L&L:S.2: Misadventures of Lyne and Bass: Episode 26

[Megawoman.EXE]

Episode 16: All investigations Lead Somewhere(Part 2)
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~Zodiac’s New Server ~ Later in the Afternoon

“So then,” Alpha said, looking around the table at the Zodiac navis there. "Are we ready to begin?"

“I would say yes,” Khan replied, “Except that one of us still hasn’t shown up. We really must do something about Maniac’s tendency to let the red eye do the driving.”

“Come now Khan,” came the navi in question’s voice from the just now opening door of his work area, “The other one doesn’t have the attention span necessary to get a driver’s license. Have I missed much?” He calmly walked in and took a seat at the digital meeting table.

Khan opened his mouth to speak, then paused and frowned in confusion for a moment. Alpha responded instead. “No lad. We were just about to begin. First off, our collection process seems to have slowed down of late.”

Toxyn rose to reply. “Yes Alpha. The collection of dark souls went at an excellent rate, but either we overestimated the number there were, or perhaps something else has been getting them as well.”

“Another possibility,” Maniac suggested, “Is that they are actively hiding from us, or that they are being protected. I imagine we would have run across another collector if there were one.”

“Yes, yes. You will be certain to, hmm, dispose of any interference should you meet it I trust?” Alpha said.

“Without fail Alpha,” Khan replied.

“Although if something has eluded us that well, it would make an interesting addition to my homework assignment,” Maniac added, rubbing his chin thoughtfully.

“And that shall be the next order of business,” Alpha said, “How is the, mmm, pet project you are working on?”

“Arachne? Our pet was finished long ago Alpha.” Maniac said with a tight-lipped smile.

“Heh, heh. The other project Maniac. I assume that you were late here because you were busily working on it?”

The odd-eyed navi bared his teeth slightly in his smile, although it couldn’t be described as a grin. “Yes. I’ve been slaving the day away all day today, so soon shall I be finished and we shall play.”

“Excellent news Maniac. You must show me your progress later.”

“Oh, I didn’t get a Progress PET. I still have an Advance,” Maniac replied, leaning back and looking up at the ceiling while very, very quietly chuckling under his breath.

“What’s wrong with you today!?” Khan suddenly exclaimed, “You left a “Do not disturb” message on your Jump Chair, locked yourself away, and now you’re reciting poetry and making jokes? Are you starting to get mixed up with Vicious or something?”

Maniac’s eyes rotated slowly down to lock onto Khan and narrowed into a glare. “I’m just in a good mood today,” he grumbled, “Or I was until you decided to bite my head off about it. Rrr, darn it! I had something in mind for when I got back to work. What was it?” He squeezed his eyes shut and pressed his hand against his forehead in concentration.

“Khan, that outburst was uncalled for!” Alpha suddenly barked out angrily. “Maniac’s mood will end up affecting his work and we must have that project completed soon.”

“I’m… I apologize Alpha,” Khan replied nervously, quickly getting up and bowing, “I am simply unused to Maniac acting this way when the Cruel side is in control.”

“You may explain later. For now, come with me.” Alpha floated out toward a door that led deeper into the server and toward Alpha’s own personal area. “You will discuss with me plans for our next operation. And you had best impress me Khan. My mood can sometimes have, ahh, adverse affects on certain individuals.”

Khan nervously followed after Alpha. “You will be pleased, I assure you.” The two left the meeting room behind. Toxyn looked at the door they’d left through nervously for a moment, then shrugged her shoulders and relaxed. She then frowned when she heard something and looked over Maniac, who was chuckling much more audibly than before.

“You didn’t switch eyes again, did you?” she asked of the other navi.

“Oh no,” Maniac responded, getting up and going back to the door to his work area. Toxyn got up and followed him as he continued. “I just felt that Khan needed to be deflated a little. You know, to keep him from getting too full of himself.”

Toxyn stopped and stared at Maniac while he went about checking a few things. “You mean you just wanted to get him in trouble? That was just another joke?”

“Absolutely. I was never mad. When I’m in a good mood, I stay that way for a while.”

“Haa, haa, haa, haa. Your sense of humor is totally twisted, but he really does need a little ego deflation now and then.” Maniac didn’t respond. He just continued tinkering on a program in his hands. Toxyn was surprised that he didn’t ask her to leave his area, since he preferred to work in solitude, so she decided to look around the place. “Umm, so, what’s with him anyway?” she asked, motioning to a navi that had been sitting listlessly in a corner. It was a male navi with a slack jaw and unfocused eyes.

“Oh, yes,” Manic began, putting his program down and glancing toward the quiet figure, “That’s an ArtistNavi. He’d been making a picture, but I was there and he ended up drawing me in as well. I couldn’t have information like that unsecured, so I took it.” Maniac opened up a window with a scene from a clean-looking area of the net. Maniac was leaning against a building and stood out in the scene since he looked rather abnormal compared to other navis around.

“Isn’t that where you were doing mission reconnaissance? Hmm, nice rendering,” she said appraisingly.

“Isn’t it? It made me curious about something. I wanted to find out just how much of his program I could take out before he lost the ability to make artwork.” Maniac turned his eyes away and smiled slightly. “Unfortunately, I forgot why I was taking him apart. He was singing such a nice song, I just lost track of the time. I put him back together, but,” he motioned to a container with a large amount of loose data in it, “I forgot to put these pieces back in.”

A ‘nice song’ huh? Toxyn thought with unease. His version of a ‘nice song’ is a navi’s screaming for mercy. I know these navi disassemblies are part of that secret project, but does he actually have to keep navis conscious while he does it?

Maniac turned back to Toxyn with an excited gleam in his large, green eye. “His operator’s address is in that data. Look.” He opened up a window showing a girl no more than 14 years old looking forlornly at the screen, sniffling, with tears in her eyes. “She’s been crying all day, wondering where her navi’s been. I was just about to send him back. Do you want to see how she reacts? Come on Toxyn, stay here and watch with me.”

Toxyn had been feeling increasingly uncomfortable as Maniac spoke. “No, I have to get going. Maybe another time Cruel,” she replied to his request. She actually had some time to spare, but had never really gotten used to how much Cruel enjoyed torturing navis and, apparently, NetOps as well. Vicious may be unfocused and difficult to deal with sometimes, but I think I really prefer his company to the other side.

“Ah well. It can’t be helped if you have things to do.” Maniac snapped his fingers, linking the catatonic navi to his NetOp’s address. He looked at the screen with hungry anticipation as he spoke to Toxyn. “Enjoy yourself. I’ll see you later on.”

“Easelman, you’re back!” the little girl in the window exclaimed excitedly as Toxyn turned to leave. She realized that Maniac wasn’t paying attention to her anymore, so she was silent as she left. “Where have you been? Easelman? Hey, why are you so quiet?” Toxyn squeezed her eyes shut in rare sympathy as she linked out, just barely hearing the girl’s voice one last time, desperately and quietly saying, “Easelman?”
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~Hikari Home~

“What’s the answer to number 7?” Lyne asked. She was lying on the floor, resting her chin on her hands and kicking her feet in the air while doing her trig homework with Bass.

“That one’s simple. Carry the 8,” Bass said, not looking up from his homework.

“Oh, I see. Thanks,” Lyne said as she wrote down the answer. She was getting ready to ask another question when Bass’s PET went off.

“Guahh. I wonder who that is,” he pondered as he pulled it off his hip. “Oh, it’s you relation. What do you want?”

Famous scowled quietly at Bass for a moment from the PET screen, and then he cleared his throat to speak. “Your mysterious navi struck again. I need Lyne and you to investigate immediately. This is where you need to go.” Coordinates replaced the NetSavior Commander’s face, showing the teens where they needed to go.

“Okay, got it. Lyne let’s go,” Bass said, grabbing her arm.

“But I wasn’t finished with number 8,” Lyne moaned as she was dragged out of her house.

“Lyne, we only had to do until problem number 7. They’re word problems after all,” Bass said while dragging Lyne out the door.

She lightly slapped herself on the forehead and said, “Oh silly me. Let’s go.”
_______________________________________
~About an hour later~

Lyne and Bass were walking down the street back to her house.

“Poor Easelman,” Lyne breathed out. “At least he’s better off than the last one,” she added, closing her eyes.

Bass shuddered, remembering what the last one looked like. It was beyond unrecognizable as a navi. “Don’t remind me. Whoever this navi is… is really demented. We now have 14 cases where this has happened.”

“15,” Lyne reminded him, counting the last case they just investigated.

“Whatever. We have to stop this and we don’t have a clue as to where he’ll strike next.”

“That’s true. Why can’t we find him?”

“Maybe it’s a Zodiac navi. That mixed up one might just be crazy enough to do stuff like this,” Bass said, rubbing his hand on his chin thoughtfully as they continued to stroll down the street.

“Maybe,” Lyne said, hanging her head, “but then again, it might not be a Zodiac doing this. We have no evidence one way or the other.”

“Then what can we do?” Bass asked as they stopped beside ACDC Park. “It’s not right.”

Lyne sat down on a bench. Bass hesitated a moment, then sighed and sat down as well. He was startled when Lyne grabbed one of his hands. “I know it’s not right Connor,” she started while misting at the corners of her eyes, “But I don’t know what we can do to stop it. We don’t know which navi will be the next target. These attacks are too random to develop a pattern, and looking at the end results makes me angry and hurt.” Her voice choked up as she spoke and she looked away from Bass when she finished.

“I know.” I just said most of that, but she looks more upset over this than me. At least she understands why I’m angry. I don’t want to see anymore navis reprogrammed like this, and I bet she doesn’t either. If I had a normal human partner, they wouldn’t understand. He sighed out a slow breath and then breathed in deeply with his eyes closed. The effect wasn’t as relaxing as he’d hoped and he decided that action was required. “Let’s go relieve some stress.”

“Huh?” Lyne asked as she looked back at Bass. “What do you mean Connor?”

“Well, I have a program that I’ve been working on for a little while. I want to try it out,” he said, rising up off the bench. Lyne got up and followed after him. Her navi curiosity was hooked.

“Tell me what it is,” she pleaded, getting a smile from Bass.

“The one I’ve been working on all week. I finished it yesterday,” he said as they walked up to the large bronze squirrel statue in the Park.

“Really! Cool!” Lyne exclaimed with excitement dancing in her eyes. They both then disappeared from sight as they touched the statue.
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~Outskirts off the Undernet~

“Mett, mett, mettaur, mett,” chirped a little hard hated virus happily as it marched along, minding its own business. It waved its pickaxe in greeting at a couple viruses it recognized and called a friendly, “Mett!” out to them. The Elbee and Swordy called back as they quickly went along, apparently having a race. The Mettaur hoped they would be back soon to play another game. He’d had a lot more friends to play with, but many of them had vanished. In fact, almost all of his friends were gone now. Even the two he’d just seen were nowhere in sight when he looked for them a moment later, and the Mettaur sighed and wandered off on its own, disappointed that his friends were apparently not going to be back for a while.

The stillness was suddenly broken by a loud, unnatural noise from behind it. The virus turned around to face the source of the sound as a black car launched itself off a small slope. It sailed through the air and landed, pointing straight at the little Mettaur. It quickly ducked under its helmet as the vehicle sped on and bounced right off.

“Whoot! Speed bump!” Bass called out. He grinned at the side mirror where he saw the Mettuar waving it’s pickaxe at him in annoyance.

“Yeah, this is great!” Lyne agreed. “Whee,” she squealed as the car came to a sliding halt.

“Yes. At least this can get us around the Net faster then me flying you around. I’m surprised that you didn’t pick up that part of my programming,” Bass said once his car fully stopped.

“Well, I didn’t have complete control over what was added to my programming when I became a half navi. I might have it in my programming though, just somewhere else or a part of another program I have access to.”

“Well we can figure that out later,” Bass said as a flashing light went off on the dashboard. “Damn…” he hissed out as he opened his e-mail. “Yes Famous.”

“My, you don’t sound pleased to see me.”

“I’m not,” Bass snapped back at his cousin.

“That’s understandable. I see you got the car working. Anyway, Serenade just sent me an e-mail. She wants a meeting with all the NetSaviors in the area at the moment. She says it’s urgent.”

“All of us,” she said as she looked over at Bass with an excited glance, “Where does she want to meet us?”

“In her throne room, located in Sanctuary.”

What was that look for? Bass pondered as he looked back at Lyne in some confusion.

I promised Lan that we could go on the Net one time. Now I think would be best. Don’t you?

Sure, why not? I’m in an experimenting mood, “We’re on our way to NSHQ first, then we’ll meet up with her,” Bass said, closing his e-mail and turning his car in the direction of NetCity.

“Hum…” Famous pondered as he looked at the blank screen of his PET. “Wonder why he’s coming here?”
_______________________________
~Downtown ElecTown~

Lan was rollerblading down the street towards NSHQ. “Yawn! It’s been a while since Serenade’s wanted to see us,” Lan said, looking down at his PET as he skated along.

“Yeah. I’ve been looking forward to some Undernet surfing for a while,” Mega said as he stretched on his PET screen.

“I wonder why Lyne sent us the message to meet?” Lan pondered before he bumped into a tall figure outside NSHQ.

“Lan? Are you alright?” the figure asked as Lan rubbed his nose.

“Yeah,” he said as he looked up at the figure. “Raika, what are you doing here?”

“I got asked to meet Lyne here,” Raika replied as he looked around for her.

“And so did I,” Chaud said, drawing Lan’s attention to his presence.

“That’s odd. She called me here too. I wonder what she’s up too?” Lan said.

“Well, she mentioned Serenade,” Chaud suggested, “I suppose there’s something that we could all help with as NetSaviors.”

“But then, wouldn’t it make more sense to meet inside where we can jack in?” Raika added.

While they conversed, a black Toyota Avalon with purple racing stripes pulled up beside the trio. The driver’s side window then rolled down a crack. “You guys coming or what?” a voice asked through the crack in the window, getting their attention.

“Connor?” Lan called back.

“Yeah.”

“This is yours?” he asked, pointing at the car.

“Yep. Took me a week to program it,” he said as he fully rolled down the window. Inside the car, they saw Lyne in her armor holding onto Bass’s helmet.

“C’mon guys. Hop in,” she said in a cheerful tone as Bass pressed a button that opened the rear driver side door.

“Cool!” Lan exclaimed as he climbed inside. “This is neat. What does this do?”

“Lan don’t touch that,” Lyne said trying to keep her brother’s hands away from the buttons in the back.

“Are you two coming or what?” Bass asked as he looked back at the other NetSaviors who were still standing there, dumbfounded. “C’mon or well be late. Serenade isn’t a very patient navi.”

“You programmed a car?” Chaud asked.

“Yes, I programmed a car. Get in.”

“Then you can use it in the Net?” Chaud continued.

“Yes, I can. Get in.”

“And you’re going to the Undernet in this?” Raika asked, trying to sound reasonable.

“That’s the plan. Get in.”

“So, what are you expecting us to do?” Raika continued.

“GET IN!” Bass yelled at them. Lyne put her hand on his shoulder to try and calm him down.

“Easy. Just trust us guys. Serenade said she wanted to see all of us,” Lyne said as she strapped Lan in to prevent him from messing with the buttons. “Now are you going to behave?”

“Yes sister,” Lan replied as Chaud and Raika shrugged their shoulders and got inside the car as well. Once inside, the door closed behind them and they were automatically buckled into their seats. Bass then shifted into gear and drove off.

“I didn’t know you knew how to drive a car, Connor,” Lan commented.

“Lan, all navis know how to drive,” Mega piped up from his PET, reminding Lan that he and Protoman had participated in a few races.

“Oh.”

“Actually, that’s not true,” Bass said, drawing everyone’s attention.

“Huh? How so?” Mega asked.

“All navis have the ability to download the information on how to drive. Not all have this information downloaded,” Lyne explained.

“She’s right,” Protoman agreed from his PET as Bass stopped the car.

“OK, Lyne,” Bass then turned to face her, “This should be a good place to log in.” They were on the top floor of the ElecTown Parking Garage.

“On it,” she said a she brought up a digital keyboard panel. “I’m making the destination the Undernet Bridge. That sound good?”

“Yeah. That way we can avoid all that traffic in NetCity.”

“Wait, we’re actually going onto the Net?” Chaud asked as a NP appeared about 200 feet in front the car.

“What does that tell you?” Bass asked as he pointed at the portal.

“Cool. We actually get to go on the Net,” Lan exclaimed as he hugged Lyne from where he sat. “This is so awesome!”

“Lan, calm down. I’m navigating,” Lyne complained. In his excitement, he’d accidentally closed the NP. “Now I have to try again,” she growled in an angry tone, making Lan sit back in his seat. “Besides… we’re not exactly ready yet,” she said as she finally reopened the NP.

“Um, I’d just like to point out that we aren’t navis,” Chaud mentioned calmly, “We aren’t even half navis, so how are we supposed to get onto the Net?”

“Please slot your Syncro Chips into your PETs and Cross Fuse,” Lyne requested of the trio.

“But there’s no DA,” Chaud said trying to be rational about this. Raika nodded in agreement as Lan slotted in a few chips so that they’d be available when he slotted in his Syncro Chip.

“Just listen and do what she says so we can get going,” Bass rumbled impatiently.

“But…” Chaud protested before he was cut off by Bass turning back to face them.

“Just do it!” he shouted getting all three of them to slot in their Syncro Chips. The car filled momentarily with light, then dimmed down again.

Lan looked down at himself, realizing that he and the others had successfully Cross Fused without the aid of a DA. “Wow!” he breathed out. Chaud and Raika looked themselves over, then looked at each other speechlessly.

“Alright now. Hang on,” Bass said as he backed up the car even further from the NP.

“Uhh, question,” Chaud spoke up, but Bass ignored him, shifted into forward gear, and pressed down on the accelerator. The car sped forward through the NP and onto the Net.

On the other side of the link, the car emerged and sped down the bridge and into the Undernet. “WOW! This is so cool!” Lan squealed in excitement.

“And weird,” Protoman commented from inside Chaud.

“Yeah,” Chaud agreed as he looked out his window.

“Welcome to the Undernet,” Bass said as he untinted the windows so they could see out of them better.

“It’s so barren,” Raika commented as he looked around them at the sand area.

“This is the edge of Serenade’s rule, near the Dead Zone,” Bass replied as they drove along. “In relation to the size of the Undernet, very little of the Dead Zone’s sand covers it.”

“Where are we going in particular?” Mega asked.

“Yeah. Serenade’s Sanctuary Maze is over that way,” Lan said, pointing out his window.

“That’s where the second one is Lan,” Lyne replied. “We’re going to the first one, and that’s located in the Old NetCity ruins.”

“Which we’re about 50 to 30 navi miles away from,” Bass added.

“Might I ask how fast are we going?” Chaud said as he looked away from the window.

Bass looked down at his speedometer, “About .5 link speed.”

“And how fast is that in miles?” Raika asked, emphasizing that they, Bass’s passengers, weren’t navis.

“Oh… Sorry about that. That’s about 500 mph,” he said, slowing his vehicle to a stop in front of the ruins. “Well, we’re here. The rest of the trip is links.” Bass exited his car and Lyne and the others followed him.

The sight that was beheld by the trio of NetSaviors was amazing. They had to admit it was so much different being there on the Net in person instead of looking at it being projected on their PET screens. Chaud pinched himself as Lan walked up and touched one of the pillars that remained standing.

I thought I’d never get to actually see this place again, Raika thought as he stood there and observed from his stance beside the car.

“It is pretty neat, isn’t it?” Bass asked as he leaned against the car beside the Cross Fused Sharo Officer.

“Sure is. Now where is that link you were talking about,” Raika asked.

“I don’t know exactly. Its spot changes every time Serenade changes the enterance to the Sanctuary Maze. But I have a link locator,” Bass said, pointing at Lyne as he wandered away and approached Lan. “Hey Lan. You and I need to have a little chat,” he said as he wrapped his arm around the confused boy’s shoulder and brought him off to the side to whisper a little plan he had in his ear.

“This ought to be interesting,” Raika said as Chaud finished pinching himself for the third time.

“I can’t believe we’re on the Net. How is this possible?” he asked, getting Lyne’s attention.

“Well, if you’re near either me or Connor in our digital armor outside the Net, you can Cross Fuse,” Lyne explained. “We actually burn off a lot of energy that hangs around our bodies like a digital aura similar to the DA. Your navi’s armor is what made it possible for you and the others to come onto the Net with me and Connor.”

Meanwhile, Bass had finished his discussion with Lan. “Got that?” he asked, seeing that Lyne was busy talking with the other two. Lan nodded. “Good. You can use these,” he said giving Lan a handful of Area Steal chips.

“Uh, problem though. I don’t have a PET to slot the chips into,” Lan reminded him.

“Just slap it against your icon or against your hand to activate it. Tag. You’re it!” he said loud enough to get everyone’s attention before he disappeared from sight.

“Oh,” Lan said. He readied a chip to use and ran up to Lyne, who looked confused. “Tag!” he said, touching her on the shoulder. “You’re it Lyne!” He then ran off before Lyne could react and tried to use the chip like Bass had said. He tapped it against his icon and felt a surge as it activated and blinked him away from his sister.

“Lan, that’s not fair!” Lyne bellowed as she chased after him.

“Nah, nah,” Bass said as he appeared behind her and disappeared again.

“Connor! Guahhh, get back here both of you!” she shrieked as she chased them both.

“What’s Bass up to?” Chaud asked.

“I think he’s having Lyne look for the link we need, but disguising it as a game. She can find hidden links,” Raika said as he watched Lyne chase down Lan before he disappeared with another Area Steal. “It’s one of her navi abilities.”

“Really? Interesting,” Chaud commented as he watched Lyne, now hot on Lan’s tail. He was quickly running out of Area Steals. She then stopped in mid stride, her eyes glossed over and distant. She then turned and pointed out in front of her.

“There!” she said as a beam of light came off her index finger and exposed the closed, hidden link.

“See? I told you it’d work,” Bass said as he nudged Lan.

“That was really close. Why didn’t you tell me she was that good at teleporting?” Lan asked back in exhaustion.

“Hey! I didn’t expect her to take off and get better after I taught her the basics,” Bass said, equally exhausted as he brushed himself off. “Lyne, would you please open the link for us?” Bass asked and she sent another beam of light into the NP, opening it. After that, her expression returned to normal.

“I hate that whenever it happens. It feels creepy,” Lyne complained as she shuddered while hugging and rubbing her arms.

“You’ll get used to it. Ladies first,” Bass said as he shoved her towards the link. She halted and reached back to grab his arm.

“You come with me,” she said as she looked back at him. “I’ve still got creeped out vibes.”

“Oh fine,” Bass huffed out as he entered the link with Lyne wrapped around his arm. The NetSaviors all shrugged their shoulders and followed after them. Traveling down the Data Stream felt awkward to them as they flew along it. Even exiting it felt weird as they ended up on the other side of it. The sight they beheld was the entryway to the Sanctuary Maze which had three NPs.

“I guess Lyne was right,” Lan said as he looked around.

“Well, then again, the Maze is really deep inside Serenade’s territory and hard to find,” Mega said as he watched Bass lift Lyne to stand on his shoulders.

“Why does it have to be up there?” Bass complained. Lyne was sweeping her arm back and forth, trying to feel out the next portal. “Is it here?”

“No… Over to the right,” she said in a calm tone. Bass scooted carefully over to the right. “More… More… Mo – Stop! Right here,” she said as she opened a link that appeared above the middle NP. “Mumph!” she grunted as she climbed up into it and disappeared.

“Huh? Where’d she go?” Lan asked and then pointed at the link. “Where’d that go?”

“Serenade’s throne room. C’mon, I’ll give you a leg up,” Bass said, getting ready to do so.

“You sure?”

“Lyne hasn’t been wrong yet. C’mon,” Bass said as Lan hesitantly accepted the leg up, which was more like a vertical toss. “Chaud, you’re next,” Bass said, getting ready to repeat the action.

“Nah. I think I can manage,” he said as he jumped up at the link and disappeared into it.

“Well then,” he said as he turned to face Raika. “Would you like assistance or do you think you can manage?”

“I think I can manage,” Raika said doing the same thing but not getting the same amount of height. Before he could land back on the ground, Bass had grabbed onto his arms. When the taller NetSavior looked back, he saw that Bass was floating in mid air. “I guess assistance would be good,” Raika said as Bass floated them up to the NP link so they could enter it. The trip through it was actually quite short, leading directly to Serenade’s Throne Room.

“It’s about time you got here,” Serenade said once everyone arrived. She rose from her throne and approached the group. The Undernet Queen sounded a bit put off when she huffed, “I was expecting you guys here about five minutes ago.”

“See, I told you she wasn’t patient,” Bass whispered to the guys.

“Sorry about that Serenade. It was kinda’ our fault,” Lyne said, pointing at herself and Bass. “We got a little carried away in the Old NetCity Ruins.”

“Ah yes. Your little game of tag,” she said, bringing up a monitor that replayed their activities. She smiled before she made it disappear. She then returned to her throne. “On to more important issues. My virus populations have been dropping drastically over the past few weeks.” She brought up a chart that showed the many virus populations numbers as illustration.

Bass looked them over for a minute. “These are awfully low. Almost unhealthy for the Undernet’s structure.”

“What’s this supposed to mean?” Chaud asked.

“Viruses are what keeps My Undernet’s structure maintained. With the numbers dropping this fast, it will be unsafe to hold tournaments down here. I’m lucky they haven’t dropped any lower.” She was sounding fairly worried as she explained the situation.

“See Lan. That’s why I didn’t want to take over down here for Serenade. It’s too much work,” Megaman said.

“Yeah.”

“Have the breeding colonies been attacked?” Bass asked.

“And the Mettuar Village?” Mega asked, sounding concerned for his Mettuar friends.

“Breeding colonies, yes. The Mettuar Village hasn’t been affected though. I actually have a shipment of Breeders coming in today,” she said, looking down at them. “I would like some security for the shipment. I don’t want this to happen again,” she said as she snapped her fingers, summoning Blade, her top lieutenant, from the shadows.

She was carrying what looked like a juvenile dream virus, but it wasn’t quite right. Its legs were crooked, and attached at angles that must cripple its movement, and the silver helmet that all dream viruses have was missing its spikes. The sight of it made Lyne almost cry.

“Oh, the poor thing,” she said as she went up to pet the virus.

“Lyne, are you sure that’s safe?” Lan asked as she touched it. Bass grabbed him to prevent him from interfering with what Lyne was doing. “Let go. She might get infected.”

“She’s fine. The viruses in Sanctuary aren’t contagious,” Bass said, letting go of him.

The little virus shook in fright in Blade’s arms. “Shh… It’s okay,” Lyne said as she petted it, calming it down as best she could while she did a scan. “Is this a birth defect?”

“No, this virus used to be healthy,” Serenade replied, “Something else caused this.”

Lyne spoke softly to the virus, “Something caused this to happen to you? What happened little guy? What did it?”

An Eeevil, the dream virus thought to Lyne. Eeevil, mixed up, thief. Navi stole my protection.

Her eyes went wide with shock as she pulled her hand away from the small virus. “No way! Connor! It looks like our little friend hasn’t been only attacking navis. It’s been attacking viruses too,” she said as she turned to face Bass.

“What?!” Bass said as he rushed over to her.

“This little guy’s Dream Aura was taken from it,” she said with a sad look in her eyes. Bass came up to look at the virus.

“That definitely looks like our crazy navi’s handy work,” he commented as he finished examining it. “Now that I know what to look for, I see what Jackie discovered.”

“What Jackie discovered?” Lyne asked, “What did she find?”

“It was when she was trying to repair Gremlin. She had all the necessary data gathered up, but couldn’t put it back together. When she examined it closely, she discovered a unique data signature. If it were equated to human terms, you could call it digital scar tissue. That sick freak intended for us to go through the trouble of putting Gremlin back together and never be able to completely repair him! I swear I am going to beat him so badly when I find him!!” He stopped when Lyne put a hand on his shoulder and realized he’d been starting to rant. He still felt a wellspring of anger towards this navi he was starting to view as a nemesis, just out of sight and taunting him to find him. He pushed the anger back however and took a calming breath to steady his nerves.

Serenade nodded slowly and soberly. Her voice was sad when she spoke, “We were lucky to find this virus after its colony was destroyed. It was the only one left out of a population of 5,000.”

Bass balled up his fist and slammed it against one of the pillars in Serenade’s throne room. “Doesn’t this guy realize what he’s doing to this part of the Network?” he growled angrily. He closed his eyes and tried the deep breaths again, but the harsh sound of his exhalations showed how little effect it had on calming him.

“Probably not, but I can’t afford any more of my viruses getting mangled in this way,” she said, and then silently asked Blade to give her the virus. “Most of them have been evacuated from the colonies and brought here. Thank you,” she said as she accepted the little virus.

Lyne looked up at her. “What are you going to do to it?”

“What is humane,” Serenade said as she crushed the gem on the virus’s helmet. The small creature’s eyes went calm and dim, and within seconds, its deformed body had dissolved away.

Lyne started streaming tears as Bass comforted her, and Lan came up to offer comfort to her as well. Bass then let go of Lyne and turned to the Queen. “Serenade, you have your security.”

“We will all watch the shipment.” Raika added, getting a surprised look from Bass.

“All the information you need on the shipment is in this file,” she said as she brought up a folder and sent it over to where the NetSaviors were standing. Raika took it and started skimming through the data.

“Understood,” Raika said with a salute as Serenade opened a NP that lead out of her throne room. The NetSaviors then started to leave.

As Lyne was leaving, Serenade caught her glance. I’m sorry Lyne. That one was my favorite pet. It was hard for me to do too, she thought to her, shedding a tear.

A vision suddenly entered Lyne’s mind. A squeal of mixed pain and fear. A frantic search through empty structures. Small, unmoving forms. A gasp of shock and heart-wrenching sobbing. The vision passed by, and Lyne looked at Serenade in sympathy, realizing what a trying time she’d been through. She thought of speaking, but knew the best way for her to help was to keep anything like this from happening again. She silently nodded in true understanding and turned to disappear through the link.
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Next Episode Preview

~Set for the Undernet~

Lan: Wow, I thought this one wasn’t going to be that long.
Chaud: Well, the last episode was longer than this. At least a little.
Raika: So, what’s supposed to happen next?
Dramatic Voice: What indeed? Our heroes have taken on an assignment from the Undernet Queen herself. How will it go? What could go wrong!?
*Group looks around in confusion, then they stare at one another.*
Bass: What the heck was that?
Lyne: I think it came from over there. *Points at window overlooking the studio.*
Bass: We’ll see. Dark Buster! *Blasts window out. There’s a scream and a figure ducking out of the way.* I saw something!
Lan: Was it a ghost?
Chaud: Seriously Lan, grow up.
Raika: I’ll find out what it was. *Goes up to the newly made hole A very scared person rises shakily into view before he gets there.* Who are you? What are you doing here.
Scared Guy: I- it’s- an episode preview, right? I’m here as the announcer.
Raika: Announcer?
Lan: Since when do we have an announcer for a preview?
Bass: Yeah. We do just fine on our own.
Announcer: But I was hired on for this. Uh, didn’t anyone mention that?
Everyone: No.
Announcer: Well, that’s alright I guess. No harm done. So, I’ll just go on then. Ahem. There’s perils aplenty in the Underne-.
Bass: Hold on! All I want to know is one thing. Do I get to confront my nemesis? I’m really itching to get him!
Announcer: Uh, *Looks at paper in his hands.* Well, uh, it looks like you do. Yes, it says: Together, Lyne and Bass face off against their nemesis! What sh-
Bass: Whoah! Wait a sec there. What do you mean Lyne and Bass. It’s my nemesis, not hers.
Lyne: Connor, we’re in the investigation together, so it’s my fight too.
Bass: Grrr, but he’s been taunting ME! I wanna’ be the one to get ‘im.
Announcer: Um, well, if I could just finish this.
Bass: It’s not fair! He thwarts me again and again and I don’t even get the satisfaction of taking him down myself!
Announcer: I’m not sure we’re on the same page here.
Bass: Let me see that script! *Runs up to the booth.*
Announcer: Yeeee, it’s not a script, it’s just- Be careful! !!RRIIIIP!!
Bass: AAghh! You ripped it! What was on it? Tell me! *Grabs at Announcer.*
Announcer: Noo! *Runs away very fast.* Forget this job! I’m not getting paid enough for it. I quit!
Lyne: Connor, why’d you have to go and scare him away like that?
Lan: It wasn’t very nice.
Chaud: And we still need the next episode announced.
Bass: Aww, shut up! What’d we need some paid announcer for anyway!?
Chaud: Maybe because we’ve never really previewed an episode before. Everyone usually just goofs off.
Raika: Well, at least we have the title for it.
Lan: Where?
Raika: In his hand. *Points at Bass, who’s still holding part of the sheet.*
Lan: Ooo, let me do this! *Goes up to look at paper. Starts speaking in ridiculously over-dramatized and obnoxious voice.* Next time on Lan and Lyne S2, Episode 17: Trust.
Bass: Trust? What the heck’s that got to do with me pulverizing my nemesis!?
Everyone Else: Give it a rest already!
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"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

[Lan1220]

Yay! another great chapter! This one's long.
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Sig credit goes to Hikari Angel

[Midnight]

I'll tell you, it is quite another fabulous read. I unfortunately had time only to skim the work, but the quality that was presented before is maintained throughout this chapter.

The plot is getting quite intricate. I have trouble following the plot myself.
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Today, these three players are after Big Bucks! But they'll have to avoid the Whammy, as they play the most exciting game of their lives! From Television City in Hollywood! It's time to 'Press Your Luck!'--Rod Roddy

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

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

[soberflight]

Whoooeeee! You've really got me hooked on the story! It's getting deeper and deeper with the intrigue. Great job!

[Iceman.EXE]

I swear, this is like the Harry Potter of the fanfic section. It's that good. XD Seriously. I just got caught up to the second half of chapter 16, and the last few chapters have been written amazingly.
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---
Avatar from www.croik.com/PW/

[Megawoman.EXE]

Chapter 17: Trust(Part 1)

~ Stake Out Location ~ Undernet ~ November 15, 200X ~

Lan was sitting on top of Bass’s car, marveling over the fact that he was there, on the Network. He looked his armor over and was still surprised that his body wasn’t being affected by being on the Net. This is so cool. I wonder how this is even possible. Mr. Famous has been working on Data Sync Chips, and those are supposed to do something like this, but he hasn’t been able to perfect them yet, he thought in wonder.

“It’s just Famous, Lan” Lyne suddenly said. Lan was startled by her referring to what he’d been thinking, but remembered that she could do that while he was cross fused. “It’s quite simple really,” Lyne continued as she lowered a pair of Navi Binocs. “I explained it a little to Chaud and Raika earlier. Connor and I burn off a lot of energy. The byproduct of our burning it up hangs around our bodies even though it’s not noticeable.”

“Oh, so it’s like an aura,” Lan said, realizing what she was explaining.

“Exactly. And that aura has the same make up as a DA, making it possible for you, Chaud, and Raika to Cross Fuse in the car without a DA.”

“But what does that have to do with us being on the net in the first place? And for so long too. We usually can’t cross fuse for this long without being totally drained.”

“Having Digital armor around your body protects it from becoming data besides the usual protection from being harmed. And as we speak, Hub’s armor is feeding off the energy that is produced by the aura. That’s what is keeping you from losing energy or logging out. Hub’s energy is being used to keep you from being harmed by the Network.”

“I guess I should thank him then,” Lan said as he rubbed the back of his helmet. “Thanks Hub.”

“You’re welcome Lan.” Megaman replied with humor in his voice. Lyne smiled at her cross fused brothers, then raised the Navi Binoculars to look through them again.

“Has the shipment arrived?” Bass asked impatiently.

“It’s not 7:30 yet. Hold your horses,” Lyne said with a glance at him as he sat beside her on the roof of his car.

“I don…” he started to say, but she gave him a sideways glare and he stopped and thought for a moment. “Oh. An expression. What’s that supposed to mean anyway?” he asked.

Lyne let out an exasperated sigh as she lowered the binocs. She shook her head a little, then looked over at him. “Be patient!” she growled before she looked back through the binocs.

“Ooh… But I’m bored,” he complained and hung his head.

It’s so strange, Lyne thought to herself. We’re the same age, but the child he was… that’s still who he is. Only five when he died, and not even two years later, his memory was locked away. Now he sometimes acts with that childishness. She smiled to herself at the thought. It’s good to have him back. Ooo! I see a solution right there, she thought as she noticed something moving out in the desert. “Connor. Wood Element, Snake Egg at 12 o’clock, and it’s a really big one,” Lyne called out. “Looks like it’s from the Dead Zone.” getting Bass to look out in the direction she had just said,

Bass looked out towards where she was indicating. He didn’t even need binoculars to see what she meant. He hopped of the car and cracked his knuckles with a grin. “I see it. Not bored anymore,” he said before he sped off into the desert edge of the Undernet.

“Why’s Connor leaving?” Raika demanded.

“He was bored and wanted something to do. So I gave him something to do,” Lyne said in a dry tone. “Would you rather have him bored out of his mind?” she asked. Raika frowned and turned away without giving her an answer.

“She has a good point,” Chaud offered, then let out a surprised, “Oww,” when the soldier’s hand popped him on the back of his helmet.

“Pay attention to where the shipment is supposed to show up,” Raika snapped. “Lyne, keep an eye on Connor and make sure he doesn’t get into trouble.”

“Right,” Lyne replied as she looked through the binocs again. He’s a little grumpy. Maybe I shouldn’t have asked him to come. He’s still not comfortable with cross fusion. “Hi Lan,” she spoke to her brother as he climbed up onto the roof to join her.

“Where’s he at?” Lan asked curiously.

“Look straight ahead into the Dead Zone,” Lyne said, pointing straight ahead of them while handing him the binocs.

“By the Net! That’s a huge Snake Egg… Measuring over 3,000 navi meters,” Mega exclaimed from inside Lan. “That thing has to have over 100 sections on it!”

“Yeah, and Connor is just standing in front of it. Hey Lyne, why did you send him out there? He’s more than likely going to delete it. Wouldn’t you feel sad?” Lan asked. Lyne was looking out at where Bass was.

“I might a little, but it’s an adult and by the looks of it very old. Watching juvenile viruses being put down makes me feel sad. That virus barely had a chance to really live as it should’ve,” Lyne said, tearing up, “Lan, the breeding colonies are really important down here. Most of the viruses are down here to keep the computer bugs down to a minimum. Thus they grow so navis can get stronger when they come down here to fight the older viruses.”

“I see. Thus making the structure of the Undernet safe,” Lan said before he looked back through the binoculars again. “Wow.”

“Exactly. That’s how the Undernet works,” she said, looking and squinting to see what Bass was up to before she made another set of binocs. Bass made a face at the Snake Egg to aggravate it. “Jeez Connor. Why do you have to be so immature?”

The emerald colored Snake Egg reared up on the back sections of its body, getting ready to strike. “*Gulp* That’s really intimidating. He doesn’t look worried. Why is he snapping his fingers?” Lan asked, glancing over at Lyne for a sec.

“Still trying to get its attention… Actually, no he’s trying to intimidate it… Look closely. He’s making little flames,” Lyne pointed out. Lan paid more attention and saw Bass make a larger flame burst from his hand, into the Snake Egg’s face. Suddenly, the Snake Egg dove down at Bass with its mouth wide open. There was a great !!Woomph!! that vibrated through the ground as the virus’s face plowed into it and Lan felt that vibration as it traveled up through the car’s wheels and all the way to the roof he was on.

“Whoa! That looks like it really hurt! Do you think Bass is alright?” Lan asked.

“Yeah. Look above,” she replied, pointing at the air above the recovering virus.

Bass had teleported out of the way and was floating over his “sparring partner.” His grin was easily visible through the magnified view of the binoculars. He charged up an energy orb in each hand, then forced them quickly together to make a powerful blast. His aim, however, was at the back sections of the virus. He deleted the struck areas, but this only caused the Snake Egg to hiss in pain and twist about to locate Bass. Rather than let himself be seen, Bass floated down to land on the giant back and started running along it, whooping in excitement as if he were on a large, shape-shifting roller coaster.

“He better stop that or he’s going to get hurt,” Lan commented as he watched Bass gracefully avoid the even more annoyed snake virus’s attacks until it smacked him with what was left of its tail. “See.”

“Connor’s fine,” Lyne said. It appeared to be an accurate assessment since Bass didn’t even take time out to recover. Instead, he sprang up off the ground and formed his arms into Dual Dark Busters, raining a massive barrage onto the Snake Egg and destroying even more sections of the virus.

“Lyne, the shipment’s arrived,” Chaud called out.

“Okay. I’ll let him know,” Lyne replied as she focused her attention on Bass. Connor, time to pack it in. The shipment’s here.

Bass slouched in disappointment and glowered at the Snake Egg as it got ready to attack again. Aww man! he moaned back. And I was having fun too. In resignation, he formed two orbs again, one dark purple and one fiery red. He forced them together as the Snake Egg dove down on him with its mouth open wide. “Dark Fire,” he called out, sending his attack into the beast’s mouth, causing a chain reaction throughout the rest of the virus and deleting it into a grand explosion of pixels.

Bass closed his eyes and took a deep, relaxing breath. Then his mouth cracked in a grin and he teleported back to the roof of the car where Lyne and Lan were sitting. He stood there for a second looking down at them quietly, then used his foot to slide Lan off the roof. The boy hit the sandy ground roughly and looked back up in annoyance to see that Bass had happily taken the spot beside Lyne. Bass turned his eyes down at Lan for just an instant and smirked. The boy huffed in irritation, but really couldn’t do anything but turn his attention to the caravan and fume quietly. Why does he have to be like that? Yesterday he spit watermelon seeds at me like his rapid fire attack, he thought as he sat up off the ground.

Maybe he’s letting you know he still doesn’t like you, Mega offered offhandedly.Or he’s getting you back for what you did to him in Brightland.

Maybe,

“Dream Viruses, Gaias, VolGears, Melodies, Shrimpies, Dharmas…” Bass commented as he looked through Lyne’s binoculars. “Damn, Serenade wasn’t kidding about the colonies being hit.” Lan climbed back up onto the roof.

“What would our psycho navi want with all the viruses he either stole or mangled?” Lyne asked.

“I don’t know, but it’s definitely not good for the Net. The Undernet serves as the foundation for the whole Network,” Bass said, pointing above his head. “The edge of NetCity is right above us. If the Undernet were to crumble, the whole Network would be destroyed.”

“Whoa. So this is really serious,” Lan said as he looked out at the caravan. “Those viruses are all level three or higher,” he said, looking through his binocs.

“Lan, those are the only ones that can breed the smaller viruses Serenade needs to keep the Undernet maintained,” Mega said. At least that’s what dad told me. Only Mets can breed at the lowest level. But why didn’t Serenade ask dad to send her some viruses if she was low?

“Because all the viruses she wants come from the Dead Zone,” Bass replied. “There must be a provider located out there somewhere.” The shipment Caravan entered a secure link that led to Sanctuary. “Whew. Now that’s over. We can go home.”

“Right,” Lyne said as she jumped off the roof of the car.

“So, that’s it?” Lan piped up. “A caravan passes by and we leave?”

“Don’t start talking like that Lan,” Chaud said to him. “It’s bad luck.”

“Uh…” Lyne breathed out quietly as she felt a sudden chill wash through her. She looked around in worry as Bass started sniffing the air.

That’s not good. Something’s not right, Bass thought. He picked up a fowl odor that he couldn’t fully recognize, but it was familiar somehow. “Everyone get in the car now!” he commanded.

“What’s wrong?” Raika asked, surprised by Bass’s tone.

“Don’t hesitate. Something’s coming,” he said as he teleported from the roof of his car to appear in the driver’s seat. “Get in now!” he demanded as he started up the car. Lyne teleported everyone else into the car before Bass took off. “Lyne, what is that?”

Lyne was looking through the back window and tried to reach out with her senses, “I don’t know Connor, but it’s gaining and there’s multiple readings.”

“Open a link. We’re out of here,” Bass said, increasing the car’s speed.

“Don’t you think I’ve tried that already?” She tried again, biting her lip as she tried to open a link out of the Undernet. “…I’m being jammed!”

“Not good. Raika can you see anything behind us?” Bass asked while still concentrating on driving.

“No – Wait!… Oh Scrap! Incoming!” Raika exclaimed, then grabbed Chaud and Lan to bring their heads down.

“What?!” Bass exclaimed as a blast impacted the back end of his vehicle, causing it to spin out of control. He frantically tried to get his it back under control, but was having a lot of trouble. “Hang on! Gurrr! Lyne, Lan, I’m going to need a charged shot from both of you. I’ll tell you when.”

“Okay. Lan, follow my lead,” Lyne said activating her buster and aiming it out her window. She braced herself against her seat as she started to charge up her weapon. Lan got up to do the same but with Raika and Chaud bracing him as he charged up his buster.

“Alright now,” Bass shouted. Two intense blasts came from the siblings’ busters as he simultaneously slammed on the breaks, making the car come to an abrupt halt. “Oww. Is everyone alright?” Bass moaned as he held the side of his head.

“I’m fine!” Lyne replied cheerfully before she looked at the backseat where Lan was laying on top of Raika and Chaud. “Are you guys okay?”

“Sure,” Chaud said. “Once these two get off of me.” Lan and Raika just moaned as they got back into their seats.

Chaud glared at Lan. “This is your fault.”

“My fault?” the other boy groggily replied. “How is this my fault?”

“I told you talking like that was bad luck. You brought this down on us.”

“They sound fine,” Lyne reported back to Bass. She then looked out the back window and her jaw dropped. “But I don’t know for how long. Zodiac!” she said, pointing out the back window. Bass took a quick peek, noting she was right, and tried to start his car. The machine made a supreme effort to accommodate him, but ultimately coughed and died in defeat.

“Damn you! Start you hunk of junk!”

“Connor, it’s out of energy,” Lyne pointed out to the energy gauge next to the gas gauge.

“Scrap! Get ready to raid the trunk, and then we’re booking it,” Bass commanded Lyne.

“Right,” she said as she left the car to head to the trunk.

Bass then turned around in his seat and gently smacked Lan and Raika on the face. “Hey guys, wake up. We’ve got to move out of here.”

“Connor!” Lyne called out.

“Great. Chaud, get these two back up on their feet. I’m going to see what she wants,” Bass said as he left the car. “What is it?”

“Well, you told me to raid the trunk,” she said with her brow furrowed in worry, then gestured helplessly at the back of the car. The trunk was completely missing and the pixels of the wreckage were drifting away.

“They did not! My Car!” Bass shrieked as he turned to face the direction Zodiac was coming from. He balled up his fist and shook it at them. “They’ll pay. I just got this working. And the trunk was full of energy. Do they have any idea how expensive that stuff is?” Lyne examined the remains of the car while Chaud managed to get Lan and Raika moving again.

“Hey, there’s still some energy here. I’ll carry it,” Lyne said as she collected it from the ruined trunk.

“Good. Let’s go,” Bass said as Lyne lead the way up the sand dune the car was at the base of. They didn’t get far before Zodiac resumed their attack. “Great. We’ll provide cover fire for Lyne since she’s got the energy.” He faced the oncoming enemies and fired off shots as quickly as he could, not really aiming since he knew the Zodiac navis would be able to dodge anything accurate at this range. He backed up as he fired to keep moving along with the still retreating Lyne and the other three NetSaviors backed along with him in their positions around Lyne.

“So, how many cannonballs do you think they can manage to lob up here anyway?” Lan asked as he scrambled out of the way of a near hit that took a chunk out of the ground.

“Quite a lot would be my guess,” Bass growled in response. “I’d say that’s one of Khan’s default weapons.”

“How does he go and have a cannonball as a default weapon?” Lan exclaimed in half-horrified indignation.

“It’s probably the same justice that allows Toxyn to use a Vulcan cannon as a default,” Chaud replied. “They just don’t follow any rules at all.”

The dune they were climbing flattened out at the top and they were able to travel at a faster rate to avoid the shots that were volleyed from the Zodiac navis. “Damn, don’t these guys give up?” Bass muttered as he and the other NetSaviors took turns covering for Lyne. “Lyne, I need an energy.”

“Sure,” Lyne said as she gave him an energy subchip. He took it in his right hand and absorbed it into his system. Lyne suddenly came to a stop when she saw a drop off ahead of them. Unfortunately, Bass was still backing away from the oncoming attackers and bumped into her, knocking her over it edge of it. She shrieked as she tipped over the side and Bass quickly turned to catch one of her flailing arms. Her fall stopped with a sudden jolt and she grabbed onto Bass with both hands. Unfortunately, this left the energy chips to scatter over the side.

Bass sighed, partially in relief but also in disappointment at seeing the energy fall out of view.

“Connor, we’re trapped,” Lyne said as Zodiac surrounded them.

“Not if we log out,” Bass said as he concentrated really hard on logging out. But it didn’t work.

“You’re not going anywhere,” a voice projected from the shadows. A familiar red orb glowered at them as it approached.

“Alpha. Should’ve known you’d be here with these jokers,” Bass said as he got into a defensive stance in front of Lyne. Lyne looked past him at the angry glare the byte was giving them and her eyes locked onto Alpha’s.

“Speak the Devil’s name if you dare, and so shall I appear!” it spoke in a voice that raged in tune with the storm. This figure also could have once been human, but instead of being twisted or altered, it was falling apart. Shadows coalesced on its ravaged body, and it was surrounded by a dark purple glow. Its eyes shone with a malevolent, red light.

No! Those same eyes. That monster from Atlantis! That must mean… “Alpha’s a virus, Connor,” she squeaked quietly from where she stood behind Bass.

“Huh? Well, whatever he is, he’s deleted. DARKNESS OVERLOAD!” Bass called out as he fired a dark purple energy blast at the byte.

The red orb zipped nimbly around the attack. “Muhahahahaha! I don’t think so. Dark Needles Rain!” he called out, aiming an attack at the group.

“Crap!” Bass turned to face Raika, “We’ve got to split up. Break,” he commanded, and the three cross fused NetSaviors broke off from them as the attack made contact with empty ground.

“Khan, Toxyn, handle the fusers. Maniac and I will handle the Demon and Angel,” the byte commanded.

“Yes Master Alpha,” the other two navis responded as they chased after the trio.

“Leave them alone!” Lyne cried out and went to stop Khan and Toxyn, well aware of how much real danger her brother and friends were in. Several shots hit the ground around her feet and brought her to a halt.

“No, no, no! Alpha said you’re playing with us!” Maniac shrieked, pointing his gun unsteadily at her. He suddenly broke into excited laughter. “The party’s only started. Time for some fun.”

“Good. Maniac, summon our little, hmmm, surprise for them.”

“Whee hee. This is going to be great!” Maniac squealed with delight. He was dancing around in a circle, waving his arms in the air, and acting completely unaware of his surroundings.

“Vicious!” Alpha yelled. Lyne and Bass gawked at the spectacle, sweat-dropping in confusion.

He expects the stupid one to have enough brain cells to take us on? Bass asked to Lyne, who shrugged her shoulders.

Maybe he’ll try to get him into a rage again, she offered.

“I want Cruel, not you,” Alpha fussed angrily.

Maniac suddenly stopped dancing about and calmly put his weapons away with closed eyes and a very slight smile on his face. “Don’t worry Alpha,” he replied coldly. “I was only kidding. I’ve been anxious to see how this program will work.” He cracked his knuckles and bared his teeth at Lyne and Bass in something that might be called a grin.

Whoa! Personality shift, Lyne thought in shock at Maniac’s sudden change in attitude.

The Zodiac navi, whose eyes had also gone through a sudden change, thrust his hand up into the air as he glared down at Lyne and Bass. “It’s time for you to meet the newest member of Zodiac. Havock! Come forth!” he exclaimed. A beam of light came down before him and the red byte and a large silhouette formed within it.

When the light dissipated, what Bass and Lyne saw was as deformed a creature as they’d ever seen. Neither its legs nor its arms matched in size. Even calling them arms or legs was questionable as they had faces or small limbs of viruses or navis scattered along them. Its face, what could be seen of it past an armored covering, appeared to be mashed together from as many as five different sources. Pipe-like objects stuck out of Havock’s body in apparently random placement. Its eyes, one bright yellow in a shadow, and the other a fierce blue, held a mixture of rage and pain, and those emotions were echoed in the tortured scream it let out as it stood before them.

“How horrible,” Lyne breathed out, I guess you were right about Zodiac being involved with this, Lyne thought to Bass, fighting back a sudden urge to cry, and an equally sudden, incredibly intense urge to run, as she got ready to fight.

I hate being right, Bass huffed back.

Maniac gestured with an open hand at the half navis. “Havock. Attack!” Cruel shouted, and the scrambled creation twisted its right hand up into a Gaia hammer, then charged into battle.
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“LYNE!” Lan cried out as he started to backtrack to help his sister and Bass out. What is that thing? I don’t know if it’s a navi or a virus.

“EARTHQUAKE!” a feminine voice suddenly shouted. The ground underneath the trio’s feet cracked and rocked erratically and unbalanced all three NetSaviors, stopping Lan’s intended attempt to aid. “I don’t think so fuser.”

Lan looked up, expecting to see the violet and black armored Toxyn before him, but that wasn’t how she appeared. Looks like they really can change their appearance, he thought as he took in this new look. Her black bodysuit was now a deep, earthy brown. Her helmet had shrunken back to expose her dark violet hair, although it was somewhat obscured by what looked like a grayish veil with reflective flecks in it. Her elbow-length gloves, chest armor, and boots were all a light gray with flecks like mica in them. Her waist had two flexible flaps, one in front and one in back, that gave her the appearance of wearing a skirt. The look could have been pretty, but the venomous look on Toxyn’s face ruined the possibility of that.

She palmed Lan’s face and roughly pushed him away. “None shall interfere,” she growled.

“That’s right. SOLAR FLARE! Bow before a god!” Khan roared from the side. All three NetSaviors hugged the ground as a streak of white-hot flame blasted at them, much to close for comfort as it passed over their prone forms. They looked to see where the blast had come from and had to squint at the sight. Khan’s head had an aura of fire around it that blazed out like a lion’s mane. The rest of Khan’s armor was a pure and shiny gold that served to reflect and amplify the light of the flame to a painfully bright level.

“They’ve changed their armor,” Raika said as he rolled out of the way of another attack from Khan.

“I noticed,” Chaud replied. “Lyne’s report from when she and Bass were captured suggested that at least Toxyn and Maniac had other forms.” He got his sword ready, but couldn’t make a move before Toxyn shook the ground in another quake. He managed to jump away from the shaken area and saw that Lan was with him when he landed. “I’d say it’s confirmed now.”

“It’s changed their powe-eeep!” Lan said and jumped back in shock when a stone pillar suddenly thrust out of the ground, blocking the attack he’d been about to make.

“She’s an earth element now. Mmph,” Raika said, exhaling as he hit the ground to avoid another of Khan’s attacks. “And he’s fire. Is it me or is it getting hot around here?”

“It’s not your imagination,” Chaud replied. “And Khan seems to be getting brighter too. I can’t focus on them at all.”

“I can’t either,” Lan said, using his left hand to shade his eyes while trying to aim his buster. “I don’t like this.”

“I’m with you. This is crap,” Chaud agreed, glancing over at Lan from behind the recently raised pillar where he was biding his time while trying to figure out a plan of attack.
________________________________________

Havock was vigorously swinging his hammer at Lyne and Bass, grunting with each swing and alternatively snarling or hissing like an animal with each miss as its opponents were both able to avoid the clumsy attacks. They were thankful for their nimble dodges as they could tell the attacks would do a substantial amount of damage based on the great holes and furrows the hammer was leaving in the ground. They were getting shots in edgewise against the larger beast they were facing, but saw no visible damage.

“We might have to turn things up a notch,” Bass said as he avoided another swing from Havock. He winced as some debris hit him. It was closer this time. We can’t avoid this forever.

“But how? Hya!” Lyne asked as she kicked Havock in the face, making him stumble on his feet backwards. She then joined up with Bass.

“I’m going to style change.”

“Really? You can do that?”

Bass nodded in response. “I’m going to need some time. The program is kinda’ old. Do you think you can pull off a distraction?”

“Sure.” Lyne ran straight at Havock, dodged around its downswing, and shot it directly in the face at close range with her buster. There was still no obvious damage, but she did manage to get Havock’s full attention. She jumped back and nimbly hopped away from the creature as it reached for her with its free hand.

I haven’t had a need to use this in a while, Bass thought as he concentrated his energy to transform his armor. But Zodiac is not giving us any choice. I bet I know the reason why we can’t log out. His armor was starting to glow now. Dad told me that Mind Jumpers create interference on the Net that prevents any navis nearby from linking away or logging out. That’s why CM2 insisted that Lyne and I link back to SciLab before him whenever he was with us. We prevented him from linking back by himself. And I bet that’s what’s going on. Lyne and I are both navis now and fall under the same principle and Alpha knows this. I bet that means they can block anyone from linking to this area of the Net, also meaning I can’t even summon Gospel here to help us out. So I have no choice but to power up. “Bass Hub Style Change Activate!” he called out. The change wasn’t drastic, but it was noticeable. His gauntlets, the purple stripes along his sides, and the middle section of his helmet all had a dark purple pixilation effect to them.

Lyne felt the change in Bass’s condition and glanced back to see that he was preparing to attack. “See ya!” she said cheerfully and sped away from Havock, who continued to lumber after her.

“Dark Buster!” Bass called out as he fired at Havock’s back, knocking it to the ground. “Alright!” He pumped his fist in victory as Lyne joined up with him.

“Awesome. That looks so cool. How long have you had that?” Lyne asked as she looked his armor over curiously.

“Well, I’ve had it a while. I acquired it from Hub while I was still cursed,” he said as he rubbed the back of his helmet.

“That’s cool. I got some more style changes recently. You know, since Hub can’t style change anymore, he gave them to me.” She grinned and then looked around. “Hey, where’d our new friend go?”

“Huh?” Bass looked around too, but couldn’t find it either. “Lyne, you might want to activate one of those hand-me-down style changes right now.”

“They’re not hand-me-downs. They’re hand-me-ups,” she huffed as she crossed her arms over her chest. “But which one should I activate? He gave me a few of them and I just stored the ones I couldn’t use back at SciLab,” Lyne said as they got back to back. “I really don’t like the feeling in the air.”

“I don’t care what one you pick. Just do it. Jump!” Bass suddenly shouted. They both managed to jump and avoid a surprise attack from below them. Bass looked down and saw that Havock had lunged out of a black hole in the ground. He aimed to fire again as the beast bellowed and dropped back into the ground. Damn. So is that what Gremlin was torn apart for? To gives this monstrosity something to make trouble for me? This’ll be tougher than I expected.

“So, what do ya’ think?” Lyne asked from the side, getting Bass’s attention. He looked to see that her armor had gone from purple to shades of blue from dark blue to teal. Her backpack had long tubes of energy coming out the back and her helmet was smaller but she had three fins around her ear armor.

“Um, Aqua Custom style? Looks good on you.” Havock came back up into view and Bass turned to face its charge. “Ready to use it?”

“You got it. Geyser!” Lyne called out, activating a normal chip which made a geyser appear behind Havock.

“You missed him!” Bass shouted as he activated both his busters and opened fire upon Havock.

“Can’t you be patient? Spreader times five !” she shouted and sent an aqua blast squarely into Havock’s chest, knocking him back into the geyser. “See strategy. Whoo…” she trailed off as her armor returned back to normal and she collapsed to the ground.

“Lyne!” Bass called out as he rushed over to check up on her. When he got close, Lyne was already starting to get up off the ground.

“Agruhh,” she sounded as she came to a full upright position, “Maybe I shouldn’t have used Extra Code to boost that style. That one uses a lot of power. Whew… Did I nail it?”

Bass looked back over at where Havock lay. “Soaked it, to be specific.” Lyne groaned at the bad pun and Bass grinned sheepishly at her. “Sorry. Couldn’t help it. But, uh, you really did hit him with a lot of water, didn’t you?”

They looked over at Havock, which was dragging itself up from a spreading pool of water. “Yeah, I guess. Is it hollow or something?” she asked, cocking hr head curiously. Water was continuing to pour from Havock as it dropped the hammer to the ground. The armored mask on its face fell off with a clatter and a splash as water poured and then dripped from an oversized, fish-like mouth. “Wait. Did it just…?” She let the question trail off as Havock raised an arm and the face of a Shripy virus opened its mouth to spit out a Bubbler attack.

“Yeah, it changed to a water element,” Bass responded to her unfinished question as they jumped out of the way of the attack. His eyes widened as the beast opened its own mouth a let off a wide blast of water that they weren’t able to get around. “Blluurb, ptuu! Filthy thing. Water has a nasty taste.” He glanced over at Lyne and they both nodded at each other. “Let’s do it. Dark Lightning!”

“Holy Thunder!” Lyne cried at the same time. The pair of duel element attacks streaked across the area, striking their intended target, which fell back with a shriek.

“Alright! High five,” Lyne squealed as she held up her open hand in the air.

“High five?” Bass looked at her with a blank, puzzled expression. Lyne rolled her eyes, took his arm, and raised it into the air.

“Now keep it there,” she said as she reached her hand up to clap his now open hand. “See? High five.”

“Ohh,” Bass said, lowering his hand. He stiffened when he noticed a buzzing and crackling noise. The two half navis looked over to see that Havock was rising up yet again. It was flexing its right hand and the pair could see that it’s fingertips were now somewhat pointed with blunt tips that sparked as they scraped over one-another. Arcs of electricity passed among its randomly positioned tubes and the water still on it and around it on the ground was steaming away. “What does it take to keep this thing down?” Bass growled. As their disfigured opponent let bright sparks intensify in its right hand, it suddenly raised up its left arm and several pairs of long objects like rabbit ears unfolded and shot off spinning rings of electricity.

“Eeeii!” Lyne shrieked as she avoided them to the best of her ability. “Its element changed again!”

“I noticed!”
____________________________________

“Oh, what I wouldn’t give for some aqua chips right about now,” Lan grumbled as Chaud stood up from their hiding spot. They were almost thankful to Toxyn for the number of columns that were scattered about the field now, except that they’d been hit a couple of times and stone columns hurt when they hit you.

“Aqua Sword!” Chaud called out as she jumped out from the column and made a slash with the sword that sent off a wave of water at the source of bright light. He readied himself to move in for another attack and watched as the water wave steamed away before it reached its target. “No way!”

“Solar Flare!” Khan called out and Chaud ducked back behind the rocks, gritting his teeth as he felt the searing heat pass by.

“Eehh,” he moaned as he held his arm. “Hopefully Lyne and Bass can take out whatever that thing is. That was really close, and Protoman’s losing energy.”

“I know. So is Mega,” Lan said as he glanced out from behind the rock they were using as a hiding spot. “It’s probably because we’re too far away from Lyne and Bass’s energy auras. Looks like she’s using Wood Shield style.”

“It’s good to see her put those to good use,” Mega commented.

“Incoming!” Lan suddenly shouted and ducked behind the rocks again. He heard the thud of something hitting the ground and a cloaked, black-armored figure slid into view. “You alright Bass?”

“Ohhh. Electrified punch. Heh, what a shock.” He dragged himself up off the ground. There was a smoldering mark on his chest where he’d been struck. “Can you guess who’s gonna feel the pain boys and girls?”

“Uh, hang on a sec. Is there any way I can get some aqua attacks to use against Khan?” Lan asked quickly. Bass looked at him and joined the other two NetSaviors behind their cover.

“You know, Khan’s going to melt this rock before too long,” Bass said as he got around behind Lan.

“Yeah,” Lan replied, turning to face him, “That’s why we need the aqua attacks to take him down.”

“Then don’t move,” Bass ordered, roughly turning Lan around. The younger boy squirmed uncomfortably at an unusual sensation in his back.

“What the heck are you doing?”

“Getting you chips,” Bass replied, holding his hand out in front of Lan. It had a bunch of chips in it.

“Where’d those come from?” He took the offered chips.

“From your backpack of course,” Bass replied, then took off to where Lyne was now having a hard time avoiding Havock’s flurry of attacks. Lan watched him go off, then looked over at Chaud questioningly. The other boy had a look that was half shocked and half disgusted.

“From my backpack?” Lan asked.

Chaud nodded quietly, then shook his head as if to clear it. “He just reached his hand in and pulled them out. I didn’t know that could be done.”

“Those two work under a different set of rules.” Lan jumped when a shot rang out. “Where’d that come from?”

“Raika of course. He’s been moving around the rocks for a while to get a good position.” A rumble went through the ground and they saw a fissure streak out at a cluster of rocks, which cracked and shattered explosively. “And she missed entirely.”

“Oh, I see him now!” Lan said as he saw the green clad NetSavior move covertly in the distance.

“Well, don’t give him away.” They both twitched when another loud report cracked from Raika’s rifle.

“AAuuugh! Khan!” Toxyn’s voice shrieked.

Lan and Chaud both peeked out from behind the rock to see what just happened. Toxyn’s right leg was only half there and she was bawling in pain. “Victory! C’mon, you guys can now make a break for better cover,” Raika said over an audio e-mail channel. Lan and Chaud both booked it as fast as they could to join Raika behind the more plentiful cover. “So, did it feel as disgusting as it looked when Bass pulled those chips out of your back?” Raika asked as they joined up with him.

“It did feel pretty weird. I didn’t know they could do that.”

“Did he pull out the Search Soul chip?” Raika continued. Lan shuffled through what was in his hand and pulled out the chip in question. “Good. Use it.”

Lan tapped the Search Soul chip against his buster, morphing it into a rifle much like the one for Raika’s cross fused form. “What’s the plan?”

“We split up. Everyone in a different position. Lan,” he said and handed him a program, “This will work for your rifle. It’s called Ice Shot. It shouldn’t evaporate as fast as other aqua attacks.” Lan accepted the program and nodded, then took off to find a position. Raika quietly took off as well.

“Hey what am I supposed to use?” Chaud asked as they left him there.

“I guess our imagination,” Protoman replied as Chaud snuck over to another location.

“Well, then Aqua Sword is our best bet,” Chaud said as he reactivated the chip.
___________________________________
_________________
"NetAngel Style Change Activate"
Megawoman (Lyne)

Avatar made by Serenade.exe

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

[Megawoman.EXE]

Episode 17: Trust(Part 2)

~Atlantian Palace ~ Throne Room ~

Two figures were standing around a little projection orb.

“This isn’t good,” the Ancient said as he watched the action on the orb with Nights. “Alpha’s found Havock, and not only that, a new master for it. I never thought that stupid virus would figure out how to break my seal on that program. You have to get the Angel and Demon out of there right now,” the Ancient said, pointing at the orb.

“What about the humans? They’ll get harmed or even worse if they’re taken away,” Nights stated in shock.

The Ancient had his eyes closed for a moment before he reopened them and responded. “I just told Serenade the situation and she will handle the Angel’s brother and his friends. You have to concentrate on getting your brother and the Angel out of there. They don’t have their full power yet. That thing was responsible for the deaths of the first Master Elements of Light and Dark.” His expression turned dark and bitter as he spoke. “Do you want that to happen again? Now get working on their escape route. Do what I just taught you.”

“Right,” Nights said as he held his hand out over the orb and mumbled an incantation. A Data Stream started forming several feet below the edge of the cliff on the orb’s image.

“Well, it’s a start,” the Ancient said getting an angry glare from Nights.

“This is the first time I’ve had to do this for real and not practice. Doh… Let me concentrate,” Nights said as he returned his focus on constructing the data stream.

The Ancient nodded and then left the throne room. You go ahead and do that my King. I’m going to move my Temple. That should provide enough cover for them to get away just in case Alpha doesn’t fall for our bluff. Hopefully, the Angel and Demon catch on to our plan. “Ciao!” he said with a smile as he linked back to his temple once he exited the throne room.

“Wait. You’re going to do what?!” Nights shouted as he looked up from what he was doing. “Doohhh! He did it to me again. Focus…”
____________________________________
~Back at the Battle Area~

Lyne was dodging about Havock in her green-shaded Wood Shield armor. She had a Gaia Sword drawn and ready, but hadn’t had an opportunity to strike as she was spending her time dodging or blocking strikes from the Elec Blade the monstrosity was using. Move left! a familiar thought-voice projected to her, and a Machine Buster attack blasted past her, beating against Havock’s misshapen body.

That was close, Lyne thought as she drew her arm across her forehead. Is it becoming stronger or smarter? She stared the scrambled program down. It returned a glare at her, and then opened its mouth in a grin that crackled with bright sparks of power.

“What are you doing? Strike it down Lyne!” Bass shouted. He looked over at Lyne for just a moment, and Havock took that moment’s distraction to make a sudden strike at him with its blade, knocking him back. It moved in to continue attacking, laughing now in a broken and distorted voice.

It’s faster for sure! But it’s back it turned now. I can strike! Lyne thought as she leapt into the air and stabbed her broad sword down deep into Havock’s back. The monster gave a shriek like a high-pitched feedback loop. Lyne squeezed her eyes shut and clenched her jaw in reaction to the noise, then yelped when something sticky latched onto her. She opened her eyes to see white strands trailing from various areas of Havock’s back and shoulders and she was flung off by the monstrosity a moment later, swung about on the strands until she was driven into the ground.

“Bastard!” Bass growled as he jump tackled Havock. He wasn’t really surprised by the leafy protrusions that had suddenly grown in patches on the monster’s body and he grasped onto them with one hand while pummeling the back of Havock’s head with the other. “You’ll pay for that!”

Lyne groaned quietly where she lay on the ground. She pushed herself up with a shaky arm and looked around. “Nnnn, dizzy. Gotta’… pull ‘t together.” She tried a couple times to get her arms steady on the ground while her head was still clearing and gasped when one of them found empty air. “Oh yeah. The cliff, *pant, pant*. That’ll get your heart going.” She looked over the side while her breathing slowed and then she blinked at what she saw There was a glowing, blue light there below her. Cool! she thought when she realized what it was. Serenade must know we’re in trouble. She looked back at where Bass was still tangling with Havock. Yep. It’s a wood element now. So… She let her thought trail off and dropped her Wood Shied style so that she could activate another one.

Her armor now changed to a deep purplish red color and light brown. He enlarged arm was about half the size of what Mega’s Heat Guts armor hand was. This one was designed for more a quicker strike, but still had the same earth breaking power. “Connor…Connor!” Lyne called out as she rejoined the fight.

Lyne called out to Bass as she rejoined him. He had been tossed off the larger creature’s back and was trying to overpower it in a grapple when wooden lances suddenly thrust from its chest. He jumped back quickly in surprise and managed to avoid being skewered by the unexpected attack. “What? I’m a little busy,” he shouted.

“I can help with that. Charge Shot!” she called out, then squeaked in surprise when a gout of flame burst from her buster arm. Havock jumped backwards, well out of the way of the attack, as Lyne turned her wide eyes to the smoldering weapon. “Well, that doesn’t usually happen.”

“Heat Guts, right?” Bass commented as he looked over Lyne’s armor. It was a deep, purplish-red color with dark brown armor on hands, feet, head, and chest. The right hand was larger than normal, although it was still smaller than what Megaman’s was in the same style. “What were you expecting from a heat element form?”

“I thought it was just to power up fire chips,” she said quietly, then shook her head and told him what she’d wanted to mention. She spoke quietly so only he’d hear when she said, “There’s a Data Stream underneath the edge of the cliff.”

“What?!... Oooph!” he responded as Havock popped out from a hole in the ground and knocked him back towards the edge of the cliff.

“Connor!” Lyne called out, then turned a scowl at Havock, which was cocking back an arm to strike her. She raised up her right arm and aimed it straight at the monster’s arm. “Take this! Heat Shot! Guahh!” she called out as she fired the powerful fire element shot at the program’s arm, blasting cleanly through its elbow and severing its forearm from the rest of its body. “Alright I did it. Whoot!” she exclaimed as she danced around in victory.

Bass, meanwhile, was clinging on to the edge of the cliff. He’d almost skidded off of it after Havock had hurled him away. “Guahh… Man that hurt,” Bass moaned as he sat up. He realized something was wrong and looked at his gauntlets to see that the power effect had died down. “No! This isn’t good. Havock must’ve knocked the energy out of me with that sneak attack.” The ground then started to quake deep below him, enticing him to look over the edge of the cliff. His eyes went wide with shock. A Data Stream, Bass thought in awe as he looked at it. This might be our only hope. The slight quake came to a halt just as a Network Sandstorm started to kick up underneath the Data Stream. “Oh boy… And we better not miss it.”
__________________________________

Khan’s glaring light was dimmer now due to the trio’s efforts. Unfortunately, it hadn’t been doused and Chaud was now out of the fight since his Aqua Sword had rundown. He was now down to his VarSword and that didn’t seem to affect the two Zodiac navis. Toxyn had dropped the Virgo form and was just using her Vulcan weapon to discourage the NetSaviors from attacking. Chaud was reduced to watching Lan and Raika take turns picking on Khan, slowly dimming the fire navi’s light. The Zodiac leader had managed to flare up twice since the group attack started, and now they were down a weapon. “Damn. I should’ve loaded projectile attacks. It would’ve helped,” Chaud said as he slammed his fist backwards into the rock he was hiding behind. “I can’t even get to Lan’s position to borrow his. Hang on. Where’d Raika go?”

“I don’t know how much more of this we can take,” Raika said from behind him, and Chaud involuntarily jerked when the Sharo NetSavior’s rifle showed up right next to his head. “My armor is starting to show signs of surface pixilation,” Raika added as he switched his ammo to Searchman’s Satellite Ray.

Did he have to sneak up right behind me? Chaud thought as he looked down at his own armor and saw that it wasn’t in the best of shape either. “Can’t they hurry up? We need to get off the Net now!”

“If you haven’t noticed, they’re trying their best to fight that thing, whatever it is. Lan, are you in position?” Raika asked, talking into a mike in front of his mouth.

“I’m ready when you are. Let’s get rid of these guys,” Lan replied. “Hey, is your armor pixilating too?”

“Yes Lan. Now fire!” Raika commanded. Lan obediently fire off another ice round and they were all pleased to see Khan stagger back when the shot hit home.

“Damn stupid kids. Stop hiding and show yourselves!” he bellowed as he steadied himself and scanned the field for his target.

“Now he’s wide open,” Raika said quietly as he aimed for the top of Khan’s fiery mane. He squeezed the trigger calmly and fired off a straight shot at the crown that seemed to be the center of the flame, making a great crack in the crown when the shot struck.
________________________________________

“I wouldn’t celebrate quite yet,” Maniac said from behind Lyne. She turned to see him waving his finger back and forth at her. She jerked her arm up to fire at him, but her intended attack was cut off when a heavy arm smashed into her from behind, knocking her off her feet, flying into Maniac.

“I’m getting really sick of you!” Bass shouted angrily as he jumped back into the fray, slashing at Havock with a Dark Sword. The larger creature backed away quickly, letting out a wheezy chuckle and leaving black smoke behind as the leaves on it smoldered off. Should we start this cycle over again? It seems to get faster and smarter every time it changes elements. If we can’t find a way to outright destroy it, we might not last!

Lyne and Maniac, meanwhile, had ended up in a pile several NaviMeters away. No more being tossed about please, Lyne thought wearily.

“Hello dear. How are you doing today?” Maniac asked in his cold voice. She looked down at him where he lay under her. He was not smiling, and he narrowed his eyes as he reached his hand behind his head. “Get off,” he growled and deftly drew out his sword and swung at her. She drew back fast enough to save herself from injury, although she did see bits of her hair shaved off by the slash. She readied her buster again, which she realized was back to its neutral state.

Damn! I lost the style change, she thought to herself.

“Angel. Watch your six,” Maniac said with a thin smile. She turned her head to look just before something struck her and knocked her off of Maniac. “Heh. Thanks for the assist Havock.”

Lyne tumbled off in a tangle of limbs and cloak. Bass spoke before she recovered her breath. “I am really getting to hate that thing so much. I am not some object to be hurled around!” He stopped griping and helped Lyne to her feet. “How are you doing?”

“Ask me when we’re winning. Oww…” she said as she held her arm, which was throbbing with intense pain. She breathed in sharply through clenched teeth.

“By the way, there’s a Data Stream right below the cliff,” Bass said, steadying her with his arm around her shoulder. Lyne reacted by suddenly slapping Bass upside the head with her working arm.

“I just told you that a few minutes ago, baka!” She cradled her arm and looked back over at Havock. It seemed to be momentarily confused. It was shifting its feet and looking around uncertainly.

“Jeez, sorry. I was in the middle of a fight. Looks like we get a little breather.” He watched as Havock stopped to pick up what was left of its ruined forearm. “That was a nice shot. Are you okay?”

Lyne was cradling her arm and breathing heavily. “It hurts.” Bass could see that there was energy leaking from under her hand, apparently from where she was pressing it on her arm.

Havock must’ve thrown her really hard in order to cause her armor to crack. At least she’s not pixilating, Bass thought.

“What’s it doing?” Lyne asked with a confused expression on her face. Bass looked to see what was going on now.

“It… looks like it’s trying to put the arm back together. But it’s backwards. Heh, heh, guess it’s not getting sma… wha?” Bass’s eyes opened wide in surprise when the severed forearm’s fingers twitched and grasped onto the stump of an upper arm Havock was pressing it against. The fingers merged in, and they now looked more like flexible tubing, and the severed end of the forearm shifted into something like a buster. “That’s not right! Lyne, it’s time to go.”

“I agree.” They both turned and started back to the cliff. They could hear the beast behind them plodding along and mumbling.

“Buh… beh, ber… burr. Burrrnning. Burning Jeeeeet!” Havock bellowed out, and the half navis heard a rushing noise behind them.

“Did it just speak?” Lyne asked in shock. Bass risked a glance back and saw that the tube-like projections on Havock’s body were glowing cherry-red and spouting bright blue flames. The jets of fire had enough force behind them to propel the monstrosity at them quite quickly.

“Move!” Bass shouted and pushed Lyne to the side. He didn’t have the time to do anything else except to throw himself flat on the ground so that the unsteadily flying program streaked over him. Ow! Hot! Why does that attack seem awfully familiar?

“Up! Let’s go!” Lyne cried as she dragged Bass up with her good arm. He could now see the injury she had: a gash that went diagonally from her shoulder to halfway to her elbow. He turned his glare angrily back at Havock and locked eyes with it.

Yeah, I see it now. That blue eye is a perfect match. They spliced Burnerman into it. It had stopped and was facing them both, shaking with rage. “It’s gonna’ charge again.”

“Gurrr… Dark…” Havock hissed as its jet ports ignited again. “DIE!!!”

“We have to use the Data Stream. It’s our only hope of escape,” Lyne said in a quiet tone, trying to keep the strain out of her voice.

“But you’re injured. You might not be able to handle link speed.”

She grabbed him by the collar. “It’s our only hope,” she said emphatically as she started to practically drag him along, even though he was the one supporting her at the moment.

“Okay, okay,” Bass said as he picked her up and carried her in his arms. He then smirked to himself and shouted back. “Hey Alpha! I’ve got a new trick to show you.” Bass then kicked off the ground and went way up into the air. Havock shrieked in frustration and kicked off the ground as well to continue the chase.

“What do you think the demon’s up to?” Maniac asked as he and the byte watched Havock chase Bass around overhead.

“He could be up to anything. Or he’s just not willing to accept the fact that they can’t get away. The boy is, rmm, very stubborn,” Alpha commented as Bass suddenly went into a sharp dive. “Or… he’s willing to commit suicide,” he added.

“That would be easier on us. Then the elements would be all ours,” Cruel said. He was then knocked to the ground by something hitting him in the back of the head. He looked up at Alpha, who was staring back at him with a cocked eye. “Yours, Alpha. There’s no need for you to remind me who the Master is here. You know where my loyalties lie.”

Alpha was quiet a moment, then smiled slightly. “Yes lad. Just do try to be, errm, accurate when you speak. One mustn’t let one’s self be misunderstood.” His smile suddenly turned into a wince when a sudden crash filled the air. They both tuned to see what had happened.

“No. My finest creation,” Cruel cried out. Havock was half buried in the ground. Its legs were flailing about helplessly and the jets on its mangled body were still burning brightly.

“Yes boy. That is a very clever trick,” Alpha called out to Bass as he landed near the edge of the cliff. “I guess we have to finish the job. Khan, Toxyn, come to me,” he called. The two other navis appeared beside him immediately. Alpha was surprised to see that they were both injured. Khan’s crown was cracked, even now that he had gone back to his neutral state, and Toxyn’s leg was missing below the knee. The fusers must’ve been tougher than I had anticipated,/i] Alpha thought to himself as his warriors readied to attack. Surprisingly enough, Maniac, who normally held back and bided his time when his Cruel state was in control, was the first to make a move, unsheathing his sword again as he charged in. [i]Hmm, he actually appears upset. Excellent.

I’m not going to be able to dodge to well, urgh! Bass thought as he barely managed to avoid Maniac’s first swipe. The Zodiac navi paused to wipe something from his face and saw that it was some of the energy that Lyne was leaking.

“He, heh, Havock did his job,” Cruel commented as he made another swing at Bass. “One of them is injured.”

“Perfect. Attack, all of you,” Alpha ordered. Khan growled and moved in, but Alpha noticed that Toxyn was hanging back. He looked back to see her standing unsteadily and gesturing to her incomplete leg. “Ah, yes… Well, perhaps you should return and repair yourself instead.”

“Right,” she said as she left the group behind.

“Now, to deal with these two,” Alpha muttered to himself as he floated after his two other servants. He stopped when a barrage of fire went off from behind him. “The Fusers!” Alpha cried out as put up a barrier to block the first rounds. “Make this quick.”

“Yes Master Alpha,” Khan and Cruel replied as they pressed forward.

“Well now it’s come down to this,” Bass said as he fired multiple shots at Maniac. The target dodged well, but was still hit by some of the shots and was knocked backwards out of the barrier that Alpha had set up, allowing the attack from the NetSaviors to strike him. Unwilling to put up with the attack, he logged out. “That wasn’t the trick I intended to show you Alpha,” Bass said as he dodged an attack from Khan. He saw Lan approaching and stared at him for a moment while he backed closer to the cliff’s edge, still helping Lyne along. Lan, Hub, I’m going to need your trust. Do you trust me enough to not come chasing after us if Lyne and I do something crazy? Bass said as he helped steady Lyne on her feet.

What’s that supposed to mean? Lan projected back as he beat at the barrier that Alpha had made.

Lan we don’t have much of a choice but to get away. I promise Lyne won’t get hurt, Bass thought as he and Lyne both ducked to avoid an attack and then dashed off to the side to avoid a downward slash from Khan’s Royal Blade. Once they were clear, Bass turned to Lyne. “Are you ready?” She nodded and then crossed her arms over her chest while backing close to the edge of the cliff.

“Alpha, this is the trick,” Bass said before, in one swift movement, he rushed at Lyne, wrapped his arm around her chest, and dove off the edge of the cliff.

“LYNE! NOooo!” Lan cried out as he ran towards the drop off. Alpha had lowered his shield in shock at Bass’s action.

“Detainment Program,” a female voice called out, and Lan was surrounded by a spherical barrier.

“Serenade! Thank God you’re here,” Raika said as he and Chaud joined up with her.

“Let me go! Lyne!” Lan shouted as he attacked the barrier that now held him captive.

Lan, I’m doing this for your safety. You haven’t yet learned how to trust Bass like your sister has, Serenade thought to him as Lan was bracing his arms against the barrier steaming tears from his eyes. “Blade,” Serenade called out, summoning her top lieutenant out of the shadows. “Take these three back to SciLab. Yuuichiro is waiting for them there and will explain what has just happened.”

Serenade then noticed Alpha edging towards the drop off cautiously. Further off, she could see that Havock was managing to haul itself out of the ground. She motioned for Blade to stop trying to make a link just yet as Alpha looked over the edge. “That Demon better not be pulling another sneak attack.” His eyes went wide with shock as he noticed a Data Stream a good 20-30 feet below where he was. “That tricky Demon! After them!” Alpha ordered Khan and Havock and they all went over the edge of the cliff.

“Oh no!” Serenade gasped as she opened up a vid window, “Steven, you’ve got company.”

“I know. I’m working on it,” Nights replied, typing away at a panel and drawing Lan’s attention to him.

“Hey, you’re Nights. What’s going on?” Lan asked as he looked at Serenade.

“That will be explained later,” Serenade said before Nights bellowed angrily.

“Damn there’s too much interference. I’m going to have to get them out of there manually. Lan, Mega, don’t worry. They’ll be safe here on the Net with me. I swear it on my honor.”

“As a king or as a brother?” Lan asked, figuring out what the name Serenade called him meant.

“Both,” Nights replied after a pause and then closed his side of the vid window.

“Okay, now could you log them out Blade?” Serenade asked as she made a link to SciLab. “Their navis are in serious need of repair.”

“Yes My Queen,” Blade said. She calmly rolled the DP Lan was inside into the NP. Chaud and Raika followed after her.

Serenade turned to face towards the cliff. “Be safe you two,” she said with a bowed head and her hands pressed together in front of her in a sign of prayer.
_________________________________________
~SciLab~

A NP opened up in Yuu’s lab through which the three NetSaviors and their escort exited. The barrier that held Lan captive dissipated once they were through, and the trio of NetSaviors defused. “Man, am I glad that’s over,” Chaud breathed out in relief. Lan just ran up to his father and started to cry.

“She’s never coming back is she?” Lan cried out as his father held onto him tightly. Mega appeared on Yuu’s console screen, also showing worry.

“Shh… Lan, she’ll be alright. If anyone would know the Undernet, it would be Connor,” Yuu replied as he ran his fingers through Lan’s hair. Lan was still streaking tears down his face. “Oh, come here,” Yuu said as he hugged his young boy close to him.

*Sigh* I know how he feels, but papa is right, Mega sighed mentally. Bass would know how to get around the Undernet. They were both seriously injured and he would know exactly where to hide. We’ll just have to wait for Bass’s and Night’s promises to hold true. He watched the scene around him quietly and saw when Blade, equally silent, linked away from SciLab without anyone else noticing.
______________________________________________
~Undernet Data Steam~

Lyne looked back down as Bass guided their way along the Data Stream. “Maybe this was a bad idea,” she said when she saw that Zodiac was still on their tail.

“What choice did we have? This or deletion,” Bass snapped back as he concentrated on where they were going.

“This,” Lyne replied quietly. “Where are we going?”

“Just a sec,” he said as he reached out one of his arms to touch the side of the Data Stream. He ran his hand along it for a second before replying, “NetCity.”

“But NetCity won’t be able to handle that thing if we hid there,” Lyne stiffly cried out.

“I know, and we weren’t able to stop it either. And we won’t be able to stop it now. We’re too low on energy and you’re injured.”

Lyne then started to tear and buried her face into his chest. “Connor, I don’t want to die,” she said in a shaky tone.

Die… Bass thought about the word for a moment. That’s what deletion would be for us wouldn’t it? We would die. Be no more? Unrecoverable? He then shook his head, No. I can’t let that happen to me again, or to her. “Lyne I don’t want to either. We’ll make it through this.” He placed his hand on the back of her head and gently squeezed her against his chest as he boosted his speed and softly added. “I promise.”
_____________________________________
~Atlantian Palace~

Nights was climbing up the tallest tower of a massive structure so that he could see the Data Stream he had formed off in the distance. “Why did Zodiac have to follow them?” he grumped as he started making an orb of energy in his palms. “Stupid virus Alpha.” He took aim with his right arm which had a ball of dark, multicolored energy in it. “I hate to do this, but Zodiac gives me no choice right now… PARALOOP!” he commanded, shooting the orb off. He then sent off a chip program after the attack and said, “Repair. There, that ought to do it.” He scanned over the Data Stream with his visor.

“Wait a minute. Havock is in there too.” Nights pondered on what to do for a moment, since he knew that the Data Stream was going to NetCity. He then cracked a smile. “Why not? This will really piss Alpha off.” Nights said as he brought out another chip. “Return Address,” he called out, sending it off in the direction his attack and the other chip program were aimed. “Now to e-mail Famous for a favor,” Nights said as he started to descend from the lofty height of the tower.
___________________________________
~Data Stream~

Lyne suddenly felt something strange. She looked around a bit before drawing her protector’s attention. “Connor… I feel something coming,” she said as she looked up at him. Her eyes then glossed over.

“Lyne. What’s wrong?” Bass asked as she hugged him tightly and activated her Light Aura. “Lyne?!” Unexpectedly, the bottom of the Data Stream exploded in front of them. “Wha-?” Before he realized what had happened, they both fell through the hole in the Data Steam before it was sealed up.

When Alpha reached the point where they’d slipped away, he found he found only wisps of burnt energy and lurched to a stop to figure out what had happened. Havock and Khan also stopped as they watched Alpha look around. “Huh? They couldn’t possibly link out,” he fumed as he floated around the bottom of the stream and noted that it was almost finished resealing itself. “Hum… Clever. They had help on this one,” he commented as he bumped into the edge of Data Stream. He noticed something else odd and it quickly revealed itself for him when the Data Stream started to push him in the opposite direction.

“What happened?” Khan asked as he braced himself against changed current of the Data Stream.

Alpha got swept away, by the strong current. “Damn… I hate not having hands,” he moaned as he faded away from sight. Havock and Khan let go and followed after him. Suddenly, the Data Stream disappeared around them and they were where they’d started. “NNooo!” Alpha bellowed. “I bet you that Atlantian Punk I’ve sensed before did that.”

“I could arrange a secret bounty on this Atlantian if you’d like Alpha,” Khan offered. “They should be able to handle it since they won’t be working directly for you.”

Alpha pondered this for a moment. “Yes, and put one on the Angel and Demon as well. Hmm, extra reward if they bring back their elements intact,” Alpha added with a smirk. “Let us return to our base. You’re both in need of repair. I want Havock able to wreak havoc on NetCity by next week. That’s only if the bounties fail,” Alpha said as he glared at Khan.

“Understood, Master Alpha,” Khan replied and he bowed before the byte’s presence before they linked back to the Zodiac Server.
_________________________________
~Somewhere deep inside the Undernet~

Bass tried to take a calming breath as they plummeted down towards wherever the ground was below them. We’ve been falling for a while now, he thought as he opened his eyes. There was a rough breeze blowing into his face and he had to keep his eyes squinted to protect them. Noooo! We’re in the Dead Zone NetStorm, he thought as he saw sand wrapping itself around Lyne’s Light Aura. Whose cruel joke is this? he pondered angrily as they continued to fall.

They made quite a dent in the sand when they impacted with the ground. Lyne let out an exhausted breath as they laid there inside her barrier, protected from the shifting sand around them even though they could still feel the wind. “I’m tired,” Lyne mumbled sleepily. Bass sat straight up alertly.

“No you don’t,” Bass said as he picked her up in his arms and shook her. “Stay awake,” he said as he tapped her face, “Lyne please…” he begged, shaking her again. She swatted weakly at him to try to get him to stop, but she missed terribly. “We’re in the middle of a NetStorm. I need you to stay awake to keep your aura up.”

“I know, but it’s hard to stay awake,” she replied in an exhausted tone. “Need energy. But we don’t have any,” she moaned as Bass got her into a better sitting position. Bass then cracked a smile as he brought out a chip and grabbed her right hand, making her absorb the chip. Lyne suddenly felt energized. “Huh? How’d?! We lost the extra energy chips when you bumped me off that cliff,” she huffed in disbelief.

“This one was in your left hand and luckily I caught that one. So I put it in my program storage just in case we needed it,” he replied as he beamed with pride for a moment before he helped her to her feet. He then looked around to see if he could recognize anything. He noticed a familiar boulder and then looked back at Lyne. “Alright. Activate your face guard. The wind is can still blow through your aura. I just located a shelter we can use until the storm stops.”

“Okay,” Lyne replied ready to follow anywhere Bass was going to lead her, while activating her face guard. Bass then wrapped his arm around Lyne covering her up with his cloak, and led her towards where the boulder was. As he did so he activated his face guard as well.

“Sigh,” At least I feel better down here. No Zodiac to chase us down like wild game, Bass thought as he forded through the whipping NetStorm that surrounded them. This is about the safest place we could be at the moment. They approached a tall, ruined structure. Good. We’re in luck today. Then again, the storm hasn’t finished. But this is the worst Dead Zone NetStorm I’ve been in. Lyne is in need of system repairs and out in this crap isn’t the place to do it, he thought as he felt Lyne’s energy starting to fade again. “Hang on, we’re almost there,” he said as he helped her walk for a few more feet.

She looked up at the structure. “Wow! We’re staying here? This is so cool,” she exclaimed.

“It won’t be if you don’t get inside,” he said as he shoved her in though an access point into the building. Once inside, Bass led her down a hall that cut the building in half and they entered an open room. “Jeez, it’s dark in here. Lyne,” Bass called out, not being able to see her.

“I’m on it. Just a sec,” Lyne replied as she sparked a couple times before she formed a glowing white orb in her hand, flooding the room with light. Its features were revealed in the orb’s brilliance. There was a sleeping mat placed in the right corner, and in the left corner there was a sink and a pantry. There was also a window that looked outside right in the middle of far wall on the opposite side of the sleeping mat.

“Hmm… Looks like it was a living space of some sort,” Bass observed. “… But what would navis need a sink for?” he pondered as he looked the room over a second time. “At least you can get some sleep in after all.”

Lyne nodded as she dimmed the light coming from her little orb, but didn’t extinguish it. She popped it up into the air and let it float freely into the middle of the room. She then dropped into sleep mode, quite literally. Bass quickly caught her before she could hit the floor. “I didn’t mean right now,” he groaned as he dragged her over to the mat and laid her down on it. “At least I can take a better look at that wound.” He pulled away the hand that was still covering her injury despite her lack of consciousness. The data flow from the wound increased once her hand was off it. “Great,” he huffed as he wiped away some of the data so he could see the wound. “It must be really deep to cause this much energy loss. Let’s see…” he said as he brought up a Recovery 200 chip from his program storage. “This ought to do the trick.” He placed it on the wound site and the chip disappeared. The crack in her armor sealed up and the data leak halted. He then took his cloak off and laid it on top of her.

“Whew,” Bass breathed out as he rose up off the floor and looked out the window. As he did, the ground shook slightly once more, but he wasn’t worried since the tremor was tiny. “At least the storm will be over with soon.” He looked out the window at the dieing NetStorm and stifled a yawn. “Then we can get out of this hell hole.” He blinked his eyes and rubbed them, then the yawn forced itself out. I can’t sleep, he thought as he looked down at Lyne. She has to be better before I can rest. Bass’s eyes fluttered and his head nodded a few times before he shook it wildly to rid himself of the urge to fall asleep. I’m a navi, not a human at the moment. I can sleep later, he thought as he slapped his face. He then looked back out at the storm. There was something hypnotic about how it whipped around that made Bass nod off again. He then slowly collapsed to the ground, lying still for a moment. Must stay awake… I’m a navi… I’m a navi, he thought as he tried to get up, but failed

Go to sleep, a voice projected to him. You can’t fight your programming. Someone will be there to help you soon.

“Huh? Is… someone here?” Bass asked as he finally gave into his urge to sleep.
______________________________________
Next Episode Preview

~SciLab~

Bass: *Links out of the computer into Yuuichiro’s office.* Alright, where’s the Author at?
Lan: Why, what’s wrong? Aren’t you supposed to be in the Undernet?
Bass: At the beginning of the next episode, yeah. I just want to find the Author while we’re in a preview.
Yuuichiro: Sorry but she’s not here.
Bass: Grrr, well where is she? I’ve linked all over the place looking for her.
Yuu: Well, what’s the problem then? You seem really agitated.
Bass: It’s this bull about my nemesis! I was supposed to take him down this episode!
Famous: No, that’s not what was supposed to happen.
Bass: But I was told that I was supposed… Isn’t that the Author’s chair?
Famous: Yes it is, but I’m filling in here this episode. Author and Editor are both on vacation.
Bass: On vacation? Why didn’t anyone tell me that?
Lan: I knew.
Chaud: Me too.
Raika: Didn’t we have a meeting about it?
Chaud: Yeah, that was over a week ago.
Bass: *Glares at everyone.* Great, so there was a meeting. Everyone was told. So why don’t I remember being informed?
Famous: Ah, this might explain it. *Pulls out an envelope and hands it to Bass.*
Bass: A letter from Author, huh? This better be good.
~Note reads~
Bass,
Calm down already. You’ve been harping on me way to much about this “Nemesis” thing, and I’m really getting sick of it. The guy you’re investigating isn’t your nemesis. If you’d spent more time paying attention to the last preview, you’d realize that it wasn’t just you meeting a nemesis. Both you and Lyne have one. That would be Havock. Deal with it. See you next episode =)
~Author

P.S. Don’t kill the messenger.

Bass: *Eye twitches spastically.* That’s all there is? “Sick of it,” is she? Grrrr. *Crumples up paper and looks up to glare at Famous, but sees an empty chair.* Where’d he go!?
Lan: *Points at the door.* He snuck out while you were reading.
Bass: Oh no you don’t! *Rushes out door.* You took the Author’s place this time. You shall bear my wrath!
Raika: That was cold. I thought you liked Famous.
Yuu: I don’t blame him. I’d choose sacrificing him rather than dealing with an angry Bass too. Is anyone else hungry?
Lan: Right here! Let’s do it!
Chaud: Gee, I didn’t see that coming at all. No, really and truly. Who would have expected Lan to be hungry?
Megaman: All sarcasm aside, what’s going on next episode?
Lan: Uh, let me check. Hmm, it looks like there’s going to be a trip to the U.S.
Raika: Huh, back to America? Let me see that. *Looks at the title and sighs.* No Lan. That’s not in the U.S.
Lan: It’s not? Are you sure?
Chaud: What’s the episode Raika?
Raika: Next time on Lan and Lyne S2, Episode 18: Welcome to Atlantis.
Lan: Yeah, in Georgia, right? I told you there’s a trip to the U.S.
Chaud: *Puts hand to forehead and groans.* At-lan-TA Georgia Lan. Atlantis is that ancient civilization. No, no, don’t try to think about it. Let’s just go eat.
Lan: Oh, okay. Well, until next time then, let’s eat!

Authors Note: This chapter was posted form Angel's home computer on the way back to our home. I hope you enjoy!
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"NetAngel Style Change Activate"
Megawoman (Lyne)

Avatar made by Serenade.exe

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

[Serenade.exe/HotShot]

YEA!!! An update! I hope you had a relaxing vacation!!! Can't wait for more! WHOOT!
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Sig by Hikari Angel

[soberflight]

Okay...waited long enough for this, but having 2 chapters makes up for it! Hope you had a good pizza party!

[Lan1220]

Wow, the chapters are getting longer. I've been waiting for this. Great job!
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Sig credit goes to Hikari Angel

[Pyroman.EXE]

*handclap* Another great chapter, like usual. Keep 'em coming.

You should consider writing as like a spare-time job, you're that good.

[Midnight]

Interesting.

These chapters do not fail to keep the readers interested, that is for sure. I suppose it is more than adequate for such a hiatus. I hope that you had a truly rejuvenating vacation, and that the rest of August is fruitful for you.
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Today, these three players are after Big Bucks! But they'll have to avoid the Whammy, as they play the most exciting game of their lives! From Television City in Hollywood! It's time to 'Press Your Luck!'--Rod Roddy

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

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

[Iceman.EXE]

Excellent chapter. ^_^ I've only had a chance to skim it, but I'm going to read it fully later and edit this with my comments then.
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---
Avatar from www.croik.com/PW/

[Wackoguy]

Soo cool-! All of Zodiac and Alpha,so much happening!

It's good to see that Connor & Lyne are safe. That sounded pretty intense when they almost got caught.

And the Netstorm made me think of the beginning of Megaman Zero 2.

Anyway,I like how everything's unfolding. Keep it up! (I almost didn't notice the Update,really)
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"When it rains,it pours. When it pours,get out of the rain." -quoth me!

Megaman Melee! HUTTAH and HUZZAH!


"I ate your siggy..."

[Zodiac]

Ah, here we are in Pennsylvania. We're going to get moving soon though. Just thought we'd say a "Hi" to all the readers here. We've had a nice vacation and are ready to get back home now. We're really hoping that we'll be able to get enough time off next year to be able to physically hang out with some people at one of the anime conventions. [grumble]Darn workplace havin' not enough people to let me go.[/grumble] But this chapter was really fun to work on and [good news]the next chapter is close to halfway edited already.[/good news] Well, we do have to get on our way, so we'll see you all later. G'bye!
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Church: Are you following any of this?
Caboose: I think so. That guy Tex is a robot, and you're his boyfriend. So that makes you... a gay robot.
Church: ... That's right... I'm a gay robot.

Red Vs. Blue

[Megawoman.EXE]

Episode 18: Welcome to Atlantis

~Several hours later ~ 15 November, 200X ~ Outside Atlantis’s Walls ~

Nights was tapping his foot, waiting for Famous’s reply. Suddenly, a vid window opened up in front of him. “About time. Did you find Gospel?”

“Yes, I found him and I’m now sending him,” Famous replied. The virus wolf appeared beside Nights just a moment later.

“How ya’ doing boy?” Nights greeted the virus wolf. “Thank you Famous. Now I have what I need to locate where my brother and Lyne ended up.”

“You’re welcome. I’ll keep you posted on what happens topside. And keep them safe,” Famous said as he closed out his E-mail.

“I will,” Nights vowed as he stood up and mounted a strange, four-legged virus which sort of resembled a horse crossed with a beaked lizard. The cream-colored beast reared back for a moment until Nights settled it down. “Alright. Sniff around a bit and see if you can find Bass,” Nights ordered Gospel.

Master knows his way around the Dead Zone. He’s not lost, Gospel grumped as he turned away from Nights. Besides, I only do what my Master tells me to.

Nights palmed his face. Great. I need him to find his Master, but he won’t work without Bass’s orders. “*Sigh* I’ll make it worth your while. Let’s say one bowl of computer bugs,” Nights offered as he looked down at the virus.

Five, Gospel responded. Famous tells me you’re loaded.

Darn greedy virus. Nights then hung his head in defeat. “Fine. Can we go before Kobito stops me?”

“Arouuhh!” Gospel howled as he led the way out into the Dead Zone with Nights following him, towing two more of the same strange viruses like the one he was riding.
____________________________________________
~Ruined Building~

Bass still lay asleep, but he was now on the mat. He shifted slightly, making a stifled whine. Damn, I hurt all over, he thought as he relaxed back onto the mat. What is wrong with me? he pondered as he tried to wake up. After a few tries he finally opened his eyes. He looked around groggily as he sat up and stretched. “MMmnn,” he groaned as he slumped back onto the mat. I shouldn’t be this tired. I was full of energy before I passed out. He looked around the room for a moment, then realized that Lyne wasn’t on the mat as well. Huh? Where is she, he pondered in shock as he tried to sit back up again, but couldn’t. “LYNE!” he painfully called out in a worried tone.

“Oh, you’re awake,” Lyne replied as she entered the room. Bass noticed that she was carrying some objects in her arms. Some he recognized as energy sources and others as battle chips. She gently crossed the room and placed the objects she held on the sink counter. She then approached him with some data in her hand. “Are you feeling better?”

Bass tried to sit up as she came closer, but still couldn’t. What’s wrong with me? “Mmnnn…” he moaned still in pain.

“I must’ve missed someplace,” Lyne said as she looked his armor over. “Ah, there it is,” she said as she placed a chip on the upper part of his right hip and then activated the chip, making his body absorb it. “Now you should be all better. It looks like you got more injuries than I did.”

“I got injured?” he asked in disbelief as he finally sat up.

“When I woke up about two hours ago, you were leaking data really bad,” Lyne replied. “But I fixed your injuries with a couple Recovery 300’s,” she added with a smile.

“I didn’t feel injured.”

“You probably have a higher pain tolerance than I do,” Lyne commented. Bass nodded in agreement.

He then looked back over at the counter. “Where did you find that stuff anyway?” he asked.

“Oh, that stuff. I found those in the other rooms. This place is full of energy and battle chips, but the chips are uncharged,” she said, handing him one of the blank chips. “I tried to find a chip charger, but couldn’t.”

“Lyne, those are off the Net. Remember?” Bass asked, glancing up at Lyne and handing her back the chip.

“Right,” she said as she rubbed the back of her helmet while accepting back the chip. She then opened the cabinet and pulled out what looked like a sac. She started to fill it with the data and chips. “I also found these,” she said as she tossed him a pair of goggles and then wrapped a cloak around herself.

“Hey, that’s mine,” he said as he tried to yank it off her.

“No it’s not,” she growled, claiming back the part of the cloak he had in his hand. “I left yours over there.” She pointed at where she left his cloak on the mat. “Besides, this one is customizable,” she said, making it turn the same shade of dark, bluish-purple as her armor. “See?” She beamed with pride as she put on her goggles, and then slung the sack over her shoulder. “Are we going to log out or what?”

“Oh, right,” he said, grabbing his own cloak. He examined his cloak as he grabbed it. I must really have a high pain tolerance. My cloak is soaked with data. He held it away from himself in disgust for a moment. “Ehhh… whatever. It’s still useful. I’ll just use an aqua type chip on it later,” he muttered as he wrapped it around his shoulders. He returned his focus to Lyne. “But you do realize we have to get back to the main part of the Undernet in order to do that,” he asked her as she was leaving the room.

She stopped. “Duh! Now you’re accusing me of being stupid,” she said, pointing at the sack on her back. “Let’s go,” she huffed, leaving the room. “Lan, Mom, and Papa must be worried sick about me. And what about Famous?” she asked, looking back at Bass as they exited the ruined building.

“My relation wouldn’t be worried about me. I practically lived down here for nine years,” he said, shrugging his shoulders

“Well then…” she said as she looked at him slyly. “You should be able to point us in the right direction outta’ here… Right?” She locked eyes with him a moment, then he cleared his throat uncomfortably and started looking around, trying to gain his bearings.

Oh great, I’m lost… he thought angrily to himself. I’ll just have to pick a direction, “Umm… this way,” he said, turning right from the ruin. The pair of half navis traveled deeper into the Dead Zone.

Lyne followed complacently for a while, humming calmly to herself. Finally, she asked, “We’re lost aren’t we?”

Bass stopped, allowing her to catch up. “We’re not lost. I’m just looking for another landmark.” He turned left from where they were heading and started walking again.

Lyne followed after him. “Connor, you don’t have to lie to me. Just admit it. We’re lost.”

“No, we’re not,” he growled through his teeth as he spotted a boulder. “And there’s one,” he said as he ran off to it, ignoring her deep sigh. Once he was there, he ran his hand over it. “Darn, it’s smooth. This isn’t the one I needed,” he mumbled as Lyne grabbed his shoulder.

She breathed out a loud sigh as she turned him to face her. “Connor, please don’t be stubborn. Now isn’t the time. We’re lost.”

Bass threw her arm off his shoulder. “So? We shouldn’t be. I should know this place like the back of my hand!” he burst out at her. “That blasted NetStorm messed my navigation up.”

“It’s alright,” she said, placing a comforting hand on his shoulder again. She rested her hand on her hip before she continued. “So, how long will it take to make a new map so we can get out of here?”

“*Sigh* Maybe 5-6 days,” he offered. “The longest we can stay down here is seven days before the Dead Zone rearranges itself again. We have to make sure we’re out of there before then.”

“So a week vacation from school. Whoot!!! No Trig!” Lyne exclaimed, raising her arms up in excitement.

And who was the one worried about her family? Bass thought as he took a step back from her. “Well I guess that’s one way of putting it, but I will miss chemistry class,” he sighed out as he sat down on the boulder.

“Of course you would. You like to see things explode,” Lyne said in a mocking tone. “I’m surprised Mr. Harris hasn’t found out you snuck chemicals out of the lab. Maybe I should e-mail him,” she said, bringing up her e-mail program.

“You wouldn’t,” Bass growled as he lunged at her, diving through her keyboard panel for the program. Lyne just giggled as she closed her e-mail program.

“Heh, heh. You two fight like a childish married couple,” a voice said behind them, making Lyne hide behind Bass for protection and Bass activate his buster to aim it at the stranger. “Now what kind of greeting is that, brother?” Nights asked, getting off his viral beast. “I was sent out here to retrieve you both, by the order of the King of Atlantis.”

“Nights!” Lyne exclaimed as she bounded out from behind Bass to give him a hug. Bass’s eye twitched as he watched Lyne hug his brother.

“Brother. How’d you find us out here?” Bass asked as he deactivated his buster to pry Lyne off of Nights.

Once Lyne was off of him, Nights replied. “Well, actually I had a little help,” he gestured to a familiar virus that was sitting beside Nights’s ride. It stood and trotted up to them, wagging its tail.

“Gospel?! But how?” Bass asked in surprise as his virus started to lick Lyne and him on the face.

“It sometimes pays to leave your PET at home doesn’t it?” Nights asked.

“Oh, so you had Famous send him to you.”

“See, your cousin cares for you,” Lyne said, gently nudging him in the arm with her elbow.

“I guess. Hey Nights. Can you show us the way back to Serenade’s Undernet?” Bass asked his brother.

“Actually no,” Nights said, turning his head and lowering his eyes away from Bass.

“NO! Why Not?!” Bass burst out.

“I’m under orders to take you to see the King directly,” he replied in a soft, stern tone.

“But what abo-” Lyne protested as he held up his hand to stop her.

“Our cousin and your father understand the current situation. C’mon, we don’t want to keep him waiting,” Nights said as he remounted his horse-like virus beast.

“What is that? I haven’t seen a virus like it before,” Bass asked as he looked it over and breathed in an examining whiff of its odor.

“This isn’t a very common virus on the Undernet. It’s called an Enare, and it’s only found in a few places, but mostly found in Atlantis server, where it is bred.” He turned his head to look behind him. “I brought two more with me to speed our journey.” He gestured and they both looked to see the extra Enare viruses he had brought not far from them.

“This is so cool!” Lyne bounced with excitement. “You ride these, the same as you do a horse?” she asked, looking up a Nights.

“Precisely,” Nights replied as Lyne mounted a grey colored Enare followed by Bass, who mounted a deep brown one. Noticing they were ready, their guide said, “Alright. Follow me.” He gave his virus beast’s flanks a double kick with his heels and it reared backwards on its hind legs before taking off in a huge leap.

“Show off,” Bass mumbled as he and Lyne followed after him, racing along the barren sands of the Dead Zone. They passed by a few huge rocks that stuck out of the ground and Bass felt they were somewhat familiar. Shortly after their journey had begun, it came to a stop at the top of a huge sand dune where Nights paused. They were outside a large glowing city. Lyne gasped when she looked upon the brilliance of the city.

“Welcome to Atlantis Server,” Nights gestured at the city.

Bass’s jaw dropped. “No way!” he breathed out as he took in its beauty. “How could I have missed this place?”

“Actually, if anyone is cursed by Alpha, they can’t see or enter the city, but now you’re not cursed and so you can see it. Shall we?” Nights asked, turning his Enare towards the city.

I’m curious, are you? Lyne asked Bass as they looked at each other.

Of course I am, Bass replied. They both nodded as they took off past Nights, leaving him eating their dust.

“*Sigh* Teenagers. At least they’re having fun,” he said as he followed after them, easily catching up and almost passing them.

“So brother, what does King Steven want to see us for?”

“I think I’ll let him tell yo-” Nights said as he came to a sudden halt. “Uh oh.” He grimaced and gulped nervously. Lyne and Bass stopped as well, curious about Nights’s nervousness. They then took notice of a sea foam blue, dark gray, and black armored female navi standing in front of the gate.

“That’s the Captain of the Guard, Kobito, right?” Bass asked, getting a nod from Nights. “She looks really mad.”

“Of course I am. What possessed you to run off into that storm?” she screamed at Nights, waving her arms around franticly.

“Uh… I was collecting the King’s guests,” he said, darting his eyes over to where Lyne and Bass were by his side while scratching the other side of his face. “Can you go prepare them some rooms?” he asked with his eyes twitching over towards the castle. Kobito just glared at him. “Uh… Please?” he added with a cheesy smile. She couldn’t keep the grim look on her face and smiled back.

“Fine, but don’t think I’m not done being mad at you!” she said before she whistled shrilly. The gates opened in response and then she linked away.

“What was that all about?” Bass asked as they entered the Atlantis Server.

“I’m somewhat considered a favorite down here,” he replied in a distant tone. Why does she have to treat me like a child? he thought as he hung his head. She may be 10,000 years old, but that still gives her no right to treat me like a baby, They passed down the streets quietly for a time, then Nights noticed bright colors to the side and looked over to see a shop there. His head then perked up when he saw what the shop had.But I still love her. Maybe I should bring her some flowers later to lighten her mood. Yeah, that’s a good idea.

He’s acting weird, Bass noted as they traveled down the streets of the Atlantis Server. I wish I could pick up on what he’s thinking.

Lyne just gazed around as she took in the city’s splendor. She gasped quietly when they reached the main square. To her, it looked just like the city she’d seen in the vision that was given to her, Ancient Atlantis. “Connor,” Lyne said, taking his attention off his brother’s actions. “I have a funny feeling about this place. Like I’ve been here before,” she whispered in a low tone as she looked around.

“How?” Bass asked.

“It looks exactly like the place I saw in my nightmare last night,” she replied.

Nights smirked. “It is. When it all comes down to it, Atlantis Server is an exact replica of the actual city that lies at the bottom of the sea.”

“That would explain a lot, but not how she was here,” Bass rumbled quietly. “It also doesn’t explain how you know for sure her nightmare was about Atlantis.” There was definite menace in Bass’s rumbling tone as he spoke, but Nights was unperturbed.

“What she saw last night was one of the Ancient’s memories if I’m not mistaken Lyne?” Nights said, directing his statement as a curious question to Lyne.

“How’d you know that?” Lyne asked in shock.

“I should know. The Ancient let you see one of his memories. Inside your programming is a link to him Lyne,” he said, noting that she looked worried. “But you have no need to worry about it. It’s only used for sharing memories.”

“Just for sharing memories? He shanghaied her last night.” Bass growled as they dismounted their viruses at the palace gate. “What do you know about this link?”

“I have the same link,” Nights said as he pointed at himself. “There are only a few races that can have this link. Angel’s are one of them.” He paused and added quietly, “and so are Kings.”

One of the guards took the dismounted beasts of burden through the gate. Gospel followed after the guards, while Bass and Lyne stood there, dumbfounded. “What was that?”

Nights let out a heavy sigh. “I was going to tell you sooner Connor,” he said as he crossed the threshold of the palace gate. His armor deactivated and was replaced with mostly purple and maroon royal garb. “I’m the King of Atlantis.” He pulled out the medallion that was hanging inside his white shirt.

“YOU!” Bass exclaimed before he charged at his brother, crossing the threshold. He didn’t even notice as his armor involuntarily deactivated. “Bastard! How could you?” he growled with narrowed eyes, which were, surprisingly enough, leaking tears. He squeezed his wet eyes shut and turned his face down, shaking quietly, then his eyes snapped open and he looked quickly back up at Nights, who had a brotherly fist slammed into his face an instant later. Bass drew back his arm to take another swing only to have it caught.

“You know the first one was understandable, but the second attempt was uncalled for,” Nights said as he let go of his shocked sibling’s hand. “You both probably have tons of questions to ask. Come and we’ll talk things through,” he said, turning away from them, towards the palace.

“I’ll take this miss,” an older guard offered to take her heavy bag.

“Thank you,” Lyne said as she gave it to the guard. “I’d like it back later, okay?”

“It will be taken to your room miss. I’ll see to it personally. If you need anything at all, just call for me, I’m Kroa, or Grindel,” he said as he gestured to the younger-looking navi by his side. “We’re appointed to be your guards during your stay here,” the old guard said to her as he left with her bag. She then happily passed through the gate as well, which also deactivated her armor.

She then looked at her normal clothes, “Did we log out?” she asked as she noticed Bass gawk at her. “What’s wrong?”

Bass then grabbed Nights by the collar. “Change her back to normal. I know you can. You made me sick,” he growled as he brought his brother close to his face.

What’s wrong with the way I look? I feel fine, Lyne pondered as she looked for a reflective surface. The closest was a fountain of water. She ran up to it and looked down into the fountain at her appearance. My hair hasn’t changed and neither have my eyes, she thought as she noticed her long, black navi hair and emerald eyes.

“I can’t brother. You have to remember, we’re still on the Net,” Nights said as he freed himself from Bass’s grip.

“Then why aren’t we in our armor?” Bass asked as he finally took notice that he was also in his normal clothes, although the cloak was still there.

“Well, for one thing, you’re inside the palace gates. Certain rules and laws apply here,” Nights started as Bass grabbed Lyne’s hand, dragging her away from the fountain. “One is that any royalty cannot wear their armor inside the palace,” he explained as he started walking again with them. “Neither can Angels or Demons. The only place you can wear your armor is in the sparring rooms. Let’s go inside. I have something important to discuss with you both,” he said as they ascended the flight of stairs, leading deeper into the place. Once inside the palace, Nights stopped in front of a navi in a maid-like outfit. He then took Bass’s cloak off his shoulders. “Take this to be cleaned.”

“Yes your highness,” the maid replied as she sped off with Bass’s cloak.

“Hey! I was going to clean that later on my own,” Bass rumbled.

“I’m just trying to be nice. Can’t you accept a kind gesture for once?” Nights asked, silencing his brother.

Lyne walked silently as Bass led her down the hall. How can this be the same place as my dream? Nights wasn’t even the king I saw in it, she pondered as she looked at the extravagantly decorated walls.

“Hey bro. If I run into Zenny problems, you think I can borrow some?” Bass asked as he took notice of how richly decorated the halls looked. I could get used to this…

“No. You do well enough on your own without instruction, and Lyne, there’s a reason I wasn’t in your dream.”

“W-” was all of the noise that came from Lyne’s mouth before her voice silenced. Huh? she thought as she stood there puzzled as she tried to speak again. There was still no sound. She clasped her hand around her throat and looked at Nights as they all stopped.

“I’m sorry. I forgot to tell you that you would be mute inside the palace walls,” Nights said as Lyne started to cry. Bass dragged her closer to his side.

“How many more of these rules or laws affect us that you’re not telling us?” Bass demanded as he hugged her while rubbing her shoulder. This didn’t help any; she only cried harder.

“No others. Besides, she can still communicate. Just not vocally. You okay with that Lyne?” Nights asked as she shook her head rapidly from side to side. “That’s understandable,” he said as he looked at his brother, “This is kinda’ the Ancient’s cruel way of making any Angel take a vow of silence. Only I can mention Atlantis’s past inside these walls.”

“What does that mean? Has she seen Atlantis’s past?” Bass asked, getting a nod from Nights.

“The Ancient was in Atlantis when a terrible thing happened, and since he can share his memory with Lyne, she is able to see Atlantis’s past. Does this make sense?” Nights asked, getting a nod from his brother. Nights then started walking down the hall once more with Lyne and Bass following after him. “In the 15th year of King Raymos’s rein over Atlantis-” Nights began.

“How long ago was that?” Bass interrupted, confused by how Nights had started his little story.

“10,000 years ago, okay? Now just listen. As I was saying, in the 15th year of his rein here, a terrible event happened. The virus triplets revolted and severed Atlantis Server’s link with the real world.” Lyne’s eyes went wide with shock. “And yes Lyne, one of those viruses was Alpha. Back then he was called A. The other-”

“Hang on,” Bass suddenly interrupted. “Alpha’s not a virus. He’s a byte.”

Lyne turned to look at him and opened her mouth, but she was still unable to speak. Nights understood right away. “I’m guessing you already told him he’s a virus.” Lyne nodded her head emphatically. “Looks like you don’t listen too well brother.” Again, Lyne nodded. Bass glared at them.

“I listen fine. When did you tell me? Wait, was that when Zodiac showed up earlier? We were kinda’ in the middle of a battle there. But still, a virus? I find that hard to believe. Alpha’s too intelligent to be a virus.”

“Well,” Nights began to explain, “Alpha is a very special virus. One of the three Master Vi-”

“And another thing,” Bass cut him off again. Nights sighed and let his shoulders slump. “You said this happened 10,000 years ago? Alpha’s only twenty years old.”

“You’re thinking of Pharaohman, the navi that Tadashi Hikari constructed. Yes, that program was made twenty years ago, but it was infected by a virus sometime between its creation and the incident when you both were cursed and Old Net City was destroyed. We don’t know when that was exactly. All we know is that, shortly before either of you met him, Pharaohman began to refer to himself as Alpha.”

“So then, if Alpha’s a virus, shouldn’t he… it have reverted to its natural form?”

“According to the Ancient, that is Alpha’s natural form. You’d expect something more impressive probably, but Alpha’s form is the simplest, most compact form there is, meant to hold his power effectively. Now, may I finish?” Bass frowned, but nodded quietly. “Excellent. As I said, Alpha was a Master Virus. There were two others, and they were called B and G, but they’re not important. Alpha was the one who lead the revolt, after having taken the Master Dark Element. He used it to curse the city.”

“Wait a second, back up. My element was inside Alpha?” Bass asked in shock. “How could he ‘take’ the element?”

“Yes, he had your element. He infected the one that it was entrusted to. Now hush. The end results of the revolt were: the Queen was slain by G, B cursed the King’s sons, and Alpha cursed the people to live on the Net by cutting all the links Atlantis had to the Network, which caused the city to sink into the ocean. Everything in the city was computer controlled.” Lyne gasped in shock, remembering that Atlantis was sinking around her in her dream.

“So, Alpha did all that with a little help. I’m guessing since this event you told us about, this Raymos guy was the last King of Atlantis. Why couldn’t his son’s rule after him?”

“Because they were genetically cursed. Genetics was a major science back then too. I’ve had a chance to look over some of their literature since I’ve been down here. A lot of it is really fascinating. I should let you borrow some books some time.”

“So, what was the curse? I mean, did they get altered badly enough that they couldn’t carry the blood line?” Bass asked, a little familiar with genetics himself.

“Basically, B made it so they couldn’t rule after him. He made them not his sons in a way.” Both Lyne and Bass looked to be confused by this. “I’ll make it simple. Raymos’s sons were turned into something other than human. At that time, there was a law that only a human king of royal blood could rule over Atlantis. They were turned into an angel and a demon. The first of our bloodline.”

Lyne opened her mouth to speak, but then remembered she couldn’t. She then brought out a notepad program and started writing on it. She wrote – (How can sons carry the father’s bloodline? Only a female can. Law of Genetics.) – Lyne finished, holding it up so both brothers could read it.

“Yes, that is true Lyne. B also imprisoned Raymos’s daughter at the order of Alpha. She was rescued at the cost of Master Light Element’s charge: the Ancient. In order to free her, he had to break the seal with all his data. Once she was freed, he had to give the element to her to ensure that she would return to the real world. Eventually over time, the three blood lines intertwined with the people of the ancient world to modern time, mixing all the way ‘til we were born. Each generation of Angels and Demons were marked, and…” Nights paused for a moment, “If memory serves me right, you both have a large colored mark on your backs.” Lyne and Bass both nodded, though they looked embarrassed to admit it.

“I too was born with a mark.” Nights then rolled up one of his sleeves to reveal his shoulder. On it was a mark that looked like a golden crown with three closely spaced frontal tines. “This is the mark of royalty 10,000 years in the making.”

“So because of this, you’re king of this server,” Bass stated as he pointed at Nights’s mark.

“Basically, yes,” Nights replied as he rolled his sleeve down and lowered his eyes, “Trust me, I didn’t even know what this meant until I became a navi.” He then opened up a small door inset on a large pair of double doors. “Shall we step into my office and discuss the current situation?”

Bass looked at him crossly. “And that would be?” Lyne nodded her head in agreement.

“Oooo… Just get inside. I’ll explain,” Nights replied in a slightly angered tone. The two half navis shrugged and walked past Nights. Once they were inside, he opened a few vid windows. They all showed the beastly creature they had recently fought. “This monstrosity is called Havock.”

“We already know that,” Bass burst out. Lyne agreed with a nod since she given up on trying to speak.

“This brother, Lyne, is bad news for the Network. Really bad news. In order to construct Havock and make it work properly, you have to have three parts: Navi programs, Virus programs, and Dark Souls.”

“What’s that supposed to mean?” Bass asked.

Lyne figured out what Nights meant without explaination. She opened the navi victim list that they had collected over the last few weeks. The then opened her note pad and wrote – (This will get bigger) –

“And the virus populations will continue to drop drastically or be severely disabled beyond function,” Nights added in a serious tone.

“But how can we destroy that thing? It switches after an attack and has nearly impenetrable armor.” Lyne turned to look at Nights and nodded, remembering what it took to blast Havock’s arm off.

“Well, I was getting there,” Nights said as he sat down on his throne after closing all the vid windows. “It is time for me to collect on my favor you owe me. Do you honor my wish?”

Bass suddenly remembered that he did owe a favor to him. He then looked over a Lyne, Should I honor this? he projected to her. She just shrugged her shoulders in response.

Lyne then wrote a small note and passed it to Bass. Have you tried to mentally talk to me? Lyne nodded. He then looked down at her note.

-(Maybe it was him that helped us back there with the Data Stream and not Serenade.)-

He then looked up form the note You honestly think so? Lyne nodded. Bass breathed out a sigh, “Nights, I have many reasons to not honor your request, but Lyne thinks you’re the one who saved out butts back there.”

“She’s very perceptive. I was the one that constructed the Data Stream that you used to escape. I even extracted you from the Data Stream, but the NetStorm was an unexpected twist from the Ancient.”

“I see. Then I guess I will honor your wish. What is it you want us to do for you?” Bass asked as he turned to face his brother while remembering what Nights himself had said about the favor: Be prepared for anything.

“I am about to leave on a perilous journey to collect the pieces of the Atlantian Crown,” Night started before Bass held up his hand and then pointed at Nights.

“Why? You’re already wearing one.”

“I’ve not been, as they say, yet coroneted.” Nights hung his head. “I’m nothing more than a prince with a high title I don’t even deserve. I have to get this done before I turn 31.”

“What? Grrr… When do you turn 31?” Bass then started counting on his fingers. “Wait! That’s in about 6 days. And you want us to go with you?”

“The law commands it,” Nights said, lazily raising his head.

“Do you have to follow this law?”

“Unfortunately, yes,” Nights said, lowering his eyes, “and so do you and Lyne, brother.”

“Why? Because we’re an Angel and Demon?” Bass asked angrily. He absolutely hated the rules they had to follow currently, and was quite displeased there were more they had to follow.

“Yes! Why do you think she cannot speak or even project to you inside these walls?” Nights burst out at Bass while pointing at Lyne. Kobito entered the room as he continued, “Or why your armor isn’t active unless you both don’t fall into this category?”

Kobito noted Nights’s growing temper and made a quiet noise. “Excuse me your highness.”

Nights was about to raise his hand to halt her, but stopped and let out a deflating breath. It was somewhat calming, but he was still angered at his brother’s defiance. He slumped down into his throne and more quietly said, “You two are free to go wander inside the palace, but only after Kobito shows you to your rooms.” He made a dismissing gesture and turned away as he did so.

“Yes Steven,” Kobito said as she bowed in his direction. “Would you two follow me please?”

Bass looked back at his brother with angered eyes. “Of course,” he said as he led Lyne out into the hall. Brother is starting to get angry. I better let him cool off. I should as well. I need to have a chance to absorb the information he’s told us. As they walked down the hall Lyne started to look depressed. “What’s wrong Lyne?” he asked in concern.

Lyne opened her mouth to speak, unable to stop the natural urge, but then stopped and started to cry silently. Bass watched for a minute as they walked along before he started to show slight amusement on his face. Lyne noticed that he was about to laugh at her. In response, she puffed her cheeks, but this just sent him over the edge and he started laughing uproariously. She then smacked him upside the back of his head.

“Hey! What was that for?” Bass moaned in complaint. Lyne just glared at him angrily. “Okay,” he said as he held up his hands defensively. “I’m sorry, but it looked funny when you were crying and no sound came out. I bet that’d happen when you laugh too,” Bass said in something like apology which Lyne accepted with a nod before she made a laughing motion. “See what I mean?” Bass said before he joined in with her.

Kobito smiled. “Sounds like you two are having fun despite the rules of the palace,” she said, getting their attention. “I’ll let you both in on a little secret.” Their attention was taken for just a moment by noise to the side. They were passing some rooms with sparring guards in them, but they turned their attention back to their guide to hear what she had to say. “There are a few places where the laws don’t apply to you.”

Bass’s and Lyne’s eyes went wide with surprise, “Really?”

“Yes. These rooms off to the right for example. These are our sparring rooms used for training.” The half navis looked at the rooms again, now much more interested than before. Bass noted that the guards were using a mixture of lances, swords, and staffs.

“Why don’t they use busters?” he questioned Kobito as he watched her guards spar.

“We have a few that use busters, but these are my elites. They are trained for close combat to protect your brother.” After the explanation was finished, she breathed out a sigh. “Don’t blame yourself for making your brother angry. He’s been really tense since we got back here after the ball. Everyone is tense actually.”

“Why?”

“It’s because we all know he has to go soon, and we know there are many other factions out there other than Alpha that would not like to see Atlantis return to full power. Your brother has a lot of weight on his shoulders right now, and we can’t afford to have him harmed during this time.”

“Oh,” Bass said as Lyne came to an abrupt halt. “Huh?” Bass looked into her eyes. They were glossed over. “Lyne? What’s wrong?” He placed his hands on her shoulders and shook her, but still got no response. “Lyne think to me!”

“That won’t work,” Kobito said as she gently nudged him off to the side. She then looked Lyne square in the face. “There is trouble in the palace. Show us where,” she commanded Lyne, who instantly ran off towards in the opposite direction from where they were heading.

“Oh no! How could this happen?” Kobito gasped as she watched in horror that Lyne ran in the direction of the throne room.

“What?” exclaimed as Kobito grabbed a bladed weapon mounted on the wall and handed it to him. She then hit a button on the wall which sounded a shrill alarm. Almost instantaneously, the guards that were sparring flooded out of the sparring rooms, heading in the direction Lyne had gone.

“C’mon.” Kobito grabbed Bass’s free hand. “Before it’s too late,” she said before they broke into a run.

“For what?”

“To save your brother.” They finally caught up with the guards and entered the throne room. They took notice that Lyne was standing in center of the room, looking around. Suddenly, a swift shadow grabbed her and dragged her to stand beside the throne. Bass saw that Nights was sitting on the throne as before, but he was motionless now and had a chip embedded in his throat.

Who would do such a thing? Bass pondered as he took notice of an odor that hung in the air. Hum… he thought as his nose went to work. Why is this scent so familiar? The answer came to him quite suddenly. The smell is of spilled data, and only one kind of navi smells like that.

He turned to Kobito, “There’s an assassin in here.”

“Very perceptive of you,” a voice hissed as a navi blade slid into view at Lyne’s throat.

“Let her go!” Bass demanded as he focused on the blurry silhouette of the assassin that hid behind his brother’s throne. He then charged forward. Before he could get close enough, the assassin made Nights cry out in pain. “Brother! No! What did you do to him Assassin?” Bass demanded as he pointed his bladed weapon at where the assassin was located.

“Heh, heh. I just paralyzed him with a simple chip. I was ready to strike when this little female navi got in the way. She seems really close to you human-clad one. Come any closer and I’ll delete her and your King.” The Assassin punctuated his threat by pressing the knife blade closer to Lyne’s neck. Her previous glazed expression was replaced by fear.

“I won’t allow that! I challenge you to a fight to spare their lives. You have to honor my challenge according to the Assassin’s code,” Bass said, taking a step closer towards the throne. He then noticed an amused gleam from behind the throne.

“Ahh… So you do know about that, though you’re so young for a warrior,” the Assassin said as he stepped out from behind the throne, taking Lyne with him. “My name is Nargo,” the navi introduced himself. He was clad similar to the ninja navi, Shadowman, except he had no face mask to hide his crooked smile, and the scarf about his neck was black and free-flowing. His armor was the color of thick smoke and was stained in data, making it almost black. He had a dark blue belt around his waist. He narrowed his eyes at his challenger. “What is yours?”

Bass just held his weapon out in front of him as he changed its appearance to look like one of his Dark Blades. He then cracked a smile.

“Ahh… I see. So I get two birds with one stone,” the ninja navi said as he dragged his captive with him towards Nights’s private garden. “We will fight in here demon. Come.”

Great… I opened my big mouth. Wait a second! That’s outside the palace walls. I wonder, “Kobito will my armor activate while I’m in that garden?” Bass asked as he watched Nargo enter it.

“C’mon demon. I don’t have all day,” the ninja called out.

“No, but the other rule is broken,” Kobito replied as she held her hand up, ready to give a signal.

“Other rule… Oh that’s right.” Bass then smirked. It’s about the only thing I can think of. I never thought I’d have to use her ability against another navi, but what choice do we have? Hang on bro. “Make sure you’re ready to cover your ears,” Bass muttered as he started towards the garden.

I’m fine. Just deal with that navi, Nights projected as Bass sprang into motion and joined up with the Assassin. Once inside the garden, they circled each other for a moment. Nargo was still holding Lyne in his grasp.

“This is an honor fight between you and me. Let her go,” Bass demanded.

“Since when have you been civil Bass? I’ve never known you to play by the rules. I guess Alpha has a really good reason to have you deleted. Hmm, and I’m betting that this must be the one he called Lyne.” He cracked a slight, toothy grin. “Alpha put a secret bounty on both your heads, and he’d prefer them off,” he said, making a slicing motion with his scarf across his own neck. “Plus, he wants the Atlantian of power also deleted for assisting in your escape from his new pet.”

“You never fought by the rules either,” Bass pointed out. “According to your code, Assassin, you’re a coward.” Nargo just ran his scarf under his nose, still holding onto Lyne. Bass then narrowed his eyes at the ninja. “Fine then. You can fight like the coward you are Nargo.” Lyne use your Siren Scream. Use it now! Bass ordered her.

But I can’t speak inside the castle walls, Lyne projected to him. He just smiled at her.

Then how come I can hear you? Bass asked as he drew Nargo’s attention to him. Nights’s life is in your hands. Now Scream!

Okay, she thought as she took a deep breath while the grey navi was distracted. She gave Bass a quick nod, signifying she was ready to release her scream. He jumped off to the side and dropped his weapon to cover his ears.

“What are you doin-?!” Nargo asked as Lyne released one of the shrillest screams he had ever heard. It reverberated though the air and seemed to be amplified by every surface that it reflected from. Nargo let go of her to try and cover his own ear armor, but it was too late. The ninja shook spastically and then dropped to the ground. He lay motionless where he fell after she finished.

“Oh my. I didn’t delete him, did I?” Lyne asked as Bass ran up to her. He then looked down at the motionless assassin.

“No, you just shut his system down,” he said as he started to examine her. “He didn’t hurt you, did he?”

“No, I’m fine. How about Nights?” Lyne asked in concern.

“Right. Brother!” he gasped as they both bolted for the throne. They passed by a few of the Atlantian elites who were entering the garden to deal with the intruder. The sight the half navis beheld when they returned was rather odd to them. Two familiar navis were standing in front of the throne: Hackman and Disk. Hackman had his fingers pinched around the chip that was in Nights’s neck while his hand was touching the back of a keyboard panel that Disk was typing away on. Everyone around the scene tensed up for a few minutes until Hack pulled the chip out easily, releasing Nights from paralysis.

Kobito and Lyne rushed up to him to give him a hug. “Ha, ha. I’m fine you two. Thank you for your concern,” he said, making Lyne let go. She returned to Bass’s side and hugged him too, making him blush. She let go of him and hid beside Bass as the elites that had entered the garden passed by again, this time dragging Nargo out of the throne room.

“So, Alpha has put a secret bounty on my head as well,” Nights said as he observed his finest guards exiting the throne room with their prisoner.

“That’s what he said,” Bass agreed as Lyne leaned her head against his shoulder, starting to show exhaustion. Damn, she can’t be that low on energy already, Bass thought in surprise.

“Our journey has just become even more dangerous and more urgent. We will be leaving at first light cycle tomorrow for Serenade’s realm, where the first piece is located,” Nights said in a commanding tone, making Kobito look up at him in surprise. “It is time that you and Lyne got a full sleep mode cycle.”

Bass nodded, “Yeah. I guess we both need some decent rest.”

Nights then got off his throne. “Kobito, you don’t mind if I escort them to their rooms this time, do you?”

“Not at all Steven,” Kobito replied with a smile. Shortly after that, the quartet left the room to where Lyne and Bass would rest for the night. As they walked along through the long corridors, Lyne became too unenergetic to walk under her own power, and Bass obligingly carried her the rest of the way to the room. They traveled up about two flights of stairs before they finally stopped in front of a smaller pair of double doors.

“Open,” Nights commanded, and the doors obeyed. Wouldn’t it be nice if Bass would give me this little trouble? he thought with a covert, little smirk. He then entered the room with Kobito and his brother following in his wake.

Bass looked around in awe. “Wow! This is like a house,” he exclaimed as he took in the sheer size of the room. The living area was lavishly furnished with a dining area, couch, and open desk area. On one side of the dining area was a shelf full of books.

“This is actually one of the many suites that are in the castle,” Nights explained. “This one is for you and Lyne to share. That way, you and she will always have a safe place to stay.”

“You mean this is ours permanently?” Bass asked in shock. Nights nodded.

“I’ll show you around,” Kobito said excitedly. “This is one of my favorite suites in the whole palace. This area is the common area, and I made sure it had lots of books brought up here from the library. Nights told me how much you both like to read.” Nights blushed slightly in embarrassment. “And over here… open,” she commanded, making another door open, “is Lyne’s room, and over there,” she pointed at a door on the opposite side of the room, “is your room Connor.”

“Why must we be separated?” Bass asked, holding Lyne in close to his chest.

“So you don’t disturb each other’s sleep cycle. Besides, I think Famous explained the other reason to you already,” Nights pointed out before he held his arms out. “Now give me Lyne so she can rest.”

“I can do it,” Bass huffed as he walked into the comfortable-looking bedroom. He then placed her on the bed and watched her relax on the bed’s soft covers, drifting off into a blissful sleep. He quickly caressed her cheek before he left the room and held his chin up high. “See.”

“Yes, brother. If you or Lyne need to get some data, the Galley is located here,” he said, giving him a map of the palace with the location of the Galley highlighted.

Bass took it and looked it over before he let his programming absorb it. “That might not be a bad idea, but I’m going to rest first,” Bass said as Nights started for the door. “Thank you for what you did for us Steven,” Bass said, drawing his brother’s attention again, “and… I’m sorry for hitting you earlier.”

Nights waved at him. “That’s okay. It was mostly my fault anyway for not telling you both in the first place. Have a good sleep cycle, and remember we’re leaving at first light cycle,” he said as he and Kobito left him alone in the common room, closing the doors behind them.

After they left, Bass walked around the common room, looking things over. He stopped in front of the bookshelf to look at what information was put there. He hummed to himself as he looked the books over. There were various topics there like Atlantian law, history, and studies. There were also books on viruses, programs, and what his brother had talked about earlier, genetics..Basic Atlantian Genetics… he thought as he grabbed one of the genetics books and leafed through it for a second before he put it back on the shelf. I’m not going to read that one for quite a while. They don’t need to start there, he thought as he took one of the Atlantian Law books down. Basic Atlantian Law… This might be better. I hope it’s not boring, Bass thought as he took it back with him to the comfy-looking couch.

He started leafing through it until he saw something that struck him as odd. The date for the laws that affected him and Lyne were dated back before the fall of Atlantis. He rose up off the couch again and went back to the genetics book he had put back. He skipped over the first part and leafed through the sections of genetic possibilities before he found to his shock the section for Angels and Demons. He then read the paragraph below the pictures, describing these two races.

~ These races were discovered quite by accident. Details on the accident aren’t too clear. Some believe that the angel is a cross between a human and a rare bird of prey: the albino eagle. This theory was ruled out after the second generation of angels was born as their wing color displayed a great variation of colors in their wings, wings formed of light, and signs of physic powers, none of which could be attributed to this rare bird.

The demon, on the other hand, was believed to be a mix of other things. Some of the ideas of how it was created go from quite graphic to quite simple. We will go with the more simple explanation. Demons come in a wide variety, ranging in appearances. Some are like a darker version of the angel. Others take on the appearance of a feral, beastlike creature, but that can appear different as well depending on the demon.

Both races are quite powerful in their own way and are revered as holy creatures, due to the fact that they were created on sacred ground. Due to this fact, it is believed that they weren’t a genetic creation, but are actually magical creatures. However, that is not the case. Angels and Demons are a mix of both created by Atlantian Genetics. (see page 768 for more details.)~

Bass flipped the pages to the one the book had just suggested, intrigued by what Atlantian Genetics was. Once he found the page, he read.

~Atlantian Genetics

A wonderful science that mixes magic and biology together to create life forms or change them. One of the finest achievements of this science was the Angel and the Demon. Some of the later achievements of this science lead to what our race had become: the half-navi. This was due to advances in our technology. This also allowed for advancing the science with mixes between ourselves and what resided on the network: viruses. Shortly after this was discovered, the science was limited by who could use it, making it a forbidden art.~

“Whoa! This is deep,” Bass said as he put the book down. He then looked at himself, noticing his own features. “I guess I was a lucky not ending up looking like that,” he said, remembering what the feral, beast-like demon looked like. He then lay down on the couch. “So what Nights was trying to say was that other virus that helped Alpha used Atlantian Genetics against that King’s sons to make them into something else other than his sons. That’s odd. Why would Alpha go to all that trouble?” he pondered as he relaxed on the couch. “He could’ve just killed the two sons and there wouldn’t have been any heirs.” He then sat up and picked up the Atlantian law book to check up on a thought of his.

He flipped through the book until he found the section he wanted. “Here we go. Kings of Atlantis…” he said before he started to read.

~The King of Atlantis has many laws he too will follow. Listed below are a few of them. For more laws please refer to volumes 1-3 of Atlantian Law.~

Bass’s eyes went wide in surprise. I guess there are a lot of rules brother has to follow. I’m hoping the one I’m looking for is in here. he then returned to reading over the list until he found it.

~Can only bear offspring with the one he marries~

That’s what I thought. Alpha had the queen killed. That way he couldn’t have any more children. Then he had this B character make the sons into something else other than an heir to Atlantis. Damn. Lyne and I are dealing with a mastermind here. He wanted to totally humiliate Raymos, but why? He breathed heavily out while relaxing back onto the couch. “If I think about this, I’ll be up all night,” he spoke as the looked at Lyne’s open door and listened to her quiet breathing. I don’t need to sleep on no fancy bed anyway. I’m fine sleeping here so I can keep an eye on her, Bass thought with a smile as he closed his eyes. Suddenly, a vid window popped up in front of him.

“Whew* I finally got through,” a voice said, and Bass’s eyes snapped open. He then fell off the couch in surprise when he recognized who was on the vid window. “Bass, how is sis?” Megaman asked in a concerned tone.

“Oww!” Bass moaned as he rubbed the back of his neck while sitting back up.

“I’m sorry. I was just a little worried that yours and Lyne’s e-mail went down for a while. Nobody could get through. Is she alright? I know she got injured by that weird program thing, and-”

Bass held up his hand, making the concerned, blue clad navi quiet down. Bass then rubbed his temples. “She’s fine. Can you tone it down a bit? I was almost asleep.”

“I’m sorry,” Mega apologized, hanging his head. “Where are you? Did you end up in Brightland?”

Bass looked around him at the room he was in, “Heh, heh, I’d like to think that. But no, we’re not. Lyne and I are in the Atlantis Server with Nights. Is Lan upset with what we did?”

Mega shrugged his shoulders, “A little I guess, but if I know Lan, he’ll get over it once he finds out she’s fine. Father’s explanation helped a little, but he didn’t explain where you ended up. When are you both coming back?”

Bass sat there silently for a moment before he spoke. “I’m not sure honestly. Nights asked to collect his favor, so I honored his request and so did Lyne. We leave this server tomorrow to help him on a quest.”

“Oh, I see,” Mega said as he hung his head. He quickly brought it back up to look at Bass. “Can I talk to Lyne please?”

“Uh… well she’s in sleep mode right now. Maybe in the morning. Okay Hub?” Bass suggested as he stretched.

“Okay. I’ll tell Lan you’re both alright,” Mega said as he was about to close his window.

“Yeah, *Yawn,* You go ahead and do that. I’m going to sleep,” Bass said as he lay back down on the couch. “Goodnight, Hub.”

“Alright. Goodnight… Connor,” Mega said as he closed his connection with Bass’s e-mail.
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Next Episode Preview

~Quiet Neighborhood~

*New, blue Scion xA drives along the street*
Editor: *In driver’s seat.* So, where is it now?
Author: We’re almost there. *Checks paper in hand.* Um, number 24… so it’s… Oh, turn back around. We passed it.
Editor: Darn! Which one? The brown one back there? *Puts car in reverse.*
Author: Hey, careful Hon. Don’t back up so fa- *!!Crunch!!* …What did you just do to my car!?
Editor: Uhh, I’m sure it’s nothing! Let’s just go see him, huh?
Author: Grrr, fine. But we’ll be dealing with that bump later.
Editor: Okay! *Gets out and quickly goes up to the house’s door with Author following. Editor knocks on door and waits.*
Voice from inside: Who’s there?
Author: It’s us. Author and Editor. Can we talk?
Voice: No! Forget it! I’m not coming back if that’s what you’re here for.
Editor: Don’t be like that. C’mon, really, it wasn’t so bad, was it?
Voice: He tried to kill me!
Editor: He did not. He just didn’t know you were in that sound booth. *Door is flung open and Announcer looks out.*
Announcer: He was still after me after that! That guy has some real issues.
Author: It won’t be a problem, really! We’ll keep him under control.
Announcer: No!
Editor: We’ve got extra benefits to offer if you really think there’s a problem.
Announcer: *Skeptically* Benefits?
Editor: Sure, like hazardous duty pay, medical coverage, travel expenses-
Announcer: Travel? Why would I have to travel? Don’t you just need me to do a voiceover?
Author: Now, how would that be fair to the actors? They have to go to different sites.
Announcer: So I should too? And have to stay around Bass? No. Medical coverage won’t help if he actually kills me!
Editor: Well, we could always throw in life insurance. *!!SLAM!!* …So, you’ll think about it?
Author: *Sighs.* I’m pretty sure that was a “No” Hon. Let’s go now.
Editor: Darn it. And nobody else will take the job. How’d things get to be such a mess? We weren’t on vacation that long.
Author: Yeah, well, all this means is that our previews are going to keep being a bit out there. *Opens car door.* Looks you’re off the hook Bass. We won’t be needing you to apologize to him.
Bass: Well, that’s good to know. So, could you maybe untie me now!?
Editor: I’m thinkin’ that maybe we should wait ‘til we’re back home.
Author: Yeah. We can let them untie you back in Atlantis before you take that trip.
Bass: Oh, for cryin’ out loud just untie me!!
Author: Nah. You should really save your energy. You’ll need it in the next episode of Lan and Lyne S2, Episode 19: The Undernet… Familiar Yet New.
Editor: Mind the shadows down there.
Bass: Grr, can’t believe you people treat me like this.
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Megawoman (Lyne)

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[Midnight]

Wow. This is certainly getting interesting. I am, however, a bit miffed that the story is getting a bit harder to follow--it's as if there is a lot of foliage to hack through while reading this. Nevertheless, the chapter was adequately amusing and it kept the attention of the reader. Good job.
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The Kingdom of Loathing: An Adventurer is You! // I ♣ Seals

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

[Wackoguy]

As Midnight said,there does seem to be quite a bit of info and newer stuff to absorb,in a sense. But I guess the story is supposed to get more complex,anyhow.

I enjoyed the excerpt from that book Bass was reading,too. Sounds a lot better than my A.P Bio class. :puku:

Anyway,the story is still keeping us on our toes and satisfying our fanfic-hunger. Keep it up! (That's to both the Author and Editor(s?) )
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[soberflight]

Yes! The plot thickens! Yes, it is getting more complex...that makes it all the more intriguing...and the "foliage" paints a more complete visual.

[Lan1220]

Nice chapter, i'd read that book Bass was reading rather than my school books. Great job.
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