, "is far too predictable. They don't think hard enough down there. Too organized, too needy. No, I am Mr. Meme, and my Navi Sheepman and I work in pure disorder."
"But... why?" Mary wondered. "Why FarmLand?"
Mr. Meme wagged a finger at her. "Now, dear, that should be obvious. For the same reason you go around spending useless money on useless data... for the fun of it! You're better off spending your time on something with an actual purpose, so why does it matter what I do?"
"Because your 'fun' is no fun for us!" Ring detached her pigtails to hang in a swarm around her. "It doesn't matter whether these farms are useful or not! Ring Boomerang!"
"Do you really think that will work?" asked Mr. Meme mockingly. "Do it, Sheepman!" Sheepman easily ducked away from the boomerangs flying at him. As he stood, the fleece covering Sheepman's head and chest grew larger. Within seconds, he could completely hide his limbs in it, the cloud hovering in the air after he'd tucked his feet inside.
"Here's a Spread Gun, Turboman!" Kaita called. Turboman shot it at the cloud of wool, but it seemed to just sink in without doing damage. He tried again, but it didn't get the response he wanted—the cloud poured out a fast but effective energy beam, sending him staggering back.
"He can store the energy," Mary realized. "We're just giving him more power if we shoot at him." What was more, the cloud was pulling apart, creating two clouds of equal size.
Turboman wasn't sure what to do—and the clouds were starting to multiply faster. "What about swords?" asked Ring.
"Let's give it a try. Wide Blade, slot-in!" Ring slashed at the nearest cloud, which disappeared.
"Well, he's not in that one!" she said cheerfully. "Start poking around, Turboman!"
"Better idea—I bet any solid object'll work. Ack!" One cloud had fired a lightning bolt into the air, sending down a rain of smaller bolts. "That's him!" Turboman realized. But even as he said it, the clouds began to move around, and Sheepman's cloud was lost among the others. "This'll have to do for now. Turbo Wheel!" Just as Turboman had suspected, the tires ripped through the clouds.
Many copies of Sheepman appeared from every cloud except one to call out, "Sheep Stampede!" A flock of angry Molokos burst out of the Sheepman-less cloud.
"I'll deal with this," Ring said, her pigtails already separating into two large, floating discs and eight smaller ones.
"Right! Area Steal, slot-in!" As soon as Kaita used the chip, Turboman shot behind the Moloko-producing cloud. "Long Sword, slot-in!" The red Navi slashed downward, eliciting a shout from the true Sheepman as he was forced out of hiding. His copies disappeared back into their clouds. Sheepman dove for one of them, but Ring's boomerangs tore through it before he could hide again. Kaita called, "Before he can send out more again! Air Shoes—"
"No dice, Kaita-kun," Turboman said, recalling Gutsman's reaction to their strategy. "I'll hit Ring, too."
"I'm fully prepared for that," Mary said with a grin. "Go ahead!"
Turboman stared at her. "What are you thinking?"
"You'll see!"
"All right!" Kaita called, "Air Shoes, slot-in!"
The bombs began appearing below Turboman. As they began to fall, he heard Mary call out, "Fuujin Racket, slot-in!" He looked down to see a broad fan appear on Ring's arm. She sent the bombs toward Sheepman in a massive swarm.
"Plug-out, Sheepman!" commanded Mr. Meme. Before the bombs could destroy Sheepman, he disappeared from the battlefield. "I'll leave FarmLand alone for now," he said. "But my next demonstration will create far more disorder..." His screen winked out, leaving Turboman, Ring, and their Operators alone.
"We did it!" cheered Ring as Turboman landed. Besides some disgruntled-looking animals, the farm looked pristine as ever. "Now, what was I going to do again..." Ring dropped her fist into her palm as she recalled, "A farm! I was going to get you a farm!" She took him by the hand and said, "Come on!"