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

[Megawoman.EXE]

Note from the Editor:
After reviewing things and realizing how much dialogue takes place in DemonScript, we’ve decided to make things easier on our readers by using darkred as the font color in instances when DemonScript is used rather than forcing people to struggle through tedious translations.

WARNING: Some strong language in this episode.

Episode 19: The Undernet… Familiar yet New (Part 1)

~16 November 200X ~ Atlantian Place ~ Early Morning~

Nights paced about by the fountain in the main courtyard of the palace. He’d just gotten finished anxiously watching over the preparation of his, Lyne’s, and his brother’s enares, as well as the packing of the supplies that they were going to be needing for the trip. Everything was in order, except that he was missing something: Lyne and Bass.

“Find them,” Nights ordered two guards with him who had been prepping the supply enares.

“Yes my King,” the older guard, called Kroa, said as he and the younger guard sped off into the castle. Nights waited for a few more minutes with his fingers twitching nervously when the artificial sun began rising into the sky.

“What’s with them? I said we were leaving at first light cycle,” Nights mumbled as he returned into the castle. He then grumped his way down the hallway until he found that it was blocked. He growled under his breath in agitation at the large crowd that was congesting the hall. Several of his elite guards, and many of the regular palace guards, were jostling each other and murmuring to one-another, apparently engrossed in watching something. He then took notice of two of them: the older guard Kroa and his pal Grindel. What in the Net is going on here?

“C’mon I can’t see,” Grindel complained as he tried to peer over the shoulder of a taller guard.

“Pipe down small fry,” the taller guard said, shoving him back.

“Awww man,” Grindel complained. He had red orange colored, and spiky hair which contrasted well with the white and blue shell navi armor which all the guards wore (elites had red shoulder shells so you could tell them apart). His weapons were a sheathed katana, and two holstered buster pistols, he also held onto a long staff. “Kroa! He won’t let me see what’s going on,” he whined to the taller navi by his side, who had short grey hair and a goatee. The red shells on his shoulders marked him as an elite.

“Just chill out lad. I’ll let you see in a minute,” the older guard replied. “Just keep holding onto my staff.”

“What’s going on? I told you two to find the Angel and Demon,” Nights growled loud enough that the guards around them heard him and immediately bowed down to the ground in reverence when they saw who was there. “Ahem, I asked a question. Stand up already and answer it. What’s going on in there?”

“Sorry about that your highness. There is a challenge game of oh… Hey Kroa, what game are they playing in there?” Grindel asked the older guard.

“Um… I believe they are playing Othello. It’s gotten rather entertaining since she started winning.”

“Who?” Nights asked, almost on the verge of letting his wrath lose.

“The Angel you told us to find. You know, it is rather rude to interrupt a challenge match of any kind,” Kroa responded.

“Grrrr. Let me in there now,” Nights commanded, making all the guards get out of the entryway to the sparing room. In front of him, he saw projected on the ground a large game board covered in two-sided, checker-like pieces. I wonder which one found this room, he thought as he looked up at two floating chairs, which Lyne and Bass were sitting in, centered around a smaller game board wearing their armor. Probably Lyne did. She’s always liked playing Othello. Lyne placed a white piece down on the board, capturing two out of the last three of Bass’s black pieces.

“Not fair!” Bass exclaimed angrily, pointing a finger at her. “You cheated!”

Lyne waggled her finger back and forth at Bass, then brought up the rule file as she wrote – (See, that was a legal move) – She then pointed to the move in question.

“Bua…bua,” Bass stammered before he crossed his arms over his chest and looked away from her. She just silently giggled at his response.

Sometimes when he’s stubborn he acts Kawaii, she thought as her face began to form a small smile.

“Deactivate!” came a command from below them. The chairs they were seated in and the game board suddenly disappeared. Lyne grabbed onto Bass as they started to fall, making him take the full impact of the fall to the ground.

“Owww! Hey! What was that for?” Bass growled as he looked over at his older brother while gently getting Lyne off his chest.

“We were supposed to leave a while ago, and you two were playing games. This is an important quest,” he bellowed, making a good majority of the guards that had congested the hallway disappear.

“She started it,” Bass said, pointing at Lyne.

Lyne moved her finger through the air quickly, writing a message on a notepad there –(Don’t blame me. You wanted to play too) – She then crossed her arms over her chest and huffed.

“Please don’t argue. Let’s go,” Nights huffed as he turned, letting his cape sweep behind him.

“Why’re you in such a hurry anyway? We have six days to finish this,” Bass asked before he narrowed his eyes at his brother. “Or does that bounty have your programming in a bunch?”

Nights turned back sharply and glared at him before he smacked his brother in the arm for his disrespect.

“Oww!” Bass moaned and Lyne rubbed his welted arm sympathetically.

“It is a time issue. We don’t have 6 days, we have 5, and there is a lot of Undernet we have to cover in order to find those pieces.” He paused for a moment and breathed out as he helped Lyne and Bass up off the ground. “And as you already know Serenade isn’t a patient navi, so let’s go before she blows a major circuit.” Night then turned again and left the room with Lyne and Bass following in his wake. Once past the threshold of the sparing room their Armor deactivated. They stopped in the hallway. “Return to your posts,” he commanded, and the guards there scattered, all except for two. “Kroa, Grindel,” he then called out, making them snap to attention. “Go get everything finalized.”

“Yes sir,” Kroa and Grindel said in unison before they left the trio to walk down the hall.

“They’re coming with us?” Bass asked, pointing off in the direction that the two guards had left. “They’re low level navis.”

“Yes, they’re coming with us.” Nights then hung his head. “I really wish I could’ve brought Kobito with me, but I can’t,” he sighed as they exited the palace.

“Why?” Bass asked quietly as the navi in question came bounding up to his brother to embrace him. Bass watched as his older brother held onto her with an enchanted look in his eyes.

“I’ll miss you,” Kobito cried out as she buried her face into his chest and his brother ran his fingers through her hair.

“Oh I see,” Bass said as Lyne grabbed onto his arm tightly. “What’re you worried about? You’re not being left behind,” he said, and that did seem to calm her as she eased up a little on his arm and hung her head in embarrassment. Suddenly, a bright light formed in front of the group.

Once it dissipated, everyone except Lyne and Bass bowed before the grey-robed Navi that stood there. “You can rise Nights,” the navi calmly stated. Lyne nervously moved behind Bass.

“Yes, Ancient,” Nights replied as he rose along with Kobito and the two guards. Kobito looked like she was going to start crying.

The Ancient put a comforting hand on her shoulder. “Don’t worry Kobito. He’ll be fine, I promise. He has an angel and demon by his side,” he said, drawing her attention to Lyne and Bass’s presence. “May your journey be swift and care free,” he wished as he placed his hand on Nights shoulder. “Atlantis will be safe ‘til your return.”

Nights then shook his hand. “Thank you for coming to see me off. It means a lot. Lyne, Connor this is the Ancient: Guardian of Atlantis and Lord over the Dead Zone,” Nights introduced the navi.

“So, you do have a name,” Bass growled as he recognized the dark-complexioned navi. “Why didn’t you tell me outright who you were?”

Lyne blinked. Huh? But I thought Connor already knew who the Ancient was. I’m confused, she thought as she looked the Ancient over. He glanced over at her as she was examining him which made her shrink further behind Bass.

“And why is she scared of you?” Bass asked as he noticed her do so.

“She’s seen some of my memories. That’s all young demon. You don’t have to worry young angel. I’m not sharing at the moment, so there’s nothing to be afraid of,” the Ancient cooed in a gentle voice compelling Lyne to come out from her hiding spot, although she stayed by Bass’s protective side. “You better get going before Serenade gets angry, King Steven, and you know that won’t be to pretty if she blows a circuit.”

“I know,” Nights said as he mounted his enare, along with everyone else. Bass petted Gospel on the head before he mounted an enare himself. “You sure you want to take him with us brother?”

“Of course. I won’t abandon my pet,” Bass replied as Lyne nodded in agreement. “Besides, Famous would let him loose on the Net anyway. And my sock drawer,” Bass added, getting a whine from his virus and a mute giggle from Lyne.

“Alright, let’s go. Kobito, be safe,” Nights fare-welled as he and the others exited the gates of the palace. Once outside them, both half navis’ armor, and Nights reactivated, as Lyne started to have a coughing fit.

“Are you alright?” Bass asked as he edged his enare over to provide her assistance. She held up her finger, and he waited a moment, huffing impatiently as she finally stopped coughing. “Are you alright now?”

“Yes, *cough* I’m fine,” Lyne replied as they continued to exit the city. “I guess that’s what happens when you come off mute.” She smiled reassuringly at him as they exited Atlantis and entered the Dead Zone. Suddenly, their enares sped up, following after the lead one. “Wow these things are about as fast as your car!” Lyne exclaimed with excitement.

“My car’s faster,” Bass grumbled as they traveled along.

Lyne took notice of all the ruined buildings. “Atlantis used to be a larger city, didn’t it?” she asked the guard next to her, Kroa.

“*Sigh* Yes young lady. It was the largest city in its day. Even larger then what they call today’s Heaven’s City in the Americas. The day Atlantis fell into the depths of the sea and the Undernet was dreadful. As you see young lady, the Dead Zone is made up of all the damaged parts of the Atlantis Server that couldn’t be repaired. And the actual city still lies at the bottom of the ocean.”

“Oh, I’m sorry to hear that,” Lyne said, hanging her head, her empathic sensitivity feeling the heavy weight of the old guard’s sorrow. Their group started to slow down a little bit, but not much.

Kroa reached out and patted her on the back. “Don’t feel sorry for us lass. Once King Steven is crowned, Atlantis will rise out of the ocean once more to its rightful place in the sun.”

The group then came to a complete stop in the shadow of an immense, rocky-looking mountain that had a Greek-style temple halfway up its surface. “Cool,” Bass breathed out.

“You sound like you’ve never seen it before,” Lyne said as she looked over at him.

“Well, now that you mention it, I haven’t seen it before. I’ve seen a large rock exactly like it, but that one doesn’t have a temple on it.”

Nights turned to face their navigator: Grindel. “We’re here at the Ancient’s Temple. Which way do we go from here?”

“Why don’t you ask the old geezer? The map is written in his hand writing,” Grindel growled as he looked at a map he was holding. That statement earned him a smack on the head with Kroa’s staff.

“Might I remind you boy that you’re still in training to become an elite. Your navigating skills have to be top notch if you plan on passing even one of your tests.”

“Yes sir. Ahh… Found it. We go 20 navi leagues (60 navi miles) left from here,” the young guard replied as he glanced over the map he held. Bass made his enare creep up close to the guide’s side so he could take a peek at it. The map was very well done, but what instantly caught his attention was that the word Undernet was at the top of it. Grindel then put the map away.

“Hey! I was looking at that,” Bass complained.

“I’m the one in charge of the map,” Grindel growled back before he led the charge to their next location in the vast desert of the Dead Zone.

When they finally stopped again, Nights dismounted his ride and approached a tiny, shiny, floating object. He placed his hand in front of it. “Open in the name of the King of Atlantis,” he commanded.

/Password/ came an automated response.

“RayADLC,CM1,” Nights replied in an even tone in order for the password to register.

/Password accepted/ Once the system had accepted his command, a Net Portal opened up that was large enough for them all to go through side-by-side with room to spare.

“Wow!” Lyne breathed out in awe as Bass’s jaw dropped.

“We definitely need to come down here more often,” he said, getting a nod from Lyne.

Kroa made his enare pass by the gawking pair of half navis. “If you think that’s impressive, the journey has only just begun,” he said as he passed through the portal, followed by the younger guard and Nights, who had remounted his enare.

Lyne’s enare started to follow after them, but Bass motioned for her to stop for a second. “Do you want to go through with this?” he asked her. “We could possibly face death again if we go with them.”

“Why change your mind now? You swore to go with him,” Lyne asked in surprise.

“Oh, I’m going. I was asking about you. You may’ve encouraged me to come, but I want to be sure that I’m not just dragging you along.”

Lyne grabbed his arm and hugged it tightly. “What does this tell you? I’m not leaving you alone on this journey. We also need a chance to figure out what we’re going to do about Havock.”

Bass hung his head. “Right, well are you ready?”

“After you,” Lyne gestured at the NP. Bass nodded and made his enare enter, followed by Gospel and Lyne on her enare.

On the other side of the portal, they entered what looked like a huge, columned hallway which stretched quite a distance before them. Looking up, they could see that it had the same colored sky as Serenade’s Undernet. In front of them was an Arabic stylized ziggurat that looked like a backlit stairway into the sky.

“Where in the Undernet are we?” Bass asked as he looked around. “I’ve been all over Serenade’s Undernet and I’ve never seen a place like this.”

“This is a secret place. In this place I am to be tested by Serenade,” Nights replied as they trekked along the wide columned road. Lyne pulled in closer to Bass, frightened by the feeling she was having about this place.

“This is a test?” she queried in a shaky tone, making her fear known to the rest of the party.

“Yes lass. He has to pass the five trials of the Undernet,” Kroa whispered in a low tone as they cautiously carried on. “This is the first, and she can start at any time once she’s aware of our presence in this sacred place. So shhh…” He placed his finger over his mouth as he finished.

“Oh,” Lyne replied quietly. Since her enare followed its pack leader without her supervision, she was able to look around. Her eyes followed the uneasy vibe she was feeling until she saw something in the shadows: a glint of light from what looked like a visor. “Aeeiii!”

“What is it?” Bass asked, looking around for what might’ve spooked her.

“It’s over there,” she said as she pointed off to Bass’s right, into the shadows. “It was creepy.” As she spoke, a shuriken whistled past her ear armor, making her scream again.

“It has begun. Let’s move,” Nights said as he and the others speed off towards the ziggurat.

Bass placed a hand on Lyne’s shoulder to calm her a little bit. She needed it too. She was in such shock that she wasn’t able to command her enare to move and was being left behind “Keep going down the path. I’ll handle this,” Bass growled. There was a red gleam to his eyes as he dismounted his viral beast of burden.

“But, Connor,” Lyne pleaded as she looked down at him.

“I’ll be fine. GO!” he said as he spun around and kicked her enare in the ass, getting a protesting bellow from the animal, but also getting the results he wanted as it sped off quickly after the others. He then activated his buster when he heard a dark-sounding chuckle echoing around him. He then took in a breath of the digital air. So…*Sniff* I’m up against a shadow navi. I hate those. He narrowed his eyes and flexed his left hand in anticipation as he focused on the general source of the odor that tainted the air. He switched weapons over to his Dark Blade as he called out, “Come out warrior. I can smell your stench.”

He got a moment’s silence as a reply, and then there was a sniffing sound in the shadows that let him lock in his focus.

“What do you mean? I don’t reek,” came a confused reply. “You’re making that up. Navis don’t have a sense of smell Durfrat.”

Bass cracked a smile as he raised his weapon. “Then how come I know where you’re at?” he asked as he pointed his sword into the shadows. There was a startled jerk from his target as the blade touched the shadow navi’s throat, and now Bass saw who he was facing. The navi had a dark complexion, black hair, and silver eyes which were behind a purple visor. Rather than having a full helmet, the navi had something more like a black circlet which the visor was attached to. His armor was grey and black with dark purple V-shaped stripes on his arms, legs, and torso. His gloves and boots were black and had what looked like purple, curved blades accenting them.

“Ahh… Lucky guess,” came a nervous reply from the navi as it backed away from the glowing purple blade, melding into the shadows again. The navi moved to the left a little bit and Bass followed with his weapon, “Dred.” Then off to the right with Bass still following. “Kha, $***. Freaking Black Shadow,” he cursed as he smacked the sandy ground with a balled up fist.

“So you know who I am. Who are you?” Bass demanded, approaching with his blade still pointed at the navi’s throat.

“You’ll have to beat me down, Bat Ears,” the navi replied as he rolled off to the side and jumped of into the shadows.

“Bat Ears?! You’ll pay for that,” Bass growled as he charged after the scent trail the shadow warrior left behind.
_____________________________________________

“He never learns,” Serenade sighed as she watched the fight from her seat near the piece of the Atlantian crown she guarded. She started to swing her feet in impatient boredom as she continued, “He can never take an insult.”

“Who can’t?” a navi asked that appeared beside her. The navi was female with long brown hair, purple eyes, and a slightly lighter completion then Serenade’s. She was clad in armor that was multiple shades of purple and adorned with gems, and her icon had a crescent moon over a black background. Her hair came out the top of her helmet and her face was covered in a lavender veil.

“Bass,” Serenade replied in a drab tone. The female navi sat beside her and took on her same bored stance.

“So…” she started, “Wassup?”

“I’m busy,” Serenade replied as she looked down at the scene that unfolded before her.

The female navi looked down as well and then waved her hand at it. “Busy? Yeah right. You look bored out of your mind.”

“Today’s that day I was telling you about,” Serenade said before she looked over at her unexpected guest. “How’d you get here Gypsy?”

Gypsy smiled brightly, “Sable gave me a link down here. I came to visit him.”

“He’s a little busy too at the moment,” Serenade said, pointing down at the two navis that were fighting in the distance.

“Ooooo… Get’m Sable!” Gypsy cheered from her seat before she recognized a familiar purple flash of energy. “Wait, that’s Bass! Why’s he fighting Bass? I’ve got to help him.” Gypsy got up to assist her friend, Sable.

“No,” Serenade said, grabbing Gypsy’s pigtail and dragged her back to her seat. “Sable is testing him. There are two more that need to be tested, and I was wondering, since you dropped in on me, if you would test one of them for me?”

Gypsy pointed at herself. “Me? Test someone? But I’ve never done anything like that before down here. What do I have to test?”

“An Angel,” Serenade replied. Gypsy made an uncertain face at hearing this and, rather than voicing a question, she pantomimed flapping wings with her hands. Serenade, understanding what Gypsy meant, nodded.

“Cool! I really wanted to see one of those,” Gypsy said in an excited tone.

“She doesn’t look like that though,” Serenade said, getting Gypsy’s attention.

“What? But aren’t angels supposed to have wings?”

“Yes, but not all look like that all the time. Angel’s need rest from their powers you know.”

“Well if I’m supposed to test her, how do I do it?”

“Ask her one of your riddles,” Serenade said with a very slight quirk at the edge of her mouth, “and when she answers it correctly, give her this.” Serenade gave Gypsy a chip. “She’ll know what to do with it.”

“Ooo… This is neat looking. I’ve been waiting to stump someone for a while,” she said before looking down at her sharp-clawed gloves. “Even though a fight would be much more fun.”

Serenade flared up with energy surging in her eyes at Gypsy’s statement. “This is sacred network space Gypsy. No Angel data can be spilled here without desecrating it.”

“Understood ma’am,” Gypsy said, cowering beside the Undernet Queen. “I’ll just be quiet now and look up that riddle to ask this angel.” She brought up a clear globe that floated in her hand. Around its base was a flowing lavender scarf which trailed down and around her arm.

“So how are things with you and Kizuki anyway? Anything new?” Serenade asked, starting a casual conversation to ease the boredom.

“Yeah,” she replied sticking her chest out with pride. “We’ve just became NetSaviors.”

“Congratulations, to both of you,” Serenade complemented taking notice of a vid screen beside Gypsy.

“Ooo… I think I’ll ask this one,” Gypsy said, not paying attention to the complement.

“Thank you Serenade. It means a lot,” Kizuki replied. “Gypsy, she complemented us. Say thank you.”

“Thank you. Hey, what do you get to do with this testing stuff anyway?” Gypsy asked, looking up at Serenade as she rose up off her seat.

“What I’ve always done before. I’m testing the King of Atlantis’s faith,” Serenade replied as she called forth a radiant glow to surround her form.

Gypsy’s eyes glossed over, “When one of Ancient blood shall come, and one of light and one of dark to guard him. To be tested of his faith in himself and his kingdom, Serenade must do.” Her eyes then returned to normal. “Oohh, that day…” She then smacked her head.

“Jeez Gypsy. Why do you have to be such a ditz?” Kizuki asked, glaring at his navi.

“The one you are to test is clad in deep amethyst, studded in rubies, has eyes the color of emeralds, and hair the color of shiny obsidian,” Serenade said as she started to float down towards the center of her ziggurat. Gypsy followed after her by, descending the stairs.

“You know, saying she’s wearing purple armor with red gems, green eyes, and black hair is a lot easier to say. And understand.”

“This is a formal challenge young navi. You have a lot to learn about how your world works,” Serenade rumbled in a scolding tone.

“Yeah Gypsy. You know better than being a smart mouth,” Kizuki scolded as well.

“I’m sorry Kizuki,” she said, hanging her head.

“Don’t apologize to me. Apologize to Serenade.”

“There’s no need for that Kizuki. If she’s sorry about what she did, that’s fine. They’re quickly approaching. I stop here. You must meet the Angel at the base of my ziggurat.”

“Yes ma’am,” Gypsy said as she continued her descent down the steps of the ziggurat.

“And,” Serenade said, making her stop in her tracks. “Send the harlequin navi up here to see me.”

“Huh?” Gypsy looked back at Serenade with a confused look.

“Trust me. Now go,” she commanded, sending the younger female navi on her way down the steps of the ziggurat. Gypsy stood there for a few moments once she arrived, bored out of her mind, before she noticed a group of navis riding on viruses come into view. The group stopped a few hundred navi feet away from her.
_____________________________________

“Lyne and I go from here right?” Nights asked, getting off his enare before he helped Lyne off of hers.

“Yes my lord. She’s waiting for you,” Kroa replied as he pointed up at the ziggurat, drawing Nights’s attention to a glowing presence hanging around the middle of it.

“Right. Let’s go Lyne,” Nights said gently, guiding her towards the ziggurat.

Grindel watched as the two left them. “Huh? Don’t we go with them?”

“We’re just here to keep an eye on the Enares and supplies,” Kroa commented as Bass’s fight with the shadow navi came closer. “Buck up. We get some entertainment while we wait. I’m surprised he’s forgotten his own shadow programming so quickly,” he commented as Bass passed through the body of his opponent due to Sable using Shadow Body.

“Guahh! You little bastard! Stay solid!” Bass shouted as he phased through his opponent again.

“Nah, nah! Can’t catch me,” the shadow navi chirped cheerfully as it skipped about Bass, who had sprawled out on the ground after passing through the other navi. He scowled darkly at his taunting opponent.

“That’s not a demon is it? Or even a ghost?” Grindel asked as he also watched. Bass got back up off the ground and started back into the fray.

“Thankfully no. Just your typical, average shadow navi.”

“Alright!” Bass exclaimed as he finally got his arms around his opponent and threw him to the ground.

“Hey that’s not fair! Let go,” the dark colored navi complained as Bass pulled on his long, black hair.

“I don’t think so,” he said, giving the hair a good jerk to make sure that he wasn’t going to lose his grip this time.

“Ah, cut it out ya’ kublah!” the shadow navi complained, squirming and kicking his feet on the ground. He stuck his hand out in front of him with his index finger extended, twirling it in a circle for a moment while he started mumbling uncertainly, “Uhh… um… Oh, concentrate darn it! Summon Shadow!” Three shapes flowed out from the shadows behind the columns and formed into shadow viruses. They jumped at Bass, raking at him with sharp, little claws which ripped into Bass’s cloak and knocked him off of their summoner.

“Guahh! Of all…” Bass griped as he slashed his new attackers, quickly deleting them and then turning back just barely soon enough to block an attack from his actual opponent, who was now wielding a double-bladed scythe. “Tss, dirty little tricks.”

“You know, you’re right. This is entertaining,” Grindel said as he leaned his chin forward onto his hands, relaxing on his enare while he continued to watch the two navis fight.
______________________________________

“Well here we are,” Nights said as they finally got to the base of the ziggurat where a female navi stood. She looked at the two of them for a second before she burst out laughing at Nights’s appearance. “Uhh, not the kind of greeting I was expecting for a ritualistic test,” Nights said uncertainly as he and Lyne both sweat-dropped.

“I’m sorry, but *Hugfh* Ha, ha! Go ahead,” their greeter said as she waved for them to pass while she covered her mouth to hide her oh-too-obvious laughter. Nights led the way until Lyne was stopped abruptly by the veiled navi. “I was told he gets to go on. You stay here ‘cause I have a question for you. Well… more like a test.”

“Huh?” Lyne sounded as she blinked twice at the navi and then looked up at Nights. “We get tested too?”

“Don’t know,” Nights said with a shrug. Sure that Lyne could handle whatever was going on, he turned and continued to climb up the steps of the ziggurat towards Serenade’s glow.

“Okay, well what do you have to ask or test of me uh… What is your name ma’am?” Lyne asked. There was a moment’s silence while the veiled, female navi looked back at her in confusion.

Ma’am? Nobody has addressed me like that before, she thought to herself as a vid window popped up beside her.

“Gypsy, answer her,” a male’s voice and face projected from the screen.

“Cool you have a NetOp. Hi I’m L… Meg,” Lyne greeted. She had remembered right before they left the palace that she and Bass agreed to call each other by their navi names while on the quest, especially near new, or strange navis they didn’t know.

“Lmeg… That’s an odd name,” Gypsy responded.

Lyne waved her hands in front of her dismissively. “No, no, it’s Meg, and yours is Gypsy, right?”

“Yeah, and this is Kizuki. And the test I have for you is in the form of a riddle,” Gypsy said, gesturing with her free hand at the vid window while bringing up a crystal ball in the other.

“Hi, Kizuki!” Lyne said with a smile. “Go ahead and ask your riddle I really like them.”

Good. She looks like a total ditz, “Alright. Answer me these questions three. They all share the same answer, so think it over carefully, and remember there is only one answer,” she said as she ran her hand over her crystal ball. “What crawls on all fours in the morning? What walks on two legs at noon? And lastly… What walks on three legs in the evening?” Gypsy asked, grinning widely and confidently as she looked at her challenger.

“A man,” Lyne simply replied without even a moment’s thought.

Gypsy’s eyes widened in shock as she stared at Lyne. “Huh?” No way she got it that easily.

“Oh, it’s really simple. The day represents the man’s life. From morning where he is a baby crawling on the ground to adolescence or mid life at noon when he’s walking on his two legs, and walking on a cane in his old age near the end of his life in the evening,” Lyne stated while smiling, making Gypsy’s jaw drop. Doesn’t she know how famous the Riddle of the Sphinx is?

Gypsy’s cheeks then puffed out in anger, which Kizuki noticed right away. “Gypsy, No!” he called out, but too late as the irritated navi started shouting out more riddles, not wanting to lose.
______________________________________

Nights finally came to a stop in front of Serenade’s glowing radiance. “So are you ready to face my challenge, Atlantian Prince?” she asked as he looked up at her.

“Yes,” he responded confidently.

“Once you are past me, your test will start. Your path with become dark and you must find the light that shall guide you toward your goal.” The Undernet Queen then stepped to the side for Nights to pass.

“Find light when I’m in the dark. That doesn’t sound difficult.”

“Oh, no. If you know how to find it, then it may be simple.”

Nights looked at Serenade for a moment, then looked past her at the path he was meant to take. There was an archway there with symbols on it, although he couldn’t interpret them. At the very top of the arch was an eye. It was open and seemed to be looking at him, but it had no pupil in it. Beyond the arch, he could see what he had come for. It’s straight in front of me. If I don’t turn, I can reach it. Nights walked forward, straight at the open archway. He glanced back upward at the top of the arch and then stopped just short of passing by Serenade. It’s still looking at me! He edged to the side, keeping his gaze on the eye, and was disconcerted at how it turned to follow his movements. “This is no ordinary arch, is it?” Nights couldn’t keep a sudden tremble out of his voice.

“Of course not. This is your test young prince.” Serenade walked to him and placed a gentle hand on his shoulder, leading him to the arch. Nights continued looking at the blind eye, transfixed by its gaze. “Pass through Nights. You have come to seek out your birthright. Now go and claim it!” With this command, Serenade pushed Nights forward. As he stumbled through the arch he saw the eye above him close, and with it, a darkness surrounded him, stifling and complete. As if from far away, and yet as if it were right next to him, Serenade’s voice spoke one last time. “But I fear, in this, that you shall fail.”

“Serenade, what!?...” Nights looked behind him, but saw nothing there except for the same consuming darkness. He reached out first one hand in front of him, then extended them both out to his sides and slowly turned in a circle. Where’s the arch? Did she push me that far past it? He took a couple of tentative steps, hoping that his hands would find something, and then he stopped when a panic gripped him. I don’t even know which way I’m facing. Stupid! I let myself get turned around and now I don’t even know which way the first piece of the crown is. “Serenade? Where are you?” There was something strange about his voice when he spoke. It was quiet, muffled, and didn’t sound entirely like it was coming from his own mouth. There was no answer to his plea, and no sound whatsoever once the last syllable from his mouth was swallowed by the darkness around him. “Where’s the light at? Where do I go from here?” Nights asked aloud, more for the comfort of hearing something, anything, than out of hope of hearing an answer.

“Now, that is, hmm, a very odd question,” a voice suddenly spoke, startling Nights. He whirled around, but couldn’t figure out where the voice spoke from when it continued. “You don’t go anywhere from here. You were deleted, remember? Becoming a navi was your second chance. You didn’t really think you’d get a third, did you?”

“Alpha, what? Serenade! Alpha’s here!”
________________________________________

“How is a raven like a writing desk?” Gypsy asked looking rather exhausted.

“They’re both black as ink,” Lyne said, sounding annoyed. She had heard all the riddles that Gypsy had asked her before. She wasn’t kidding about loving riddles. Lyne had memorized any riddle she had come in contact with. Some would say most of her memory is filled with nonsense trivia, but they would be badly mistaken if they asked her a riddle. She even memorized riddles in different languages and could tell you the origin of them .

“Okay Gypsy,” Kizuki said, rubbing his temples, “She’s answered all the riddles that are in your data bank.”

“She has not!”

“*sigh*Just give her the chip that Serenade told you to. Why do you have to be so stubborn?”

“I won’t lose! What happens once in a moment, twice in a minute, but not once in a hundred-million years!?” Gypsy blurted out. She looked defiantly at Lyne who quietly looked back. For everything else, she’d answered right away, but this time, she maintained a tight-lipped silence. “Yes, you don’t know the answer. I’ve beaten you!”

“That’s enough!!” Lyne suddenly shouted. Gypsy blinked in surprise at how suddenly Lyne’s annoyance became fury. “I was willing to forgive you for asking more questions after I’d answered the first. I understand not wanting to lose too quickly, but you have to learn when to give in!”

“But… if I hadn’t gone on, I never would have gotten to a question you couldn’t answer.”

“Of course I can answer it! But first you must ask it correctly. The riddle is: What occurs once in a minute, twice in a moment, but not once in a hundred-thousand years. Or billion years, or just a plain hundred years, but not million! The answer is the letter M. How could you ask the riddle so wrong?”

‘Um, uh, I, er… I’m sorry,” Gypsy said meekly.

“*sigh* It’s fine. I understand stubborn,” Lyne said, looking back at Kroa and Grindel, seeing that Bass’s fight had managed to get closer. I wonder why he wouldn’t let me help? she thought as she released a deep breath.

“Now will you give her the chip?” Kizuki asked.

“Alright, I’ll give it to her, but it’s so cool-looking,” Gypsy moaned, looking down at the chip.

“Gypsy,” her NetOp growled, getting his navi to surrender the chip to Lyne with a heavy sigh.

“Serenade said you’d know what do with it Meg,” Gypsy said as Lyne took the chip and looked at it. The chip had a dark-colored pair of wings on it, similar to what her Angel Wings chip looked like.

On a hunch, Lyne then scanned the chip. Her eyes went wide with shock as she went over the chip’s functions. This is exactly the same as my chip, she thought as she looked back at Bass’s fight, seeing him get knocked down by a shadow virus. No! Connor’s in trouble. He needs this chip right now, she thought to herself as she ran over to where Bass and the shadow navi were fighting.
_________________
"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 19: The Undernet… Familiar yet New (Part 2)
__________________________________________

“There is nobody here to help you,” Alpha’s voice menacingly spoke to Nights. “This dark place is your end, and there is no escape from it.”

“No, you’re lying. The Ancient saved me.”

“Ah, The Ancient. Do you really think that he would waste his time on you? After all you failures?”

“He did. You and Zodiac tried to destroy me, but he brought me to Atlantis…”

“…for you are the promise of ten-thousand years,” a new voice spoke from the darkness. “This is why I have sought you out and brought you here to the Atlantis Server.”

That’s The Ancient. Those are the words he spoke when he brought me there, when he saved me. Is this place drawing out memories?

“The… the promise of ten-thousand years?”

And that’s my own voice.

“I don’t understand. What am I promised to be?”

“Oh, I knew it,” The Ancient spoke, now with an edge of annoyance in his voice. “We were supposed to receive a King, but we got The Fool instead. Your father certainly chose the right looks for your navi form.”

“What!? Ancient, what are you talking about?” Nights cried out. “That’s not what you said. You said I was to save Atlantis. I was to bring it back to glory! What’s going on?”

“We just wanted to remind you of how useless you are,” another voice growled. This time, it was Khan. “I told you, you were supposed to be destroyed long ago. My world doesn’t have any use for you. Stay here where you belong.”

“No. No, this isn’t real. You’re just a voice.” Nights started in surprise when a heavy hand fell on his shoulder and warm breath passed by his face.

“Now why am I not convinced that you believe that?”
__________________________________________

“DIE!” Bass cried out as he dealt a nasty blow to his opponent’s shoulder, making him back off.

He’s too powerful. You need me, a voice whispered seductively to Sable inside his head as he backed away. You know I’m right. Summon me forth to deal with him, the voice continued to plead, making Sable tremble with fear.

No. You’ll just hurt him. I can’t allow that. It’s not what Serenade told me to do, Sable thought back as he stopped backing away and readied to defend himself from Bass.

You can’t refuse me like that while you’re injured, the voice thought back venomously.I will win over you so I can fight the Master Dark Element. Sable faltered and lost his balance. He felt his face momentarily slacken, and then stretch into a grin as he collapsed to the ground. You are mine to control, the voice thought as he made Sable’s body stand up.

“Is that all you got?” Sable asked as his shoulder was being repaired by a chip he made appear in his hand. “He, he… You’re supposed to be the master dark element, and this is what you show me?” he questioned Bass as he gestured at his healing shoulder. “This is pathetic. Serenade asked me to pass judgment upon you to see if you’re worthy of that element.” A red aura glowed about the shadow warrior’s body. “Judgment Style Change Activate,” he commanded and the aura flared up, now too bright for Sable’s body to be seen.

“Huh?” Bass pondered as he watched his opponent do this.

“Idiot! Style Change!” Grindel called out from the back of his enare while Bass just gawked at the glowing red form.

“No point in yelling lad. He can’t at the moment. He already has,” Kroa said as he stood by his squire’s side.

“What do you mean he already has?” Grindel asked looking down at his master knight. “He’s Style Changed? He looks normal.”

“You can tell by the way his eyes are all aglow and his tone of voice lad,” Kroa explained. “Only NetDemons have this kind of transformation, but it’s not complete. I wonder why.”

“You sure we can’t help him? He’s just standing there.”

“Nope. He’s also fallen victim to another of the NetDemon urges: curiosity. That usually gets them into a lot of trouble,” Kroa replied as the shadow warrior came out of his transformation. The once purple sections of his armor were now black, and his visor was now dark red in color. Black, dragon-like wings were now attached to his back and were accented with red bladed talons, and his gloves and boots were accented with glowing red, curved blades.

“You weren’t kidding,” Grindel commented as he watched Bass’s jaw drop.

The judgment shadow warrior was now powering up an attack. “Oh Crap!” Bass exclaimed as he dodged the attack, a blast of dark energy. After that, the navi summoned five shadow viruses to attack Bass as he activated his double-bladed scythe, which now had red blades on it. He then jumped into the air, disappearing from sight. Bass just growled and bared his teeth in response as he charged forward and attacked the shadow viruses, showing them no mercy.

“Where’s Connor?” Lyne asked as she finally joined up with Kroa and Grindel. “He needs this.” She held up her hand, indicating the chip in it.

“Ahh,” Kroa breathed as he scanned the chip she held. “He’s right there,” he said, pointing at where Bass was fighting against the shadow viruses that remained. His cloak was now severely tattered due to them slashing at him.

I think he can handle those, but there is something else, she thought as she looked around for what she had sensed. She then saw a glint of glowing red way up above him. Now that’s not fair. Attacking someone when they’re not looking. I’ll show him, Lyne huffed as she activated her NetAngel style change. “Leave him alone,” she shouted as took off towards the mysterious figure and body slammed him full into his chest which knocked him into the ground. Bass was finishing his fight against the shadow viruses as Lyne was looking back up and she raised her hand, getting ready to throw him the chip. “Connor catch!” she called out, getting Bass’s attention.

“You stay out’a this Master Light Element. Muramasa!” the shadow navi called out as he sent a wave of dark energy at Lyne, knocking her out of the sky. Bass quickly slashed the last shadow virus in half so he would be free to check up on Lyne.

“You know he has a point. Why are you trying to help me? I didn’t ask you to,” Bass demanded as he helped Lyne into a sitting position.

Wow! That knocked me for a loop. That’s so odd. Connor has attacked me before with dark energy and I wasn’t hurt, “Eehhh,” Lyne exhaled as she supported herself with one of her arms. She then held out her other hand towards him. He watched her curiously as she tapped his chest with it.

“What?” he said as she dropped an object out of her hand and into his lap. He picked it up and examined it for a second before he asked, “What is this?”

Her eyes glossed over for a second. “With this you will be complete,” she said before her eyes returned to normal.

“RecoveryAtl 200,” Kroa said, using a recovery on Lyne to repair the damage that the Muramasa attack had done to her wing.

“Thank you. Just use that chip and you’ll win against that cheater,” Lyne said, darting her eyes past Bass at Sable, who stood there waiting for Bass to return to the match. Kroa then started helping Lyne up off the ground.

“I’d listen to her lad,” Kroa added in. “Angels are wise creatures after all. And don’t worry about her lad. You just concentrate on using that chip to finish this match.”

“Right,” Bass nodded as he gripped the chip in his right hand. “You’re going down for that attack on my friend Shadow Navi,” Bass growled as he absorbed it. Okay, now I have some options here. Activate or Sacrifice… Hum… Sacrifice is something you do when you have a new style change or something like that if I remember what Lyne told me about her style changes, he thought as he went over the options of the chip.

“C’mon Bass I don’t have all day to finish this “test”,” the shadow navi said, tapping his foot.

“Oh, shut up. Let him figure this out on his own,” Grindel snapped at the shadow navi.

“I’m fine. Sacrifice Demon Wings battle chip. NetDemon Style Change, Activate!” Bass exclaimed.

“Oh no you don’t. Not yet. Stone Tomb!” Sable called, making seven stone cubes fall out of the sky while Bass was in the middle of style changing. The stone cubes landed in a ring around Bass with the final one falling on top of him, basically entombing him.

“NOooo!” Lyne shrieked in horror as she watched her friend being entombed. “Why you…” she growled as she tried to charge at Sable, but felt suddenly unenergetic. “Huh?”

“You’re still injured young one. I used an Atlantian recovery on you. You’ll remain on your low power level until you’re fully recovered.” Lyne started crying in quiet frustration. “Shhh lass. I know you want to help, but this is his test, not yours, even though you gave him what he needs to finish his task. You just have to be patient like the rest of us,” he said. Grindel slumped forward at this. He wanted to charge at Sable as well to show him a thing or two for cheating like that, and Kroa knew this. “If you want something to do, hold her in your lap. She needs to be sitting down,” Kroa said, placing Lyne into Grindel’s lap.

“Aww, man. Now I’m angel sitting,” Grindel groaned as she was settled into his lap.

“Darn right. Now just sit there and make sure that she doesn’t fall off,” Kroa scolded, “and mind her wings. One of them is injured.” Kroa then looked out at the tomb as Lyne kept weeping. C’mon lad. Pull through for her sake, he projected out in hopes that Bass could hear him.
____________________________
~Serenade’s Ziggurat~

“Ooo, did you know she was going to beat me so easily?” Gypsy complained as she came up to where Serenade was. “She didn’t have to yell at me like that. So I got the riddle wrong. I was frustrated. I rushed. It happens, right?”

Serenade’s only response was a slight, “Nnn.” She didn’t look at Gypsy. All her attention was focused on Nights.

“Oh, hey, is he all right?” The scene Gypsy came across was Nights standing still in the center of the ornate archway. His face was upturned and his eyes were locked onto the ornamental eye which was at the top of the arch. Unlike before, however, the eye was open and now had a dark pupil. A ghostly energy flowed between it and Nights’s eyes. Occasional twitches were the only movements Nights made. Slight moans were the only sounds he made. “Is that thing hurting him? … Hey, Serenade.”

“Mmm,” was the Undernet Queen’s response. She shifted a little and chewed on her lip, but made no indication of noticing that anyone else was there.

“Well, that’s rude. Doesn’t she pay attention to what’s going on around her?” Gypsy started moving forward, walking noisily as she went to stand in front of Serenade. She stopped when a vid screen popped up in front of her.

“Hey, Gypsy, I really don’t think you should disturb her,” Kizuki said to his navi. She frowned a little, then started to move around the obstructing screen. The screen moved to block her again. “Seriously, this is Serenade here. The Undernet Queen. Don’t you think you might possible get on her bad side if you interfere here?”

“I’m not going to interfere,” Gypsy protested as she shoved the screen to the side. “I just want to get a response out of her.” She walked forward again and didn’t notice the groan of her NetOp or that he closed the window so he wouldn’t have to watch this. Gypsy walked right in front of Serenade and loudly spoke, “Hey Serenade!” She froze instantly when Serenade’s arm reflexively jerked up with a glowing sphere of energy held in its hand.

“Oh! Gypsy, what are you doing here?” Serenade said when she noticed who had intruded her view. However, she still held her arm up.

“Uhh, uhh.”

“That’s not much of a response. I asked you a question.” There was annoyance in the Undernet Queen’s voice, but also a hint of amusement.

“Ah… actually… maybe I should just go.” Gypsy tentatively slid a foot to the side to start moving away.

“No, don’t go anywhere. You did have a good reason for coming up here and interrupting me, didn’t you?”

Gypsy was shaking a bit as she responded. “I… well… that Angel passed, uh, her test. Uh, I really should probably go.”

“Oh, she did pass? That’s good. I thought that she might. Well, is that all you had to say?”

“Well… *gulp* I guess, nothing too important. I’m really sorry Serenade please don’t delete me,” Gypsy suddenly blurted out in a breathless rush. Serenade sighed and finally lowered her arm.

“I’m not going to delete you. But didn’t you think that you shouldn’t disturb me? This is a very important thing you know.”

“Well, yeah. Oh, that’s right. I was going to ask about the court jester here.” Serenade winced slightly at the disrespectful title Gypsy had just given Nights, but understood that she was trying to push away the stress she’d just been under by acting overly casual. “Is he alright?”

“Alright? That’s what I’m trying to gauge. This is a test, as I said, of his faith in himself. That makes it a very personal thing for him. He is being plagued, now, by his inner demons and insecurities. The weaker his resolve, the more real the phantoms in his mind become to him.”

“How real do they become? They couldn’t really hurt him, could they?”

“No. Not physically, if that’s what you mean. But mental abuse can leave scars as surely as physical can. Not to mention the anguish that failing this test would cause. I do pray that what he faces now is the worst of the trials he must undergo.”
__________________________________

Nights flailed frantically at the darkness around him. He’s really here! This is insane. How could Serenade allow Khan here!? He ran blindly on, stumbling in the dark with echoing laughter following him.

“A fool and a coward! You’ll never be king,” Khan’s voice called from behind him.

Nights slowed down and stopped, breathing heavily as his mind raced in confusion. This is crazy. Khan can’t be here! The test should have aborted, shouldn’t it? Of course it would have. What I’ve heard… they were memories. Voices from the past. Things from my mind. Then, is this in my mind? That must be it. His breathing slowed as he calmed down. “You cannot hurt me Khan. I will make it though this.”

“Ah, so I can’t hurt you? Because you are under protection no doubt. So, what protection do you have?”

“This is the assignment that I have for you,” The Ancient’s voice rang out again. “This is Steven. He’s meant to become King of Atlantis.”

“What am I to do Ancient?”

Kobito? That’s her voice. What’s this?

“He’s going to require protection, so you’ll have to provide that.”

“Oh, he’s that weak, is he?”

This isn’t real, Nights thought in distress.

“Yes, he’s quite weak. I don’t anticipate that will change either, so it’ll probably be a full time job.”

This isn’t real!

Kobito’s voice sounded very bored as it spoke. “Well, if I have to put up with it, I will. Is there anything else?”

“Yes. We’re supposed to pretend that he’s important.”

Stop it.

“Bolster his ego you know. You might even pretend that you like him.”

“Oh, do you want me to date him or something?”

“That would be fine. Not seriously of course.”

Stop it!

“Oh, yeah, just pretend. You’ll still be there when I’m done, right?”

“Of course my love.”

“STOP IT STOP IT STOP IT!!!”

“There’s nothing that we can do,” The Ancient said, and it sounded almost like he was answering Nights’s cry. Nights realized that the “scene” had just changed.

“But they’ll kill him!”

My voice again. Oh, this was… this is when Dad was taken by Zodiac.

“That could be, but there is nothing we can do. You cannot yet leave Atlantis, and what would you do if you could?”

“I’d… I… don’t know. Something. Tell someone what’s happened.”

“*sigh* I didn’t think you’d come up with anything better than that. A weak response from a weak navi.”

“The doom of Atlantis,” Kobito’s voice spoke.

“He’ll destroy all that we have left.” This time it was Kroa’s voice.

“You couldn’t save me as a navi. Even if you hadn’t gotten yourself killed in the first place, you still would have let me die,” came the voice of his father.

Nights fell to his knees, trembling all over as the tide of voices washed over him, berating him, beating him down. They all hate me. Can I make a difference? I was told I was to be King, but I haven’t earned anything. The only family I have left, my brother, he hates my guts. Why did he even come here on this quest? Is he just trying to make me feel better, like the others? The darkness around Nights felt thick while the unseen ground under him began to give way, pulling him under.

“Connor! Aguhhh! Stop!! Eeiii!” came a tortured scream from somewhere. It was faint, and should have been lost in the ringing laughter that was deafening Nights, but it somehow pierced through everything with a powerful clarity.

Lyne… That was Lyne! It wasn’t one of the phantoms here. It was real! “Stop the test! Serenade, stop this! They’re in trouble!”

“So you give up,” Serenade’s voice said with a nasty edge on it. “I knew you would when you came here. Well, that’s fine. I can always take over Atlantis like The Ancient offered.”

“Urrgh, no more phantoms!” Nights grunted as he struggled to his feet. Just the act of standing seemed to ease the pressure of the air around him and he was surprised to find that the ground was once again sturdy under him. “I have to help them out. They’re in trouble.”

“And how could you possibly help me?” Now it was Bass’s voice that spoke to him. All other voices stopped and only the one voice could be heard with perfect clarity. “Did you help me when I died as a child? No, you didn’t. You never even did anything to bring my murderer to justice, did you? The great Net Agent, Steven Cossack.”

“He covered his tracks well. We had suspects, but the only evidence we had couldn’t be traced to any of them.”

“Then you should have imprisoned all of them, shouldn’t you!?”

“That wouldn’t have been justice, Connor. Your curse was lifted. You know it would be wrong to do something like that.”

“Yes, the curse was lifted. And you had nothing to do with it. You didn’t even dare to show yourself to me until after Lyne broke it. If you’d been strong, you would have kept it from happening in the first place.”

“I’m sorry brother. No, I didn’t have the strength to stop Alpha. I couldn’t leave Atlantis to go to you. There’s nothing I can do to change any of that. All I can do now is move forward and use the power I have now to help you.” With this, Nights strode forward toward where the voice seemed to come from.

“You never had power before. What makes you think you have any power now?”

“I just have to remember that I have helped you. I’ve helped you and Lyne both. And I will do it now. Get out of my way!” Nights shouted, and as he did, he felt as if he was passing through something, like one last barrier of thick air. “Light! Finally!” And now, seeing his goal before him, Nights reached out his hand to claim it.
__________________________________

“Oh, he moved!” Gypsy exclaimed. Serenade just sighed in relief as Nights’s arm raised up and stretched forward. His foot slid forward and then Nights lifted his other foot and lunged forward, breaking the link with the eye at the top of the arch. Nights staggered a little and shook off his disorientation.

“Uh, I don’t suppose that anyone could have warned me just how bad it could be?” he muttered, then he looked up and moved on to collect the first piece of the Atlantian crown. He looked at it for a moment once he’d collected it, then turned around to look at Serenade. “I’ve got i-,” he said, then stopped when he saw the scene down below. “No, that isn’t allowed in this sacred place,” he gasped as he ran back down the Ziggurat, past Serenade.

“What’s wrong?” she asked as she watched Nights rush past her. “I see you got it bu-” She also stopped once she’d seen what Nights had seen. She then palmed her face with a grimace. “Sable,” she breathed out as she followed after him.
_______________________________________
~After Bass was entombed~

“C’mon Master Dark Element. I wanna play some more,” Sable called out as he drew a circle around the makeshift tomb with his muramasa blade and added several arcane runes.

“That navi is nuts!” Grindel exclaimed as he took notice of what Sable was doing. “He’s doing a dark ritual.”

“I know, but which one?” Kroa pondered as Sable touched down in front of them with a slight smirk on his face. “What do you want?”

“You know what I want old man. Give me the girl,” Sable demanded, pointing at Lyne who looked back at him with worry on her face.

“She’s not a part of the Demon’s test. Leave her be,” Kroa warned as he activated his staff and stood defensively in front of his squire and Lyne.

“Why to you have to be so stubborn? Poltergeist!” Sable called out, sending large chunks of data flying at Kroa, who was knocked out of the way. Sable then appeared by Grindel’s side. “Let me have her,” he demanded, once more holding his muramasa blade up to Grindel’s neck. “Or do you want to end up like the old man?” Grindel held Lyne closer to him until he heard something behind Sable.

“Hum… Now I see what you’re trying to do lad. Tut, tut,” Kroa said, drawing Sable’s attention to the tomb where he’d trapped his opponent. “I warn you Shadow Warrior, what you seek you won’t like at all… But if it is what you want… Grindel, let him have her.”

“Are you sure Kroa?” Grindel asked, wondering why Kroa was seemingly willing to put Lyne in danger.

“Don’t question me!” Kroa shouted at Grindel, who instantly let go of Lyne, allowing Sable to take her from his lap. Sable then kicked off from the ground and took flight. Lyne still felt very low on power and couldn’t even put up a struggle.

As they floated in the air above the tomb for a minute, Lyne asked wearily, “What do you need me for?” Sable didn’t answer right away. He held her arm at the wrist and held her hand out over the tomb. The center stone cracked outward from the middle, startling her.

“I only need you to awaken the demon inside the Master Dark Element. Then maybe he’ll be worth fighting. He was putting on a pitiful display earlier, and I become easily bored. Now keep your hand there,” he requested as Lyne’s arm started to droop. “Grrr… Maybe the old man shouldn’t have used that recovery on you. Program Freeze.” Lyne suddenly stiffened and whimpered quietly in worry. Sable then readjusted her hand once more. Finally satisfied that she wasn’t going to be droopy, he raised his arm and made his muramasa appear in it, ready to stab her hand.

NO! Don’t harm her! She didn’t do anything wrong, Sable thought to his Dark Soul, catching Lyne’s attention.

“No what are you doing?” Lyne asked, horrified as she noticed the blade out of the corner of her eyes.

You can’t stop me I’m in control, the Dark Soul thought back to him making his Good Soul sniffle and whine. “I going to do this, gurah.” He stabbed the blade of his dark element sword through her hand, making her gasp at the sudden pain.

You F*ckn' Asshole! Sable mentally cried as he watched from his trapped place in his mind.

“Aghhh!” Lyne shrieked in pain before she called out, “Connor!” Sable twisted the blade a little in her hand, “Aguhhh! Stop!”

“Program Unfreeze,” Sable commanded as he withdrew his blade from her hand, making Lyne reflexively close it shut. “No, no. You’re supposed to keep that open. He needs to know you’re here,” he said as he grabbed her hand and squeezed it to force it open. Lyne’s data started to drop out of the wound onto the tomb and into its cracks. “Now all I have to do is wait.”
___________________________________

“MMmmnnnn,” Bass moaned as he placed his hand on the side of his face. “Wha’ happened?” he asked groggily as he looked above him. “Guahh… He had to drop a stone cube on me in the middle of my style change process.” Bass then grinned slightly. “Looks like I cracked it though.” He then relaxed a little bit before he felt something wet drip onto his face.

“Huh? What is this?” he pondered as he wiped his face and looked at the substance. His eyes went wide with shock, “Data?! Am I hurt? No… wait,” he sniffed his hand. “Lyne is hurt.” He then noticed that data seamed to be raining down all around him. “And really badly. Ughh,” he moaned as he held his hand over his nose to stop breathing in the smell of the data around him. It was starting to make him nauseous. Unfortunately the smell became too overwhelming and he passed out.

After a little bit, his body sat back up, still holding its hand over his nose. “Why is it so stinky in here?” his voice pondered in a deeper, more mature tone than before. “Better question: why am I awake?” He looked around and saw that the cracks in the stones provided a look at the outside world. What he saw through the crack angered him. “If I’m where I think I am, what that dark navi has just committed isn’t allowed here. I’ve got to do something about this… Wait, I’m inside a demon, aren’t I?” He slapped his host form’s forehead once he realized why the smell around him was so overpowering.

He opened his eyes and looked over the hand in front of them. Then he looked over his host’s navi armor with interest. “Actually, a Network Demon. I forgot about being inside this one. Now, let’s see what he was up to that got him trapped down here.” He accessed Bass’s recently run programs. “Oh… That’s why… Well,” the voice said and a smile played on Bass’s face. “Why don’t I finish the process for you host master? I’ll show this dark navi how to wield true dark power. NetDemon Style Change activate!”
______________________________________

The ground began to quake. “See? It is awake,” Sable said, drawing Lyne’s attention to the tomb. “I don’t need you anymore.” Sable let Lyne go and she, still weak, couldn’t catch herself as she fell. As she plummeted, the tomb exploded with great force. A dark blur sped out of the cloud of dust and debris that the tomb became. The blur sped to her, caught her, and placed her on the ground before it disappeared again.

“Connor!” Lyne breathed out barely getting a glimpse of him since he was moving around the area so quickly. “Agnn,” she moaned as Kroa wrapped a cloth around her hurt hand.

Sable watched as the dark blur came to a floating stop in front of him. “Good of you to grace my presence with your show of power Master Dark Element.”

“Why would I honor you?” the strange voice replied as he pointed at Sable. “You desecrated sacred ground and caused harm to an angel. You should be deleted for these acts.”

“So,” came Sable’s cocky response. “Your host is too weak to handle your power. Bring it.” Sable then taunted his opponent with a beckoning hand.

Lyne watched as the two forms charged at each other. From where she was on the ground, she couldn’t make out Bass’s form. She knew he must’ve changed somehow. She could sense it. Nights and Serenade finally caught up with them. Nights rushed up to check up on Lyne. “Is she alright?” Serenade asked Nights with concern in her eyes.

“She’s fine for the moment, but I’m more worried about my brother. I can’t sense him,” Nights replied as he cradled Lyne in his arms.

“You won’t lord. Young Sable awoke the Master Dark Element,” Kroa said, drawing both rulers’ attention. “And she was wounded by a muramasa blade.”

“I’ll stop this insanity,” Serenade said as she left them to stop the fight. She floated in the air for a moment before she powered up an attack. “Bright Flare!” she called out blinding both figures. In the middle of an attack, the combatants collided with each other and fell out of the sky.

Lyne instinctively rose up, despite the pain she was in, and forced herself to run over to catch Bass. Once she finally caught him, she got a chance to look his new armor over. He no longer had a full helmet. It was, instead, a wide ring about his head with a triangular crest centered on it, and that was where his familiar star gem was. Three fins branched out from each side of the ring. The helmet ring also exposed his hair, and while it was still spiky, Lyne was surprised to see that it had grown quite a lot in length, now reaching to his lower back. Between his shoulders stretched a pair of wings, much like her own. These were made of dark purple energy, although they fluctuated into black and back again. His armor was a lustrous, dark grey and his gloves and boots were all black. Gold spikes accented his elbows and knees and were adorned with blue gems while plain gold armor curved off of his shoulders. He was also wearing a black tunic lined with gold that went halfway down his thighs like Lyne’s did.

His eyes then slowly opened. “Are you alright Connor?”

“Mmnnn,” he moaned as he rubbed his eyes trying to get them to focus. “Jeez Serenade.”

“Connor?” Lyne asked in concern as she watched him rub his eyes. She then realized his tone of voice was different. “Are you alright?”

He looked at Lyne finally able to see her. “Oh… Good to see you’re doing fine Light element bearer.”

“Connor, you do know who I am, right?” Lyne asked, puzzled by what he had just called her.

“Oops. I should’ve told you. I’m not Connor,” he said and Lyne was startled to hear this. “I’m sorry, but my name is Dark.”

“Dark? What happened to Connor?”

“He’s sleeping right now,” he replied. Lyne’s worry was showing obviously and Dark put a hand gently on her shoulder to try and calm her. “Don’t worry, he’s fine, but I must sleep now so he can awaken.” He then took up her hand to look at her wound. “And so he can take care of this,” he said as he finished his examination of her wound, which was starting to turn dark purple around the edges. He then closed his eyes.

“What’s happening to me?” Lyne pondered as she noticed the dark purple spots start to get bigger. Bass’s eyes reopened while she was examining her injury. He had a calm, dazed look on his face as he looked at Lyne and she wondered if there was still something wrong. Then he took her hand and ripped off the cloth that Kroa had wrapped on her wound. She saw that there were dark purple streaks trailing along her glove armor. Before she could form any questions about this phenomenon, Bass distracted her when he started licking her wound. “EWW!” Lyne squealed as she pulled her hand away from Bass. “Connor, stop,” she said as she held out her finger in front of his face. He then smacked the hand away and grabbed her injured one again. Before she could jerk her hand away again, Bass pinned her down and growled. “NO!” she shouted as she shoved him off of her.

Bass squatted down and sat there, growling at Lyne. “Let him do it Lyne. His body will be able to absorb all the impurities in your wound,” Kroa said as he placed a reassuring hand on her shoulder, then pressed down gently to get her to sit on the ground.

“But it’s gross!” she whined.

“He’s in a trance Lyne. I bet his element put him under it. He won’t be released from it until he takes care of that wound. So I suggest you let him do it.”

“Okay,” Lyne moaned as she held out her injured hand. Bass practically jumped at her, quickly grabbed her hand again, and returned to licking her wound. Lyne noticed the dark steaks started to recede as he relaxed into her chest, still licking her wound. Lyne was feeling really tense and winced each time Bass went over the wound with his tongue.

In the background, Sable was getting chewed out by Serenade until Lyne heard the words, “Now apologize,” come from Serenade’s mouth.

“I couldn’t help it. My DS got the better of me!” Sable argued back explosively.

“Fine but don’t think this won’t be overlooked. I’m going to be calling Darkman for a chat,” Serenade said as she opened up her e-mail program.

“But Serenade, I said it wasn’t my fault,” he moaned as he watched her leave him. “Damn, this bites.”

“Yeah. I’m sorry for what he did to you Sable,” another female voice said, changing Lyne’s focus. She saw the veiled navi she had met before: Gypsy. “Ewww,” she drew out as she looked down at what Bass was doing to Lyne’s wound. “And you’re actually letting him do that? Gross!”

“For some reason, it’s helping get rid of the pain,” Lyne replied as she smiled at Bass.
Bass stopped shortly after and sat upright, licked her on the cheek, and then settled down, resting his head on her shoulder as he went into sleep mode peacefully.

Did he just mean to kiss me? Lyne pondered as she placed a hand where he had licked her cheek.

“Aww, that was sweet,” Serenade said in a sing-song voice.

“You know it doesn’t count,” Kroa added. “He was under a trance and won’t remember any of this.”

“I know, but it’s still cute,” Serenade said with Gypsy nodding in agreement.

Lyne looked down at her once-injured hand saw that there was no longer a hole there. “Wow, it’s completely healed. But how?”

“Muramasa is a dark element weapon,” Serenade started to explain, but stopped when Lyne huffed.

“What do you think he is?” Lyne asked Serenade. “He’s a dark element navi. I’ve been attacked by him before and I wasn’t harmed by his dark attacks, and the same goes for him when I attack him with my light element attacks.”

“I was getting there before you interrupted me,” Serenade said. She took a deep breath before continuing. “We happen to be on sacred ground. While you and he are on sacred ground, opposite element weapons and attacks can harm you, but can also help in healing you. Thus, only Bass could heal your wounds Meg. And, as you said, the reverse will happen when you use your light element attacks and weapons on a dark element navi or virus. I happened to have used a light element attack to stop their fight, so you might want to just keep close to his side so he can be healed.”

“Okay,” Lyne replied. Deciding that sleep mode sounded pretty good right now, Lyne shifted Bass so he wouldn’t be on his wings and laid down next to him. She heard him sigh contentedly as she went to sleep.
______________________________
Next Episode Preview

~Hikari Household~

Megaman: You look bored Lan.
Lan: Yeah, I am. I didn’t notice how much I’ve come to depend on bugging Connor and our sister for entertainment.
Megaman: It’s only been a day that they’ve been gone. Are you really that bored already?
Lan: Aww, only a day!? How am I going to cope the entire week without pestering them?
Megaman: Y’know, it’s really a lot better for your health to not bug Bass.
Lan: Nah, he’s harmless. Waaah!
Bass: *Exits jack in port and looks around.* Darn. Are you the only one here?
Lan: Uh, yeah. What are you doing here? You’re supposed to still be in the Undernet.
Bass: Yeah, but I needed to do something before the next episode started. Do you know where Raika is?
Lan: Well, I could contact him. Megaman, could you shoot him a message?
Megaman: Sure.
Lan: So why do you need to get a-hold of him anyway?
Bass: Lyne and I need new IDs. Don’t tell anyone.
Lan: New IDs? Why the heck do you need new IDs?
Bass: Err, it’s for the next episode. I realized we’d need different IDs for some of those scenes.
Lan: Uhhh, okay… I don’t get it. What’s so special about these scenes that you’d need new IDs?
Bass: I… really don’t know if I should say.
Editor: *Appears through plot-hole.* It’s because they’re minors. But don’t worry about it Bass. You only need to act. We wouldn’t actually mess with the law like that.
Bass: Then how do you explain the orange juice from last-
Editor: Gotta’ go now! *Escapes through plot-hole.*
Bass: Hey! Darn it.
Raika: *From monitor.* Megaman said you needed to see me? What’s this about Connor?
Bass: Oh never mind! I’m going back to the Undernet to wait. *Exits through jack in port.*
Raika: What was that all about?
Lan: Not sure. Probably Author and Editor not telling them everything about what’s going on. Oh, hey! This must be an episode preview.
Raika: Yeah. I can still see the plot-hole. I guess this means we make the announcement?
Lan: Great! So then, next time on Lan and Lyne S2…
Raika: …Episode 20: Enter the Frozen Realm.
_________________
"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]

WHEE! A great chapter to read before school starts... T_T Hate...school...and I'm going to be a senior! *sighs* Ah well, can't wait to read more!
_________________

Sig by Hikari Angel

[Zodiac]

Well, we aren't sure what the near future is going to hold. Due to military requirements, I am being sent down to the hurricane-ravaged areas for a couple of months. I have a laptop and episode twenty, but no guaratee of internet connection, or even power to recharge with, any time soon. I will of course get in touch with Megawoman as soon as I can to get things working for the fict, but we cannot tell you when the next episode will be finished. See you all when I can.
_________________
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

[Midnight]

Good lord, this is beginning to read like a novel now.

I enjoy lengthy chapters, but there is one thing about these chapters that makes them a tad unwieldy--their length. Fatigue sets in for the reader, and it makes one less likely to finish the chapter in one sitting. Perhaps you can consider breaking up these chapters into smaller, more manageable parts as to allow the reader to spell themselves.

Otherwise, it is turning out fabulous.
_________________
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

[Lan1220]

Lenghty chapters are goooood~.

[Megawoman.EXE]

Well the next chapter is a two parter too, so maybe I should post them seperate. How does that sound, and I'll make a little interlude sceene for the middle. Let me know before 20 is posted.
_________________
"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

[Iceman.EXE]

In all honesty, I like the lengthy chapters. Gives me something to do. XD

This last one was extremely good. ^_^ I liked the NetDemon style change.

And after you finish Lan and Lyne, you should look into writing a book and getting it published. I'd buy it.
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---
Avatar from www.croik.com/PW/

[Midnight]

Well...it is up to you. After all, you are the author, and an excellent one at that. Personally, I'd like it if the chapter was broken into rough halves, but then again, it is your call.
_________________
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

[Rex]

this history is getting better and better and yay for lenghty chapters you're the best ^_^
_________________

[soberflight]

Count me as another vote for the 2-parters. It may be considered lengthy for an episode, but I don't have to sit through it all at once if I choose not to...and I don't even have to divide it up by parts if I leave it for a spell...I can break wherever I want...though, so far, I always read each posting all the way. I also liked the Net Demon style change.

[Kai]

Shouldn't there, like... be a credit line somewhere saying that Sable, Gypsy, and Kizuki belong to me..? .-.

[Kai]

Shouldn't there, like... be a credit line somewhere saying that Sable, Gypsy, and Kizuki belong to me..? .-.

[Megawoman.EXE]

I put it in the credit section at the begining of season two on page 4 of this thread. I didn't forget to give you credit at all. Go ahead and check it out sometime.
_________________
"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]

Sorry for Double Post, but I'm the author and this is really big news for the fict.

I went to the doctor on Monday and he has diagnosed me with a mild case of carpetunnel. T-T This was my first thought, but I have a speach function on my computer so I can still type in a way. That means the fict will keep coming. I won't let this problem wear me down, and am hoping for continued support from the fans of this fict.
_________________
"NetAngel Style Change Activate"
Megawoman (Lyne)

Avatar made by Serenade.exe

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

[Midnight]

That's perfectly fine. Take your time. Your chapteres are sufficiently long, anyway, to allow the reader to read it and be occupied with it for quite some time.

Anyway, good luck with the future chapters, and again, it's a mark of integirty that you are not letting this condition strike you down.
_________________
Today, these three players are after Big Bucks! But they'll have to avoid the Whammy, as they play the most exciting game of their lives! From Television City in Hollywood! It's time to 'Press Your Luck!'--Rod Roddy

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

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

[Megawoman.EXE]

Authors Note: With that said here's chapter 20 part 1.

___________________________________________
Episode 20: Enter the Frozen Realm: Part 1

~16 November 200X~ A few hours after the events of Episode 19~ Serenade’s Ziggurat~

Lyne walked out of a tent that Grindel was made to construct while they were waiting for Bass to recover. Nights approached her as she exited it. “How’s he doing?”

“He should be fine now,” Lyne said before stretching her wings. “At least he doesn’t need mine or Serenade’s assistance right now.” The Undernet Ruler exited the tent then along with Gypsy.

“Yep. All we have to do is wait for him to wake up,” said as she came up to them. “Your brother is a really tough navi. It’s going to take more then that to take him down.” She placed a reassuring hand on Night’s shoulder as she continued speaking. “If you don’t mind. I’m going to have a chat with Darkman.” She walked away with Gypsy close behind her, then called over her shoulder, “Sable, you stay here.”

The shadow navi hung his head in shame. “Yes Ma’am.”

“I’m going to wait inside and keep an eye on him,” Lyne said, leaving Nights standing there wringing his hands in uncertain worry.

“Don’t worry young lord,” Kroa said as he sat down beside a campfire he and Grindel constructed. “Not like one little dark ritual program is going to harm a dark element navi. And trust me that was a little dark ritual. It could’ve been worse.”

“Don’t remind me,” Nights said as he sat down beside him to relax.
__________________________________________
~Inside tent~

Lyne took a seat beside the sleeping figure that lay in a silver, black, and purple lump on the middle a rug. Bass had been sleeping very peacefully until she and Serenade started to heal the wounds inflicted by Serenade’s attack. The discomfort probably had to do with what the attack affected: his eyes. After they had finished he went back into a peaceful sleep. While she sat there waiting, she watched him as he tried to roll over onto his back, but of course, the wings made that very difficult, and Gospel didn’t help either. He’d been lying there, either to provide warmth to Bass, or to enjoy warmth from him. Regardless, Bass’s shifting about disturbed Gospel enough that he moved to another part of the tent, although he shortly decided he’d had enough sleep and left.

Lyne smiled to herself while she watched Bass sleep, happily spacing out. Her attention was caught when one of his wings twitched. He stretched it out to its full extent and then retracted it suddenly, as if the sensation he felt was odd or something to be frightened of, but the expression on his face proved otherwise.

That felt good, she heard him think as he started to move both wings alternately.

Lyne put a hand over her mouth, suppressing a giggle. Why does that make me think of a cat? Yeah, it’s like a cat kneading a blanket when it’s purring in its sleep. She squeezed her eyes shut and shook silently at the thought. She heard more movement and opened her eyes to see what Bass was doing now. He had his arms extended out in front of him, his wings completely folded out, and his back arched so that his butt was sticking up in the air: a classic cat-stretch, except with wings. If it weren’t for the toothy grin on his face, Lyne might have been able to contain herself, but that was really just too much for her to take. She rolled on the ground, laughing her head off.

“Huh? Who’s there?” he asked, and then covered his mouth, realizing that he was speaking in DemonScript.

“It’s alright,” Lyne cooed as she rose up off the ground only to kneel down by his side. “I’m glad you’re awake.” She gently pulled his hand away from his mouth. “You had me worried for a bit there.”

“What happened to me? Why am I talking in DemonScript? Did I go Berserk?” Bass started asking in a hysterical tone, and the expression on his face grew further towards panic when he tasted something in his mouth. He breathed into the palm of his hand and inhaled, double-checking in hopes that the familiar taste wasn’t what he thought it was. “Did I hurt you? I smell your data on my breath.”

“No. You style changed while fighting Sable. C’mon, eat some data to get your strength back up,” Lyne said, offering him some data as he looked down at the front of his armor. She waved the data in front of him to get his attention back. He then grabbed it and consumed fast enough that he should have choked on it, but he swallowed it down well enough and felt a lot better. He then noticed an odd sensation on his back and turned his head to see what was wrong.

“Wings? When did I get these?” he asked in a horrified tone as he willed one of them to move. “Is this part of…?” he asked Lyne, who was already nodding in anticipation of the question. Why me? Bass wondered to himself as he hung his head.

“That’s not all Connor.” He looked back up at her and accepted an offered mirror.

“Cool. This armor must be kick ass, but I was wondering why my head was feeling heavy. My hair grew out.” Bass reached behind him to find out how long it was. “A lot!” he said in shock as he discovered it went down to his butt. He then pulled it out from behind him and activated a small blade program. “ I don’t need all this,” he said as he cut a good majority of it off. Pleased with the shorter length of his hair, he smiled… until it grew back. “What?!” He then cut it again multiple times, each time with the same result. After his final attempt, he dropped his blade in defeat.

“Maybe it won’t stop while you’re still style changed,” Lyne suggested as Nights came in to check up on Bass.

“Good to see you up. How are you feeling?” Nights asked. He received an angry glare and backed away a little.

“Confused, if you must know,” Bass growled, “My hair has grown down to my ass, I have wings and new armor. Did I even win the fight?” he shouted as he pulled on his long hair, trying to show it who was boss.

“Well…” Lyne started and Bass snapped a glare at her. “It was more like a tie. Serenade broke it up before it got nasty. Is Sable going to get in trouble for what his DS did to this sacred area?”

“Of course. It was his DS that forced the activation of brother’s new armor without his knowledge,” Nights said, and Bass looked back over at him. “He’s going to get bound to a shadow pact for what he did to you both.”

“What did he do to Lyne?” Bass asked, completely clueless as to what Nights was talking about. Nights then went into an explanation of what happened, but excluded the fact that his element was in control of his body during the fight. He also explained what he did to Lyne’s wound when the fight was over and his face twisted in disgust at hearing about it. He then noticed something about Lyne. “Wait! Why hasn’t my style change deactivated along with Lyne’s?” he asked, pointing out that she hadn’t dropped out of her NetAngel Style change.

“For starters, this a new style change, which means your system is getting used to it, and you’re both linked, so as long as you’re style changed, she is too. Plus, this is going to be the only one you can activate while you’re down here. You and Lyne are also being tested, and we all passed our first tests.” Nights then walked to the enterance of the tent. “Now get up off the ground. We’re getting ready to leave.”

“Jeez, why does he have to be so pushy?” Bass asked as he got up off the ground. His balance was pretty shaky with the new weight on his back.

“Do you want any help?” Lyne offered as Bass finally stood upright.

“No, I’m fine. I can do this on my own,” he said as he pushed her back with one of his wings. They then exited the tent together. They saw Gypsy giving Sable a friendly hug, but he didn’t seem to be enjoying it.

“You be careful and come back in one piece. I don’t want you hurt,” Gypsy said as she finished the hug.

“Posh! I’ll be fine,” Sable said. Gypsy responded by grabbing his face and forcing him to look at her.

“And don’t listen to that stupid DS of yours. He’s a moron!” He looked at her with scared, wide eyes and almost imperceptibly nodded his head in forced agreement. He wasn’t sure who to be more afraid of at the moment: her or his DS.

“Yes Ma’am!” Sable replied in a high pitched voice, getting her to let go of his face.

“Good. I’m glad you saw my point,” she said before she started cleaning off her claws.

“Yes, I saw all ten of them,” Sable said, rubbing the sides of his face as the little cuts Gypsy inflicted healed. He then noticed Bass approaching them. “Well, look who finally woke up. I would call you bat ears but those fins on the sides make you look like you have dog ears now.”

“Gurrr! Take that back!” Bass rumbled as he slashed at Sable with his hand, which now looked like it had claws like Gypsy’s. His hand passed though, and Bass followed after it, falling to the groundl. “Damn Shadow Body,” Bass huffed as he laid there on the ground.

“Sable, stop teasing Bass,” Lyne scolded him as he became solid once more. The shadow navi looked as if he wanted to run off and Lyne couldn’t imagine that being because of her. She glanced back at what he was looking at and saw Serenade approaching with Darkman. The darkly masked and cloaked navi loomed over Lyne when he finally came to a stop nearby. She nervously edged over behind Bass as he was getting up off the ground.

Always using me as a shield. Honestly, is that all I am? Bass thought. The words suggested bitterness, but there was definite amusement in the tone. I wonder what Darkman is here for.

“Teasing like that will make your DS want to come back out and I don’t think you want that. Do you Sable?” Serenade asked, and Sable shook his head. “As I have told you Darkman, your pupil needs to learn some self control over his DS’s urges.”

“I see, but the results didn’t turn out that bad,” Darkman said as he looked Bass over. “I might even add that it is quite an improvement over his other armor.”

“Ahem, he could do that on his own Darkman. In fact, according to Sable, he was in the middle of activating it when his DS trapped him to aggravate the element inside Bass.”

“Sable’s DS did what?” Darkman rumbled. It was Sable’s turn to find a shield this time. Gypsy seemed to be about as amused to be chosen for the job as Bass was.

“Sounds like your DS got you into big trouble this time,” Gypsy whispered to him, getting a tiny nod from him, although she couldn’t see it.

“Sable, come out and accept your punishment,” Darkman called out. The scene was still for a moment, then Gypsy sighed and stepped off to the side. Sable hung his head and shuffled his feet nervously.

“Some freakin’ shield you are,” Sable muttered.

“I know better than to challenge your Master,” Gypsy said to him, then patted him on the shoulder with a, “Good luck,” and logged out.

“Some friend she is,” Sable grumbled as he stood there.

“Now,” Darkman said, and that was as much as he needed to say. Sable went to stand on Nights’s shadow and activate Shadow Body once more. “Good lad. You know what I’m going to do. Shadow Pact,” he commanded making Sable glow purple for a moment and disappear from sight.

“Cool, he’s gone,” Bass cheered as he walked over to Nights stop by his side where Sable had been.

“Hey! Get off me demon podo. I can’t see,” a voice called out from underneath him. He jumped in surprise, and got more of a surprise by how high he went, his wings having instinctively flexed with the jump. Unfortunately, the one beat of the wings was the only one that instinct provided and he sprawled down on the ground with a thud. “Ha, ha, ha. He can’t even fly.”

“Are you alright, Connor?” Lyne whispered as she helped him off the ground.

“Oww!” he moaned as he rubbed his back. “Why didn’t I stay airborne?” He opened up the directory for his style change to figure out what was wrong. “Grrr. That’s why.” Bass pointed at the open window. “My flight mechanics have been messed up. I really hate this style change.” He then brought his wings forward so he could hide his face and torso.

Lyne parted his wings a little so she could peek through at him. “I can teach you how to fly you know,” she said with a smile, making him relax a little.

“We don’t have time for that,” Nights said. Both NetAngel and NetDemon let their wings droop in disappointment. “We have to go. I want to get pretty far into then next realm by full darkness,” Nights said as he mounted his enare.

“Mmnn, can’t he just say by midnight?” Bass whispered to Lyne who shrugged her shoulders as she was helped onto her enare by Grindel. Bass then started looking around for something he felt was missing.

“Is this what you were looking for?” Serenade asked, holding out a piece of tattered cloth which Bass snatched up. “Now, no need to be a grouch.” She reached out to him and, despite his effort to escape, she managed to pull him into a hug.

“Serenade, let go of me,” Bass said, shuddering at her unexpected touch. He then started struggling in her grip to try and free himself.

“It’s understandable that you don’t want to be hugged. You’re still a little sensitive, but this is my way of wishing you luck,” she said as she let go of him and tied his hair with a gold colored clasp to help keep his hair from going all over the place. “You’ll thank me for it later. Now get going.” She gave the confused half navi a gentle shove away from her then walked past him to get in front of the group. She opened up a NetPortal and a chilly breeze escaped from it, bringing glittering flecks of data with it. The breeze didn’t last long, but the data flecks continued to drift lazily out. Bass then mounted his own enare as his virus nudged his foot.

“What do you want?" Bass asked, looking down at his virus. Gospel just sat there and wagged his tail. “*Sigh* Fine, but no more until we stop.” Bass threw down a few computer bugs for Gospel and he gobbled them up instantly.

“Good luck on your quest, Nights, Lyne, Bass, and be safe,” Serenade said as she stepped to the side of the large NP. Kroa and Grindel passed through it first, and the rest of the group followed, leaving Serenade and her Realm of the Undernet behind.

While they traveled the path of the NetPortal Bass repaired his cloak and put it on. Of course, it draped oddly on his wings which started to itch. He grumbled as he tried rubbing his wings together to relieve the itching. He ground his teeth and rubbed his wings harder when the itching didn’t stop right away, and then the itchy appendages impulsively stretched out followed by a ripping noise. Bass’s eyes went wide with shock as he realized what he had just done and he hung his head in frustration. “Oh man.”

Before they exited the pathway, Kroa, Grindel, and Nights all activated cloaks and wrapped them around themselves. Bass was a little confused by this since the air in the pathway wasn’t that cold. Then they reached the exit Portal and entered an open, white plain. “Burr!! It’s cold,” Bass complained as he pulled his wings in as close to his body as he could. Then a breeze passed through and he discovered the goose bump raising properties of wind chill.

“You could say that again,” Lyne said as she called up her own cloak, reformatted it to warmth-retaining thickness, and added a hood. She then wrapped it around her shoulders and placed the hood on her head. “Ahh, much better. We’ve ended up on a snowy plain,” Lyne observed as she looked around them.

“This is snow?” Bass asked as he pointed at the ground. Lyne nodded as Bass got off his enare to touch it. I remember the last time I saw snow. Somewhat. My human memories are kinda’ fuzzy when I think about them on my own. But when she’s with me, they become clear. He picked up a clump of snow and looked at it a moment. Yeah, clearer, he thought as patted the material in his hand into a little ball and smiled. He then stood up and stared at Lyne for a moment.

“Why are you looking at me like that?” Lyne asked. He grinned happily and answered by tossing the ball in his hand without warning, and Lyne threw up a Light Aura to block it. “Stop that Connor!” she shrieked as he started throwing more of them at her.

“Stop what?” Bass asked as bent down to rearm, and he almost jumped again when a cold ball of snow burst against the side of his face. He whipped a scowl at Lyne and started a massive barrage, but Lyne just stayed securely behind her Aura and stuck her tongue out at him.

Nights ignored the pair of half navis as he dismounted his enare to check up on Kroa and Grindel, who had stopped ahead of him and were looking out into a snow-covered valley. “So where do we go from here?” he asked once he was by their side.

“We won’t make it to Vanhilla tonight if that is what you’re trying to ask,” Grindel said and then lurched forward on his saddle when Kroa’s staff smacked him in the back of the head.

“That was rude lad.” Kroa reprimanded the younger guard, then turned to Nights. “We should be able to make that part of the mountain range before full darkness.”

“Really? That far? Why not further?” Nights asked curiously.

“If you read the clouds young lord, they say there’s going to be a blizzard tonight. I wouldn’t dare go any further with the threat of a blizzard in the sky.”

“Fine, we’ll rest up there and continue in the morning,” Nights said as he returned to his enare. “Okay you two. Let’s get moving.”

“Are you sure we’re still on the Undernet?” Bass asked as he looked around them.

“Yes. This is the Frozen Realm of the Undernet. It is lorded over by a navi named Beowulf,” Nights explained as Bass went to remount his enare. He was surprised to see that its appearance had changed and stopped to examine it as Nights finished saying, “We’re going to visit him.”

What kind of creatures are these enares? I don’t know what to compare them to, Bass contemplated as he mounted his ride. It, along with the others, all had thick, furry coats. I went to the zoo with Lyne, but I don’t remember seeing anything like them. ‘Course, I wasn’t there too long, was I? Heh, heh. Bass grinned, remembering how that day ended. It was a real struggle to keep him out of the lion’s den. His grin faltered and he sighed in disappointment. I coulda’ taken them. Why’d Lyne have to scold me like that? I’ll be lucky if she even tries to take me when the Zoo opens up again in Spring.

Bass could see that the two guards and his brother had already started off, going deeper into the cold realm. It’s strange, he thought, following after them. I was in the Undernet for years, but I’ve never seen this place. We can’t be still in the Undernet. The enares were moving at a steady clip, and a very fast one at that. The wind started picking up and brought snow up off the ground with it. Bass could hardly see, especially since the enares ahead were kicking snow back at him as they ran. This place is worse than the Dead Zone, he thought as he activated his face guard to protect it from the cold wind.

They traveled along for what felt like forever before Grindel spotted what looked like a cave carved out of one of the mountains. Once they got to it, the blizzard started up, blowing at full force. Gospel made a howl of complaint and sneezed, then lay down on the ground and moaned. Lyne knelt down to check up on him.

“Hmm, this realm’s weather must be too much for your companion Connor,” Nights said as Kroa and Grindel started investigating the cave. “You should send him back.”

“He’s not sick Nights,” Lyne said as she finished checking up on the virus wolf. “He’s just low on energy and cold. I guess we’re not the only ones affected by this weather. I noticed that full navis seem to not be effected by any weather at all, but we’re able to feel the cold along with Gospel. I’ve also noticed that there are no viruses around in the area. So that must mean that they’re effected by the weather too, pretty much making this a safe zone of the network.”

“Then what would take care of the computer bugs?” Bass asked, making Gospel’s ears perk up. “Or is this what happens to a Zone that doesn’t have any viruses? Jeez, my wings are stiff. They can barely move.”

“Let me help with that,” Lyne said as she walked up to Bass’s back and started rubbing his wings to warm them up.

“Oh there are viruses in the area,” Kroa said as he grabbed what looked like round logs from the corner of the cave before he started to make a digital fire in the center of it. He lit the cyber logs with a fire chip, engulfing the cave and its entrance with light. “They’re just being smart by staying out of the storm out there, like we are. And navis have a higher tolerance for the cold then you both do, but don’t doubt that we can’t freeze lass.” Kroa noted a door toward the back of the cave. “Grindel, check that room. We don’t want any unexpected visitors.”

“Why do I always have to do the virus checks?” Grindel mumbled to himself as he turned the handle for the door. He let it creak open slightly and then pushed it the rest of the way with his sword. He grabbed a small, pistol-like weapon that he had on his side and quietly entered the room. He checked left, then right before he lowered his pistol. “It’s clear, and looks like a room with a fire place.”

“That’s good to hear,” Kroa said, entering the room followed by everyone else. He lit a fire in the fireplace, brightening up the room. “Looks like a Vanhillian outpost, and…” he said, running his hand along the wall, opening up some monitor windows, “by the looks of it, had just been recently abandoned. Probably to be evacuated before the blizzard started up.”

“Then this place is dangerous. We’ve got to keep going,” Grindel said in a panicked tone.

“Chill out lad. The previous occupants went to get supplies,” Kroa said as he closed the windows. “So we’re perfectly fine here. Grindel and I will have the first watch my lord. You, Lyne and your brother should rest up for our journey tomorrow.”

“I’m all for that,” Bass said as he settled down in front of the fireplace with Gospel and they both fell asleep.

“Yes, that is a good idea. I’ve been looking forward to a good rest away from the palace,” Nights said as he walked to the far bed and went into sleep mode.

“Awww! I’m bored,” Sable called out from his prison inside Nights’s shadow.

“That’s what you get for letting your DS get the better of you I guess,” Lyne said as she crossed the room and removed Bass’s cloak from him to prevent him from overheating or catching on fire.

“You guess? You’re stupid for a girl navi,” Sable said as he watched Lyne sit down beside the fireplace in a chair.

“Well, I’m not familiar with dark navi ways, so I would be unknowledgeable in that department,” Lyne said as she looked back at where Sable’s voice projected from. “That doesn’t make me stupid. I’m also fairly new to being a navi” She started repairing Bass’s cloak while Sable continued to talk, now sounding interested.

“Who programmed you?” He had never met a female net navi without an operator except for Serenade and her lieutenants.

“Well, I guess most of my programming was done by my father,” Lyne started as she went into an explanation of her programming while she continued to work on Bass’s cloak. She also explained that she wasn’t fully a navi when he started asking questions about the conversation that she and Bass had been having with Nights. He didn’t understand a lot of it, but did get something of a basic idea.

“So you’re not a stupid female navi. You’re a stupid female human that can log onto the net,” Sable said, making Lyne puff her cheeks.

“I’m a half navi,” Lyne burst out at him, surprisingly not waking the other occupants of the room. “I thought I’d tell you since you’re stuck with us and was thinking of you as becoming a friend. But if you’re going to insult me, I’m not going to tell you anything else. I’ll just stop talking now and let boredom take you.”

“No, don’t do that! My DS will want to take over me. I promise to be nice,” Sable pleaded as Lyne covered Bass back up with his repaired cloak.

“Okay,” Lyne said as she stretched and then crossed the room to the other bed to rest. “I guess we can talk some more before I go into sleep mode. Did you have a NetOp once?”

“Yeah, once,” Sable responded in a sad tone, “I’d prefer to not talk about it. You can rest. I’ll not disturb you.”

“I’m sorry to hear that Sable. He sounded dear to you.”

“I said I didn’t want to talk about that. Jeez, you’re stupid and deaf.”

“You’re just out right mean is what you are. I’ll let you in on something. I can sense what you are Sable. You’re a SoulNavi,” Lyne said, locking her eyes onto Nights’s shadow from where she lay on the bed.

“Darkman my master told me how perceptive Network Angel’s were. I just never believed him ‘til now,” Sable replied as he noticed Lyne’s eyes flutter and then close completely. “Hey, what’s a SoulNavi...? And she’s freakn’ asleep. Well whatever. I’m going to sleep too,” Sable said as he relaxed a little before activating his own sleep mode.
___________________________________
~Next Morning ~ 17 November 200X~

Bass yawned and tried stretching his wings out, but they didn’t go far. Something heavy was draped over them. A somewhat confused moan escaped him as he tried to stretch them again, but still without success. He then sat up, quickly uncovering himself. “Huh? What is this?” he pondered as he felt its black, soft, furry surface. “It’s heavy,” he complained as he lifted it up and dropped it back down.

“That’s your cloak,” Lyne replied in a sleepy tone before she sat up in her bed. “I upgraded it last night. It now has the same properties as mine,” she said with a smile on her face. She beamed with pride for a second before she felt the heat of an angry glare coming from Bass.

“I could’ve done this if I wanted to,” Bass said as he stood up and shook his cloak at Lyne. “I would’ve preferred you leaving it alone. I liked it the way it was. I’ve had enough of surprises from yesterday’s experience!”

Bass’ voice had continued to rise angrily and Lyne hid behind her arms, seriously thinking that Bass might hit her. “I’m sorry. I only did it because I wanted to help. I didn’t want you to catch cold wearing a tattered cloth like that.” Lyne then lowered her arms and looked up at him. “You almost froze last night.”

“Yeah, yeah. I guess you’re right. I really am beginning to hate this style change though. I want to return to normal,” Bass moaned as he hid underneath his upgraded cloak.

Lyne got up to go over and comfort Bass when the room suddenly shook violently. She landed on the opposite bed, discovering something odd.

“What was that?” Bass roared as he flung his cloak off of him.

“I don’t know,” Lyne said as she sat up on the bed she had fallen onto. “But Nights isn’t here”

“Huh? Did you see him leave?” Lyne shook her head slowly and shrugged her shoulders. “I wonder if he’s outside waiting for us to get going.”

“Connor I think he would’ve woken us up a few hours ago in order to do that. It’s almost noon,” Lyne said, getting up off the bed. “You don’t think they just left us out here, do you?” The ground shook and threw her off her feet again, this time with bass catching her.

Bass shook his head as he guided her outside to check the outer fire pit for Nights and the two guards that had accompanied them, but they saw no sign of anyone. “Where’d they go? Even the viruses are gone including Gospel. Stupid Mutt.”

Lyne looked around and Bass noticed that she was looking really nervous now. “I don’t like what I’m feeling Connor. Let’s get back inside,” Lyne said, backing away from him. “Please,” she added with pleading eyes. Suddenly the top of the cave was knocked away with great force, revealing the sky. When the rocks and dust cleared, they saw they were trapped by a huge, blue, scaly tail.

The pair up as they heard a breath escape from the tail’s owner, “*Gulp* Lyne stay still,” Bass said in a calm tone, feeling her tremble at the sight of the beast that loomed over them. “It’s a Icegon.”

“Icegon’s don’t get that big,” Lyne said with a tremble in her voice as she looked up at the virus, noting that it was at least three to four times its normal size. “Make it go away. Shoo, Shoo,” Lyne said, motioning with her hands for the beast to go away.

Bass bared his teeth as the Icegon twitched its tail. “It won’t go away like that. If you want it to leave, we’re going to have to battle it, and damn it I said stop moving,” Bass barked at her. The virus directed its attention right on him and opened its mouth, preparing to send out a blast of icy breath. “Just great. As if it wasn’t cold enough out here already.”

“You bloody bastard. Stay down!” The two half navis glanced at each other, realizing that the voice they’d just heard didn’t belong to either of them. It had come from behind the large virus, which only had the time to half turn towards the voice before it was hit with a bright energy wave that knocked the creature over. “C’mon over here,” they heard the unfamiliar voice speak again and turned their focus to a navi in a brown hooded cape who was waving at them.

Lyne wasn’t sure how to react. She stared for a moment, then Bass’s hand gripped her arm and pulled her up. “C’mon,” he said as he dragged her over to where the navi was hiding behind a large rock. Once they got there, the trio settled their backs against it.

“Whew, that was close,” the mysterious navi breathed out, “I’m glad I got here in time.” He peeked out from behind the rock. “I was sent out here to slay that monstrosity. I guess I get a bonus for rescuing two, um… NetAngel’s in distress. I can see the ACS’s from Lord Beowulf triple for this. One pesky icegon, and two damsels.”

“NetAngel?” Bass growled as he grabbed the stranger around the collar. “I’m a NetDemon and a guy you bozo.”

“Uh… What did she say?” the stranger asked Lyne, pointing at Bass. Bass’s eye twitched at being referred to as female again and he shook the other navi, throwing his hood back in the process and showing that his hair was blue.

“HE said that he’s a NetDemon,” Lyne said.

“Oh… I’m sorry chum. You were speaking to fast, and your wings look kinda like hers,” the stranger pointed out as Bass let go of him.

“Who are you?” Bass asked as he stared into the navis green eyes. He didn’t answer the question though and he blinked, looking a bit confused.

“I’m really sorry, but I didn’t understand what you just said,” the stranger replied. Bass sighed and hung his head.

“Don’t worry. I’ll translate… Ahem, he asked “who are you?”” Lyne said, getting a nod from Bass.

“I’m NeoKnight,” he said, offering his hand out to be shook, and Bass accepted the friendly offer. As he shook his hand, he noticed the strange navi’s icon on his chest. It was light grey with a yellow horizontal slash behind an orange-red colored ‘X’.

“Nightmare,” Bass said, getting a glare from NeoKight.

“How do you know that name?” he asked in shock as Bass poked his icon. “That’s not who I am anymore. Who are you?”

“What’s going on Connor?” Lyne asked, now confused by NeoKight’s reaction to what Bass had done.

“This navi was Zero’s prototype,” Bass said, gesturing at NeoKight. “He went by the name Nightmare back when I really got to know him. And he was a real terror back then too: what you would call a navi killing machine. But that was due to some virus in his system and incomplete programming if I remember correctly. I’m not sure what’s happened since we escaped Wily’s clutches, but I guess he somehow deleted the virus from his system.”

“Okay, I understood most of that this time. My Undernet Translator wasn’t really picking up on that dialect well. But you still didn’t answer my question. Who are you?” NeoKnight demanded as he got up in Bass’s face.

“Bass,” he replied with a cheesy-looking smile on his face.

“Oh, so he’s a friend of yours,” Lyne exclaimed, having put things together. “Hi, I’m Meg,” she introduced herself and shook NeoKnight’s hand.

“Uh… Hi,” he said as he looked at Bass, confused once more. How can this navi be Bass? She called him by another name. Plus, he looks nothing like… Oh I see it. The marks on his face. “Yeah. How’ve you been doing? I’m also guessing that you’ve, um, as they call it in the Uppernet, Style Changed.” He then looked at Bass slyly. “And it looks like you’ve snagged yourself a girlfriend. *Shew*”

“Wha?” Bass exclaimed as he eyes went wide with shock. “She’s not my girlfriend…” He caught a glare from Lyne and continued, “She’s just a good friend.” He started sweating a bit when Lyne didn’t stop glaring. “A really super good friend.” Lyne rolled her eyes in response to that and sat down in the snow.

“Sure…” NeoKight drew out making his friend blush. “I haven’t seen a style change like this before though. I mean, you’re stuck speaking DemonScript after all, and you even have long hair. It makes you honestly look like a girl.”

“Don’t make fun of me, or you’ll regret it,” Bass growled as he shook his fist at NeoKnight. “I didn’t even ask for this style change.”

“Whatever,” NeoKnight said, waving his hand at Bass. He froze when the ground began to quake and looked out to see that the Icegon was dragging itself up out of the snow and rocks that had buried it. “Damn. I thought that last sword attack had it deleted for sure,” he said as the other two peaked out from behind the rock at the rising virus.

“You’re still an amateur,” Bass huffed out as he shook his head at NeoKnight. “C’mon Lyne. Show me how to use these,” he said as he stretched out his wings to warm them up.

“What happened to that Air Shoes Program?” NeoKnight asked. Lyne giggled at that.

“Shut up!” Bass howled before he charged at his old friend. Lyne stopped him by standing in between the two, but she didn’t stop giggling.

“It’s easy. First you need to calm down and listen,” she said. He turned his attention away from NeoKnight and gave it to Lyne. “Good. All you have to do is stretch your wings like so,” she said, demonstrating with her own, “and jump,” she added as she sailed into the air. She flew around a bit and then shrieked as an icy attack was shot at her. She managed to avoid it easily, but she now seemed to be having trouble staying aloft.

Okay now she needs help. What she did looked fairly simple. Let’s give it a shot, he thought to himself as he stretched his wings out in the same manner as she had and then jumped. He sailed up and grinned, but only for a moment. The grin dropped as soon as he realized his direction was decidedly more like down than up. He looked frantically around until he noticed Lyne’s subtle hint that he needed to flap his wings to stay airborne. “She should’ve told me that before she took off, he growled as he started to flap his wings. This is so going to take some getting used to. His movement in the air looked awkward at first while he was getting used to how odd the flapping motion on his back felt. He turned his attention away from how his wings felt pretty quick when one of the Icegon’s attacks shot past his left side. “Grrr.” I’ve had enough of this. Now to show this virus a thing or too, he thought as he called forth his default weapon for this new armor. What appeared in front of him was a black staff about as tall as he was with a sharp purple pike at the bottom of it and a short purple scimitar-style blade at the top of it. “Sweet! A halberd. I’ve always wanted to play with one of these,” he said as he charged his weapon, mixing electrical and dark energy into it.

Getting the gist of what Bass was doing, Lyne activated her Holy Buster and powered it up with electrical energy while she put some distance between herself and the monstrous Icegon. “Good idea,” NeoKnight said as he observed his recently acquired partners. He then opened up a small vid window, revealing a man in his early twenties, “Hey, Treno…” he said in a quiet tone to his NetOp.

“Yeah, what do you need NeoKnight? I’m kinda’ on a date with Laina,” Treno replied in a slightly miffed tone, looking back at his navi. “Are you still fighting that Icegon Beowulf asked you to delete?”

“Yeah… but I need some more help. Can you send me some electric type chips that I can use? Please? I really need them,” NeoKnight pleaded.

“Oh okay,” Treno said, looking though his portable chip collection.

“Why do you have to pay attention to his needs right now?” a female voice asked. “You know he can handle that thing on his own.”

“The faster I get this done Laina, the more ACS’s we can exchange for Zenny, and at this rate it might triple,” NeoKnight said. In the background he could see young red head’s eyes turn into zenny signs for a moment.

“Hurry Treno,” Laina said, hitting his back in an excited manner. “NeoKnight needs those chips.”

“*Sigh* And you had to rile her up, didn’t you NK? Here you go ElecBlade, Lightning Battle Chips in, download. Have fun. Laina, calm down and stop hitting me!” Treno said before he closed his side of the window.

“I will now Treno, heh, heh. Lightning, ElecBlade… Sword Fusion!” NeoKnight called out, forcing the two chips he had just acquired into his red-bladed sword. “Electric Strike!” he called out once more as he jumped out from behind his hiding spot and swung his sword at the Icegon.

Bass was biding his time before releasing his attack, doing a good job at dodging attacks in the air, and he saw NeoKnight release his attack. The electric attack raced erratically along the ground and Bass raised his eyebrows when he saw it. When did he learn an attack like that? he thought as he flew away from the virus to get ready to attack as well. It may be strong, but it needs some guidance. It was an accurate assessment. The course of NeoKnight’s attack was so erratic that it had the possibility of going right around its target. Bass slashed with his halberd, sending a wide wave of electrical energy aimed to fly over NeoKnight’s attack and guide it to the Icegon. Once the two attacks combined, their course stabilized and the massive attack struck the virus, knocking it down and destroying much of its body. “Alright!” Bass cheered from where he managed to hover in the air above where the virus went down. Now to figure out how to land in this armor, he thought as he looked down to locate his old navi friend. Alright, there he is. Now to do the tricky part, but it should be easy. I’ve seen Lyne do it all the time. He dove down toward the ground, swung his feet below himself, and spread out his wings to slow his speed. His feet touched the ground lightly and skidded a little, then he relaxed his wings and his feet very suddenly had about all of his weight on them. “DA-!!” he exclaimed, but couldn’t get the entire cuss out since his face planted itself into the snow.

“Looks like you got quite accustomed to flying like that. But, uh, your landing skills need some work,” NeoKnight said as he bent over to check up on Bass. “Hey man, are you alright?”

“Yeah,” Bass replied simply as he rolled onto his side and breathed in slowly. “I’m fine. I just lost a lot of energy in that fight.” He sat up, noting that his armor had returned to normal and that he hadn’t been speaking DemonScript. “Yes! I’m back to normal and out of that accursed style change.” He jumped up with a joyful shout, holding his arms up in the air in victory.

“But it still looks like you need a hair cut,” NeoKnight pointed out as Bass’s long hair blew in the wind, making the male half navi hang his head. “I can cut it if you want.” He approached Bass who suddenly pulled away from him.

“NOooo! It might grow back,” he protested and held onto his hair defensively, even though he despised what had happened to it.

“Okay,” NeoKnight said as he sheathed his Fusion Sword. “You still haven’t lost your touch you know. You’re still as destructive as you ever were.”

“Yeah, I guess I still am, but where did you learn to do that attack? Is that something new?”

“Kinda’. I’ve actually used a technique like that against you once. I had to knock you out in order for us to escape Wily’s system. He had you really buzzed on VirusCLN.”

“Don’t remind me about that decrepit old freak,” Bass growled as he searched over the wreckage of the cave that he and Lyne had stayed in the night before. “Ahh, here it is,” he said as he pulled out his cloak from a pile of rubble.

“Isn’t your cloak dark brown?”

“Yep, but it got ripped and, um… Meg fixed it last night while I was in sleep mode,” Bass said as a sweat drop formed on the side of his helmet.

“That’s a first. You actually let a girl navi touch your stuff and didn’t delete her for it. What happened to you?”

“Trust me pal, it’s a long story,” Bass said as he wrapped the long fuzzy cloak around himself. Guahh! I look stupid in this thing, he thought as he changed it back to it’s normal appearance, but he managed to coat the inside with a light, fuzzy coat, keeping him warm.

“I’ve got time. Go ahead and tell me,” NeoKnight said as Bass hid his long hair inside his cloak. He then looked around them for a moment, feeling something was odd, “Hey… where’s your girlfriend?”

Bass grabbed him by the collar of his cape, “I’ve told you this once before. She’s – Not – My – Girlfriend. She’s just a friend, but…” He let go of the other navi, who stumbled back and slipped in the snow. “…where is she?” Bass scanned the sky for any sign of Lyne.

“Now that’s the Bass I remember,” NeoKnight said as he got up off the snow covered ground. “Still quick to temper, and as stubborn as a mettuar. You’re so in denial about this girl navi. I’m surprised that you went for one so young. She’s not even four months old yet. Usually you like them with more developed data,” he said, making a motion around his chest.

“Shut up!” Bass demanded of his friend, going red in the face. “I don’t think of Meg that way.” He then smirked. “What about you? Are the cyber witches still chasing you? Or are you still chasing them? Wait, now I see where Zero gets his navi girl chasing from. He got it from you.”

“*Shew* Oh, a mighty blow,” NeoKnight said, pretending to stab his chest with an invisible, fake sword. “Hey wait. You’ve seen Zero?”

“Yep,” Bass said, nodding and preparing to explain, but then the ground quaked beneath and behind them. They looked behind them only to see the pixilating Icegon rise up off the ground. “I guess our pal isn’t done yet,” Bass said as he got ready to attack, while NeoKnight went over his chip storage.

Oh crap! I don’t have any more chips to fuse with my sword, “*Gulp* I think we’re in trouble,” NeoKnight said, drawing Bass’s attention.

“What do you mean?”

“I mean you’re low on energy and we need that style change reactivated. It has electrical attributes. And I’ve spent all my internal chip memory.”

“You’re stupid. I can use electricity whenever I want,” Bass said producing an orb of electrical energy, but it was disappointingly small. “See? But you are right. I am low on energy.”

Suddenly, a blinding flash of light flew over their heads and hit the virus full on in the face. Lyne swooped in following it with her Angel Sword drawn. With one quick strike, she beheaded the huge menace and finally destroyed it. NeoKnight’s jaw dropped. “Wow! Now I see why you like her. I wonder who taught her that…” NeoKnight said, elbowing Bass.

“Um… Actually she learned that on her own,” Bass said as Lyne touched down in front of them and deactivated her style change.

“And you must really have something for purple. Heh, she looks hotter then Ayra too,” NeoKnight said, earning him a fist in the face that sent him to the ground again.

“Ayra is nothing but a sick idea Regal came up with,” Bass growled as he walked towards Lyne.

“Sorry. My bad,” NeoKnight said as he sat up. “But you know I’m right. You really have a hot number there,” NeoKnight said as he ducked under another swing from Bass. “Alright, I’ll shut up. Anyway, why don’t we have a victory celebration? We’ve been fighting that thing for the past few MiniCycles and should take a break.”

“Sure. A rest after a workout like that would be good,” Bass said, then froze and blinked in surprise when he noticed he wasn’t the only navi using his cloak. Lyne had sneaked under it. “Get out from under there Meg.”

“I’m cold,” Lyne complained as she looked up at him. “I can’t find my cloak.”

“I’ll find it,” NeoKnight offered. “What color is it?”

“White.”

NeoKnight looked around at the snowy ground for a moment. “We’re going to be out here a while then.”

“Oh! Sorry... Cloak change color to purple,” Lyne commanded her accessory. Not even three feet away, they saw a splash of purple cloth show up under some of the snow. She snatched it up and wrapped it around her shoulders. “That’s much better. I’m ready. Let’s go.” She wrapped one her arms around Bass’s as she led off, bringing him along with her and making NeoKnight shake his head.

“Ha, ha, not his girlfriend,” he mumbled as he opened a NetPortal and chuckled slightly. “Yeah right.”

“Hey Nightmare,” Bass said, getting an angry glare from NeoKnight. “Um… I mean NeoKnight. Have you seen a harlequin looking navi and two other navis with him?”

“A harlequin navi and two others traveling with him… Oh, I did. They were entering Vanhilla as I was coming out here to slay this virus. Why do you ask?” NeoKnight asked, noticing Bass start to look very angry.

“So they did abandon us out here,” he growled and Lyne stroked his arm to calm him down.

“This might have been another test if you think about it C… Bass,” Lyne said, correcting herself as Bass glared at her. I’m really trying. It’s really hard not to call you by your first name.

We made an agreement. NeoKnight is a stranger to you so you have to call me by my navi name or he’s going to get confused. He doesn’t know I’m a Half Navi, and I would like to keep it that way, Bass thought back to her as he dragged her over to where NeoKnight was standing by the NP he had made.

“Oh, by the way Bass. Why did she call you Connor earlier?” he asked once they stopped by his side.

You didn’t, Bass growled at her mentally.

I may’ve slipped up a little. I was confused earlier, she thought back as he raised his hand to thump her on the back of the head. I’m sorry. Don’t hit me, she pleaded holding her arms up in defense to protect her face.

Bass sighed and lowered his arm. He really didn’t want to hurt Lyne, but she could be so stupid sometimes. It’s that Megawoman personality that combined with her. “Ahem… Connor is a screen name I used in one of those navi chats. That’s how we met.”

“Well that sounds neat. Network chats are pretty cool. Especially the love ones,” NeoKnight added with a nudge.

“I suggest that you don’t do that any more or I’m going to have to delete you,” Bass growled. Then he got a pop on the arm, a reminder from Lyne to behave himself, making him hang his head and NeoKnight chuckle. “*Sigh* So NeoKnight, where are we going?”

“Well, I guess we can go to Vanhilla. That’s the capital hub in this realm of the Undernet. If your harlequin friend is staying there for any amount of time, we should be able to find him,” NeoKnight offered, “And I know this place there that has the finest data in all the Network, and maybe even some bugs.”

“No bugs,” Bass said, and NeoKnight gave him an odd look. “They cause extra data leaks in my system.”

“Oh… I guess we don’t want that then with a lady coming along with us,” NeoKnight said, and added very quietly to Bass, “Your extra leaks are really gross.”

“Shut up about that,” Bass snapped as they went through the NP to Vanhilla, Capital Hub of the Frozen Realm.
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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]

Nice~ Bass's style change is very interesting. Great job.
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Sig credit goes to Hikari Angel

[Kai]

[Kai]

[Midnight]

Hmm.

This is quite the long and contrived story. At times, hoewever, it does seem to be a little awash with detail, but other than that, this is another fabulous job.
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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

[Megawoman.EXE]

DeadlySernade: I'm sorry I forgot about that. I've been really busy lately and will fix that before I post the second part of this chapter. I promise.
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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