Upgrade- AA[G{K+9} very small X8, BN5 & Stream spoilers]

[TheWebbuilder]

Elizabeth & Lido Azn Girl, -double checks- AUGH! I had an 'out' all lined up for that issue, and then I blew it by calling her 'Princess Pride' too early! -sighs and trudges back to edit-

You know, its strange how one Stream episode can completely change the storyline of a fic.

Begin Chapter!

“Wow…” May looked over her father to stare out the window. “Is that BrightLand?”

“As a matter of fact, it is.” Lan chuckled as he too looked out the window. The place had barely changed since he’d been here last, cottages still dotted the landscape, and the mountains were off in the distance marking the border between BrightLand and DarkLand. A familiar, stone, majestic castle was in its place on a man-made hill near the center of town. “Same old BrightLand. I wonder how Pride’s doing?”

“You know Dad.” May shot a look at her dad. “I know you’re just making all that stuff up about knowing her. So there’s still time to admit it before we disprove your stories.”

“Oh, you still think I’m telling tall tales?” Lan paused as the pilot announced their arrival. “What’s the matter? Don’t you trust me?”

“I do,” the brunette girl grinned, “But there’s no way you could know Queen Pride.”

Lan just grinned, he’d let his daughter find out the truth soon enough.

The Official turned and glanced back at Hub. The redheaded Netbattler was still absorbed in some article he was reading from the magazine rack; and he apparently hadn’t heard their arrival.

“Hey, Hub, we’re there.”

No response, Hub just continued reading his magazine.

“Here,” A smile crept over May’s face. “I’ll do it…”

Everyone, Lana, the Cossacks, Tony, and Jasmine, immediately noticed the sister’s plan. With an evil grin, the brunette stretched out and clamped her hand down on her brother’s shoulder.

As expected, Hub jumped in shocked surprise.

But what happened next was unexpected.

The redhead clasped his hand over his heart, as a look of pure terror appeared on his face. Before everyone’s stunned eyes, he gasped twice and then collapsed into the center aisle. His body sprawled out spread-eagle as his eyes slid closed…

“HUB!” Lan and May were instantly in motion. Simultaneously, they unbuckled their seatbelts and stepped into the aisle. As May looked on in horror, Lan knelt down by his son’s side.

“Hold on,” The Official turned to see Jasmine kneeling beside him, “Let me look at him…”

The father heeded her advice and then retreated a step. Anxiously he watched as the raven-haired woman poked and prodded Hub.

Jasmine’s face was a mask of concern as she rapidly reached her diagnosis. As she placed her fingers over his throat to check for a pulse, she turned to Lan. “He’s having a massive heart attack! Hurry, you’ve got to-”

She broke off.

Lan and May caught their breath as everyone else looked on in horror.

“It stopped; there’s no pulse...” Jasmine dropped her head in sorrow. “He’s gone.”

“What? NO!” Lan rushed forward as May dropped to her knees. “What about CPR? There’s got to be something we can do!”

“Lan, I’m truly sorry. There’s nothing I can do.”

“No…” May slid over to her brother’s lifeless body. Her fingers crept out and pressed against Hub’s throat.

She didn’t feel a thing.

“Hub…” Her eyes moistening, the brunette sister lost her self-control. Her tears rushed unbidden down her cheeks.

A soft sound from behind her grabbed her attention. Turning her head, May spotted Tony standing behind her. But what really annoyed her was the fact that he was trying not to chuckle as he watched her.

Ignoring her inconsiderate friend, May turned back to her dead brother. A gasp escaped her lips.

His chest was… quivering?

“BWAH!”

A scream exploded out of her throat as May tumbled backward in terrified horror. Her fall came to a stop as she crashed to the ground, her face white with fear.

Laughter erupted from her companions.

“Oh, man.” Hub sat up and slapped his knee as he broke into a round of unstoppable laughter. “I really had you guys going!”

As she realized that she had been tricked, May felt her temper rising. “Hub, that wasn’t funny!”

“I told… you…” The redhead gagged out the words between bursts of laughter. “That… one of… these days… you’d give me… a heart attack!”

“Dad!” Beyond ‘annoyed’ and nearing ‘volcanic eruption’ on the anger scale, the brunette girl turned to her father- only to see him laughing as well.

“Oh, Hub that…” The father choked on his own words. “That was something Akira would do. I wonder… whatever happened to him?”

“Last I heard, he was living in Netopia.” MegaMan spoke up from his P.E.T., as he tried to suppress an involuntary chuckle. “Making his living as a comedian.”

“Well, if the shoe fits...”

“Thanks, Mrs. Jasmine.” Hub finally overcame his laughter and got to his feet. “I owe you one.”

“I’ll remember that, Hub.” The raven-haired woman smiled back.

“She was in on this?” May glared at the two cohorts. “But… how did you pull it off? You two were never alone together to plot this stunt.”

“The world will never know.” The redhead grinned.

May, however, didn’t need an answer. She had her answer when a heard the sharp snicker coming from the Sub-P.E.T., “Wait a moment, you had Harry contact Medi didn’t you!”

“Maybe I did, maybe I didn’t.” The Met’s voice came from the device. “I just dink that dis is hilarious.”

May shook her head, someday she’d get even…

1010101010101010101010101010101010101

“Uh, I hate to ask this.” Hub glanced up and down the street in anxiety. “But where are we staying at? Last I checked, we didn’t have any reservations at any hotels.”

“I keep telling you.” Lan smiled at his kids. “We’re staying at the castle.”

“Oh, sure.” May grinned, expressing her disbelief. “I’m sure we are. What are they going to do? Send a Limo for us?”

“As a matter of fact…” The brunette father stretched out and waved wildly at someone or something.

To the amazement of Lana, Tony, Hub and May, a dark white stretch limousine pulled up the curb and parked. The driver and another attendant stepped out of the front two seats and walked over to address the travelers.

“Mr. Hikari?”

“That’s me.” The brunette nodded and gestured to his companions. “And they’re with me.”

“Very good…”

Almost before they realized it, Hub and May found themselves sitting in the Limo with their companions. The drivers slid back into their seats and took off, taking them away from the airport and to know knows where.

“Wow…” Tony looked around in amazement, it didn’t take him long to notice the Pride crest decorating the plush carpet on the floor of their vehicle. “Hey, guys, maybe your dad’s not making this stuff up. Maybe he really does know Queen Pride.”

“No way.” May’s voice didn’t sound quite as sure as she’d intend it to be. “He couldn’t know her. I mean, how’s a princess supposed to notice an Official? She probably just delegates the task of helping him to someone else.”

Hub couldn’t figure out why Jasmine, the Cossacks, and his father began laughing at that remark.

“You’ll see.” Lan settled himself back in his seat. “Your dad has connections that you know nothing of.”

“I’m sure you do.” But the brunette girl didn’t sound convinced.

The rest of the ride passed without incident. And before long they were exiting the Limo and heading up the walk towards the doorway. Although briefly detained by the guards, they allowed the group to pass when Lan flashed his Official Badge and presented identification.

A short walk later and they were standing before a large oak door that looked like it had come out of the medieval period.

“Now, if I remember right…” The brunette father examined the doorway. “This leads to the central room, where Pride’s waiting on us.”

“Dad, you can stop joking now.” May rolled her eyes.

“You still don’t believe me do you?” Lan glanced at his daughter. “All right, then I’ll just prove it to you.”

The brunette man placed his hand on the door and pushed, opening it so that everyone could enter.

Lana and Tony followed everyone else into the room, and gasped as they drank in its majestic beauty. The room was spacious, with arched walls covered in various tapestries, here and there; a white column rose into the ceiling, each one was decorated with carvings of flowers and knights on horseback.

At the head of the room, a tall blond woman sat on a prominent chair. She vaguely reminded Tony of an old video game character.

“Hello, Princess.” Lan smiled to the woman as May covered her head with her hands in embarrassment. “Long time, no see.”

“Lan!” Instantly the woman was flying across the room towards her friend. A split second later she had clasped the brunette’s hand and was shaking it profusely. “Lan, it’s so good to see you again.”

“Wait a moment.” May’s eyes grew wide. “You mean, Dad was telling the truth?”

“I told you so.” Hub smirked in self-satisfaction. “I told you he wasn’t making it up.”

“O.K., enough gloating.” Lan pried his hand free from Pride’s grip and turned to introduce his companions. “Princess Pride, the one blushing in embarrassment is May, my oldest daughter. And the one with the smirk on his face is my son, Hub.”

“Pleased to meet you.” Pride smiled generously as she accepted a handshake from the siblings. “Your father and I go way back.”

“So I’ve heard…” May looked at her host in awe. “But I thought that those were just tall tales, did you… really…?”

“I did.” Pride answered the brunette’s unspoken question. “When you’ve been a princess all of your life, you will go to extreme lengths to escape at times.”

“I didn’t doubt it,” Hub commented again. “I knew that there had to be some amount of truth in those tales, Queen Pride.”

“Please, if you‘re a member of Lan‘s family, the old Princess title will do, ‘Queen‘ sounds too formal.”

“Oh, uh, sorry.” May’s blush deepened.

“And these are their friends, Lana and Tony.” Lan continued the introductions, “And Lana’s parents, Roy and Amelia Cossack. This is Tony’s mother, Jasmine Froid.”

“A pleasure.” The princess exchanged greetings and then turned to Jasmine. “You know something of botany don’t you? I remember Lan telling me that you work with herbs and plants to create medicines.”

“I know some things on the subject.” The raven-haired woman replied, a little uneasily since she didn’t know where this was heading.

“I would be honored if you would take a look at our Seedling Project,” Pride followed up her question, “If you have any ideas on the subject, I would love to hear them.”

“Thank you. I will look at the project.”

“Lan.” The blond turned back to her friend, “I see you’ve started a family since we last met. How’s Maylu? I’m sorry to hear that she couldn’t come.”

“She’ll be along,” The father shrugged, “Just in a week or so. But we’re doing really well, I’m working for SciLab as a specialist in Computer Protection, and Maylu is took a job at the local hospital after finishing medical school.”

“I’m pleased to here it. I’m glad for you.”

"So, how's Raika?"

"He's out and about, I expect him back any day now. But I’m glad that SciLab sent you to help with our new firewall.” Pride resumed her discussion. “I need someone I can trust right now.”

“I’ll do everything that I can.” The brunette nodded, “But before we go into that, I think I need to show the others where their rooms are. Once I do that, I’ll be right back.”

“Thank you.”

End Chapter!
_________________

[Taylor]

Great chapter, I loved that joke that Hub played :chat: , keep up the good work.
_________________
"Very funny, Scotty. Now beam down my clothes."

[Blue Bommer]

It sounds like we are almost to an importent part. Great job, witty.

[Lido Azn Girl]

I caught a few mistakes in this chapter:

[TheWebbuilder]

[TheWebbuilder]

In case you've ever wondered...

Begin Chapter!

“What do you say, Harry?” Hub glanced down into his Sub-P.E.T., “How’s the Network?”

“Are you kiddin’?” The Met called back. “Dis place is huge! A virus could git used ta dis.”

“Glad you like it,” The redhead smiled at his viruses, “But keep inside the room’s Network, we don’t want the castle’s security system thinking that you guys are ordinary viruses.”

“Who’d mistake me for an ordinary virus?” Harry snapped in mock annoyance.

“No one, they’d find you too annoying to be a real virus.”

“Hey! Dat ain’t fair!”

Smiling at his jest, Hub set the Sub-P.E.T. down to charge and then looked up as his sister entered the room. After dropping them off, their dad had rushed back to the throne room to get started scanning the current firewall.

Now, Hub wasn’t a political science major, but he read the newspapers. Lately things had been tense between BrightLand and DarkLand, more tense than usual. And Hub gathered from his father’s comments that he (Lan) was here to help them install a new more powerful firewall. It didn’t take a rocket scientist to realize that something was about to happen between the two nations.

But for the moment, he didn’t have to worry about that. Right now his concern was…

“Hey, May, you want to go explore the castle?”

“Sure, we don’t have anything else to do.” The brunette nodded, “And we might as well learn our way around here.”

Leaving the Sub-P.E.T. behind, Hub joined his sister and together they left the room.

10101010101010101010101010

“Whose lousy idea was dis?” Harry the Met screeched as he bounded upwards, allowing the random Buster shot to harmlessly whip under him.

“Grrr…” Treble shot back a growl as he slid underneath swipe of an Electro Sword.

“I dought so.” The Met summoned his twin blasters and fired back at his attacker. He didn’t have the power set high enough to actually damage the Net Navi attacking him, just enough to stun him in place. “Leave it ta EleBee ta land us in a mess.”

“Buzz, Buzz-et!” Angered at being blamed for their predicament, the EleBee shot back a reply and then dive-bombed a security program, effectively knocking it out.

“Yeah, sure.” Harry snapped. “Blame it on Blade.”

“Grrowl! Grr!” The Bamboo Swordie dissented as he blocked his attacker’s Electro Sword and retaliated.

Treble hastily put an end to his friend’s bickering with a loud roar.

“Good point.” Dodging the random effects of a Spreader Cannon, Harry made his reply. “Id doesn’t matta who got us inta dis mess, we gotta get outta it.”

After Hub had left them alone, the viruses had set out to explore their Network. Through someone’s mistake, the quartet had found itself right smack dab in the middle of the Castle’s Network. Which was definitely not a good thing since the Castle Security Programs immediately registered them as a threat and tried to neutralize the viruses.

And no virus in his right mind wanted to be ‘neutralized’.

“Okay, dat does it!” Harry screamed at the Cannon-dumb that had almost blown his arrow off. “I don’ care who ya are, nobody messes wid da hat! Rapid Fire!”

Intense bursts of plasma energy exploded out of the arrowed Met’s pistols. His aim was true, and in no time at all; the Cannon-dumb was lying on the ground smoldering.

Satisfied, the Met turned around to see a massive blast of electrical energy- heading straight for Treble! Knowing that the icy virus wouldn’t stand a chance against that kind of attack, Harry leapt into action. Instantly, his left pistol vanished and fused itself with his right pistol to produce a longer more streamlined gun. With a cry of ‘Gatling Gun’, Harry lined his bazooka up with the electrical attack and fired. His buster flared to life, filling the sky with a flock of energy bursts. He watched in satisfaction as his attacks ripped the electrical attack to shreds.

“Ya owe me one, Treble!” Harry whipped around, his buster firing like crazy.

No sooner had his back turned, than a large hissing sound caught his attention. The met whipped back around, to see a fireball dissipating. And judging from the looks of things, if that fireball hadn’t been destroyed, it would have obliterated the small Met.

Harry looked over to see the Spikey smirking at him.

The Met rolled his eyes. “Fine den, we’re even. What da-?”

Harry refused to believe his eyes as a Castle Security Program (CSP) vanished before his viral eyes. The Met looked around, to see all the other CSP Navi’s disappearing and logging out. Before long, they were left alone.

EleBee looked around in confusion. Why had the CSP’s just vanished like that? Did it mean that something really, really, really bad was coming?

The viral quartet jumped as sharp clapping sound ripped through the air. All four turned to see a tall human Navigator studying them intently and clapping at their efforts.

“Amazing, you four are the first viruses to penetrate our firewall in quite some time.” The Navigator examined his prey. “Whoever programmed you is a genius.”

“Actually, we ain’t hostile viruses at all.” Harry piped up as he studied the Navigator. The Navigator wore a very dark azure suit, with light gray boots trimmed off with gold. Two yellow plates hung from his belt and slid down to cover the sides of his thighs, a light blue chest-plate encircled his torso, and he lacked shoulder pads. His gray gloves were set with gold plates, and a white hand area. The back half of his blue helmet was circular, while the front half had been styled to resemble a police sergeant’s hat, complete with hatband and all. “We’re wid a guest of Princess Pride’s, uh, Hub Hikari. Ya know him? We got lost exploring da Network and wound up here… and ya don’t believe a word I’m sayin’ do ya?”

“A met that can talk.” The Navigator’s right eyebrow went up in amazement. “I’ve never seen that before. And you have an accent as well, curious. But you are correct, I do not believe you.”

“And before ya try ta obliterate us.” Harry, ignoring Treble’s warning to stay tactful, formed his reply. “Ya mind tellin’ us ya’re name?”

“Signas.” The newly named Navigator replied, as his right hand transformed into a powerful Buster. “I’m the head of the CSP Department.”

A buzz from EleBee caught Harry’s attention. They couldn’t fight Signas no matter how much they wanted to. Hub had explicitly told them not to attack any Navigator without his consent unless it was violating one of three rules. 1) It was causing harm to another Navigator. 2) It was causing harm to the Network. 3) It was a crazed psycho that was intent on destroying the world. And they hated to admit it, but Signas didn‘t fit any of that criteria.

“So, let’s see how tough you really are.” Signas leveled his Buster.

“Actually, given da context of da situation.” Harry desperately tried to talk their way out of this predicament. “I dink dat its betta if we just go on our merry way.”

“That is not an option.” The Navigator pulled the trigger.

A burst of energy whipped out of his cannon and shot towards the viruses.

Harry, Treble, EleBee, and Blade stiffened and prepared to dodge as the burst of firepower came racing at them. Their muscles tensed as they readied themselves to dodge the blast.

They didn’t have to.

“Fortress, Battle Card in, Download!”

“Fortress!”

Four stone walls materialized about the viral quartet, forming a cube-shaped fortress around them. The new barrier shielded them from the assault, and allowed them to escape unharmed.

“What the-” Signas spun around in an effort to locate the Navigator who had interfered and saved the offending viruses. It didn’t take long for him to notice the blue and red Navigator approaching him at a steady gate. His instincts kicked in, causing him to question the new arrival’s intentions. “You! Halt! Speak and be recognized!”

“MegaMan Trigger.” The Bomber replied smoothly. “I built those viruses and I don’t appreciate you trying to destroy them. I can assure you that they were not going to cause harm to the castle’s Network.”

“And who sent you here?” The CSP leader kept his Buster at the ready. He really didn’t trust this guy.

“No one, I’m a guest, well, actually my father is, of Princess Pride’s.” Trigger held out his hand. “Name’s Hub.”

“Hub? And your father’s name?”

“Lan, Lan Hikari.”

“Anyone can claim to be a legendary Netbattler’s son.” Signas pointed out. “That doesn’t mean that they are. And since you and your viruses are in a restricted area, I’m afraid that I do not believe you… You’ll have to prove it!”

Instantly, Signs’ buster was replaced with a shimmering silver sword. The CSP leader lunged forward, swinging his blade at his declared opponent.

“What the-?” Trigger’s head snapped backward, as the sword swished by his head. The blade had missed by a hair’s breadth. “I don’t want to fight you!”

“I’m afraid that you don’t have a choice!” The CSP leader rotated his sword and then slashed horizontally, certain that he had won this fight.

He underestimated Trigger’s Netbattling instinct.

His blade came to an early stop as it slammed against the Bomber’s unyielding Buster.

“When you play with me, there are rules.” MegaMan Trigger grunted as he knocked the sword away with his Buster. Immediately he leapt backward, putting some distance between him and his opponent. “Rule #1, don’t play dirty!”

“All right, it doesn’t look like we have a choice.” May prepared to slide a card through her P.E.T.

“Right.” Trigger watched Signas lunge at him again.

“Buster Guard, Scan, Activate!”

Instantly, a blue shield appeared on the outside edge of the Bomber’s Buster. As the CSP leader slashed at him with his blade, Trigger’s arm snapped up to block. Sword met shield in a deadly contest.

The shield won.

Signas gasped as his blade hit the defense and stopped. Trigger, however, was fully prepared for it. With a sweep of his arm, he knocked the sword aside and dropped his arm down to fire a fully charged shot straight into Signas’ stomach.

The officer took the full force of the impact, and was sent flying backward. A crash erupted, as he slammed into the ground several feet away.

“Not bad…” Signas muttered as he got to his feet. “Not bad at all…”

“Glad to hear it.” The Bomber replied. “You convinced yet?”

“Ah, now I am.” A grin spread over Signas’ face. “My Op, Middy, just confirmed that you are you. Sorry, but we have to be careful.”

“Sure, I understand.” Trigger shrugged as he deactivated the Fortress protecting his viruses. “Now, if you don’t mind, I think I’ll take these guys back to their Sub-P.E.T.”

“Don’t worry, I’ll provide a link.” The CSP leader waved his hand, as a shimmering pink portal opened up before the viruses. “That’ll take them home. But I need you to Log Out, we have to talk.”

“Sure.” MegaMan Trigger nodded, and after escorting his viruses home, he promptly logged out of the Network and reappeared in the real world as Hub.

A few moments later, a brown-haired, blue-eyed kid no older than May materialized before them, evidently logging out of the Network.

“Hello.” The kid extended his hand. “The name’s Signas on the ‘Net, Trevor in real life, Techno as a nickname. Just call me Techno.”

“Hey.” Hub nodded as he took the Navigator’s hand. His face must have reflected his amazement over Techno’s age, because the CSP leader immediately clarified his statement.

“Yes, I’m a kid.” The brunette boy nodded, “But that doesn’t mean that I’m not good at what I do.”

“I’ll remember that.” May grinned. “I’m May.”

“So I gathered.” Techno nodded his understanding. Then he turned and motioned for them to follow him as he headed up another flight of stairs. Several exhausting minutes later, the trio arrived at the top and found themselves standing on an open balcony set in the side of the castle’s wall.

Sighing in satisfaction, Techno walked over to the outer railing and sat down on the edge. “Thanks for coming, this is somewhat important, and I’ll need your help.”

“Of course we’ll help out.” May replied. “What’s the problem.”

The brunette’s head swiveled around to face the large, green mountains in the distance. “DarkLand.”

Because Techno’s face had been pointing away from him, Hub didn’t catch what was said. Since he gathered that a reply had been made, he shot a hasty look at his sister, who quickly spelled out ‘DarkLand’ in ASL.

Nodding to show he understood; Hub pressed on with the questions. “What about them?”


Techno turned around to face his companions, much to Hub’s relief. “Things have always been tense between our two nations. But lately things have been escalating. Recently, we discovered a Bassnium mine in the mountains, a mine that contains more Bassnium than ever previously discovered. The problem is that DarkLand claims that they have the rights to it, although it was clearly discovered to be on BrightLand soil. Long story short, a war could break out at any moment.”

“I see…” Hub began fitting the pieces of the puzzle together. “And the first way that they’d strike would be through the ‘Net.”

“Exactly.” The brunette nodded. “I don’t have any right to ask you this, but your father has been a great source of help to us in the past-”

“Of course we’ll help if we’re needed.” May interjected.

“Ah, thank you.” Techno nodded his appreciation. “You have no idea what that means to us.”

“I can suggest a way we can help already.” Hub spoke up. “I can outfit my viruses with a beacon so that the CSP can I.D. them. Once that’s done, I’m sure that they won’t mind patrolling the castle.”

“Again, I thank you.” The CSP leader agreed. “I will do so. And I also feel that the Greenhouses will also be targets. Their success could change the entire balance of power in this region, and you can be sure that DarkLand will not like that.”

“We’ll be on the lookout.” Hub gave his word. “You can count on that.”

End Chapter!
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[TheWebbuilder]

“Honest, Trigga.” Harry stared back at his creator. “It was just an honest mistake.”

“Don’t you guys realize that you could have been blown of the face of the Net?” The Navigator demanded, folding his arms to indicate his authority. “You guys mean a lot to me, I don’t want anything to happen to you, so you can’t just go running off across the Internet at will. People can and will think you’re harmful viruses and try to ‘bust’ you.”

Treble growled lowly as his head dropped in shame. He’d never intended to disobey his master, but nevertheless he had.

EleBee’s countenance also plunged, as did Blade’s.

Harry however, was more resistant than the others were. He didn’t appreciate being chewed out, especially for something that wasn’t his fault. After all, it was an honest mistake; anyone could have done it.

“So try to be more careful O.K.?” Trigger dropped his arms and then rubbed Treble’s head to show his forgiveness. “But its water under the bridge now. So as far as I’m concerned, it never happened.”

“Dat’s good da know.” The Met shrugged his non-existent shoulders.

“O.K., I’m going to take you guys, via the Sub-P.E.T., to the Greenhouse Project.” The Bomber smiled at his pets. “I think you’ll get a kick out of it.”

“Fine by me.” Harry grinned.

“All right-y.” Trigger’s frame vanished as he Logged Out of the Network.

The next second, the Link in Hub’s room flared to life. Its doorway became a shimmering mass of variegated color as Hub stepped back into the real world.

“HUB!” May’s angry voice came exploding out threw the physical door. “We’re going to be late if you don’t get a move on! Its bad enough that me and Dad will be late, but you’d better not make Ms. Jasmine late!”

“Coming!” The redhead retorted as he snatched up his Sub-P.E.T., dropped it into his belt clip, and bolted to the doorway. A grin appeared on his face as he jerked the door open, easily brushed past the startled May, and took off skating down the hallway.

“Now who’s running behind?” Hub called over his shoulder, right before whipping around the corner. Of course, the corner effectively cut off any reply that his sister could have made.

A grin covered his face as he wheeled down the hallway. Ordinarily, he wouldn’t have done that to May, but as near as he could tell, it was his reaction to her giving him ‘heart attacks’. He didn’t fully understand what had gotten into him lately, but he couldn’t help himself.

His reflections were cut short as one of his skate’s wheels caught in the carpeting. Of course, this meant that his forward momentum was reduced to 0 mph. Therefore, the downward forces of gravity came into play, causing him to crash heavily to the ground.

Hub lay there for a second collecting his wits. He’d definitely be feeling that one tomorrow.

“Now, that hurts.” The redhead groaned as he kicked his skate free of the annoying carpet.

“That’s what you get for skating indoors.”

The boy rolled over, to see Techno holding his hand out to help him up. “Need a hand?”

“Thanks.” Hub accepted the help and was soon back on his feet. “Thanks a lot.”

“Next time, skate outdoors.” Techno quipped as he gestured towards the raven-haired girl beside him. “This is my second-in-command, and Net Op, Middy.”

“Hello.” The redhead shook the newcomer’s hand. “I’m Hub, uh, MegaMan Trigger.”

“So I’ve heard.” Middy nodded. “So I’ve heard. But don’t you have to get downstairs? I heard that they were about ready to leave without you.”

“Oh man!” Hub shot a look at his watch. “Now I’m really late! See ya, gotta go!”

Techno watched the Netbatter rush away and take off down the stairs. “A lot sooner than you think, Hub. We’ll be at the Greenhouse as well…”

10101010101010101010

“Whoa!” Hub looked around him in amazement. “They must every kind of flower in existence around here!”

“Maybe not all of them.” May disagreed as she too glanced about in awe. “But they must come close!”

All around them were flowering plants. Rows of raised trenches rose up from the ground, and in each trench flowers were in full bloom. Their multi-colored heads poked over the protective walls as they cast the shadowy mirage of a living rainbow about the room. Above the group’s heads, hanging flowerpots decorated the ceiling and added splotches of color to the rafters.

“Amazing… simply amazing…” Jasmine studied the conglomerate of flowers before her. “I‘ve never seen so many varieties of flowers in one place before.”

“Its easy to tell that a lot of thought went into this.” Lan stepped over to join his children. “The sheer number of flowers, not to mention the different varieties, is staggering. They‘ve imported plants from all over the world, Cream Land, Yum Land, Dream Land, the list is endless.”

“And they are all so well cared for.” Jasmine knelt over and studied the foliage before her. “I never dreamed that automated systems could care for these plants so well.”

“Don‘t let the system fool you.” Lan commented, “There are a lot of humans running around behind the scenes.”

While that exchange had been going on, Hub and May had wandered farther ahead, so far the Greenhouse project had been amazing, and they had no doubt that it would only improve with each new step.

“You know,” Hub commented as he looked about him, “I can understand why Techno‘s on edge. An attack on a place like this would really hurt Bright Land‘s moral, I mean, the entire country is watching this project like a hawk.”

“I know.” May nodded in agreement, “We‘ll really have to be ready to Netbattle in a moment‘s notice if we‘re going to be of any help.”

“Yeah- What the-!”

Hub’s sentence shattered as he and his sister stopped short. Both of them shielded their faces as the trough to their right exploded in a shower of dirt, wood, and mulch. Hub instantly grabbed onto May’s arm and with a sharp tug, pulled her backward to relative safely.

“That… ach… bin just exploded!” May wheezed. Her eyes traveled forward again to take in the depth of the damage.

She immediately wished that she hadn’t.

The reason the bin had crumbled instantly became apparent, as a large green vine of some kind burst out of the floor just feet away! Hub and May jerked backward as the floor heaved, and another thorny vine ripped upward to spear through the ground.

“What the disk drive is going on?” Hub gaped as a third creeper shot skyward.

“I don‘t know, but we‘re not going to find out by standing around here!” May retorted.

Hub’s reply died in his throat, as a horribly familiar scream ripped through the air.

“That was Jasmine!” The siblings shot a hasty look at each other, and then acting as one, they turned and rushed back the way they had come.

Several heart stopping moments later, they found their father, Lana, Tony, and Jasmine.

But that wasn’t all.

Four vines were spreading fast, doing their best to capture anyone that got in their way.

“Dad!” Hub shouted as he slid to a stop. His father was edging backward towards them, with a monstrous vine inching after him. “What‘s going on?”

“Offhand…” Lan shouted over his shoulder, “I‘d say this place has been the target of a Net Terrorist attack!”

“Yeah, that‘s pretty obvious!” Hub replied as their friends reached them. “So, what do we do about it?”

“First things first.” The Official became all business. “We get out of here, then we Jack In and find the Navi causing this and take him out.”

“Wouldn‘t it be easier just to Jack In from in here?” Tony inquired, “After all, I don‘t think a bunch of vines can hurt us.”

“Yes, that would be easier.” Lan turned and began herding them through the exit. “But its not safe. If the Navi has control over the Network, then there‘s no telling what he could do. And he could potentially endanger the Net Op‘s lives. No, its safer if we get out of here, so move!”

Chastened, the kids hastily fled the building, with Lan and Jasmine right on their heels.

“And another thing.” Lan studied the buildings before him. “I think I see the point behind these oversized weeds. Whoever‘s behind this plans use the vines to shatter these Greenhouses like they were tin foil!”

“And we‘re not going to let that happen!” Lana announced, drawing nods of agreement from her friends.

“Which means that we‘ll have to Jack In!” Tony pointed to a Link on a nearby Greenhouse. “All right then, let‘s do this!”

“P.E.T. in!”

“Engage Transmission Now!”

“MegaMan Trigger Activate! Alia Activate!”

“Jack in, Medi, MegaMan! Power Up!”

Lan brought up the rear by leaping through the portal and going into Cross Fusion with MegaMan in the Internet. Once their fusion was complete, they joined the others.

“I don‘t get it.” Trigger glanced about in apparent uneasiness. Amazingly, the entire Network was safe and sound, there wasn’t a virus in sight, not to mention a renegade crazy Net Navi. “The outside world‘s going crazy, and things in here are downright peaceful. What‘s going on?”

“I‘m not entirely sure.” CF MegaMan commented as he too looked around in confusion. “The problem‘s here, I can feel it… But I can‘t see it.”

A quick consensus revealed that there was little to be gained by standing around, so the group immediately set off across the Network. It was also agreed that Trigger should call in his viruses for support.

A quick once over of the Network revealed nothing of interest, leaving everyone even more bewildered as to the cause of the rampaging vines.

“All right…” Trigger turned to his Spikey. “Treble, its up to you. Check out the Network and see if there‘s anything fishy around here.”

Obediently, Treble nodded and put his nose to work. In no time at all, the canine was sniffing about, trying to pinpoint the trouble with the Network.

MegaMan, Alia, and Trigger watched as the virus sniffed about. It wasn’t long before the Spikey stopped over a section of red tiling and howled excitedly.

“There?” Stepping away from the others, the Young Bomber strode over Treble and kneeled down on the flooring. “You‘re telling me that the problems are coming from… What the-!”

CF MegaMan gasped as he watched the events unfold before his eyes. Instantly he was in motion, but it was no use, he couldn’t reach his son fast enough.

The tiles beneath Trigger’s feet vanished, dropping away into nothingness. With a gasp of shock, Trigger and Treble plunged downward into the newly created hole. No sooner had they vanished from view than the tiles reappeared, blocking the others off from the tunnel that the Young Bomber had vanished.

“NO!” CF MegaMan rushed over to the red floor and slammed his fist against it, in a feeble attempt to break through the trapdoor. “HUB!”

“Where- where‘d it take him?” Alia ran over to the elder Hikari. “Do you… think he‘s all right?”

“I hope so.” The Bomber’s fused voices were grim. “But I’m not taking any chances. Guts Soul-”

Before he could finish that statement, the ground heaved, throwing him off balance. MegaMan tumbled over, scrambling to stay upright as four tiles exploded away, revealing four new, big, ugly vines.

“Well, well, MegaMan, we meet again.”

The Bomber spun around to face the owner of the voice, the voice he’d know anywhere.

End Chapter...
_________________

[Lido Azn Girl]

I spotted only a few mistakes in this chapter:

[TheWebbuilder]

Lido Azn Girl, hmm... the repeat was supposed to be a repeat, I'll go back and make that clearer tomorrow as well as the other corrections. I'll probably take you up on that offer once I get past this arc...

101010101010101010101010


“Nuh…”

“Oh…” The Young Bomber’s eyes slid open, exposing him to the blurry world. “What the 404 happened?”

“Ya crashed drew da floor and hit ya head. I saw ya tumbling so I jumped down afta ya.”

“Ouch.” Trigger winced as he sat up. After shaking his head in an effort to clear it, he looked about his surroundings. Treble and Harry were with him, but everyone else was gone. He was laying some desolate Network with a standard blue tiling and a cold gray sky.

“HUB!”

“Double ouch.” The Young Bomber reached up and adjusted his headset’s volume. “Present, May.”

“Hub, we lost contact with you, I was so worried!”

“Yeah, well, I‘m fine.” Trigger hauled himself to his feet, glancing about worriedly. “Fine but completely lost, where the hard drive am I?”

“You‘re somewhere in sub-level … 9?”

“Great, so how do I get back to the main level?”

“That I don‘t know. But Hub,” May’s voice took on a tone of urgency. “We‘ve lost contact with Dad, Medi, and Lana. They‘re all MIA.”

“What?” The Bomber jerked as he realized what she was telling him. “All right, I’m on my way back to the main level, keep trying to contact them, and let me know if you get a lock on their position.”

“Will do, be careful.”

“Right.”

With that, the Bomber set off at a fast run with Treble and Harry right on his heels. The trio rushed blindly through the Network, trying to locate the exit or any other means of leaving this Network.

A task which was much easier said than done.

Trigger rushed onward, determined to find the way out of this place. But after running for several minutes, he was forced to stop and reevaluate his actions. So far they hadn’t come across anything that would show them where they were or how to leave.

“Treble,” MegaMan Trigger turned to his Spikey, “is there any way out of this place?”

The canine whined sadly, his reply was clear even to those who didn’t know his language. He couldn’t sniff out the exit.

“Maybe we should Log Out.” Harry suggested, “And den come right back.”

“No, that‘ll eat up the P.E.T.’s energy.” Trigger pondered their situation…

His thoughts were cut off as a shrill whistling sound came through the air.

His instincts kicked into overdrive. The Bomber’s Buster appeared as he whirled around to face the created of that noise.

Almost immediately, he lowered his cannon. The voice’s owner wasn’t a threat to him, it was a single Mettaur. A Met with a purple bow set on her helmet and swept eyelashes to signify that she was a ‘she’.

But Trigger’s sixth sense told him that this virus wasn’t out to get him; this virus was different from the others, it was very much like Harry.

Speaking of which… The Bomber looked over at his companion, to see the arrowed Met gaping at the female Met. Harry was already so love-stricken, that Trigger was surprised that he didn’t have little pink hearts popping out of his eyes.

Shrugging, Trigger watched Harry bound over to the female Met.

“Hey dere, suga.” The Met sidled up to her. “Da name‘s Harry, Harry da Hardhat, I‘m da Met wid attitude.”

A soft sing-song sound came from the female Met. Causing Harry’s eyes to brighten as much as physically possible.

“Ya name‘s Palette?” The arrowed Met replied, “Pleasure te meet ya.”

A soft moan caused Trigger to glance at Treble, the Spikey was groaning and holding his large paws over his eyes in embarrassment.

“Easy there boy.” The Bomber rubbed his pet’s head. “There‘ll come a day when you feel like this.”

Treble moaned twice, as if saying “Not going to happen.”

Although he was amused by the Mets in love, the Young Bomber knew he had to get back down to business. “Harry, does Palette know a way out of this place?”

The arrowed Met groaned in annoyance but proceeded to pop the question. “She says dat dere‘s a portal about twenty feet te de east.”

“Great, tell her that she‘s welcome to come along.” Trigger burst into a run as he took off in the indicated direction.

“Going somewhere?”

The Bomber slid to a stop as he heard that voice split the air. A split second later, he caught sight of a strangely modeled Net Navi approaching him.

“Welcome to your doom.” The Navi declared as he raised his clawed arms in preparation for battle. “I am BeastMan.”

“BeastMan?” Trigger stared at the animal-like Navi. “Wait, you used to work for Nebula didn‘t you!”

“The past is of no importance,” BeastMan lunged forward, his claws gunning for his opponent. “I‘m here to delete you!”

“Got ya covered!” May whipped a card through her scanner, “Met Guard, Battle Card Scan, Activate!”

“Met Guard!” No sooner had the words left his mouth, than a large yellow hardhat appeared around Trigger and his viral companions. The new defense shielded them from BeastMan’s strike, and allowed them to escape unscathed.

“Let‘s go!” MegaMan Trigger exploded out of the helmet, his Buster blazing away. “Mega Buster! Treble, hold him!”

The viral canine shot out of the hardhat and bounded across the Network, a bluish-white glow began to build up in the back of his throat as he prepared to fire.

“Do you really think that that poodle can defeat me?” The animal-like Navi flipped away from his opponent’s Buster shots.

“No, I've got something better in mind!” The second those words left Trigger’s mouth, Treble’s jaws parted, expelling a freezing cold wind across the Network. Treble’s shot whipped across the field, freezing everything in his wake.

Except for BeastMan.

The brown Navi vanished as he went into an Area Steal. His move effectively protected him from the Ice Breath attack.

“Oh, great.” MegaMan Trigger glanced about, trying to guess where his opponent would reappear at. “I wish Blade were here…”

A slight hiss snatched his attention, immediately Trigger leapt upward, just as BeastMan’s clawed hand shot through the spot his back had occupied seconds ago.

“What the-” The brown Navi couldn’t believe that his prey had dodged. His head snapped up to see the Bomber reaching the apex of his leap above him.

“Mega Blast, Activate!”

“This‘ll take you out!” As the card registered, a purple cannon appeared about the Bomber’s wrist. Without a moment’s hesitation Trigger locked onto his opponent and fired. His shot ripped away from the cannon and sped through the air.

BeastMan threw himself backward, just barely squeaking past the attack.

“Rapid Fire!”

“Growl!”

The beast-like Navi spun around to find Harry firing his pistols, and Treble firing off his Ice Breath. And both virus’s attacks were aimed right at him!

With a roar of annoyance, BeastMan rushed to one side; slipping past the laser fire and Ice Breath.

Trigger hit the floor between his viruses and stared down his opponent.

“Ready to give up yet?” The Bomber glared at his opponent.

“I have just begun!” BeastMan’s arms whipped forward, causing his clawed forearms to go rocketing through the air towards his opponent. Next, the animal snapped his body, shooting off his head.

Trigger gasped as the attacks raced at him. “Talk about loosing your head!”

“Way ahead of you!” May swiped a card.

Trigger screamed as the two arms and the head slammed against his body.

A chuckle escaped BeastMan’s head as he sliced into his opponent.

His chuckle died, as his target, MegaMan Trigger, poof-ed away; a chibi Trigger doll taking its place.

“Mega Buster!”

BeastMan’s arms and head snapped backwards, just a burst of firepower whipped past his nose. Hastily, the beast reassembled himself and turned to face his opponent.

“You‘ll never defeat me.” The beast took an aggressive step forward. “I have not even reached my full potential!”

“Hub, we don‘t have time for this!”

“Don‘t worry May.” The Bomber’s eyes hardened as he realized what he had to do. “If this guy wants to fight, we‘ll fight! Beast to beast!”

“Die!” BeastMan raced forward, ready to strike his adversary.

Beside Trigger, Treble whined his agreement to their decision.

“Its time for a Viral Fusion!” May hit the activation button on her P.E.T.

Before BeastMan’s eyes, MegaMan Trigger and Treble exploded into twin beams of light that raced skyward. Stunned by this turn of events, the beast shot through the now vacant spot and turned around to see the two beams of light merge into one. The next second, the light shot downward, heading for the floor.

Inside of the light, Trigger’s armor was going through some transformations. Bytes of Treble’s data glittered through his armor as the Fusion began. His boots transformed into their square state, with a dark blue kneepad whipping out of the top and yellow lines sliding down the corners. Trigger snapped his arms out wide as they became cylindrical and sprouted two blue elbow-pads; he crossed his arms over his chest as his azure chest plate and spherical shoulder pads locked into place. Finally, his helmet turned pitch black, while a blue plate slid over his forehead and ran back into three separate fins. His feet hit the ground as he snapped into a defensive position. “Viral Fusion: Spikey Fusion! ”

“All right, BeastMan,” Trigger eyed his opponent. “Let‘s rumble!”

“Just because you‘ve got a new trick, doesn‘t mean you can defeat me!” The beast snapped.

The next second, the animal-like Navi’s arms and head had detached and were flying through the air towards the Bomber.

“May!”

“Cyber Sword, Battle Card Scan, Activate!”

“Battle Card Viral Fusion:” Trigger’s right hand morphed into the declared sword, right before transforming into a silver hilt with a misting blue blade. The Navigator had used his Fusion powers to transform the standard Cyber Sword into a new weapon. “Ice Blade!”

“Hands off!” The Bomber’s sword lashed out, deflecting the flying, clawed forearms. Quickly he brought his blade around, and blocked BeastMan’s head from hitting him.

With a growl of fury, BeastMan’s body parts rebounded backward, and connected back to his body.

“Is that the best you‘ve got?” Trigger quipped as he dropped his sword and created his Treble Buster. Around his wrist, a cannon resembling Treble’s open mouth materialized.

“I‘ll destroy you!” The beast shot forward, his arms ready to strike.

“With those hands?” The Bomber quipped, his cannon beginning to glow ominously. “I rather doubt it!”

It was then that BeastMan made a startling discovery: the power from Trigger’s Ice Blade had frozen all of his claws together! The beast’s hands were encased in a block of ice and completely useless!

“Hasta la vista!” A blast of icy power exploded out of the Treble Buster.

Trigger grinned as he watched his attack hit home. His icy shot connected, and almost instantly his opponent vanished from sight.

“BeastMan Logging Out.”

“Push over.” The Bomber muttered uneasily. Why had BeastMan shown up? Just to delay him? Or was there something more? But he didn’t have time to dwell on such thoughts, he had more important things to do.

“Now, let‘s get topside and rescue the others!”

10101010101010100101010101010

End Chapter!

Now, if you'll excuse me, I'm off to watch todays episode of Axess...

-waltzes off-
_________________

[Lido Azn Girl]

[TheWebbuilder]

Begin Chapter!

“Ice Breath!”

The mass of tangled vines blocking Trigger’s progress froze over, and then shattered into hundreds of tiny ice shards.

Warily, Trigger Spikey Fusion stepped into the top Network, where he had last seen his companions. “Come on Treble, work with me, where are they?”

“Ah, it feels good da be out a dat place.” Harry waddled through the hole, with his new girlfriend right on his heels. “Right, Palette?”

“M-hum.” The purple Met squeaked back.

“Note to self…” Trigger muttered as he locked onto his friend’s location. Treble’s powerful location sense had picked up his Dad, and now they just had to reach him. “Install a filter so that I can understand what Palette‘s saying.”

With the two Mets on his heels, MegaMan Trigger rushed forward, letting his Viral Fusion to lead him to his father. Minutes passed before he reached a new network that was a level above the previous one. It was a wide area filled with Grass Tiles and harmless vines, as well as the not-so-harmless ones.

As he stepped into the Network, a high pitched sound caught his attention. The Bomber’s head whipped about to see Blade and EleBee hovering towards him.

“There you are!” Trigger greeted his viruses. “I‘ve been looking all over for you… what‘s wrong?”

A hasty jumble of sounds issued from the two viruses, causing MegaMan Trigger to grow serious. Blade was telling him that some strange Net Navi had captured Alia, and CF MegaMan was trying to rescue her.

A hastily barked order later, and Trigger had defused with Treble and had Blade and EleBee leading him to the site of the battle.

When the Young Bomber arrived, he couldn’t believe his eyes.

Alia and Medi were hanging from the Network’s ceiling, suspended by several large green vines. The sight ripped at Hub, provoking him endlessly. But that wasn’t all, CF MegaMan was battling a Navi that Hub had only read about in textbooks: PlantMan.

“I don‘t get it!” The Young Bomber hissed to himself, “Why are all of these old Navis coming back?”

“Worry about that later!” May snapped back an answer. “For now, just help Dad and save Alia!”

“Right. Viral Fusion: Sword Fusion!” Another sphere of light enveloped him as Trigger fused with the Swordie virus. Two katanas appeared in the air before him, and without hesitation the Bomber snatched them from the air and began playing with the blades to develop a feel for their weight. As he slashed downward with his left arm, a silver glow enveloped his arm before exploding away to reveal a new glove of silver with verdant trim. The Bomber hacked horizontally with his right hand, creating a new silver glove there. Satisfied, Trigger swung his blades around and snapped them onto his back, where two sheaths appeared to hold his swords, before a silver and green chest plate appeared. Snapping his arms down to his sides, Trigger caused his blue boots to explode away, revealing his silver ones. As his new helmet settled into place, the Young Bomber tensed and readied himself for battle.

MegaMan Trigger’s fusion with Blade ended and immediately he leapt forward. His Marumasas flew out of their sheaths and took hold of his palms as he rushed across the floor. When he reached maximum speed, he took a running leap…

“Twin…!”

Trigger’s arms snapped through the empty air in front of him, forming an X-shaped double crescent of energy that swept forward.

“… Blades!”

His attack shot through the air, and severed one of the vines holding the trapped Alia prisoner.

“What the-” CF MegaMan turned to face the newcomer. “Hub! You‘re back!”

“Hey, I‘m just like you.” The young Bomber announced as he stepped over to join his father. “A bad penny, I always turn up.”

The Blue Bomber groaned, “First thing tomorrow, I‘m going to teach you to pun properly.”

“Well, isn‘t this just a nice family moment.” PlantMan broke into the conversation. “But your pleasantries are holding me up. So if you‘re done, I‘ll finish deleting you now. Plant Weed!”

“Watch it!” CF MegaMan shouted a warning as he caught sight of the vines rocketing towards them. He knew the way out of this mess, he just hoped that he could pull it off… “Double Soul: Torch Soul!”

Instantly, a blast of light surrounded him, before fading away to reveal MegaMan Torch Soul. The transformed Bomber lifted his new cannons and fired away, his flames filling the sky.

And in no time at all, he had burned the offending plants to ashes.

“NO! Not again!” PlantMan stared at the remains of his plants. “You’ll pay for that! Ice Ball!”

A blue spherical ball appeared in the grass Navi’s hand. Quickly, he hauled back his arm and pitched the explosive device at CF MegaMan.

“Harry!”

“Way ahead a ya!” The Met’s pistol appeared and came to life, easily blowing the Ice Ball out of the sky.

“Lava Cannon, Battle Card Scan, Activate!”

“Lava Cannon!” Taking advantage of the opening Harry had provided, the Young Bomber transformed his right hand into the aforementioned blaster. Next he hefted his cannon and cut loose, flames shooting out of his weapon and at his opponent.

“Fire Arm!” Also making his move, CF MegaMan raised his new cannons and fired. A stream of fire erupted from his gun and incinerated anything in its path.

“Don‘t think you‘ve won yet.” A hiss escaped from the Dark Navi’s throat as it watched its doom race closer. “I have not begun to show you my power.”

The plant Navi raised his right hand and opened his fingers, to reveal two horribly familiar chips lying in his palm.

“Oh no.” The Bomber’s eyes widened, as both of his synchro-ed sides realized what was happening. “Not the Dark Chips!”

“Dark Chips?” Trigger’s eyes widened, “You mean, he‘s got them? We can‘t let him activate them!”

Trigger tore away from his father’s side and rushed towards his opponent. MegaMan FS called after him, but the Young Bomber didn’t slow his mad dash at PlantMan. “Hub, wait!”

“Twin…!” Trigger’s fingers closed about his Muramasas. A few more seconds and he’d be in range to strike.

“Triple Dark Chip activate!” The Dark Chip’s casings melted away, releasing the evil energy stored inside. PlantMan tensed as the power flooded through him, eating away at his very being while giving him temporary almighty power. “AAAAAAAHHHHHH!!”

“Blades!” The Young Bomber lashed out, his blades carving an X-shaped area in front of him- and came to an early stop. “What the-?”

Trigger blinked as he realized that a thick vine had exploded out of the ground before him, and easily stopped his attack. His swords were firmly planted in the vine, and going no where fast.

“No way! He… blocked?”

“Did you really think that you could defeat me?” PlantMan chuckled at his opponent from behind his protective vine. “You do have spirit, but that will not save you… Plant Weed!”

A scream escaped the Young Bomber’s lips, as a thorny creeper ripped through the air and sent him flying.

“Hey, nobody treats my pal like dat!” Harry waddled forward, his pistols appearing on the sides of his helmet. “Rapid-”

“Stay out of this, Met!”

Another vine shot out of the ground and swept through the air. Almost as if it were batting a fly, the creeper slammed against Harry and sent him flying backward. The Met crashed to the ground and bounced once before sliding to a stop.

“Ouch.” Harry gasped. “Dat hurt…”

“Mmm…” The purple Met rushed over to her friend.

“I‘m fine, Palette.”

Meanwhile, CF MegaMan was forced out of his Double Soul by a powerful slap from PlantMan’s vines. The Bomber’s Soul faded away, and his armor reverted back to normal, as he slammed into the ground next to his son.

“You two have been a thorn in my side for too long now…” PlantMan chuckled as the dark energy danced across his body. “And have caused me terrible pain by your actions against my flowers…”

Trigger Sword Fusion didn’t have the strength to resist as he felt the creeping plants wrap around his torso, arms, and legs. Although he feebly resisted, he was soon entangled in a mass of shrubbery and lifted up into air. A few short feet away, he could see Harry, Palette, and his father trapped in a similar fate.

“As I’ve mentioned.” PlantMan stared up at his captives. “You have caused me pain… and now I am going to return the favor. But I’m not going to destroy you yet, I want you to suffer as I have as I watched my flowers die before my eyes.”

Trigger’s heart stopped as he realized what the Dark Navi was going to do.

The vines holding Medi and Alia prisoner shifted and moved forward until the two female Navis were hanging beside PlantMan.

“I‘ll delete them first, and then destroy you.”

“NO!” MegaMan Trigger Sword Fusion screamed, “Leave them out of this!”

PlantMan just smirked. “Time to delete them.”

The two allies watched in horror as the vines surrounding Alia and Medi began to constrict… it wouldn’t be long before they were crushed beneath the creeping coils.

End Chapter!

It's all right to comment and critique people. I won't bite your heads off, I promise!
_________________

[Taylor]

Ahhhh! I hate cliff-hangers! T_T
_________________
"Very funny, Scotty. Now beam down my clothes."

[Megawoman.EXE]

Whoot! Update Yay! I can't wait to see how the next chapter will turn out.
_________________
"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

[TheWebbuilder]

This has got to be my most uninspired chapter ever...

10101010101010101010101

“PlantMan, stop this!” The Young Bomber pleaded. “Destroy me if you have to, but don‘t harm Alia or Medi!”

“So sorry, but that is not an option.” A smirk danced across the Dark Navi’s lips.

Overwhelmed by the sudden pain coursing through her, Alia’s eyes fluttered open as a small moan left her throat. “Hub…? Why… it hurts…”

“Leave them out of this!” MegaMan FS shouted.

“Or else what?” The grass-type Navi taunted his trapped opponents. “You are completely at my mercy, you‘re no threat to me now.”

A full-fledged scream came from Alia, as the vines wrapped tighter around her body.

“You monster.” Hub’s voice dropped all form of emotion- except for pure hatred. “I don‘t care what it takes, I‘ll destroy you if it’s the last thing I ever do!”

“Sadly, that won‘t be the last thing you do, I’ll see to that.”

By now, Trigger could see the effects of the vine’s excruciating grasp on his friends. If he didn’t get free soon, they would be destroyed forever…

But no matter how much he wiggled, it was no use. He just couldn’t get free.

But, fortunately, things were about to change on the balance of power. A new voice ripped through the air, grabbing everyone’s attention.

“Let them go. Now!”

“What the-?” The Dark Navi turned around, completely bewildered by these new events.

“Wild cards!”

The Bomber’s couldn’t believe their ears as those words ripped through the air, followed by three razor-sharp playing cards. That attack belonged to DeckMan, was he really helping them out?

The Wildcards shot through the air, slicing the vines wrapped about Medi and Alia in half. Severed from their stalks, the plants ripped apart, and then dropped their bruised captives to the ground. The two were battered and weary, but still alive.

And that was all that MegaMan Trigger needed to see. Without wasting another instant, the Young Bomber closed his eyes, and worked at getting into greater synch with Blade, the virus he had fused with.

“Come on Blade!” Trigger’s eyes remained closed as he poured all of his focus on to the task at hand. “We can do this!”

It clicked, the Navigator and Virus entered a new mode of their relationship…

Screaming a battle cry, Trigger ripped his arm out of its shrubby prison and grasped his sheathed Muramasa. A ‘swish’ sounded as the Bomber’s blade cut through space, freeing him and his father from their prisons.

Released from their restraints, the two dropped to the ground. But upon contact with the floor, Trigger defused from Blade, reverting back to his normal armor, he had used the last of their fusion energy to pull that move off.

“All right, PlantMan!” The two Bombers turned and glared at their opponent, each one was determined to put an end to this Navi‘s rampage.

“Burn!”

“Déjà vu.” CF MegaMan turned to see a blast of flame ripping through the air. The flaming attack shot through the air and devoured vines littering the area.

“O.K.,” A puzzled look appeared on Trigger’s face. “I‘m officially confused, first DeckMan helps us out, and then TorchMan changes sides and attacks PlantMan.”

“So,” The fiery Navi stepped into view, and readied his cannons to fire. “I get to burn you again…”

“Uh, if its not too much ask,” MegaMan Trigger spoke up, “Could I get some answers here? Why did you just help us out after you tried to incinerate us earlier?”

“Incinerate you?” TorchMan glanced at the Young Bomber. “We‘ve never met before now.”

“Huh? I defeated you!”

“I know everyone I‘ve ever battled.” The fiery Navi muttered, “And you‘re not one of them.”

“Guys, can we figure this out later?” CF MegaMan grabbed the other’s attention. “We‘ve got a small weed problem here!”

The red Navi and the blue Navi turned, to see four thorny vines flying at them. Instantly they had dropped their conversation and were launching a counter attack.

“Fire Arm!” TorchMan raised his arms and unleashed a round of flames.

“Lava Cannon!” A blocky cannon appeared on the Young Bomber’s wrist, quickly he raised his blaster and fired a blast of fire.

“Heat Shot!” The Synchro’d Bomber unleashed a blast of fire at his blaster.

The combined attacks sped through the air, and incinerated the flying shrubbery in its path.

“All right PlantMan.” Trigger’s voice was filled with determination. “You‘re going down, we‘ve got you surrounded, and we‘ve got the numbers on our side. So get ready to loose!”

“I‘m afraid that you‘re greatly mistaken.” The plant Navi smirked, “I have the power of three Dark Aura‘s on my side, your puny strength will never break through them.”

“Don‘t you ever learn?” The Blue Bomber snapped, his armor reverting back to its Torch Soul state. “I guess not, let‘s take him down! Fire Arm!”

“Fire Arm!” Torch Man added his power the assault.

“Lava Cannon!” Trigger raised his blaster and fired.

“Fire Towers!” Alia plunged her hand into the floor, summoning flaming pillar after flaming pillar.

And Medi joined in, tossing cold pills at their opponent.

The flood of fire-based attacks flew forward, and crashed against PlantMan. Unfortunately however, the allies’ strikes rebounded harmlessly off of the Dark Aura.

“Keep it up!” Torch Soul CF MegaMan shouted, his flamethrowers continuing their assault. “We can do this!”

“I‘ve burned him once, I‘ll burn him again!” TorchMan refused to back down.

“And I‘m not letting him escape!” Trigger screamed his acknowledgement. “You know what we have to do!”

“Right!” The Bomber and fiery Navi agreed.

“Combo Attack!”

For a split second, the trio of Navigators ceased their assault, and then they fired in unison. Each one’s fire based attack shot through space towards their opponent.

“You‘ll never succeed.” PlantMan smirked.

And then the impossible happened. The three fire-attribute attacks swirled together, fusing into one new attack. The new combo attack sped forward, ripping into PlantMan’s Dark Aura.

“Now May!”

“Three Hi Cannon, Battle Cards Scan, Activate!”

PlantMan’s eyes widened in horror, just before his two Dark Aura’s shattered beneath the combo attack’s force. Although he the combo attack had expanded all of its strength destroying the Dark Auras, it had exploded, causing searing flames to spread across the Network. No matter where the Navi moved, PlantMan would be fried by the fires.

"Time to blow you away!" Trigger raised his arms skyward as two Hi Cannons locked about his wrists. A light glow built up around the weapons as they began fusing into one new more powerful weapon. With a shout, MegaMan Trigger dropped his new Giga Cannon, and locked onto PlantMan.

"Hasta la vista, weedy."

It was over, Trigger's shot exploded out of the gun barrel and ripped through the air- and PlantMan.

“NO!”

Trigger lowered his arms, he had won.

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“Royelle‘s not going to be pleased with you.”

“Tell her I couldn‘t care less.” Ace stepped out of the Portal and reemerged in the human world. “She knew when she hired me that my principles and ideas come before hers. If I wanted to help them out, she knew that was a possibility.”

“I could care less about your actions.” Misty glared at the card-welding maniac. “But don‘t you go messing me up. I‘m in Royelle‘s good graces, and I don‘t want you screwing that up.”

“Don‘t worry, you‘re in the clear on this.”

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“Lan Hikari…” The aged Mr. Match looked up to see the full-grown brunette sitting down next to him. “It‘s been a while hasn‘t it?”

“It has.” Lan replied, “So, Match, how‘s life been treating you?”

“Pretty well.” The Scot replied, “Never been hungry, never been rich. So I can‘t complain, so what brings you here? You must have had some reason to visit me, since you never just drop by for a social call.”

“Well, I didn‘t know where you were for the past ten years.” The brunette replied, “That makes things difficult. But you‘re right, I do need a favor.”

“We‘ll get to that in a moment. First we‘ve got to get caught up. How‘s Maylu?”

“She‘s still herself, she‘s working her way up the Youth Hospital‘s ladders. She became a Registered Nurse about twelve years ago, and has been working non-stop ever since.”

“Ah, good to hear, what about your daughter… May?”

“Bright as a button, she’s the one with common sense, Hub’s the dreamer.”

“Hub? That kid TorchMan met in the Net?”

“Yes, that was Hub, he‘s my son.”

“A son and a daughter, well, you‘ve got your hands full then. But enough of that, what brought you to me?”

Lan reached into his pocket and pulled out a scrap of paper, on which the digits that Chaud had found on Regal’s computers had been scribbled. “First off, do these mean anything to you?”

Match studied the numbers, a full minute passed before he looked up and gave his answer.

“Its easy enough, those are map coordinates.”

“Map coordinates?”

“Yeah, you plug those numbers into a mapping system and the computer tracks down the location. Wily always used the Pre-Control X system Alpha-C1 if I remember right, and I‘m pretty sure that Regal did as well. That‘s why your tech boys couldn‘t crack it, its for a different system.”

“I see.” Lan kicked himself for missing such an obvious answer. “I see.”

“Relaying this to Chaud.” MegaMan called from his Terminal.

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“Not bad, for an amateur.”

“Wow, thanks.” Hub resisted the urge to roll his eyes. He and May had saved the Bright Land Greenhouse project, and now Techno was acting as if they’d bungled a major assignment.

“What my hardheaded partner is trying to say,” Middy interjected, “Is that you need to be more careful. The fires that resulted from your combo attack added colossal damage to the Network, we realize that trying to make split-second decisions is difficult, but you need to be more careful.”

“We‘ll do our best to keep the damage to a minimum.” May spoke up before Hub could. “And we‘re sorry for an unnecessary destruction we caused.”

“Just learn from it and move on.” Techno nodded his acknowledgement, “The important thing is that you stopped PlantMan, but I‘ve got a very bad feeling about this… its almost like someone‘s biding his time, waiting for the perfect chance to strike.”

That done, the two Bright Land officials turned and left the siblings alone.

“Picky, picky.” Hub shrugged, “We did our best, but I guess that‘s just not good enough around here.”

“Hub, Techno‘s probably under a lot of stress right now; with the threat of a Dark Land war, he‘s probably working twenty-four seven trying to keep the Network safe.”

“I know.” The redhead admitted, as he turned to trudge away. “But he doesn‘t have to take it out on us.”

The two Hikari’s turned and started trudging back towards their rooms. There wasn’t much else they could do until their father got back from wherever he went.

So, to make conversation, Hub turned to the question that was foremost on his mind.

“What do you think about our Torch Man?”

“The fact that TorchMan tried to kill you earlier, and then he mysteriously shows up to help us?”
May phrased her reply as she headed up the hallway. “I think that the answer is obvious. There are two TorchMen, the duplicate is working for Com, while the original is still with Mr. Match. It makes sense actually, this Tron character must have wanted to establish some credibility on the underground, and so she created a bunch of fake old school Navi to do her dirty work.”

“And if she is a relative of Regal, she‘s that much more dangerous.”

“Very true-” May broke off as she noticed a friend approaching. “Lana! Hi!”

A smile broke over her face, as Lana turned to greet her friends. “Hello! And… I want to thank you two for rescuing me yesterday. That was the scariest moment of my life, but you came through for me… so thanks.”

“Don’t mention it.” Hub shrugged awkwardly. “Anyone else would have done the same.”

“Its true.” May agreed, “We couldn‘t let PlantMan kill you, you‘re too much of a good friend.”

“Nevertheless, I want to thank you. I‘ll do everything that I can to help you out.”

“Well, uh, thanks-”

Before May had finished her sentence, their voices were drowned out by the loud wail of intense sirens.

“Do you hear that?” May whipped about in confusion.

“Are you kidding?” Clapping his hands over his ears, Hub tried to block out the noise. “I‘m almost deaf and this is deafening!”

“I‘ve got a really bad feeling about this!” Lana shouted.

“What the-?” Hub glanced about as the sirens continued to wail loudly. A split second later he had raised his Sub-P.E.T. and was glancing at the view screen. “What‘s going on in there? Talk to me Harry!”

“Eh,” The Met’s voice came out as a sharp grunt, followed by the sounds of his rapid-fire. “I’m a little busy right now! Da entire Network’s unda attack!

“Attack?”

“Dat‘s what I said! Machine Busta! And what‘s worse, is dat dere all Water-type viruses.”

“All right, I‘ll be there as soon as I can!”

10101010101010101010101010

“Call Lan.” Chaud’s eyes flicked over the information on his computer screen. “He‘ll need to know this.”

“Yes, Chaud.” The Raider turned and began filling out an E-mail form.

“Strange…” The duel-haired kid pondered the information. “How could we not know that Regal had a something hidden in Ameroupe? And probably a Bank Deposit Box at that…”

After running the numbers through the program Match had provided, Chaud had discovered that the coordinates led to the First National Bank of Ameroupe. Upon discovering that, the Official had sent ProtoMan over the Bank’s Network to investigate; and the Raider found that Regal had created an account using one of his many aliases.

That was where the information ended, and the investigation would have to be picked up in the physical world.

101010101010101010101010

End Chapter!
_________________

[Lido Azn Girl]

This chapter's fine to me, TheWebbuilder. I don't see what you mean by "uninspiring." I caught only one noticable mistake in this chapter.

[TheWebbuilder]

I meant CF MegaMan. If you remember, I used Full Synchro to fuse Chaud and ProtoMan in an earlier chapter. But after I saw how it looked in a different fic, I scrapped it and reverted back to Cross Fusion, but since this chapter was already written I had to go back and change the 'MegaMan FS's to 'CF MegaMan'. Obviously, I missed some.

I don't know, this chapter just feels like a repeat of the Torch Soul episode to me, although I don't know how else I would have brought the duplicate Navis into this. -kicks self for reusing plot device-

But I bet you guys are glad that Match hasn't gone evil again. :]
_________________

[TheWebbuilder]

Lido Azn Girl, I'll take you up on that Beta Reading next chapter.

101010101010101010101010101

“Signas Buster!” A purple Buster appeared about Signas’ wrist. Instantly the Navigator had his cannon raised and firing away in an effort to demolish the viruses surrounding him.

“Middy.” The leader called back to his partner. “How‘s the new P.E.T. holding up? And we‘re just spinning our wheels right now. I need to know where the Navigator is that‘s controlling these viruses!”

“The Generation PET is holding up fine.” Middy glanced over her screens and then turned her attention back to her scanning equipment. “I‘m tracking down the boss as we speak, but several new Navigators have logged on to help with the combat, and their arrival is messing up the tracker.”

“Wonderful. Signas Speed!” A burst of energy surrounded the Navigator, as he shot forward at unbelievably high speed. His cannon lashed out, deleting viruses left and right.

It was then that Signas made a startling observation. The digital sky over his head was clouding over, patches of misty computer data were forming over his head. And the fact that the cyber world sky wasn’t supposed to have and weather formations disturbed Signas greatly.

“Who‘s there?” The security leader shouted upward. “Show yourself!”

“Frost Knives!”

The Navigator’s eyes widened in horror as a flood of razor sharp snowflakes shot out of the clouds and began raining down on his head. Signas dashed left and right, doing his best to avoid the falling projectiles. Although he could avoid the bulk of the attack, a few stray shots stabbed him in the back.

“Signas Buster!” Taking a running leap, the Navigator flipped over onto his back. A flood of laser fire erupted from his cannon, striking various places in the clouds over his head. He didn’t really expect any of his shots to hit whoever was attacking him, but he hoped that it might drive his adversary into revealing himself.

“Hailstorm!”

“Oh boy.” The security leader scrambled to his feet, stumbling forward to dodge the ice stones falling from the sky.

“Life Aura!” As soon as the words left Signas’ mouth, a foggy sphere materialized about him. The aura deflected the plunging hailstones, saving the Navigator’s hide.

“Don‘t think you‘ve won… Frost Knives!”

Signas’ head snapped up as the frozen ice crystals came down.

“Now, EleBee, Hover Strike! Harry, Palette, protect Signas!”

The security leader jerked as he realized that two small Mets had appeared by his side, one purple and one with an arrow on his helmet. With a cry of ‘Met!’ the viruses focused their powers to create a Met Guard Hardhat over Signas to shield him from the attacks.

Outside of the hardhat. EleBee had transformed into his ‘flying skateboard’ mode and was flying Trigger directly towards the Frost Knives.

The Bomber studied the approaching attacks, weighing his options.

“Spreader, Battle Card Scan, Activate!”

“Spreader!” Almost immediately, the aforementioned cannon locked itself about Trigger’s wrist. The Young Bomber hefted his blaster and locked onto the approaching snowflakes. Pulling the trigger, Trigger unleashed his Spreader’s power, sending a flood of laser fire into the Frost Knives and wiping them out easily.

“Now, let‘s go, EleBee!” The Bomber instructed his viral skateboard. “Into the storm!”

The two flew higher, streaking upwards into the cloudbank and disappearing from view. Once he broke through the clouds, the Young Bomber immediately saw who was behind the trouble-

CryoGirl.

A large snowflake was resting beneath her feet, allowing CryoGirl to hover in mid-air a short distance away.

“What are you doing here?”

“I might ask you the same question.” CryoGirl folded her arms across her chest. “I‘m here to freeze this Network solid, so that Dark Land will be able to take over this land easily.”

“So Com‘s renewed the pact Grave had with Dark Land, huh?” Trigger kept his Spreader ready for immediate use, he didn’t trust this girl.

“You might say that. But I can see that you will be a threat to our plans.” CryoGirl pointed at MegaMan Trigger. “So, I shall delete you now!”

“Just try it!”

“With pleasure!” CryoGirl thrust her arms skyward, sending beams of icy power into the air. The power converged, and then transformed into a flood of razor sharp snowflakes which shot down towards Trigger.

“Elec Barrier, Battle Card Scan, Activate!”

Trigger whipped EleBee about so that he was facing his opponent. No sooner had he done so than a crackling sphere of electrical energy formed about him. The shield defended him from the assault, allowing him to escape unharmed.

“Spreader, Triple Battle Card Scan! Program Advance!”

Trigger crossed his arms over his chest as two large Spreader Cannons locked into place about his wrists. As his Elec Aura dissolved away, the Young Bomber raised his cannons skyward and fired them off simultaneously. “Hyper Burst!”

The twin energy attacks collided in mid-air, and then exploded into a destructive rain of laser-fire that covered the entire area. The Young Bomber grinned as he watched the events play out before him, that move just had to win this battle for him.

“Shadow!” CryoGirl tensed as her body phased out, allowing the Program Advance to pass through her without harm. As soon as she rephrased, the icy navigator shot forward on her snowflake; throwing more of her deadly snowflakes at her opponent.

Trigger whipped EleBee around and took off, racing away from the icy barrage. Weaving back and forth at random intervals, the Bomber managed to avoid the attacks screaming after him.

But CryoGirl kept coming, and she didn’t let up on her barrage of snow.

As a snowflake whipped past his head, MegaMan Trigger started slowing his viral hover-board. A plan was forming in his mind, but he needed to be at a very low speed for it to work.

“Hub, what are you doing?” May’s voice split through the digital air. “You‘re slowing down! She‘s going to catch you in no time if you keep this up!”

“I know,” The Bomber continued to slow his ride as he dodged random snowflakes. “That‘s what I‘m counting on…”

By now, CryoGirl had come within fifteen feet of her prey, and in another few seconds she’d be at point-blank range. A grin spread over her face as she closed in for the kill, taking it for granted that she had caught up with her opponent.

MegaMan Trigger risked a glance over his shoulder as prepared to put his plan into action. Five seconds, three… two… one! NOW!

With a battle cry, Trigger leapt upwards off of EleBee as the viral hover-board flew downward creating a wide gap between them. Since the Icy Com Agent was traveling much too fast to stop, and whizzed on through the opening between the Bomber and the Virus.

Gravity took hold of the Young Bomber, bringing him back down to rest on his virus again. Of course, now he was directly behind hi adversary, and that was exactly where he wanted to be.

“I see! Brilliant idea! Knight Buster, Activate!”

A powered up cannon appeared about Trigger’s wrist as he poured on the speed, zooming forward to catch his prey. His arm lashed out, unleashing his firepower. “Knight Buster!”

“Ice Mirror!” CryoGirl spun around, a wall of ice appearing in mid-air before her. Her crystalline barrier easily stopped Trigger’s attack. To MegaMan Trigger’s surprise, his shot rebounded off of the Ice Wall and came flying back at him!

With a grunt, Trigger leapt off of EleBee, allowing the shot to rip under his feet. Quickly he dropped back down to his hover-board and fired again- only to have his attack shoot reflected back at him.

Again, Trigger swerved out of harm’s way.

“She didn‘t have that before!” The Young Bomber gasped in disbelief, “Then again, ShockMan never had his Rolling Thunder Attack… Someone‘s upgrading these guys!”

“’Guys and gals‘!” The female Navigator snapped, “I‘ve had enough of your meddling! Its time to unleash my ultimate attack!”

“Ultimate, shmoltimate.” Trigger snapped back, “I can handle it!”

“Crystalline…!” CryoGirl cupped her palms, as a mass of silvery-blue energy built up in her hands. Feeding it, the icy Navigator increased its size and power four-fold. “Stream!”

The Com Agent thrust her hands forward, discharging her attack. The icy energy split apart into three separate ice beams, all of which were pointed at Trigger.

“Cross Fire, Battle Card Scan, Activate!”

Trigger’s arm snapped up as his new cannon appeared. Quickly he locked onto his opponent’s attacks and fired.

He gasped as his shots went right through them, harmlessly.

“No way!”’

Those were the last words the Bomber spoke, before his world erupted into chaos. The energy screamed over him, chilling his limbs, freezing his body, and encasing his torso and arms in a freezing block of ice.

Trigger gasped for breath against the unyielding ice holding him prisoner. He couldn’t move, he couldn’t resist as CryoGirl sent another snowflake flying into him. Of course, she knew that the impact would be too much for him to withstand; as the attack hit, MegaMan Trigger was knocked off of EleBee and sent tumbling to the cold, hard ground below.

“That was too easy.” The icy Navigator grumbled as Trigger and EleBee vanished into the clouds on their fateful journey downward. “Pitiful… But since he‘s about to become a pancake, there is no one left to oppose me… my life‘s about to become boring once again, sad.”

She never noticed the yellow glow radiating from the clouds beneath her.

A ray of orange light shot through the cloud bank, followed by another, and another, until CryoGirl was forced to shield her eyes from the intense light.

“What the duck‘s going on here?!”

CryoGirl got her answer when the clouds exploded away, revealing an all-too-familiar figure.

“Viral Fusion: EleBee Fusion!”

End Chapter!

To anyone who's reading this: I'm sorry to leave off at a cliffhanger, but don't expect an update anytime within the next week. My brother's in the hospital, so I'm driving the 900+ miles to be with him and my family come Monday. I don't know when I'll be back, so I don't know when the next update will be.

Sorry.
_________________

[Blue Bommer]

Man, sorry about your brother, it must be serious to drive 900+ miles to see him. For anyone else thinking this, give him our best. Oh, and, good chapter.
_________________

[Lido Azn Girl]

[TheWebbuilder]

And let's all give a big hand to Lido Azn Girl for graciously Beta Reading this chapter! -taped applause-

10101010101010101010101

“Viral Fusion: EleBee Fusion!”

Trigger levitated out of the clouds, supported by the two metal wings sweeping out of his back. His boots were gray, styled to look like Elec Man’s electrodes and tipped with orange trim, and matched up against his pitch-black bodysuit. Golden armor surrounded his chest and shoulders, marked off by two jagged red lines. A pair of thrusters and wings flew out of his back, and his brilliantly yellow helmet caught and reflected every scrap of light in the area.

“I knew you‘d do that…” A smile spread across CryoGirl’s face. “But it makes things more interesting. You‘ve used that Viral Fusion process so much power that wiping it out will be a real kick… Frost Knives!”

Trigger’s thruster’s flared to life, carrying him upward and over the rocketing snowflakes that CryoGirl unleashed on him. As soon as he had cleared the attacks, his right hand transformed into a golden Buster of some sort. With a cry of ‘Electro Shot!’ the Young Bomber pointed his cannon at his opponent and fired. Beams of electrical energy lanced out of his Buster, and shot through the air towards his opponent.

CryoGirl whipped her oversized snowflake aside, slipping past the attacks. Instantly, she threw her arms upward to unleash another round of firepower.

“Endless Blizzard!” Screaming her attack, the icy Navigator summoned a powerful blast of elemental ice in her palms. Then her arms snapped down, firing off her freezing powers.

“Nice try!” Raising his power levels, Trigger slid to the right, allowing the freezing beams to slid past him harmlessly. Instantly he was retaliating, his Buster firing off round after round of Electro Shots.

Unfortunately, not one of them hit its mark as CryoGirl wove around them effortlessly.

“All right, this ends now!” The Bomber locked onto his opponent’s position and shot towards her. White-hot flames arched out of his wings as he raced onward; as he closed in, his Buster vanished, replaced by a sparking yellow sphere on his wrist. “Gold Fist, Activate! Viral Fusion:”

The Bomber closed in, his fist cocked back to strike. Due to his Viral Fusion, the Gold Fist Battle Card had become a completely new weapon: “Spark Arm!”

“You ripped that move from FlashMan!” The icy Navigator desperately veered away in an effort to evade the attack.

“So sue me for copyright infringement!” Trigger snapped as he drove his electrified fist home.

CryoGirl groaned as the breath was knocked out of her lungs. The electrical power of the fist flew into her, canceling out any counter attack she had been mustering.

The Com agent’s eyes slid closed as she dropped into unconsciousness. Due to her senseless state, she lost her balance and tumbled off of her flying snowflake. Cryogirl plunged downward towards the cold unforgiving ground below.

“No!” Trigger watched in horror as his former opponent plunged downward. He’d never meant to knock her senseless, just put her out of commission. But foe or not, he wasn’t about to just stand by and let her die that kind of fate. Summoning every once of power he possessed, Trigger tipped back and rocketed downward, intent on catching CryoGirl before it was too late.

The Bomber shot downward, aided by gravity and his thrusters. Trails of smoke trailed him as he closed in on his target; it was a race between him and fate- to see who would claim the unconscious girl first.

MegaMan Trigger glanced downward, that ground was coming up way too fast for his comfort.

With a scream, the Young Bomber pulled out his last burst of speed, and swept down under the Com Agent. His arms latched about her, as his thruster’s reversed direction.

Gravity and momentum fought him, trying to pull him those last few feet to his death.

But his armor won and pulled him out of his plunge to level out. Although the floor was whipping by just feet beneath his torso, Trigger was in control and safely flying through the air with CryoGirl in his arms.

“What-” The Com Agent blinked, as she began to regain consciousness. “What happened?”

“You just about had a last meeting with the floor.” Trigger explained as he slowed to a mid-air stop.

“And you saved me?”

“I- I guess I did.” The Bomber dropped to the ground, and hastily released CryoGirl.

“Oh, thank you…” A dark gleam appeared in the Navigator’s eyes. “for giving me the perfect chance to wipe you out!”

Trigger had time to gasp once, before a wave of icy power exploded over him.

“HUB!”

May screamed frantically into her Terminal. CryoGirl had launched an ice attack at the Navigator, forcing him out of Fusion and freezing him and Elebee solid in a block of ice.

The convenience of the situation made May wonder if CryoGirl had faked the whole thing.

But that was the least of her worries, immediately CryoGirl launched an all out assault on the other viruses and Signas, freezing them solid as well.

May watched the events unfold in horror; there was nothing she could do.

Or was there?

“Hang on, Hub!”

“Pitiful.” CryoGirl placed her hands on her hips as a sign of disgust. “I expected so much more from the legendary MegaMan Trigger.”

With a sigh, the icy Navigator placed her hand on the block of ice surrounding her opponent. Underneath her direction, it melted away until the Young Bomber was free.

Exhausted from his ordeal, Trigger collapsed to the ground, which was exactly what his opponent wanted. With four well-aimed blasts of ice, CryoGirl had Trigger lying on the ground spread-eagle, with his wrists and ankles pinned in place by blocks of ice.

“It's sad, you know?” CryoGirl eyed Trigger as she placed her cupped palms together. Between her fingers, a thick, razor-sharp stalactite of ice appeared; and it was plain to see how she intended to use it. “After you‘re gone, no one will be able to stand up to me. What a pity.”

“Well…” MegaMan Trigger eyed the icicle uneasily. “You could skip over the destroying part, then we‘ll meet again another day…”

“Sorry, kid.” The Icy Navigator stepped over her fallen opponent and raised her weapon over Hub’s chest. “But those are the breaks…”

Trigger closed his eyes, he didn’t want to see this coming. In the back of his mind, he was saying good-bye to everyone that he knew and loved, his parents, May, Eugene, Tony, Lana, even Yani. He didn’t want to go like this, but there was nothing that he could do…

This was his final adventure…

“Nice knowing you!” CryoGirl brought her ice-knife down.

“Flame Control!”

A burst of fire came out of nowhere, and swept past the startled CryoGirl and over Trigger. Scared stiff, the icy Navigator jerked backward as her icicle evaporated in the searing heat.

“What the- who did that?” The Com Agent glanced about in bewilderment.

“I did.”

CryoGirl’s eyes swept over, to see a female Navigator standing a short distance away. The Navigator’s boots were red, and tipped with blue and yellow trim; which contrasted well against her white bodysuit. Her chest was covered in a blue and red vest similar to Roll’s, while her forearms were encased in two blue and red gloves. A white helmet streaked with blue covered her head, and a mess of dark brown hair poked out from the back of the helmet.

MegaMan Trigger craned his neck, trying to see who had come to his rescue.

“Humph, what‘s this?” Loosing her interest in Trigger, CryoGirl turned to face the newcomer. “Maybe there‘s a challenge here after all…”

“Nobody's going to destroy my brother!” The new Navigator, Iris, declared as she raised her hands defensively. “You‘re through trying to destroy Bright Land!”

“Listen, I‘m not through until I win!” The Com Agent lashed out, a blast of elemental ice exploding out of her palm. Her attack ripped through the air and shot towards her new opponent.

“Element Control:” Iris cupped her hands together as a seed of flame appeared in her palms. With a battle cry, she tossed the spark forward, as soon as the flaming seed left her hands, it burst into a full-fledged fireball, which exploded across the Network. “Flame Control!”

The fireball crashed into the ice attack, destroying the ice and itself in the process.

“Why you!” CryoGirl rushed her opponent, throwing Frost Knives every step of the way. Her deadly snowflakes sped through the air, whipping along towards her opponent.

As she eyes the snowflakes bearing down on her, Iris took off at a fast clip towards the attacks. Her speed increased as she raced closer to her doom; then, with a sharp bound, she leapt upward, sailing over the attacks and coming in close to her opponent.

The icy Navigator blinked as Iris plunged down at her.

Iris came out of her leap in a spinning kick, and she smiled in satisfaction as her foot connected solidly with her adversary’s head.

The Com Agent was sent spiraling backwards from the impact. With a crash, she slammed into the ground for a split second before vaulting backwards to an upright position.

“All right, this has gone on long enough!” CryoGirl tensed as a massive snowflake materialized beneath her feet. Once fully formed, the ice structure carried her upwards, and into the air above Iris’ head.

The white Navigator stared upward, trying to track her adversary’s movements.

“Now, then…” CryoGirl pointed her arms upward, spheres of icy energy forming in her palms. “I‘ll destroy you once and for all!”

“Just try it!” Iris cupped her right hand as an orange spark of energy appeared. “Its time for me to shut you down!”

“Thousand Frost Knives!” The Com Agent’s hands snapped downward, unleashing a thousand icy shurikens at her opponent.

With a battle cry, Iris threw herself to the left, squeaking past the huge assault. Her momentum carried her away from the barrage, and with a quick shoulder roll, Iris landed a safe distance away from her opponent.

“Element Control!” Iris swept her arm upward, tossing her sphere skyward. Her shot flew upwards, and ripped harmlessly past CryoGirl. “Elec Control!

The icy Navigator shifted position, allowing the sphere to rocket past her. “Is that the best you‘ve got?”

“Wait for it…” Iris stared up at the sky, as she focused her unmastered powers.

CryoGirl gasped as a burst of lightning shot through the air and collided with her back. The electrical power exploded through her, knocking her senseless and dumping her off of her snowflake a second time.

“That‘s a wrap…” Iris watched her former opponent crash to the ground. Satisfied that the battle was over, Iris walked over to the trapped Trigger and formed her Buster. With four well-placed shots, the female Navigator shattered the manacles holding MegaMan Trigger to the floor.

“Wow… excellent timing.” Trigger got to his feet and massaged his aching wrists. “I‘m glad that armor worked for you, although it was supposed to be a surprise.”

“Oh, it was a surprise.” Iris smiled back, “I just jumped through the link without thinking and found myself wearing a Navigator‘s armor. This style isn‘t too bad for me; I really like it.”

“Well, you're welcome. Now it looks like both of us can enter the Internet...” Trigger placed a thankful arm about his companion. “Iris… interesting name… Uh, May?”

“Yes?” Iris looked at her brother.

“Thanks…” The Bomber grinned uneasily. “For saving my life, I really owe you one.”

"Like I said," Iris playfully slapped Trigger on his shoulder. "I'm a loving, caring sister. And don't you forget it!"

End Chapter!
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