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

[Megawoman.EXE]

Sorry for the late episode. Typing is a little more difficult with wrist supports. Well anyway we hope you enjoy this chapter. And watch our for more romantic suggestions. This episode is rated PG 13 cause of it. ~Author~
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Episode 22: Truth

~Evening ~18 November 200X ~ The Forgotten Forest~

“Dark!” Lyne squealed in Bass’s ears as she practically tackled him. He managed to keep his balance and not fall over, but he froze up in uncertainty and discomfort at the unexpected hug he was being subjected to. It took him a moment to regain his voice.

“Lyne get off me,” Bass demanded once he’d recovered enough and he forced her arms apart.

She looked at him and smiled as she leaned towards him. “But Daaaaaark. You said hugging was allowed.”

Okay, this is really freaky, he thought as he shoved her away in panic. Unprepared for such a reaction from him, she fell back and landed on her butt. She looked up at Bass with a really hurt expression on her face and started to cry a little.

“Smooth move exlax,” NK commented as he sat there watching with Sable. “This is your mess, now you fix it.”

“But…” Bass protested helplessly and looked back at Lyne as her crying became more audible.

“Why are you being so mean?” she whined at Bass, then started slightly, feeling that something was wrong. She did a quick scan of him to confirm her suspicion. “You’re not Dark!” Light exclaimed in panic. “Why am I up?”

“Lyne…?” Bass said in concern as he cautiously approached her. He didn’t switch her personality over to the old Megawoman one, did he? he pondered remembering that Pharaohman had something to do with this change.

“Who woke me?” she demanded as she looked over the group, getting a jump out of all of them, except for Pharaohman who looked at her very calmly.

“I did,” he replied, making her focus snap onto him. “Now be good and talk to Dark’s Host Master.”

“Host what?!” Bass exclaimed in surprise.

“Why should I you old Egyptian fart?” Light huffed in response as she looked away from him.

Bass looked back at Lyne in surprise. That is defiantly not Lyne or the Megawoman personality, he thought in shock.

“You want to go back to sleep, right?” Pharaohman asked. “Tell him the truth about the elements,” he demanded of Light.

She stood up and glared at him with her host’s fists clenched at her sides, “That’s what you woke me up for?!!!” she growled angrily. Sable, feeling nervous at the unexpected fury, looked for a hiding spot behind NeoKnight. NK shoved him off and Sable went to hide behind Grindel, but was offered a bush to hide behind instead.

“Now no need to be hysterical, Light,” Pharaohman said in a calm tone.

“Hysterical?! You sir haven’t seen hysterical. I didn’t even ask to be awakened. I want to be asleep just like Dark is right now,” Light replied as she gestured at Bass.

What makes her think I’m still asleep? a voice pondered inside Bass’s head. He shook his head for a second, thinking he was just hallucinating, but the voice laughed at that, scaring him. Don’t worry host master. I can talk to you about the elements, but Pharaohman seems to have chosen Light to do it, Dark said to Bass, who was feeling confused at all the strange things around and, apparently, inside him as well. Bad choice in my opinion. She’s about to flip.

Bass then held the sides of his face while shaking his head, trying to rid himself of the strange voice in his head. He then watched Lyne start shaking her head as well. “Nooo, I don’t want to be out here. Let me rest!” she shrieked as she fell to the ground, still shaking her head.

What’s going on? Bass pondered as he lowered his hands and watched as Lyne’s body stopped fussing. She then looked up at him, got up off the ground, and walked over to him. Why do I feel like running away right now?

She placed her hand on his chest, making him gulp at the odd touch, “Host Master of Dark, I can’t go back to sleep at the moment. Make me being awake worth while,” she said as she leaned Lyne’s body in closer to him. “Kiss me,” she said softly pursing her host’s lips.

“What?!” Bass exclaimed in surprise.

“*Snicker* She’s become a little harlot,” Sable laughed from behind the bush.

“No, just being a little too forward,” NK commented as he watched his friend back away from Lyne’s possessed body.

I warned you, but did you listen? No. Slap her stupid. She flipped. Allowing her to kiss you will break all your vows that you bound me too, Dark said as Bass continued to back away from the pursuing lips of his friend.

Bass almost obeyed the command, but hesitated. Vows?! Bass pondered as he shook his head. Whatever, he huffed, then realized he was about to hit Lyne. I can’t. Lyne’s inside her body still. She might feel it.

If you don’t do this now, Lyne won’t return to normal, and Light won’t be sane enough to answer all your questions about the elements inside you both, Dark responded.

… Sorry Lyne. He closed his eyes and slapped Lyne’s body in the face. He felt Lyne’s arm fall away from him and heard her take a couple of tentative steps back. He paused a couple of more seconds before he opened an eye to look at her. Light was crying quietly and biting her lip and Bass was feeling worried, not sure anymore exactly who he was looking at.

Don’t be concerned. You’re not looking at your friend right now. Just get her to start talking.

Okay. “Um… Light, Pharaohman woke you for a reason, and that was to talk to me. And that smack was all Dark’s idea.”

Oh, nice. I try to help you and you rat me out, Dark complained, but the voice seemed amused.

Light shed a final tear and nodded. “I understand. I got a little carried away. I apologize Host Master of Dark,” she said as she humbly bowed in front of Bass. “What would you like to know?”

“A little carried away,” NK scoffed quietly with Sable nodding in agreement.

Bass just stood there in shock. Wow!

She’s submissive when she knows you mean business. Remember this Connor Cossack, Dark said as his voice faded out for the moment.

“Okay,” he said, taking note of what Dark had just told him. “I want you to sit by the fire, and then you’ll answer all my questions.” He grabbed Lyne’s arm and guided her to the fire side. She quietly sat down beside Pharaohman when he let go. “All my questions,” he said as he glared into Lyne’s glazed-over eyes, making Light gulp.

“You’d better listen to him Light. I don’t think he’d tolerate your rude tone from his girlfriend,” Pharaohman said, getting a round of laughter from the other male navis there.

“Lyne is not my girlfriend!” Bass snarled, arousing more laughter.

“Oh really?” Light asked. “She really likes you Ho- …Is there a shorter title you go by? Saying Host Master each time I address you takes too long.”

This made Dark and Bass chuckle a little bit. “I go by a few names, but you can’t use the name she has for me.” Mainly cause it would be too creepy, and I only allow Lyne to use it, no blasted ghost personality, he thought. “You can call me Bass.”

“That’s fine by me… I really like your attitude,” she said as she looked Bass over, “And you do look menacing too. I’m surprised you haven’t made my host your slave by now. You do have the Master Dark Element inside your body after all,” she said as she pointed at him.

“Slave!? Are you serious? Do you mean you’re the slave of this Dark?”

“Yes, of course,” Light replied with a smile.

She exaggerates, Dark said calmly to Bass who was wondering just how much more uncomfortable it was possible to get. Don’t be too concerned about her teasing.

If you say so. Wait, she called you the Master Dark Element? “What do you mean by Master Dark Element?” Bass asked, now curious.

“I mean it’s the original. The first one ever made,” she said, winking at him. “Inside of your female friend is the Master Light Element. Atlantian science is a marvel at times,” she breathed out in awe. “The other navis that carry Light and Dark elements in their bodies don’t have as much power as the originals ‘cause they are only merely copies of that power. Same goes for the other elements of water, fire, electric, wood, so on, so forth,” she said naming the elements off on her host’s fingers.

“Whoa, wait a minute. You said other dark navis are only mere copies of my element. How can our elements be copied without mine and Lyne’s deletion?” Bass asked, puzzled by this new bit of information.

Light leaned back against a tree behind her. “It’s a simple process really. You can will a copy if your element. Alpha made you make tons of them. One of the copies you made is inside Sable,” she said, pointing at the shadow navi.

Sable looked at first NK, then Grindel, and then Bass, puzzled. How does she know that? he pondered as Bass shrugged his shoulders in response.

I vaguely remember making copies of the dark element before, he thought to himself. But then again, my memories are a little fuzzy since I left my father. So the reason for all the darkness on the net my fault too.

Not yours, Alpha’s. Remember this host master, Dark said.

That’s right, it’s Alpha’s fault. He’s ruined the Network and used me to do it. He’s so going to pay for that, Bass thought angrily as Light placed a hand on his shoulder, getting his attention once more.

“This must be hard for you,” she said in a gentle tone. “Maybe Dark shouldn’t have chosen a mere boy to be his host. But then again, it wasn’t our choice who our host was anyway. You and my host were destined to become the next Master Elements of Light and Dark. There just one little problem,” she said, pausing.

“And that is…” Bass drew out, trying to get her to talk once more.

“Well, in order for you and her to have full access to your powers, Dark and I have to pass on,” she said, making a flying motion with her host’s hand.

“What?” Bass asked in surprise.

“Dark and Light are spirits,” Pharaohman interrupted. “Why don’t you tell him how you got that way?” he asked Light in an excited tone.

Light placed her hands on her hips. “Well, why don’t you shut up? Speaking of death, you should’ve died 2,000 years ago,” Light growled back.

Pharaohman did a fake stab to his chest, making the other navis laugh, and Light to roll her host’s glazed over eyes in annoyance.

“Wait a minute. Light, Pharaohman’s data is 20 years old,” Bass protested in confusion. He remembered being appointed to watch over him after his first guardian was deleted for some unknown reason.

Light looked back at Bass and calmly responded to his protest. “There are many things I have to hand to your father and Doctors Yuuichiro and Tadashi Hikari, but they had no clue what they were getting into when they found Pharaohman’s data before they created him. His body may be 20… well correct me, this new one is about a year old, but his data is many millennia old. About as ancient as Egypt itself, explaining his power to wake the dead and spirits,” she said, taking notice of Pharaohman staring at her. “Stop that you old perv,” she shouted as she slapped him in the face, got up, walked over to the other side of Bass, and sat back down. “This isn’t even my body,” she hissed at him.

Pharaohman just sighed a little disappointed sigh. “I was admiring how well you kept your spirit data intact not looking your host’s features over. I really didn’t mean to stare.” He then hung his head and turned away from them. “It won’t happen again.”

“It better not,” Bass growled before he looked back at Light. “So what was he talking about you dieing. How did it happen?”

“So you really want to know do you?” Light asked, trying to see if she could deter him from making her speak any further. She had already told him about the elements and really wanted to go back to ageless sleep inside her host.

“Yes, you were awoken to answer all of my questions, so spill it,” he said in a demanding tone, showing that he was still the boss of the conversation.

“Fine… *Sigh* How do I explain this?” she pondered aloud, pressing her fingers against the bridge of her host’s nose.

“She’s not going to spaz again, is she?” Sable asked, taking note of her stressed look.

This made Light look at him angrily. “I’m trying to figure out how to explain something simpleton,” she growled in an angry tone, making Sable jump and end up in NK’s arms.

“She’s a creepy lady!” Sable said before NK dropped him to the ground.

“She’s not the only creepy one,” NK mumbled as he scooted away from him and sat closer to Grindel.

“Okay, can I continue?” Light asked the trio of observing navis.

All three of them held up their hands. “Go ahead,” they said in unison.

“Thanks. Anyway, Dark and I died several millennia ago. We were involved in a great conflict they called the First Great Network War. This happened about 2 years before the Alpha revolt that brought down Atlantis. Following me so far Master Bass?” she asked as she looked him straight in the face.

Bass nodded as he once more went over the information that his brother had told him about the revolt. He was also piecing in this new information. “Please carry on, I’m following. I’m good at piecing information together.”

“Okay, well the last battle we had ended the war, but what we fought was an atrocity. You’ve already met it Master Bass. We were killed by the beast of a restoration program called Havock.”

“What?!” Bass exclaimed in shock. “You mean to tell me that thing we fought killed you both?”

“Well, in a way, yes, but our physical deaths put that atrocity into a sleep lockdown,” she said with a gleeful grin on her face, but she soon saddened. “But our spirits remained on the battle field even though our bodies had disappeared. Well, more like kinda’ reformed.”

This confused Bass and the others. Sable the piped up, “They reformed into what?”

“I’m not here to answer your questions,” Light huffed.

“Answer it!” Bass demanded, “Cause that will be the same thing I ask, and I bet you hate repeated things.”

“Alright,” Light wined as she scanned Lyne’s inner programming to check up on the element. She discovered it was still in a solid form, Okay, I can show him then. I’m glad it hasn’t fully infused with her system yet. “This.” She then concentrated and made the front of Lyne’s torso disappear. What Bass saw floating there in the middle of her chest was a glowing white sphere.

“Ooooo.” Bass eyes were caught in a daze as he reached out to touch it only to receive a warning slap which brought him back to reality.

“Don’t touch it!” Light exclaimed. “As you already know your element is pure. So is this one. This is what we became Master Bass: your elements.”

Bass then backed off, That is freaky, our elements are bound to dead people, and they ended up inside us. Bass took this in for a second before he asked. “How did you get inside us? That has me really puzzled. Better yet, how did my element get under Alpha’s control back before the revolt?”

“*Sigh* Nights already told you that,” Light breathed out in frustration.

“He wasn’t too specific Light. I want to know now. That bastard of a virus shouldn’t have had control of my element ever. I feel so tainted because of it too.”

“Fine then Master Bass,” she said as she made Lyne’s torso whole once more. “After the battle, King Raymos found us out there in the field. Usually, the master elements weren’t originally supposed to bond to souls of their bearers, but what we did was in a way a sacrifice, so the King took pity on us and swore what we did wouldn’t be in vain. So he entrusted us to be bound to two of his most trusted officials in his court: Fleiz and Cynan.”

“Fleiz… Cynan?”

“Can’t you hush for a sec. No wonder she gets irritated with you sometimes. You never shut up and just listen,” Light huffed as she rubbed her host’s temples. “Fleiz was the second advisor to the king, and Cynan is the Ancient’s true name.”

“Oh…” the group said in unison.

“Can I continue?” Light snapped at all of them. They all nodded. “Carrying on. Fleiz was the one entrusted with the dark element. He was the one with the most stable soul to handle it until a more suitable host could be found, but that was easier said than done. Cynan was entrusted with holding me inside himself. I guess in a way I ensured he got his current title. Fleiz unfortunately fell into corruption shortly after he had accepted the burden of bearing Dark.”

“But I’m guessing it wasn’t his fault. Alpha must’ve taken him over,” Bass guessed.

“Exactly right. Then that lead to the revolt. Fleiz wasn’t himself. We had discovered a little too late that Alpha had taken complete control over him. During the revolt, Fleiz’s body was nothing more then a twisted, deformed shell, and Cynan had no way to save his soul, because Dark was already bound to the master dark element. You might remember that after the revolt was straightened out, I was handed over to the princess. Dark had managed to escape from Alpha after the frame he controlled was destroyed. After the King had found him once more, he was bonded to Demos, one of the princes of Atlantis. After that point, we were passed on from generation to generation, down through the ages. Well, that was until the half navi line started to thin out and become scarce to the point where there was a destined demon and angel pair born every 200 years, and that only happened due to the fact that the royal bloodlines had intertwined enough to make only two inherent blood lines: one demon and one angel.”

“I see… well kinda’. You’re saying that Lyne and I were destined to have these elements as some kind of royal inheritance?”

“Well sort of, but no. We know our depart is soon. We knew it when we first met your brother Nights, but we met him in our last hosts. You hardly know them, but have met them once before. I even remember the first time you two got lost in the Undernet. I believe you were only four, maybe five at the time. Maybe four and a half.”

“That wasn’t our fault you know. Lyne’s father goofed on that one.”

“I know, I was there. You two passed out from the exertion of running away from a Giga virus until a few of Serenade’s lieutenants came to your aid.”

Bass sat there for a moment before he realized what was going on. “You mean you were once inside…”

“Razor,” she answered for him.

“and…” he continued.

“Angel. Yes, they were once our hosts. As I said before, we couldn’t help being taken in by your young bodies that day.”

Bass held the side of his head. “You mean we absorbed you from them. This is just too weird.”

“I’m lost,” Sable complained. Grindel nodded in agreement.

“Yeah Bass. This stuff is kinda’ deep, even for me,” NK commented.

“I’m sensing processor overload, so I guess that is enough for now. I’m getting tired,” Light said as she stretched and then rubbed her host’s eyes. “*Yawn* So sleepy,” she said in a gentle tone before she settled down on Bass’s shoulder, re-sparking his earlier discomfort.

“Heh, heh, so you see Bass, you weren’t the only one in the same position as you were. What do you think of your element and responsibility now?” Pharaohman asked, looking over at Bass. He, of course, already knew all of this information and had been happy to sit back and relax in amusement at everyone else’s surprise. He was further amused now, seeing Bass was sitting there in shock.

Bass then hung his head. “I don’t know. I’m not sure what to think about it anymore.” He then gently rose up and laid Lyne down on the log she was sleeping on. He walked over to another log and decided to think on this information a little more before he went to sleep himself. This is just too confusing right now, he thought to himself as his system powered down.
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~Inside Temple’s Pyramid~

The Pyramid’s system had just finished its analyzing scan of Nights’s data. He had passed with flying colors, not that it was any surprise. He was a perfect candidate and destined for this role that lay ahead of him. But something bothered Temple about the results. She had a feeling something was not right. She couldn’t deny him the piece of the crown she guarded now, but he might have problems.

She glanced up and watched her pyramid return all of Nights’s data where it belonged. She then watched Kroa help his young master out of the machine to sit down and relax for a bit while they waited for the final results to appear in front of her. The final details of his data were what she needed to find out what was wrong. Kroa looked up at her, trying to suppress his anxiety as he too waited. He had to keep himself from impatiently asking how it had gone when the final result window came up. This had a list of all the programming installed in his system over the years.

Alright now little funny king, what secrets does your system hide? she pondered as she scanned over the list. Something in the upper right hand corner of the screen caught her attention. I’ve never had a scan tell me this before. He must be missing a program, she thought as she looked over the programs he required. Nope none of them missing… her eyes went wide in shock when she finally found what caused the warning on her screen. He had a glitch in his system and one that made her frown because of who gave it to him: Alpha.

Suddenly a voice thought to her, Sister what’s wrong? I feel something is troubling you.

Temple leaned back in her floating papa-san chair, *Sigh* I guess that blasted virus Alpha out-smarted us again, dear sister.

Too soon to tell Temple, Serenade replied back.

But Nights won’t be able to create an heir. He’s a full navi and I can’t do anything to fix it, Temple thought back in a saddened tone.

I know you can figure something out sister. How about Lyne and Connor? Are they well? Serenade asked in concern.

Yes sister they’re in prime condition for their age. Perfect specimens of their respective races, one Angel and one Demon, both from royal blood lines, she projected as she looked at her metallic claws for a second. Wait a second. Angelos and Demos. Why didn’t I see this before? she asked herself as she opened up a new scan window and stabbed the two claws into it. I should have enough for a good scan… Good, extract… now simulated mix… Selecting sex and… A smile came over her face before she pumped her fist in victory. YES!!!

What? Serenade asked, confused by her sibling’s sudden outburst.

There is hope for Atlantis after all, Temple thought while dancing around in her chair. I should hug you.

For what?

For being a genius.

Of course. I am older then you, Serenade replied in a proud tone.

Temple ignored her sister’s comment, I’ve got to tell the King right away. Later sis. She then got up out of her chair.

Why does she have to be so weird?

Hey, I heard that! Temple thought back to Serenade, making her sister close their mental link. She dimmed the two result windows and then left them behind to check up on Nights. “How are you feeling? Ready to go again?”

“Really?!” Nights asked wide-eyed in shock. By far, the worst test he had so far this one. He had been hanging on the edge of deletion for almost four hours, maybe even five. And the Queen of the Forgotten Forest suggested he would have to go through that torture again? He knew he didn’t have the stamina for it either. Please no, he thought in anguish, and pain.

Just then Temple’s hand gently touched his shoulder, making him jump. “No, I was only kidding, and yes you did pass.”

Kroa patted his young lord on the back, “I knew you would. Good show lad.” He then gave him a gentle punch.

“Kroa, that really hurt,” Nights moaned as he reactivated his armor. “I’m still sore from what that scanner did to me.” He then rubbed his shoulder to ease the pain away.

“Sorry, my lord.” Kroa then bowed in front on him.

“Thank you for that good bit of news. I’m glad I don’t have to do that again.”

“Well actually,” Temple kicked her foot along the ground in a shy way. “You almost had to take it again.” She then started walking back towards the result windows.

Nights rose up to follow after her. “Almost? Why?” Kroa followed them as well.

When they reached the end of her result area she held up her hand to make them stop. “Are you sure you want to know young king? This will decide the fate of your kingdom.”

“Is it bad?”

“Could be yes… could be no. Depending on if you want to know,” she said as she lowered her hand.

Nights turned to Kroa for council. “Find out lad. What harm would it cause? It’s Atlantis’s future she wants to discuss.” Nights nodded and then walked up to join Temple where she stood.

“Are you ready?” she asked, getting a confident nod from Nights. “Would you like a seat?” she asked, offering him a soft, floating papa-san to sit in.

“No, I’m fine. Show me my fate please,” he said in a calm, confident tone.

“Alright. But my scanner never lies,” she said un-dimming the windows and stepping off to the side.

Nights just stared at it for a moment before he looked over at Temple in confusion. “I see nothing wrong.”

“Look here king,” she said, pointing at the upper right hand corner.

Nights eyes went wide with shock. “No.”

Temple nodded. “It seems Alpha was ahead of us on this one.”

Nights hung his head and slumped into the chair that he was offered. “I guess he has.”

“Well, not entirely though,” Temple said in a more cheerful tone. “He didn’t count on this,” she said as she brought the other result window over to Nights to examine.

After some time he spoke. “So this is Atlantis’s fate,” he said as he folded his hands and leaned in closer to the result window.

“And you were worried, but you can’t tell them. This is to remain secret ‘til the time is right,” she said as she closed the window and saved its data.

“I understand. I swear to keep silent about this,” Nights vowed.

“Good. Now go ahead and get some rest. You depart for Lord Chichiri’s realm at first light cycle tomorrow. And you’re going to need it. Trust me.”

“Yes, I’m really going to need it after going though your little contraption here. This test was rather sore and tiring,” Nights said as he got up out of the chair, joined back up with Kroa, and then exited the pyramid with his loyal servant in tow.
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~Outside the Pyramid~

Everyone at the camp site was asleep save for one navi: Pharaohman. He noticed two navis approach the site as he felt the barrier fall. “I’m glad to see his lordship has passed another of his tests wonderfully,” he said as he bowed in Nights presence.

“Thank you for the congrats Pharaohman. You know, you’re welcome to join us on the rest of our journey,” Nights offered as Pharaohman got up off the ground.

“I would join, but I’ve always been an observer, and I have to return to my PET now. My NetOp, Lee, will be expecting help on his Egypt project that’s due tomorrow. But it would be good to see Alpha finally shown his place. Don’t doubt that I’ll keep taps on him and pop in from time to time. And I really don’t want to talk to Lord Chichiri at the moment.”

“You’ve always said that,” Kroa said waving his hand dismissively at him.

“It’s always true.”

“Is Lord Chichiri that bad?” Nights asked.

“Not at all lad. He’s just a really cheerful guy,” Kroa said, patting his young king on the back hardily.

“Yeah, a little too cheerful at times. I really hope you enjoy your chat with him King Steven,” Pharaohman said as he linked away from the sight.

Nights and Kroa then took unoccupied spots around the campfire. Nights breathed out a heavy sigh. “What’s wrong my king?” Kroa asked.

“It was odd seeing Pharaohman again. I mean, it’s been a long time. I wonder why he was here anyway,” Nights pondered for a second before he gave up on thinking about it too deeply.

“Well, last time you saw him was a few months ago when he came to Atlantis on his own without his NetOp knowing. I wonder if he’ll even tell the lad about how he still plays an important roll down here?”

“You never know Kroa. Maybe more people will be clued in when I finally return and the coronation is finished. It would be wonderful to feel the breeze on my face once more,” Nights said before he sighed once more. “I can’t help but worry that something will go wrong in the future though.”

“Why is that my King?” Kroa asked in concerne to his young lord’s tone of voice.

“It’s my brother,” Nights responded as he let out a even heavier sigh. “I mean, he’s just about as curious as he was when he was first a navi, and that was supposedly one of the reasons Pharaohman got infected.”

“True, true, but you never know my king. Pharaohman could’ve been infected before your brother took charge of his guardianship, and you know he can’t avoid being curious. It’s part of a young demon’s nature to be curious. You of all people should know that. All Angel and Demon navis fall under yours and Atlantis’s holy command when needed. Plus he’s growing up, so he’ll get even more curious. What can you do to stop it?”

“I know. That’s my brother for you. Laugh in the face of danger, almost get his butt killed, overly pompous at times, and awfully rude. Typical teenage behavior for a male in my family. I know, I was just like that until I became King of a whole server, and his fate will control the fate of my kingdom, along with Lyne. That’s just asking too much of them. It’s not fair.” Nights then crossed his arms over his chest. “At least Lyne is here to straighten him out if he does get out of hand.”

“You do know that young Angel’s are also curious creatures,” Kroa pointed out, making Nights eye twitch.

“Of course I do. I don’t need to be reminded about this. But I know for a fact that she knows better than to let my bother get out of hand. My bother really had no guidance when he was cursed other than the influences created by Alpha.”

“Good point. It’s getting late my king,” Kroa said as he stretched. “This area is a safe zone, so no viruses will come here. I bet you right now the security Barrier is being activated right at this moment.” As he said so, an almost clear barrier formed around the Pyramid and its surrounding area for about a navi mile. “You should get some rest now. You’re going to need a clear head and mind for the journey tomorrow. Good night.” The old guard then went into sleep mode on the stump that he was resting on.

“Good night Kroa, *Sigh*,” he breathed out as he watched his guard do so. “This is just not fair. Too much on them too fast.” He then looked over at the separate places where Lyne and Bass rested.

“Not as fast as you think,” a voice spoke behind him, making him jump.

Nights turned around and saw Temple standing there. “Whew, for a second I thought a virus might’ve snuck up on me. What do you mean by that statement anyway?”

“I’m just saying, what they don’t know now can’t hurt them or your kingdom,” Temple said in a quiet, gentle tone. “Well, don’t tell them until the one with the mark on his back is born. He will be your heir. You will need to train him to take your place until you are not able to.”

“Are you so sure that they will even be interested in each other by that time? They’re still teenagers. They might move on and have other interests in people.”

Temple held up her two fingers that had metal claws. “Those two are linked ‘til the end of time. It’s in their blood, and if anyone should know anything about blood, it’s me. I wasn’t given this job for nothing. DNA is my specialty, and DNA doesn’t lie. Trust me on this one. Not a word ‘til the one with the mark of the crown on his back is born.”

“I swear, and I know I have come to finish this quest no matter what the outcome of my kingdom will be,” Nights said, now with a little boost in his confidence. “For its, Lyne’s, and my brother’s sake.”

“That’s the spirit,” she said as she patted him on the back. “I see my sister’s faith in you is well placed and I’ll give you this to aid you on your journey.” She then gave him scaled necklace. “This is a necklace made out of the scales from a Sexdra. Wear this when you are ready to face your final challenge and it will have no power to harm you with its magic or breath, but do be careful. It doesn’t protect from physical attacks.”

“Thanks,” Nights said as he placed it in his program storage.

“I wouldn’t have given it to you if I didn’t have faith in your cause. I have a feeling you’ll ace Chichiri’s test marvelously,” she said in a gleeful tone. “Get some rest young king. You’re going to need it. Good night King Steven. You have nothing to fear. The security barrier will keep all hostile viruses away from here. Sleep well,” She then waved at him and left him to sit there by himself.

“Good night,” he called out after her as she disappeared into the Pyramid. “Sleep does sound good right now after that long test and the chat with Kroa, and Queen Temple.” He then lay down on the log and stared at the artificial sky that was littered with copies of the constellations. “Man I really wish Kobito was here on this adventure to see this,” he said as the firelight started to fade in his sight. “But I know it can’t be helped,” he said as he closed his eyes. “I wish you all well and promise to be back home soon,” he prayed before he went into sleep mode to a gentle night sonnet of minute, insect-like virus chirps and hums.
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Next Episode Preview

~SciLab~

Yuuichiro: So, you’re sure that’s what Temple found Serenade?
Serenade: Yeah. Isn’t that wonderful Doctor Hikari?
Yuu: Noooo! I was hoping this thing with Bass was just a phase.
Famous: Well, good girls do seem to go for bad boys, y’know?
Yuu: I don’t find that comforting.
Serenade: Well, is it more comforting to realize that you’ll be related to royalty some day?
Yuu: It would be better if she could have found someone without such a rich criminal history.
Serenade: Oh come on. He’ll be able to take care of her just fine.
Famous: Yeah, and it’s not like he’s really a criminal now, y’know?
Yuu: Famous, you’re really not comforting me right now.
Serenade: Oh, you probably just don’t want your daughter to be with anyone at all, do you?
Yuu: No, I don’t.
Serenade: Oh, that’s so… so chauvinistic!
Famous: It’s just a father’s need to protect his daughter, y’know?
Serenade: Famous, who’s side are you on anyway?
Famous: I’m just tellin’ it like it is, y’know?
Yuu: … Why are you talking like that!? Are you trying to drive us crazy?
Author: It’s just an episode preview, y’know?
Editor: We have to prepare the readers for what they’ll be dealing with, y’know?
Serenade: Oohhhh, yeah. That’s right. I hope they have the patience to deal with that.
Yuu: Is it really going to be that bad?
Serenade: Oh, not really. But it’ll probably try Bass’s patience, y’know?
Yuu: Argh, not you too! Could we just announce the next episode and finish the preview?
Author: Feel free. There’s nothing stopping you, y,kn-
Yuu: NEXT TIME ON Lan and Lyne S2, Episode 23: Monk.
Author: Say, no need to yell, y’know?
Yuu: Please, have mercy on me.
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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

[Midnight]

Wonderful. This has got to be the most verbose of the fics here, and yet it does not lose the reader, or at least not as easily as one would expect...

Anyway...this development is certainly gaining ground. At least that is what I interpreted the first part of this chapter to be. This is certainly getting quite interesting, but sometimes, it seems that you add so much detail into your work that the reader almost drowns in the imagery. While for the most part, this is a good thing, having the reader lost by the details is not so desirable.

Of course, that's just my take on this. Do as you wish with it. Otherwise, great 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

[Zodiac]

Yes, the details can be pretty thick, but I don't think this chapter suffered from detail suffocation. It was more dialogue-heavy this time rather than imagery-heavy. Taken as a whole, yes, the depth of detail in the story (now at 45 episodes long!) is intimidating, and I suppose that's harder for Meg and I to see since all that the story is rests in us and those others who have made contributions to the story, but I do hope that our readers will be able to appriciate the long and rich process of living in our world for as long as it takes us to create it. I hope we get to season three before the new year starts.

Oh yeah, and I think NeoKnight wanted me to make metion of a redhead alert for the next episode. ... Sorry, that's apparently a hot redhead alert (honesty, he's just hopeless).
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Church: Are you following any of this?
Caboose: I think so. That guy Tex is a robot, and you're his boyfriend. So that makes you... a gay robot.
Church: ... That's right... I'm a gay robot.

Red Vs. Blue

[Lan1220]

Nice chapter, and i dont mind it being late, all that matters is that its good. *bricked* Great job
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Sig credit goes to Hikari Angel

[Midnight]

Ahh, I see. It's not that I do not appreciate the surely insormountable effort the both of you put into this story--it's definitely quite worth it. Good luck with the next season as well.
_________________
Today, these three players are after Big Bucks! But they'll have to avoid the Whammy, as they play the most exciting game of their lives! From Television City in Hollywood! It's time to 'Press Your Luck!'--Rod Roddy

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

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

[NeoKnight.EXE]

That's "Author's Adorable Little Brother" to you!

And yes, there is a Rabid RedHead in Chapter 23. Well... more like NK's Rabid RedHead *hint hint*. Based off My Mama Kawwie of course!

Big sis (Megawoman, for those who don't know, is practically my big sister), though you know for personal reasons I can't read parts of your story, I do enjoy reading it and helping with the ideas. Given I get to read a good portion of the chapters before they come out >.>
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It's amazing what one can do with a disgruntled Half Navi and his girlfriend's little brother. - NK

[Megawoman.EXE]

Episode 23: Monk

~Morning ~ 19 November 200X ~ Campfire Site in the Forgotten Forest~

The morning began slowly as the navis woke one by one to the gentle light filtering through the leaves. Kroa and Grindel murmured quietly as they went over maps while nearby, Sable helped NeoKnight check the supply inventory. They were all calm and relaxed as they went about their tasks, but Gospel was simply bored. He paced about restlessly and took off eagerly after a virus he spied, but that virus disappeared quickly at the sight of the charging wolf. Gospel was left sniffing fruitlessly at the spot he’d seen the prey and whining in disappointment. There was one last task before they could leave, and this fell upon the shoulders of Nights: waking the still-sleeping half navis.

Lyne was simple enough, but Bass was a different story. “C’mon you stubborn pain. We got to get going,” Nights said, shaking Bass roughly, having found that light shaking had no affect at all.

“That’s not going to work Nights,” Lyne called from behind him. Nights stopped shaking his brother and turned to her with a frown. “Don’t get mad at me. I’m just saying that neither of us have brothers who’ll ever be called light sleepers.”

“Yeah, looks that way. Well, perhaps something more drastic then?” With that, Nights raised his foot and kicked Bass off of the log.

“Owwww! What was that for?” Bass growled as he sat up. He grit his teeth and started rubbing tender spots on his back. “Ooo, I’ve gotten too used to beds,” he mumbled to himself.

“We’re about to leave. I wasn’t about to leave you here to get into trouble,” Nights said, leaving him and Lyne behind.

“How are you feeling Connor?” Lyne asked with a smile.

Bass ignored her for a bit before he registered that Lyne had actually called him by his human name, “Uh… I’m fine Lyne… How are you doing?” he asked, getting up off the ground.

“Great,” she replied as she stretched. “Pharaohman gave me a nice nap last night. Didn’t you get one too?”

Bass held his finger up, pointing at her for a second with a slightly opened mouth. She doesn’t remember anything? Anything at all about last night?

“Connor is something wrong?” she asked, confused at his actions.

He then waved his hands defensively. “Oh no, nothing at all. Yeah, Pharaohman gave me a nap too.”

“Well I guess he didn’t give you a long enough one. You still look stressed out,” she said, coming closer to check up on Bass.

“I’m fine,” he said in a hurried tone. “Nights said we’re about to leave so let’s go.” He then grabbed her hand and dragged her behind him towards the rest of the party. He then summoned Gospel with a whistle and the virus companion rushed up to him without delay.

Bass then snapped his fingers, a wordless command for Gospel to increase his size. Lyne was then surprised to find herself picked up by the waist and placed on the now much larger wolf’s back. “Connor you sure nothing’s wrong?” she asked in a gentle tone.

Bass just smiled glad to hear Lyne’s normal tone of voice. “Yes. Nothing’s wrong at all. I promise.”

“Well, now that everybody’s here, we can get going,” Nights said as he and everyone else mounted the enares they had. Bass was without a ride. Nights then took the lead with Grindel by his side, following the map’s guidance.

Everyone else followed behind. As they walked along, Lyne asked several times if Bass wanted to join her up on Gospel’s back, but he refused each time and continued to walk by her side. After a little while, he became preoccupied by a fragrance that was unfamiliar to him, yet also pleasing. What is that? he pondered as he followed it off the path.

“What are you doing, Connor?” Lyne called out after him, stopping Gospel when she saw that Bass had broken off from the group.

He stopped and turned back to face her. “I’m looking for something,” he called back before he carried on with his search.

“What are you looking for?”

Bass stopped again and glared at her. “I don’t know *sniff*, but I have to find it. I need to know what it is,” he replied as he sniffed around. “It’s this way,” he said heading into the woods.

“Connor, get back here!” Lyne called out after him again. He of course ignored her and continued to investigate.

Maybe some of my programming is still inside him, Gospel noted of his master’s behavior.

“He doesn’t. I extracted you entirely from his system. Maybe it’s something else in his programming,” she pondered as she watched him too. “We’re going after him.”

Yes, Light Element Master, Gospel replied as he started to follow after his master.

“Just call me Lyne. Is it that hard to understand?” she asked as they followed after Bass.

Okay, Master Lyne, he replied in a cheerful tone as they followed after Bass.

Lyne palmed her face. “That’s close enough,” she breathed out as they continued along.

Nights took notice of them straying off the path. Wonder what they’re doing, “NeoKnight!”

“Yes your highness,” NK replied, obediently coming up beside him.

“Make sure they meet us at the link,” Nights said, turning his eyes back towards Bass and Lyne as he held out a file, “This is a map of where the link is located.”

“Yes, sir,” NK said as he took the map and followed after the large virus wolf. “Hya!” he called, slapping the exposed flank of the enare he was riding in an attempt to goad it to extra speed. Instead the beast stopped and turned its head to glare at him. “Uh, that is, could you hurry to catch up with them?” The enare snorted and then trotted after the half navis.

Lyne sighed to herself, helplessly following after Bass. “Connor, get back here. We can come back here sometime later. I bookmarked this place.”

“What’s he doing?” NK asked as he caught up to her.

“Looking for something,” Lyne replied in a drab tone. “I’ve been trying to get him to stop, but he insists that he needs to find whatever he’s looking for.”

“Ah, so his demon nose that Nights told me about found something.”

This had Lyne thinking for a moment. “Maybe,” she said in an unsure tone. He heard a short yelp from Bass and looked to see that he’d tripped over a tree root which she was surprised to see sink into the ground. “Gospel stop,” Lyne commanded. “Are you alright?” she asked as she dismounted Gospel to check up on Bass.

“Maybe we should get out of here. That was kinda’ weird what that tree just did,” NK noted.

Bass sat up and noticed that some of his hidden long hair managed to get caught on some of the branches. He growled in anger, then got up off the ground, getting a big whiff of what he was searching for. He looked around for a bit and found what looked like a large flower at the base of the tree his hair was entangled in. “Ah ha,” Bass said as he went to investigate it.

Wait. Don’t Host Master, Dark called from inside him. This made Bass pause for a moment.

I thought you were asleep. Light is, Bass commented before he continued on his investigation.

Well she likes her sleep, but I’m warning you, don’t go near that thing. Bass ignored him completely now.

“Heh, heh, this is so cool,” he said as he got closer. “And it smells good too.”

“Yes Connor. I can smell it too, and yes it is nice,” Lyne replied. “C’mon, let’s go,” she pleaded as Bass poked the flower out of curiosity. “Stop messing with that.”

Just then the flower sent out a green spore cloud. Bass jerked back, but couldn’t totally escape since his hair was still tangled up. “Connor!! Cleansing Breeze,” she called out, blowing the spore cloud away.

“Oghhhh,” Bass moaned as his vision and head started to swim. He put his hands on the ground to try to keep himself steady. Lyne and NK came to check up on him.

“Connor, are you alright?” Lyne asked as she helped him up to his feet. Bass struggled for a bit to get his hair out off the branches and managed to make things considerably worse. “Oh, stop. Connor, that’s only getting your hair more tangled.”

“He’ll be fine,” NK said, taking note of the flower on the trunk of the tree. “That’s a Drose Tree. I’ve only read about them, but never thought I’d see one.”

“A Drose Tree? What do they do? Are they a Virus?” Bass asked, struggling more. “Hey, let me go you stupid tree.” Apparently deciding to be contrary, the tree pulled up its branches higher, bringing Bass up off the ground. “What th- Stop that! Let me down! Stupid, grrr.”

“To be expected from you my friend. The Drose Tree is a friendly virus when its head is not pestered. The flower at the base of its trunk is its head and sends out a cloud of spores that carries a status effect. I just can’t remember which one,” NK said placing his hand on his chin trying to remember what the cloud did to its victims. “But the cloud is only dispersed when a navi or virus is stupid enough to play with its head.”

“I’m not stupid,” Bass growled back at NK as he continued to struggle.

“Don’t move anymore. You’ll get even more tangled up,” Lyne said as she activated a cyber sword.

Bass stopped moving when he saw her do so. “Lyne…” he moaned out as she drew it in close to his head. She then made a quick movement that made him flinch before he fell to the ground. “Owww!” he complained.

“There. Now you’re free,” she said as she returned her arm to its normal form.

“What did you do to me?” he growled back at Lyne as he tried to get himself up. He then realized something odd. He couldn’t move at all. “Um… Why can’t I move?”

“Well, to your first question, she gave you a much-needed hair cut,” NK said kneeling down beside his friend. “Now I remember what the spore cloud does. It stuns its victims. Meg’s Cleansing Breeze must’ve not gotten to you before you breathed some of the spores in. So I guess you won’t be moving for a while.” NK then picked Bass up off the ground.

See? Your nose got you into trouble, Dark commented. I did warn you after all.

Shut up! I don’t need no dead guy scolding me, Bass thought back angrily to Dark.

Don’t yell at me young demon. You’re going to have to learn some self control. Let this be a lesson for you. Dark said as Lyne joined in assisting NK to carry Bass back to their rides. And since you won’t be getting into trouble, I’m going to be going back to sleep. Dark’s voice faded gently from Bass’ mind, leaving him oddly even more angry.

“Um… NK? How long will this last?” Lyne asked out of curiosity.

“Maybe a few hours at the most. I’m not for positive. But regardless, we need to catch up with the others. I have a map to the link right here,” he said showing Lyne the map.

“Good, I was beginning to think we’d gotten lost. I’ll take him on Gospel’s back,” Lyne said as she took Bass into her arms and carried him across her chest. She then walked up to the virus wolf, who lowered its back so she could easily mount it. She then placed him down gently in her lap. NK waited until she’d finished, then commanded his enare to lead the way.

“This sucks,” Bass complained when Lyne made Gospel follow after NK and his ride. Lyne could feel his tension increase as they traveled along.

“Don’t worry about it Connor. You’ll be fine in a few hours,” Lyne cooed in reply.

“Sure, that sounds so reassuring,” Bass grumped as he laid there motionless in Lyne’s lap. Shortly after that their pace quickened. “Hey not so fast,” he complained once more.

Lyne just hugged him in close to her chest as they sped up. “Being tense will make the virus toxin stay in your system longer. It’s been proven in human and navi systems before. I should know. Dad talks about it all the time,” Lyne said.

Soon they were upon the rest of the group and Lyne slowed Gospel down to a trot and then to a full stop. “Good to see you both back here,” Nights said as he approached them. He looked surprised to see Bass in Lyne’s lap. “Is something wrong with my brother?”

NK cleared his throat to stop Lyne from answering. “Not anything to be too concerned about your highness. He just had a run in with a Drose tree. He’ll be fine in a few hours.”

“That’s understandable,” Nights said as he returned to where the portal was and opened it. “He hasn’t been this deep into the Undernet before. I wouldn’t blame him for being curious.” Nights then remounted his enare. “Well then, shall we get going?” he asked gesturing at the now open Net Portal to the next area of their quest.

Kroa, Grindel, and Sable all entered without hesitation. Nights followed shortly afterward along with NK, Lyne and the immobile Bass. The data stream trip this time wasn’t as bad as the last one. It was more tranquil and quiet. It was also very short. Once they exited the other side, they were inside a vast cave that had huge opening. The whole group traveled out of the mouth to enter a rocky, walled path with trees growing on the top of the bluffs they were between.

“Whoa!” Lyne breathed out in response to the picturesque scenery.

“Boring,” Bass huffed angrily a few minutes after their arrival. He then started hearing a faint clinking sound. “What is that?” he growled as the sound continued to his annoyance.

NK shook his head. “Don’t tell me you’re hearing things now.”

“So what if I am?” Bass growled, looking back at NK who was taking up the rear of the party.

Master is not wrong in hearing a noise, Gospel thought to Lyne, getting her attention. I hear it too, but it is very faint and distant.

“Connor’s not wrong,” Lyne piped up suddenly, breaking the two male navi’s argument. “Gospel hears the noise too NK.”

“And you can talk to viruses?” NK asked in a sarcastic tone, making Gospel turn his head to glare and growl at the blue haired navi.

“As a mater of fact, we both understand him,” Lyne said, petting Gospel on the side of the head. “Face forward or you’re going to run us into the rocks,” she commanded the virus, making him look forward once more.

“What is that blasted noise? Gospel, can you see what is making it?” Bass asked, angry that he couldn’t move his head around much to locate the noise himself.

No Master. I haven’t seen anything that is making that noise, but it is closer… Wait… I see. It’s a stick with rings, Gospel replied when he took notice of an object down the road.

“A stick with rings…” Bass pondered as he tried to sit up and look over Gospel at this supposed stick. Lyne, noting his action, helped him sit up to see better. “Um… Thanks,” he replied to Lyne’s kind gesture. “That’s odd. Why would a stick be moving on its own? And it’s a really fine looking one at that, almost like a staff of some type.” Bass could see that it was coming closer, and eventually the head of its owner came into view.

Their party came to a gentle halt when the staff’s owner was in full view. The stranger had medium length, sky blue colored hair that had arched bangs and was tied into a short pony tail. They couldn’t tell what color his eyes might be, as they seemed to be closed. He wore a white tunic top with brown slacks whose ends were covered in shin guards, and he wore black Chinese slippers. Over his tunic, he wore a dark blue sash that was decorated with light blue ring patterns and was fastened over his right shoulder and at his waist with a golden ring. Around his neck was a necklace that was adorned with round, jade stones which were spaced apart with a single red jade stone for every three green jade stone beads. He also had a straw hat hanging around his neck.

The stranger then bowed to the group. “Hello,” he greeted in a cheerful voice, “What brings you here to Xanadell?”

Nights nervously looked around at the rest of the party for a moment before he answered. “We’re on a journey to see a lord of the Undernet that resides here. He goes by the name of Chichiri.”

“Ohhh. Chichiri…” the stranger drew out. “I know where he is, y’ know? I’ll show ya,” the stranger offered, gesturing his hand in the direction they were heading.

Nights looked over at Kroa for council. He simply nodded. “Of course. Thank you for the generous offer. Do you happen to have a name stranger?” he asked.

The navi bowed. “A lowly monk like me doesn’t need a name, y’ know? I’m just glad to be of service,” he replied as he rose up and started to lead the way down the small, rock walled valley. “His temple is this way, y’ know?”

The party followed after him as he took a steady pace beside Nights’ ride. After a bit, the monk started speaking with Nights about important things like diplomacy and other problems that plagued the net. As they went along, the clinking of the monk’s staff was starting to annoy Bass once more. Man I wish that noise would stop, he thought angrily, wishing he could at least cover his ears. This so sucks, he thought as he resorted to growling, drawing Lyne’s attention. The monk noticed the noise as well and glanced back over his shoulder.

“Excuse me for a moment Nights,” he said as he slowed his pace until he was in stride beside Gospel.

“Connor, be quiet,” Lyne cooed, trying to make Bass calm down, but that wasn’t working whatsoever.

“Ahem…” the monk cleared his throat, getting both half navi’s attention. “I don’t mean to pry, but is that your mouth or your stomach?” he asked Bass, who instantly shut up.

Bass narrowed his eyes as he looked at the Monk. “None of your business,” he replied in a harsh tone. There was a momentary gap of silence as the monk continued to pace them. The silence didn’t last though. The clinking of the staff’s rings went on, and Bass was developing a twitch to go with each one. His growl started back up as well.

“That’s really rude, y’ know?” the monk pointed out when he lifted the staff and let it rest on his shoulder again. “You could’ve asked me to stop, y’ know? ‘Sides, you need to chill out, y’ know?” Bass just continued to growl at him. “Jeez.”

“Don’t mind him monk. He’s usually always angry,” NK piped up behind them, getting a quick, hateful glare from Bass before he returned his focus on the monk.

“Not always,” Lyne protested, “He’s just a little stressed out right now,” Lyne said, stroking what was left of his once long hair, but this didn’t stop his growling. The monk then brought his staff back down to the ground and started pacing his steps with it, getting the rings at the top of the staff to clink again.

“Stupid clinking staff…… Stupid m-” Bass grumbled as the monk then spoke a command.

“Silence,” he said as he tapped his staff on the ground twice in rapid succession. This made Bass stop in mid sentence, making him look at the monk in shock. “That’s only the basics, y’know?” the monk said with a smile. “As I said earlier, you need to chill out. I’d let this be a lesson to you NetDemon,” he said as he sped up a little bit, before he spoke again. “This will last until that Drose stun program is out of your system. Later.” And with that he went to rejoin Nights to continue talking over the topics that they were discussing.

Bass first started to attempt name calls after the monk, but found that he really was muted for now. He then started breathing heavily in a manner that sounded close to a quiet, angry growl. “First your nose gets you into trouble, then your mouth. What’s next?” NK asked in a sarcastic tone.

“NeoKnight, stop making fun,” Lyne scolded him. She then looked down at Bass. “The monk was right though. You need to calm down,” Lyne said as she hugged him into her chest, making him shudder. “Please, can’t you just calm down for at least five minutes?” she asked, rubbing his back.

“Aww,” NK commented. “Isn’t that cute?” Bass glared back at NK, making his eyes glow bright red. “Hey don’t be that way. I’m just saying you both make a good looking couple of navis. I’m surprised he’s even letting you touch him Meg. He usually keeps his distance from female navis.”

“I’m his friend NK, and I’ll be there for him. No matter what happens. That’s what friends do,” Lyne said as she continued to rub Bass’ back, actually getting him to calm down. The words she spoke made him feel more secure then he had ever felt before, and he wasn’t sure why. “There you go. Was that so bad?” she asked as he rested his head on her shoulder, which made her smile. She then paid attention to where they were heading.

How can he deny that’s she’s his girlfriend? It’s so obvious, NK thought as he watched his friend go into a daze.

Why do I feel this way? Bass pondered. My system must be malfunctioning again. Probably ‘cause I have a few status effects in my system. Yeah that’s it.

As they went along, a navi was skirting the top of the bluff on the left hand side. She looked down into the little rocky valley when she took notice of the little procession down below. She stopped and climbed up into a tree to observe it. She scanned the little crowd and noticed the navi at the end of it. NK? What’s he doing here? she pondered and then noted the navi he was talking to: a purple clad female.

She watched them for a bit before she took notice of them laughing. “That wolf virus riding harlot!” she exclaimed in an exasperated tone. “She has no right being near my guy,” she growled as she threw some red, feather-like darts down at Lyne. She then raced down the cliff, drawing out two glowing, bladed tonfas as she went.

Bass caught sight of the darts streaking towards Lyne and snapped to a tense attention. “Connor… What’s wrong?” Lyne whispered. He couldn’t reply with words, but was at least able to activate a Dark Aura to stop the darts.

“So, you are a navi of the dark power,” a female voice yelled and the voice was followed by the whack of the tonfa blades striking the protective aura. “You stay away from NK you cyber witch!” the navi exclaimed as she continued to attack the barrier fruitlessly. Lyne turned her head to see the female navi who was attacking her. She could see that she had the look of a ninja, wearing a black skintight bodysuit with a red tunic that reached mid-thigh. She had loose, red hair to match the tunic and blue eyes which were currently blazing with fury.

Why is she attacking me? I didn’t do anything wrong? Lyne pondered as she watched the female navi take her rage out on Bass’ aura.

“KAORI!” came a shout that made her stop suddenly. “Calm down right this instant.”

“But you were flirting with her,” she complained as she pointed her tonfas at Lyne and then at NK. “I saw you laughing.”

“We were just talking, ‘s all,” Lyne said as Bass let down his barrier. “You’re about as jealous as another navi I know. Hello, I’m Meg. Nice to meet you Kaori,” she said, offering her hand out to Kaori.

Kaori hesitated slightly, but reached out her hand to accept Lyne’s only to have it zapped by Bass before she could make contact with Lyne. “Owwww! What kind of trickery is this?” Lyne closed her eyes and sighed, then raised her arm up and brought it down quickly, making a sharp whacking noise when her hand made contact with the side of Bass’ head.

“Connor, that was not nice at all,” Lyne scolded her charge in her lap.

NK dismounted his enare and quietly unsheathed his sword which he pressed into Bass’ back. “You do that again to her, I swear I’ll hurt you,” he whispered to Bass before he went to check up on Kaori to see if she was hurt. She checked out fine, no damage to her systems. NK then started walking back to his enare.

Kaori looked back at NK for a moment. “Who’s Connor?” she asked before she looked back at Lyne who was adjusting a familiar-looking navi in her lap to a more comfortable position. “Okay, better question. Why is Bass here?” she whispered to NK.

“Long story,” he replied quietly.

“And her. He’s actually letting her touch him. I thought you said that doesn’t ever happen,” she whispered back.

“Well she’s his friend,” NK said getting a weird look from the female ninja navi. “Okay, she’s also another long story.”

“Okay, now I’m curious. Tell me this long story,” she demanded, tapping her foot as NK remounted his enare.

“I’ll tell you when we get to Chichiri’s temple. Get on,” NK said as he offered his hand to Kaori. She stood there for a moment before she accepted his offer and grabbed his hand. He then realized that they were a little behind the group and needed to catch up so he led the way, picking up the pace of the group. After they had taken their old positions in their party’s caravan, he spoke to Kaori again. “I want to know something first. Why are you here?”

“I was running an errand for Lord Beowulf. He told me to deliver a message to Lord Chichiri. My turn for a question. Why are you with this group?” Kaori asked, taking note there were a lot of navis with them.

“Lord Beowulf told me to come along with them. To provide my services, so to speak,” he said, rolling his hand.

“Kinda’ odd for him to lend out your merc services outside the mercenary circuit. You and Treno are like his favorite team compared to me and Leina.”

“I know but…” he spoke, before he lowered his voice to a quiet tone. “Something happened to Bass, so I agreed to come.”

“Like what?” Kaori asked.

“Um… Something odd is best to describe it,” NK replied as their group came to a stop before a huge gate. It then opened widely, allowing enough room for the group to enter.

“Come on in and rest. I’ll have a room arranged for your demon to recover in. Those Drose viruses are really nasty, y’ know?” the monk said as he entered the courtyard and snapped his fingers, calling up a small group of grey-robed navi monks to take care of their viruses. They all dismounted and followed the monk inside the courtyard.

A rather large navi monk approached them and stopped, then bowed in front of Lyne. “I’ll take him Miss,” the navi said as he offered his arms out to take her burden.

“I can handle him just fine sir. Please just show me where the room is,” Lyne said, refusing to let anyone take Bass from her. She promised to take care of him and wasn’t about to let anyone get close that could potentially hurt him, be it friend or foe.

The monk bowed respectfully once more, “Of course Miss. This way.”

“Let’s follow,” NK said to Kaori as the monk started to lead the way to the room. Kaori nodded and followed after the group. After they left, the party’s guide came back. “Young lord, Lord Chichiri is ready to speak with you.”

“Ah yes, the reason we came here. I’ll return when I finish Kroa. You and Grindel keep an eye on my brother and Meg,” Nights said, winking at them as he followed after the monk. As he winked, Sable disappeared from sight into Night’s shadow.

Kroa humbly bowed as Grindel stood there, confused. “Yes my king. C’mon lad, we have to tend to the young demon and angel.” Kroa then turned to lead the way inside with Grindel.
________________________________________________
~Inside Chichiri’s Temple Chamber~

Nights and the monk walked inside a rather roomy, comfortable living area with an open back that over looked a hot spring. “Please, have a seat young lord,” the monk said, offering him a cushion to sit down on beside a table that had a pot of cyber tea on it. As Nights sat down, the monk took notice of some noises that weren’t coming from Nights himself.

He walked by his side and then stood on Nights’ shadow for a moment before he started tapping on it with his staff. “Hey! Stop that you old fart,” came a complaint from the shadow.

“I’m sorry, but this is an important, private discussion. No shadow navis, y’know?” the monk said, drawing Sable out of Night’s shadow. “Now if you would be so kind and join the others of your party,” he addressed Sable, opening the door to the chamber.

“Aww, man,” Sable said as he slouched forward and exited the room. Once he was gone, the monk closed the door and waited for a minute before he returned to sit across from Nights, who looked nervous.

“Now where were we?” he asked as he placed his staff down. “Ahhh, that’s right. First a deep breath,” he said, getting into a meditative state with Nights following his example. “Breathe in…… Breathe out. Ahhhh,” the monk instructed before he smiled at Nights. “You passed my test, y’ know?” he said, getting Nights to look at him in confusion. “Oh yes, you will make a great leader indeed.” The monk then poured himself a cup of cyber tea.

Nights sat there for a moment, trying to figure things out when it finally clicked. “Your test? You mean you’re Lord Chichiri?” he asked, pointing at the monk who was sipping on his cup of tea.

“Yes lord Nights, and my test was our lengthy conversation over here. You answered all I needed to know with thought, your heart, and your beliefs. No doubt in my mind that you’ll make a great king for the Atlantis Server. Tea?” he asked, offering Nights a cup.

“Um, sure, thank you.”

“Well, coming in here to tell you congrats is not why we’re here, y’ know?” Chichiri said, bringing up a vid window showing a monstrosity. “I want to discuss something outside your quest. I’m sure you’re aware what this is.”

Nights lowered his eyes away from the vid window. “Yes, that’s Havock. Do we really need to discuss that thing right now?”

“Yeah we do, y’ know? This unnatural program has plagued the net many a time under the control of Alpha.”

“I know this already Chichiri.”

The monk then picked up his staff and tapped Nights on top of the head. “Don’t interrupt. Its rude y’ know?”

“I’m sorry. Please continue,” Nights said as he humbly poured himself another cup of tea.

“I am aware that the Ancient has told you that this program was responsible for killing the Master Elements first hosts,” Chichiri spoke as he raised his hand to stop Nights from interrupting again. “And I know those two young ones you brought with you now bear them.” Nights nodded at this fact. “But also inside them are some restless spirits, and only you can set the terms of their freedom. Those spirits are hindering your young ones access to their full potential, y’ know?”

Nights looked at him in shock. “What?! Spirits?”

Chichiri gave him a smiling nod. “Mmm-hm. I’m surprised they haven’t told you yet. The light and dark elements came with the spirits of the original hosts, y’know?”

Nights blinked wordlessly a couple of times while absorbing this information before he spoke. “Okay, so, restless spirits. And I decide how they’re released. How do I do that?”

“You have power over all citizens of Atlantis, but you have to talk with the spirits before your purification ritual.”

“But I don’t have that kind of power to talk with spirits. This is getting a little too deep Chichiri.”

“Don’t worry about it. I know a navi that can arrange a meeting with them, y’ know? But your young demon has to be freed from his current status. Kinda’ hard for him to talk if he’s still stunned, y’ know?”

“Ahh, yes. I apologize for my brother’s rudeness earlier, Chichiri.”

“No need for that. As long as he learns something from this. I’ve assigned a healer to help make the Drose Spore exit his system faster, but they won’t be here for another hour or so. Until then you should relax, y’ know? And if you have any questions about these two spirits, just ask. They both can be pretty picky for 12,000 year old spirits, y’ know?”

“Of course,” Nights said, now more at ease with a smile on his face.
_____________________________________________________
~Recovery Room~ Half hour later~

“Man this place is bigger then I thought,” Grindel commented as the door was opened for them.

“I’m sorry for the delay,” the tall monk replied. “I wasn’t expecting such a large group to be housed in one room, so I had to find the largest room in the temple to accommodate. There will be a healer coming shortly to assist with his treatment.” With that, the monk bowed and left the group to return to his other duties.

Lyne didn’t hesitate in entering. She found a pad on the floor and laid Bass down on it. She then removed his helmet and placed a small pillow under his head. As she did this, everyone else settled in, taking seats around the room. Once they were settled Kaori took notice of Bass’ hair. “Hee, hee, if someone didn’t know any better, they’d say you’re a female navi Bass,” Kaori laughed. This earned her a little orb of dark energy to be formed and shot off at her. “Yipe!” she squeaked as it dissipated in front of her, due to Lyne sending an orb of light energy to counter it.

“Please don’t make him mad,” Lyne pleaded as she watched over him. “Connor doesn’t like to be picked on.”

“Sure, whatever. Why are you calling Bass that? You know we’re all navis in here. No need to be hiding who he is,” Kaori said, crossing her arms over her chest.

Lyne stiffened up, realizing she had just spoken Bass’ true name to a strange navi. This reminded her of the promise that they had made, to not use each other’s human name in front of strange navis they didn’t know. What’s worse, she realized she had broken that trust on a couple occasions already in front of Kaori.

Why hasn’t he scolded me for that? Lyne pondered as she looked at Bass who, didn’t seam to care at the moment. You don’t care what I call you anymore, do you? she asked him mentally, getting him to shake his head (very slightly) in reply. Lyne just smiled.

“You’d like to think that wouldn’t you? Not all of us are navis here,” she said, looking back at Kaori. “Bass and I are half human. So in a sense, we’ve been pretending. Same with you both. Especially you NK,” Lyne said, pointing at NK and getting him to look at her in confusion. “How can your NetOp be so cruel?”

“What NetOp?” he asked in a casual tone. How could she tell? he pondered to himself as Lyne rose up off the ground to stand in front of NK.

She waved her hand in front of him, making a vid window appear in front him. “Treno, your brother and mother haven’t heard from you in years,” Lyne yelled at a young man that appeared on the vid window.

“Uh… hi Lynie,” Treno replied in a rather surprised tone.

Bass craned his neck back so he could see what was going on. He mouthed the word “Treno,” getting Lyne’s attention even though she was still looking at the vid screen. “Yes, Connor. This is Leon’s brother who we were talking about a while back. You thought you could hide yourself with a false independent navi signature so we wouldn’t know you were watching.”

“Well, yeah, and it kinda’ worked,” Treno said before he leveled his eyes at Lyne. “So you managed to repair Bass and became a navi yourself.”

“I don’t doubt that NK has already told you we’re half navis, and his name is and always had been Connor Cossack,” Lyne said, pointing at the vid screen, making his eyes go wide in shock.

“What, but how?”

Just then a knock came on the door. “We can discuss this later Treno. The healer is here,” Lyne said as she crossed the room to open the door, making her way past the other occupants of the room. She opened the door to the room to find, to her surprise, Pharaohman standing there. “What are you doing here?”

“I’m here on a special request. And, lucky you, I happen to know a thing or two about healing certain aliments,” he said as he walked past Lyne and entered the room. He went to Bass’ side and kneeled down beside him. He made a bottle of some strange looking data appear in his hand and lifted Bass into an upright position before he removed the cork and started lowering it to Bass’ mouth.

Bass got a quick whiff of the concoction. It was apparently not to his liking, judging by the way he tensed up and stiffly forced his head to turn away. When the smell got to Lyne’s nose, she quickly covered up her nose and developed a look of disgust on her face that well matched the look Bass wore on his face. “Yuck! What is that stuff?” she complained as she backed away.

Bass was now trying his best to stay away from the bottle, shaking his head to try and get out of Pharaohman’s grip, but the stunned state he was in didn’t leave him enough strength to really fight. “Calm down. I know it stinks to your nose, but this is what will fix your problem,” Pharaohman said reaching for Bass’ nose to pinch it closed. He was successful and in a quick motion shoved the bottle in Bass’ now open mouth, making him absorb the liquid data. After Pharaohman finished empting the bottle, he removed it from Bass’ mouth, earning him a disgusted look from his patient. Pharaohman then placed Bass back down on the mat. “This will only take a few moments,” he said, backing off.

After a little bit Bass stirred and moved under his own power, groaning as his stiff muscles protested to him. “Yay! You’re all better,” Lyne squealed as she hugged him, making him squirm.

“Stop it! Let me go!” he exclaimed, not wanting to be hugged at the moment.

“Ahem.” Everyone tuned to see that Pharaohman wanted their attention. “Lord Chichiri would like a word with you both. I’ll take you to him,” he said, leaving for the door. “Come on. We don’t have all day.” Lyne and Bass reluctantly got up to follow him.

“We’ll see you guys later I guess,” Lyne said in a quiet tone as the door was closed behind them. They followed after their Egyptian-looking guide for a little while until he stopped in front of large door. He opened the door and guided them to a pair of cushions. “Please, have a seat. Lord Chichiri and King Steven will be with you shortly,” he requested, making them nervously sit down.

“Did we do something wrong?” Lyne asked as she looked at Bass, who shrugged his shoulders in reply.

Pharaohman left their sight and started a quiet incantation which caused both Lyne and Bass to fall asleep before they could realize anything was going on. “Okay, now time to wake up Dark and Light,” he said, coming out of the shadows and placing his hands on Lyne and Bass’ heads.

Light blinked her host’s eyes a few times before they focused in on Pharaohman. She slapped his hand away. “Stop messing with me you Egyptian perv,” she bellowed before she heard someone moan beside her.

“Please Light, not so loud,” Dark spoke, getting her attention.

“Dark!” she exclaimed, scanning him first to make sure it was him. “Oh thank God. I missed you,” she said as she hugged him.

“Ahem…” a voice loudly projected from the other side of the room. “That will be all for now Pharaohman. Have a seat.” Pharaohman did as he was requested by the voice, taking a seat behind them. “Now if you don’t mind, you’ve been awakened to discuss an important matter, y’ know?” Chichiri said, making Light reluctantly let go of Dark and sit a bit away from him.

“Hello Chichiri,” they moaned in unison.

“You two should sound more cheerful, y’ know? We’re here to discuss your release from your host masters’ bodies,” he said with a smile.

“What?!” Dark exclaimed in shock. “You can’t be serious. Only our host masters can do that!” he argued, with Light nodding her head in agreement.

“According to what Lord Chichiri told me…” another voice spoke, drawing their attention to the navi beside the monk. “I have the power to make your release whatever I want. I’m king Steven of Atlantis,” Nights introduced himself to them. Dark and Light immediately bowed in his presence.

“Pardon my rudeness your highness,” Dark said with his face to the ground.

“No need. We are here to discuss this matter before my purification here. Havock has been reactivated, and your host masters need access to their full potential to face it.”

“But as Dark said, only our host masters can free us,” Light whined.

“I have power over Angels and Demons, so basically I can free you here and now if you wish,” Nights offered.

“Please do if you can,” Light pleaded.

“No,” came a sharp reply from Dark.

Light turned her head quickly to look at Dark, opening her mouth, but letting her jaw work mutely for a moment before she voiced her surprise. “Huh? Why not now?” Dark looked at her and clenched his jaw, determined to maintain his resolve against the tears that were forming at the corners of her eyes.

“They aren’t ready. They need to be instructed on how to use this power, and we will show them how. We will fight Havock for our freedom,” Dark said, now with a serious look on his face.

“What?!” Light exclaimed as she got in front of him, kneeling. She grabbed the sides of his face and looked at him. “You can’t be serious. No, you are serious.”

“Light, we know how to fight that thing.”

“We died!”

“We learned! They don’t stand a chance if we don’t teach them how to use these elements,” Dark said, still holding his ground.

Her lip quivered miserably, but she knew Dark well enough to realize further argument was pointless. She let go of his face and sighed. “You’re right. And when you’re right, you’re right. We’ll do it. We’ll fight Havock.”

“So, in order to gain your freedom, you will fight Havock for them,” Nights repeated the conditions that Dark had just gone over. It sounded fair to him, and he got ready to set the terms to action.

“On one condition though,” Dark said, holding up a finger, stopping Nights’ action. “They get to watch the fight. As I said before, this is to be an instructing tool as well.”

Nights nodded. “Agreed.” He then lowered his head and spoke an incantation that made Lyne and Bass’ icons glow more brightly than they had before. “Now that’s settled, I can continue with the purification process.”

“Might I suggest that they too be purified? It would be refreshing, and they’re a demon and an angel, y’ know?” Chichiri suggested.

“Yes, it would be nice,” Light said with a smile. “Your springs are the best on the net. When do we get to start?”

“You two don’t. Lyne and Bass get too. Good night ‘til your fight,” Pharaohman said, placing his hands on their shoulders, making them pass out for a second before Bass and Lyne had control of their bodies once more.

“Huh? What?” Bass asked, confused. He felt like he just woke up from an attempt to fall asleep. He then noticed his brother sitting in front of him and the monk from before. “Nights, why are we here and why is that monk here?”

“This monk is Lord Chichiri, and you’re both going to take a bath,” Nights said, getting an odd look from both of them.

“We thought it would be nice for two since you’re both kinda’ human too, y’ know?” Chichiri said with a smile.

“Yes, that would be nice. Thanks for your hospitality,” Lyne said with a smile, accepting the generous offer.

“But this is no ordinary bath y know? The springs here are extraordinary and unique,” Chichiri warned.

“Of course they are. We’re on the Network,” Bass scoffed as he sat there with his arms over his chest. “Can we just get this over with?”

“Of course, but you should be prepared for the unexpected,” Chichiri said, rising from his seat and crossing the room to open the view of the springs. He then clapped his hands, summoning a bunch of maidens. “Enjoy your bath,” he said, leaving them in the room with the maidens.

“Wait a minute,” Bass said, looking at the maids. “Don’t we bathe ourselves?”

“It’s a purification bath that he wanted all three of us to take, and that requires assistance,” Nights said as he walked up to his group of maids. “Trust me brother, you will need their help,” he said as Bass tried to escape his group of maids.

“C’mon Connor. What harm will it do to have them help you clean yourself?” Lyne asked. “Haven’t you had a traditional bath before?”

“No and I don’t plan on it,” Bass said, shooing his navi maids away.

“We are only allowed to clean what your towel does not cover,” one of his maids said.

Nights then stared his brother down. “You are going to take a bath. Trust me, you’ll be fine,” he said, giving Bass a gentle shove towards his group of maids. They took him and gently guided him away from Lyne and Nights, who were guided to separate springs themselves.

Once they got to his designated spring, he was handed a basket. “You’ll change in here,” his head maid said as she gestured at a door-sized hole in the rocky wall of the hot spring. “Go ahead and enter young sir,” she continued as she handed him a towel, and shoved him inside the hole.

After entering the pitch black hole, he felt strange, and very much uncomfortable, as if his protection had been taken away. He did a quick inspection of himself in the dark, finding that all his armor was gone. How is this even possible? he pondered as he quickly wrapped his towel around his waist.

“Are you finished in there young sir so we can start?” the head maid called into the hole.

This is so not fair at all, Bass thought as he cautiously came out of the hole, now only wearing a towel. “You swear that you can only clean what is not covered by the towel?”

“Promise,” the maid said, bowing humbly in front of him. “If you be so kind and enter the water and sit on the boulder in the middle.”

Bass looked out at the rock and tried to ignore that he was surrounded by female navis, but he couldn’t. He felt naked standing there and quickly looked down to make sure that the towel hadn’t mysteriously vanished like his armor had. I hate this… I hate this, I hate this, I hate this… Bass maintained the mental mantra as he forced himself to stiffly walk into the water and to the boulder he’d been directed to. He sat on the boulder for a moment, just waiting, when he noticed his back feel suddenly heavier. He looked behind him and noticed his wings had formed out of his back, limbs of pure energy with no armor. “Huh?” He reached out to touch them only to see elongated nails on his hands. “What happened to me?”

“You’re fine. This is your true form,” the head maid spoke to him as she brought up a bucket full of digital water and dumped it over his head.

I wonder if Lyne is going through the same thing? Bass pondered as the other maids went to work on wetting his wings down, while others scrubbed his lower legs. He squirmed as they cleaned around his knee caps, then he felt a twinge in one of his wings. “Hey!” he shouted as his wings twitched at the discomfort.

“I’m so sorry sir. Damaged feather,” a maid apologized as she dropped one of his feathers into the water.

“Right.” He put his hands in his lap and tried to relax, but his leg started twitching impatiently. How long is this going to take? I want my armor back. I hate this, I hate this, I ha- “Owww! Stop finding those!” Bass exclaimed as his wings jerked from another damaged feather being removed. Then one of the maids started to massage his shoulders, making him go limp to allow the rest of the maids finish their work.
_____________________________________________
~Lyne’s Spring~

She had been relaxing for a little bit while her maids were washing her wings when she heard yelling from the other side of the wall. “They must be having problems over there,” Lyne noted before she felt a slight, sharp twinge in her own wings. “What was that for?”

“You have some broken feathers. You must put a lot of use into your wings,” one of her maids responded. “And it sounds like Lord Chichiri gave your young demon friend the novice group of maids,” she said as Bass yelled again.

“What’s the difference?” Lyne asked as she felt another pulled out, but with a little more ease and less pain.

“We’re more experienced with the feather pulling, but it is part of the purification process. It will help you fly better in your next battle. Continued wing care will also help with that.”

“Oh, but how do I tell when I get them?” Lyne asked as another one was pulled out.

“You could have someone look for them for you, but they should feel a bit out of place and uncomfortable in the first place. Then you just pull it out. They can also make useful weapons if you want to use them.”

“Okay,” Lyne said as some of the maids started gathering up the abandoned feathers. Now with the wing tenders out of the way, Lyne’s masseuse started her massage. “Ahh, that feels good,” Lyne said aloud as she relaxed into the end of her bath.

Yes it does, a voice said in her head making her look around in shock, but she felt compelled to lean back into relaxation again. Ahhh, this is the life.

Who are you? Lyne asked mentally as the masseuse went back to work.

I’m just a friend. You can call me Light. So relax and enjoy this bath, the voice responded. The voice sounded relaxed itself as it faded out and convinced Lyne to let her tension go as well.
_______________________________________

After their baths, the trio was guided back into Chichiri’s chamber. Once they were there, they breathed a sigh of relief. “Let’s head back to the room, you two, so we can rest,” Nights suggested as they left the empty chamber.

“Where did that crazy monk lord go anyway?” Bass asked.

“He probably went into sleep mode in another room. This is just a meditation and conference chamber anyway,” Nights said, leading them down the hall.

“So how was your bath?” Lyne asked Bass, rubbing her shoulder, which felt sore.

“It was… different. And I really don’t want another one though. I’m really sore,” he responded as he rolled his right arm to stretch it out. “I’m definitely ready for a long sleep cycle.”

“Me too,” Lyne agreed.

“Me three,” Nights added as he opened the door to their room.

“How was the talk with Lord Chichiri?” Kroa asked as he stood when they entered.

“Yes, your highness. How was it?” Grindel asked in concern, noticing the trio’s tired expressions.

“Tiring. Good night,” Nights said as he sat on the floor and went into sleep mode. As he did so, Lyne and Bass stood back to back and also went into sleep mode, ending up resting on the floor.

“Must’ve been a rough day,” NK said as he got up and checked up on them.

“Or an odd one. They just shut down just like that,” Sable said, snapping his fingers.

“They looked really exhausted. I wouldn’t blame them,” Kaori said, looking them over as well. She mainly looked down at Bass, who now had a gentle look on his face. Have you truly changed? she pondered as she knelt down by his side to look at his face. I’ll have to see this for myself. And it is odd that you’d rest beside a female navi. Does she hold some power over you, or is it true that you have a human soul?

“We should follow their example. We have the Virus Realm waiting ahead of us,” Kroa said, snapping her out of her thoughts and getting the rest of the team’s attention. “Plus, a battle on our hands tomorrow. We must be fully rested before this journey and the fight, for we will not see another break until then.”

“Okay then, I’ve decided,” Kaori said as she stood up and looked at the old guard. “I will join your party. You look like you need at least one more to aid you on this quest. I can report to Lord Beowulf later about my mission.”

“But Kaori, you know he’ll be mad of you don’t at least let him know what happened,” NK scolded her.

“Okay fine. I’ll send an e-mail, but I’m still joining the party and that’s final,” Kaori said as she started composing an e-mail to Beowulf.

“Fine,” NK huffed as she sent it away. “Why do you have to be so tough when it comes to negotiations? I swear you’re going to drive me crazy one of these days.”

“I think I already have. Good night,” Kaori said as she went to her own sleep mode.

“Guahhhh!” NK exclaimed as he watched her do so.

“So then friend, we have two crazy, female navis in the group,” Sable said as he wrapped his arm around NK’s shoulders.

“Get off me and go to sleep!” NK shouted at him making him hide in Nights’ shadow for safety. “And don’t come out or I’ll hurt you.”

“Yes sir,” came a shaky reply from Nights’ shadow.

“Good,” NK said as he sat down beside Kaori before he went to sleep mode himself. Kroa and Grindel just sat there and watched over all the sleeping navis.

“So, I guess we get to play guard duty again?” Grindel said as he looked over the sleeping group.

“Yeah. It’s a part of our job. Aren’t you glad we took a nap earlier?” Kroa asked as he slapped the younger male navi on the back. “Even a temple is not a safe place. As long as we’re up, it will deter our foes from interfering with this quest.”

“Roger that!” Grindel said with a smile as the two Atlantian guards started their watch over everyone.
___________________________________
Next Episode Preview

~Author’s house~

Author: Hey everyone. Good to see you here. How are you all?
Chichiri: Just great, y’know? It’s nice to do a little something again. I haven’t done anything since Fushigi Yugi Eikoden, y’know?
Lan: Huh? What’s he talking about?
Editor: Oh, he’s not from the Megaman storyline. He’s just making a cameo appearance.
Lan: Hmm, I don’t know about that. Should there really be cameos in Megaman?
Chaud: Why not? That Django showed up in Battle Network 4.
Editor: And the battlechips from that are awesome!
Author: Calm down hon. Well, I just wanted to get everyone together to hang out and relax. We’re getting into the last few episodes of season two now, and I figured a little party was in order.
Lan: If it’s a party, where’s the food?
Editor: Well, I could cook up one of the cats. The middle one’s nice a-!!SMACK!!-AAow!
Author: Behave!
Editor: Hey, you know I just kid about that. That hurt.
Lyne: You shouldn’t kid about that sort of thing. It’s mean. *Picks up cat that wanders in front of her and hugs it to her chest.* Oh, I want a cat.
Author's Adorable Little Brother: *picks up and hugs grey kitten that happened by him* I agree. Muahh!!!*kisses grey kitten on the head*
Editor: Uh, Lyne, careful. That’s Vash. He’s…
Vash: *Squirms and whirls about like a tornado, then speeds out of the room.*
Editor: … temperamental. I’ll get the first aid stuff.
Lyne: …Oooowwwwwww.
Bass: I’m torn. On the one hand, your cat just attacked someone I’m sworn to protect. On the other, I’m impressed by how much damage your EarthNet cat is capable of doing.
NeoKnight: Well, let’s just say it’s best not to hold that one. And at least your limbs are still attached.
Editor: Okay, I’ve got Hydrogen Peroxide and Neosporin.
Lyne: I need stitches!
Bass: Don’t exaggerate. You’ll be fine. Here, Gospel can treat your wounds.
Gospel: Yes Master. *Commences licking Lyne’s wounds.*
Lyne: Thank you Gospel. Hee, hee. It tickles! You’re so lucky to have Gospel Connor. Oh, I want a dog!
Kaori: Doesn’t Bass count?
Bass: Hey, shut up!
NeoKnight: Don’t you tell my Kaori to shut up. It’s okay. I’ll keep him away. *Strokes Kaori’s hair gently and she closes her eyes and leans against him.*
Lyne: Oh, I want a ninja. *Feels many odd looks aimed at her as silence descends.* …What?
Nights: You mean you don’t realize how weird that sounds?
NeoKnight: Hey, you can’t have my Kaori. *Pauses.* Well, now that I think about-!!SMACK!!... ow.
Kaori: Maybe I could find a ninja gear dealer and get a suit in Bass’ size.
Lyne: Well, that would be nice, but what I’m really saying is I want a pet.
Yuuichiro: First you need to figure out how to discipline Bass.
Bass: Excuse me?
Famous: Yeah, I’m pretty sure he’s the one who’s been chewing on my shoes.
Bass: I am not!
Lyne: Now come on Connor. Be a good boy.
Bass: Aaagh! Stop treating me like a dog!
Author: Well, I think it’s time to introduce the next episode so we can just relax and enjoy ourselves.
NeoKnight: Ooo! Ooo! Let Kaori do it! Yay, yay, yaay!!
Editor: … Riiight. Well, it can’t hurt. Go on then.
Kaori: Alright. Everybody better watch when I save the day next time on Lan and Lyne S2, Episode 24: The Final Test .
NeoKnight: Hurray for Kaoriiiii!
Bass: … Gospel, if I ever end up like that, please kill me.
Gospel: Yes Master!
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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

[Wackoguy]

Whoa,that was a pretty deep chapter. But I enjoyed it lots!

As for the monk,I had a feeling he was Chichiri from the start.Which game is he from though-? *ponders*

Heh heh. Bass is a bad doggy and Lyne just wants a catdog ninja.

*strangled* :grr: Anyway,keep it up!
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"When it rains,it pours. When it pours,get out of the rain." -quoth me!

Megaman Melee! HUTTAH and HUZZAH!


"I ate your siggy..."

[Zodiac]

Chichiri isn't from any game. We needed a character that was sort of Chinese, so we brought in Chichiri from the anime series Fushigi Yugi (Mysterious Play) which is set in old China. He and Beowulf are the only characters that come from outside reader contribution or canon characters (Beowulf being a hero from an old, old story). The name Grindel is from, uh, something else, but the characterization is all Meg's. Glad you enjoyed. ^_^
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Church: Are you following any of this?
Caboose: I think so. That guy Tex is a robot, and you're his boyfriend. So that makes you... a gay robot.
Church: ... That's right... I'm a gay robot.

Red Vs. Blue

[Midnight]

Indeed it was.

Again, I applaud you for the depth that you take your stories. I admit, this is one of the stories I look forward to the most, but sometimes it's hard to read because of its sheer length. Nevertheless, I've found that the characterizations of all of the players in this chapter were quite deep and proved to be quite well done. Great 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

[Lan1220]

How nice! i just came back from my vacation and here's a chapter waiting to be read XD. Nicely done (isnt it always?) and long is goood. Great job
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Sig credit goes to Hikari Angel

[Megawoman.EXE]

Author's Note:

Well here we go again. Finally back into the swing of things before the end of the year. It feels great to be out of physical therapy for my wrists, but am still in wrist supports. Thank you for your support throughout this season, and hope for continued support through the end of the season. And without further adu....
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Episode 24: The Final Test

~20 November 200X ~ Chichiri’s Temple ~ Xanadell ~

The party woke the next morning, fully refreshed and ready to go. Lyne and Bass could feel the bristling of excitement as final preparations were being made to leave.

“Where do you think we’re going?” Lyne asked from on top of Gospel’s back.

“Don’t know, but brother said it was the last test he had to do, so why not get it over with?” Bass responded as he mounted his virus companion behind Lyne. They watched Chichiri hand Nights what looked like a small chunk of gold. Nights placed it in his program storage with a smile on his face.

“One more to go and my quest will be done,” Nights said before he mounted his enare.

“You’re welcome,” Chichiri said before he addressed the group. “Good morning. The link to the next area is just one navi mile up the valley road on the right. It’s hard to miss.” He then grabbed Nights’ arm. “And do be careful. Merova is very temperamental for a female y’ know?”

Nights nodded in response. “Thank you for your hospitality Lord Chichiri. I hope to visit here again under better circumstances.”

“Net’s speed to you,” Chichiri bid farewell as he bowed, adding, “King Steven.”

“Farewell my friend,” Nights said, taking lead of the party through the gate and up the road.

It was a fairly short trip up the road like Chichiri had told them, and it certainly stood out.

“So, I guess this is it then,” Nights said as he dismounted his enare and walked up to the large hole in the rocky surface of the valley wall. It was covered in a smooth, slimy surface that was dark purple and speckled.

“Then why is it so dark looking? It looks like its infected or something,” Sable noted from the back of his enare.

Bass sat there for a moment as he analyzed the wall for a moment. He then bent down and whispered into Gospel’s ear. “Are you hungry?” The virus was shifted and twitched excitedly in reply, letting a bit of salivation drool from his mouth. Bass dismounted and had Lyne get off too. Bass then walked up to stand beside Gospel’s large head and dragged it down to his level. “You see that?” he asked, pointing at the wall. Gospel nodded and growled slightly. “Good. EAT IT!“ he shouted, making his virus charge forward at the wall and start chowing down on it. Shortly after the virus started, a hole appeared in the wall, revealing what looked like a Net Portal behind it.

“It was a seal,” Nights exclaimed as Bass beamed with pride that he figured it out before everyone else.

“Made out of bugs. You’re almost done Gospel!” Bass cheered. “Keep it up.”

“Ingenious idea bringing a virus along young lord,” Kroa complemented Nights, making Bass scowl at the older guard.

“The virus is not mine. He just follows my brother around. Gospel is his pet,” Nights said, riling up his brother.

“Gospel is not a pet, he’s my virus,” Bass argued back. “There’s a difference. Pets come from Earth Net and can’t infect things.”

Lyne hung her head as she started thinking. I wish my dad let me keep a virus. He gave Mayl one, but won’t let me keep one. She felt fidgety and, on a whim, took the rock she found in the Forgotten Forest out of her program storage and started rolling it in her hands.

Bass looked over at her when she started rolling the round, white rock in her hands. “You still have that thing?” Bass scoffed as he continued to watch her roll it in her hands.

“Yeah, so… I got a hint from someone that I needed it,” she said as she held the side of her head, remembering the incident. “But I don’t see how I can use it.”

“That’s simple,” Bass said, taking the rock from her. “You can take it and hit someone on the head with it.” He had a smirk on his face, but that just made Lyne scowl at him. “Well it can be a weapon, but that still doesn’t change the fact that it’s still a stupid cyber rock.” He then handed it back to her before she showed more signs of anger.

Once she got it back, it pulsed in her hands. “Huh?”

Just then a loud belch came from Gospel, signifying that he was done devouring the bug seal.

“Good job,” Bass said as he patted his virus on the side.

Lyne tapped Bass on the shoulder. “Did you see that?” she asked, holding out the rock to Bass.

“See what?”

“The rock just pulsed,” Lyne said, still holding out the rock.

“You’re crazy Lyne,” he said as he placed her back on Gospel’s back.

“But it did,” Lyne said with a pout.

“Rocks don’t pulse, ‘cause they don’t have organs,” Bass argued back as he mounted Gospel to sit behind Lyne again.

“But…” Lyne argued again before being interrupted.

“Quit fighting you two so we can get going,” Nights said as he guided his enare into the now exposed Net Portal.

“Isn’t that cute?” Kaori asked as NK guided the enare they were on beside Lyne, Bass, and Gospel. “Reminds me of our arguments at times.”

This made Bass narrow his eyes at NK. “Arguments that you’ve had with him. He’s not much of an arguer, especially when it comes to female navis.”

This made NK mumble, “She’s worse than Light, and I’ll sick her on you if you don’t knock it off.” Bass decided it was time to stop talking.

They then slipped through the portal. Once on the other side, Gospel started to not feel well. “What’s wrong Gospel?” Lyne asked. Gospel’s response was to reject all the bugs he had just eaten.

“That’s gross!” Kaori exclaimed as she watched the bugs slide along the ground and seal up the portal they’d just come through.

“Doesn’t look like we’re going back that way,” Sable commented as Gospel moaned at the loss of his breakfast.

“It’s alright Gospel. There should be plenty of bugs around to eat,” Bass said as he started to look around. “Huh?” He blinked is surprise. “This place is clean,” he observed, making Gospel moan even more.

“This is the Virus Realm lad,” Kroa said, pulling up beside them. “The only programs that reside here are viruses, so I don’t find it at all surprising that there would be few bugs out here.”

“There sure are a lot of viruses here,” Lyne said as she looked around. “I hope we don’t make them mad.”

“Bring ‘em on. I’ve been itching for a good fight since we left the Frozen Realm,” Bass said in an excited tone.

“Calm down. Well be fighting at least one virus, okay? A really nasty one,” Nights said as he dismounted his enare to join up with Kroa and Grindel, who were going over the map again. “But that is not what we’re looking for right now. Which way to Merova?” he asked Grindel.

“Um… we have to go northeast for about 160 navi leagues to reach her roost,” Grindel replied, pointing northeast at a dim glowing on the horizon.

“Alright then. Let’s get going,” Nights said as Grindel led the way, this time towards the glowing light in the distance.

As they traveled along the path they were on, it went through a swampy forest, which slowed the pace of their trek. It was full of viruses that made Lyne try to hide in Bass’s chest, making him feel uneasy. What was worse was that he didn’t recognize most of the viruses there, and that made him feel even more uneasy.

A small spidy virus accidentally fell out of the tree, into Lyne’s lap, making her shriek and try to climb up on top of Gospel’s head. Bass just smacked the little virus off and dragged Lyne back down to sit in front of him, then turned a glare on NK and Kaori, who were laughing at the other pair.

Bass noticed something odd as they continued along. Viruses often took on appearances of creatures found in nature, but these viruses were looking more and more like natural animals. It’s like the animals at the market in Vanhilla, he thought. Did those come from here? But there are so many other types here. Like the zoo, but no cages. Cool. He was feeling tempted to try and find a lion virus to fight, since Lyne wouldn’t let him fight a real lion at the zoo, but he knew there wasn’t time for that right now. He was frowning in disappointment when they exited the swamp to an open plain.

“There’s our destination now,” Grindel said from the front of the group. On the other side of the plain was the silhouette of a walled city.

“Then let’s get to it,” Nights commanded, pulling ahead of the guards and urging everyone to speed up. As they sped along, everyone was able to see the many virus animals roaming about. There were still many that looked like they were straight from a zoo, but others were far more fantastic creatures. After Bass had moved in, Famous brought in some of the things he’d had before he died, including some children’s storybooks. He hid all of it away in his room, but didn’t want to throw it out, and he’d looked over the books, which depicted many of the creatures he was seeing now. Dragons flew about or perched on top of boulders and seemed comfortable mingling with dragon viruses from better known parts of the Net. Lyne pointed out a group of winged horses, which Bass knew as Pegasus, and those were mingled with unicorns.

“This place is unreal,” Bass breathed.

“Yeah,” Lyne agreed as they approached what looked like a village. Their pace slowed again. What they saw shocked them. The villagers were what looked like half navi, half virus. “No, this place is stranger than the Frozen Realm.”

“You can say that again,” NK agreed with them. He and Kaori had never come to the Virus Realm before, and half the viruses they saw there, he couldn’t believe.

As they went along, they passed by one of the villagers who was shouting. “HEY! Where’s Serenade’s order?” He had the head of a German Shepard and the body of a body builder.

“It’s over here, but the Shrimpy breeders aren’t ready yet,” another villager, this one with a cat’s face and tail, replied.

“Well it would help if you didn’t eat them on the job,” the dog navi barked, making the other villager jump. “Now go get some that are almost ready and add an extra note of care to the delivery paperwork,” he added with a snap of his mouth.

“Yes s_sir,” the cat navi responded before it sped off to get some Shrimpys to add to the virus order.

“So this is where they come from,” Bass said.

“What?” Lyne asked, looking back at him.

“You remember that virus shipment we were doing security for?” Bass asked getting a nod from Lyne. “Well, the shipment seemed to come out of the Dead Zone, when it actually came from here. Fascinating. I’ve got to find out how the shipping process works.”

“It is pretty neat if you think about it, but what would Serenade need more viruses for? Didn’t that shipment end up there about five days ago?”

“The sooner we get this done, the sooner we can take care of that blasted thing.”

The group reached a set of gates which opened at their approach. They entered into the larger city which was held behind the walls. They could see a castle in the center and made haste to reach it, but Bass was starting to feel a bit uncomfortable. He could see that Lyne was as well, and realized what the problem was when he looked about at the citizens of this place: they were all staring at them.

“This is making me very uncomfortable. Are they going to attack us?” Sable asked Nights nervously.

“No, we’re fine. They know why we’re here,” Nights responded. Sable didn’t look the least bit comforted by that. He was chewing his lip and whimpering to himself for a couple minutes before he was able to gather the strength to raise his eyes to the residents again.

“They’re still stariiing,” he whined.

“You have to remember, we’re the ones that look strange,” Kroa said as they approached the bridge leading to the entrance of the castle. “This is their realm after all.”

“Yeah, and it looks so awesome,” Grindel agreed with excitement. “We can come back here and visit anytime after King Steven gets crowned, right? This would make for an excellent training place.”

“No,” Kroa said, smacking Grindel with his staff. “The viruses here aren’t here for training. The ones that leave here are. Remember that lad, next time you think about that stupid idea again. This is a peaceful realm. Attacking viruses here will wage a war against Atlantis, and we don’t want that.”

“Understood Sir,” Grindel said as their group came to a stop in front of a pair of winged, eagle-faced navi guards, who crossed their lances, baring their entry to the castle.

“Who are you? State your business here. Beyond us is our Queen,” the black eagle-faced navi spoke in a gruff, demanding voice.

Nights dismounted his Enare and stood in front of him. “I am King Steven of Atlantis, and I have an audience with your Queen,” he said, bowing in front of them.

“There are no Kings of Atlantis anymore. The last one died 10,000 years ago. You look more like a jester than a king anyway,” the navi guard replied with a hint of amusement in his voice.

“You are mistaken,” a feminine voice rumbled behind him, drawing the group’s attention to a pair of glowing, yellow eyes from the dark entrance of the castle. “Let him and his party in Cro,” the voice commanded.

“Yes Queen Merova,” Cro the eagle navi guard replied, uncrossing his lance with the other eagle navi, and then bowing towards the glowing pair of eyes. Shortly after he paid his respect, the eyes disappeared from sight.

Cro then rose up and bowed in apology to Nights. “Pardon my rudeness. I’ll guide your group to her throne if you wish,” he offered Nights.

“Thank you… Cro, can you also see to it that my enares, and my brother’s virus wolf are taken care of while we stay here?” Nights asked as Cro led the way inside the courtyard of the castle.

“As you wish your highness. DRAN!” he called out as a female Panda navi wearing a robe came running over.

She slowed her pace when she saw the enares. “Where did these come from?” she asked out of curiosity and wonder.

“Your highness, this is Dran, our stable master, and a jack of all trades at times.”

“Aww, and who is a sweet little doggy?” Dran said as she pet Gospel on the head, making him pant stupidly and shiver in glee.

“That’s pathetic,” Bass scoffed as he watched his virus act that way.

“She will make sure that your viruses are taken care of,” Cro said.

“They’re in the finest of care in my hands sir,” Dran said, bowing elegantly. She was quite slender in build compared to a normal panda, and had more grace.

“Thank you,” Nights said as he bowed back.

“This way to the throne room sire,” Cro said, getting everyone to follow after him.

As they were leaving Dran took notice of the rock that Lyne was holding in her hand. She decided to follow after the group a little bit to get a better look at it. Once she caught up with the group, she tapped Lyne on the shoulder. “ ‘Scuse me miss, but where did you find that?” she asked, pointing down at the object Lyne was holding.

“This rock?” Lyne asked.

“Rock? No, no dear child. This is an egg. Where did you find it?” Dran asked, keeping pace with them.

Lyne looked at it for a second. “It doesn’t look like an egg.”

“Yeah, it’s a stupid rock,” Bass added.

“Trust me girl, that’s a really rare kind of virus egg,” Dran said as she looked the contours of the egg over.

“Cool,” Lyne exclaimed as she looked at it again. If it hatches, I hope I get to keep it, she thought with a smile on her face.

“Still looks like a stupid rock,” Bass muttered.

“Yeah and it felt like one too when it hit me on the head,” Lyne recalled, rubbing the back of her helmet where it had struck her a few days ago.

“So the little thing fell out of the sky did it? Hum… maybe in the Forgotten Forest is where you found it?” Dran said, winking at Lyne.

“Yes, how’d you know?” she asked in surprise, and now intrigued to learn more about this rock or egg in her hands.

Bass was fed up with all this egg talk. All he knew was that it was a rock and would stay a rock. He placed a forceful hand on Lyne’s shoulder and started to push her away from Dran as they crossed the courtyard. “I don’t mean to be rude, but we have to get going before we get separated from the group.”

“But Connor,” Lyne whined.

“You’re just like your father when it comes to viruses. You go insane and want to investigate them. You’ve almost gone through all the vaccines that they have at SciLab because of it,” he reminded her, making Lyne hang her head and pout.

“If it won’t be any trouble, I can watch over your rock while you talk to Queen Merova,” Dran offered, making Lyne stop in her tracks and perk up.

“Okay,” she said, handing Dran her rock. She turned and called out a, “Thank you!” as she quickly walked to catch up with the rest of the group.

“It’s about time you got rid of that thing,” Bass said in relief.

“I didn’t. She’s watching it for me,” Lyne huffed as they finally entered the main hall of the castle. She then looked around and noticed how huge and expansive the halls and rooms were, giving a sense that something large lived here. “Does a giant live here?” she asked aloud.

“Well not a giant, but someone who is kinda’ big,” Nights said as they started to enter the throne room.

“That wasn’t nice to say about me,” a voice projected from the front of the room. Many eyes widened when they focused on the owner of the voice. What they saw was a huge beast with the body and tail of a lion, and the head, wings, and front talons of an eagle. The beast was lying on a cushion, while flicking its tail back and forth in a sign of annoyance.

“My apologies Queen Merova,” Nights said, bowing.

“Apology accepted young King,” she said while nodding her large, inhuman head.

“Um… What kind of virus is she?” Bass asked out of curiosity.

“Virus,” she shrieked while tensing her wings on her back in fury. “I am no virus. I’m a griffin.”

“Cool,” Lyne breathed out in awe as she approached Merova and looked her over curiously.

“Well then, how did a ‘griffin’ get onto the net?” Bass asked, eager to quench is own curiosity.

“That’s quiet simple really,” Merova spoke and then cleared her throat. “I was once a resident of Atlantis, even though at the time of the crisis I was just a hatchling. Erk…” Merova then looked down at Lyne who was stroking her tail. “Ahem, do you mind?” She flicked her tail away from Lyne.

“Sorry,” Lyne said as she walked back over to the group and stood there quietly.

“Thank you. So King Steven, you have finally come to my realm of the Undernet seeking the final piece of the Atlatian Crown.”

“Yes, and I know what I must do,” he said, placing a necklace around his neck, “and I have a fine team to assist me.”

“Yes, indeed you do, but I am a little concerned about one’s curiosity, and one’s disrespect,” she said eyeing Lyne and Bass both equally, making them back up a little bit.

“Don’t mind their misbehavior. They are both young, but work well together in a fight. I know they are ready to assist me in this task,” Nights replied, standing his ground on his decision.

Merova settled back in relaxed unconcern and waved one of her front paws. “Very well. It is your decision after all. Are you ready?” she asked, now eyeing Nights intently.

Nights looked over the rest of the group, getting nods from Kroa and Grindel, who left the group and stood in front of Merova.

“Hey! Wait a minute. Why are they staying here?” Bass moaned as he pointed at them.

“What they’ve been doing the whole time: observing. They’re both my witnesses. We’re ready to go now,” Nights said while bowing at Merova. Merova then nodded, causing the floor to open up below them to reveal a Net Portal.

“Wha?!” Bass exclaimed in surprise as the entire group of navis fell through it. The group consisted of: himself, Lyne, Nights, Sable, NK, and Kaori, their newest member. On the other side, they fell for quite a distance before they landed on the ground. Once Bass stood up, he looked around the area. The place they ended up in was very dark, and devoid of life. There were what looked like a few bushes, but they had no leaves and were all black. He then covered his nose with his cloak.

“Where are we?” Lyne asked as she stood up beside Bass while everyone else got up off the ground.

“It reeks,” Bass complained as he looked around, trying to locate a source of the hideous odor.

“This is a holding space for one of the worst unnatural viruses ever created,” Nights said as he also looked around. “It only regenerates when a new king is born, and as the final test, I have to slay it in order to attain the last piece of the crown.”

“Well then, if you have to slay it, why are we here?” Bass asked, looking back at his brother.

“Well, I can’t exactly do it alone. I have to have a team of my choosing with me, as long as it has an angel and a demon in it,” he replied.

“This is the reason you wanted us to come along?” Bass growled in fury. He then charged at his brother. “Why you!!!”

“Connor, stop. Now isn’t the t-,” Lyne spoke as they were suddenly engulfed is a quick flash of light. After the light had dissipated, they were both in their true form armor.

Bass stopped his charge and looked at himself. He then hung his head, realizing he was in his NetDemon style change. “Not again,” he moaned as he hung his head.

“Get ready,” Nights commanded. “That means the vile thing is close by,” he said, pulling on the energy ribbon that hung from the back of his helmet, forming it into his energy saber. The others activated their weapons and got into a defensive ring.

Lyne looked around her area of watch. “I can sense its presence, but where is it?” she asked as she swept her Holy Buster over her area of watch before she heard a low hiss behind her. “Eek!” she screamed, hiding behind Bass for protection from the unseen foe.

Bass lashed his weapon out in front of him, making the unseen beast howl. “Phew! Man its smell is nauseating,” he said, covering his nose while holding his weapon out in front of him. “Lyne, I need you to reveal it. My nose isn’t going to be of any use of in this battle.”

“I’ll try,” Lyne replied, forming an orb of light which she sent up into the air. Once it was high enough, it split into many separate orbs, lighting the whole area up. It revealed a large, snake-like head lying on the sandy ground, seemingly asleep.

“Hey brother,” Bass called out, facing towards Nights. “Is this it?” He poked it with his halberd to point out what he meant and heard an agitated hiss come from the target. He turned back to look at the serpent and saw that its head was now up off the ground, looking him right in the eyes. He could see two other serpentine heads rise up out of the ground beside the first head and those other two started scanning the rest of the group. Those heads then hissed loudly at the group as the body of the monster picked itself up out of the dirt, now towering over everyone. Merova was large, but this beast was four times her size.

“You’ve got to be kidding. We have to kill that thing?!” Kaori exclaimed in horror.

“Calm down,” Nights commanded.

The three heads flicked their tongues out, the middle one glaring at Bass who didn’t flinch as the forked end of the tongue lightly touched him. The side heads then stiffened slightly as the eyes of the middle head suddenly broke their focus from Bass. That head then rose up to look around slowly, calmly flicking its tongue out. “One of you iss of royal blood. I can sssmell it sstrongly,” it hissed, its voice the only sound made. Bass quietly moved sideways, out of the way of the thing, with Lyne staying right with him. The other two heads were testing the air when the middle head spoke again. “I can’t find you, but you all will not live to sseee the end of thisss hour.” It then charged at the center of the group, causing them all to scatter.

Lyne and Bass took to the air while the others tried to gain a tactical position, avoiding strikes from all three heads all the time. “This thing… is dead wrong! Dark Wave,” Bass said as he swung his halberd at the creature, cutting off two of it’s heads, which were poised to strike at NK, and Sable. “Heh, heh. I’d like to see you guys do better,” Bass called down to them. He was laughing happily as he wove about in the air, standing off against the now wary remaining head. Then a second head rose up to focus on him, and then a third and a fourth. “Huh? Where’d these come from?” Bass wondered quietly as a fifth head came up to focus on him. He blinked twice in disbelief before Lyne managed to drag him away as all five heads struck where he once was. “What is that thing?” he asked in shock.

“Connor, it’s a hydra, like the ones from Greek mythology. Each time one of its heads gets cut off, it will regenerate and multiply,” Lyne explained as NK managed to lob off another head, which only managed to allow the creature to grow back two heads, giving it a total of six.

“Great. Then how do we defeat it?” Bass asked as he avoided one of the hydra’s heads.

“I am the Sssexdra, Destroyer of Kingsss and all in my path,” the beast hissed as it tried to attack Lyne, this time earning a light arrow in its nose, which made it back off.

“Maybe we should do like they did in that Disney move,” Lyne suggested.

“Disney?” Bass asked, looking at Lyne questioningly.

“Oh, never mind. Maybe we should pelt it with stone cubes,” she responded as she fired another light arrow at the Sexdra.

“Baka. A stone cube can easily fit in one of its mouths,” Bass said as he sent another wave of energy at the beast while Nights and the others were attacking and then retreating from each of the Sexdra’s counterattacks.

“You both reek of royalty,” the beast hissed at Lyne and Bass, making them take off in opposite directions in the sky. “Hold ssstill sso I can ssstrike!” it spoke as it reached its heads out towards Lyne and Bass.

Nights managed to hide behind a rock after his last strike. He looked up and watched as his brother and Lyne were dealing with three heads each as everyone got ready to strike. “Hey you two, listen up,” he called out to them. “This virus has a restoration program.”

“No shit Sherlock,” Bass shouted back as he held off one of the heads with his halberd and shot at another one with a buster, vaporizing it and leaving it to reform.

“Just, listen. We have to find that and destroy it, then this thing will fall. Yipe!” he yelped as his hiding place was destroyed by the sexdra.

“How dare you tell of my sssecret,” the sexdra said as it looked down at Nights. “You will die now!” it hissed while breathing out a green cloud of mist from two of its heads.

“Brother,” Bass shouted as he sliced off the two heads he was now dealing with and dove down at the cloud.

“Stop brother, don’t come near this stuff. It’s poisonous,” Nights warned from inside the cloud, making Bass stop short before the two heads he had destroyed came after him again, making him climb back up into the air.

Finally, the beast stopped breathing on Nights, satisfied that it had killed the little pest. But Nights was standing there unharmed when the cloud dissipated. He was holding onto the necklace around his neck and smiling. The virus narrowed its eyes at him. “Ssso, you are the one I sssseek,” the sexdra said as it turned all six of its massive heads at Nights. “That necklace may’ve protected you from my poissson, but it won’t protect you from my teeth.” All of its heads dove down at Nights.

“No you don’t! Five Way Shot!” Lyne exclaimed as she switched her fire type and fired upon the sexdra, managing to pin five out of six heads to the ground.

“I’ll take care of that one,” Bass said as he dove down at the final head to cut it off.

“Brother watch out for its…” Nights tried to warn, but it was too late. Bass had gotten caught by the sexdra’s tail.

“You sssimpleton. I know what you are now. No demon can ssneak up on me and live,” the beast hissed. Bass struggled in the tail’s grip for a moment and managed to get his halberd clear, using it to chop through the base of its tail. He got free, but when he looked back, he saw that the monster’s tail was regenerating now, and splitting just like the heads so that it had two. They whipped out at Bass once more before two light streaks came down and pinned them down. “Who did that, ksssss?” the sexdra growled in frustration at being pinned down.

“I did,” Lyne called out, shooting an arrow into its loose head.

“Alright,” NK called out. “Now what do we do?”

“We attack it while it’s distracted. Duh!” Sable said, jumping out of his hiding spot and starting to attack the main part of the body. NK, Kaori, and Nights also joined in. As they attacked, the blows they dealt were instantly healed.

“Ehh, hehh, heh, hehss, sssss. Try as you might small bugs, I’m immortal. You can’t harm me,” it laughed and then spat its poisonous breath out at Lyne, who easily dodged the attack by flapping her wings back at the virus, halting the cloud in the air and leaving it as an obscuring mist.

“You’re not immortal,” Bass said as he powered up an attack. Everyone moved out of the way as he dove down until he was level with the body of it. “DARKNESS OVERLOAD,” he commanded, sending an energy wave large enough to cut deep into the sexdra’s body, splitting it down the middle. This revealed a glowing orb at its core.

“Good job, that’s it,” Nights congratulated his brother as he charged forward, causing the free head to dive after him.

“Duck,” NK called out as he unleashed an attack from his crimson sword, which sliced the head off.

“Thanks,” Nights called back before he went in for the attack once more, taking note that the area around the restoration program was almost completely separated from the sexdra’s tissue, causing the regeneration process to slow greatly. “Energy Slash. Paraloop,” he called out, sending first a wave of energy from his sword, and also a dark, swilled attack at the orb.

“Kssss, NOOOO!” the beast bellowed as it thrashed wildly, dragging itself up in panic to avoid the attack. All at once it managed to rip three of its pinned heads off the ground. “Kssss….” it hissed as it attacked anyone within its reach. Lyne squealed in fright as one of its heads came towards her.

“DIE!” Bass called as he lobbed the head off that had just attacked Lyne. Another one came up behind him and latched onto one of his wings. “Guahh!” he cried out in pain as he struggled. He had to hold his breath as the mouth holding him breathed out its toxic air from between its teeth. It then raised its head up, getting ready to slam its captive prey down into the ground.

“Thiss isss what you get for injuring me demon,” it hissed as he dove down towards the ground.

“That’s it! I’ve had enough of your scaly hide. Angel Sword!” Lyne commanded, making her blade appear, and in one quick movement she sliced through the head that was holding onto Bass, making it pixilate. She managed to catch him before he hit the ground, and placed him down gently. “Are you alright?” she asked, checking his wing which was leaking data.

“Oww! Damn that hurts,” Bass replied as he tried to move his wing, but got no response. “That freaking thing is going to pay for that!” He got up to rush the sexdra, only to end up on the ground in a sitting position.

Lyne quickly grabbed him and dragged him to safety behind a rock. “You’re in no condition to fight. Stay here,” Lyne ordered before she got ready to leave.

Bass grabbed her arm. “I’m not that injured. I just can’t fly.”

“Connor, I don’t want you to get any more injuries,” she said gently, forcing his hand off her arm with ease. “Now stay here. Detainment Program,” she commanded, forming a barrier around Bass and his boulder hiding spot, and then she left him to get back into the fray.

“Lyne!” Bass called out as he tried to chase after her only to collide with the barrier. “Not fair,” he said as he pounded his hand against the barrier in hopes of breaking it. “Guahh, owww, cough!” He cradled his injured wing miserably and started to shake slightly as if his strength was leaving him. Why do I feel so weak? he pondered. Further hisses, thrashing noises, and shouts left him curious as to how the fight was going, so he forced himself to climb up on top of the boulder he was hidden behind.

The sexdra had managed to tear free the remainder of its pinned limbs and was striking at everything in its considerable range. Its wild attacks were keeping the group on the defensive, but they were also too unfocused to actually hit anyone. “You will die! You will all dieee!” the monster shrieked in its panic.

“Wrong!” Sable shouted as he leapt from Nights’ shadow, past the head that had just struck at the Atlantian’s head. He sped forward to the still exposed orb at the creature’s heart. The remaining heads of the monster all turned at once to strike at the navi that was now its critical threat. One of those heads, however, had an unexpected passenger. Kaori had grabbed on to get a free ride to the main target.

“Nice move,” Bass commented as he watched the ninja throw one of her bladed tonfas past Sable, at the orb. The head she was on reared back, trying to fling Kaori off while the other heads collided with each other while trying to strike Sable, who’d used his shadow body to avoid the attack. NK and Nights took the opportunity to rush in past the dazed heads to stab down through the already damaged central orb. It cracked and then shattered as the navis’ weapons stuck through, down into the ground. The sextra gasped and stiffened, then slumped weakly to the ground. It gave one last gasping hiss as its data broke down and scattered. Bass grinned in satisfaction, although he was disappointed about not being part of the final blow. He inhaled and tried to stand to shout a cheer, but almost fell on his face from being dizzy, and his eyesight began to blur as well. Oh, that’s just perfect. “Lyne!”

Lyne quickly flew back over to him. “What’s wrong?” she asked as she lowered the barrier to check up on him.

“Feelin’… a li’l sick,” he groaned quietly as he passed out on top of the boulder.

“Nights. Something’s wrong with Connor,” Lyne called out. He and the other navis came over to join up with her. “He just passed out on me.”

Nights looked his brother over carefully. “He must’ve gotten poisoned,” he said, taking off his necklace and placing it around Bass’s neck. “This will stop it from spreading, but we need to get him back quickly. He’s also losing a lot of data.” He then walked back over to where the sexdra had fallen. The last of its data was fading off and a golden piece formed in its place. He grabbed it and held it up towards the sky, opening a Net Portal in front of him. “Let’s go,” he said as he went through the portal.

NK picked up Bass and followed after Nights with the others following behind him. Once on the other side, they found that Merova had already arranged for someone to help Bass out. All the group could do now was wait.
_____________________________________________
~Several hours later ~ Bass’s room~

Bass slowly opened his eyes and stretched his wings as he woke up. He grit his teeth and moaned as the stiff limbs protested against the unwanted movement. “Quiet now,” a feminine voice spoke to him as he felt his forehead being dabbed with a cloth. “You’ve almost recovered. I have a few more pieces of data structure to set.”

Bass sat up abruptly when he realized he was in a bed. “What happened?” he asked, looking around to try and orient himself. He realized that the female panda navi sitting beside him was the same as the one that he had met earlier. “Who are you again?”

“I’m Dran. You got bit by the sexdra in a few critical places on your wing,” she responded, bringing up a window in front of his injured wing and placing a pair of odd looking glasses on her face. “Please stay still so I can finish reconstructing your wing.”

Bass slumped back down in the bed, feeling dizzy. “Why do I feel like crap still? Owww!” he exclaimed as Dran dragged what looked like a pen across the window.

“You’re also getting over the poison. And set,” she said to herself and moved onto the next piece to put back into place. “I’ve been working on this wing for hours, set, and I’m really surprised that you haven’t suffered any more damage. You did get bit by a sexdra y’ know, set,” she said as she placed the final piece of data back into place. “Here, have some of this,” she said, offering Bass a glass of liquid data.

“Uh… thank you,” he said before he drank it. He felt like taking his thanks back when he tasted the substance, but he forced himself to drain the cup as fast as he could, having decided that that was the best way to deal with what must be medicine. “What is this stuff?” he asked once he placed the cup down.

“Oh, just a little concoction I made up to neutralize the poison in your system,” Dran said, closing the window that was above his wing. “There, now try and move it.” He flexed it and it did move much more easily this time. “That’s good, the sexdra totally shattered the data structure here,” she said, pointing at the part of the energy wing that connected to Bass’s back, “and here,” she added when she ran her finger along the part leading out to the edge of the wing. Bass’s armor then deactivated and returned to its normal appearance. “See? Now you’re all better. I know a lot about demons too, but I haven’t seen one like you before. One of your parents must’ve been a carrier demon,” she said, getting up off Bass’s bed.

“What’s that supposed to mean?” he asked, angered that a stranger would refer to his parents like that so casually.

“Well, a carrier demon looks like a normal human, but has no true form transformation,” Dran explained as she placed the rag she had used on Bass in a bowl. “They carry demon DNA in their blood. Most of them don’t even know they’re demons. The traits only show up when one joins up with a true demon and has offspring. The problem is figuring out which of your parents was the carrier,” she said, picking up the bowl of water.

Bass sat there for a moment, dumbfounded. Is she talking about father? I know nothing about my mother. She died when I was born. Was she a true demon? he pondered as he sat there upright on the bed.

“I’ll be right back. I’m going to check up on your lady friend. I left her alone with her ‘rock’. I won’t be long,” she said, opening the door.

“Hey, get back here!” Lyne exclaimed as she ran past the open door, chasing after something.

“Oh my! I didn’t think it was ready to hatch,” Dran exclaimed as she looked down the hall.

“What?!” Bass exclaimed as he hopped out of bed and ran out the door, following after Lyne. He couldn’t believe his eyes when he caught up with her. She was chasing the round rock from earlier, except it was rolling and bouncing down the hall like crazy. It led them to a flight of stairs that spiraled downward for a ways, and the air heated up as they descended. At the bottom of the stairs, they found themselves in a furnace room.

“Where is it?” Lyne asked as she looked around the huge room for it.

“The rock’s over there,” Bass said, pointing at it as it bounced for a bit in front of them and then hopped into one of the open furnace fires.

“Nooo!” Lyne cried in horror as she watched it do so, then turned and cried into Bass’s chest.

Bass stood there, feeling uncomfortable. “Um… Lyne, can you tell me why you’re crying over a stupid cyber rock?”

Lyne pounded a balled up fist into his chest. “It’s not a rock. Dran showed me it was a virus egg, and it would’ve been mine… mine, so father would couldn’t take it away from me,” she cried before she pressed her face into his chest to cry some more. The fire crackled until they heard a loud !CRACK!. “And now it broke,” she cried even harder, latched onto Bass’s chest.

“Lyne, you need to calm down,” Bass said, prying her off his chest. “If you wanted a virus, why didn’t you tell him?”

“I did, but he said I couldn’t have one,” Lyne sniffled as she looked at him. Just then a squeak came from the fire.

“Huh?!” they both went as they looked back at the fire the egg had disappeared into. What they saw looked something like a snake’s silhouette. It jumped out of the fire to reveal what looked like a miniature version of a white oriental dragon with deep sapphire colored eyes. It cocked its head sideways and squeaked again.

“Oooo. Kawaii,” Lyne exclaimed as she let go of Bass and went over to pet it.

“Lyne, are you sure it’s not infectious?” Lyne ignored him and reached out for the little dragon. As she did so, Dran caught up with them, gasping for air.

“Ooo, no need to worry, young demon. It’s a Diragon. They’re harmless to navis,” Dran said as the little virus dragon climbed up Lyne’s arm and flicked her face with its tongue, making her giggle. “And it likes her, but then again, they usually like angels,” she said as Bass waved his hand in front of Lyne’s face.

“Hello!” he spoke, trying to get her attention.

“So, what do you want to be called?” Lyne asked the little virus, oblivious to his presence.

“Lyne!”

“Hmm…”

“Lyne, please don’t zone me out.” She continued to ignore him and he slouched forward, feeling defeated somehow.

Just then, an arm wrapped around his shoulder. “She’s no different than Kaori,” NK spoke to him. “Once females focus on something, it’s hard to get their attention.”

“What are you doing here?” Bass asked, removing NK’s arm from around his shoulder.

“Just seeing what all the commotion was about. Anyway, later. I have my own female to appease before we head back to Atlantis,” NK said, leaving Bass with Lyne. Dran followed him out of the furnace room to cool off.

Lyne just stood there, talking to the virus while figuring out what to name it. Bass opened his mouth to speak, but decided not to waste his breath. “She’s treating me like I’m some transparent spirit,” he moaned.

“Spirit… That’s it! You’ll be called Spirit, hee, hee, hee,” Lyne giggled as the little dragon licked her face once again. She then left the furnace room with Bass following after her.

“Lyne… man she just won’t pay attention to me. No wonder her father doesn’t want her to have a virus,” Bass said as they climbed up the long flight of stairs. “She becomes oblivious.”

Once they were back on the floor their rooms were on, Gospel joined up with them. He had been listening to their whole conversation from the stairwell. It’s not so bad master. She got the little virus’ name from your suggestion, he thought as he tried to get Bass to pet him, making him stop and cross his arms over his chest.

“And where have you been?” he asked, tapping his foot.

Eating bugs. How about master? Gospel asked, still trying to get Bass to pet him. As Gospel was trying to get his master’s attention, Spirit jumped onto Bass’s arm.

“Hey, get off!” Bass exclaimed, waving his arm which just made the small virus wrap around it to hang on. Spirit then started to squeak in fright.

“Connor! Leave Spirit alone,” Lyne yelled at him as she tried to make him stop swinging his arm around spastically.

“Get it off! Get it off!”

“*Phweeet* Spirit come here,” Lyne called, making the little virus slip off Bass’s arm and come back to her. “You have to be nicer to a baby virus than that.”

“It attacked me!” he shouted, pointing at Spirit, making him hide behind Lyne’s legs.

“He was just saying hello.”

“Well then, train it to say ‘hi’ in a different way,” Bass said. The little dragon peaked out from behind Lyne and squeaked at him, making Lyne smile. Bass then palmed his face in disgust. “Great she has a smart ass for a virus,” he mumbled as he went into his room.
___________________________________
Next Episode Preview

~Zodiac base~

Seer: *Wanders down the hall to an open door with laughter coming out of it.* Hello? Prophet, is that you?
Prophet: Yeah. Did you see this Seerie? *Points at TV screen.*
Seer: Don’t call me Seerie. Isn’t that the episode preview from last episode?
Prophet: *Nods enthusiastically.* Ooo, ooo, this is the best part. *Watches as Lyne holds a cat and then gets scratched up by it.* BWAHhahhahhahah!! That’s so awesome! *Rewinds the tape to watch it again.*
Seer: … Good Lord, have you been in here, watching this all day?
Prophet: Uh huh. It’s wonderful. Best thing I’ve ever seen.
Seer: Jeez, you’ve rewound and watched it enough times, the picture’s starting to go bad.
Prophet: It’s fine, it’s fine. I’ve got more copies. *Opens a drawer filled with tapes, all with “Kitty rips apart Angel” scribbled on them. Seer notices there are at least five copies of the tape in a wastebasket.*
Seer: Wow. You are really easy to amuse. Don’t you have anything else to do?
Prophet: *Bounces in his chair chanting.* Scratchy, scratch, scratch, scratch. Scratchy, scratchy, scratch, hee, hee.
Seer: We need to find you hobby. Do I have to sedate you Prophet?
Prophet: Oooo! Is sedate fun!?
Seer: Uhh.
Prophet: Is it something like a regular date?
Seer: It’s-
Prophet: You wanna’ go on a date with me! Yaaay!
Seer: Ohh, why do I put up with this?
Prophet: Oh, shoot! I think I missed the kitty scratch. I don’t remember this part. Who’s the ninja? Her and that guy are so cute together. Aww, now I want a ninja… Say Seerieee !!SMACK!! Owwieeee.
Seer: Well, before I strangle him, I’d better announce the next episode-
Prophet: Where I beat people up!
Seer: You’re not in it!
Prophet: Whaaa!
Seer: *Sighs.* Next time on Lan and Lyne S2, Episode 25: Need to Return.
Prophet: Aaaand, rewind!!
Seer: I need a drink.
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"NetAngel Style Change Activate"
Megawoman (Lyne)

Avatar made by Serenade.exe

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

[Serenade.exe/HotShot]

WHOOHOO! New chapter! I will post a more detailed one once I actually read it...

I'm so sorry for seeming dead! I've just been really busy with life...will post soon!
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Sig by Hikari Angel

[Midnight]

Nice.

I can't help but imagine that you both are quite accomplished and well-read authors. All throughout this recent set of chapters there have been references to many other fandoms in the fantasy realm, what with the mythical creatures, the references to the places, and the like. It seems as if you are integrating a lot of elements of other parts of the fantasy genre into this, and I find that you are doing a great job of it. I also seem to note that some of the quips between our pair of protagonists seem oddly allegorical to that of a person's actualy experience. It's as if you based them off yourselves.

I do have one question, though--although I know the focus of this work is on Lyne and Bass, I'm almost beginning to miss the appearance of the humans in the fic--it's almost as if you forgot about them completely. When are you going back to them?
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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

[Zodiac]

Soon Midnight Critic. Soon will these adventures in the Undernet's hidden kingdoms end. And it's to be expected that elements of ourselves become part of the characters in the story. Experience being the best teacher, how could we not use our experience to best express ourselves? Of course, neither Lyne nor Bass are truly accurate representations of us, and not just because they have many powers that we don't.

So, now we know how long it takes for someone to start missing the human characters. Who would've thought it would happen? They will make a showing in the next episode (almost done!) and probably in ep. 26 as well, but Megawoman hasn't quite finished that one yet. Hopefully, she'll be done soon so I can get my happy hands on it. Our goal is to get that episode (and the season) finished before the new year begins.
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Church: Are you following any of this?
Caboose: I think so. That guy Tex is a robot, and you're his boyfriend. So that makes you... a gay robot.
Church: ... That's right... I'm a gay robot.

Red Vs. Blue

[Wackoguy]

Another awesome chapter! If it weren't for my vivid imagination I..*loses train of thought*

Well,the battle against that Sexdra was intensely cool,though Bass didn't get to enjoy it to the fullest.That virus did sound like it was handled well,moreso than in "that Disney movie". ^__^ Griffins are cool too.

Heh heh,all of the characters' personalities still amuse me,like Sable's.And Spirit...whee!!! Plus three cool-points to the wittle,white dragon virus. ^_^

Keep up the chapters,chaps!
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"When it rains,it pours. When it pours,get out of the rain." -quoth me!

Megaman Melee! HUTTAH and HUZZAH!


"I ate your siggy..."

[Midnight]

Please, please, just 'Midnight' will suffice.

I of course know that Lyne and Bass are not accurate representations of you in real life. However, seeing as how you have said that "experience is the best teacher," it'd be feasible to think that you have Lyne and Bass being at least partially based off of your actual personae.
_________________
Today, these three players are after Big Bucks! But they'll have to avoid the Whammy, as they play the most exciting game of their lives! From Television City in Hollywood! It's time to 'Press Your Luck!'--Rod Roddy

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

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

[Zodiac]

[Megawoman.EXE]

Episode 25: Need to Return

~Noon ~21 November 200X ~ Atlantian Palace Garden ~

Lyne and her new virus were taking a nap on one of the garden’s many benches. She had found it more relaxing than the room that was provided for them the last time they stayed at the palace. After they had accomplished their quest, Nights had them all come back to Atlantis to celebrate, and so he could piece the crown together.

Once the crown was whole once more, the victory celebration commenced. Lyne could clearly see the faces of all five of the Undernet Lords and Queens as she reflected over the party while she slept. Everyone was having fun, even Bass. This fact made her smile and get comfortable as she continued to sleep.

As she slept, Bass strolled by the garden with Gospel by his side. Master, Master Lyne must be really exhausted, Gospel thought as he paused to look at his Light Element Master.

Bass paused and stretched. “I wouldn’t blame her. I just got up from a nap too. Last night was quite interesting. I didn’t think that Nights was in charge of that much power,” he said as Spirit woke up and came up to him.

“Squeak!” he peeped as he stopped in front of him, making Bass look down.

“What do you want?”

“Squeak!” Spirit chirped again, wagging his tail.

He might want something to eat. I know I do, Gospel thought to his master, getting a ‘squeak’ of agreement from Spirit.

“Guahh!” Bass moaned, and then started walking again as Spirit climbed up and sat on his shoulder to lick him in the face. “Fine. Let’s go. I know the Galley is somewhere around here,” he grumbled as he led the two viruses the galley, walking past the open door of the throne room.

“Looks like the young lord’s up,” Kroa commented to Nights, who was busy going over his schedule. Being a full king, he had responsibilities to follow through with.

He then caught onto something Kroa said. “Why call him a lord?” Nights asked, turning away from his current project, curious as to why Kroa had called his brother that.

“Well he is your brother after all. I see it fit to call him so if he is to stay here for a while. But he is a demon too, so he couldn’t be called prince,” Kroa said, reminding his king of the law. “I suggest you give him some territory of the network to manage.”

Nights waved at him. “That will come later. He needs to grow up a little and get to know himself, and maybe even some of our hidden family,” he said as he returned his attention to his project. “Besides, they will need to return to the real world soon… and there will be an obstacle in their path for freedom,” he reminded Kroa. “Now let’s get back to business.”

“Yes my king,” Kroa said as he started reading off a file he had in front of him.
____________________________________________________
~Outside the Galley~

Bass took a whiff of the air outside the door. “Something smells good,” he commented as he opened the door to the Galley. Gospel and Spirit then ran in past him, crossed through the room, and opened the door to the to the kitchen area. Bass noticed a few of the Atlantian guards were sitting down in the dining area, eating what looked like full course meals. Bass’s stomach then grumbled. “Mmnnn, why does this have to affect me here too?” he mumbled as he crossed the dining area to enter the kitchen.

“I’m surprised to only see you here with them this time, young lord,” the navi in the kitchen spoke. He was wearing a normal chef’s attire, but was rather muscularly built for a chef. “Where’s your young lady friend?” he asked while he was cooking something on the stove. The navi then picked up a few bowls of computer bugs and placed them on the ground in front of the two begging viruses.

“She’s in the garden, taking a nap. Why do you call me lord anyway Chef? Everyone here calls me that now,” Bass said, hanging his head as he sat down on a stool that was beside the center prep table. “I don’t deserve such a title.” His stomach then grumbled, making him place his arm over his waist.

“You’re related to the king, that’s why. Technically, you should be called a prince, but you’re of the demon race, which prevents that,” he replied, coming to sit beside him. Bass didn’t feel too uncomfortable when he did so. Chef was a navi friend that Bass had made before they had left the palace the first time. He and Lyne had snuck down to the galley to have some data before their little board game.

“Yeah, the Atlantian Law,” Bass grumbled as his stomach sounded off again.

Chef rose up and crossed the room to start cooking again. “Don’t worry about it kid. I don’t have to call you lord if you don’t want to. The laws were put into place by the Atlantian Elder Council a long time ago, something about the balance of power if I remember correctly,” he said as he crossed back across the kitchen with a plate of data in his hands. “Anyway, enough about that. Time to eat,” he said, placing the plate down between them.

Bass was surprised at what he saw. Chef had made a plate full of peanut butter and jelly sandwiches, and it also had what looked like two glasses of milk. Bass pointed at the plate, “How’d you know to make this for me? I didn’t ask for it.”

“You didn’t have to. Your body did with that grumble,” he said, taking up a sandwich and one of the glasses of milk. “That, kid, comes with 10,000 years of cooking experience.”

“Oh,” Bass said quietly as he grabbed one of the sandwiches and stuffed half of it into his mouth. After a bit, he spoke again. “Chef, didn’t you want to be anything else other then a cook? You know, like a fighter or something else?” he asked, curious about why he would be a cook navi for 10,000 years.

“Well, actually kid, I was a great warrior once,” Chef replied after he finished his sandwich. “But that was when I was young and naïve. In fact, I fought in the great war that happened in the revolt. My best friends died in that war. After they died, I had no will to fight for this server. I wished to see no one else die. Some could say I’m a lover, not a fighter in a sense. So I gave up my old title and gained my current one.”

When Chef said that, Bass felt a sudden sadness inside him. Why am I feeling like this? he pondered as he placed his hand on his chest. “Um… Can I ask who your friends were?” he asked Chef in a nervous tone.

“They had very unusual names kid. They were named after the elements of Light and Dark,” Chef replied as he took a sip of his milk data.

Bass did a quiet surprised gasp as he realized their names. No way, he thought as he took in this information with visible signs of shock.

“What’s wrong kid? You haven’t eaten a bite since we started talking.”

“Oh,” Bass said, shaking his head to hide his surprised shock, “I’m sorry, I was just thinking about something,” he replied calmly before he took up another sandwich and started eating it.

“Heh, heh, you remind me of my friend Dark, kid. I can see his kindness shining in your eyes,” Chef said as he got up and went back to the stove to cook some more. “Your attitude is somewhat similar to his, except a bit more rash and temperamental at times. But then again, it took him about a thousand years to stop being rash himself,” he laughed while cooking away as Bass started to become more agitated at his comments. “Plus, you’re young, so I don’t blame you. Would you like some more?” he asked as he left the stove to collect the now empty plate.

“Um… sure,” Bass said, a little surprised that he had managed to eat over half the plate gone, and still was hungry.

Shortly Chef returned with another full plate of sandwiches and another glass of milk data. “There you go kid. Eat up and regain your strength.”

“Okay,” Bass said as he started to concentrate on eating now instead of talking.

He even has an appetite like Dark as well. Why chose him as the Master Dark Element’s new vessel Dark? Is his fate the same as yours? Chef pondered mentally to himself while watching Bass continue to eat his next batch of sandwiches.

No my friend. That fate is still mine, Dark replied like a quiet whisper, so only Chef could hear him, making the cook navi turn away to shed a digital tear while he made the soup for dinner.
__________________________________
~Palace Garden~

Lyne sat up and stretched as she awoke from her nap in the garden. She relaxed with her eyes closed, enjoying the calm of the garden and the grass under her. She lay back down to continue enjoying the grass for a while, grinning happily at how much time off she was getting from concerns at home. “Plus, I’ve got a pet now,” she mumbled to herself and started looking around the garden. She sat up again and looked all about, but her little virus was nowhere in sight. “Spirit!” she called out as she got up to check behind some of the nearby plants and garden ornaments. She used her navi scanners to try and detect his signature, but that wasn’t working either.

“Great, I talk to dad about keeping him. He said yes, and now Spirit decides to run off on me. He must be somewhere in the palace,” she said, looking up at the massive structure that surrounded the garden. “This is going to take a while,” she moaned as she exited the Garden into the hall.

She opened her mouth to call out her virus’s name, but no sound came out. Man, I hate going into the palace. I can’t speak, let alone call out for Spirit. This sucks, she thought as she let out a harsh, irritated breath. Then she found that the muting effect of the palace didn’t affect her stomach as it grumbled for her attention. Oh great! I don’t even know where the galley is. Why did Connor insist on going so early in the morning before the trip?

“Lost?” asked a voice from behind, which spooked her.

She turned to find the Ancient behind her. He was smiling at her, as her stomach roared again. “Ha, ha. Come with me then.”

Where are you taking me? she asked mentally, knowing that he would hear even though others couldn’t.

“Well, you’re hungry and need energy, right?” he asked her, getting Lyne to nod. “Then we’re going to the galley. Where else did you expect me to take you?”

Lyne huffed and turned her head away from him for a moment. On another vision quest, she replied.

“Oooo, harsh words for a pretty angel. *Sigh* But it can’t be helped. Most angels don’t like my method of doing things.”

You almost drowned me! she yelled at him, shaking free from his grip.

You know she’s right, Light chimed in. Why’d you do that to her? That was awfully cruel.

Lyne was freaked out for a moment before she remembered that the second voice was Light, not herself. She breathed out a sigh of relief, and then nodded agreement with Light. Yeah!

“That was to get a point across. Plus, the history of this server is important info to you and Connor, if you are to understand what you’re up against.”

We know what we’re up against. A crazed virus that wants me and Connor dead. That way he can fuse the dark and light element and rule the net, Lyne thought as she waved her arms around in gestures that matched what she as thinking.

“But you didn’t know that he was a virus to begin with,” the Ancient pointed out, as Lyne was about to protest by opening her mouth and raising her finger. She paused like that, then dropped it, seeing he had a point. “You didn’t know just how old he is or how much destruction he had wrought. Besides, what makes you think he’ll stop there? He has had more ambitions to conquer the real world, as well as the network,” he added as they walked along the hall towards the galley.

But he wasn’t able to get that far on his own. I’ve been worried about something. The viruses B and G. Are we supposed to be concerned about them as well?

“It’s too soon to ask that of me young angel. I’ll let you know when it is time to ask about them. I can foresee things. That is one of my elements that any Ancient has been blessed or cursed with: Time. The other is Space. Angels and demons have a little of that power, but not much. I also know a little about Atlantian Genetics. I’m probably the only one left who is allowed to practice it. It’s a forbidden art by the Atlantian law.”

Oh, that sounds interesting, Lyne said as she remembered what Nights had said about Atlantian Genetics. They both then entered the mess area of the galley.

“Yo, Cynan! How ya’ doing?” Chef called to them as they approached the kitchen door.

Cynan?! Lyne asked in mental confusion as she looked at the Ancient.

“That’s my real name. You don’t expect me to be called ‘the Ancient’ all the time. It’s just a title,” he said as he opened the kitchen door.

“I see you brought the kid’s lady friend,” Chef said as he put the pot of soup data on low heat.

“Yeah, she’s a little famished. Think you can whip somethin’ up for her?”

“Sure thing,” he replied, starting work on some food for Lyne.

Spirit climbed up on Lyne and licked her face making her look like she was giggling, but without any sound, and the little diragon virus looked at her in confusion. He started squeaking and worrying over her, getting her to pet him to try and calm him down

It’s okay Spirit. I’m fine, she thought in a gentle tone, making him relax a little. Good, you can hear my thoughts. It must be because you can’t project your thoughts yet. She then sat down beside Bass and wrote a note on a window and placed it in front of Bass.

~(How are you?)~ it read.

“Fine I guess. Um… did you like your nap?” Bass asked, uncertain of what else to ask.

Lyne nodded and smiled before she wrote another note. ~(Thank you for finding Spirit for me.)~

“Um… You’re welcome,” he said shyly before he took a sip of his second glass of milk data. Spirit was apparently grateful to Bass as well, or he just wanted to share the love, and he leapt at Bass with a squeak, licking him on the face. “Hey you were being a pest!” he growled.

“*Sigh* Always quick to temper. Here you go young lady,” Chef said, placing a plate of fresh cut fruit data in front of her, taking her attention away from the amusing argument. He then picked a kettle up off the stove and a tray with two cups on it. “Hey Cynan, we need to have a little talk.”

“Uh… sure!” Cynan said as he and Chef exited. “We’ll be right back. Stay here,” he ordered Lyne and Bass before disappearing out the door.

“You three, please head back to your posts,” Chef spoke in a gentle tone. “Or I’ll tell Captain Kobito where you guys are,” he added, getting instant clearing of the mess area.

“What are they doing?” Bass asked as he watched them take a seat out in the mess area.

Lyne finished up her data and then wrote a note. ~(They’re just going to talk.)~

Bass looked over at the slightly open kitchen door. “Let’s go listen in,” he said as he grabbed Lyne’s hand and dragged her to the door. Once they were at the door, they noticed Chef place the tea pot on the table.

“So, I’m guessing this is going to be a serious chat,” the Ancient spoke as Chef poured them both a cup of straight tea. He then took a sip, giving Chef a disgusted look. “What no sugar?”

“We don’t need it. There’s no room for your humor in this conversation. I need you to be serious for a moment,” Chef said, holding one of his hands up to stop the Ancient’s attempt to brighten the mood. “I need you to be honest with me. Is Dark going to actually do it this time? Is he going to destroy that blasted program once and for all? I need to know.”

Cynan placed his cup down. “Well, yes actually. He and Light plan on taking out….”

“What?!” Chef blew up at Cynan. “Light too?! This is not fair to them,” he shouted, pointing at the kitchen door.

“What are they talking about?” Bass asked, getting a shrug of the shoulders from Lyne. She then placed her finger over her mouth. Spirit looked at Lyne, then at Bass and held up an extended claw to his muzzle in imitation, making Bass roll his eyes before he tried to listen again.

“I know it’s not fair to them, but Light and Dark made arrangements with King Steven on this,” Cynan spoke in a casual tone as he took up his cup if tea again.

“But what if they don’t succeed?” Chef asked in an agitated tone. “I fear for their souls.”

This made Cynan slam his cup down. “What do you want me to do? I can’t interfere… Besides, the hosts will come out of it fine,” he ended in a calmer tone.

“I’m not talking abut them. I’m talking about Light and Dark,” Chef said as Cynan got up and gently patted him on the side of his left shoulder.

“Don’t worry my friend. They’re bound to rest sometime.” And with that, Cynan left the Galley, leaving Chef all alone in the mess area.

“Heh, heh. You can’t ever give me a straight answer can you?” Chef asked himself as he rubbed his upper arm in concern. “No Ancient ever has. I’d better get back to the kitchen and check up on ‘em,” he said as he grabbed the pot of tea and the two full cups. He then started back towards the kitchen.

“Get back Chef’s coming,” Bass whispered as he and Lyne headed back to their respective seats. After they had settled down, Chef entered the room. “How was your snack young lady?” he asked with a smile.

Lyne wrote a quick note ~(Very nice, thank you.)~ She then glanced over at Bass for a second, catching his attention, before she wrote another note. ~(No meaning to be rude, but we have to be going.)~ it read.

“Uh, yeah,” he agreed, catching her meaning. He grabbed her hand and led her out the door. “See you later Chef. Gospel, Spirit, c’mon,” he called to their viruses, compelling them to follow after their masters.

Chef sat on a stool and waved at them as they left. “Later. Drop by anytime.” If you can hear me old friend, I bid you farewell, he thought quietly to himself, hoping Dark would answer like before.And good luck.

Thanks, and farewell to you as well, Dark replied quietly as Lyne and Bass left the galley.

After they had left the galley a good ways behind them, Lyne came to a stop, making Bass follow in suit.

“What now?” he asked as he let go of her.

She opened up a word pad and wrote, ~(Were they talking about us back there?)~

Bass shrugged his shoulders and then thought about it. “Maybe a little, but I think they were talking more about our elements.”

~(Oh I see)~ was Lyne’s response before she placed her hand on her chest. They were talking about you, Lyne thought to her second voice.

Well duh! Chef said me and Dark out loud if you were paying attention, Light responded in a sarcastic tone.

Please don’t yell at me, she thought with a grimace on her face. I just found out about you a few days ago.

Hey, I couldn’t help it. Those hot springs in Xanadell are the best on the net. I felt like I was close to heaven, Light sighed as Bass tapped Lyne on the shoulder.

“You’re talking to Light aren’t you?” he asked, startling her. Lyne then nodded her head. “I really don’t like her, but she was kinda’ helpful,” Bass said before he explained what happened when Pharaohman had put her into what she knew as him giving her a ‘nap.’ After he finished explaining, she stood there dumbfounded.

‘Wow’ she mouthed in response to what he had told her. No wonder he had wanted to keep that away from me. Man Light, are you one crazy spirit. You scared the snot out of him. I wouldn’t even dream of being that forward.

You kids are all the same, but I have to accomplish something before it’s too late, Light responded. Lyne felt a sudden pulse go through her and the shock on her face was obvious. She slumped forward slightly, now looking at the floor.

“Lyne, are you alright?” Bass asked, trying to look her in the face.

Lyne tried to look at him to deter him from worrying, but Light spoke to her once more. Ignore him at the moment. I can feel Havock’s loose. I have a date with destiny. Now let me be in control, she said, making another concentrated pulse that Lyne felt in her temples. Lyne then placed her hand on her head to support the heavy, throbbing feeling she had.

Just then, Grindel came running up to them. He stopped in front of them, out of breath for a moment. “Whew,” he breathed out in relief. “I’m glad I found you two. You’re both needed in the throne room right now. It’s urgent.”

“Alright, Lyne lets go,” Bass said, grabbing her free hand and dragging her down the hall. Lyne did her best to keep up, but the aching in her head was starting to throw her balance off and Spirit, who’d wrapped onto her free arm, squeaked in concern. He squeaked more loudly as she took a slight misstep and Bass looked back as she took her hand away from him and held the sides of her head. “Lyne?” Bass called out as she stopped and crouched down to the floor, breathing heavily. Spirit made a nervous whimper and wrapped around her shoulders so he could rub his head against the side of her face.

“Looks like she got a processor ache,” Grindel observed. “I don’t like those. They’re really painful.”

“Grindel, shut up!” Bass demanded as he looked Lyne over. “She’s got a head ache, that’s all,” he said as he picked her up off the ground and helped her walk the rest of the way to the throne room.

“Isn’t that the same thing?” Grindel asked, as they entered the throne room.

“No,” Bass groaned. “We’re here now,” he called out, noticing that Nights and everyone else were ignoring him. They were all staring at a vid window that Hackman was maintaining on a live feed, showing a section of Net City under attack. He walked around the screen, joining the group to get a better look.

Bass saw a mess of chaotic destruction on the screen, and the cause was instantly obvious. “Havock still lives,” he said quietly. He had nothing more to say, silently watching the destruction on screen grow. The monster on screen was destroying everything it could reach and chasing down those navis that escaped its reach, deleting them indiscriminately. Its fire element was still active, and quite a lot of the city was being consumed in flames.

By his side, Lyne’s head lifted up and looked at the screen and then around the group. Nobody was making a sound as they watched the rampage go on. Everyone jumped when they silence was broken by a scream, and they were surprised to find that she was the source. Even more surprising, especially to the Ancient, was when she pointed to the screen and angrily spoke. “Havock is set lose and all you do is gawk at this screen as the innocent perish. You have no power over me. Atlantis has no secrets anymore.”

“But how?” the Ancient managed to ask, confused that Lyne was able to speak.

Lyne pointed at the screen. “That’s how. Alpha told me this day would arise. It is time for me and Dark to do what we had promised this server’s ruler, and what was fated for us to do by destiny.”

“Wait a minute… Light?” Bass asked in shock, realizing that wasn’t Lyne’s attitude at all.

Lyne’s face had a big grin on it. “In the flesh, or so to speak,” she replied.

“Crazy lady’s back!” Sable squeaked in shock as Spirit jumped off Lyne’s body and onto Bass’s for protection.

Light then grabbed Bass’s hand with a determined look on her face. He stiffened as an odd sensation pulsed through his body, making him jerk his hand away. “What are you doing?” he asked when she grabbed him again.

“I don’t need your help in this situation. I need Dark’s. I’m just letting him know it’s time.”

Bass then shook free of her grip and backed away, realizing what she was doing now. “I’ve been possessed before, and I don’t like it. Leave me alone and return Lyne back to normal,” he demanded as Light smiled at him. He then felt a sudden pain in his head and dropped down, putting a hand to the floor to catch his fall.

“It’s too late,” Light said in a gleeful tone. “You can’t stop our destiny.”

Bass’ vision went to black for only a fraction of a second and then returned, leaving him without pain. That wasn’t that bad, Bass thought to himself as he rose up off the ground. Destiny my foot… Hey, what gives? He realized that his body was moving without his guidance and that he couldn’t control his voice either, even to make so much as a gasp of surprise. What’s going on?

Success, he heard Light think as she did a victory fist pump.

I’m the one in control now host master. Now if you don’t mind, I have a date with a monstrosity, Dark thought back as he and Light got ready to exit the throne room.

“Wait!” NK said, drawing their attention. “I want to come along.”

“Me too!” Kaori agreed.

“What are you crazy? That thing looks like it could rip a navi like you limb from limb,” Sable protested.

“He is right,” Dark spoke to NK. “This is far too dangerous for anyone else to come along. You may not survive.”

NK crossed his arms. “That’s a risk I’m willing to take. You happen to think you can just take over one of my oldest friends to take on this thing, so I figure I’m going to help him and you can’t stop me. I want to make sure that he survives this battle.”

“Yeah,” Kaori nodded.

Whoa! He’s actually concerned for me, Bass thought in surprise as he looked out his hijacked eyes at his friend’s determined face.

Dark stared down NK, seeing if he’d back down. Satisfied that the navi stood his ground, he nodded. “You do seem like a true friend to my host. You shall come,” he spoke as Light whispered into his ear. “Well then… All three of you can come. But the viruses stay,” he said making the two viruses hang their heads in disappointment.

“What, you mean me too?” Sable asked, getting a nod from Dark. Sable grimaced, but suddenly brightened. “I’m still under a shadow pact though. I can’t leave Nights.”

“Unless I release you. Which I shall,” Nights said. “I will thank you for helping to look after my brother Sable.”

The shadow navi hung his head in disappointment. “Oh, man.”

“Dark,” Nights spoke from his throne. “You and Light take extreme care. The fate of the network and fragile lives are in your hands.”

Dark and Light bowed before him. “We understand. They’re safe in our hands.” The whole group of navis then left.
________________________________________
~NetCity~

A familiar trio of navis jacked into the besieged Net City: Megaman, Protoman, and Searchman. “Alright Megaman,” Lan spoke to his navi. “What’s it look-”

“Scatter!” Searchman shouted, and the three of them jumped out of the way of a burning navi vehicle that crashed into the ground. Megaman was worried that they might already have been noticed, but it seemed that the creature destroying the city had just sent the projectile off randomly. It was currently using a navi it had grabbed as a club, violently smashing him into any navis not quick enough to get away.

“… It looks really bad Lan. That thing’s a real powerhouse,” Megaman replied to his operator’s unfinished question.

“Yes, and we don’t expect you to try taking it down,” Famous said to the team. “Just get Havock out of Net City.”

“Man, look at that thing go,” Protoman commented. “How are we supposed to stop it? Your sister and Bass almost got deleted by that thing.”

“You get it to leave the city, then keep it going,” Chaud spoke to them. “Should be simple.”

“Easier said than done,” Lan commented from Chaud’s side. “But here it goes. Ready Megaman?”

“Ready as I’ll ever be,” Mega replied as he waited for Lan to send him a battle chip.

“Dash Chip in, download!” Lan called out, slotting in the chip. A little green-winged virus with a flat top appeared in front of Megaman. He jumped on top of it and it took off, streaking past the nearby wreckage.

“Hey ugly,” Mega called out as he zipped past the scrambled program. Havock whipped its head around to look where the voice had come from and caught a face full of Megabuster as the blue navi fired at it. “Over here. Ya’ can’t catch me!” Megaman ducked a partially deleted navi limb, all that was left of the unfortunate victim Havock had used as a weapon, and made the dash virus do a circle around Havock before he started taking off towards the outer part of Net City. Havock howled in enraged anguish and chased after Mega, its feet pounding thunderously as it ran.

“Wow, that was really easy,” Lan commented.

“Yeah, except, that thing’s faster than me!” Megaman replied. He dodged to the side as Havock made an attack that cracked the ground to his side and ducked the wild swing that followed. “Close. Too close!” He fired off his buster again to try and ward his pursuer off, but Havock didn’t seem to be really hurt by that, just annoyed.

“Burner Sword!” it called out, sending a jet of blue flame from one of its hands. Megaman tried to dodge again, but this time Havock’s attack finally found a target, destroying the dash virus that Megaman was on.

“Ow, ow, oof! I’m in trouble!” Mega said as he tumbled along the ground, crashing into a pile of ruined vehicles and wreckage.

“Cannon Battlechip in! That should hold him off while you recover,” Lan spoke through the PET link. The device activated in front of Megaman and fired, striking Havock in the leg. It did stop when hit and then it looked at the weapon firing at it, but then raised its head to look at Megaman again and continued to approach while the cannon still fired. Havock didn’t even look at the weapon as he reached and then stepped on it, crushing the cannon under the weight of its foot.

“You’re… pathetic Megaman,” Havock spoke with difficulty, but in a familiar voice. Mega had gotten to his feet, but wasn’t able to escape as Havock grabbed him by the head and picked him up off the ground. “You think you can stop me… from destroying this place, hssss, before I get what I want?” he asked, focusing in his fiery blue eye on Mega.

“I have to,” Mega responded as Havock started to squeeze the sides of his helmet in. “I have to protect NetCity, avenge the citizens that you have deleted, and delete you for what you did to my sister Havock.”

“Hhhuhuhuh.” Havock’s face cracked into a grin, and Megaman realized that the odd noise it had just made was actually laughter. Then Havock winced and a painful spasm wracked its body. It threw Mega down hard, stunning the navi who was able to see in his momentary daze that Havock’s appearance was altering. The pipes or burner jets on its body were changing their positions so that they were actually organized rather than randomly placed. “Grrraaahhh!! Re… I rememmmber you Megaman. Pathetic… rrrAAH!” Havock screamed as he kicked Megaman away from him, sending the smaller warrior quite a ways off.

Havock’s body continued to painfully restructure itself as it approached the injured navi. “You’ve fought me before. I rem’ber fggting youuu. I’m NOT Havock. I am… am Havock. I am Havock Burnerman!” Megaman was able to see that now. While body parts of individual viruses were still obvious on Havock’s surface, its total body structure did obviously resemble that of Burnerman now, although larger than normal because of the extra data mass. It looked down at itself and flexed its hands in satisfaction. “Gonna’ have, hrrheh, heh, so much FUN deleting you. And Light. And Dark,” he spoke as he stopped by Mega’s side with his arm raised. “First you! Burner Sword!”

“Aqua Sword!” Protoman called out stopping Havock Burnerman’s attack while defensively standing in front of Megaman.

“Hahshhh. More to kill!” Before H. Burnerman could attack though, a shot came from above, striking it in the head and cracking off one of the pipes there. Searchman had found a position to fire from. H. Burnerman held his injured head and shrieked, backing away from Protoman as he tried to attack. “AAAHhhhrr! Raahaahahhah! Three of you, yes. Always you three! Sniper, come down now! Burning Jet!” The maddened program activated its jets and flew upwards towards Searchman’s position, colliding with the side of the building and going through it, collapsing the roof that Searchman was on.

Protoman below had to deactivate the Aqua Sword in order to break Searchman’s fall. “Damn! Was Burnerman ever able to cause that much damage before?” Searchman asked aloud.

“No, he was never this strong as a Darkloid or this destructive,” Megaman answered.

Havock Burnerman hovered for a moment at the top of the building he’d just collided with, grinning madly down at the navis. “Yes, yes, yes! This is going to be great. I get to delete three NetSavior navis!” He then angled down and flew straight at his targets.
______

“How did that thing do that?” Raika asked angrily as he watched his navi search for better cover to avoid H.B.

“I don’t know, but we have to think of something fast before they get deleted,” Chaud responded.

“You said it should be simple!” Lan complained.

“I have the right to be wrong occasionally.”

Just then a bright idea hit Lan as he took out a chip from his chip pocket. “Well, this should help out. It’s worked on Burnerman before. Aqua Soul Unison Battle Chip in, download!”
______

The trio of navis were retreating from H. Burnerman’s charge when Lan slotted in the chip. “Yeah, this oughta’ do it!” Megaman said as he stopped and turned while the Soul Unison took hold. By the time he brought up his buster to take aim, his armor’s appearance had altered, giving the top of his helmet, his gauntlets, boots, and shoulder pads a crystalline, watery appearance. There were also areas of lighter blue running along the sides of his arms and on his chest, extending down to his knees.

“I won’t stop ‘til you’re a memory!” H. Burnerman shrieked, not pausing in his headlong flight.

“Aqua Shot!” Mega called out, blasting the flaming program right in the face. H. Burnerman tried to stay on course, but the force of the shot knocked his fight askew and momentarily blinded him. Megaman didn’t even have to dodge the spectacular crash the program made into the ground. Dust-like pixels and wavy smoke surrounded the heap of his opponent.

“I don’t see how Lyne and Bass were having problems with that thing,” Lan commented in a proud tone. “You see how easily it went down?” he asked as he beamed through a vid window.

A crunch and the shifting of debris quickly drew Megaman’s attention back to the target. Through the dissipating haze around it, Mega could see the eyes of Havock Burnerman looking right at him. “Um… Lan,” Mega said, getting his NetOp’s attention back on his PET screen. “Not over yet.” H. Burnerman had picked itself up off the ground and it looked slightly different. Its colors had blue-shifted so that red areas were more of a purple and yellow areas took on a greenish tinge.

“Hee, hee, I thought you’d learn your lesson by watching Light and Dark fight me. I’m invincible! Aqua Tower!” he called out, slamming his hand down on the ground and sending a huge tower of water tearing down the street towards them. The trio avoided it easily by jumping off to the side only to be caught in the barrage of a bubbler attacks.

After a few hits, they found decent cover. Protoman slumped down beside Megaman, who dropped out of his soul unison. “When this is over with,” Protoman started in a breathless tone. “I’m going to install a zipper on your brother’s mouth.” Lan, through the vid screen, hid behind Chaud for safety.

“Look at the bright side,” Megaman put in. “At least the water’s warm.”

“Now I see why they were having problems,” Raika said. “It seams that Havock Burnerman can switch elements when hit with an elemental attack.”

“Then how do we defeat it?” Searchman asked from his cover a couple yards off from the other two.

“Not sure. Maybe… an element ring, but I’m not sure how many times around the ring we’d have to go in order to defeat it.”

“And another thing,” Protoman piped up. “Who is this Light and Dark he keeps referring to?”

“He might be meaning Lyne and Bass. Those happen to be their elements,” Mega suggested.

“Come oooooout. Oh, please NetSavior Navis. I promise it won’t hurt… that bad,” H. Burnerman called out as he fired off a few more bubble shots at where he thought they were hiding.

“Hyeeouch!” Megaman suddenly exclaimed. “That water’s not warm, it’s hot!”

“It’s steaming off,” Protoman observed. “I wonder…”

“If Havock Burnerman is combining his current element with his previous one?” Searchman concluded for the swordsnavi.

“Possibly. Burnerman’s naturally a fire element, so he may be able to retain that regardless of what he becomes.”

The three navis’ attention was caught the attack abruptly stopped and their assailant began laughing maniacally. They peaked at him from where they were hiding. He stopped laughing and stood still with his eyes closed and a happy smile on his face.

“Why do you think he’s doing that?” Mega asked. “Did he find us?”

“I don’t know,” Protoman said as H. Burnerman’s eyes snapped open.

“They’ve come back to play some more. I can feel them. Excellent!” Havock Burnerman ran past them, towards the edge of NetCity.

“Okay, what was that all about?” Protoman asked as he stood up and gestured at H. Burnerman.

“It’s seems he’s decided to make our job easy by leaving on his own,” Searchman suggested. H. Burnerman was almost out of view when a vid window popped up. All three navis turned their attention to it, seeing that Famous was there.

“Lyne and Bass are approaching NetCity. Assist them any way you can,” the NetSavior commander ordered. The navis, and the NetSaviors as well, all looked a bit confused by this.

“Wait a minute. They called you?” Searchman asked. “That’s sounds like something Lyne would do on her own, but not Bass.”

“I know, but they did, and they requested the assistance of NAT 001 as well. They’re on their way to your position,” Famous responded. “Once they get there, follow after Havock Burnerman,” he ordered before he closed the vid window.

“That would be the element ring,” Raika said.

“Earth, fire, electricity, water, and wood,” Searchman counted elements on his fingers. “That’s a complete circle, even though water can take out two of those.”

“True,” Chaud spoke as he noticed NAT 001’s navis join up with theirs. “It looks like they’ve covered their bases and have a back up plan as well.”

“We’re ready for some action,” Sand spoke as he stretched a little, looking eager to kick some butt.

“Calm down already. We haven’t been briefed,” Scorpion scolded him.

“We have to get going right now,” Searchman said. “We’ll explain the situation along the way.” He led the way, breaking out into a sprint followed by the rest of the little navi army to go fight Havock.
___________________________________
Next Episode Preview

~Data Stream~

Sable: … Soooo, how are we going to handle this ‘Havock’ anyway?
NeoKnight: By fighting it. Duh.
Sable: Uh, riiight. Seriously, what’s the plan?
Dark: Well, what’s wrong with NeoKnight’s plan? We fight Havock. We destroy Havock.
Sable: Well, that’s pretty simple, but shouldn’t we have a specific strategy. I mean, we could get deleted without one.
Dark: Don’t worry about it. You’d get deleted anyway.
Sable: What!? Wait, if you think I’m going to get deleted, why’d you drag me along?
Dark: I figure, you might be useful for a while. Also, I’m a jerk. Ask Bass when he’s in control again.
Bass: You sure are.
Kaori: Is it just me, or does it seem like it’s taking too long to get to the end of the Data Stream?
Light: You could be right. I wonder what’s wrong.
Lyne: I have a bad feeling about this.
Light: What do you mean Lyne? Hey, what’s-? !!WHAP!! *Is struck in the face by something.*
Dark: Light, are you okay?
Light: Ow. Yeah, but… Oh, I see. It’s a script.
NeoKnight: A script?
Kaori: Of what?
Light: Uh, episode 26. It’s got a note. Says ‘See you next episode. ~Author~’
Lyne: That’s what was afraid of. It’s an episode preview.
Light: Okay, so it’s an episode preview? What’s so bad about that?
Dark: Wait, the note said ‘See you next episode.’ Does that mean we’re going to be stuck in this data stream until then?
Bass: That sounds about right.
Dark: Noooo!! I wanna’ take down Havock noooow!!
Bass: Well, have fun waiting. I’ll just take a little nap until then.
Dark: Wait! I don’t wanna’ be stuck here, bored until the next episode starts. Take over until then. Bass? Aw, damn it!
Light: Ah, if only we were stuck in here alone. Well, maybe the other navis won’t mind if we-
NeoKnight: Don’t you even dare!!
Lyne: Really, behave yourself Light.
Light: Darn it! This is so frustrating!
Dark: Yeah! I wanna’ destroy Havock!
Light: … Well, I see you’ve lost your sense of romance.
Sable: Well, at least he isn’t trying to jump all over you. *Takes script away.* So let’s see what we have in store in the next episode on Lan and Lyne S2, Episode 26: Release.
Dark: I wanna’ break stuuuuff!!
Kaori: It’s gonna’ suck being stuck here with them until then.
NeoKnight: Yeah. I wanted some private time too. *Siiigh*
_________________
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Megawoman (Lyne)

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Lan and Lyne Art Thread

[Megawoman.EXE]

Sorry for the double post of the episode. Computer was out of wack again. And our production of the end of the season is on schedule so be expecting the final episode of season 2 of L & L as a pre new years gift from the L & L staff. Enjoy this episode
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Megawoman (Lyne)

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