The Dimension Wars (PG)

[ElecmanEXE]

I've decided to enter the fanfic scene! ~/o/ This is my first attempt at a fanfic and I'm planning to make it a good one. =P It's going to be a loooooooooong one. ^^

The story takes place after the plot of EXE5:ToB, so Team Colonel had never existed. And from here, everything switches to using the anime's plot points and whatnot as the title implies.

THERE ARE EXE5 SPOILERS IF YOU HAVEN'T REALIZED IT ALREADY

Prologue

Chapter01: Tragedy

Reviews would be appreciated. ^_^

Note to self: Use Microsoft Word for all future fics.

[Mugen.exe]

Well the first chapter set the time line up nicely (though It felt a little as if you were rehashing the game's end). One thing I did not like was the opening paragraph, which I felt was overdescribed- too many color descriptions- purple burst of energy, blue buster, flaming blue ball of dark power- It got a little repititive in that paragraph. Aside from that it was pretty well-written.
Good work, and keep it up.
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False Swipe is a great finishing move!
Witty robots, spunky orphans, and invincible pilots, this link's for you! A Gundam RP

[ElecmanEXE]

Chapter02 is up! =D

Chapter02: Warmups

ARGH! The next chapter in the epic series is finally released! I’ve had a lot of trouble getting the time and actually getting my thoughts down onto “paper.” Thanks to those who left me reviews. I really appreciate it. ^^

Mugen.exe – It might be a rehash of the ending of EXE5, but all fics have to start somewhere, and it’s a very important part of the fic. You’ll see later on. =P

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Chapter02: Warmups
A dark figure watched from a window as Netto rushed out of the Hikari house and dashed down the street. The figure smirked as Netto encountered a roadblock and rushed back looking for a detour. The figure, chuckling at the hero’s predicament, closed the window and turned towards another window.

“Subjects Hikari02 and Hikari03 have left the building.”

“Excellent. I presume that their destination is Scilab?”

“They are headed in its general direction.”

“Good...good...Where is 00?”

“At Scilab as expected.”

“What of the other subjects?”

“I am bringing up the list.”

“Hmm...Uh-huh...Oooo....Hmm...Perfect. Just as I have forseen. About time.” The operator smiled as he closed the NetMines game. “Tch. Cossack’s baby hasn’t been spotted yet, eh? Too bad. Meh, might as well...Those Undernet boys had better start being more useful or I’ll go look somewhere else to waste my zeny.”

“Better than nothing. You should get ready for the special event or you’ll miss out on the fun.”

“Yes, you’re quite right. But I’m already ready. I only need to leave.”

“Whatever.”

“I’ve waited a long time for this day to come...” the operator mused, “We should make sure everything goes according to the plan. Did you finalize the checks on the upgrades?”

“Yes. I’ve already modified the drivers for the weapons programs for optimal power output and I’ve updated the chip folder.”

“Excellent. How are the upgrades?”

“Great. Never knew you had the skill to create them nor knew how convenient they could be.”

“Haha...Hmm...Is that who I think it is?”

“Yes. Subject Anderson00 has set-up the roadblock as expected.”

“Hehehe...I needed an eye-opener anyways. Let’s go before they leave.”

“Don’t forget your umbrella. It looks like as if it’s going to rain later on today.”

“Hmm.” The operator looked out the window and stared at the cloudless night sky for a while. “Whatever you say. You’re the weather navi.”

And with that, the mysterious operator picked up his PET, jacket, fedora, and a couple of other trinkets (including the umbrella), and went out the door.

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Netto stopped in front of another roadblock. This is the seventeenth roadblock he came across in the last ten minutes! He could have arrived at Scilab by now!!! The roadblocks are everywhere! Netto just can’t stand it. He swore all of them weren’t here yesterday or even this morning! Something’s wrong and he doesn’t know why.

“Netto-kun. We’re really going to be late. Everybody’s probably waiting for us again.”

“I can’t help it if there’s five hundred roadblocks everywhere!”

“What about that curry shop we passed by five minutes ago?”

“That doesn’t count!” Netto sighed. “Neh, Rockman~. Can’t you tell whether there’s a roadblock or not?”

“No. I can’t seem to pull any data out from the transportation network.”

“Argh...What time is it?”

“11:45pm. Are you sure you can make it?”

“Of course! Hey, I wonder what’s going on over there” Netto said as he looked towards a crowd that was amassing around something. “Ne Rockman~. Let’s check it out.”

“Netto-kun! We’re going to be late even if we hurry now!”

“It’s alright. It only takes 5 minutes to get to Scilab from the subway anyways. Just a quick look. Besides, I want to find out what that ‘98’ is doing there for.”

Rockman could only sigh as Netto squeezed through the crowd towards the large scoreboard that had a ‘98’ on its display.

“Shiningman.EXE DEFEATED! “

With a DING! the scoreboard added another point to the board to ’99’.

“No! This cannot be! My Shiningman is undefeatable!”
The probable operator was jumping up and down while flapping his arms madly. In front of him seems to be IPC’s latest product: the Portable HoloBattleNet(TM) machine: a white, briefcase sized machine that can project a 3-D hologram of the NetBattle arena from the size of a playing card to the size of a large room.

“I’m sorry, but I think the crowd will say otherwise.” Shiningman’s operator’s opponent stood on the other side of machine. He is a guy who seemed to be either in college or at least in his senior year in high school. He’s tall, wears glasses, is lightly tanned, has smoothly combed hair like a businessman, and has a handsome face (the last one might be a fantasy on his part). Despite his skinny figure, he gives off the aura of inner strength, calmness, and maturity.

“You’ve lost, and according to our agreement, you have to pay the 50,000 zeny entrance fee.”

“I can’t accept this! It is absolutely IMPOSSIBLE for me to lose! Especially to a lowlilfe mobster like you!”

“I’m sorry, but one, if you think that bringing up my former past will save you your dignity and wallet, you’re gravely mistaken; and two, I’m not a lowlife and even if I am, I am too proud to stoop to that level.”

“NANI?!!!! YOU?! PROUD?! HAH! Give me a break! How can you prove that you didn’t cheat?!”

“*sigh* Tell you what. You can choose anybody from this crowd to represent you and NetBattle me. And if you lose, you pay the 50,000 zeny you owe me. If I lose, I’ll pay both YOU and your NetBattler the offered prize of 1,000,000 zeny. No strings attached.”

“Really now?! Hmm....Who to pick...”

“Oh my. Look who we have here! It’s the great hero Hikari Netto! Mr. Hikari! I would be honored if you would NetBattle me!” The "gangster" didn’t seem to be all that bad. Besides, what’s there to lose?

“Ne, Rockman~ Let’s NetBattle him~”

“No Netto-kun, we only have ten minutes left to get to Scilab. Let’s go.”

“Aww~ Rockman~!”

“Hmm? Why do you need to get to Scilab at 11pm?”

“What? It’s almost midnight! What are you talking about?!”

“Umm...The time is 10:50pm. Daylight Savings Time ended today you know...”

“Yes! Let’s NetBattle Rockman!”

“*sigh* Fine...”

“Yes! I am so going to win that money!” Shiningman’s operator recovered from a near heart-attack (Netto was about to leave) and was now jumping up and down happily.

“Plug-in! Rockman! Transmi-”

Netto never got to finish the command because at that moment, a tall man walked out from the crowd and placed his hand on Netto’s shoulder.

“With your permission, I would like to NetBattle instead.”

Netto blinked and looked at the man. Tall, bulky, long trench coat, fedora hat...and there’s seems to be a professional aura around him. “Umm...What do you think Rockman?”

“Uh...Sure. I guess...”

“Thank you.” The man looked at the bishounen opponent and at the “gangster.”
“Is it alright with you sirs?”

Shiningman’s operator just blinked in confusion and the guy just nodded.

“I’ll take that as a yes then. Jack-in! Windstorm.EXE! Download!”

The machine whirred to life as soon as the infrared beam made contact with the node. What appeared to be a white suitcase on its side opened up and the intricate insides were revealed. Power generator, holograph projectors, fans, and lots and lots of air vents. The man’s navi, Windstorm, materialized onto what one would call a “desktop” and stood there in full 3-D 1024-bit color. He was wearing a standard black-colored cyber-skin and his equipment had a gold and dark green color scheme. He’s what one would call “buff” and the same can be said for his armaments and armor too. The emblem at the center of the chest is a gray tornado spinning behind a lightning bolt on a lime green background which means, as Netto deduced, that the navi is of the Electricity element. There are two thin plates that follow the length of the arms on each arm both below and above the elbows. Judging by how the plates are placed parallel to each other and perpendicular to the surface of the arms, the plates seem to be arm guards. The golden chest armor seem to make Knightman’s bulky figure seem scrawny. His green helmet is of a triangular shape with an orange visor that covers the slit-like red eyes, an antenna that comes out from the left side of the helmet along with a golden mouthguard and the navi’s long gray hair gave Blues a run for his money. On the back, there are two huge rockets and what seems to be two small and thin wings. The only visible weapons are the two lightning bolt shaped beam saber handles at the waist, a pair of huge drills where the hands are supposed to be, and the spiked knee and shin guards. Unless the host’s navi is powerful, this could become a quick NetBattle.

“Jack-in! X-Tracker.EXE! Download!”

A tall navi materialized in front of Windstorm on the machine. He had a dark green cyber-jumpsuit and barely any armaments. Despite the meagre amount of armor on him, X-Tracker seems to be loaded with guns from top to bottom. Wrist guns on each hand, four shoulder mounted vulcans (two on top, two on the side), two embedded chest guns, two pairs of guns on the waist and knees (one each), and a rifle in each hand. Even the knees seemed to have small vulcans on them. The helmet reminded Netto of Searchman because of the tracking utility that covered the right eye of the navi in the blackish-green helmet that seemed to protect a face as soon as the operator’s. To top it all off, he had wing-like curved things attached on his back, the side of his arms, and the back of his legs; 4 on the back, one on each arm, and one per leg. Obviously, this navi’s specialty was speed. Netto smirked because he would know that this guy would become best friends with Napalamman on sight; Rockman seemed to be thinking the same thing. The crowd roared in delight as the navis were enlarged to be twice the size of the operators and the actual battle field materialized around the area causing the more “ooh”s and “ahh”s, and as the navis assumed fighting stances, a bell rang. The crowd roared even more as the navis started fighting.

“X! Let’s finish this quickly and claim our 100th and final victory of the year!”

“Roger!”

X-Tracker started the fight by unleashing all of his guns onto Windstorm. Windstorm held his ground by blocking all of the shots with his drills.

“Windstorm, let’s end this warm-up quickly. We have a schedule to keep.”

Schedule? What does he mean by schedule? Netto thought.

“Okay. What’s the plan?”

“Drill and fire.”

“Roger that. Awaiting battle chips.”

“Battlechips Guard 3 and AntiDamage download!”

A large curved shield appeared in front of Windstorm and started taking in X-Tracker’s bullets. Windstorm flashed once after initiating the AntiDamage chip when a huge shockwave appeared and headed straight towards the young navi. X-Tracker stopped firing and jumped out of the way. Not surprisingly, some members of the crowd did so too. X-Tracker looked around looking for Windstorm but scanning the field didn’t help.

“Is he underground?” thought X-Tracker.

“No! X! Look above you!!”

“Huh?”

Windstorm was in the sky looking down on X-Tracker. He was just floating there...as if he was waiting for X-Tracker to do something.

“You think you’re crazy, eh? Floating in the sky and all. Well, you’re crazy alright. Googol Barrage!!!” X-Tracker started to unleash another fury of lasers and bullets at Windstorm. Windstorm calmly lifted his arms, pointing them towards the incoming projectiles and at X-Tracker.

“Drilling Tornado!!!” With that, Windstorm’s drills started spinning and created a large funnel of wind that covered and scattered the incoming bullets and beams and headed straight for X-Tracker.

“What in the...They weren’t DrillArms?!! AUGH!” X-Tracker was blasted by the tornados and flew off.

“X! Are you alright? You know better than to incorrectly assume the opponent’s capabilities!”

“Hahaha...This guy’s the best of the lot today. I’m glad that you’re my 100th opponent today...Oi! Send me some battlechips!”

“Okay! Two WideBlade battlechips! Double download!”

X-Tracker’s two main rifles de-materialized and his hands transformed into two powerful looking blades.

“Now I-“ X-Tracker never got to finish the sentence because at moment, Windstorm appeared in front X-Tracker and thrust his spinning, right DrillArm towards X-Tracker’s face. X-Tracker blocked the drill with an X made by his swords. He jumped back and instantly lunged at Windstorm. Windstorm was about to attack again but instead had to parry with X-Tracker. Soon, their arms were in a deadlock and were glaring at each other while struggling to push the other. Then X-Tracker smiled as his shoulder mounted vulcans unfolded and blasted Windstorm square in the face, chest, and drills. Windstorm jumped backwards to evade the remaining shots, but not without a set of busted drills.

“Hah! Your drills are now busted! You are weak now!” A large bazooka appeared over X-Tracker’s right arm as the sword disappeared. “Target locked on! Homing Bazooka!” X-Tracker started blasting the bazooka shots towards Windstorm.

“It’s not over yet. Windstorm!”

“Okay!” Windstorm extended his arms and with a small burst of light, the drills both split evenly into four parts and opened up backwards exposing a pair of vulcans inside.

“What in the...”

“Vulcan Tornado!” The drill petals started spinning rapidly and blew the bazooka shots back towards their owner. X-Tracker had barely managed to dodge them when Windstorm started firing the powered-up vulcans at X-Tracker. Then the drills suddenly clamped shut and flew off from Windstorm’s wrists towards X-Tracker. X-Tracker, after being hit by the vulcans, managed to retaliate quickly enough to shoot the drill missiles before they connected.

“Battlechip! Geddon2!” The panels on the floor started to crumble and break and some member of the crowd started to scream and run off because they feared the crumbling panels (they came back red-faced). Windstorm didn’t seem to be affected because he just floated in mid-air.

“You think you’re crazy, eh? Floating there like that. Well, how about this?! FullCustom! Snake! Attack+30!!! Download! Let’s finish this X!”

X-Tracker raised his hand from the depths of the abyss and snakes popped up from the holes of the ground.

“SNAKE!” X-Tracker pointed towards Windstorm and the snakes all hissed and screeched as they streaked towards the electric navi in triplets of green streaks. The crowd gasped as the green snakes exploded upon contact with Windstorm. Everybody held their breath waiting for the cyber dust cloud to settle. The seconds ticked away as the dust cloud slowly dissipated and everybody was straining to see if Windstorm was finished...Everybody except his operator that is.

“Rockman. Do you think it’s over?”

“I don’t know- Hey look above!”

Netto looked upwards to see a shuriken materialize and launch itself towards X-Tracker. X-Tracker never had a chance and the shuriken hit him right in the left chest area and pin him to the ground as the left chest vulcan exploded.

“Augh!”

Windstorm appeared as the dust cloud disappeared and he was standing on a kawarimi. Of course! The AntiDamage chip from earlier! Netto thought.

“X! Hang in there! Are you alright?!”

“Argh...It’s your fault, Rob. You forgot about the AntiDamage chip. RARGH!” X-Tracker painfully pulled out the shuriken from his chest and slowly got up.

“Time to end this, Windstorm. Program Advance! AntiDamage! AntiNavi! Muramasa! Body Guard!!!!”

“Body Guard!”

X-Tracker looked up as he could only helplessly watch as a giant dark figure fade into existence behind Windstorm and materialize ten large shurikens. Windstorm pulled out a beam saber hilt from his waist with his right arm and pointed it towards the sky. A lightning bolt hit the beam saber hilt and a long electric beam sword appeared.

“Oh my...”

Windstorm lowered his arm and pointed it at X-Tracker. The shurikens launched themselves forward and headed towards X-Tracker in single file like meteors falling across the sky. X-Tracker started to jump and dodge the shurikens but as he somersaulted out of the way of the fourth shuriken, Windstorm appeared in front of X-Tracker and slashed him two times with the beam saber just before X-Tracker managed to jump away with his speed again. The electrical element of the beam saber paralyzed X-Tracker in mid scream and he only got to finish it after the remaining six shurikens bullseye’d him.

“Katana3 download.”

Windstorm’s left arm materialized into a katana and he slashed the immobile X-Tracker twice more to finish him.

“X-Tracker.EXE PLUGOUT.”

Everybody stood still for several seconds contemplating the extreme action and most intense NetBattle they have ever seen since the Red Sun and Blue Moon NetBattle tournaments. The battlefield and Windstorm faded out from view as the machine whirred to a stop. With a “BZZT!!!” the scoreboard reset itself to display the number ‘0’ and the machine folded up back into its suitcase form.
Suddenly, somebody from the crowd started to clap. One, then two, and soon, everybody was clapping. The clapping continued and everybody started cheering and hooting for the two NetBattlers and their navis. Shiningman’s operator stood there dumbfounded due to the intensity of the battle until the cheers brought him back to reality.

“He won? HE WON!! WHOO HOO!!! I WON!!! YEAH! WHO DA MAN?! OO! OO! OOO! OOH!”

He rushed to Windstorm’s operator and shook hands with the man furiously to show his gratitude. X-Tracker’s operator walked up to Windstorm’s operator and offered his hand. His opponent shook his hand firmly.

“I thank you for the awesome NetBattle. It has been a long time since X and I had a worthy opponent to NetBattle against. My name is Anderson. Robert Anderson. My friends call me Rob. What’s yours?”

“Chrovel. Richard Chrovel.”

“Well, Mr. Chrovel - may I call you Richard?- X and I salute you again for the great NetBattle. Here’s the prize money as I’ve promised.” Anderson beamed the promised million zeny prize to Shiningman’s operator’s and Chrovel’s PETs. “I hope we’ll meet again and NetBattle soon.”

“Me too, Mr. Anderson. Me too...” Chrovel walked up to Netto and beamed something into Rockman’s PET. “I’ve sent you half of the prize money that I’ve just received. This is my token of thanks for allowing to NetBattle in your stead. Thank you.” And with that, he walked off.

“You’re welcome...” Netto stood there and watched Chrovel put on his fedora back on and disappear into the crowd with his hands in his trench coat’s pockets. Netto looked behind him and saw Shiningman’s operator walk off with his head up high. The crowd dispersed and Netto was just about to challenge Anderson to a NetBattle when Rockman interfered.

“Netto-kun. We really have to get to SciLabs...Even with the clock adjustments, there’s only 30 minutes left...”

“Aww Rockman~”

“Netto-kun! Meiru-chan wouldn’t be very happy if you’re late for your date.”

“Oh shoot! Meiru-chan! I totally forgot!”

“*sigh* Let’s hurry.”

“Right.” And Netto speeded off towards the SciLabs.

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Robert Anderson sighed as he watched the crowd disperse. That was one of the most intense NetBattles I ever had. Too bad I lost it. Heh...he thought. X-Tracker seemed to be thinking the same thing for at that moment, his hologram appeared over Robert’s shoulder and plopped down to sit.

“That was great, eh Rob? He was CRAZY!”

“Yeah. The guy thinks he’s crazy. Hehehe...Wait until next time. We’ll show him who’s crazy.”

“Yeah...Haahahaha.”

Suddenly, their laughter was interrupted by somebody’s lone clapping in the empty street. Two men in white robes walked out from the shadows of an alley. The leader, who was clapping, wore glasses and had brown curly hair. The other, obviously of lower rank, was wearing glasses too, but had spiky hair unlike his superior.

“Dr. Hikari.” Robert nodded towards the first man. “And I presume you’re Mr. Famous? Pleased to make your acquaintance.”

“Pleased to meet you too.” replied Mr. Famous.

“Well done Robert.” said the first man.

“Thank you Dr. Hikari. Unfortunately, I had failed the test.”

“On the contrary, you passed.”

“Huh? I don’t understand.”

“You see...This test of 100 consecutive victories was a test of your skill and your navi’s skill in NetBattling and not your ability to amass 100 easy victories. You were unable to NetBattle my son when you had the chance, but you had an equally formidable opponent and I congratulate you on a great NetBattle.”

“You flatter me Dr. Hikari.”

“No, no, I don’t. Nonetheless, you are now accepted to be part of the top-secret Project S.”

“I cannot express my gratitude enough Dr. Hikari.”

“No, no, it’s nothing. Welcome to the SciLabs Mr. Anderson. We hope you’ll have a productive and successful career compared to your previous occupation.”

“Thank you.”

“Now if you’ll excuse me, I have to rush now because the announcement will start in less than 30 minutes. I’ll see you the day after tomorrow at SciLab. Bye.”

“Good-bye Dr. Hikari, Mr. Famous.”

When the two scientists disappeared down the street, Robert jumped and down with joy.

“Did you hear that X?! We got in! We got in! WHOO HOO!!!!!”

“Yeah! Nobody can beat us now! Hey, let’s head over to SciLab to see the ‘Great Announcement’ that everybody’s dying to see.”

“Okay. Let’s go!”

Robert picked up his equipment and ran down the street.

To be continued...

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Author’s Notes:
1. In this fic, all battlechip names will be identified by their dub names due to my lack of knowledge of the Japanese names.
2. I’ll be using the Japanese names for most of the characters except a couple of exceptions like Meijin (aka. Mr. Famous).
3. Matrix joke. Sue me. D: On second thought, sue me later when the more horrible jokes come. XP

(I hope the formatting looks like it does in the Preview window...)