L & L: Season 3: Episode 14

[Megawoman.EXE]

Author's Note:

Yay!!! The start of a new season and right before I go to an exotic place I'm not too excited about. Man it sucks to be in the military sometimes but that's how it is. With some luck on our side episodes will come out in a timely manner. Anyway that's beside the point. This season is full of surprises and changes for both the main characters. What may they be you might ask, but If I told you that'd be majorly spoiling. Okay now that's settled onto the legal stuff.

Disclaimer:

Megaman and other Capcom characters featured in this fiction are not mine but copyright of Capcom. There are some original characters those are mine and other members characters from here on REO. Events take place one month after the events of Lan and Lyne: Season 2: The Misadventures of Lyne and Bass. Ideas, concepts, and facts come from the MMBN games, MMNT Warrior Manga, and some various other animes. Plus there are some also made up facts as well. There is now also a timeline, and the names I used in this fict is a mix of manga, reality, and game. This fict is meant to be both serious at some points and also funny. Well mostly funny. A Megaman Martini as it were. Shaken or Stirred. Your preference. (Still love that joke.)

:grr: Does she have to have such a long opening before she posts the Episode. This stuff takes forever.

-_-; Yes. That contains the legal stuff so she doesn't get sued for borrowing us.

What has me suprised is that he didn't inturupt her earlier.

:/ Let alone thrown a stonecube at her.

:grr: What are you doing here?

:/ I'm one of the characters in the story. I have every right to be here.

:grr: Do not!

:/ Do too, Lyne's my sister. *Mega sticks tongue out at Bass which starts a fight between Mega and Bass*

Oh boy. Hey wait a minute isn't there something missing?

-_-; Yeah now that you mention it she didn't finish the legal stuff.

I would've if you four didn't inturupt. Can you two pull them apart before they kill each other before the start of the episode while I finish.

-_-; Yes Ma'am

Section for Where Credit is due:
Author: Megawoman.EXE
Editor/Support Author: Zodiac
Editor Backup: Serenade.exe/hotshot, sandman.exe
Charactor Donations: Megawoman.EXE Serenade.exe/hotshot, sandman.exe, Zodiac, sandman.exe's girlfriend, goten8905, neogamer1234, Iceman.EXE, Angel, DeadlySerenade, NeoKnight.EXE, elecguts
Character Requests: neogamer1234, Serenade.exe/hotshot
Artists of the Lan and Lyne Art Thread (<Link) : Angel, Megawoman.EXE, DeadlySerenade

All other characters are copyright of Capcom, and Nights is copy right of Sonic Team Sega. (Request by Iceman.EXE)

And one more extra. For those of you who are new I'm placing a link to the previous seasons in this thread as well.

Lan and Lyne: Season One
L&L:S.2: Misadventures of Lyne and Bass (starts about 3/4 down the page)

Okay, now that's been all said, on to helping Searchman and Protoman.

Enjoy the new Season

Signed,
Megawoman.EXE
_____________________________________
Episode 1: Jawaiian Fishing

~Hikari Home~ Early Morning~ 14 December 200X ~

Megaman awoke to a nice morning and began the same old, boring ritual of waking his brother, but during the thanksgiving holiday he had acquired a secret weapon guaranteed to work on getting his sibling up. He took in a deep breath and then shouted, “Incoming! Connor Snowball!”

Lan’s reaction had become reflexive. He sat bolt upright in bed while shielding himself with a borrowed pan lid from the kitchen. It took Lan a few moments before he realized there wasn’t any snowball and he threw the lid to the ground. “That’s not funny! Those things hurt!” he complained as he turned his back to Mega and took off his shirt, exposing a large bruise on the right side of his lower back.

“Jeez, didn’t you get that during Thanksgiving?” he asked, feeling his brother’s pain through their link.

“Yeah,” Lan replied. He swung out of bed and stomped across his room, going to take a quick shower. Mega recalled their Thanksgiving vacation while his brother was gone. Lan had been teasing Bass about what he had seen during the Havock incident and didn’t let up, despite warnings from several people. That bruise was the prize he earned.

When Lan came back and started getting dressed, Megaman began some of his patented lecturing. “You know, it didn’t help that you were teasing him in the first place. I knew something was up when I saw that. Bass isn’t too fond of that kind of contact with females quite yet. Jeez, he won’t even let Roll touch him. The ghost things made them do it.”

“Ouch,” Lan complained as he pulled his white shirt over his head. “I know, but I’m not sure what to believe. I mean, what we saw was quite believable to me. I swear that Connor is out to get me. It feels like he put a rock into that snowball.”

“As I said before, you shouldn’t have teased him,” Mega scolded. “You could’ve been hospitalized if Lyne didn’t keep him off of you. He is a lot stronger than you.”

“He was cheating anyway by using his navi strength, and this all wouldn’t have happened if she didn’t turn him into a human in the first place,” Lan growled angrily, making his navi jump.

This really has him really upset. Why didn’t he mention this before? Is he jealous that Lyne is giving Bass more attention than him, or does he still have feelings of hate towards him? Mega pondered as he noted the look on his brother’s face.

“Ahem…” came a call from the now open door. “That was beyond my control, and you know it. Maybe I shouldn’t offer you my protection from his wrath next time,” Lyne spoke, shrugging her shoulders. “Especially if you, Chaud, Raika, and Treno are supposed to be taking him on a fishing trip.” She locked a glare onto Lan, making him back away from her before she continued. “So you had better be nice.”

“Yes sister,” Lan said, hanging his head before shuddering at the fact that he had agreed to take a trip with Bass in the first place. Famous really did have a way with words and made it sound like it was going to be fun, not a death trip.

“Good,” Lyne said as she threw Lan’s backpack down in front of him. “Mayl is downstairs waiting for you. Today’s the last day of school before Christmas vacation.”

Lan grabbed his backpack excitedly and stood up. “Thanks,” he said as he grabbed his PET, slung his backpack over his shoulder, and rushed out the door past her. He paused for a moment, realizing she wasn’t following after him. “Aren’t you coming too?”

“I’m a junior and have finals, remember? We only get half days. Besides, I’m waiting on Connor to finish up with what he was doing outside,” Lyne spoke as she led the way downstairs with Lan following after her.

Lan reached for the door and opened it while looking at Lyne. “What’s he doing anyway?” he asked before he received a shovel full of snow in his face. He spluttered and wiped his face off to see Bass facing the other way, clearing the sidewalk off. Lan was certain he heard Bass chuckling while he worked. “Hey that’s not funny!”

Bass turned around and looked at him. “Oh, it’s you. I’m sorry. I didn’t see you there Lan,” he spoke in an innocent tone.

“You did too Connor. Your scanners are active!” Lyne growled, making Bass stiffen up at the fact that he had been caught by her own scanners. “Now get in here and clean up your mess or no hot chocolate,” she demanded, pointing at the floor in front of her. Lan was shocked when Bass threw the shovel into the snow beside the door followed her demand.

“You got bribed?” Lan asked as Bass passed by him. Then the younger boy started laughing. An in-his-face snarl from Bass shut him up.

“Uh… Lan, I think it’s time to go to school. Now,” Mayl spoke as she grabbed Lan, who kept a terrified look on his face as he was dragged out the door.

“Good riddance whelp!” Bass growled as he slammed the door shut after clearing the entryway of snow.

“What’s gotten into you?” Lyne asked in a concerned tone, getting his attention.

“Nothing. But Lan doesn’t have to act like a stupid punk,” he replied as he stormed off towards the kitchen.

“He can’t help it. That’s how he is. Lan’s the stubborn one like dad, and Hub’s more cautious like mom.”

Bass stopped and turned to look at her while narrowing his eyes. “I said Lan. I have no problem with Hub. He respects my space. Lan’s all up in my personal business. ‘What you doing Connor? Can I help? Let me see…’” he spoke mimicking Lan’s voice. “He’s worse then my relation at times.”

“That’s called curiosity,” a voice called from the kitchen. “Something I remember you having once. It drove your father nuts at times,” Haruka said as they took seats at the dinning room table while she brought out some cups of hot chocolate for them to drink.

Curious, Bass took a quick investigative sniff of his cocoa and then relaxed, Raika was right. Warm drinks are good on cold days, he thought before he took a sip. Heh, and being from Sharo, he knows cold days.

“How do you two feel about finals?” Haruka asked as she sat down at the table and joined in with them.

“Too easy,” Bass replied, waving his hand at Haruka before he drank down some more of his hot chocolate.

“Yeah. I feel pretty confident about finals too mom. Connor’s helped out a lot,” Lyne said with a smile on her face directed at Bass, making him blush.

“Aww, that’s really sweet of you Connor,” Haruka spoke as she got up and gave him a gentle hug before taking his empty cocoa mug. His blush deepened, arousing a slight giggle from Lyne.

Just then the doorbell rang. “And that would be your ride to school,” Haruka spoke when she placed another cup of hot chocolate in front of Bass.

“But Mom, we don’t have to be there until nine today,” Lyne moaned in complaint.

“Yeah,” Bass agreed as he watched Haruka leave for the door.

“I know, but he said he was coming over anyway to hang out until then,” she said as she looked through the spy hole in the door.

“Oh,” Lyne and Bass breathed out in unison.

“Oh, it’s Treno. I thought I heard someone else on the phone,” she said as she got ready to open the door. “Come in.” There in the doorway was a young man in his twenties wearing a long winter coat with his arm in a sling. “How’s your arm?” she asked as he entered her house.

“It looks like I’ll be in the sling for another month and a half, then it should be good as new,” Treno replied as he took off his coat and hung it up before he joined them at the table.

Bass found himself feeling uncomfortably guilty. Dark had made him use an incredibly powerful attack on Havock. He remembered how odd it felt to have that much dark energy flow through his system and then release it all at once. As he reflected on the incident, he thought about the forced kiss which brought the insane spirit back to his senses. He shook his head to clear the image from his mind. That wasn’t me, and that defiantly wasn’t Lyne.

“So… Connor,” Treno spoke, snapping Bass’ attention back to reality. “You looking forward to the little camping trip NSHQ has planned for us?”

“From what I heard it was a fishing trip, not a camping one, and might I add this is the middle of the winter.” Bass pointed at Treno. “Not a good time to go fishing.”

“Well we’re going to a secret fishing spot. You’ll see. And the gear will be provided,” Treno said with a grin on his face.

“See Connor, the guys have this all planned out, and even Lan pitched in,” Lyne said, getting a moan from Bass at the mention of her younger brother. “C’mon, he’s not that bad.” Bass just groaned again.

Treno changed the subject and they all just chatted casually until it was time for them to go to school. Treno took them in his car since it was starting to snow again, making Bass grumble. He also felt nervous about Treno’s one armed driving abilities in the snow and was more than relieved to get out of the car once they got to school.

They managed to finish their final tests all within about an hour, which earned them an early release from school. Lyne was quite surprised with herself. She had never flown through her tests that fast. Maybe this is because I’m a half navi now. I don’t know if I’ll ever get used to this, she thought as she joined up with Bass downstairs. Treno had forced them to agree to let him drive them back and Bass had already called him to let him know they were done already. Bass seemed to be listening with interest to a conversation three of the other students were having not too far away from him.

“And did you see that island come up out of the ocean?” a girl asked with excitement and awe in her voice.

“Yeah,” a second breathed out. “That was so totally cool, and that navi ruler guy is so totally hot!” she said with a blush.

“Heh,” Bass huffed out as he watched the two girls just blush and be starry eyed. “Funny. It’s been a few weeks and they’re still talking about that. My brother even has human girls ogling over him.”

Lyne nodded as she watched too. “True, but then again, it isn’t every day you see a mechanical island rise up out of the ocean. When the repairs to it are done, I can’t wait to go there myself,” she spoke with a smile on her face.

Just then, the third of the trio, a male student, scoffed. “Humph! No way that navi is attractive. His armor is too flashy and the colors clash, making him look gay,” he said, waving his hand at them.

“Gay!!” Bass growled angrily as he tried to charge at the male teen from the shadows only to be caught short by Lyne dragging him off by his backpack. “Must – hurt – maim – kill…” he groaned as he strained against Lyne’s dragging.

“We have to get going or we’ll be late for our ride. You did say he was going to be here in five minutes,” she said as he dragged her struggling friend along.

“But that pansy called Nights gay,” he growled as he continued to try and escape her grip.

Lyne stopped and began shaking Bass fairly vigorously until he finally got the hint to stop and look at her. “That guy is nothing but a stupid jerk anyway Connor. Words out here won’t hurt your brother at all, and you don’t need to be avenging him over such silliness. Besides, who knows? That guy might be gay himself,” Lyne said, shrugging her shoulders and walking off, making Bass hurry to follow her to Treno’s vehicle as it drove up. “C’mon. We have to get ready for the trip.”

“Where can we go fishing in the middle of winter anyway?” Bass grumbled as they made it to Treno’s car.

“Simple really, and you two are already packed, so you don’t have to worry about getting ready,” Treno spoke from his car. “Hop in. I’m taking you two to the airport,” he said as they entered his car.

Bass sat down and settled into his seat before his mind registered he’d just heard. “Wait a minute. We’re leaving the country?” Bass asked, looking over at Lyne.

She nodded as Treno answered. “Yep, and you’ll like the destination too. Trust me.”

Bass made an observation as Treno started off for the airport. “They’re making a habit of suddenly shipping us off to other countries, aren’t they?” Lyne thought about it a moment and was left with no choice but to agree.
________________________
~Several Hours Later ~ Jawaiian International Airport ~

Bass walked off the plane onto the tarmac still, wearing his cold weather clothes. He noticed a huge increase in temperature and had to tear off his coat and sweater to keep from roasting. He felt much better once he got into the air conditioned terminal. He let out a satisfied, “Ahhh,” in appreciation of modern climate control as a native walked past him, giving him a thumbs up.

“Cool tattoo dude,” he said before he walked off.

“It’s not a tattoo!” he shouted out, but the native didn’t hear him. “Great, and I don’t have any changes of clothes with me either. Why didn’t anyone warn me we were coming here?” he grumbled as Lyne caught up with him.

“I told you to change back at the airport in Japan, but did you listen…” Lyne started to scold before he looked at her. She was wearing a short denim skirt, white tank top, and platform sandals along with her usual purple hair band and the bandana on her arm.

“She’s right Connie,” Treno replied as he approached them, now wearing a open brown jawaiian shirt over a white tank top, black shorts, and red tennis shoes.

“Don’t call me that!” Bass snapped at Treno.

“Fine then Connor, but you know she’s right,” Treno pointed out, holding up his index finger.

“I would’ve if someone told me we were coming here and not have kept it a secret,” Bass huffed as a group of people came up to them wearing grass skirts and native garb. A few of them were playing ukuleles, dancing the hula, and handing out brochures. A man in a brightly colored jawaiian shirt and shorts was there as well. He had wreathes of flowers hung on one of his arms, and placed one of them around each of their necks. Bass ceased his ranting and looked at the item hanging on him. “Eh… What is this thing?”

“That is called a lei young man. It’s offered by the people of these islands as a form of greeting,” the man explained, apparently understanding Japanese although he was speaking English. “Aloha.”

Bass looked down at the bright yellow and white flowers that now hung around his neck. “Um… Thank you,” he replied, switching over to English himself. He then found himself being drug off by the hand.

“C’mon Connor! Everybody’s waiting,” Lyne exclaimed excitedly as she dragged him along to where the taxies came and picked up passengers.

“Lyne stop!” he demanded as he tried to deter her from dragging him.

“Hey! Wait you two!” Treno called out over the crowd, trying to get the two teen half navis’ attention before he hung his head in failure. “Darn. How am I supposed to carry the luggage with a broken arm?”

“Simply put, you’re not,” a voice spoke from behind him.

“Famous!” Treno said in shock when he turned to see the NetSavior commander there.

“I got here early with the others, and their luggage is taken care of already, so no worries. C’mon. I have a ride waiting for us,” he said as they joined up with Lyne and Bass.

Lyne was jumping and waving her arms while calling out, “Taxi!” She stopped and blinked in mild confusion when a black limo pulled to a stop in front of them.

“Aren’t taxis yellow?” Bass asked after a quiet moment. “And shorter?”

“Yes, but we don’t need one,” Famous responded from behind him.

“Guahh!” Bass exclaimed when he saw his cousin standing there. “You don’t have to sneak up on people like that.”

When the window rolled down, Hal Shroder, the stuntman they’d met a few months before, waved out at them from it. “My if it isn’t the two NetSaviors I’m indebted too,” he said.

“Hal is paying back the favor he owes me from your first case. I just thought I’d make it more enjoyable if I invited everyone who fought against Havock as well so we can celebrate.”

“Cool, a party and a fishing trip. This is awesome!” Lyne exclaimed with excitement as the chauffeur opened the back limo door for Hal’s foursome of guests. They all piled in and the limo drove off to Hal’s Jawaiian estate.
__________________________

The group was escorted from the limo to the entrance of the mansion. “We’ll take your coats and please take off your shoes sir,” the escort spoke, compelling Bass to take off his winter boots.

He’s pulling out all the stops. Why just for us? Bass thought as he looked around after while he took them off. After passing into the living area, he saw some familiar faces. Almost everyone there was involved in the Havock incident. Even some of the navis who had Lyne’s Backup Program installed were lounging there.

Flash was showing off in front of the others in a pair of swim trunks, to the laughter of the other guys. Bass laughed too for a little bit before something odd caught his eye. Yai, daughter of the president of Gabcom, and Anetta, Chaud’s friend, were arguing over a piece of clothing. Seeing them there made him a little leery.

He had to admit, Yai usually had her wits about her, but it was very hard to look at her with that gleam that comes from her forehead. Annetta on the other hand he absolutely didn’t like. She was a little too clingy on Chaud in the first place, but she didn’t have to be so overly friendly with all the older males in the group, himself included.

But he was happy that Anetta did keep her distance from him most of the time. Her first attempt at a hug was actually her last. Bass zapped her once she embraced him, making her back off and keep her distance, and making Chaud mad.

Apparently, Anetta had won the argument and started walking over to him with a smile on her face. This brought up his defenses rather quickly.

“Jeez, can’t you chill out for once? I’m not going to touch you,” Anetta said as she held out the piece of clothing in her hand. “Chaud is letting you borrow this.” She shoved whatever it was into Bass’s chest, making him take it.

“What for?” Bass asked, eyeing her suspiciously. He looked down at the item and spread it out in his hands. It was a plain black shirt with no silly sayings or signs on it.

“Well I think it’s quite obvious that you don’t have a shirt on. So just put it on. Jeez, you’re so weird Connor,” Anetta spoke as she left him while he put it on.

He then looked around him to find Lyne nowhere in sight. “Damn, where’d she go?” he asked as he watched the guys leave to go outside. Lyne came up behind him and gently grabbed his arm with surprisingly little protest from Bass.

“I’ve got something to show you,” she spoke in a quiet tone as she guided him reluctantly out to the upper deck terrace. Once they were outside, she pointed out at the ocean. “Have you seen anything more beautiful then this view?” she asked as she breathed out in awe.

“I’ve only seen Sims like this,” Bass replied as he took in the sights and smells of his surroundings. The Sims never felt like this, and he actually liked seeing the real thing now compared to the sim. “Wow,” he breathed out a relaxed breath before Lyne grabbed his hand and pulled him away again.

“C’mon, I have a surprise for you,” Lyne spoke as she gently guided him down to the beach and out to the dock where a fairly large boat was. Once they were out by the boat, Bass’ curiosity was taken by the water. He let go of Lyne’s hand to go check it out.

It doesn’t smell like normal water, or like the water in the pool at school, he noted as he remembered what each smelled like. It smells like seaweed, or a pile of salt. I wonder if it’s drinkable? he pondered as he bent down to play with it a little bit. It sure acts like water.

Lyne saw him play with the water pretty much in the same way he did when she took him to the pool for the first time. His curiosity of the world that he had been reintroduced to amused her. She’d had her normal life, relatively speaking, until he returned to it, along with Alpha. Bass then splashed the water hard, getting some of it accidentally into his mouth, which made him automatically spit it out in disgust and start coughing.

“Are you alright?” Lyne asked as she rushed over to him.

“Yuck,” Bass replied after a moment. He wiped away the remaining water on his face. “The ocean is gross.”

“The ocean is full of concentrated salt water, and it covers three quarters of the globe. But…” Lyne spoke as she grabbed his hand again. “That wasn’t what I wanted to show you. What I want to show you is in the shed,” she said, dragging him over to a large building located beside the boat.

As they approached, the shed door flung open and the guys were piled out of it carrying fishing gear and a few coolers. Lan saw them standing there and walked over to them. “So you’re getting kicked out too, huh..?” he asked, looking at Bass.

Bass didn’t quite catch the younger Hikari’s meaning and looked over at Lyne. “Kicked out?”

“Well…,” Lyne rolled her eyes away for a moment. “Us girls have a surprise and we don’t want you guys being in the way as we finish it,” she explained with a silly smile.

“So then I have to go too. ‘Cause I’m a ‘you guys in the way’,” Bass said, getting an amused nod from Lyne.

She then leaned in close to his ear. “‘Sides, I think you can show them a thing or two,” she whispered with a smile.

“Lyne, I haven’t gone fishing since I was five,” Bass protested.

“It’ll be fun, okay? The girls made some sandwiches, and besides…” She said before she looked around them for a moment before she handed him a piece of paper. “Hal gave me this. Well I requested he get this. This is so Raika can’t complain. Our surprise is in your hands.”

Bass took the paper and looked at it for a moment in disbelief, “You’re actually letting me to do something dangerous?” he asked as he pointed at the paper.

“Yep. And as I said, that is so Raika can’t complain,” she added with a smile.

“So then you’re making your mom’s recipe for this?”

“Well I have a few things in mind, and I did download the recipes from mom’s cookbook this morning. Now get going,” she said with a gentle shove.

Bass folded the piece of paper and placed it into his back pocket. Lyne turned around and went to go join Annetta. “See you guys later,” she called out, waving at her brother and Bass. She then turned her attention to Annetta and walked off.

“”Hey, Tony! Wait up a sec!” came a call from Alexa, who was running up to the boat. “Gotta’ keep you here while they’re fishing.”

“Oh really?” he asked and then smirked at his girlfriend. “Heh, what did you have in mind?”

Alexa took his hand and smiled at him, then pushed a piece of paper into his palm. Tony looked down at the paper and blinked at it. “It’s just a little shopping list. There are some things we’ll be needing for dinner tonight, so be a dear and get them for us.”

“Aw, what the heck? I’ve gotta’ work?”

“Yep, so go on. There’s a car waiting to take you there out front.” Alexa turned and went to join the other girls, leaving the other teacher standing there holding the list in obvious disappointment.

“That’s not fair,” he whined quietly before he started off on his unexpected assignment.

“Great now I’m stuck with you,” Bass huffed as he turned to face Lan. He then eyed what Lan had in his hand. “What do you plan on catching with that?” he asked, pointing at the pole Lan had.

“Fish of course,” Lan replied with a smile. “A really big one.”

“Not with that. Put it back,” Bass demanded.

“But Raika said…” Lan complained before he was stopped and abruptly turned around towards the shed.

“The only fishing he probably ever had done was ice fishing. Now move,” Bass ordered as he pushed Lan towards the shed. Lyne was right. This is going to be fun.
_________________________________

The girls stood on the beach and watched the guys load up the boat. “Man I’m glad we got you to get Connor on the boat. Thanksgiving was torture keeping him out of the kitchen,” Nina spoke, hanging her head.

“Along with the other guys,” Pyra pointed out to her NetOp.

“Yeah, them too.”

“Well then, shall we have fun while they get dinner?” Anetta asked as another guest walked up to them: Mayl.

“I’m sorry I’m late. I had a really important recital to go to,” Mayl apologized.

“No prob kid. Take up a lounge chair and put some of this on,” Anetta spoke, handing Mayl a bottle of tanning lotion before she laid down on one of the chairs herself and placed a tanning mirror under her chin, followed Nina, Alexa, Leina and Yai.

Lyne just leaned against the balcony and watched as the boat pulled out and headed into the ocean. She could see Bass chasing after her brother, who was running away with one of the coolers of food they were given. “*Sigh* I wonder if they’ll ever get along?” Lyne pondered as Mayl and Jackie joined her.

“Why don’t we hit the pool? Tanning is not really my thing.” Mayl asked Lyne.

“Sure. Let me get changed into my swim suit,” Lyne replied with a smile before she went inside to change.
_________________________________
~One hour later on the Boat~

Chaud and Lan were on opposite sides of the deck, fishing. Bass, meanwhile, sat in a mounted chair in the middle playing with one of the fishing knives by flicking it open and shut. Raika and Treno were on the bridge of the boat, watching over the trio of boys while chilling out. Ken, DJ, Flashman, Searchman, and Prototman were all playing a game of cards in the cabin. Megaman was also outside, sitting beside Lan and getting instructions on how to fish.

Bass watched them for a bit, then shook his head. Lan doesn’t even really know how to fish. He’s holding the pole wrong, Bass thought to Mega, who looked over at him. This drew Lan’s attention to him as well.

“Hey Connor! Aren’t you going to fish?” Lan asked as he watched Bass just sit there.

“I’m just waiting,” Bass replied as he shot a glare at Lan. “You have a problem with that?”

“Uh… no,” Lan replied as he turned quickly away from Bass and returned his attention to fishing.

“You know, the kid’s right Connor,” Treno called down to Bass from the driver’s seat. “You should fish for a bit.”

“Yeah Connor. Loosen up and have a little fun,” Raika agreed.

Bass then crossed his arms and looked up at them. “I’m fine right here. Just leave me alone,” he demanded as he threw his knife down into the dock. It stuck in with a dull thunk.

“I hope you’re willing to pay for that. This isn’t our boat,” Chaud spoke, not taking his attention away from the ocean. Bass grunted in annoyance, then shut up.

After a few moments of silence went by, Lan’s pole jiggled, catching his attention. He pulled and pulled on it before Mega helped him pull in a three pound blue tuna. “Whoot,” the duo cheered as Lan held it up with pride.

“It’s too small,” Bass huffed, making Lan feel bad.

“That’s not fair to say,” Treno argued as Bass got up out of the chair and pulled the knife out of the deck. “Sure tuna get a lot bigger than that, But what were you expecting? Some fifty pound monster tuna?” Bass ignored him and went over to Lan.

“Gimme that,” he said, grabbed part of the line the fish was on, and cut it clean.

“Hey!” Lan cried as he tried to take his fish back from Bass, who de-hooked it.

“Lan caught that fish fair and square,” Mega scolded. “Give it back!” he demanded. “Hey aren’t you listening to me?”

Bass felt an itchy burn in his ears and tilted his head to one side and then the other, rubbing his ears on his shoulders while he worked. He finished the de-hooking and looked Mega square in the eyes. “I heard you, but this isn’t worth more than bait anyway. Stand back and I’ll show you how a real fisherman catches a fish that can feed more than just one person,” he said as he glared at Lan. Bass then kneeled down and brought out his knife again. Chaud watched as well.

Real fisherman. This I gotta’ see, he thought as he watched.

“First you do this,” he said as he cut a few slits in the side of the fish, making Mega look away, but Lan paid full attention. “Then you make sure it’s still alive,” he said as he shook it, getting it to spasm before it decided it wanted to move around. “See, it’s still breathing.”

“That’s so cruel,” Mega whined.

“That’s called fishing,” Bass responded as he put the fish on his hook and started angling his rod as if he was fly fishing. Once his line was long enough, he cast off really hard, deep out into the ocean and sat in his chair with a smile on his face. He watched as his cast went ‘PLOP’ into the middle of a school of fish, which made his smile get even bigger.

“Wow, what an arm,” Treno complemented as he noted the distance while Raika looked through a pair of binoculars. “Did you get a distance on that?”

“No, but it’s really out there,” Raika commented as he lowered his binoculars. He then took a sip of his lemonade that the girls had made for them before they left.

“Whatever,” Chaud said in a bored tone and returned to his attention to his own pole.

Also bored and not knowing how to put his hook back on, Lan sat down beside Bass’ chair and watched him fish. Mega was also curious about how this would turn out.
_________________________________________
~Hal’s Mansion ~ At the Pool ~

Lyne was looking out at the boat through the telescope Hal had set up for her.

“How’s it going?” Mayl asked as she swam up to her.

“Better than I expected. Connor’s fishing now, but he took Lan’s catch to use as bait,” Lyne responded as she turned away from the telescope.

“Are they fighting?” Lyne shook her head. “Well then, that’s good I guess, although it was mean of him to take it.” Mayl looked out at where the boat was, then turned about and returned to swimming with Lyne following after her.
________________________________________
~Back out at the boat~

Lan had been watching for a while when he noticed a familiar shape in the distance near the school of fish. Bass’ smile turned to a look of determination. “Um…” Lan said looking back and forth between the shape and Bass’s face. “Connor, what are you doing?”

“Hush. Just wait,” Bass said as he placed his finger over his lips. “Patience is a part of fishing. C’mon. Take the bait,” he encouraged his prey.

Mega also noted the shape, although he wasn’t quite sure where to place it. It reminded him of something, but he wasn’t sure what. Just then, Bass’s pole gave a violent shake in his hands. “Alright!” Bass exclaimed as he gripped his pole and gave a strong pull. He then stood up and started a steady battle of reeling in the line, then giving it some slack before pulling again. “Grrrrr. Strong bugger,” he grunted through gritted teeth as his catch fought against him.

Chaud looked over at Bass and watched as he moved around on the deck following the motion of the catch in the water. Looking out at the water, he was surprised by how fast this fish was swimming. “What did you catch?” he asked as he watched Bass struggle with his pole, suddenly sliding on the deck as the fish struggled to escape before he suddenly activated his navi armor.

“I want dinner. Come here so I can eat you,” Bass growled as he continued to pull on his pole. When a huge fish jumped out of the water, it gave him a chance to reel it in a bit before it splashed back into the ocean.
____________________________
~Back at the Pool~

Lyne pumped her fist in victory as she watched through the telescope, with Mayl and Jackie using some binoculars beside her. “Dinner’s caught,” she cheered up to the terrace. “Huh? Connor you didn’t need to do that,” Lyne moaned as she watched him activate his armor.

“It’s good to see you put that permit to good use,” Hal spoke as he rolled up to the pool in the wheelchair he was still using.

“Well I figured he could use the exercise. We haven’t seen any action in a while, and this is about the only dangerous thing I’ll let him do for a while,” Lyne replied as she returned to looking through her binoculars.
___________________________________
~Back at the Boat~

“Grrrrr! I said come here!” Bass ordered the fish as he strained against his pole. “I’m hungry, rrrrrr, ‘cause Lan ate all the sandwiches already,” He then slacked a little bit on his pole before pulling again.

“Hey! I didn’t eat them all,” Lan protested. “You all had one.”

“Yeah one,” Bass said as he glared at Lan for a second. “I almost had two. I wonder where that second one ended up, huh?” Lan was quiet, so his stomach grumbled in response for him. “See? You ate them all,” Bass said as he pointed an accusing finger at Lan before his attention was caught back to the fish on his pole. “Guahhh!” he moaned as he pulled really hard, making the fish jump out of the water again.

This made Chaud jump when he recognized what it was. “Shark!” he shouted.

“Yes. Almost dinner time!” Bass cheered, noticing how close his prey was to the boat now.

“Cool,” Lan commented. “You caught one like Mesa can.”

“Who do you think taught me and my dad how to fish?” Bass asked while still fighting. “It sure as hell wasn’t your grandfather.”

“But a shark. Are you crazy?” Chaud asked as he dropped his pole and walked up to them. “Get rid of it,” he said as he tried to pry the pole out of Bass’s hands before earning a navi boot in the face. This started a fight between the two over the pole.

“Hey what’s going on down there?” Raika asked when he noticed the struggle.

“Connor caught a shark!” Chaud said as he struggled over control of the pole.

“Tattle tail!” Bass growled as he yanked the pole out of Chaud’s hands.

“What?! Connor let it go right this instant. That’s an order,” Raika barked.

“NOOO! I’M HUNGRY! GRRUAHHHH!” he exclaimed as he put all his strength into one final pull. This time the dangerous fish didn’t jump out of the water. It was pulled out completely, sailed through the air, and landed on the deck in front of him. Bass held his pole in one hand and held his arms up in the air, boasting with pride over his prize. “I win!” he cheered as he deactivated his armor.

“Fine you win, at least it will make a decent meal,” Chaud huffed.

“Yes! But… considering all the fight it gave me, it should’ve been bigger,” he noted, getting a pair of nods from Lan and Chaud, but just a puzzled look from Mega. It measured about six feet in length and was around 165 pounds, according to Bass’ scanners.

Raika climbed down the ladder as Treno shook his head and turned the boat back towards the dock. “What you just did is illegal,” Raika said as he poked Bass in the chest.

“It is not,” Bass said reaching into his back pocket. “Lyne told me to catch dinner, and so I did,” he said, giving the paper to Raika.

“What is this?” he asked, looking at Bass skeptically.

“Lyne told me it would make you not complain,” Bass replied sharply as he glared at Raika.

Raika then opened up the paper to find a Mako Shark Fishing Permit in his hands signed by Hal Shroder. Bass really liked the look on Raika’s face and the smile he gave was even toothier than normal. Loud flopping, accompanied by a spray of salty water, reminded Bass that he still had to kill the shark.

Raika lowered the paper from his eyes. “Y’know, shark isn’t even edible,” he said, getting angry glares right back at him from the trio of human boys.

“You’d better take that back. The Japanese eat shark all the time,” Bass growled as he picked up his knife. Bass the returned to his prey and found the base of its head. In one quick movement Bass thrust the knife down, severing its spinal cord and instantly killing it. “Let’s get back and eat,” Bass cheered as Raika went back up to the bridge in defeat.

“That’s what you get for not understanding other cultures at times, Raika. I don’t blame you though. The Japanese are a most interesting people,” Treno spoke as they slowed down in their approach to the dock.

Searchman poked his head up through the hole that lead down to the cabin to check up on his NetOp. “What’s going on? We just noticed we’re heading out to the dock. Are we not going to fish?”

“Nope,” Raika said as he handed Searchman the permit paper.

“Oh. Well I hope he had fun,” Searchman spoke as looked over the paper.

“Yeah, a little too much fun,” Rakia said as he cast his eyes down to look at Bass dancing around his prey happily along with Lan. Chaud and Mega were standing there watching, feeling a little embarrassed that they were associated with these two.

“Sometimes I don’t understand brutality,” Chaud commented as he started to put his gear away. “Bass has seemed to have become more aggressive as of late.”

“Yeah, but it might have to do with something that happened on his Undernet Quest with my sister and his brother,” Mega responded. “But at the moment, he doesn’t seam to care that he’s having fun with Lan.”

“Well, I guess that’s good,” Chaud spoke before Lan tackled Bass in a form of congratulations. This made Bass freak out and almost lash out at Lan before Mega came to his rescue and pulled him away in time. Bass decided he was done celebrating and turned away from them to start to work on gutting the shark. This made Mega pale in the face before he touched his PET to jack back into it so he didn’t have to watch.
____________________________

Lyne and Jackie were at the dock, waiting for the boat to arrive. They gave Bass plenty of room to pass by them once to boat had stopped, since the purple-haired teen was up to his elbows in shark innards. He ran down to the shore and jumped into the water, furiously washing himself off while the girls claimed his catch.

Megaman still looked a bit green in his PET when Lan got off the boat with him and the navi complained that he didn’t feel like fishing again. “Don’t know what your problem is Blue,” Flashman said happily, following behind Lan. “I had a great time.”

“You also kept winning,” DJ muttered.

“Hey, I’m lucky at cards,” Flash argued.

“Or a cheater.” Flashman and DJ glared at each other, then stumbled when a pair of arms grabbed them both by the shoulders.

“No harm done chaps,” Ken said, grinning widely. “It’s not like we were playing for money or anything, so let’s just enjoy ourselves, what?”

“Yeah, I guess you’re right Ken,” DJ conceded. “It wasn’t a matter of life and death or anything so-”

“Hey, maybe the other girls are still in their swimsuits!” Ken suddenly interrupted. “Why not let’s take in some of the lovely scenery?” He dragged the two of them off, leaving the other guys on the beach.

“Is he always this… energetic?” Treno asked as he watched them go. Raika just sighed and went on to the house.

“Yeah, that’s Ken,” Bass answered as he came back up onto the dry beach. “Annoying, huh?”

“Hey, what are we just standing around here for?” Lan asked loudly. “Dinner’s cooking. Let’s get inside!” He ran off to the house as fast as he could.

“What’s he in such a rush for?” Bass said quietly as he watched the younger boy dash away. “The food won’t be ready for an hour.”

“But if we don’t go too, he’s going to get into the kitchen and bug the girls, and then dinner will take even longer,” Chaud said to him.

“Then we have to baby sit him?” Bass said with a grimace. Chaud nodded soberly in reply. Bass sighed in annoyance, but preferred getting food earlier to avoiding Lyne’s brother, so he steeled his will for the task ahead.
_______________________________________

For dinner they had Shark Kabobs Haruka style and Shark Fin Soup. Everyone enjoyed the meal and Raika found that he had to take back what he’d said before. In fact, the others were a little surprised that he actually gave Lan a run for his money, eating almost as much as the younger Netsavior. After the meal everyone split up, hanging out either outside at the pool or out on the beach.

Bass was sitting down at the water’s edge, playing with the sand while he looked out into the ocean. He heard quiet footsteps approach him and stop behind him, but he didn’t need to turn around to know who was there. “What are you doing here?” he asked quietly.

“I wanted to check up on you,” Lyne said as she sat down beside him. “You’ve been rather quiet since you got back. Something eating you?”

“No. If there was, I’d kill it,” Bass replied with a huff.

“That’s an expression Connor,” Lyne said as he looked back at her. “I was asking if something was wrong.”

“I don’t know. I’ve been feeling a little strange. I mean, I had fun and all, but now it’s over, I feel kinda’ blah.” He held his hand out in front of him and watched with listless eyes while sand trickled slowly out of it.

“That’s probably normal. We did get a little rushed into fun stuff. It might be jet lag catching up with you,” Lyne suggested. “My, that moon is pretty though. I wish it wasn’t so cloudy in Japan at this time of year.”

Bass looked up at the moon as well and nodded in agreement. It was full that night. Everything around them was lit and the ocean shimmered with silver light. He let out a calming breath and leaned back with his arms behind him in the sand. He winced and sat back up straight when the itching in his ears came back. He scratched at them in annoyance, but they continued to itch. He slowed his scratching when he looked back up at the moon. For some reason he had a strange feeling that this was connected with what was happening to his ears.

“Damn, itchy,” he complained as he rubbed them harder.

“Connor, are you alright?” Lyne asked as she tried to check up on him.

“Leave me alone!” he snapped at her, baring his teeth in a sudden fury. Lyne drew her hand away quickly and backed off from him with a frightened look on her face. He stopped when he saw that face, remembering she had worn it once before, and he never liked it. He lowered his gaze before he got up off the ground and started to walk off.

“Connor,” Lyne called out to him as he ran off and went back into the mansion.

He ignored her and went inside to his designated room and locked his door. “I haven’t seen that face in years,” he muttered to himself as he leaned against the closed door. He glanced over to the open door of the small washroom and walked over to it. He looked in the mirror to try and find what Lyne had seen on his face, but couldn’t see it. He bared his teeth in the same manner as he had a few moments ago, and then the itch returned to his ears, this time painfully. “What is happening to me?” He held an arm over his stomach as it twisted in his gut and clutched the sink with his other hand. “Ooh. Feel… awful.” He turned over to the toilet and fell weakly to his knees in front of it, letting his churning stomach empty itself. “Uhhh, phtooh! Okay, now I feel better,” he said as he got up and cleaned his face off with a towel, then looked back into the mirror. “I must be imagining things. But what did Lyne see that made her afraid?” he asked himself while still staring at his reflection. He then saw a momentary glow of red in his eyes. “Oh man, not that again,” he said as he lowered his head. “I hope she’s not mad at me.” A knock from the door caught his attention.

“Connor, are you okay?” came Lyne’s voice from the other side.

“Yeah, *cough*. I’m fine. Lyne…”

“Yes Connor?”

“I’m sorry for what I did earlier. I didn’t mean to scare you,” Bass apologized before he started up a coughing fit. The doorknob rattled as Lyne tried to turn it, then she started pounding on the door.

“Connor!? Hey, open up the door! C’mon, let me in!” She stopped banging on the door when Bass’ coughing stopped and she waited a moment, breathing heavily in her nervousness. The lock clicked and Bass opened the door, but he didn’t look at her. Instead, he turned away and walked back into the room. She followed him in and looked around. “Are you sick?”

“Not sure. I felt fine after I threw up in there,” Bass replied before coughing again. Lyne checked his forehead for a fever but found none.

“You must have a stomach bug then,” Lyne said as she led him over to his bed.

“A bug? But I have an anti bug program,” Bass protested.

“Programs don’t stop actual viruses outside the internet Connor. But then again, it might be something you ate,” she said as she looked at the bathroom. “But I’m not going in there to find out.”

“I don’t want to find out either,” Bass said as he threw himself onto the bed, looking exhausted.

“You should flush the toilet though. You know this isn’t our place, we’re only guests,” Lyne spoke as she sat down beside him.

“Can’t you do it?” Lyne shook her head and Bass sighed and sat up with a grumble. He went over into the bathroom, then called out, “Um… Lyne? How can you tell what your body doesn’t like?”

“Your body simply doesn’t digest it and leaves it whole. Why’d you ask that?” she asked as she heard a flush go off.

“I was just curious.”

“You looked didn’t you?”

Bass hung his head. “Yeah… I don’t know why either.”

Lyne just laughed. “It’s natural actually. I’ve even looked at my own from time to time. So what was left whole?”

“Um… the shitake mushrooms actually,” Bass replied.

“Oh,” Lyne said as she realized what might’ve gone wrong. “I must’ve not rinsed them off good enough. I’m sorry. That was my fault.”

“It’s okay. I’m feeling better now.” Bass leaned against the doorframe with his eyes closed and sighed. “Heh, it was probably the shark though. That sucker really wanted to get away from me, and it looks like it finally did.” He smiled slightly at the odd thought. His eyes snapped open in surprise when Lyne pulled him into a hug, making him blush.

“I’m glad you’re feeling better,” she said as she let him go. He let himself lean back against the doorframe rather than staying upright. Lyne looked at his red face and smiled, then leaned in and kissed him on the forehead. “Have a good night,” she said, leaving him in his room.

He just stood there in shock for a moment. She just kissed me, he thought as he somehow wandered his way over to his bed. He felt a little dizzy just thinking about why she even did it in the first place, and then reflected on the kiss they were forced to do during the Havock incident. Did we actually want that to happen? he asked himself before he laughed a little. “Maybe we did,” he said before he turned over on his bed and got comfortable. He closed his eyes and let his breathing ease down as he drifted off to sleep.
___________________________________
Next Episode Preview

~Out on the beach~

Author: Thanks for the meal guys. It was awesome.
Lyne: You’re welcome. I’m glad you liked it.
Editor: Wasn’t that the first time you’ve had shark meat Hon?
Author: Yeah, pretty much.
Lyne: What about you Editor?
Editor: Oh, Mum used to make these awesome shark steaks. It’s been such a long time. Never had shark soup before though.
Bass: Well, don’t forget who was the one who caught it.
Author: Yes, thank you too.
Lan: I got the bait for it!
Editor: Thanks Lan.
Hal: And I provided the boat.
Author: Thank you too.
Hal: And the beach.
Editor: Thanks.
Hal: And the house too. And transportation.
Author: Uh, really Hal, thanks for all of that.
Tony: I got groceries.
Alexa: I told him to.
Chauffer: I drove him there.
Servants: We set the table.
Author and Editor: Thank you already!
Megaman: I still feel sick.
Editor: Aagh! Thank you too then!
Author: Oh, I don’t think he was looking for thanks for that.
Editor: Huh? Oh hey, he wasn’t looking for thanks, was he? Hmm, you know what? This probably was the grossest episode, wasn’t it? Fish guts and vomit. Yummy!
Ken: Well, I’m glad I was playing cards then. I mean, the ladies here wouldn’t want to be around me if I smelled like fish, would they?
The Ladies: Oh, we don’t anyway.
Ken: What!? Oh, the pain. The suffering of my wounded heart. I need consoling. *Approaches Lyne.*
Lyne and Bass: Ask the shark for it.
Ken: You are so very cruel to me.
The Shark: Don’t worry. I still love you.
Everyone: … IT TALKS! RUN AWAY!! *Scatters off of the beach.*
The Shark: Don’t you love episode previews? Anything at all can happen. Be sure to check out what happens on the next episode of Lan and Lyne Season Three! Episode 2: Change in the System.
Editor: *Comes back.* Oh, before we’re done, thanks for being caught.
The Shark: You’re very welcome.
_________________
"NetAngel Style Change Activate"
Megawoman (Lyne)

Avatar made by Serenade.exe

And feel free to post here too artists if inspired
Lan and Lyne Art Thread

[Midnight]

Well...didn't expect to see you come on back so soon.

Anyway..this chapter is quite on par with the previous season--still detailed as ever, and now, it shifts to more of an inter-personal relationship between pretty much the entire spectrum of the cast, even if some of the characters are supposed to remain in the background. I enjoyed how you returned the focus back to the humans involved in the story, and yet still managed to keep the spotlight on the main pair of protagonists. Great job.
_________________
Today, these three players are after Big Bucks! But they'll have to avoid the Whammy, as they play the most exciting game of their lives! From Television City in Hollywood! It's time to 'Press Your Luck!'--Rod Roddy

The Kingdom of Loathing: An Adventurer is You! // I ♣ Seals

Avatar by Spork. I very much appreciate it! <3

[Megawoman.EXE]

Why thank you Midnight. Since I'm going to be out of the US for quite a while we, the Lan and Lyne Staff decided that it would be suiting to give it to the fans as a gift before I leave. I'm glad you like it and hope you enjoy the rest of the season. Episode 2 might take a bit before it's posted, but it's worth the wait. I'll see you guys then.
_________________
"NetAngel Style Change Activate"
Megawoman (Lyne)

Avatar made by Serenade.exe

And feel free to post here too artists if inspired
Lan and Lyne Art Thread

[Megawoman.EXE]

Here we go again. A new episode and with some permission the introduction of some familiar characters from another fict whose author let me use them. Thank you elecguts for that BTW, and without further adu.......
______________________________
Episode 2: Change in the System

~One month later ~ Famous’s Apartment ~ Early Morning ~ 16 January 20XX ~

Bright light filled Bass’ room and his eyes fluttered reluctantly open. It had been almost two months since they had last seen any sign of Zodiac, letting the holidays run smoothly. Christmas was fun despite all the times he, Yuu, Famous, and Lan had been kicked out of the kitchen by Haruka and Lyne. He had gotten tangled up in the Christmas lights when he and Lan got too bored and started to decorate the tree. Lan plugged them in and took a few pictures to share with Chaud and Raika, that was until Bass found them and completely obliterated them, along with the digital camera.

New Years was a smoother holiday, due to the fact that it was a calmer time of year and they had used up most of their energy the week before. Avoiding the big celebratory crowds that flooded Toto Tower helped to keep the stress away as well. Bass really wasn’t comfortable with big crowds in the first place, so he especially preferred a smaller gathering of close friends.

Of course, there was still work to do. They had been doing some side jobs for NSHQ. Most of the time, they were doing testing exercises for new NetSavior recruits and their navis. There were also some local net crime cases, but nothing big, especially compared to everything else they’d gone through and were expecting to face in the future.

During the whole time, he and Lyne had more time to hang out with each other than normal, which sometimes got on his nerves. No navis had gone missing or had any programs taken from them in a horrible manner. It looked like Dark and Light succeeded in destroying their old enemy. So did that mean that Zodiac had retreated for good?

“Nah… They’ll be back,” Bass said as he sat up and got out of bed. “Alpha won’t give up that easily.” I should know too. Alpha’s will was what drove me to such hatred for all that time. “Oohhhh! Man I’m sore,” he complained as he stretched before he went into his bathroom to freshen up. He looked into his mirror and grimaced at the disheveled state of his hair. “Guahhh! That is the last time I take a shower before bed,” he growled as he put some toothpaste on his toothbrush and scrubbed the taste of sleep out of his mouth.

So far, it was a normal morning. There was the hum of Famous’ computers running downstairs, and smell of burnt toast. Burnt toast as usual. It’s a good thing he’s used to the taste or he’d never eat. A sudden crash came from down in Famous’ lab, spooking Bass so that he jerked hard enough to snap his toothbrush in half. He looked at it and blinked in surprise, seeing that the head was cleanly broken off. Frowning, he spit the head out into the sink. “Okay, I’ve never done that before,” he said as he put the handle down on the counter. “I guess I’ll have to get another one after school.”

Bass heard footsteps downstairs, then Famous complaining, “Damn monitor. Why’d it fall this time?”

“Huh. Sound really carries here,” Bass commented as he started brushing his hair. He paused and narrowed his eyes when he noticed something slightly odd in his reflection. He examined himself visually for a moment, then ran his hand over his face. “What in the hell!?” he exclaimed quietly when he felt his ears. He turned his head slightly sideways and stared them and the pointed shape they’d developed at the top. “How did this happen?”

After a few moments of examining his ears, he heard, “Oh, no. Not burnt toast again,” from downstairs.

“He only just noticed that? I smelled that a while ago.” Bass glanced at the clock and saw it was almost time for school and he didn’t have any time to figure out what was going on. He ruffled his hair down over his ears instead so they were well hidden. “Well, this’ll do. Maybe next time I use the NetDemon form, I won’t have the long hair cut again.”

He started throwing his clothes on and then paused in annoyance. “Darn birds. Shut up already!” he complained. It sounded like they were right outside the window, so he went over to try and shoo them off. He was surprised not to see any birds nearby. The nearest ones he thought he saw were across the street in a tree. Then he heard the roar of an engine coming from down the street and looked to see what was making it. “That’s not right. That car’s too small to be making that much noise.” He closed the window, but there was still so much noise. Birds and cars outside, a couple of people talking as they walked by the apartment, the hum of the power running through the house, and the tapping of water dripping into the sink. What’s going on? He pressed his hands over his ears to block the noise, but it wasn’t working. It was actually continuing to get worse and Bass ended up grabbing the clock from his counter, pulling its power cord from the wall, and throwing it against the wall so he wouldn’t hear its buzzing, but with all the other noises, he ended up wrapping his arms around his head and kneeling down with his head on the floor, and this was how Famous found him when he came up to find out what had hit the wall.

“What’s wrong, Connor?” he asked as he went over to try and get Bass up off of the floor.

“Make it stop,” he responded. His eyes were tightly shut, like he was in pain. “So much noise… Make it stop!” he demanded before he curled up onto his side miserably.

“What noise?” Famous asked. Bass didn’t respond to his cousin’s question. The teen was tensely clenching his hands and unclenching them while he let out a deep-throated growl. Famous was alarmed by this behavior, and then he thought about what Bass had said. This can’t be happening again, he thought as he went to search the medicine cabinet in Bass’ bathroom. Where is it?? I could’ve sworn there was some here.

After a bit of frustration and having thrown a few bottles onto the floor, he finally grabbed what looked like a small, clear, crystal spray bottle with a purple fluid inside it. Here it is, but I really hope his problem isn’t what I think it is, he thought as he prepared to spray Bass in the face with the substance. He let out a little squirt of the substance in front of Bass’ nose, and this did seem to have a calming effect on the young teen. “Great,” Famous said as he placed the bottle in his pocket.

I haven’t had to use this stuff on him since he was a little kid, and a digitized substance during his berserk incidents when he first became a navi. I wonder why he’s having problems now. He shouldn’t be having these problems at all, he thought as he tried to lower Bass’s arms from the sides of his head.

This attempt brought Bass back to his senses. He didn’t want Famous to see what happened to his ears, so he took what he thought was a reasonable defensive action: he tried to bite his cousin. This earned the half navi another squirt in the face, making him cover his nose. “At least this stuff still works,” Famous commented before he went back to pulling down Bass’ arms. When he noticed the ears that Bass was trying to hide, his eyes went wide in shock. “I thought so, but how is this even possible?” he pondered as the then went to investigate Bass’s hands and then his teeth. Good there’s no claws, but those eyeteeth are definitely sharper, he thought as he stood up and placed his hand on his chin. But then again, they looked like that after his last berserk episode, so I’m not too worried.

Bass then backed up into one of the corners away from Famous, covering his nose. “What is that stuff?” he asked in a daze, not sure what had just happened. He then realized that the noise had stopped.

Famous threw the bottle up and then caught it. “It’s something used to calm your senses down. You want to tell me what’s going on Connor? You shouldn’t be having these problems. Your father, Yuu, and I saw to that years ago.”

“How am I supposed to know what problems I’m having? You tell me what’s happening to me,” Bass demanded as he stood up and pointed at Famous.

Famous then hung his head and shook it. Of course he wouldn’t remember what happened in his fits. He was little when he had them. “You’re a demon Connor.”

“I know that already,” Bass huffed. “Nights told me already. That’s one of the reasons I ended up going on his silly crown quest in the first place.”

“Yes, but now its becoming more obvious. Your body’s been maturing the whole time since you’ve become human again.”

“Isn’t that normal?” Bass asked. “All human’s bodies mature as they grow up.”

“True and the same goes for demons. You have demon blood in your veins and that’s what’s making you change. But this shouldn’t be happening,” Famous explained as Bass went back to the mirror to fix his hair over his ears again. Remembering that Famous had been messing with his mouth, he frowned over at his cousin, then looked at his teeth, now seeing the fangs that his cousin had noticed. “We removed that DNA from you when you became a navi, but that was after your first berserk incident. There were a few things we couldn’t remove, but a good majority of the appearance factors were removable.”

Bass poked his finger on one of his teeth curiously, then jerked it back and looked at the droplet of blood form that formed at the end of his finger. He then reflected on what his relation had just said. They removed the demon DNA from me back then, but what happened to it? he pondered as he then reflected over the Havock incident. Dark forced him to go through an upgrade, and maybe this was a side effect of it. “Kay, if you removed it, where did it end up?” he asked, wanting to check his theory. “How come I got it back? Did you put it on a chip?”

“No. The file was put in your father’s care. I have no idea what he did with it, but I’m guessing somehow you got it back between the time you went down to the Undernet and yesterday. But now the problem is that you still have to go to school.”

“Why don’t you call me in sick?” Bass asked, giving Famous a disgusted look.

“This time it’s not that bad, but next time I might consider it. How are you actually feeling?” he asked, crossing his arms over his chest, demanding an answer.

Bass looked away from Famous and scowled. “Fine,” he huffed.

“And you should be with those couple of squirts I gave you. It will wear off slowly, giving you enough time to adjust to how much your senses increased just recently. Which means you’re still going to school. No buts,” he said, ending a protest Bass was about to start. Satisfied that his younger cousin was done, he started walking out of the room.

“Oh man,” Bass whined and then looked at Famous. “How did you know to use that stuff on me though?”

“You had fits like this when you were younger,” he replied. “This is the last bottle of it too. I don’t even remember what it’s called, but here,” he said, giving it him. “It’s yours. If you even feel a fit coming on at school, just give yourself a squirt in the face. Just one. I don’t want you going numb on me, cause that is what too much of this stuff will do to you. Get ready for school,” he ordered as he headed for the stairs. “Plus, I also want to see you at SciLab after school.”

“But… I promised,” Bass protested as Famous held up his finger.

“This is more important than playing tutor to your partner. Now get ready for school,” he said as he turned and went down the stairs.

“Bu…”

“NOW!”

“Yes sir,” Bass mumbled, before he finished dressing. Once he finished, he noticed his ears were sticking out more from the sides of his head in an alert manner. “Great,” he grumbled as he searched his room for his black stocking cap. Once he found it, he pulled it onto his head. “I just hope they don’t get any bigger.”
_____________________________
~Later that day ~ Lunch Time ~ ACDC School Cafeteria ~

Bass was sitting down at the usual table with his friends and Lyne. Lan and his gang hung out at another table. He was still wearing his hat, even though Lyne had tried to make him take it off before he showed Lyne a note from Famous saying he could wear it.

At the moment, he was enjoying his meal along with everyone else. Jackie was talking to DJ and Ken about the project they had to do for INVNB. Lyne bragged that they had their project done, which they did, but he wasn’t interested in giving his two cents about the project.

His attention was caught by a conversation that was happening clear across the room by the snack machines. This was about a test that the student in the group supposedly took earlier in the day. He then turned his head to look around the room and found another conversation. This one was about some of the girls in school, Boring, which made him search for another conversation. He found onem but this time it was about how much the faculty sucked.

This is pretty cool, he thought as he did another scan of the cafeteria. He then noticed a slight movement across the room. Heem hee, it’s about time that mouse figured out its cage was open. Now to see how the teachers will react. Mainly Mrs. Doran. He then relaxed in his seat, leaning his back against the table to watch his prank unfold while the mouse neared the table. He chuckled out loud, getting Lyne’s attention.

“Connor, what’s going on?” she asked in a confused tone.

“Oh nothing,” he replied as his intended target jumped up on top of the facility table, obviously spooked by something. Bass covered his mouth up and laughed as he watched Mr. Lee chase the mouse around with a broom and Mr. Harris, the Biology/Chemistry teacher, follow after him, pleading for him to not kill the mouse.

Just then Bass got smacked in the arm. “Shame on you. That’s our English teacher. You know she’s afraid of mice,” Lyne scolded before she smacked him in the arm again. “What’s gotten into you?”

Bass looked at her in surprise for a moment before he tried to think of something, and merely shrugged his shoulders in response. Lyne then huffed, got up, and left the table with her tray and backpack.

“Smooth…” Ken said as he watched Lyne storm off. “Looks like your Oni behavior strikes again. You’d better go apologize to her,” he said as he tilted his head towards the direction Lyne had left.

Bass then looked over at DJ and Jackie, who both nodded their heads. “But I didn’t do anything wrong,” he protested as he noted harsh glares. “Well, except for making Mrs. Doran dance about on the faculty table,” he whispered back to them, getting nods again. “C’mon, you know how boring it is not having Zodiac around to harass us,” Bass said, trying to look reasonable only to receive even colder glares in return, making him look away from them. Just then the bell rang.

“And that’s the bell,” Jackie said as she got up from the table. “Let’s just hope that Mrs. Doran doesn’t spaz out in our class,” she said, putting a hand on Bass’s shoulder, making him shudder in discomfort before she left.

“Oh man,” he moaned as he grabbed his books and followed after her to their English class.
____________________________
~After School~

Lyne was waiting for Bass to meet her down in the locker area near the entrance of the school. Bass had promised to help her with her trig homework today. Due to an unexpected apology from him after English class, she had forgiven Bass for what he had done to Mrs. Doran. She sat on one of the benches, kicking her feet as she waited.

Once she saw him come towards the entrance, she waved at him. As he approached, she watched him pause for a moment and spray a strange mist onto his face. Once he was close, she asked, “Do you have a cold Connor?”

Bass then realized he had the bottle in his hand and Lyne must’ve seen him use it. He had to come up with an excuse fast. “Um… ah… My sinuses are a little clogged. Famous gave this to me to clear them up a bit.”

Lyne huffed and crossed her arms. “You lied to me. You are sick,” she said as she grabbed his hand and started dragging him along. “You’re coming over to my house pronto to have a cup of broth.”

Bass stiffened his joints to make her stop her dragging him. “Lyne, I can’t come over today,” he said, hanging his head.

“But you promised we would do homework at my place today.”

“I know, but something came up, and my relation wants me to go to SciLab today after school,” he said as he now looked away from her.

Lyne then placed her hand on his shoulder, which made him flinch a little, hoping not to be hit like he was earlier. She then made him look at her. “I hope it’s not too serious. You know, like a virus,” she said in a soft voice as Famous’s van pulled up.

She thinks I have a computer virus? Bass thought in shock as he heard her tone. “Don’t worry, I’m fine,” he said as he placed his hands on her shoulders, “but I have to go.”

Lyne looked behind her at the van, and then back at Bass. “Well, I guess I can skip over the assignment since it’s not due for a couple of days. I have some other business I have to attend to at SciLab. You think Famous can give me a ride?”

Bass shrugged his shoulders. “I don’t see why not.”

Lyne then hugged him tightly. “Thank you,” she said before she let go of him. “Let’s go,” she said before she raced him to Famous’s van.
______________________________

On the drive to SciLab, Lyne talked Bass into helping her with the trig homework, which made him groan due to what she had said earlier about skipping it. They managed to get it done before the van came to a stop in the SciLab parking lot.

“Okay, we’re here,” Famous said as he looked into the back, where Lyne and Bass were sitting. The two got out first, followed by their commander.

“So what do you have to do while you’re here?” Bass asked.

“Oh, I just have something I’ve been meaning to talk to dad about since Halloween. Finally getting around to it,” Lyne replied when they entered SciLab.

“Then what?” Bass asked.

“I’ll take my bike home,” Lyne replied. “I forgot to bring it home yesterday, since dad drove me home.”

“If you were here yesterday, why didn’t you tell him then?” Bass asked as he stopped in an intersection.

“I forgot alright? Jeez,” Lyne huffed as she went off in the direction of her father’s lab.

“She’s been asking what’s gotten into me. What’s gotten into her?” Bass asked, noting how moody her response was.

“Don’t worry about that now. Off to the DA Testing Area now,” Famous ordered.

“Why there?” Bass moaned.

“Easiest way to check your DNA Matrix,” Famous said as he forced Bass to walk down the hall.
_______________________________

Lyne approached her father’s lab, noticing all the assistants moving about in a busy manner. As one passed her, she grabbed his arm. “Is my father in?” she asked, getting the assistant’s full attention.

“He should be,” he replied. “Your father hasn’t left his lab all day.”

“Good, thank you very much Marcus.” She let go and made a beeline for the entrance to her dad’s lab.

Once outside the door, she paused for a moment before pushing one of them open. I’m doing this for you Kuri-chan. I promised to look into this for you, and I will keep my word, she thought as she went inside to see her father wearing shaded goggles over his eyes while looking over a chip under a magnifying glass and using a pen-sized welding torch on it.

“Dad,” Lyne said quietly to get her father’s attention without startling him from his intricate work.

“Come on in,” he said in a tired tone, not looking away from his current project.

“Dad, I really have to talk to you. It’s important,” Lyne said as she walked in to stand beside him.

He put down his pen torch and placed his goggles on the top of his head, revealing his glasses. “Sure honey. What do you want to talk about?” he asked as he faced her.

Lyne stood there nervously for a moment before she found her confidence again. “I want to see Neta. Kuri mentioned in a recent e-mail that she was here at SciLab getting cured of a virus,” she said before she placed her hands together in a pleading way. “Please dad,” she begged.

Yuu pressed his right hand to his temple before he shook his head and went back to work. “No,” he responded. “She’s not been cured of the virus yet. I don’t want you getting infected.”

“But Kuri said it was stabilized to where navis could interact with her,” Lyne protested.

This made Yuu stop what he was doing once again to look at her. “I said no Lyne. You’re a half navi, which means your programming is different from a normal navi. I forbid you going to see Neta. Not until she’s cured.”

“But I can help. Please dad. You’ve done nothing to help her in the past few months,” Lyne argued back.

Yuu stood up now, looking sternly at his daughter. “I’ve done what I can right now. And the answer is still no. Now go home and we’ll discuss this topic later.”

Lyne started to tear at the corners of her eyes before she ran away from her father. She turned to face him once more before she exited the lab. “You’re so heartless,” she cried as she exited.

“Lyne wait!” he called out as he chased after her only to find an empty hallway outside his lab. “Oh great,” he said as he started his search SciLab for his daughter.
________________________________
~DA Testing Area~

Famous looked up from the terminal at Bass. “Okay, try again,” he said, gesturing at an active DA.

Bass shook his head. “No! I’ve tried this like twenty times already. I haven’t been able to even activate my armor inside the blasted thing. What makes you think it’ll activate if I try to pass through it? I can’t even jack in!”

“I know, but we’re trying to fix it. So try again,” Famous replied.

“Grrr, fine,” Bass grumbled as he rolled up his sleeves and got ready to charge at the DA. I’ll show this thing I mean business, he thought as he charged at the multicolored wall at top speed, only to be reflected back in a lightshow of sparks into some padding that lined the room.

“Great,” Famous huffed as he threw down the pencil he had in his hand. “Okay, you two check up on him. And you,” he said as he pointed to the assistant sitting beside him, “take note of that.”

“Yes sir,” he said as he wrote down something on the pad in front of him.

“Is he alright?” Famous asked his two assistants.

“Yeah. He’s out cold though,” one of the assistants replied.

“I guess we’re going to have to do this the hard way,” Famous said as the assistant beside him nodded. “Take him to the Med Bay to get a blood sample so we can check his DNA Matrix, and leave him there so he can recover,” he said as he got one of the scanners up and running. His assistants followed his orders, taking Bass out of the room.

“What do you think the problem is?” his assistant asked, concerned about the negative results. “He’s never had this problem before. Neither has Lyne.”

“I don’t know. Let me see those,” he said as he snatched up the notepad and looked over the results himself when Yuuichiro walked in.

“Famous, have you seen Lyne?” he asked in a concerned tone as he walked up to the other scientist.

Famous flipped through the notes before he looked up at Yuu. “I haven’t seen her. Wasn’t she here to see you?”

“Yes but…” Yuu trailed off.

Famous put down the notes and looked at his friend. “What happened?”

“Well, she and I talked about Neta for a bit, and then she ran off,” Yuu replied.

“Neta?” Famous asked, getting a nod from Yuu. He shook his head and then put the notes down before he started to leave the room, followed by Yuu.

“Where are you going?” the assistant asked.

“Don’t worry about that. I’ll be back,” Famous said upon exiting the DA Testing Area.
____________________________________
~Elsewhere in SciLab~

Lyne exited the network and ended up in one of the hallways, bumping into someone. Whenever she did jumps at SciLab, this usually happened, so Lyne wasn’t too surprised.

“Lyne!” a shocked voice spoke as its owner helped her off the ground. “What are you doing here.”

Lyne shook her head to clear it as she heard some sarcastic laughter. She looked up to see her friend Jackie standing in front of her. “Hey Jackie. I was here talking to dad. What you doing here?” she asked curiously.

“I was delivering results from the NetAgency from a case NAT 001 was working on. I just finished the delivery and was leaving when you bumped into me,” she said with a smile before she heard a noise come from a room down the hallway behind Lyne. “What was that?” she asked, trying to hide behind Lyne, but her height prevented Lyne from completely hiding her.

Lyne shrugged her shoulders. “Don’t know. Let’s go check it out.” She then grabbed Jackie’s hand and started sneaking down the hallway.

“But Lyne…” Jackie moaned before Lyne hushed her.

“Quit being a scardycat,” she said as they followed after the noise that led them to a set of double doors. Lyne placed her ear on one of the doors and listened. “Sounds like a machine is running inside there.”

“Maybe it’s top secret Lyne. We’d better go,” Jackie spoke in an anxious tone.

“I know, but I’ve just got to see what it is,” Lyne spoke in excitement as she cracked open the door to peer inside. She saw what looked like a small, multicolored bubble in the center of room. “Oooo,” she said as she opened the door even further and entered.

“L-Lyne…” Jackie stammered as she followed after her friend. Once inside, they saw a table in the middle of the bubble with what looked like a person sitting on top of it. Lyne, curious, touched the outer edge of the bubble only to get zapped.

“A dimensional area. I can crack this,” she said as she pressed her hand against it again, this time calling up her armor so she could pass through it with ease.

“Lyne, you sure you should be doing this?” Jackie asked in concern before Lyne reached back through, forced Jackie to cross fuse, and pulled her through.

“You’ve got to see this,” Lyne exclaimed with bristling excitement as she dragged Jackie over to the table to check out her discovery. “It’s a robot doll.”

Jackie looked at the figure on the table for a moment, and noted it was female in appearance. It had on a orange dress that went down to its knees and was lined with lace. Its face was pale with what looked like painted pink blush circles. It also had on long white socks and black dress shoes. She also noticed something odd with its back. “It’s got a key in its back.”

“Duh. That’s the doll part,” Flash said.

“Flash,” Jackie scolded her navi.

“I don’t know why it has a key. Maybe that’s what jumpstarts its operating system,” Lyne said as she looked over the key. “Let’s wind it up.” She then hopped up onto the table and prepared to wind the key when a hole appeared in the back of the robot doll and Rush popped out to bark at Lyne. “Aei!” Lyne shrieked at the sudden surprise and fell backwards off the table.

Lyne rubbed her back and then shouted, “Rush that was uncalled for. Go play somewhere else.” The little dog virus closed the hole he used and stood in front of the key defensively.

“Arou, aro, arot,” the little dog barked at Lyne.

“Awww. Why not?” Lyne asked back to Rush, greatly confusing Jackie.

“What’s going on?” she asked as she helped Lyne off the ground.

“Rush is being mean and won’t let me turn the key,” Lyne pouted as she finally stood up.

“Aut, arouu, auuu, aroo,” Rush barked once more before he sat down on the table, guarding the key.

“No way this is Neta,” Lyne exclaimed as she scanned the figure. Sure enough, he was right. “Rush, can she talk?”

“Aup,” he replied as he made a rotating motion with his hands and a cranking noise.

This made Lyne almost break down and cry, but she only shed a tear of pity for Neta. Whatever this virus was that had changed her appearance so drastically, it had also removed her helmet, exposing her blonde hair, and it had apparently eliminated her icon as well. “Oh Neta. Please wind her up for me Rush. We need to talk.”

Rush crossed his arms and looked away from Lyne. “Jeez, viruses always want something in return,” Lyne huffed as she brought out some objects in her program storage. “Would you do it for a cyber bone and a few bugs?” she asked as she offered them out to the little dog virus, making him eye the objects closely. He then sprang up, turned the key in Neta’s back, snatched up the items, and then ran off.

Shortly after he left, Neta stiffly sprang to life. “Oogh!” she called out in an angered tone. “RUSH! Get back here. I didn’t call you,” she complained as she tried to turn her head to find the little virus, but she was only able to move a little. “Man, I’m so stiff.”

“Um… I asked him to wind you up Neta,” Lyne replied shyly.

Neta tried to turn her head towards her, but was unable to. “I can’t see you. Come around to where I can,” she said, compelling both Lyne and Jackie to walk around and stand in front of her.

“Hello Neta,” Lyne said quietly while kicking the ground shyly.

“You look rather familiar…” Neta spoke as she examined Lyne for a moment with her scanners. “Oh my… Lyne what happened?” Then her scan picked up on Lyne’s second matrix. “Okay… Well, more like when did it happen? I’m kinda’ familiar with how the half navi process happens.”

“It happened a few months ago,” Lyne replied as she played with her long hair, twisting it in her hands. “What happened to you though? Why are you like this?”

“Ahem… I was assisting your brother on a job against Nebula, and they infected me with what your father calls the “wind up” virus. Sometimes I hate your father’s sense of humor.”

“Yeah, that’s my father for you,” Lyne chuckled a little bit, but her face looked even sadder.

“Why not “Wind Up Toy”? Its more fitting,” Flash commented, making Neta stiffen up out of anger.

“Who said that?” she demanded, looking like she was about to hit someone.

“Flash…” Jackie scolded her navi. “Um…. I’m sorry Neta, my navi did. He can be a little rude at times,” Jackie apologized as she rubbed the back of her neck.

“Oh,. I’m sorry Neta. This is Jackie Yan, my friend.” Lyne gestured at Jackie.

“Oh, little Miss Yan. Your parents run Yan’s, a restaurant located in the ACDC area,” Neta spoke as her eyes went stary. “I remember when your parents opened it up. Do they still have the Black Pepper Chicken there?” Neta asked with a look that suggested that she was almost drooling.

“Um… yes,” Jackie replied nervously.

“Oh joy,” Neta exclaimed. “That was my favorite dish when I ate there.”

“Huh?” Jackie asked, confused along with Flashman. She then looked at Lyne.

“Jackie, Neta was once human before an accident that happened here many years ago, which made her into the navi she is today… Well into a navi,” Lyne corrected herself when Neta glared at her.

“Oh, so she’s a soul navi like your brother, Hub,” Jackie said, catching onto what Lyne was saying.

“Yeah, and was operated by Saratu, her daughter. How is she by the way?” Lyne asked as she looked back at Neta. “Kuri hasn’t told me much.”

Neta then hung her head slightly. “I wish I knew. She was still with Regal last time I checked with Lan and Hub.”

“What? Lan and Hub are allowed to see you, but I’m not? What gives?” Lyne exclaimed angrily before she started to pout.

“Aww… Come here,” Neta said gently as she opened her arms, which moved stiffly. Lyne came up to her and cried into Neta’s hardened chest. Despite the stiffness, she still felt warmth and care. Neta closed her arms around Lyne. “Your father is only concerned for your health, but I knew you wouldn’t be infected with this virus I got. Calm down sweety,” she said as she stroked Lyne’s hair.

“But it’s not fair. Why would dad let Hub come see you and not me? *Sniff* I feel like he’s holding me back,” Lyne cried, streaking tears down her cheeks and down Neta’s dress.

“Not really,” Flash spoke once more. “He’s letting Bass hang around you. You two are practically inseparable.”

Neta looked over at Jackie for a moment before she looked back at Lyne. “Is this true?” Lyne nodded.

“Yeah, dad lets Connor hang out with me,” Lyne replied, getting Neta to look at her in worry. Lyne noticed that and waved her hands out in front of her. “No, it’s not like that. I restored his program,” she replied sheepishly and blushed slightly.

“Amazing!” Neta said as she patted Lyne on top of the head. “Your programming skills have improved greatly. But what about Alpha?” Neta asked, concerned about that.

“That’s a long story,” Lyne said, hanging her head.

Neta let go of her and lifted her chin to look into her eyes. “You can tell me. All I have these days is time.”

“Okay,” Lyne breathed out as she stood up before she started to explain what had happened over the past few months with her, Bass, and the reappearance of Zodaic.
________________________________________________
~ Hallway ~

Yuu and Famous were searching the halls and jack in ports for any sign of where Lyne had disappeared too. “Hey Yuu, I found where she came out,” Famous said as he unplugged his PET from a jack in port that was connected to a storage room door.

Yuu punched in a code to open the door so they could investigate the room. “Lyne… Are you in here?” he asked, getting no reply. He looked over at Famous, who was scanning outside the room. “Well?”

“She jacked out at least a half hour ago, and she remained human ‘cause I’m not getting a signal anymore.”

“Man, why is she being so stubborn?” Yuu pondered as he started walking down the hall again.

“It would’ve helped if you didn’t flat out tell her no like that,” Famous spoke. “I bet she’s even madder than when your wife gets when you’ve pissed her off.”

“Don’t know…,” Yuu said as she took note of Rush sitting in the hallway, chewing on a large bone. Yuu stopped and tapped Famous in the chest as he pointed at Rush. Famous nodded before Yuu knelt down beside the little virus. “Rush, where did you get that?” he asked as he pointed at the bone.

“Aup, Aup,” Rush replied and hugged onto it tightly.

“Y’know, that looks similar to what Connor gives Gospel as a treat,” Famous spoke up as he recognized the bone.

“Oh my God,” Yuu exclaimed as he stood up and placed his hands on the sides of his head. “Lyne’s with Neta,” he said as he ran off to where he remembered holding Neta.

“Clever girl,” Famous commented before he chased after Yuu.
_____________________________________
~Neta’s Room~

“Then I came here to talk to dad. He won’t let me help cure you,” Lyne finished her explanation.

“I’ll have a talk with him, and maybe he’ll let you help,” Neta said, nodding her head.

“Really?!” Lyne squealed with excitement.

“ABSOLUTELY NOT!” came a shout from the doors as they burst open. “It’s about time I found you. Lyne, you’re grounded.”

“But Dad! I want to help!” Lyne argued back.

“No. You’ll put yourself at risk of infection. Now get out of there and go home,” Yuu pointed at the door as Famous came in.

Lyne just stood there as she contemplated following his command before she just started to cry again. “Neta’s my friend dad. I just can’t leave her like this,” Lyne burst out as she gestured at Neta.

“Lyne, you don’t understand,” Yuu said as he stared angrily at his daughter.

Lyne sniffled for a little more. “You’re so cruel!” she shouted loudly before she linked away onto the internet, taking full advantage of the DA’s capabilities.

Silence fell over the room after she left, and everyone was looking over at Yuu. “What?!” he asked, feeling nervous about all the stares being directed at him.

“Famous, can you and Miss Yan leave for a moment? I’d like to talk to Yuuichiro alone,” Neta spoke, not taking her eyes off of Yuu.

“Sure thing,” he replied as he punched in a code on his PET. It sent out a beam which made a door size hole in the DA so Jackie could get out. She took the opportunity to leave as quickly as possible, since Flash started laughing once she exited.

“Yuui…” Neya breathed out once they’d gone. “Shame on you. Lyne has grown up, and you have to understand this. She’s not the little girl you sent to the United States four years ago. She’s a teenage woman and deserves respect.”

“I know… But she migh-” he replied before he was cut off again by Neta.

“Shhhh… Don’t you think she knew that? She wants to help, so let her. Who knows? She might take a liking into virus research like a certain someone I know,” Neta said, winking at him.

“Maybe. I’ll go find her. She’s bound to be in the Network somewhere,” Yuu said as he rushed up to a nearby computer and turned it on.

“Don’t Yuui,” Neta spoke, stopping him. “She needs a chance to let off some steam, so let her. Saratu was the same way at times. Trust me on this.”

“Okay, but I want to make sure she doesn’t get into trouble at least,” Yuu said, turning the computer off. “So, I’ll have my assistants keep an eye on her,” he said as he composed an e-mail on his own PET.

“That would be nice, but you might want to keep it low. You wouldn’t want to make her mad.”

“Okay, and Deni,” Yuu said as he looked up at her.

“Yes Yuui?” Neta said as she looked at him.

“Uh… Thanks for straightening me out a little. Since you’re confident that she’s mature enough to handle this, I’ll have her join in on the research tomorrow.”

Neta cracked a slight smile. “Thank you Yuui. I’m looking forward to working with her.”

“See you tomorrow,” he said as he left the room to go back to his lab.

“See, yo-” she said as her key wound down and she became immobile once more. Man, I hate this when this happens, she thought. Where is that blasted dog when you need him? I want to work on my program now that I’m wide awake.
___________________________________
Next Episode Preview

~SciLab~

Bass: So… that was the actual episode then?
Author: Yeah, why?
Bass: A navi turned into a wind-up doll. That was actual episode stuff and not a preview.
Author: What’s wrong with that?
Bass: It was just… surreal. It’s the strangest thing I’ve seen outside of a preview.
Neta: As weird as a talking shark?
Editor: Hey, that was a preview thing. And remember: Sharkman talks too.
Bass: Navis styled like animals don’t count! So where did you come up with the wind up thing anyway?
Neta: Actually, I’m the intellectual property of ElecGuts. I’m just on loan to make a cameo appearance.
Bass: Oh, so you’re a fan character. Well, that was nice of him.
Yuuichiro: Well, then, what do we have planned for next?
Author: A little bit of trouble on the Net. Just a little. And the appearance of some of my own new characters.
Bass: Oh? Who?
Editor: Don’t get greedy now. You know these previews aren’t actually supposed to preview anything.
Bass: Ah, why don’t you ever tell us anything!?
Editor: Aren’t you supposed to be unconscious?
Bass: Grr, so annoying. *Walks back to the Med Bay.*
Author: Aww, can’t we tell them more for once?
Editor: Let’s see. What could we say without actually giving away anything? How about… fire.
Yuuichiro: Fire?
Editor: And water.
Yuu: You’re evil, aren’t you?
Author: Don’t forget the lizard.
Yuu: I give up.
Editor: And wolves too.
Famous: Wolves? Oh no, you don’t mean…
Yuu: What? Do you know something?
Famous: Well, it’s Mmph!
Editor: *Covering Famous’ mouth.* Now we don’t want to mention any secrets, do we?
Author: Honestly, I might like to do a real preview sometime. But until then, check out the next episode of Lan and Lyne Season Three, Episode 3: Burning Fury and Vengeance.
Yuu: Hey, do you mean…?
Famous: Do you know something?
Yuu: *Sighs.* No, I was hoping they’d let something slip if they thought I did.
_________________
"NetAngel Style Change Activate"
Megawoman (Lyne)

Avatar made by Serenade.exe

And feel free to post here too artists if inspired
Lan and Lyne Art Thread

[Serenade.exe/HotShot]

Whoot! The story keeps getting better and better! I would donate some more characters, but I think I've donated enough...time for fresh faces to give it a try! Can't wait for the next part!
_________________

Sig by Hikari Angel

[Elementalman.EXE]

Oh God I am so stupid. You asked for that bio long time ago, Crud, I'll get right on that

And By the By good chapter
_________________

Elementalman.EXE
Nothing is True. Everything is Permitted.
1000 Post on Sept. 18 2005 at 6:29pm

[Midnight]

Interesting....

As for the chapter itself, I'm quite intrigued about the the backstory of this new character that you have introduced in this one, and you certainly have made her out to be an intriguing character...

My only gripe with this chapter is that Yuu's change of heart over allowing his daughter to work on the project was far too sudden--it was mere moments before he gave the okay that he was vehemently against Lyne interacting with this person. Other than that, you guys did well.
_________________
Today, these three players are after Big Bucks! But they'll have to avoid the Whammy, as they play the most exciting game of their lives! From Television City in Hollywood! It's time to 'Press Your Luck!'--Rod Roddy

The Kingdom of Loathing: An Adventurer is You! // I ♣ Seals

Avatar by Spork. I very much appreciate it! <3

[Zodiac]

Well, you could find out more about the character by reading ElecGuts' fics. The first is Forced Hybrids, and its follow-up is New Crisis. I, uhh, actually haven't read them through myself (sorry Elec) but I'll be doing that so I can figure out the characters myself. More than just Neta will show up. Actually, some of the characters already were in during the group's trip to see Princess Pride.

Hmm, he didn't put up too much of a fight, did he? Shoot. Well, I just hope that didn't spoil things for you too much.

Elementalman, were you going to e-mail that info? Megawoman has no access to yahoo at the moment due to military restrictions on their computer systems (though thankfully she can access REO). You could send it to me (watcher339@yahoo.com) or just PM her.

Serenade.exe/HotShot, our Author is EXTREMELY ambitious with this fic. We don't yet know exactly how long it'll go on, but we're expecting at least this full year posting, and maybe longer than that even. So there's room for original characters if you want to give her an idea. By the way, what could someone call you for short? HotShot or Serenade? Maybe SerenadeHS. Well, glad we can give people something to enjoy. See you next week!
_________________
Church: Are you following any of this?
Caboose: I think so. That guy Tex is a robot, and you're his boyfriend. So that makes you... a gay robot.
Church: ... That's right... I'm a gay robot.

Red Vs. Blue

[ElecGuts]

Well, after arranging it with Megawoman.EXE, the second fic never happened in her storyline. Some facts could be brought from the second fic, but in the story, Forced Hybrids ended, then I believe soon after was the first season of Lan and Lyne. Ask Megawoman about that.

I don' t mind that you haven't read my fic Zodiac. You're busy enough with editing this great fic as it is.

[Serenade.exe/HotShot]

XD Just HotShot will do fine, that's what most people know me as...well, I guess I can think up of stuff...I find I have a particular talent for brainstorming...as indicated when I started helping out someone with their Mortal Kombat fic...XD

Anyhow, I'll take up the challenge then, I'm sure I'll think of new people sooner or later.
_________________

Sig by Hikari Angel

[Elementalman.EXE]

No. I PM'd her yesterday with information.
_________________

Elementalman.EXE
Nothing is True. Everything is Permitted.
1000 Post on Sept. 18 2005 at 6:29pm

[Megawoman.EXE]

Warning mild voilence.
____________________________

Episode 3: Burning Fury and Vengeance

~NetCity~16 Jan 200X~

Lyne walked down the streets of the navi city. Artificial snow floated down to the ground, giving the city a feeling of winter. It wasn’t cold, but she activated her cloak anyway as she walked along. “I wish it was like this in the real world. White and pretty even on the sidewalk,” she spoke quietly. She walked all the way to NetCity Park, climbed up to the top of the monkey bars, and sat there.

“Why did he have to be like that?” Lyne fumed angrily. “‘You don’t understand,’ he says. As if.”

“Hey Meg, wassup?” asked a voice from beneath her. Lyne looked down to see Sand and Scorpion waving up at her.

She jumped down and quickly hid any signs that she was mad. “What are you guys doing here?” she asked, surprised to see the unique navi couple in NetCity.

“Oh, Alexa and Tony are correcting papers, so we decided to get some NetCity time in,” Scorpion replied with a smile as she held onto Sand’s arm.

“Yeah, what are you doing here alone?” Sand asked.

Lyne pondered for a moment before she looked down at the ground. Why am I here alone? Usually Connor is with me, she thought before she looked in the direction of the SciLab Server. I hope he’s okay.
____________________________________
~SciLab~

Famous was going over the results of the blood test with Yuu standing by his side as he checked up on Bass. The shock from his last attempt to pass through the DA still had him knocked out. “Yuu, I want to show you something,” he said, exposing Bass’s ears.

“What?” Yuu exclaimed in shock. “How did this happen?”

“I don’t know, but somehow he got his demon DNA back,” Famous said as he re-covered Bass’s ears. “We should have Lyne come in to be checked out too. She might be going through the same things, but I doubt that. She isn’t having problems jacking in,” he mumbled.

“But Lyne is an angel, not a demon like him,” Yuu said.

“But still, she did have some transformations when she little, remember, before we removed her angel DNA digitally, which put a lock on it physically.”

“Yeah, and the blood comes from Haruka’s side of the family,” Yuu spoke. “Haruka knows nothing of this. The genes must be random, and only inherent in the females of the family.”

“We concluded that years ago,” Famous said. “What did you do with the strain of angel DNA after we got rid of it?”

“Well Cossack showed me how to format it into a chip,” Yuu spoke, making Famous look up from his report.

“You both did what?” Famous asked in shock.

“Formatted them onto separate chips. Why are you looking at me that way?” Yuu asked, noting his friends frustration rising.

“Connor asked about a chip this morning. One of last chips he used during the Havock incident, according to my logs, was a chip called the Demon Wings Chip,” Famous spoke. “The last one your daughter used then was the Angel Wings Chip.”

“Um… Well Lyne earned that chip from the US Net Cup,” Yuu stated.

“Did you or did you not name those chips with the DNA strands on them that?”

“Well, that’s what I called Lyne’s chip. I wasn’t sure what Dr. Cossack called his chip,” Yuu spoke in an uncertain tone.

“Yuu, you realize that Lyne's angel DNA may be unlocked too!” Famous shouted while shaking Bass’ blood work report at him.

“Oh,” Yuu said, realizing what Famous was saying. “Oh, crap!” he exclaimed placing his hand on his head. "What do we do about it?"

“Call her back so we can do a check up on her,” Famous ordered.

“Right,” Yuu said as he ran back into his lab. “Have you two found her yet?” he asked Alexa and Tony, who were looking at one of the many monitors that adorned the walls.

“Yes, she’s talking with Sand and Scorpion right now,” Tony replied.

“Good, now bring her back to SciLab. We have to do an exam on her,” Yuu ordered the two sensei net agents.

“Understood,” Tony spoke as Alexa talked to her navi on a private channel.
____________________________________
~NetCity Park~

“Meg,” Sand spoke, snapping Lyne’s attention to him. “Why are you here alone?”

“Well Connor is at SciLab, getting checked out for a virus. He wasn’t doing well in school today,” Lyne replied in a concerned tone.

“Well we can go back to SciLab to check up on him,” Scorpion piped up.

“I don’t want to go back at the moment,” Lyne said, walking away from them.

“Why not Meg?” Sand asked, letting go of Scorpion to catch up with her.

“I just don’t want to go back yet,” Lyne yelled at Sand, making him stop as she carried on heading back into NetCity.

“This is going to be tougher than I thought,” Sand spoke to Scorpion while scratching his helmet.

“We should follow after her, so she doesn’t get lost. And maybe lead her back to SciLab unnoticed,” Scorpion suggested.

“Yeah, that’s a great idea,” Sand agreed with Scorpion as they followed after Lyne. A pair of navis were watched them as they left.

“The time to capture her is now,” a shadowy voice spoke to the pair. “With her in our clutches, the other one will follow, then we can delete them both.”

“Wheee, we get to kill the angel,” an excited squeal came from the navi with the mismatched eyes.

“Not delete, capture! We need her alive!” the voice shouted back.

The second figure covered the first one’s mouth. “We understand Master Alpha,” a feminine voice replied.

“Good now get going and delete the other two if they get in your way,” Alpha ordered before his voice faded away.

“With Pleasure. You heard him, let’s go,” the female ordered as she grabbed her partner and ran off after Lyne and her friends.
____________________________________
~SciLab~

Bass woke up and stretched. He was feeling sore after his attempts at logging in. It felt odd to not be able to do what came naturally for himself and Lyne, other than when he was grounded. His ears then started to itch, making him grumble. This sucks, he thought as he hung his head. I wonder where Lyne is. I’ll go find her, he thought as he got up and left the medical area he was in to find her.

He walked up the hall, heading towards where he knew his cousin and Lyne’s father worked, remembering what Lyne had mentioned earlier. Once he was close enough, he heard angry voices on the other side of the door. He approached it with caution as he forced it open a little bit.

“Why is she being so stubborn?” Yuu shouted at what looked like a monitor.

“Calm down,” he heard a female voice say. “We’re doing our best.”

“Yeah, and she seems really pissed off,” another voice spoke up. “Did you two get in an argument?”

“A little one,” Yuu admitted. “But nothing too big. I swear, she can be like her mother at times.”

Just then, sirens went off. “What’s going on, now?” Yuu asked as he looked at his monitors and typed away frantically.

“Unknown signatures are closing in on them,” the female responded. “One of them… no two of them,” she spoke in a more panicked tone.

Bass couldn’t stand it anymore. He burst into the room. “Where’s Lyne?” he demanded.

“NetCity at the moment,” Yuu replied, still typing while running a filter program on the unknown signatures. Bass watched as the results were coming up. Some static on Alexa’s and Tony’s PET screens, as well as on the vid screens, began interfering with them before the results came up.

“Zodiac,” Bass breathed out in shock before he ran over to a jack in port. Please work. He concentrated on trying to jack into the network, but failed to do so. He tried again several times, then was overwhelmed with unfamiliar helplessness. “Why?” he asked as he slumped to his knees while he looked at the increasingly static-filled monitors.

“Hang on. I’m getting the backup jamming array up now,” Yuu spoke, getting everyone’s attention. “Get ready for a fight,” he spoke to Alexa and Tony, who both nodded grimly.

Famous then walked over to where Bass was. “C’mon,” he spoke, grabbing him and walking out of the room. He took him to a room next door and placed him in a chair. “Stay here,” he ordered as he closed the door and locked it.

“But!” Bass shouted as he got up and banged on the door. “Let me out of here! She needs me!” No answer came to him. He looked around the room and saw that there were no places to jack in from even if he was able to and he leaned back against the closed door and slid to the floor. This is not fair at all, he thought as he sat there in his confined space. If I can’t help… Gospel can, he thought, suddenly feeling a little better, before he concentrated on the virus. Gospel, Lyne’s in trouble. Go find her.

Understood master, came a distant reply.

“Good boy,” Bass spoke with a smile.
_____________________________________
~ NetCity~

Lyne started to feel uneasy. She then turned to face Sand and Scorpion. “Why are you two following me? I’m not going back, not now, and I already know my father sent you.”

“Well, this is for another reason. He’s not mad at you anymore,” Scorpion spoke as they continued to walk along NetCity’s streets. Just then she felt something odd.

Sand felt the odd feeling too. He stopped and tried to raise his NetOp and failed. “Scorpion, I can’t talk to Tony,” he spoke to her in a worried tone.

Lyne was definitely on edge now, feeling a familiar vibe in the air. She looked around before she saw a familiar navi on one of the roof tops. “We have to get out of here,” she spoke when she recognized the navi and broke into a run with Sand and Scorpion following after her.
________________________________

“Damn… She’s spotted me,” Toxyn spoke to her partner.

“Wheee, now we get to have some fun,” Maniac spoke in an excited tone as they also picked up their pace.
_________________________________

Lyne ran along before she took a turn into an alley and started to climb the sides of a building using a set of stairs. Sand and Scorp were hot on her tail, not leaving her side. Once on the roof, they broke out into a sprint.

“Hey Lyne, if they’re up here, why are we up here too?” Sand asked as they ran along.

“To draw them away from the other navis,” she replied while still sprinting along. Lyne took notice that a satellite was being formed some distance off. She angled towards it with her friends following after her. “We’re going to take care of that Zodiac navi, and it looks like dad is going to help,” she spoke, looking back at Sand. Her eyes went wide in shock. Toxyn had changed her form to Scrorpio, and Maniac was following after her in plain view.

“No! There are two of them. Why now?” Lyne thought in a panic as she came to a stop near the satellite.

“We’re here to help Meg,” Sand spoke as he and Scorpion readied themselves to fend off the Zodiac navis.

You two are brave, but several of you together had trouble dealing with them before. I can only take care of one at a time. Unless… “I need more power for this.”
_______________________

“I’m going to take on those two Maniac. I still have to deal with that girl,” Toxyn said to her partner, then muttered under her breath, “Thinks she can use the Scorpio symbol. I’ll show her.”

“Well, what should I do milady?” Maniac asked in an over-the-top, gallant voice, bowing from the waist ‘til his head almost scraped the ground.

“You just can’t put two and two together, can you?”

“Oo, oo! I know that one!” He spread his hands out wide. “It makes a really big two.”

Noting that Sandman and Scorpion were already prepared to deal with them, Toxyn just said, “Yeah, big two. You deal with Lyne, Maniac.” She pointed out the half-navi to be on the safe side, and noticed she was starting to glow. Oh great. The girl’s decided to pull out the big guns. At least these two won’t be much of a problem. Maniac should be OK until then.
_______________________

“So, that’s another of Toxyn’s forms?” Scorpion noted, looking at the green and black armor that Toxyn was using.

“Looks that way. I guess we’ll have more trouble against that than the fire form,” Sandman agreed. “I wonder if it has an element.”

“It’s water,” Scorpion responded immediately.

“You sure? How can you be so sure?”

“Scorpio, Sandman. Zodiac symbol for the scorpion and it’s a water element.” Sandman still looked at her questioningly. Scorpion’s eye twitched involuntarily and she yelled impatiently at Sand, “It’s my symbol too, Sandman! That’s why I know. Now get ready.”

“Sure,” he responded sheepishly, then grinned and got into a fighting pose. “Let’s go!”
_______________________

Toxyn started toward the pair of navis she’d designated as her targets, leaving Maniac behind. He’ll pull through for me, she thought as she ran forward, uncurling her stinger from behind her back in preparation for combat. He might have trouble focusing, but he’s still good in a fight. At least as a distraction if nothing else, she finished with a quirky smile.

“Hee, hee. Where to shoot first?” the many-colored navi said to himself. “Darn! Toxyn’s already taking those two. Well I guess that leaves…” Maniac suddenly tensed. “Wings,” he whispered.

*static* Wings. Great, beautiful wings, descending…

Maniac’s hand fell away from the gun at his hip, and then both hands began absentmindedly clenching and unclenching as he moaned, “Nooo, no. Not that. Not again, not again…”
________________________

Lyne finished her transformation into NetAngel form and sent out a quick SOS. I hope someone can get here soon. Now, looks like Toxyn’s going after Sand and Scorp. I’d better help them now, then we can all work on… huh? What’s wrong with him? Whatever, we’ll deal with that later. “Light arrow,” she called, sending out a bright lance that Toxyn dodged, but otherwise ignored as she charged her target. At least he can’t be as much of a pain as her.
_________________________

*static* Light. Blinding and wonderful…

“Make it stop,” Maniac whimpered, crouching down, putting his hands over his face, and rocking back and forth.

*static* … that terrible light…

“Nooooooo,” he moaned out again through clenched teeth as his fingers curled slowly into fists.
___________________________

What’s taking him so long? Toxyn thought to herself before shouting, “Toxic Spray!” as sickly, greenish fluid spewed from her stinger at Sandman.

“Forget it. Sand Spray!” he called, dodging Toxyn’s attack and countering.

“Yeep!” squeaked Scorpion, who was hopping away from the splash of the Toxic Spray. “That stuff doesn’t look nice. Probably poisonous, like this. Poison Sting!” and she shot out a small barrage of needles.

“No, girl. You don’t get to attack me,” Toxyn said coarsely, dodging the needles and making a quick jab at Sandman with her own agile stinger. When Sand jumped back, she quickly flipped the tail forward and caught him in the chest with the blunt body of the stinger, knocking him back. “You’ve already insulted me by wearing the same dress!”
___________________________

*static* I’m scared. I’m so scared. I want to run.“Help meeeee!”

“Help me, help me, HELP ME!” Maniac repeated, quietly at first, then shouting as his eyes bulged in terror and horns began to grow.
_________________________

“Ow, Sand, she’s got me!” Scorpion cried as Toxyn grasped her with a pincer-like hand.

“Now, girl!” Toxyn shouted, bringing the stinger down swift and with deadly aim.

“I’ve got you!” Lyne cried out, suddenly swooping in and knocking the tail askew so that it stuck into the ground instead. “Don’t you attack my friend,” she said, sweeping back a wind that struck Toxyn in the face and made her stumble.

“Sand Blast!” Sand called, adding a forceful shot of sand that caught the unbalanced Toxyn in the chest, knocking her back.

Scorpion stood there, frozen momentarily after the near-miss before finally reacting with a quiet “Eep!”

Grrr! This is pathetic! How could I let that Hikari witch hit me? And that pathetic little sand navi! What’s Maniac doing? She turned her head slightly to see where Maniac was, the large eye-view of her Scorpio form allowing her to watch her three opponents as well. Oh no! He’s losing it! I have to stop this now.
_________________________

*static* So bright. And burning. Burning? No!

“NOOOOO!! I’M BURNIIING!!” Maniac screamed, and, indeed, his eyes lit with flame, a spark of emerald fire in his right eye, and a great, blood-red blaze in his left that expanded to cover his face and extended along the curling, ram-like horns that were replacing his helmet.

*static* “It burns! It hurts! AAAAaahh!!!” “No, Vicious! Calm down, I’m here!” “Help me please!”

“Aahck *gasp* He-hel bu-burns *choke*” Maniac gagged as he expended his air with his shrieks. Between the flaming horns, thick smoke began to billow, and his armor glowed hot until the parts on his chest, forearms, and boots became as blood-red as the flames of his left eye.

*static* It burns. It hurts. It burns. It- it doesn’t burn. It doesn’t hurt? What happened? The pain… “Brother, the pain’s gone! …Brother? Where are you? Brother? BROTHER, WHERE ARE YOU!?”

“CAMEROOON!!!”

*static* I’m here John. It’s OK. It’s OK now. It’s your turn. Now go. “Thank you” GO!

“GrrrrAAAAAAGGHHHH!!!” Maniac bellowed, his transformation to Aries form complete. Flames leapt from his feet and scorched the ground as he charged in a mad rage straight at Lyne.
___________________

“Oh, that’s better,” Scorpion said, “He’s gone to a fire element. I’ve got this now.” She moved to intercept the charging Maniac and readied to fire.

“Here’s a bubbler for you,” her NetOp said and sent the battlechip.

“Great. You’re gong down!” she called, firing the shot. It hit squarely in the enraged navi’s chest. “Yes! Huh?” Maniac, completely berserk, ignored the shot and whatever damage it had done. He didn’t even slow his charge.

“Aqua Tower!”

No, it’s too late!

Maniac continued his charge, moving faster than Scorpion or her NetOp could react to. Faster even than his usual swift movement. He struck her full on, sending her flying off like she was nothing, and kept going full tilt at the wide-eyed NetAngel. The one impact was almost enough to delete Scorpion outright, and she was left lying on the ground, weak and wounded, unable to log out to safety due to the proximity of the Mind Jumpers and the interference they caused despite their closeness to the satellite array.

“Scorpi- Ufff!!” Lyne began, cut off abruptly when Maniac’s horns struck her in the chest, driving the air from her lungs.

“You!” *thwack* “Hate you” *smack* “How could you!?” *smack* Maniac screamed, mercilessly pummeling Lyne, who could do nothing but block the savage strikes.

“Sand shot! Sand shot! SAND SHOT!” Sandman cried out, firing blast after blast into Maniac’s back, trying desperately to get him off. The Zodiac navi, however, was completely oblivious to the attacks. No! Toxyn! he thought, turning quick when he sensed her coming up behind him. He readied to defend himself, but she ran straight past him.

“Stop it! Vicious, stop please! Calm down!” the other Zodiac navi yelled, sounding unusually distraught.

Wha? What is this? She doesn’t want him attacking her? Sandman thought, utterly confused.

Toxyn got up to Maniac and pried him away from the weakening and battered Lyne. “Rraaaagh! Let- Got to- Kill you!” Maniac spat out, flailing in Toxyn’s grasp, intent on destruction.

She’s helping? Lyne thought, dizzily staggering, Why?

“Run girl! Calm down. Run, now while you can!” Toxyn ordered, still sounding desperate and half panicked.

Lyne paused half-an-instant more before taking her enemy’s advice. I don’t know what’s going on here, but I hurt bad and I’m getting out now! She didn’t pause again or even look behind her when she heard Toxin crying, “No!” and the sound of fiery feet, charging along the ground behind her.

“Up you fool! Maniac can’t fly! You can!”

Lyne gave up on wondering about this sudden change in her enemy’s attitude and simply angled up into the air, desperate to get away. She chanced a glance downward to see Maniac almost directly below her and jumping. Jumping really high! “Yeeek!” she exclaimed, terrified by the utterly consuming rage she saw in Maniac’s eyes and felt radiating off of him in burning waves. She also noticed one more thing as the mad navi’s hand clutched the empty air beneath her. He’s pixilating! Are those flames actually burning him away?

Maniac, however, had no answer for her. His only word was a long cry of, “Noooo!” as he fell back to the ground. He jumped again, but Lyne was well out of reach by this point. He landed again and looked up at Lyne for a second before dropping to his knees and laying his face on the ground. “Nooo,” he moaned in pitiable despair, barely loud enough for Lyne to hear. As scared as she’d been of Maniac only a moment before, the sadness in his quiet cry almost brought a tear to her eye.

Toxyn came up behind the slumped over navi and hesitatingly put her arms over his shoulders. “Shhh. It’s OK Vicious. Just calm down now. Shhh. You’re OK now.” The enemy female looked up at Lyne before the two navis logged out finally and Lyne could feel venom in her glare, even though she couldn’t see the eyes behind her bug-like lenses.

So much hatred. And yet she pulled him off of me. What’s going on here? What’s Zodiac’s story anyway?

Lyne fluttered down to the ground to collapse to her knees beside Sandman and Scorpion, the one tending to the injured other.

“Lyne, let’s get out of here before they come back,” Sand spoke as he got Scorpion up from the ground. Before he could say anymore Lyne disappeared from sight. “Whew, she logged out,” he breathed out before he logged out with Scorpion in his arms. And watching from the shadows, another navi quietly logged out as well.
______________________
~Alleyway ~ Dentech City~

Lyne appeared in the sky above the alley, then plummeted to the ground. The sudden fall got a surprised scream from her. She tried to flap her wings, but couldn’t get any coordination, and crashed onto a discarded mattress. “Oogh,” she moaned as she laid there weak and leaking data. Her system then activated her backup program, even though the signal was weak. “Help me Connor,” she weakly spoke before she passed out on the mattress.

A strange figure watched the commotion and looked down into the alley. It flicked what looked like a forked tongue to smell the air. “Ssss, Lookie what we have here,” it spoke as it observed the motionless half navi. “Lookss like dinner iss sserved,” it hissed with delight as it climbed over the edge of the building it was on to investigate its prey, while wagging its tail with delight.

Just then its tail got grabbed. “I don’t think so Squeshsque scum,” a voice spoke as its owner pulled the lizard creature back onto the roof. “Your race is the lowest of all demons.”

The lizard demon looked back at its attacker. “You won’t ssstop me from eating thisss one. Ssshe’ss not in your regisstry, Mouguroi mutt,” it hissed back as it slashed at his attacker.

His attacker avoided the attack easily by blocking it with his staff, designed with a medal point on both ends. “Well, if I stop you from eating her she will be,” the male Mouguroi challenged back. He looked like a middle aged normal human wearing a royal colored fighting monk’s clothes, but had deep purple hair with a few white steaks, burgundy color eyes, purple marks on his face with vertical, scar-like, blue streaks on his cheeks, long, finely furred ears, hooked nails on his hands, and a cocky, fanged grin. “Bring it!” he challenged the Squehsque demon. The lizard-like humanoid stood up on its haunches and took up a defensive stance, preparing to fight for his dinner.
_______________________
~Undisclosed Location~

“What happened in there? What’s wrong with Prophet?” Mystic demanded as Seer helped Prophet up from his Jumper Chair.

“What isn’t wrong with him?” Seer responded bitterly.

“That’s not an answer Seer!” he shouted, grabbing the woman and turning her to face him. “Why is he in that state?” He pointed his finger sharply at Prophet, whose eyes were open as if in shock and jaw was hanging slackly with a lengthening trail of drool streaming down his chin. His arm had dropped off the side of the chair when Seer lost her grip on him.

Seer looked Mystic in the eyes, considering defiance, but giving into her leader’s demand. “He freaked out. The Hikari girl became the NetAngel and he completely lost it. He turned into Aries and did everything he could to kill her.”

Despite himself, Mystic couldn’t hide some surprise. “He used that form?” He looked down at Prophet with something that could almost be mistaken for concern. “And you managed to get him out before he destroyed himself.” He looked back up at Seer, who had turned again to look at Prophet with what was unmistakably concern and caring. “Very well Seer. Good job.” He put his hand on her shoulder and said, “I’ll leave him in your hands,” before he turned away and left the room.

“Yes. I’ll take good care of you,” Seer whispered to Prophet and laid a gentle hand on his shoulder. He twitched reflexively and his eyelids fluttered slightly before closing and leaving him in a still sleep. “I’ll be here when you wake up. Sleep well.”
_______________________

Bass was sitting in his room when he picked up on a shout from Yuu. “Where is Lyne?” He focused his hearing to listen in on the rest of the conversation.

“I don’t know. She logged out before we did,” came a navi’s reply. “Isn’t she here at SciLab?”

“She could be,” he heard his cousin say. “Have every available navi on staff search the server for her.”

“Yes sir,” his assistants answered.

Bass stood up and pressed his ear against the door to listen better.

Master, came a quiet, distant call from his virus.

What is it Gospel? I’m busy, he responded as he tried to focus in on the conversation again.

I just saw Master Lyne jack out, he spoke as he made a sniffing noise over their connection. It smells like she went to the real world, not in the network, he replied, sniffing again.

She’s not on the network, so that means she’s somewhere in Dentech, Bass thought as he now tried to find another way out of the room. Man, I’ve got to find a way out of here, he thought as he now scratched at the door.

Use teleport. You haven’t lost all your power, a familiar voice spoke to him as a being appeared in the room.

Bass looked behind him to see the Ancient standing there. “Huh? What are you doing here?”

“Helping. Go now. You don’t have much time,” he replied before he disappeared in a shower of pixels.

“Okay. That was weird, but okay. Teleport,” Bass spoke in a calm tone. He focused his thoughts on the other side of the door. He took a calming breath and closed his eyes before he let his ability take over. Once he opened them, he saw he was on the other side of the door. “Cool, now to go find Lyne,” Bass spoke as he ran down the hall towards the parking garage.

One of the lab assistants saw him run off when he exited Yuu’s lab. “Um… Famous your cousin got out,” he spoke, getting Famous to run out of Yuu’s lab.

“Which way did he go?” he asked as he lab assistant pointed down the hall Bass had gone.

“Thanks,” Famous spoke as he ran after his relation. He reached the garage when he saw Bass mount Lyne’s bike, which she had left there the day before. “Connor!” he shouted as Bass started it up and drove off. “Great. Now I really wish she didn’t show him how to use that,” he growled before he went back into the lab. “I hope he has an inkling of where she is,” he spoke as he went to help Yuu start repairs on Scorpion.
___________________
~Alleyway~

The Squeshsque charged at his rival with a quick slashing strike to be blocked and countered with a stab from the Mouguroi. He stabbed his staff into the back of the lizard demon’s leg, making it howl in pain before it backed off.

“Why you mutt, you’ll pay for that. Hksssss!” it hissed as it attacked once more, only to be caught in the chest by his rival’s staff and flung over the edge of the building towards the ground.

The Mouguroi relaxed for a minute before he realized what he had just done. He ran over to the edge of the building and noticed the weakened demon rival approaching the unconscious female angel. “Oh no, what have I done?” he exclaimed in agitation as he watched the lizard get close to who he was protecting. “I’m too late,” he spoke as he hung his head, and then held his arm, that was throbbing with pain. “I’m getting too old for this,” he commented to himself as he slumped down onto the rooftop.

The lizard approached Lyne, flicking its tongue the whole time. “That old fiend knowsss he’sss lossst you and won’t interfere,” he spoke as he touched the sleeping angel in a teasing manner, knowing that the old Mouguroi was watching. “Now to try a little tassste,” he spoke as he dipped one of his clawed fingers in what looked like her blood. He stuck the covered finger in his mouth only to find a nasty surprise. His mouth was filled with electricity, making the foul demon hiss and howl in pain. “What kind of trickery is thisss?” he howled, backing away from Lyne.

Instead of an answer, an orb of yellow energy hit it with explosive force, making the lizard fly backwards. The old Mouguroi took notice of this and saw a young man standing at the edge of the alleyway with his palm held out. Whew, about time a mystic showed up, he thought as he watched the young male get off what looked like a motorbike and approach the sleeping angel. I should congratulate this young one, he thought as he quietly slipped off the top of the roof and started to descend the fire escape leading to the ground.

He got only half way when he stopped, noticing the lizard demon rise up and try to attack the young man who was now kneeling beside her. The young man stood up and activated what looked like armor around his body, and a cloak after that. He then formed an orb of purple energy before hin in his outstreched hand and shot it off at the Squeshsque. The demon took the full brunt of the attack and collapsed to the ground. The young man then approached the fallen lizard demon out of curiosity.

It eyed the armor clad male before it caught his scent. “You’re a… Mouguroi. Why are… you able t’ do that?” it forced itself to ask in breathless pain before it tensed and let out an awful noise, then collapsed and lay still with eyes focused on eternity.

The older Mouguroi sat there in the shadow, in shock as he watched the young male stand there in confusion. “What’s a Mouguroi?” he heard the male ask himself as he shook his head. “Whatever,” he spoke as he headed back to where Lyne was resting and picked her up off the mattress. He then rushed off towards the bike, got on, and made it disappear from sight.

The old mouguroi jumped down to the ground. He quickly took in a whiff of air from the site of where the young man stood. The smell he found was familiar, unique to the young man himself. “Connor,” he spoke. “Offspring of Steven and Marian. My nephew. How is he alive?” he pondered as he investigated where the angel had been wounded. He rolled his fingers feeling the texture of the dark substance. “This isn’t blood. It’s data. She’s a network angel,” he spoke before he took a sniff of it. “But of the Randamu Clan.” He clambered swiftly up the side of the building, then used rooftops to race along towards SciLab. “Famous has some explaining to do.”
______________________
~SciLab~

Bass returned to the parking garage with Lyne and her bike. The moment he found her, he felt his power return to him and his changes melt away. The lizard thing he saw was strange, and so was the name it called him: Mouguroi. It echoed inside his head as if he knew it. He shook his head as he got up off Lyne’s bike with her in his arms and teleported to Yuu’s lab.

His sudden appearance with her surprised everyone. “Nooo!” Alexa gasped as she watched him place her on the table. Lyne had several leaking cuts, and her armor was scorched from where the Zodiac navi had hit her, plus there were bruises on her face, wings, arms, and legs.

“This is bad,” Famous said as he examined her wounds. He then looked back at the aids, who nodded, grabbed a gurney, placed her on it, and rushed her off to the med wing of SciLab with Yuu following after them.

“Who did this?” Bass demanded, crossing his arms over his chest and looking his relation straight in the face.

“The Zodiac Navi called Maniac.” Bass was absolutely fuming with anger, then his attention was caught when Famous breathed out a sigh of relief. “You did good finding her. How are you feeling?” he asked as he placed a hand on Bass’s shoulder.

Bass jacked into Yuu’s computer, and then back out, wearing his normal clothes. “Does that answer your question?” he asked as he left the room to go where the assistants had taken Lyne.

“I wouldn’t blame him for wanting to check up on her,” he spoke as he returned to repairing Scorpion’s damage. Her repairs were coming along nicely, but were taking a long time. Then Famous’ attention was snagged by an e-mail message. “Can you two take care of the repairs for a moment? I have something to take care of.”

“Sure no problem,” Tony said as he took Famous’s seat and took over the repair process for him. Famous then left the room.
________________________

~World Three Headquarters~

“So, this navi was able to overwhelm the Hikari girl?” Mr. Wiley asked his subordinate.

“Yes Mr. Wiley,” replied Mr. Match. “I had Fireman observe them battling and she seemed to be powerless against his assault.”

“Hmm, excellent. This navi sounds like a worthy addition to our numbers. He should be useful against her. And against her brother as well, should he become trouble. Have Fireman approach him with a recruitment offer. I trust you’ll be able to recognize him?”

“Of course sir,” replied the fire navi. “I shall bring him here, as ordered.”

“We shall not fail you Mr. Wiley,” added Mr. Match. “This navi, Maniac, shall be yours very soon.”

“Excellent,” Wily said as he closed his e-mail connection with Mr. Match.
_________________________
~SciLab Roof Top~

Famous opened the access door to the roof and walked out into the open area. A menacing feeling filled the air which he didn’t like. He took notice of a dog sitting there on the roof. “I’m in trouble,” he mumbled as he watched the dog turn into a shadow of a man standing there with his arms crossed over his chest.

“You better believe it,” the man spoke as he approached Famous. “When were you going to tell me my nephew is alive again?”

“Well… Hello Ryoichi,” Famous spoke and turned away from him to try and go back inside.

Ryoichi quickly got in his way. “I don’t think so.” He suddenly paused and wrinkled his nose. “Still to busy working to mind the toast I see. Now answer my question Famous.”

“Well I was expecting that I wouldn’t have to tell you,” Famous spoke as he backed away from him. “We removed his demon DNA before, as requested by your father. He just got it back some how.”

“What my father wanted doesn’t apply anymore. I’m the one in charge of the clan now,” he spoke with a slight growl in his voice. He then recomposed himself. “Anyway, that’s beyond the point. He’s now maturing and will need to know soon enough what he is becoming. How is the angel he rescued?” he asked in a casual tone.

“She’s not in the best of shape at the moment,” Famous spoke nervously. “I’m guessing you already know who she is.”

“Well her scent gave the clan of angel away, and there was only one left before you were supposed to remove the angel DNA from her system as well, per request of my father,” Ryoichi spoke. “Question is, who would do such a thing to her?”

“You’re not going to believe me when I say this but… Zodiac did this,” Famous said as he hung his head.

“So, Alpha has returned as well as the Atlantis Server,” Ryoichi spoke as he contemplated over the facts he was given. “Hum… This is an interesting turn of events. Don’t doubt I’ll be back. I will return when there is a need for my assistance. Until then, take care of him and young Lyne Hikari for me. Oh, by the way,” he said reached into his pocket and tossed Famous a small necklace with a stone on it. “This will help. It will work much better than that spray stuff to subdue the transformation. Give it to my nephew as a gift. And be sure that it isn’t broken. Later,” he said as he disappeared.

Famous looked at the necklace he held in his hand before he returned inside. I was really hoping to not have them involved. I need Connor to stay focused on the mission at hand, not get involved with a clan dispute. I hope you don’t do that to him Ryoichi.
___________________________________
Next Episode Preview

~SciLab~

Yuuichiro: So, fire, water, the lizard, and wolves, huh?
Author: Yep.
Famous: We were supposed to guess stuff based on that?
Author: Well, didn’t you? I mean, about the wolves?
Famous: *Grimaces.* Well, yeah, I did.
Alexa: Hey, why are you joking around? This is serious!
Tony: Yeah, Lyne got really hurt there!
Sandman: And Scorpion too!
Bass: And some freak tried to eat Lyne!
The Squeshsque: Well you didn’t have to ssshoot me for it.
Bass: That’s what you get, jerk!
Lyne: *Coming out of recovery room.* What’s all the yelling about?
Author: Don’t worry about it. You’re supposed to be in bed, unconscious.
Lyne: But you guys are really loud out here. What’s going on?
Author: They’re all mad about what happened this episode. And this might not be a problem if a certain someone would make a real episode preview for once.
Editor: *Getting a roomful of glares.* … You… you’re talking about me. I have this keen sense of perception you know. Okay! Put down the bricks already! Jeez, people can be so sensitive.
Bass: Well, what’s it gonna’ be then?
Yuu: Do we get some actual information this time, or more cryptic words?
Bass: Couldn’t we just beat it out of him?
Lyne: I think there’s been enough violence for one day.
Editor: Yeah, I agree. Well, okay, but let’s bring in someone who this applies to. *Reaches into a plot hole and pulls out Toxyn.* So, how ‘bout it?
Toxyn: Uhh, that was weird.
Bass: That’s a preview for you. Gotta’ love those plot holes. Now spill.
Toxyn: Okay, well, it’s time to reflect on the past and learn about Zodiac in the next episode of Lan and Lyne Season Three, Episode 4: Zodiac.
Author: That wasn’t so hard, was it?
Editor: No way it’ll be that easy next time.
Lyne: That’s so mean.
Editor: Well, you’ll be unconscious through the next episode, so you don’t have to worry about it.
Author: Rest up and be ready for your next time on the show. And we’ll see the rest of you next episode.
_________________
"NetAngel Style Change Activate"
Megawoman (Lyne)

Avatar made by Serenade.exe

And feel free to post here too artists if inspired
Lan and Lyne Art Thread

[Midnight]

Hmm. This is quite a scintillating chapter, and although it may answer some questions, it merely spawned tenfold more.

I actually went away from reading this chapter quite confused. Although there are recurring characters in this chapter, some of their traits were quite novel and, well, was somewhat confusing to follow. The concept of clan warfare that was introduced at the end only served to muddle the mixture that much more...

Anyway, this was still quite well done. I think I'll probably have to let this sit in my mind for a while before I finally begin to understand it.
_________________
Today, these three players are after Big Bucks! But they'll have to avoid the Whammy, as they play the most exciting game of their lives! From Television City in Hollywood! It's time to 'Press Your Luck!'--Rod Roddy

The Kingdom of Loathing: An Adventurer is You! // I ♣ Seals

Avatar by Spork. I very much appreciate it! <3

[Serenade.exe/HotShot]

I felt it was a tiny bit rushed...but it was still a good piece of writing. I liked the fight scene, and am definately curious of these new people...XD

Oh, I sent a new bio to Zodiac, but I'm not sure if you got it...do you need me to PM it?
_________________

Sig by Hikari Angel

[Megawoman.EXE]

Don't worry about that he will send the bio to me shortly.
_________________
"NetAngel Style Change Activate"
Megawoman (Lyne)

Avatar made by Serenade.exe

And feel free to post here too artists if inspired
Lan and Lyne Art Thread

[soberflight]

Just read all three postings...sorry, didn't realize a new forum was created. I really love all the twists, and am really interested to see Maniac's story. By the way, Megawoman, remind me that I owe you a real broiled Mako shark dinner the next time you're home!

[Elementalman.EXE]

I decided to re read every chapter since 24. Took me over two hours o_O

Anyway the Only thing is it's spelled Anetta not with two n's ^^;
_________________

Elementalman.EXE
Nothing is True. Everything is Permitted.
1000 Post on Sept. 18 2005 at 6:29pm

[Featherdust]

I've finally gotten to read the newest three chapters. Wonderful job on each of them- the first chapter made me giggle a few times, and it certainly lead way to the assumption that a great new plot was in store. The second chapter seemed just a bit out of place, with Neta and all, but perhaps I need to read ElecGuts's story. XD;

Your latest chapter was awesome. I'm looking forward to learning about Maniac's past, and the rest of Zodiac. Sounds like it will be a really interesting chapter. Great job so far! ^^
_________________

[Megawoman.EXE]

Episode 4: Zodiac

~16 January, 20XX~ Evening~ Zodiac Base ~Jumper Room~

Seer remained on her own Jump Chair, watching over the sleeping Prophet. He’d been still and quiet for over an hour now, his face relaxed and not showing the fear, the anger or the shock that had been there before. It’s good to see him peaceful, Seer thought, smiling slightly, I was worried that he might end up… She frowned and closed her eyes, then half opened them to look at Prophet again, “I was worried it might be like it was back then,” she said quietly to him, even though she didn’t think he could hear. She continued to look on for a while as she thought back.
_______________________
~Nine Years Ago~

“Sarah,” the younger man said happily, hopping off from his Jump Chair when she walked into the room, “Great! You’re here. So, what do you think we’re supposed to be doing today?”

“I don’t know John,” she answered as she looked around the room. “Uh, where’s your brother? And Louie?”

“They’re both here. They’re getting something to eat though.”

“And you’re not with them?” Sarah said incredulously. “I thought you were always eating, John.” She smiled warmly at him and he blushed a red almost as deep as his red eyes.

“Well, I sort of… um, I wanted to make sure you knew we were going to be in the kitchen,” he said with a shaky voice, having trouble meeting her eyes. “I knew you’d come right down here. You always do.”

Sarah breathed out through her nose in a quiet laugh, then reached her hand out and placed it on John’s cheek. “I don’t understand it John. You never act like this around anyone else.” Her smirk widened into a bright smile as John’s blush deepened and spread over his face. “In fact, you’re usually really confident around people.”

“Uh, um, well I’m- I mean I just… are you- are you making fun of me?” he stammered weakly.

Sarah suddenly felt guilty and grabbed John’s right hand with her free left hand. “No John. Oh, I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to make you feel like that.” She moved a little closer to him, putting her right arm over his shoulder. “But, you have to admit that it’s odd how shy you are around me, don’t you?”

John looked Sarah in the eyes, his throat closed up with nervousness. After trying to get out a word and failing to even make a sound, John gave up, closed his mouth, and just nodded.

“Good,” Sarah said, smiling cheerfully and giving John a quick peck on the cheek. “Now that that’s settled, um, how about we get something to eat?”

At the mention of food, John’s stomach clenched uncomfortably and made a very audible growl. “Um, yeah. I guess that sounds pretty good,” he agreed gratefully. Sarah made no further comments, instead silently leading John by the arm, out the door. John, equally comment-less, glanced over at his companion and touched his cheek lightly where she’d kissed him, his eyes alight with glee.
_____________________
~Kitchen~

The four Mind Jumpers sat around the table, idly talking while they ate. Louie was already done with his food, but was resigned to wait while John began on a plate twice as full as anyone else’s had been. “I don’t know how you can eat so much more than the rest of us,” Louie commented. “You’re only half my size, and I don’t eat that much.”

“Well, I’m a growing boy you know,” John countered, holding a fork with a sauce-dripping meatball up for emphasis.

“You’re not growing John, you just use up more energy than the rest of us,” the green-eyed man to John’s right said quietly. “You know, like a puppy or a rodent.”

John put his hand over his chest dramatically and added an indignant, “Ah! You’re such a jerk to me. How can you call your own brother a rodent?”

“Yeah Cameron,” Sarah agreed. “He’s definitely a puppy, not a rodent.” John looked over at her and pouted, getting Sarah’s quirky smile as a reward. “Come on. Now, don’t be so sensitive.”

“Oh, yeah. Don’t be sensitive. Easy for you to say Sarah. Is someone calling you a rodent?” John muttered.

“I called you a puppy,” Sarah said, playfully pinching his cheek, then self-consciously putting her hands down in her lap.

“Ow,” John said, grinning like an idiot and rubbing his cheek. “Now you’re being mean to me.”

“Yeah, and that’s my job,” Cameron added, smiling just a little.

“Mmm, mmph!” John tried to say around the food he’d stuffed in his mouth. He swallowed hard and asked, “Hey, what are we going to be doing today anyway?” of Louie.

Their leader looked around the table and smiled at everyone. “Well, today, our master, Alpha, is on the verge of a new power. This power will secure his hold over the networks, all of them, for all time. We… well, we actually won’t be doing anything. We are simply to bear witness to this great occasion!”

John swallowed another mouthful and said, sounding relieved, “Oh good. I was actually worried it might be like last time.”

“Hmm? And what was wrong with last time John?” Louie asked with an edge of menace, his eyes narrowing slightly.

“Well,” John said, shifting uneasily in his seat. “It’s just that, well, that navi we destroyed. I mean, I just don’t feel right about it.”

“What’s there to worry about brother? It’s not as if he was human or anything,” Cameron reasoned.

“Hmmm,” John hummed with a frown. “He may not have been human, but he felt pain and he had a mind. They almost seem alive to me.”

“He was getting in the way of our plans, Alpha’s plans. He had to be removed,” Louie gruffly stated.

John didn’t seem convinced, but he didn’t argue any more, instead focusing on his food for the moment. Sarah didn’t say anything either, but secretly, she agreed with the red-eyed Mind Jumper. I don’t want to go through anything like that again either. It was our orders, but everyone seemed to enjoy it far too much. She toyed listlessly with her food as she uncomfortably admitted to herself, Even I enjoyed it at the time. I wonder, what was it that made it seem… fun? I just hope there won’t be any more problems when Alpha takes full control of things.

“So!” John suddenly and loudly said, making everyone (except his brother) jump slightly, “After the whole watching Alpha do his thing and stuff, who’s up for a dance party celebration!”

Sarah laughed out loud at this and Louie snorted in amusement, then coughed slightly and covered his mouth and the involuntary smile on it. Even Cameron was smiling at his brother, who’d begun to sway in his chair, grooving to whatever music he was imagining.

“If you’re so excited to celebrate, then we should finish this and get to work,” Louie suggested to John.

“Aww, but we’re having so much fun here,” John argued. “I mean, look. Even my brother’s smiling. When was the last time you saw him smile?”

“Yesterday,” Sarah answered.

John made a derisive snort and said. “Yeah, once.”

“Twice,” his brother said with a smirk.

“Huh?” John wondered out loud. “When else did you smile. I didn’t see you smile.”

“It was when you got that little shock trying to get into the Jump Chair. You jumped right off and landed on your backside.”

“What? My misfortune made you smile? How can you be so cruel?”

“Was that a pun, John?” Sarah asked, thinking of the name Cameron’s avatar went by.

“He’s not smart enough to make puns,” Cameron said with in a cool tone and smirked when his brother stuck his tongue out at him. Still smiling, he added, “And don’t act like you weren’t laughing at yourself John. I don’t think anyone finds your misfortune more amusing than you do.”

“It’s really strange,” Sarah suddenly said. “You two are supposed to be twins, but you’re so different from each other. Even your eyes and hair are different colors.”

“Of course my eyes and hair are different colors. Imagine it: me with red hair and him with green hair.”

“Dope,” Cameron said, rolling his eyes and shaking his head at his brother. “And it’s really just the eyes anyway. I mean, his hair’s sort of black.”

“No way!” John exclaimed. “My hair’s as blue as the sky!”

“At midnight maybe,” Sarah said. “But there’s no reason to argue about it. Whatever it is, it looks just fine.” John blushed yet again and Sarah tousled his hair playfully, getting a pleased squeal from him.

There was a moment of silence, then John turned to look at Sarah and opened his mouth wide, either to shovel in the forkful of food he had in his hand or to…
_______________________

“AAAAAAAAHHHH!!!”

Seer woke suddenly from her dream when the scream pierced the air around her. She bolted upright in her Chair and whacked her head painfully on the Jump Helmet. She gritted her teeth and squeezed her eyes shut from the pain. When she opened her eyes again, she saw Prophet at the far wall, scrabbling at it in a panic, trying to find some escape. But you can’t escape what you’re afraid of right now. It’s in your head. Prophet gave up on trying to get out and resorted to hiding in the corner and mumbling incoherently. Sarah looked at him sadly as he babbled with his hands covering his face, and she cried quietly, the memory of everything she’d lost fresh in her mind.
_______________________
~SciLab~

Bass paced back and forth impatiently in front of the door to Lyne’s recovery room. “Humph!” he grumped and thought, I hate this. She’s stuck in there again. Because of Zodiac, AGAIN. And what can I do? “Just be patient,” he answered himself, mimicking Lyne’s father, That’s what he said. “She has to recover.” As if that’s not obvious! “It’ll just take time. BUT I DON’T WANT TO WAIT!” he finished, shouting in his own voice as he kicked the wall hard. He stood there, fuming, for a moment, then exclaimed, “OW!!” and grabbed his foot, hopping around the hallway on the other one, repeating, “Ow! Darn it, that hurt. Zodiac should pay for that too! Making me so mad.”

“Ahem,” Bass heard from behind him.

“What!?” Bass exclaimed, whirling around and hoping for a good target, only to see Yuuichiro standing there with his arms across his chest and a glare in his eyes that matched the frown on his mouth quite well. “Um, sir.”

“What did I tell you before Connor? Lyne’s hurt and needs time to recover, so be patient.”

“Yes, but…”

Yuu held his hand up in a ‘stop’ gesture and Bass quickly held back whatever he was about to say. “Not only does she need time to recover, she needs rest. Quiet and undisturbed rest. And if you don’t understand what I mean, then how about this? Stop making so much noise!”

“Okay,” Bass agreed quietly.

“Now, just to be safe, how about you follow me now?” And with that, the doctor walked off, giving Bass no chance to argue. Realizing how stubborn fathers could be sometimes, the Cossack teen quietly followed where Yuu was leading.

After a short walk, the pair reached the lab that Alexa was waiting in. “Alexa, I’d like you to take Connor home now.”

“What? But I…” Bass began to complain, but shut his mouth quickly when Yuu turned and glared down at him.

“After you bring him home, you should go home yourself.”

“Huh? But, Dr. Hikari, Scorpion hasn’t fully recovered yet,” the Sensei NetAgent argued.

“And she won’t be tonight. You need your own rest. Come back tomorrow when she’s better. That goes double for you Connor!” Yuu finished, avoiding any conflict that Bass might have considered. He waited while Alexa and Bass left the room dejectedly, then went back to work repairing the damage done to Scorpion.

“Grrah!” Bass began once he’d gotten out of earshot. “Who does he think he is, ordering me around like that?”

“Her father,” Alexa replied simply and continued walking, forcing Bass to keep up.

“Well, how come you’re so calm about this? Not only is one of your friends hurt, your navi’s hurt too.”

“*sigh* Yes, but Dr. Hikari’s right. We can’t do anything here right now but worry and get in the way. We’re better off going home and getting some rest. They’re both in good hands you know,” she stated with wisdom that only a sensei seemed to have.

Bass kept quiet. He tried to think of some kind of argument, but found he couldn’t do anything but follow Alexa and sulk. When they reached the ground floor and started towards Alexa’s car, he finally thought of something, but kept it to himself. I may not be able to do anything here, but I can still find something to do. Heh, heh, all I need is some privacy at home so I can jack in since I can now.
_______________________
~Nine Years Ago~

“So, Alpha’s already working then?” John asked their leader. “He didn’t have a speech or something?”

“He might have, but you had to get seconds,” Louie responded, looking out the corner of his eye at his subordinate.

“Uh, yeah,” John responded, rubbing the back of his head in embarrassment. “Sorry ‘bout that boss. But you know: growing boy and all that.”

“We stopped growing when we were eighteen,” Cameron reminded his brother calmly. “Could you just strap in?”

“Oh, sure,” John said, grinning as he set himself into the automated Jump Chair. “These things are cool. It’s great being able to do this without assistance.” He clicked a switch on his left armrest and the restraints on his arms and legs snapped into place. The others had already done this, and both Louie and Cameron were already jumping in. He turned his head to look at Sarah before clicking the next switch. “See you on the other side Toxyn,” he said to her and winked.

She winked back at him. “Good to see you getting past some of that shyness of yours,” she said and smiled to see him blush and look away. “Hee, hee, see you in there Vicious.” Then they both clicked the second switch, lowering the helmets onto their heads and beginning the jump in sequence.
_____________________
~Now~

Seer watched Prophet where he lay on his side, curled up in the corner and idly running his fingers in the grooves between the tiles in the floor. She looked up at the clock for a moment, then turned her attention back to her charge. “Almost five hours now. I wonder how long this will last this time? He actually seems to be recovering fairly quickly. It’s not like how he was back then. He was in a bad state for such a long time.” She closed her eyes and pressed her face into her arms, which she had wrapped around her knees as she sat curled up in her own Chair. Such a long time.
______________________
~Nine Years Ago~

“Hwu? Wha’ happen?” Sarah said groggily as the Jump Helmet retracted. Ungh, my head. Why’d I log out? I didn’t give the command. She looked around the room. Her head swam, but she had to see if the others were out or not. Louie’s helmet was releasing him, but both brothers were still hooked up. Nobody else in here to release us. She heard a groaning from the side and a clicking sound: Louie’s restraints releasing. She looked over again and watched her commander roll out of his Chair and flop helplessly onto the floor. I think I’ll just stay here for a while, she decided.

Sarah tried piecing together what had happened. We jacked in, and then… they had been talking for a while, waiting to see whatever was going to happen. Vicious was passing the time firing at a lone virus, one of those prolific little mettuars, and leading it to his brother who took it out with an efficient swing of his sword. Yeah, John really does use up a lot of energy, she thought with a small smile. Then what? Vicious convinced Cruel to go off and look for something else to attack, and left Toxyn and Khan behind. He always prefers to go off with his brother. I hope he’ll ask me to go with him instead some time… What else? We were waiting for a while. It got brighter. And, what then?

“Uh, what’s going on here?” came a female voice from the other side of the room. Sarah looked up to the voice and saw it was coming from the monitors. Her eyes opened wide when she saw the origin of the voice.

“Toxyn?” she said in confused wonder. “But how can you be moving on your own?” She hit the restraint release and forced herself out of the Chair, wobbling unsteadily, but not falling over. “This- it’s amazing. Louie, get up. You’ve got to see this.”

Toxyn, staring at Sarah from the screen, was quietly opening and closing her mouth. Louie looked up at Sarah and her NaviFrame staring at each other and realized what must be happening. “Khan,” he said, dragging himself up off the ground. “Khan, can you hear me?”

“Yes,” came the immediate reply. “I can hear you.”

“Tell me what’s happening in there.”

“This place is falling apart. If we stay in here, we’ll be destroyed with it,” Khan said, just a little worry showing in his voice. “Can you get us out of here?”

“I’ll secure this server and lock it out of the network. Get the others in here.”

“Of course,” Khan replied. “The other two are still elsewhere. Help me track them.”

Sarah looked at the two screens reserved for the twins, hoping the scenery might look familiar. She saw light getting brighter in the background on both of them.

“Oh, pretty!” Vicious was saying. “It’s like a sunrise.”

“A sunrise has more color. Do you see something out there?” Cruel responded.

“It’s a bird. No, a plane.”

“Get serious.”

“Ah, you’re no fun. It looks like a flying virus. Wait, no it’s a winged navi!”

“Hey you two,” Sarah interrupted them. “Something really weird is going on here. Make your way back to our server, OK?”

“Oh, sure Sarah,” Vicious responded cheerfully, then pouted. “It’s not nice of you to leave without us.”

“Well,” she responded, her eyes glancing over at the monitor showing an increasingly nervous Toxyn. “We didn’t entirely leave.”

“What’s that supposed to mean?”

Sarah didn’t get a chance to answer. The background light suddenly intensified to a gleaming brilliance and, an instant later, a warning tone came from both John’s and Cameron’s monitors. “Ah, Louie! Their brainwaves just got really erratic,” she said in a panic. “We’ve got to get them out of there!” She started working on an emergency jump out, but the system wasn’t responding. She saw John start to go into convulsions in his Chair and his brother tense up in the other Chair. “John,” she said with a shaky voice, turning to the screens. “Can you hear me John?”

She didn’t get a response from him. Vicious’s eyes were wide open and his mouth was working soundlessly. Sarah then heard a sharp crack behind her and looked back to see that John had wrenched one of his arms free in a violent convulsion. She heard Vicious behind her screaming “Help meeeee!” as his free arm thrashed around…

And smashed the monitor above him. “Oh my God!” she screamed as John’s convulsions worsened from the high voltage current shot through him. She ran over to him, screaming, “Jooohn! Nnoo!” then was stopped when Louie caught her from behind.

“Stop! You’ll get electrocuted too! Cut the power Sarah. You’ve got to cut the power flow!”
_______________________

And I hesitated, she thought to herself miserably. She looked over at Prophet again, and saw that he was much calmer now. “Prophet, can you hear me?” Prophet turned his bloodshot, green eyes silently to her for just an instant, then faced away from her completely. Seer sadly turned back to her silent brooding. If I’d been faster, what would have happened?
_______________________

“It burns! It hurts! AAAAaahh!!!” Vicious was shrieking from the screen.

“Khan, get to their position now!” Louie ordered, letting Sarah go so he could monitor Khan’s progress. Sarah stood still, confused just a moment more, before her mind started working again and she ran to the power box that controlled the electricity flow to John’s chair.

“No, Vicious! Calm down, I’m here!” she heard Cruel shouting at his brother. She reached the power box and tore it open with enough force to break the top hinge off.

“Help me please!” Vicious shouted.

I’m trying! Sarah thought in her desperate panic, Which circuit? Which one? “Which circuit do I shut down!?”

“Bottom right!” Louie answered. “The section that says Monitors.”

She cut the power in that section without another word and was relieved to hear John’s spasms cease. She turned to see how he was and gasped, then choked on the acrid smell of smoke in the air. She walked haltingly over to him, but couldn’t bear to check his vitals. She knew, already, what she would find.

“Brother, the pain’s gone!” she heard from the screens, but the voice sounded wrong. Somehow echoey. “Brother? Where are you?” But the echo was fading out. Sarah looked over at the monitor, “Brother? BROTHER, WHERE ARE YOU!?” and almost screamed at what she saw.
______________________

I couldn’t accept it right away, what had happened to them. I saw it with my own eyes. Watched their NaviFrames fuse together. I was in denial for over a month, watching Cameron’s… Prophet’s personality switching chaotically. Prophet was sitting up now, his eyes closed in meditation. I didn’t understand it when they ‘stabilized’ and found that John, or what we realized was John’s personality, was apparently the one in control. But I think I get it now. John always enjoyed life more than his brother. And John was the only person that Cameron ever cared about. Nobody else ever made him smile or laugh or show any life at all. So, he lets his brother be the one in control and experience life. Prophet got up from the floor and walked over to his Chair. “What are you doing?” she asked as he settled into it.

“I have some work to do,” he replied coldly. “The other one will be resting for a while. He needs some time to recover.” Without another word, he activated the Jump Chair system and jacked in.

Seer thought about following, but decided it was better to leave Prophet alone. At least there were some unexpected benefits, she thought, not believing for a minute that those benefits were worth it.
_________________________
~Nine Years Ago~

Their NaviFrames, they realized, now had the personalities of the Mind Jumpers imprinted on them. They were now able to move and act on their own, but were nowhere near as strong as when the Mind Jumpers were linked to them.

For two and a half months, Cameron alternated between babbling incoherently and lying silent in near catatonia. One thing he kept repeating caught Louie’s interest, though Sarah didn’t quite understand why at first.

“Three, and three, and three again pass as three await and three sleep. Then Angel and Demon meet again and Dark and Light unite.”

Once they had figured out the meaning of his strange words, Sarah and Louie took Cameron into hiding. It would be another nine years, the ‘three and three and three’ from the prophecy, before they would act again. They kept their NaviFrames/navis dormant during that time and waited for the Angel and the Demon to appear.
_________________________
~NetSlums of NetCity~

Fireman quietly followed the Zodiac navi with the mismatched eyes, observing him for now. “He’s acting different from the last time I saw him,” he murmured quietly to his NetOp.

“Just keep following him Fireman,” came the response. “He sounded dangerous already from your description, so don’t approach him if you don’t think you can predict him.”

“Right.” Fireman continued to follow at a distance. Maniac walked determinedly, occasionally looking one way or another, but for what, Fireman couldn’t figure out.

“What’s happening now?” Mr. Match asked. Some static was there this time.

“Same thing. He looks like he’s going somewhere, but I don’t know if he’s lost or just looking for something along the way. Do you have a bad connection? I hear static.”

“It might be the connection. I’ll find a better one. Just be careful.”

“I will sir,” Fireman agreed before his Operator broke the connection.

Fireman followed for a couple of minutes longer before Maniac stopped at an alleyway, looked at it for a moment, then walked into it. That must be where he was going. Hmm, doesn’t look like much. Fireman quickened his pace to the alley and carefully looked around the corner, into it. Great, where’d he go? he thought in annoyance and walked into the alley, checking for doors that Maniac could have used. He approached the first door he got to and reached out to open it when a blast of water hit him from above and behind. He spluttered in surprise and turned to face the attack when he was struck hard in the face and knocked to the ground. He felt something pierce through his abdomen and didn’t have time to respond as he was lifted off of the ground and then smashed sideways into the wall. He caught a quick glance of knobby blue and green armor as he was struck again and knocked face-down on the ground. He tried to get up, leaking energy and rapidly weakening when something gripped him around both arms and his chest and squeezed closed. “Ghhuuu,” he expelled his breath as he was lifted into the air.

“You’ve been following me for some time now,” said the voice behind him, cold and smooth as a razor blade. “Now, why don’t we go discuss why?”

Fireman was turned sideways just enough to see a slightly silvered visor with a chilling, green eye just visible behind it. The eye narrowed and the mouth smiled as Maniac’s right hand, now a sharp claw smaller than the large one Fireman was being held in, came up to the fire navi’s face and sliced through his eye. Fireman had no air in him to scream with and soon blacked out to the sound of Maniac’s twisted laughter.
__________________________
~Outside Net City, 17 January 20XX~

Bass warped in and began stomping along on his set mission. “Stupid Famous holding me up,” he grumbled, “Stupid homework. Stupid bedtime. Stupid Maniac.” Where is he anyway? I’ve been at this for hours. Even got up early, he thought grumpily, while yawning at the same time. “If I’m late for school, you’re going to pay for that too you loony freak!” he yelled, getting stares from some passing navis. He grabbed one by the shoulder and got in his face. “You. Tell me where he is!”

“Wha? Where who is?” the nervous navi replied.

“Maniac. Where is he? He’s got black and green armor on one side and blue and red armor on the other with red and green eyes and his helmet’s swept back on the left side.”

“Uh, hey, I don’t know. I’ve never seen a navi like that before.”

“Who knows then?” Bass pressed, shaking the passerby slightly.

“How am I supposed to know? Calm down now. Hey, why don’t you try the Undernet or something?”

“I already did that,” Bass replied, pushing the other navi away. “My usual contacts were missing and nobody else would talk.” He whirled around and stomped of, muttering, “Idiots are all scared about Zodiac. Won’t talk about them. Stupid cowards.”

Bass continued this way, stopping passersby, yelling, and grumbling to himself when he saw something odd. He stopped and looked at the navi in blue and green, crab-styled, knobby armor carrying another navi in an oversized claw. The limp and apparently injured navi looked familiar somehow. Head like a stovepipe, red suit, hmmm. Got it! “Fireman!”

The crab-armored navi stopped and looked over at Bass. He quietly observed the half-navi with no readable expression on his visored face. “I don’t have time for you,” he finally said, dismissively, and walked away, Fireman still dangling from that huge left claw.

Bass watched him walk off, stunned for the moment. “I don’t have time for you?” he said in disbelief. “Do you even know who I am!?” he shouted after the other navi, who made no sign of noticing. “Feh,” Whatever. I don’t have time for you either. I still have to find Maniac. Bass turned on his heel and walked on. What a stupid-looking navi anyway. Great big claw. Little bitty claw. Hmm, he frowned as he thought of something, I thought Fireman had fire coming out the top of his head. He was just smoking. Heh, probably got caught doing something. Why’d that idiot go back to World Three anyway? Don’t they know Megaman will just beat them up again? But I guess he already got beat up. He smiled at the thought. He deserved getting beat up by such a stupid-looking navi. Who’s ever heard of a crab navi? His footsteps slowed while he dwelled on that thought. Who’s heard of a crab navi? Why’s that sticking in my head? What’s special about a… “Crab! Cancer! The Zodiac symbol for the crab.” Bass spun quickly on his heel and started running in the other direction.

Other navis in the area got well out of the way as Bass tore along the street. He looked out into the distance, but couldn’t see his target. He recognized one of the other navis as the first one he’d questioned and angled toward him. Bass’s new target, understandably, fled.

“Leave me alone! I didn’t see that navi you’re looking for!” the distraught navi pleaded, but Bass was having none of it. He easily outran the navi and grabbed him by the shoulder.

“I’m looking for a different navi!” Bass said, spinning the other navi around. The normal navi whimpered as Bass continued. “This was a blue and green navi. Looks like a crab. He was carrying another navi in his claw.”

“Oh,” the navi responded brightly, hoping that there might be an easy way out of this. “Yeah, I saw that. Um,” he paused with slight worry as he looked around, then he remembered. “He went that way.”

“Thanks,” Bass replied shortly, turning and starting off as the other navi sighed in relief. Then the black-clad navi suddenly turned around again and grabbed him by both shoulders. “Hey, next time I’m running at you, don’t run away. Chasing navis is annoying.” He then turned again and ran off.

“Ohhh,” the unfortunate navi moaned and collapsed onto his knees, “I should have stayed at my home page today.”

How could I be so blind? Bass thought disgustedly at himself. OK, too short to be Khan, and Toxyn’s female, so this is the one I’m after. Bass grinned to himself in pleasure. And I know just where he’s going, he thought as he hurried his pace towards World Three’s old, abandoned server.
______________________
~World Three’s Old Server~

Bass reached the server area and saw that Maniac was still there. “Hah! You’re mine now!” he said to himself and didn’t pause in his run as he readied himself to attack. What first? Duel Dark Buster? Dark Lightning? Good old Hells Rolling?

Maniac stopped and looked around at the ground. He lifted his left arm and opened his claw. “Don’t forget now,” he said to the unconscious figure. “Give your friends my message.” Then the Zodiac navi grinned and logged out with Bass still several yards away.

“No! You jerk, I just got here!” Bass shouted at the empty space Maniac left behind. He slowed and came to a stop beside Fireman before he slammed his fist into the ground, frustrated that he was too late. After a moment, Bass gave up his ranting and looked down at the unconscious navi at his feet. His eyes widened in surprise at what he saw.

Fireman had most definitely been severely punished. Under the smoking, stovepipe-like head, Fireman’s face had a long gash, running from just below the top of his head, through his eye, and down almost to his chest. There were cuts, lots and lots of cuts, all over Fireman’s body, but Bass’s attention was caught by Fireman’s icon.

What did that sick monster do? Bass wondered, looking at what should have been a fire symbol. In the flame’s place was a puff of smoke. Maniac must have been working on him for hours to do all this.

He examined the many wounds covering Fireman’s form and noticed that it was writing, but was interrupted from reading it by a shout of, “Hey, what did you do to him?”

Bass turned to see a large, star-covered ball flying at him. He swatted it aside easily and saw, as he figured, that Wackoman was behind the hasty attack. “Don’t do that again,” Bass said in annoyance.

“Don’t tell me what to do,” the odd, clown navi replied defiantly. “When you attack one of us, you attack all World Three!” Wackoman then fired the ball off again.

Bass scowled in disgust and punched at the ball, sending it flying back much faster than Wackoman had fired it. The ball struck its owner full on and sent him flying back. He landed hard on the ground and skidded to a stop, lying still, in a daze. Bass stomped over, picked Wackoman up, and growled in his face, “I wasn’t the one that attacked him,” then dragged the clown over to Fireman.

“Well who did than?” Wackoman countered, pushing away from Bass and steadying himself.

Bass looked at Fireman and pointed. “Them,” was his simple reply.

Wackoman’s gaze followed Bass’s finger to look at Fireman and the message written over and over on him: ~THE ANGEL IS OURS WWW. DO NOT INTERFERE WITH THE AFFAIRS OF ZODIAC.~

Wackoman read this, then turned to Bass. “How do I know that you don’t work with Zodiac?”

Bass stiffened and clenched his fists. He rounded on Wackoman and grabbed him roughly by the shoulders. He got up nose-to-nose with the World Three navi and yelled, “How dare you say that!? I do not work for them! If you want to get deleted, you just say something like that again. I dare you!”

Bass shook with fury as he stared down the clown. Wackoman shook too, in fear, and said shakily, “OK, you don’t work for them. That’s fine. Now, uh, maybe I should just take Fireman and go.”

Bass let go of Wackoman and took a step back. He let his nerves settle for a moment and agreed. “Good. Get him out of here.”

Wackoman went over to Fireman and started picking him up, then paused and straightened. “Huh?” he said. “Are you sure?” He was quiet again for a moment and looked at Bass nervously. “Well, OK. I’ll ask. Er, I’ve been instructed to ask you to come back to the World Three server with me.”

Bass’s eyes widened slightly in surprise at this, then he narrowed them again and counted to ten in his head with his eyes locked on Wackoman. Once he’d counted, he smiled at the clown’s nervous gulp and said, “Sure. Why not?” After all, Wily’s stubborn and might not listen to the message. He joined the other two navis and followed them to the World Three server.
______________________
~World Three's Current HQ~

Bass stood by while the World Three members looked over Fireman and started trying to help him recover. He was still unconscious for now, but that was understandable. Bass was feeling much calmer now and waited patiently. I won’t keep searching for him anymore today, he decided. It’ll be time for school soon, and I don’t need any grief from Famous. Not to mention that Lyne would scold me too. If I finish up here soon, I should be able to pop in and check on her.

Mr. Match was looking worried and both he and Maddy looked exhausted. Obviously they’d been up all night, trying to find Fireman. Interesting that they were having so much trouble. Match should have been able to find his own navi. Hmm, I suppose that Zodiac must have interfered. But to keep him hidden all that time is quite impressive. Maniac had him since at least 8:30 last night. World Three aren’t fools. It shouldn’t have taken then nine hours to find him.

Wiley, who hadn’t had trouble sleeping while his subordinates searched, approached and looked at Bass through the vid screen he was looking out of. “So, what can you tell me about this Zodiac?” he demanded.

Bass considered ignoring him, but he already knew how rude Wiley could be, so he answered. “Well, I would have expected you to know about them already, but that’s all right. They are a group of Mind Jumpers who work for Alpha. They are after the NetAngel, and I’m assuming you already know who that is, since you were warned to leave her alone.” Bass crossed his arms and glared out at Wiley. “I can agree with that at least. Stay away from Lyne Hikari.”

“Ah, so you have interest in her as well. Perhaps we can work together in th-“

“Don’t insult me!” Bass cut him off angrily, “I have no intention of dealing with you again after today. And if you approach me, you’ll regret it.”

“Oh really? And what will you do?” Wiley taunted.

Bass answered by logging out, in full navi armor, right in front of the World Three leader. “Does this answer you old man?” he growled, and was rewarded by the criminal jumping back three whole steps.

Wiley recovered quickly. “My, you’ve learned a new trick Bass. How very interesting. Now, with that surprise out of the way, I’d like to know about the Zodiac navis.”

“Avoid them,” was Bass’s short reply. Wiley waited for him to continue, but Bass said nothing.

“Ahem,” came a voice from the side, and Bass turned his eyes to see who it was. Mr. Match, seeing he’d caught the half-navi’s attention, continued. “Actually, I’m curious to know about them as well.”

“Don’t bother trying for revenge. You’ll fail. You almost lost your navi this time, so take the warning and be glad they didn’t do worse.”

“Do worse? Look what they’ve done to him! I’ve been trying to access what they’ve done, but all my attempts have been blocked. I just-“

“Uhhnn,” they heard, and Match quickly stopped and looked at the screen Fireman was on. “Mr. Match? When did I get here?”

Match looked very relieved to see his navi active again. “Thank goodness Fireman. Try to relax; we’ll repair you, I promise.”

Fireman looked out at him questioningly with his one working eye, and after a moment asked, “Do you mean me? But my name’s Smokeman.”

Match blinked in surprise and couldn’t find anything to say. Bass could see short surprise on Wiley’s face out of the corner of his eye, then saw the old man grin. “That navi’s evil is positively inspired,” he muttered in excitement.

He wasn’t quiet enough to escape Match’s ears, and Fireman’s (Smokeman’s) NetOp whirled around, but Bass acted first. He grabbed Wiley by the collar and threw him into a chair. “SIT DOWN! You old fool, you’re going to listen to me now,” Bass commanded as a pulse of crimson light glowed momentarily in his eyes. “Zodiac has given you a chance that you don’t deserve! I suggest you take it, because if you don’t, not only will your navis be destroyed next time, but you and these two will be as well. They aren’t afraid to take a person’s life. Trust me on this.” He looked over at the other two World Three members. Maddy looked like she was about to take a step back from him, then she firmed her jaw and nodded at him. Mr. Match met his gaze without flinching and then tuned back to his injured navi. “It looks like they didn’t tamper with his memory at all: just his identity. You haven’t lost your navi, so be happy.” Mr. Match turned back to look at Bass with wide eyes. He was utterly shocked to hear what sounded like kindness in half-navi’s voice. Match opened his mouth to say something, but Bass quickly placed his hand on a nearby console and jacked in, leaving the World Three members behind.

None of them spoke after Bass’s departure. Maddy and Mr. Match went back to analyzing Fireman (Smokeman) to try and repair him. Wiley left them to their work and sat in silent thought. Very interesting. He has changed quite a bit since the last time I encountered him. Well, we’ll have to keep and eye on you Bass. I’m very curious to find out exactly why you’re so different. As he finished his thoughts, Mr. Wiley bared his teeth in an unpleasant smile as he contemplated what his next move would be. He then composed an e-mail to Regal.
_________________________
~Zodiac Base~

“Ah, I see that you’ve finally retuned to us,” a red orb commented as Maniac entered the Zodiac server.

“Yes Master Alpha,” he replied coldly. “I was just leaving my latest project with its owner. I do hope he enjoys the custom job I did for him.”

“Mmm, yes. It would be unfortunate if they could not appreciate your handiwork.”

“Did they get the message?” Khan asked from the corner, standing straight and tall with his arms crossed over his chest.

“I don’t know how they could miss it,” Toxyn put in. “How many times did you write it on his body?”

“I stopped counting after thirty-eight,” Maniac replied, looking up into the air thoughtfully. “It was at least fifty, but it stopped being fun when he passed out.”

“Heh, heh. I’d figured World Three navis would be tough,” Khan said with a grim smile.

“Now be fair Khan,” Alpha said in amusement. “He was conscious throughout the reprogramming process.”

“We heard,” Toxyn stated. “He was screaming the whole time.”

“My favorite song,” Maniac whispered quietly with a thin smile on his face and an excited gleam in his eyes. Toxyn heard him and looked away, shifting uncomfortably.

“Well then,” Alpha said, gaining their attention. “Let us break for a while. We shall meet again later today to discuss what’s next.” The navis bowed to their master and began to leave when Alpha said, “Maniac. Stay, please, for a moment. I would like to have a word with you.”

Maniac silently turned to face Alpha, offering wordless obedience. Toxyn paused and looked at him in concern, but decided it was best to leave as Alpha had directed.

“Hmm, now that we have some privacy,” Alpha began, “There are some things I was wondering.”

“Please ask Master Alpha. I am at your service.”

“Yes, yes. You serve me most well Cruel. How long, I wonder, will you be the one in control.”

“Several days, but no more than a week. The other one will have recovered by then.”

“Hmm. Hmm. Possibly a week you say. Excellent, very excellent. Then, our project. I trust it will see much progress during this time?”

“Of course my Master. It shall be my pleasure to further our work,” Maniac answered with a bared-teeth grin, his hands flexing in eager anticipation.

Alpha laughed quietly at his servant’s action. “Ahh, my boy, you are such a delight to work with, heh, heh, heh, heh.”
________________________
~SciLab~

Bass arrived at the network inside Lyne’s recovery room. A Dimensional Area had been set up around her since the last time he’d been there, probably to help speed up her recovery. He then looked at the clock on the wall. It said 6:45. Good. There’s enough time to check up on her, he thought as he jacked out and materialized right beside her bed. I don’t have to be there until 8:30. He pulled up a chair, sat down, and held her hand. Her hand felt warm in his gloved hand.

“Why Lyne? Why are they after you? Why does that loony want to kill you?” he asked the still figure, shedding a tear as he held her hand to his face, feeling its warmth.

“Ahem…” a voice sounded, causing Bass to drop her hand and look up at the voice’s owner.

“Uh…” Bass said nervously as he was caught by Yuuichiro. “Hi!”

“You know, Famous has been looking for you,” Yuu commented as he entered the room, though he had to remain outside the DA. “He was about to put your navi system on lockdown until you showed up here.”

“I had some investigating to do,” Bass said in defense.

“You mean some revenge seeking to do.” Bass opened his mouth, about to protest, as Yuu held his hand up to stop him. “Don’t think I don’t know what you were up to. That Maniac navi is also looking for revenge.”

“But why Lyne?” Bass demanded of the scientist.

“Because she was forced to kill one of Zodiac’s members, by Alpha,” Yuu stated bluntly, causing Bass to look down at Lyne.

“Tell me everything,” Bass said as he looked back up at Lyne’s father with concern in his eyes.

“I’m not really entirely sure what happened that day other than what I’ve been told. The only survivor of the incident was Searchman. Well, as far as we can tell. Also, Neta counseled Lyne after the incident. Those would be the best places to start. Now if you’ll excuse me, I have a navi to repair before school opens,” Yuu said, leaving Bass in the room with Lyne.

Bass rose up and looked at the clock. He already had his backpack with him, which had all his homework, so all he had to do was link over to the school and jack out. He then went out into the hall to follow after Yuu, deactivating his armor once he was past the DA. “Hey, I want to talk to one of those two before I have to go,” he spoke up when he caught up with the scientist.

Yuu contemplated for a moment, before he spoke. “Neta is here in the building, but before I give you her location, I don’t want you touching her. Is that understood?”

“Wait, isn’t Neta a navi? How is she in the building?”

“We’re holding her in a DA to keep her away from other navis, since she is infected with a virus,” Yuu replied. “Last thing we need is you being sick while Lyne is injured.”

“Oh,” Bass said, hanging his head. “I understand, can you tell me where she is then?”

“She’s straight down the hall, ten doors down on the right,” Yuu said, pointing further up the hall. “And please, don’t take too long. Famous won’t vouch for you if you’re late for school.”

“I know!” Bass growled as he started his march up the hall to where SciLab held Neta. Once he was to the door, he breathed out to steady his nerves, and then opened it. True to Dr. Hikari’s word, there was a DA in the room holding what looked more like a doll than a navi inside it on a table.

The navi heard the noise of the door opening and stiffly turned its head to look at the source of the noise. “Hello Connor,” Neta spoke in a gentle voice. “Yuu told me you were coming to speak with me.”

Bass paused for a moment as he looked at Neta. He could definitely see signs of the virus she was infected with and decided that it would be safer to stay on the other side of the DA. “Uh… yeah. Dr. Keshiro, can you tell me something about Lyne?” he asked as he stood on the other side of the DA, looking Neta straight in the face.

“Nice of you to be so formal, and of course I can. What would you like to know about her?” she asked, intrigued that Bass had called her by her human name.

“Yuu told me that Lyne was attacked by a Zodiac navi that happened to want revenge on her, mainly because she was… um… forced to kill someone. Is that true?” he asked as he pulled up a chair and sat down in it.

“Yes, that is true, but we’re not sure who Alpha forced her to kill. All we know is it was labeled an accident. She spoke of it once during counseling as such, but after that, she forgot it, as if she didn’t want to remember or if she couldn’t remember. Yuu said she was clueless during the attack, and couldn’t figure out why the Maniac navi was harming her. It’s best you didn’t tell her what I just told you. It would crush her spirit.”

“Alpha had forced me to kill at times as well, but not on the human level,” Bass spoke, hanging his head. “But he shouldn’t have made Lyne do that. It’s like he stole her innocence.”

“In a sense, he has, but not all of it. As long as she doesn’t remember what happened that day, Alpha did nothing to her and she’s a normal happy girl. Remember that, Connor, you were once a happy child. Alpha has affected you the most. Seeing you now compared to a few months ago makes me think you’ve become as happy as you once were. Don’t let this incident drag you down. Just be there for her as she recovers, and everything will be fine. Trust me on this.”

“Okay, Dr. Keshiro,” Bass said as he looked at the clock. “Oh great. I have to get going to school,” he exclaimed as he got up and rushed for the door. “Nice talking with you again,” he continued as he left her room.

“Good bye,” Neta called to Bass before she returned her attention to a program she was working on. “It’s funny to hear him say that again. At least he’s past his biting phase,” she chuckled as she skimmed her program over, remembering Bass when he was a little child running around SciLab, driving everyone crazy while he chased Lyne around. “Those were the good old days,” she sighed before she concentrated once more on her program.
______________________________________

Before Bass got ready to leave, he stopped by Lyne’s room again. He unhooked his PET from his belt and pointed it into the room. “Gospel, come out!” he commanded making his virus appear before him. “Stay here and protect Lyne while I’m at school,” he ordered his virus, getting him to sit at attention, awaiting further orders.

Um… Gospel thought back to his master. Don’t you need me at school for class work? the virus asked.

“Oh great!” Bass said as he slapped his forehead. He then noticed Lyne’s PET on the bed stand, and got an idea. “You’re still going to stay here. I’m going to borrow Combit for school today,” he said as he activated his armor, passed through the DA, then grabbed Lyne’s PET and hooked it to his waist. As he was leaving, he felt something latch onto his leg. He looked down and saw Spirit wrapped there. “You stay here too. The more protection Lyne has, the better. Understand?” he asked making the little dragon virus slide off his leg and lay on the ground with a sad expression in his eyes. “If you stay here, I’ll bring you a bunch of bugs,” he offered, making the virus perk up, jump up on Lyne’s bed, and take a watchful post on top of her head. Satisfied his negotiation went well, Bass turned to leave.

What about me? Gospel asked as Bass was getting ready to pass through the DA.

“Of course, you too,” Bass said, shaking his head before he gave his virus a pet. “I’ll see you two after school.” And with that, Bass was gone from sight, linking over to ACDC School.
______________________________________

~WWWHQ ~ Japan~

A vid window popped up in front of Wily, revealing his son, Dr. Regal.

“You summoned me father,” Regal spoke.

“Yes son. I have a problem, a Bass problem. He’s gained a new ability and his attitude has changed quite a bit. I want to capture Lyne Hikari, but it seams he will be in my way if I try. Plus, at the moment, Zodiac has reduced my forces.”

“So basically you want me to send someone in to capture her for you,” Regal spoke, placing his hand on his chin and leaning on it. “Am I right in this presumption?”

“Correct,” Wily responded as he watched his son open another window and looked at it for a moment.

“I have the perfect Nebula Agent for the job. I’ll contact her right away,” he said as he typed away on a message. After a few moments, a reply came. “She will be over there momentarily. Use her as you see fit,” Regal spoke as pixels poured out of one of the jack in ports, forming a blonde preteen girl in black and red navi armor. “Good luck on your exploits father.” Their connection was then closed.

“Son, you have done me proud,” Wily said, smiling as he approached the girl, who stood up off the ground from a kneeling position. “I have a mission for you, and your navi, Ayra,” he said as the girl looked up at him. “Saratu Keshiro.”
___________________________________
Next Episode Preview

~World’s Finest Curry~

Mr. Match: *Comes in through door.* Ohhh, I’m exhausted.
Maddy: I know what you mean. I wonder if we really have gotten into something too big for us?
Match: Maybe, but I can’t leave Fireman unavenged after what was done to him.
Maddy: I don’t think you’ll be able to get revenge his time. That navi from Zodiac was just toying with you and Fireman. Next time, he really wouldn’t survive.
Match: *Clenches jaw, but doesn’t make a reply.*
Count Zap: Oh my! Mr. Match, Maddy, we haven’t seen you here for some time. How are you?
Maddy: Tired. We went through a lot of trouble this episode.
Zap: Oh, did you get to be in another episode. Well, that’s great for you.
Maddy: You don’t sound happy about it. Haven’t things been going well here?
Yahut: Oh yes. We’ve been doing very well here, but the gang coming over to the curry shop hasn’t made it into the script for some time.
Maddy: Have you thought about coming back to World Three? Sure, we aren’t the primary enemy in the story, but we still manage to get some airtime.
Zap: No. It was fun while it lasted, but those times are over.
Yahut: And who would run the shop if we were to be arrested?
Maddy: *Sigh.* Well, I knew where your priorities were, but I had to try anyway.
Yahut: Is it really so difficult?
Maddy: Yes. Our numbers were already low, and Fireman is out of commission for a while.
Zap: That would explain Mr. Match’s silence. How bad was it?
Maddy: *Looks over at Match, but he’s obviously done talking.* Well, his element is gone, and his identity’s been reprogrammed. He’s become Smokeman.
Yahut: Oh my. That was an uncalled cruelty.
Maddy: He’s also permanently scarred. The programming so far won’t allow the message carved into him to be fixed, and his right eye is lost. *A moment of silence follows this.*
Yahut: Maddy, if you feel a need to get away from this…
Maddy: I know Yahut. Thank you, but I’m not ready to run yet. Plus, I’ve got something to do next episode.
Zap: Really? More work for you?
Maddy: Yes, but the focus is more on Saratu and what she’s doing. Catch what happens in the Next episode of Lan and Lyne Season Three, Episode 5: Jealous Assassin Challenger.
_________________
"NetAngel Style Change Activate"
Megawoman (Lyne)

Avatar made by Serenade.exe

And feel free to post here too artists if inspired
Lan and Lyne Art Thread

[Featherdust]

Nice work! The story behind Zodiac and its navis is tragic yet interesting, though I knew fairly early in the chapter that something would happen to cause the brothers to fuse. I rather like the way you came up with it, with two personalities- a clueless, somewhat wild side, Vicious; and the sadistic, twisted side, Cruel- the one that I favor most. XD

The fact that Regal is Dr. Wily's son in this story is odd. o.O I don't think I was expecting that. At all.
_________________