L & L: Season 3: Episode 14

[NeoKnight.EXE]

The editing of Ch 11 just began today. Zodiac's been a real lazy butt lately. Apparently Dante is more important than the fic. Big Sis (Megie) has quite a few chapters done, all that is left now is for the lazy butt editor to get in gear.

While I still can't read Big Sis's fic because of my mental condition (it induces severe panic attacks), I know she does an excellent job writing and I'm thankful that she is so good at it.

Now hopefully when she gets home she can start co writing with me on another story. (not EXE related)
_________________
It's amazing what one can do with a disgruntled Half Navi and his girlfriend's little brother. - NK

[Megawoman.EXE]

Sorry for the long wait... All is expained in the preview. And without further adu......
_______________________________________
Episode 11: Don’t Touch Me!

~24 January 20XX ~ Evening ~

Bass pulled up outside the Hikari household and looked up at Lyne’s lighted window. He sat there for a couple minutes, tapping on the wheel nervously before he turned the motor off and looked himself over. He had black slacks, a soft yellow dress shirt with a black flannel over that, and had on boots since they were the closest thing to nice footwear he had. Then he growled uncomfortably and tugged at his collar. I’m never telling my relation that I’m going on dates ever again, he thought, eyeing the tie Famous had gotten him to wear in his rearview mirror. He didn’t much care for having his shirt tucked in either, so he un-tucked it and loosed up the tie while he was at it.

Bass looked at himself in the mirror again and, feeling curious, opened his collar and pulled out his pendant from under his shirt. He smiled as he observed how it looked against the shirt, then put it back in the shirt uncomfortably. He didn’t really mind if Lyne saw it, but he didn’t want other people to for some reason. He even buttoned the second button on his shirt and tightened the tie up, though not all the way. As he grabbed his coat and got out of the car, he saw Yuuichiro pulling into the driveway. Huh? I thought Lyne said he’d be at the lab all night. He then draped the coat over his shoulder and went to the house.

Yuu joined up with him as he was about to reach the door. “You dressed nice,” he observed. “Excited?”

“A little, but it’s nothing too big. Just food and a really cool movie,” Bass replied as Yuu reached for the door.

The Doctor smirked slightly as he opened the door. “Come on in then. She’s probably waiting. Oh, great,” Yuu said quietly as he looked at the snow that plopped into the house once the door was open. “I’m going to have to remind Lan to shovel the walk in a few minutes, and it doesn’t matter if he has homework. Lyne! Connor’s here!” he called out once he shut the door and hung up his coat.

Haruka came out after a moment. She was wringing her hands together nervously and chewing on her lower lip. “Uhh, she hasn’t come home yet,” she said.

“She hasn’t?” Yuu said in surprise.

“She left SciLab hours ago,” Bass said. “She hasn’t come home?”

“Well she did come home, but she went to the mall. She said she’d be back by seven,” Haruka said.

“Girls and shopping,” Bass sighed as he pulled out his PET. He heard Lyne’s mother make a little noise and looked up to see a slight glare directed at him. “Uh, sorry. Gospel, find Lyne and get her back here,” he ordered the virus in his PET.

What do I get for it? Gospel asked, wagging his tail.

A longer life span. Just get her back here so her parents can stop worrying.

Grouch, the wolf thought as he linked off.

“So why did she go to the mall anyway?” Bass asked.

“I don’t know,” her mother replied.

“Maybe something in her room will tell me.” Bass turned and went to the stairs. He heard Yuu asking his wife where Lan was, and she said he’d gone over to Mayl’s for dinner. “Does her family actually make enough to feed him?” Bass muttered with a slight chuckle. When he opened the door, he felt a chill go through him. “Doctor Hikari! Get up here!” he yelled downstairs. Yuuichiro ran up to the room and stopped at the door.

He sighed and lowered his head when he saw the clothes all over the place. “Oh. That’s why she went to the mall.”

“Huh? What do you mean?” Bass asked. He was surprised that Yuu didn’t sound more worried.

“She wanted to find something nice to wear.”

“But…” Bass looked around at the scattered clothing. “These are nice. That’s nice over there.”

Yuu looked out in the hall to make sure his wife wasn’t there, then moved up to Bass so he could speak quietly. “We’re guys Connor. That means we’re missing the part of the brain that tells us it’s important to get nice, new clothes for dates and other occasions.”

“But it’s not important,” Bass protested.

“See? You’re missing that part of the brain.”

“Uhh, okay. So she wasn’t taken from the room then?”

“Haruka would have heard it if she was.” Yuu went to Lyne’s computer and linked his PET to it. “Yep, she linked out from here. Goes right to the mall server.”

“Gospel will figure out where she went to. Hmm. Actually, I should go there myself to see if I can find her. Ummmm, there!” Bass said as he picked out a picture on Lyne’s desk and took it out of its frame.

“You’re going to see if anyone knows where she went?”

“Yeah. I’ll be back.” He then jacked into Lyne’s computer and linked to the mall.
__________________________________

“Why yes young man. She was in my store for about an hour, trying on clothes,” replied the owner at the third clothing store Bass went to.

“How long ago was that?” the half navi asked

“Uhhmm, about 6:30 I think.”

“Do you know which way she went?”

The shopkeeper shook his head. “Sorry. She was in a real hurry once she finished shopping. I don’t know where she went to.”

“Almost two hours ago. So, did she buy something then?”

The shopkeeper nodded and smiled. “Yep. A pretty nice outfit I’d say. So, it was for a date wasn’t it?”

“Uhh, I guess,” Bass said uncomfortably and started to the store’s exit. “Thanks. I’ve gotta’ see if I can find her.”

“Good luck young man!”

Alright. She got what she came for, but she didn’t come back home. Gospel, where the hell is she!? Bass thought to his virus.

I’m still tracking her, the wolf replied. I’ve got a trail now. It took some time to find it too. There are far too many other signatures at the mall server. So, what do I get for finding her?

Just do it! Bass replied angrily. He’d managed to find a secluded place to jack in and linked back over to the Hikari household. He exited back into Lyne’s room and went to look for Doctor Hikari. He was in the living room with Haruka. The Doctor questioned him with a look when he noticed him, and Bass shook his head.

“I’m going to get a hold of Famous and see if we can get some more navis in on the search,” Yuu said as he got up from where he was sitting with his wife. “Haruka, could you get Lan too?” She looked up at him and quietly nodded. “What can you tell me Connor?” he asked once she’d left the room.

“I found the store she went shopping at. She bought a dress about two hours ago and left. Gospel’s still looking.”

“Okay.” He pulled up his PET and opened a communication link. “Famous?”

“Any word yet?” the other scientist responded.

“No. Connor just came back and says that Lyne finished what she was doing two hours ago. Could you…”

“Already done. Serenade sent out navis to search as soon as there was a hint that something might be wrong.”

“So, you were already prepared for this,” Bass commented.

“We had to be,” Yuu said. “They have an uncanny knack for ambushing you two.”

Bass ground his teeth in frustration at that. Haruka came back into the room and went to lean against Yuuichiro. A moment later, Megaman came into the room. “Alright, what can I do?” he asked with some anxiety in his voice.

“Just a moment. Famous, can you send a diagram of what areas are already being searched?” Yuu asked his friend through the still-open comm link.

“Working on it,” he replied.

Bass turned to look at Megaman and blinked in surprise. “Where’s your armor?” he asked.

Megaman tugged nervously at the tie around his neck. He had on a light blue shirt and dark slacks as well. “Uh, Roll convinced me to dress up for dinner. I forgot I was wearing this. Soooooo… what’s that you’re wearing?”

Bass looked down at what he was dressed in and blushed. With a quick flash of light, he reverted to his more well-known appearance. “My armor. You should change out of that.” He heard a giggle and looked over to see that Haruka was laughing with her hand over her mouth.

“Thank you Connor,” she said. “I’m glad you’ve kept your sense of humor.”

“What sense of humor?” Bass asked. That got a laugh out of both of Lyne’s parents. Megaman left the room while this went on.

Master, Gospel interrupted him before he could complain any further.

Eh? What is it?

I’m back. There was a whine from Bass’ PET and he brought it out to look at it. He gasped when he saw what the wolf was holding.

“Dr. Hikari! Spirit needs help.” Yuu looked at the PET and saw the injured diragon there. He pulled Bass along with him to a house computer, where they linked the little virus into it so Yuu could analyze it. “How is he?”

Lan came in while Dr. Hikari was looking over the data. “Is she *pant, pant* back yet?”

He booked it here, didn’t he? Bass thought. Lan was holding onto a table and leaning over, trying to catch his breath.

“No son. She’s not,” Yuu replied. “Spirit’s not too badly hurt. I’m bringing him to SciLab anyway. Lan, stay here with your mother.” Lan nodded without looking up, then pressed his hand to his head and sat down on the floor.

“Owww, that hurts,” the young Hikari complained.

“Oh sweetie. You really should wear a warm hat in this weather,” Haruka said, coming over to get him up off the floor. “Let’s heat up some tea for you. Connor, do you want some?”

“No thanks Mrs. Hikari,” Bass replied. After they left the room Bass turned to his PET again. Where’d you find him?

A park in NetCity, Gospel replied.

Take me there. Wait a sec. “Hub! You done or not!?”

“Uh, okay. Yeah,” Megaman replied, hustling back into the room in his navi armor. “Hey, where’d Dad go?”

“SciLab. Don’t worry about it. We’ve got a lead to follow.” He abruptly grabbed Megaman and force linked him into the Net, bringing them both into NetCity. “Gospel, where do we go?”

This way. Gospel took off at a run with the other two trailing after him. Navis seeing their fast pace moved out of the way, allowing them to reach the park in short order.

“Oh, this is where Sis goes to think sometimes,” Megaman commented when he saw where they were.

“You knew that? Why didn’t you just link us here if you knew that!?” Bass said testily.

“Nobody ever told me where we were supposed to be going. Why didn’t Gospel just link us here?”

“He’s a virus.” Megaman looked at him blankly for a moment, expecting more of an explanation than that. Bass let out a sharp sigh of annoyance. “Viruses can’t just make links like navis can. They aren’t designed that way.”

“Well, but Rush…”

“Doesn’t make links, does he? Rush uses Rush Holes, like a popup program, to travel. Have you ever seen another virus that can do that?”

“Uhh. No,” Megaman replied meekly. “But still, nobody told me where we were going.”

Bass fought against a sense of embarrassment and turned away. “Okay, point made. Let’s take a look around now.”

Mega nodded and started looking around, calling Lyne’s name out as he went. Bass shook his head at that, but let the younger navi continue. Master, I found Spirit over here, Gospel projected to him.

Bass went over to investigate the scene, doing a scan on the area. “So, he hit here,” he muttered, running his hand on the tree. “Forceful impact. Some of the scales stuck into the bark. Even the tree itself is damaged.” He turned his attention to the ground and crouched down to look closer. “He dropped straight down from the point of impact, so he was thrown squarely into the tree.” Bass then turned from the tree and walked in a straight line from it. He then stopped and crouched to examine the ground again. “Scrambled navi signature. Damn. At least it looks like Spirit got some licks in,” he growled as he noticed some leaked data.

So, it was them, wasn’t it?

“Of course it was.” He continued scanning, looking for any other information he could get. “Lyne was there. No weapon energy used though. She must have been taken by surprise. And… Combit? Her signature’s off though.”

Yes, that had me confused as well. For a moment, I thought you’d already been here.

“Why was Combit using Bass morph?”

I don’t kn-

“That was rhetorical!” Bass interrupted. He then took a calming breath and continued his vocal analysis. “So, Zodiac was here. They saw Lyne here with ‘me’ and took it as an opportunity to capture ‘us’. Megaman! Quit yelling already! She’s not here.” The other navi stopped and looked over at Bass. He quickly looked around himself one more time, then started walking back to Bass. Before he got there though, another navi appeared. This one was in green, grey, and red armor with a flaming sword strapped to his back.

“I’m sorry to intrude in your space Bass, but I have urgent news from Serenade,” the other navi said.

“Who is this navi?” Mega asked as he came up to them.

“His name is Zac. He’s one of Serenade’s Top Lieutenants,” Bass explained.

“Oh… One of the Keep Away Lieutenants,” Mega spoke. Bass grimaced at that memory, then locked his eyes on Zac.

“Report,” Bass ordered.

The navi nodded and stood at attention. “There’s a navi attacking one of the breeding spidy colonies down in the Undernet,” he reported nervously.

“Maniac… I’ll show that pompous- whaah!?” Bass said as he stormed off and his cloak was grabbed by Zac.

“It’s not him. It’s…” Zac spoke as Bass snatched his cloak back.

“Go on,” Mega and Bass both demanded of him.

“It’s Megawoman,” he said, lowering his head.

Bass forced him to look up at him. “You sure?”

“Serenade’s scanners have been focused on that area for the past half hour, and she was finally identified just a few minutes ago. My Queen fears something is severely wrong.”

“Where’s the colony?” Mega asked.

“I have the coordinates right here,” Zac said, holding out his hand which had a suspended file in it. “But I’m not sure of the current state of the colony.”

“Alright. Tell Serenade I’ll take care of it,” Bass said.

Zac quickly snapped a salute. “Yes, Lo – Bass,” he replied, quickly correcting himself when Bass glared at him and then disappearing.

“What was he going to call you?” Mega asked.

“Nothing…”he replied as he waved at Mega. I can’t believe Serenade is having them do that to me too, he thought to himself. “Let’s go,” Bass said as he opened the file with the coordinates to the colony and linked them there.
______________________________
~Underground ~ Spidy Colony~

“Get away from me,” Lyne croaked weakly at the swarm of viruses around her.

You cannot consciously keep it from activating when you touch a sentient or semi-sentient creature…

One of the spidies rushed forward, and Lyne threw up a barrier reflexively. The barrier sparked and repulsed the virus which skittered quickly back into its swarm. “Please, just go away.”

…and you cannot revert your form either.

Bass and Megaman arrived at the outskirts of the colony. There wasn’t anywhere they could look without seeing the viruses running around chaotically. Mega was about to fire at them, but Bass motioned him to stop. “Don’t. They’re frightened at the moment. We don’t need to make them even more scared.”

“Right,” Mega replied as he deactivated his weapon and lowered his arm. “Why do you think Zodiac would let her go if they had her in the first place? Let alone drop her off here?”

“‘Cause this is what she fears,” Bass replied calmly.

“Lyne’s afraid of spidies?” Mega exclaimed in shock. He had seen her personally attack spidies in Sims before and they didn’t seem to phase her.

“I know what you’re thinking, but trust me on this,” Bass spoke as he started to walk towards the huge crowd of fleeing spidies. “Let’s split up. I’ll search underground and you look around up here, just in case she got trampled. Understood?”

“Loud and clear. Where should we meet up if we don’t find her?”

“At the entrance to the underground. 20 minutes. Meet me there,” he said as he split off from him.

“Alright,” Mega spoke as he started looking down, hoping to find Lyne.
_____________________________

Bass had to fight against the flow of spidies that was coming up out of the underground. He remembered that spidies nested underground, so it was probably where Alpha would send her. One, it would aggravate them, and two, they don’t like intruders, so they’d attack her, he thought as he got to the entrance. It looked like the last of the viruses had flooded out as he started through it. I hope you’re safe.

After going a little way, he heard what sounded like quiet sobs from lower down. “Bingo,” he said to himself as he opened up a connection to Megaman. “Hey Hub… I think I found her. Converge on my signal.”

“Copy. There’s no sign of her out here anywhere. Only scared spidies fleeing in panic,” Mega replied.

“Okay. Hurry up then.” He noted the walls were lined with webbing and kept his distance so he wouldn’t get caught. Once the tunnel opened up into a wider space, he could see that it was a nesting area. There were fading pixels drifting in the cavernous area, and Bass could see Lyne curled out against the back wall with her buster arm stretched out on the floor. He rushed up to her, glad to see her still alive. “Lyne are you alright?” he asked as he stopped at the edge of her barrier.

Lyne raised her head up unsteadily to look at him with unfocused eyes. She tried to shout, “Go away,” but the words came out as an exhausted croak. She did manage to make her barrier flash in warning, then turned her head into the crook of her arm, hiding her face from him.

Bass was taken aback by her odd behavior. He couldn’t remember her acting this strangely before. He moved around to try to see her face and put his hands against the barrier. “What’s wrong? What did Zodiac do?”

“Don’t touch me!” she forced a shriek as she sent an electrical current through her barrier, making Bass pull back.

“Jeez, Lyne, what’s gotten into you? It’s me, Connor…” The effort of electrifying the barrier was too much and she let it drop. Bass sighed as he pulled out a half energy sub chip and offered it to Lyne. “C’mon, take it. You need it. But this is all I’ve got until tomorrow,” he said, waving the chip over her head.

Lyne turned her head to look up at him. “Please, drop it,” she whispered. He did, letting it fall beside her head, and she hesitated a moment before grabbing it.

He crouched down beside her while her system absorbed the chip’s energy. “Now aren’t you going to tell me what happened?” She looked back up at him and nodded, but before she could speak, there was a shudder though the caverns that made her try to grab onto the ground reflexively. She stayed like that quietly, even though the shaking lasted barely a second. “Damn, you must’ve done a lot of damage down here. C’mon, let’s get out of here before this place collapses.” He reached down for her hand, but she squirmed out of the way.

“No don’t touch me.”

Bass held his hands back. “Fine I won’t touch you. Even through for purposes of teleporting it would be easier.” Lyne got up of the ground and made her way to where Bass had entered the cavern from. She’d deactivated her buster and wrapped her arms around herself as she went along with Bass following behind her. What few spidies were left in the cavern kept their distance from the pair. “I could teleport us back up. Really, I could.” Lyne shook her head and kept walking along quietly. Bass sighed and followed her, just telling her where to turn on the short walk back up. They reached the surface and were moving away from the caverns when a more violent quake than before threw them both off balance. Bass staggered forward, colliding with Lyne and knocking them both over. He could feel the ground actually shifting underneath them and the booming noise of collapsing rocks in the tunnel, keeping both of them where they were until the quake ended.

Bass rolled off of Lyne once everything had settled down. “I’m sorry are y-” He wasn’t able to finish his question. He was supposed to be apologizing to her, but now he was staring back at himself. They stayed like that a moment, staring at each other, until Bass’ double shoved him back and turned away. “Lyne…?”

“I said don’t touch me,” she responded. Even her voice was his now and she put her hands up over her mouth when she heard herself speak.

Bass was speechless. He got up of the ground and tried to figure out what was going on, but couldn’t. No navi he ever met could take the form of another navi. Only bytes could do that. “Lyne, please talk to me. What did they do to you?”

“Hey Bass!” Mega called as he finally caught up to them. “What was that shaking?” He stopped when he noticed there was more than on Bass there. “Uhhh, oh! You found Combit. But where’s Lyne at? I thought you found her.”

“I did,” Bass replied. The other Bass was crying quietly now. “That’s Lyne.”

Megaman blinked a couple times at Bass, then turned to look at the other Bass when he decided Bass was being serious. “Really?” Lyne turned her head to look at him and nodded miserably. Before Lyne could protest, Megaman rushed up to hold her, hoping to comfort her. “Lyne calm down. We’re here now.” Bass didn’t react right away, but when Lyne glowed and changed, he quickly grabbed the blue navi and hauled him off of her. Mega struggled a little, then found himself on the ground after Bass unceremoniously let him go. “What was that for?”

“Look,” Bass said simply, pointing over at Lyne. Mega frowned a little and turned to look at her, blinking in surprise when he saw himself there.

“No way.”

“Stop making me change. I can’t return to normal!” Lyne burst out at them, now in Mega’s voice.

“We’ve got to get her back to SciLab so they can fix her,” Mega said as he started moving around nervously.

“We also need to know what happened. I bet you that Maniac did this to her,” he said as the ground mildly shook again. “And she must’ve attacked the viruses down in the nest to protect herself from changing into a spidy virus. That had to have been Alpha’s idea.”

Mega then tugged on his arm. “Can’t we ask her when we get back to SciLab?”

Bass swatted his arm away and said, “Yeah.” Then the ground shook again, violently enough to knock them all down. After the quake ended, Bass realized he had a soft cushion underneath him. “Uh Oh,” he sounded as he heard growling below him.

“Connor!” Lyne violently burst out in his voice while shoving him off again.

“Sorry…” he apologized while she glared at him. “Wasn’t my fault… Earthquake,” he said, gesturing at the ground. Lyne then passed out. Mega rushed up to her, but was stopped by Bass. “No, I’ll take her. She uses too much energy transforming. Open a link.” He picked her up while Mega complied.

“But how is she able to do what Combit was able to do?”

“Don’t know, but we’re going to find out,” Bass said as he entered the link followed by Mega.
_____________________________________________
~ SciLab ~ One hour later ~

Bass was sitting next to Lyne’s exam table as Neta bustled about the room going from window to window, checking over them. Lyne was lying on her side with an energy transfusion connected to her left arm. She still looked like Bass, but her helmet wasn’t on. Bass looked over at Neta for a moment. Her viral condition was fully gone now. Bass had been so surprised by the sudden change, he’d almost dropped Lyne when he returned.

Neta stopped and stared at a results window beside Lyne’s bed, then shook her head and sighed, “I hate mental blocks.”

“What do you mean by that Dr. Keshiro?” Bass asked. He watched as she started closing some of the windows, waiting for an answer, but Lyne spoke first.

“Remove it,” she quietly demanded. Her hands were holding her side as if she was wounded.

“We can’t. You locked it,” Neta spoke as she reopened the results window.

“No, Maniac did. Alpha told me so,” Lyne protested as she rolled onto her back and grimaced. “He changed the program so that it couldn’t be controlled. Doctor Keshiro… can you…?” Lyne wasn’t able to finish the question, but Neta knew what it was going to be.

“Lyne, your system won’t let me take programming out. I can’t separate you and Combit.”

“But… please. I wanted to save her, but not like this. It’s like I’ve lost her anyway.”

“It’s not right,” Bass added. It felt strange seeing ‘himself’ being so emotional. He kept having to remind himself that the Bass on the table was Lyne, that she was the one crying now, not him. He didn’t know if it was because of confused frustration or some kind of bizarre sympathy, but he felt like he wanted to cry too. He let out an angry growl, trying to push the feeling away.

“She’s still there Lyne. This is what happened with Megawoman too, wasn’t it?” Neta said. That got Bass’ attention.

Lyne’s personality. It changed after combining with Megawoman. Will it happen again? Bass had already finished his thought before Lyne responded to Neta’s question with a nod. The timing of the nod gave him a sense of foreboding.

“So, let’s see about getting you back to normal then,” Neta said.

Lyne nodded again and smiled a little. “Okay.”

“From what I saw, the morph program wasn’t really tampered with other than to make sure it would work in your system. The only function locked at the moment is the Return function, and it seems that Alpha had chosen the perfect place to trick your mind into locking it for him.”

Lyne blinked at Neta a couple of times and then looked over at Bass when he let out a snicker. “I get it now,” he said as he leaned against Lyne’s exam table. “Alpha lied to you and you fell for it.” His tone was childish, and when he gave her a poke in the nose, it really annoyed her.

“Shut up!” she spat angrily, but that brought Bass to full laughter. She sat up and glared at him while he put his head down on the table and pounded his fists against it. “It’s not funny,” she growled as she kicked his seat out from underneath him, breaking it into pieces. Finding himself unexpectedly on the floor dried up Bass’ laughter right away, and he saw surprise in Lyne’s eyes when he looked at her. She didn’t think she’d kicked that hard.

“Your energy seems to have recovered some,” Neta commented.

“I still feel weak though.”

“You’ll probably feel that way until your system has fully processed the changes to it. Are you going to get up Connor?”

“Only if she promises not to kick again,” he said as he sat up and dusted some of the pixels from the chair off. “That’s the second time today you’ve thrown a kick at me.”

“Can you blame me for being on edge?” Lyne asked.

“Heh, no. Is there any way of unlocking the program?”

“I could find a password decoder, but Lyne would have to run it,” Neta replied. “Then she can unlock it so we can fix some of the settings on the program. Just rest up while I get it. Oh, hang on a sec.” She turned and pulled out a small container with a green ‘E’ on it and tossed it to Bass. “Change that out.”

Bass looked at the data in his hand curiously wondering what he was supposed to do with it. “What is this thing?” Neta had already left the room, so he looked over to Lyne, who was lying back down.

“Energy data. That one’s empty,” Lyne explained, pointing up a similar container with a reddish-black ‘E’ on it. “You un-attach the empty one from the transfer tube and then attach the tube to that.”

“Oh,” Bass said, now understanding what she meant. He switched out the two containers, talking quietly while he did so. “I’m sorry Lyne. This was all my fault.”

Lyne placed a hand on his arm. “Why do you have to say that all the time? You even blamed yourself for what happened last time.”

“But… I can’t help it. For some reason, I always feel like I’m to blame,” Bass said as he hung his head. “I mean, even Combit was taken when you were.”

“That’s not your fault Connor. It’s mine. You need to turn the top of the tube to start the data flow.”

“Okay. But you can’t say it’s your fault. You were ambushed.”

“So how is their ambushing us your fault?” Bass glanced back to Lyne and furrowed his brow. “So, let’s agree it wasn’t your fault, and I’ll try not to think it’s mine either. You need to turn it the other way.”

“Turn…? Oh, the tube. Sorry. This is the first time I had to do something like this.”

“‘S okay. At least we know you won’t make a good doctor,” Lyne replied, stretching out on the table.

“Hey!” Bass growled arousing a slight chuckle from Lyne. She reached up to poke him in the nose.

“Got you.” Bass rolled his eyes at her, getting her to laugh again. She stretched a little again and grimaced. “Rrrrr, I’m getting sore. That’s not right.”

“Well, you’ve been like this for a while now. You’ve never used this program before either, so maybe you’re having some trouble adjusting.”

“Yeah.” She shifted a little, then rolled onto her side. After a moment’s silence, she suddenly sat back up. “Spirit! Where is he?”

“Whoa! Lie back down Lyne. Dr. Keshiro told you to rest.”

“But he’s hurt. I have to go see him.” She got off the table, but Bass grabbed her before she could run off. “Let go!”

“He’ll be fine. We got Dran to come up here to help repair him.”

“How bad did Maniac hurt him?”

“It wasn’t bad Lyne.”

“But he threw him into a tree! He threw him hard!”

“It was only enough to knock him out Lyne. Yes, he’s hurt, but he’ll be fine.”

“Are you sure? Can I talk to Dran?”

“Lyne! Rest! We’ll go to see Spirit in the morning.” Lyne looked over to the door and whimpered slightly, then looked back to Bass pleadingly. “Rest. Doctor’s orders. We’ll go tomorrow, I pr… Wait a sec. They knocked you out first. You didn’t see Maniac attack Spirit.”

“Yeah I did. He was going to pick up Lyne and Spirit jumped up and bit him until Maniac could grab him.”

“Pick up Lyne? You’re Lyne!”

“I know that. He tried to pick me up, and Spirit attacked him.”

“But how did you see that if you were unconscious?”

“I… uhhh. Wait, that’s not right.”

They were both quiet for a little bit, and Neta felt an uncomfortable tension in the room when she returned. “Is there something wrong?” she asked.

“… Oh, we were just talking about her capture and seeing what she could remember,” Bass said. “It’s not what you’d call pleasant conversation.”

Lyne felt grateful for the cover and nodded happily. “Yes, it’s not nice to talk about at all.” Bass resisted the urge to cringe at Lyne’s lack of subterfuge. “Is that a headband?”

“Uh, this is the password decoder,” Neta replied, deciding not to push to find out what the two of them had really been so tense about. She went over to Lyne and put it on her head, then punched in a quick code to activate it. “Okay, it’s running now. It’ll take a bit, then it’ll beep when it’s done. Connor, come get me when it’s finished.”

“Okay,” he replied.

“Thanks Neta,” Lyne said as the doctor left the room. “Thanks Connor. I didn’t want to be talking about this… well, whatever’s going on.”

“You could have been a bit smoother though,” Bass said with his eyes closed in tired frustration. “The way you were agreeing so excitedly looked suspicious. She’s going to be wondering what’s really going on now.”

“Oh. Oops.”

“So, let’s see if we can figure anything else out. Do you remember anything else that’s not from your perspective?”

“Uh, I don’t… well, I remember us getting taken back. I didn’t even think about it as being a memory from Combit’s perspective, but it must have been.”

“Did you ever remember things from Megawoman’s perspective?”

“… No. Nothing from her.”

“You’re sure about that?” Bass pressed. “You weren’t aware you were getting Combit’s memories at first.”

“Yeah, but it would be easy to pick out Meg’s memories. All of hers would have been on the Network, and I don’t have any Network memories prior to combining with her. Except when I was Mind Jumping of course.”

“Okay, so no memories from Megawoman, but you have Combit’s. We’ll have to figure out why. So, what happened after you were brought there?”

“… I was… restrained. They put me in… sorry. They put her in a device that shackled me so I couldn’t move. I mean so she couldn’t move! Oh, they restrained us both anyway! This is gonna’ drive me nuts.”

“We’ll get it sorted out. Keep going. Don’t worry too much about the perspective problems.”

“At least she really is still here,” Lyne said quietly with a sense of gratitude in her voice. “Even if it is confusing. So, Maniac was examining me and wasn’t getting the readings he was expecting, since he thought he was examining you. He… he cut into me… and just yanked the Morph Program out.” Lyne was quite for a moment, tracing a line on her abdomen distractedly. She jumped when Bass touched her arm, then took a breath to steady herself again. “Sorry. That was really disturbing. Remembering like that. Umm… Alpha was furious when he saw that I wasn’t you. It was scary at the time, seeing him in a rage. He started tearing apart his surroundings. And corroding them too. It makes me think of the memory the Ancient sent me. The person he took over, an earlier holder of the Dark Element, was falling apart. I thought it was because of the Element, but it must be that Alpha actually destroys what he’s infected.”

“If that’s the case,” Bass interrupted, “then he must not have infected Pharaohman for very long. We didn’t see any signs of him decaying.”

“Maybe. It probably goes slower when he’s not actively using power. He’d been calling himself Alpha since before we met him.”

“… Yeah, that’s true. Okay, sorry for interrupting you.”

“ ‘S okay. Let’s see. He was angry. He went to attack Lyne. Um, me. Whatever. I shouted stop and Maniac stabbed me and said to shut up and watch. He was trying to infect Lyne again. I remember the feeling and defended myself. She screamed… I think that’s the last memory I have as Combit. I did a siren scream in self defense and knocked her out with it. Everything after that…”

“What? What after that Lyne?”

“Trying to infect me brought back memories Connor,” Lyne replied quietly. “Light sealed them away to protect me.”

“Light did?”

“Yes. The memories of destroying the old Net City. And… one of Zodiac is dead.”

Both of them were quiet for a moment after that. Lyne didn’t cry, though Bass could see that she wanted to. He put his hand on top of hers comfortingly and waited for her to continue.

“I guess… I’m grateful I guess. I couldn’t have handled it then. All of that. Alpha infecting me. Feeling myself acting against my will to destroy so much. Feeling one of them… it was one of the twins. I don’t know if it was John or if it was Cameron . Even if he hadn’t d-… hadn’t died… Alpha used the Light Element to force their minds to fuse. And I felt it when he died. I felt it!” She was tense all over. Her eyes were squeezed shut, and tears were forcing themselves from between her lids now. Her teeth were tightly clenched and she was gripping the edge of the table as well.

“So the way Maniac acts then,” Bass said after a little while. “He really is insane. They are insane. And Alpha caused it. That’s just sick.”

“How can we fight them Connor? Any of them? I tried to confront him about it, his part in what happened back then. He shut down their minds. He willed their minds closed to keep them from knowing anything! They’re not…”

“So what should we do then? Should we hand ourselves over to them? ‘Sorry we thought you were our enemies. We didn’t know Alpha was telling you what to do.’ Lyne, he may be keeping some of the truth from them, but they’re acting on their own. We can’t just let them do what they want.”

Lyne opened her mouth, but didn’t speak. She covered her face with her hand and sat quietly, breathing slowly while trying to think of something to say. “I guess I can’t argue, can I?” she conceded sadly. “They’ll keep destroying things, trying to get us, hurting us or our friends. But it won’t be easy.”

“Yeah. I know.”

They were quiet for a while longer. Eventually, the headband Lyne had beeped and she took it off to see what it had come up with. “… What the hell is this?”

Bass came around to see what Lyne was looking at. “Hmm. That’s a pretty good password.”

“Good? It’s not even coherent! How could I come up with this?”

“Your subconscious did it. And as panicked as you must have been, this is as good as you could expect things to work out.” There were no words on the little screen that they looked at. There weren’t even numbers or letters. Just random symbols. ~!%#(*@^w^?~ “So, go ahead and input it.”

“Yeah, okay.” She did a quick internal check for the lock and undid it. After a moment’s glow, she switched back to her natural form and sighed in relief. “Much better.”

“Great,” Bass said and reached out to her, but found a barrier blocking him. “Hey, what?”

“The program’s sensitivity is still set high, so no touching. Go ahead and find Dr. Keshiro.”

“Okay,” he moaned in defeat and started to exit the room.

As Bass was leaving, he could just hear Lyne saying, “That’s the last time I fall for anything Alpha tells me.”

“Well, I hope that’s true,” Bass said to himself with a smirk.

Lyne got up after a moment once Bass had left. She went over to a mirror in the room so she could see herself, now that she was herself again. She froze in confusion when she looked at herself, feeling a disorienting sense that she was looking at someone else. She put her hands over her face and closed her eyes, quietly chanting, “I’m Lyne. I’m Lyne. That’s me in the mirror,” until she felt calm again. She pulled her hands away and looked at herself, sighing in relief that she felt like she was looking at her reflection now. “It’s good to see me again.”

“Ah, there she is. Good job Meg,” SDM1 said from the door as he entered the room, followed by Bass and Neta. “I understand the Morph Program has been tampered with a bit. Let’s see about fixing those settings.” He opened up a program window and started working on it. “Shouldn’t take long to fix. Just have a seat.”

Lyne did as she was asked and waited for SDM1 to finish. “How late a showing do you think they have at the movies?” she asked Bass with a slight smile.

“Not this late,” he replied.

“Well, it’s fine anyway. I don’t think I want to go anywhere but home now.”

“Not tonight you won’t,” Neta said in a somewhat stern voice. “You’ll be staying overnight here for observation.”

“Mmm, darn it,” she replied weakly. “Dad’s orders, huh?”

“No, he’d prefer you were home tonight, but Famous convinced him that it would be better for you to stay here so we can keep an eye out for side effects. I’d say Yuu’s had about enough of you being away from home.”

“I agree. I’ve had enough of hospitals.”

“Just tonight Lyne,” SDM1 said in an assuring tone as he patted her on the shoulder. She flinched away from him reflexively. The science navi smiled and nodded in satisfaction. “Looks like it worked. No need to be so worried about touching someone now.”

Lyne tentatively reached out a hand and touched SDM1 on the shoulder, then looked herself over. Seeing that she was remaining herself, her face broke into a wide grin. “Thank you!” she exclaimed while whirling to give Bass an unexpected embrace.

“Um, you’re welcome. Shouldn’t she be hugging the person she’s thanking?” SDM1 asked Neta.

“No, I think she’s acting just the way she should,” Neta replied.

“So, I really can’t go home, huh?” Lyne asked, looking back at the other two.

“I’m sorry Lyne,” Neta said. “We really do need to keep you here. You shouldn’t be able to change to another navi’s form with the Morph Program. The only reason a byte is able to do it is because they lack the definite structure of a navi. Just that program by itself is reason to keep you here to make sure that there aren’t serious side effects. But there is more than that of course.”

Neta didn’t continue, but Lyne knew what she meant. “Because all of Combit’s programming, all of Combit, was is part of me now,” she said. Neta nodded and Lyne sighed. “The night really got ruined, huh Connor?”

“We’ll just have to make Zodiac pay us back for it later,” he growled sullenly. I was looking forward to the movie too. A thought suddenly struck him and he opened a small window to do a quick search.

“Well, if it makes you feel any better, I have instructions for the program settings for you,” SDM1 said, handing a note over to Lyne. “And of course you can practice use of the program here so you can get used to it.”

Lyne accepted the note and looked it over before storing it away. “Thank you. I guess I’ll just lie down and wait for someone to let me know I can leave,” she said with a frown.

“Don’t worry about it,” Bass said. “I’ll stay here with you. We can still watch a movie even.” He added a covert wink after he finished talking.

Lyne wasn’t sure what exactly Bass had in mind, but she was happy to accept the company. “Okay,” she said, and got up on the exam table again to try and find a comfortable spot.

“Now you two need to go,” Bass said as he started to escort SDM1 and Neta towards the door. SDM1 left without protest, but Neta stopped just short of the door.

“Okay, what movie did you pirate?” she asked with a glare.

“How’d you…”

“Know? That’s was pretty obvious Connor. I did see the window you opened up. So, is it the movie you two were planning on watching together?” Bass crossed his arms over his chest and turned his eyes away with a frown. “I’ll take that as a disgruntled ‘Yes Ma’am.’ But it’s okay. You both can watch it as long as you delete the file afterwards. I’ll come and check and make sure you do.”

“Two times. Then I delete it.”

“No Connor. Once. Or I will tell your guardian.”

“That’s low,” he complained. Neta silently cocked an eyebrow and lightly tapped her foot, waiting for a better response. Bass sighed, “Okay,” and relaxed his arms with a pout. Neta smiled and went to pat him on the shoulder, then took his cloak from him. “Hey that’s mine,” he growled as he tried to take it back.

“This is not the kind of thing you should be wearing on a date.” Bass jerked back from her with shock on his face. “What? That’s what you two were supposed to be up to tonight. Don’t tell me you’re feeling shy suddenly,” she teased as she folded up the cloak and set it aside. Bass shook off his embarrassment with a frown. “Now that you look nicer, why don’t you go and watch your movie. She’s waiting.” Bass looked back at Lyne, giving Neta the chance to snatch his helmet off.

“Stop taking my stuff,” he growled and took the helmet back.

“I’m just helping,” Neta said, letting him take it back. “Have fun.”

Bass then looked over at the mirror Lyne had used as Neta left. Maybe she’s right, he thought as he put his helmet on top of his folded cloak. He then watched Lyne as she fought with the table, trying to get comfortable. He shook his head with a smile, then charged at her.

When Lyne heard the footfalls she looked over at Bass. “Connor, no!” she protested as he lunged at her and caught her around the waist. This is gonna’… hurt? When the two of them landed, the impact was soft. She felt the surface under her and noted cushioned fabric under her. “Where’s the table?” Bass poked her nose playfully.

“You forgot the first rule of data. It can take any form you want it too.” He pulled himself up and took a spot on the couch at Lyne’s feet. She sat up as well and pulled off her helmet, hugging it self consciously.

“I know,” she mumbled quietly as she stored the helmet away and picked up a pillow to hug instead.

“Here this should make you feel better,” he said, tossing what looked like a candy bar.

She looked it over before she opened it and took a bite. “Wow! Where’d you get this?”

“The vending machine in the break room. I got a few more, and sodas too.” He handed her one of the sodas, then almost dropped it when Lyne leaned against him.

“You really know how to treat a girl Connor,” she said with a smile. “I just wish I could wear what I got at the mall to day.”

Bass then rolled the soda he had between his hands and chuckled a little. “That doesn’t matter Lyne. You look nice the way you are.” He felt her shift a little and then a soft peck on his cheek. Lyne giggled when he blushed and leaned against him again. “Movie now.”

Bass nodded and called up a blank vid-screen, then expanded it so that the far wall was basically covered by it. “If only I could adjust the TV in my room like this,” he said quietly as he brought out the movie file, giving it the appearance of a DVD. He spun it on the tip of his finger for effect, then flung it at the screen. “Here we go!”
_______________________________

“I’m not cleaning up that mess,” SDM1 remarked, watching the half-navis through a one-way monitor. He cringed at the candy wrappers and soda cans that littered the floor. “How many of those did he buy?”

“They’ll have to remove it anyway,” Famous said. “Connor brought the food in with him, and he’ll have to take it out.”

“So don’t worry about it,” Yuuichiro added. “He’s done a fine job on their date, don’t you think?” He patted Famous on the back, and Neta, on the monitor with SDM1, nodded in agreement.

“Yes this is rather charming, but we’re supposed to be looking for side effects,” Famous pointed out.

Yuu just smiled and sat back in his chair. After the stress he’d gone through earlier, he was glad to just glad to relax, knowing his daughter was safe.

“Can’t you just chill Famous?” Neta said. “This is their first date and it’s so adorable. I can’t wait to see Saratu’s first date.” She went starry-eyed thinking about it.

“Speaking of her, how is she doing in Brightland?” Yuu asked.

“She’s going to school again. She’s way behind but I don’t doubt she’ll catch up though.”

“Me neither,” Famous spoke up. “We need her ready to return here shortly to assist with the Zodiac matter. They’re getting even more dangerous. According to the scan earlier, Alpha did try to infect her again.”

“But he couldn’t,” Neta reminded him. “Nor could he infect Connor the last time he attempted it. I don’t think that’s something we have to worry about anymore. But I don’t think Saratu would mind helping with this matter. I sure don’t.”

There was some commotion from the monitor, and they could hear Bass protesting wildly against Lyne. “What is she doing?” SDM1 asked in confusion. Yuu and Neta both started laughing when they looked.

“She’s, hmmph, hah, hah, she’s giving Connor a belly razzberry,” Neta explained. SDM1 looked at her oddly.

“Raspberry? That’s a fruit. I don’t understand.”

“A Razzberry is, um,” Yuu said, then paused and thought for a moment. “Well, it’s this.” He stuck his tongue out and exhaled, making a, “Pthhbbbtttbt,” kind of noise. SDM1 turned his confused expression to Yuu.

“It’s meant to simulate the sound of, well, flatulence,” Neta said.

“Why on earth…? Oh never mind,” SDM1 said.

Yuuichiro looked over at Famous. “Is there something wrong?” he asked.

“Combit used to do that to Searchman,” Famous explained. “While there haven’t been noticeable physical problems other than the energy drain from using the Morph Program, her behavior changes concern me.”

“Lyne’s behavior changed when she merged with Megawoman as well,” Yuu reminded him.

“But she didn’t have the, how did they put it, um, perspective problems then. She’s received Combit’s memories Yuu.”

Yuuichiro sighed, knowing he couldn’t argue the point. “I don’t understand,” SDM1 said. “Combit wasn’t even a navi. Shouldn’t data from her have had less of an effect than that from Megawoman?”

“One might think that,” Neta said. “But if that were the case, then viruses, which are also not as stable as navis, shouldn’t be able to affect navis so strongly. But the Neko virus almost turned all the navis, and viruses as well, into cat viruses. And Alpha, also a virus, has had terrible effects on the personalities of navis and humans as well.”

“I think what we’re looking at here,” Yuuichiro suggested, “is the greater sense of self that Combit had.”

“Yes,” Famous agreed. “At the time that Lyne and Megawoman joined, they’d become so synchronized that Megawoman’s personality was being overwhelmed already.”

“But Combit was much older than Meg, and she’d always retained her own personality,” Neta concluded.

“Exactly,” both Famous and Yuu said. SDM1 looked around at all of them.

“I’m getting the feeling that I’m in over my head with all of this,” he said. “Perhaps it’s time for me to call it a night.”

“You know, I think that’s an excellent idea,” Yuuichiro agreed, grabbing Famous by the arm after getting out of his chair. “Let’s stop intruding on their privacy now.”

“But we don’t know the full extent…” Famous protested.

“Lyne’s fine,” Yuu growled at him. Famous looked uncertain, but gave in and followed his friend out of the room.

“I think that means that we’re done for tonight,” Neta said with a smile as she looked back into the room. Lyne’s head was on Bass’s shoulder while his arm was wrapped over hers. She had a good feeling things would be alright.
______________________
~Next Episode Preview~

~SciLab near snack machine~

Bass: Okay, time for a little energy boost. *Gets more candy from the machine, then moves to the drink machine. Jerks in surprise* Wha? What are you doing here?
Author: Just checking up on how everything’s going here.
Bass: And where were you anyway? And what are you wearing?
Editor: He’s full of questions.
Bass: Well, considering how long you’ve been gone…
Author: We were on vacation. Actually, we had two vacations. We went to Montana and New England.
Bass: Without telling us?
Author: Didn’t we leave a message? Didn’t you leave the message?
Editor: Oh, right. We’re visiting family and friends. We might not be doing much.
Bass: Well it doesn’t help to tell me now!
Editor: Sorry.
Author: Don’t forget to apologize for all the work you neglected while we weren’t on vacation.
Editor: Can’t I just save it for a mass apology later on. I have no idea how long the next episode’s going to take. Or following episodes either.
Bass: Oh, that’s just terrific. What happened to the weekly posts at the beginning of the season?
Editor: I think I broke something.
Bass: Well, whatever. And are you going to tell me what you’re wearing?
Author: Oversized t-shirts. *Bass stares at her blankly.* Seriously, that’s what this is. It works as a makeshift blue dress.
Bass: So you’re wearing a t-shirt on you’re waist so it looks like a knee-length dress? Your waist fits through a neck-hole?
Editor: Pretty neat, huh?
Bass: But why?
Author: It’s called cosplay. I’m dressed as Kiki from Kiki’s Delivery Service. See the ribbon in my hair? And the broom? And the basket with Jiji the black cat?
Bass: Uhhhh, okay. Cosplay. I work for crazy people.
Author: No.
Editor: Pretty much, yeah. Ouch! *Rubs back of head.*
Author: No, we’re not crazy. *Thinks a moment.* I am not crazy. We went to Connecticon, an anime convention.
Editor: Well, it had a lot more than anime, but yeah, it was a convention.
Bass: And what are you dressed as?
Editor: Ummm.
Author: Tamahome from Fushigi Yugi.
Editor: Well, we can say that. But it’s really just a Chinese outfit. I can’t remember the proper name for it. But I guess I’m Guy in a Blue Outfit. Or something.
Bass: … Right. Well, at least you’re back now.
Author: And, let’s see… you just got done with a date, didn’t you?
Bass: Oh, tell the whole world why don’t you!
Author: Calm down already. Did you have fun?
Bass: Yeah. Yeah I had fun.
Editor: And what’s the food for? The date still going?
Bass: No. I just have someone to hunt.
Author: Oh, can’t you just relax after enjoying the date?
Bass: Mmmm. You’re right. I’m feeling good. I’ll just relax a little while.
Author: Good. You want to say the next episode then?
Bass: … Nah. I’m done relaxing now. Time to break stuff! *Links away to the Net.*
Author: Great. He’s gonna’ need therapy for that aggression of his.
Editor: On the bright side, it gives us something to begin the next episode of Lan and Lyne Season Three.
Author: Episode 12: To Enter Dark Nation. I sure hope my “motivation tools” gets back here soon. It’s good to finally have a real Author’s Whip to use.
Editor: Maybe Bass isn’t the only one in need of therapy. Ouch again!
Author: We’ll see you next time.
_________________
"NetAngel Style Change Activate"
Megawoman (Lyne)

Avatar made by Serenade.exe

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

[Megawoman.EXE]

Finally the edit button is back. Wheeeeeee! I love the new board. Praise the admins.
_________________
"NetAngel Style Change Activate"
Megawoman (Lyne)

Avatar made by Serenade.exe

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

[Megawoman.EXE]

Finally get to fix this after the maybe second complete read through of the fict. My motivation is back but editor's just faded away somehow.
_________________
"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

[Featherdust]

VLIYGWLIDYFL FINALLY YOU UPDATED. *falls over*

...Anyway. Awwww~ Bass and Lyne act so adorable x3 It's a good thing that they were able to have had that infection thing cleared up, because I would hate to turn into whatever I touch. oO' Seriously, that would suck. It's a good feeling to end a chapter with to know that everything's okay n.n Good job with this chapter, as with all the others.

And goddamn it, try not to take like three months next time. *cries over her lack of L&L...and Maniac*

*flees*
_________________

[Haly K]

Two vacations? Wow, that must've been nice. I was actually expect Lyne to get turned into a virus, but a twist is great now and then. Very nice as always! :D
_________________
MegaMan Kilobit
My Own City

[soberflight]

I'm glad Bass and Lyne finally had their date. I hate to say it, but it had been sooooo loooooong since the last episode I'd forgotten where it left off. Glad you guys had good vacations. Sorry, Megawoman...I just could not find shark steak this trip...hope the lobster made up for it!

[Stars_Are_Projectors]

This is one of the better fics I've read. Forte's date was pretty funny (especially when his date wasn't there when he came). Nice imagery- I can really imagine Forte wearing that sort of thing to a date.
-Stars
_________________
The stars are projectors, man. Projecting our lives down to this planet Earth.

[Serenade.exe/HotShot]

WHEEE! You updated! YEAA! And...wow...two vacations...^_^ Hope you had loads of fun!

Can't wait for more.
_________________

Sig by Hikari Angel

[Megawoman.EXE]

Thanks, and today was my b-day. I turned 23 today and I don't feel any older. Still full of ADD I guess. And thanks for the replies guys. ^^
_________________
"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

[Featherdust]

Oh, then happy birthday! n__n

*hands you cakes and ice cream and gigantic plushies of all the L&L characters* Hope you had a good one! With lotsa sugar and hyperness and and and... yeah. xD
_________________

[Zodiac]

Ohnoes! Plushies all over the place! Meggy's sleeping right now, but she'll be happy when she wakes up to find herself buried under plushies. ... I guess I'll have to find somewhere else to sleep then T_T

Oh, and sorry no Maniac this time. The focus will be elsewhere for a little bit. But His Nastiness will return later in the season.
_________________
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

[soberflight]

No Maniac??? Please don't make me wait long. Pretty please?

[Featherdust]

Myeh, that's okay, I got my fill of Maniac goodness for the first half of the season. <3 And besides, the story doesn't revolve around him anyway. xD

...Though I'd be happy if it did. *shot and bricked*
_________________

[ElecGuts]

Well, on REO at least, this has to be one of the few really good fanfics. I think it became really good since you've been listening to readers and accepting fan characters to use (although now it looks pretty crowded). Personally, I'd like to know what other fans would make of this fanfic. For most animes/games, they get their fair share of stuff which would never happen between characters (very odd pairings for one) and while I did flame you when I first saw this fanfic, it's become really good, and has a good fanbase. If a few of the fans were up to it, I'd say this series could use a fanmade manga.

[Megawoman.EXE]

Sorry for the late posty. Lan and Lyne is on hyades status right now until communication and getting used to new job happens. My bro NeoKnight has been harassed lately about the lateness of the fict and I want to let everyone know the reason why it is late. Hopefully this won't be for too much longer. Until next time I post I wish my fans well.
_________________
"NetAngel Style Change Activate"
Megawoman (Lyne)

Avatar made by Serenade.exe

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

[Megawoman.EXE]

Merry Christmas!!! It's been a while but now we finally got this back up and running. I've missed all you guys and wish you the best over the next year. And without further adu...
____________________________
Episode 12: To Enter Dark Nation: Part 1

~1 February 20XX ~ Afternoon ~ Famous’ apartment~

Bass had quite a bit of homework to get through, all of it neatly piled on his desk. Not one book, nor a single piece of paper, not even a pencil or pen had been touched since he set them there. He’d been sitting in front of it, staring at all of it, for over two hours now. An almost visible cloud of grumpiness hung over his head. “I hate being grounded,” he muttered sulkily. “And finals are around the corner.”

Your powers were suspended too, don’t forget, Gospel thought to him from the corner. Bass turned to the wolf and glared, but Gospel just cocked an eyebrow and purposefully started wagging his tail.

“What are you so happy about?”

Well, you’re actually spending some time at home with me Master. It’s been so terrific; you’re over there, ignoring me and being a sour puss; I’m over here, wondering what you’ll be sharing with me for dinner. I’m still waiting for that, you know.

Bass growled at the sarcasm that Gospel was throwing at him. “You really have gotten to enjoy being obnoxious, haven’t you? Have you been hanging around that brat, Lan, too much?”

The wolf rolled onto his side, stretching and yawning while still projecting thoughts to Bass, something he couldn’t have done with an actual speech function. No, I don’t go over to spend time there at all. There must be someone around here who I’ve learned to be obnoxious from. He remained on his side, looking up at his Master after he finished his thoughts.

Bass was practically grinding his teeth in frustration. “Making little implications like that can be very bad for your health you know,” he hissed, letting a warning pulse of energy show on his right fist.

Oh no! I didn’t mean to get you mad. Really, I truly didn’t. Why, if I got you so frustrated that you accidentally let off a shot or made some use of navi power when you’re suspended, your suspension would last even longer. But on the bright side, you and I would get to spend more time hanging out. Bass’ eye twitched in his frustration at Gospel. The wolf calmly rolled to a more upright position, though he didn’t actually sit up, and he stared passively at the half navi. After a moment, he thumped his tail once, then again, on the floor, continuing the thumps in a very slow wag. Though he didn’t send any thoughts to Bass, the half navi got the distinct impression that the wolf was saying “Nya, nya, nya-nya, nyaaa.”

Bass decided to turn his glare to his homework again, and Gospel stopped thumping his tail on the floor after a few moments. Bass sighed and finally touched his homework, but only to slide the top book of the small stack off onto the floor. Maybe I should just sleep until the suspension’s over, he thought to himself.

Eventually, a chime caught his attention, letting him know that somebody wanted to come inside. He went to the lower area of the apartment to find out who was there. When he saw it was Lyne on the monitor for the front door, he let her in right away. She greeted him with a grin when she got inside. “I bet you’re bored,” she said.

“Yeah. Please tell me you aren’t bringing more homework for me.”

“Nope, no homework.” Lyne skipped past Bass and went up to his upstairs room. “Hi Gospel! How are you doing?” She reached down and gently patted the wolf on the head.

I’m fine Light Element Master. Just trying to make sure Dark Element Master isn’t too bored, the virus replied with a wag.

“He’s annoying the hell out of me!” Bass offered. “He was rubbing it in that I got suspended from duty.”

Well, it was pretty dumb. Bass growled at Gospel, but the wolf ignored him and continued. You should have known better than to use such a powerful attack in NetCity.

“Who’re you to criticize?”

Have I ever done that much damage before?

Lyne and Bass answered with, “Yes,” simultaneously.

I have? Oh, right. When Wily mucked about with my programming and sent me on that rampage. Well, I wasn’t exactly myself then, was I? What’s your excuse?

Unripe lemons aren’t as sour as the look Bass sent to his companion, but it was Lyne who had an answer. “Well, he was, exactly, himself.” Lyne and Gospel were both rolling with mirth at that jab. Bass huffed and turned away to sulk. “Oh, Connor. I’m sorry. I know I shouldn’t have, but you are reckless when you’re angry.”

“I wasn’t expecting it to be that powerful an attack,” Bass said, still not facing them. “What Dark used through me to destroy Havock was an incomplete version of that attack. Heh, heh. But it was pretty cool. Too bad I didn’t get ‘im.”

“Connor. I want you to stop going after Maniac like that,” Lyne said quietly.

“He’s the enemy Lyne!”

“He’s one of our enemies. But you’re taking it personally Connor. You’re targeting just him and ignoring everything else. You can’t keep hunting him out of anger.”

“Grrrr, ‘cause, what? It’s stooping to their level?” Bass sighed and turned to look back at Lyne. “What can I do? It seems like he’s targeting you. I can’t leave it be.”

“He’s not really targeting me. Believe me, he’d do something nasty to you if he got a hold of you. He tried to when he thought I wa- Combit was you.”

“Still not used to it?”

Lyne sighed and sat down on the floor, idly scratching Gospel on the head. Bass came up to join her. “No, I’m not. I still have trouble figuring out my memories from hers. And I had an… interesting conversation with Searchman recently.”

“Hmm? How was it interesting?”

“Well, when I remembered the destruction of Old NetCity, I saw a navi that looked sort of like Searchman. I asked him about it, and he admitted it was him. I got mad and yelled at him, but it was Combit’s anger.”

“Searchman was there huh? He’s older than I figured. But wait, why would Combit get mad about that? Just because he didn’t tell her he’d been there then?”

“Actually, she was mad that Searchman never told her that he’d tried to shoot me.”

“He what!? Where is that punk!? I’ve got so-whurgh!” Bass had been getting to his feet, presumably to start looking for Searchman, but Lyne yanked him back down.

“You’re not going after him Connor. I was destroying the network and Searchman was doing his duty. He shouldn’t be punished for that. It just wasn’t right to keep the information from us, that’s all.”

Bass huffed and shifted a little so he was sitting comfortably again. “So, he tried to shoot you, and we’re not supposed to be mad about that. I’m seeing a pattern here. So, should we forgive everyone who tries to hurt you?”

Lyne glared at him and puffed out her cheeks in annoyance. “Well then. So what should I do to you for what you did to me when I came back to Japan?” Bass jerked back from Lyne and grimaced. Lyne kept a fierce look trained on him for a moment, then closed her eyes and sighed. “I’m sorry. But you see what I mean, don’t you?”

“Mrrrr. Okay. I got it.”

The two of them were quiet for a while. Lyne suddenly shook her head and broke the silence. “I’m sorry. I completely lost track. I came here to tell you that we have a mission.”

“A mission? Then my suspension is off?”

Lyne nodded. “Yeah. But you still need to keep from causing so much damage in civilian areas.”

“So I can use navi powers now?”

“Uh, yeah.”

“And I won’t be penalized for using attacks, just as long as there’s no property damage?” Gospel had been half dozing, but now his eyes popped open and he lifted his head to look at Bass.

“Ummm, I guess so.”

Enjoy the mission Light Element Master, Gospel thought abruptly and bolted for the nearest jack in point, vanishing from the room.

“Heh, heh. Wuss,” Bass chuckled.

“You weren’t really thinking about attacking him, were you?” Lyne asked uncertainly.

“I was planning on it. He was taunting me to do it earlier, the little jerk.”

Lyne sighed and hung her head hopelessly. “Well, I hope this mission will let you burn off some of that aggression of yours. Come on and let’s get going.”
_____________________________________
~Late Afternoon~ Treno’s Apartment ~

Treno was looking at the monitor on his computer desk with a grim expression. “So, I guess you don’t have any ideas yet,” NeoKnight stated, judging his operator’s face.

“Not so far,” Treno answered. “Her DNA core was so corrupted by dark energy, it was almost enough to make her a different navi.”

“She was acting like a different navi. Can the core be recovered?”

“I don’t know. It should be possible, but I don’t know how yet.”

“Hey Treno,” Leina said as she entered the room. “You just got a call from Famous.”

“Is it about Kaori?” he asked, perking up slightly.

“No. That was the first thing I asked too,” she answered, sounding disappointed. “He wants you to get over to NSHQ.”

“Oh. And I guess you told him we’d be right there, huh?”

“Yes. I’ll get some things ready for you while you get dressed.”

“Why do I have to do that?” he asked playfully.

“Please don’t go on a mission with me in your robe,” NK said pleadingly. “My reputation…”

“Dash your reputation. I’m gonna’ modify your armor to look like pajamas.”

“What? No!”

“Ooo, how about a silky nightgown?” Leina suggested.

“Don’t even think about it!”

“Well, I could try a leather nightgown if you don’t like silk,” Treno said.

“… Can we get going already!? Get your damn clothes on and get moving already!”

NK vanished from his PET screen, deciding to avoid the two humans who apparently existed solely to torment him. Treno grinned, feeling pleased at NeoKnight’s reaction. Leina was smiling too, but her expression seemed to be strained. Treno’s grin dropped away and he went over to hold his girlfriend. “Will you be okay without us?"

“Yeah, I’ll be fine. Just go on. Find out whatever you can out there and be careful. You know, dealing with Darkloids, you could end up running in to her. Damn them for navinapping her.”

“I know hon. Don’t worry. We’ll be careful. And we’ll bring her back here if we can.”

Leina sighed and rested her head on Treno’s chest. They stayed like that quietly for a while. “Okay now,” Leina said. “You’ve got to get ready and go, alright?” Treno nodded and went off to change into street clothes while Leina got his travel supplies organized.

“So, any ideas yet on what to do?” NeoKnight asked while Treno changed.

“Oh, are you done sulking now?” Treno asked, turning to look at the PET on his bed.

“You done being a jerk?”

“Maybe. I’m guessing you mean what will I do about Kaori. It’s only a matter of time. I'm not my dad, but thanks to the data he's left me, I now know as much as he and his partner Juste knew about DNA cores."

“Mmnnn, I guess.”

“You guess?” Treno said with a raised eyebrow. “How nice to know you have such confidence in your NetOp.”

“I’m worried damn it! I’m worried I already lost her.”

“NK, we’ll get her back. She’ll be the navi she was,” Treno assured his navi. He finished getting his clothes on and picked up the PET. Leaving his room, he gave Leina a hug from behind and kissed her gently on the ear. “I’ll be back soon hon,” he whispered.

“I’ll be waiting,” she replied with a smile and handed him a generously heavy cooler. “Enjoy yourself.”

“I will if I can.” Treno gave his girlfriend another kiss, this time on the lips, and waved as he walked out the door.
_________________________
~NSHQ~

"Hey Famous," Treno said as he entered the NetSavior Commander’s office. "What's up? How's that hellhound cousin of yours and his cute girlfriend doing?" He dropped into the seat in front of Famous’ desk and leaned back casually while he waited for the commander to reply.

"Lyne’s been fine," Famous replied after a moment, looking up from his computer screen. "Connor, on the other hand, has been frustrating. You saw the report, didn’t you?”

“Yeah. It’s a miracle that there weren’t any injuries. I still remember catching the backlash from one of his attacks, and this one covered so much more area.”

“Yes, but he’d already made it apparent that being in the area was a dangerous thing. Eyewitness accounts suggests that half the damage done happened before his final attack.”

“I’ll have to take a jab at him over that,” NeoKnight offered. “What a reckless twit.”

“You can tell him later,” Famous said. “He’ll be on your mission. Here’s the mission portfolio.”

“Really? I’m surprised you’re letting Connor go on a mission again so soon,” Treno said in mild surprise as he looked over the briefing. His surprise stopped being mild when he saw the mission location. “Dark Nation!? You've got the gall to send teenagers to Dark Nation!?"

"Even if those teens are Megie and Bass," NK commented, "Dark Nation is no place for them."

"Do they know about this?"

“Yes, they know,” Famous replied. “Connor is quite excited about it, although anything that got him off of suspension would have made him happy. Lyne, however, is feeling cautious, but that’s to be expected of her. Regardless, you’re going to need them.”

“I agree that this is a mission for more than one person, but wouldn’t Raika be a better choice? Or any adult at all?”

“Can you find me someone who can smuggle a ton of dynamite through Dark Nation customs?” Treno’s mouth opened to reply, but he left it open without making a sound. “You need their unique abilities for this.”

“Well, I can see now why I need Bass, but-”

“Can you keep him under control?” Famous interrupted him. Treno’s expression was one of disappointed defeat. “You need both of them Treno. And their ages don’t make them less capable of handling themselves.”

“I don’t have a choice in this, do I?”

“They’re waiting for you at the airport now.”

“Oh, for cryin’ out loud. Nothing but good news from you today. I’ll get going now.” He pushed himself up from his chair and quickly left the room. “He just loves making me rush, I swear!”

“Well, no reason to humor him Treno,” NeoKnight said. “Just take your time, right?”

"Damsel in Distress code, NK," Treno said. "Never keep a lady waiting."

"Oh, right. Sorry. Been kinda’ forgetting those without my lady around." NeoKnight made a quick prayer to the creators for Kaori as they left the building and went to Treno’s car.
__________________________________
~Dentech International Airport~

"Treno, over here!" Lyne called when she saw Treno at the airport.

"Remind me; why are we going on a mission with him again?" Bass asked. Despite his earlier excitement at going on a mission, the wait at the airport had left him feeling disgruntled. "We can do this mission on our own."

"‘Cause we're what they call ‘minors’, and need supervision."

"We so do not need a babysitter to come with us."

"He’s not there to hold our hands and walk us across the street Connor. Dark Nation isn’t a friendly place, and we need an adult with us there. Besides, he’s supposed to have a contact there."

“Bleah. Another babysitter? Why didn’t they just send Raika too while they were at it?”

“Uh, I don’t think that would be a good idea,” Lyne said, shifting uncomfortably.

“Wh- Oh, right. Sorry.”

“What’s wrong with Raika coming? I thought you were friends,” Treno asked as he joined his two partners.

“Oh, we are,” Lyne replied. “There’s nothing wrong with him coming really. It’s just…”

“Just what?”

“It would be awkward right now,” Bass said. “Just leave it at that.”

“Oookay. Well… Oh shoot. What gate are we supposed to be at?” Treno mumbled as he opened up the mission packet and started going through the papers again.

“We’re at it,” Lyne said. “That’s the plane right there.” She gestured at the window near them and Treno looked through it.

“Private? Nice.”

“I don’t think a lot of commercial flights go to Dark Nation from here. Don’t feel frantic about time though. We still haven’t seen the pilot.”

“No? Wasn’t there a flight time set up?”

“Well, we’re supposed to be able to go once the three of us are here, but- ow!” Lyne rubbed the back of her head and pouted at Bass. “Why’d you hit me?”

“You’ve been sitting next to the pilot for the last hour,” Bass replied, frowning at her. “Remind me when we get back to find you a download on how to fly. It will help your driving skills.”

“And what's wrong with my dr… Wait. Don’t you need a pilot’s license?”

Bass held up a plastic card. “I got it today. Ready to go?”

“…There’s nothing wrong with my driving skills,” Lyne muttered, still pouting. Bass smirked and tousled her hair. Lyne swatted his hands away defensively, but he did manage to get her to grin. “Fine. After you, oh mighty aviator," she said, getting up and bowing to him sarcastically.

"Why thank you," he replied with a cocky grin as he led the way to the plane.

Treno watched the two of them walk away. “Treno? They’re leaving,” NeoKnight said to his operator. “You should probably follow them.”

“Yeah. Uhh, did Connor say…?”

“Yeah, he’s the pilot.”

“And he actually has…?”

“A pilot’s license. Looks like Famous pulled some strings to get that to him today. We going?”

“… NK? Send Leina a message that I love her.”

“Already did it when Bass said he was piloting.”
________________________________

“Hey, is there anything to eat on this flight?” Bass called back from the cockpit of the plane. They’d been in the air for an hour, and his stomach was reminding him he hadn’t eaten since before leaving the apartment.

Treno came up from his seat so he could talk without yelling. “Lynie’s asleep,” he said. “But yeah, Leina packed some things for us.”

“Like what? Sandwiches and stuff?”

“Some, yeah. I got some lunchmeat, peanut butter, and jelly. There’s trail mix and beef jerky too.”

“How about soda? Some, uh, Cocoa Cola?” Treno covered his mouth suddenly to hold in his laughter. Bass glared back at him when he didn’t answer right away and saw the older NetSavior laughing at him. “What’s so funny?”

“It’s, hmm, heh, heh, Coca Cola. Not Cocoa”

“Jeez, I even knew that,” NeoKnight added ‘helpfully’.

“You shut up!” Bass spat at the navi. “I’ve only had it once so far, and I wanted to try it again.”

“Sorry Connor. We have a bunch of water and some electrolyte mixes to use with it,” Treno said.

“What kind of deal is that? Are the electrolyte things at least flavored?”

“Hey, I have an idea,” NeoKnight spoke up from his PET. “How ‘bout you quit whining? You didn’t think to bring any food, so you’ll have to take it or leave it.” He glared out from the PET screen at Bass with his arms crossed over his chest. Treno sighed and frowned.

“He has a point,” Treno said. “You can’t complain when you didn’t plan for this at all.” Bass turned his attention back to the sky in front of the plane and grumbled quietly. “But to answer your question, yes the ‘electrolyte things’ are flavored. It’s just Gatorade. I’ve got fruit punch, something orange that has an almost orange flavor, and something that Leina swears actually tastes like grape. So what’ll it be?”

“Fruit punch and a PB and J. What kind of jerky is it?” Bass asked.

“Teriyaki flavor and non-flavored.”

“Teriyaki’s good.”

Treno was turning to go get the items when NK spoke again. “Aren’t you forgetting something? How ‘bout some magic words there Bass.”

“Magic…? Oh, for cryin’ out loud. Please and thank you ya’ little jerk! Why don’t you mind your own business?”

“Because you need lessons on how to behave. Show some gratitude. Treno doesn’t have to give you anything.”

“Mrrrgh. Rrgh. I can deal with people just fine. I don’t need anyone telling me how to act.”

“Let it go NK,” Treno told his navi. “He spent years learning how to be aggressive and antisocial. He’s as polite as I’d expect.”

“I don’t know if I like the way you worded that Treno,” Bass called back to his passenger. “The way you say it sounds like you expect me to be impolite.”

“More or less.” Bass grunted in frustration, but didn’t have anything more to say. Hmm. Maybe Lyne is better at keeping him under control, but there are other ways to keep him from misbehaving I guess. He could feel the plane shifting course as he got the food together and brought it over to Bass. When he let go of the controls for a moment to accept the food, actually thanking Treno this time, the plane abruptly straightened out, jostling everyone a bit. Bass quickly reached back to grab the controls again, making the craft jerk in the air until he steadied it again.

“Sorry Treno. Uhhh, there.” Bass clicked the plane’s system to autopilot and carefully let go. The flight remained smooth this time, and Bass again reached for his food. “Thanks. Is this grape?”

“… No. Fruit punch like you asked.”

“I meant the jelly. You okay Treno?” Bass asked noticing that the older NetSavior didn’t look so good.

“Urgh… yeah. It’s blueberry preserves. ‘Scuse me.” Treno went back to his seat, holding his arm over his midsection and sweating a little. He didn’t sit down right away, instead standing next to the seat with his eyes closed and taking slow breaths.

"Motion sickness again?" NK asked.

"Yeah," Treno said wearily. "It doesn't always bother me... but when it does, man..."

"There's some Dramamine in the first aid kit, but I don't know if you want to risk moving, or waking Lyne to get it," Bass suggested.

"I'll be fine." He opened his eyes and started to walk around some more. "Dad had the same problem at times, but he taught me how to get rid of it." Eventually he felt a lot better and decided to lie down and get some rest. It wasn’t long before he fell asleep.

"What's our ETA, Bass?" NK asked a few hours later. The silence was getting to him.

"Um... One hour outside Dark Nation,” Bass answered. “We're not landing at the main airport, right Treno? There was something about an airstrip outside the capital. What are the coordinates? … Treno?”

“He’s asleep. He’s been asleep for several hours now. Didn’t you notice?”

“What? Hey, wake up! I need to know where to land. Why the heck wasn’t that in my briefing?” he ended in a mutter. “Treno! Damn it. Everyone gets to sleep but me, huh?”

“I’m not asleep,” NK reminded him. “And couldn’t you have put it back on autopilot if you wanted to sleep?”

“Autopilot can’t land. Treno! Are you deaf or something!?”

“I think he’s dreaming. People don’t wake easily when they’re dreaming.”

“Great. So I should try yelling louder?”

“Or I could just e-mail the coordinates to you.” Bass got the e-mail notification half a second later. “How’s that?”

“… Why the hell didn’t you send those right off you jackass!!?”

“I was bored. I think I’ll go into sleep mode now. See ya’ on the ground.” NK switched his screen off, but left the audio receiver on for a while, grinning to himself at the curses Bass directed at him. This is gonna’ be a great mission.
______________________________

Lyne shrieked when the plane shook underneath her, shocking her into sudden wakefulness. “What’s going on? Are we under attack?” She yelled up to Bass, who was making a lot of noise of his own. She realized, after a moment, that his excited whoops suggested that he was enjoying himself. “Connor, what’s going on!?” The shuddering and swerving of the craft were tossing Lyne about in her seat, and she would have been thrown to the floor if she hadn’t been buckled in. She looked to her side and out the window and realized she was seeing trees passing by them. She sighed and gripped the seat’s armrests, waiting for the plane to stop moving.

Finally, the craft slowed to taxiing speed and Bass eased it to a place to park. “Excellent!” he said and then looked back at his passengers. "That was fun. Let’s do that again some time."

Lyne got up from her seat, stomped up to him, and thumped him on top of the head. “Let’s not. That was an awful landing."

Bass rubbed his head where she’d hit him and grinned sheepishly at her. “Uh, sorry. Too rough, huh?”

“Yes,” she replied tersely. She walked back and started collecting her things, and the other two followed suit. Once they had everything together, they left the plane and took in their surroundings. “This place is creepy,” Lyne said quietly, stopping and shivering on the staircase from the plane.

Treno stopped behind her and frowned a little. “Strange. It does actually seem a little darker here, but that shouldn’t make it feel this foreboding,” he said.

“What’s everybody stopping for? We got stuff to do,” Bass said from behind the two of them. They looked back at him, and some worry was obvious on Lyne’s face.

“Don’t mind him,” NeoKnight said. “A place like this should feel just like home to him.”

“Actually, it almost is,” Bass said with an odd tone in his voice. “I was born here.”

“Really?” Treno and NK both said at once.

“Oh right,” Lyne remembered. “What was it? Your father was on a conference here or something?”

“Yeah,” Bass said with a nod. “Mom and Dad thought there was more time before my due date, but unfortunately, I surprised them.”

“That must have been difficult,” Treno said. “So, are you actually a Dark Nation citizen then?”

“No. There was a birth certificate from the hospital here, but Father had one made to say I was born in Japan and destroyed the original.”

“Isn’t that illegal!?”

“Technically. But since relations between Japan and Dark Nation have never been good, the Japanese government agreed to overlook that.”

“Why did he go through the trouble of having the original certificate destroyed?” NeoKnight asked curiously. “It shouldn’t have been necess-”

“He didn’t want to remember. Not after everything that Dark Nation did to him. Both… both my brother… and my mother. They died here. Brother was killed on purpose, and I think Father believed Mother’s death was purposeful as well… Can we get this mission over with?”

“Uh, yeah. Let’s get on the ground and start covering up the plane,” Treno agreed.

The three of them got off the stairway and Bass went to open the cargo door so he could pull out the camouflage netting that they’d been provided with. As they were finishing up covering the plane, Bass noticed a noise from the distance that was getting louder. The sound of an engine. “Treno, we have company,” he said as he rushed over to Lyne to pull her towards cover. “Hey, come on! We don’t want to be spotted,” he called when he realized that Treno wasn’t reacting.

“Don’t worry about it. It’s probably my contact.” Treno waited calmly while a black sports car drove into view and pulled up to them. The driver door opened and out stepped a white haired boy in sunglasses with a white sports jacket. He also wore a black shirt and blue dress pants. He removed his sunglasses, bearing his calm blue eyes.

"Been a while Treno," he said. "How's my sister doing?"

"As usual. A stubborn pain, but the best woman in the world," Treno said, laughing slightly. "Oh, that's right. You haven't met the infamous hybrids Connor Cossack and Lyne Hikari, have you?"

"So that's the Cossack boy who was the God of Navis," a voice said from the boy's PET. "I’m sorry I didn’t get to meet you back then. My name’s Geist."

"And I'm Soma Nightweld, Geist's Operator." the boy said. "I trust my last name should be familiar to you?"

Bass walked alongside the car, checking it out. "Mine’s faster," he grumbled as he looked it over. He then returned to join the group. Nightweld eh… Oh. "Yeah, you're Treno's girlfriend's brother. I've heard about you from him. Why’s your hair white?”

"Connor," Lyne said as she slapped his arm. "That was rude. Apologize!"

"Why should I? His sister has red hair, so why does he have white hair?”

Lyne sighed and shook her head. “I can’t take you anywhere, can I?”

“I’m not worried about it,” Soma said. “Genetics can do weird things some times. I got white hair. Leina didn’t.”

“Say, are they done hiding that plane?” Geist asked. “Looks like a pretty half-assed job.”

“Half-what!? Wanna’ say that again!?” Bass yelled at Soma’s PET.

“Calm down,” Lyne said, grabbing his arm to hold him back.

“We weren’t finished when you drove up,” Treno said to Soma.

“It’s passable,” Soma said. “You mostly have to worry about it being seen from above. We should just get moving.” Treno nodded and walked over to the car. Soma followed and they both got in.

“Navi has an attitude,” Bass grumbled.

“Connor, you have an attitude,” Lyne said, smirking and raising an eyebrow at him. He sighed and let her lead him to the car.

“Does everyone have to pick on me today?”
___________________________________

“This… is the capital?” Lyne said as they drove along. There were colorful, neon lights on the buildings, but a lot of them were burned out. The streets were filthy with trash and congested with disreputable-looking people. There were a lot of hotels, but every one of them had advertisements for their casinos.

“I’ve passed the capital building before,” Soma said from the driver’s seat. “Even that has a casino, but at least it doesn’t have a neon sign like everything else around here… I hear they’re putting one in next month.”

“That’s the one we’re looking for. The Ebony Pine,” Treno spoke up as the car started to slow down.

Bass smirked when he looked at the name. “The _bony Pi_e,” he joked, noting which letters had burned out. “Do we have time for some games?”

“No Connor,” Lyne groaned.

“There are worse places than this,” Soma said. “You haven’t even seen the underworld stuff.”

“Let’s avoid that if we can,” Treno said as they left the car.

“I’ll try to keep you away from it,” Soma said, handing Treno some papers. He then drove quickly off, leaving the three of them behind.

"That's Soma for you," Treno said. "Always does what is requested, then leaves without notice."

When they entered the casino, Treno and Lyne both stopped and Lyne quickly grabbed Bass to keep him from wandering off. "Okay, um," Treno said. "Who's our contact and where are we supposed to find him?" The place had a lot of people in it, playing at noisy slot machines, milling around, or yelling out various, unintelligible things at game tables. The flashing lights and the haze of smoke in the air made it difficult to focus on things in the farther parts of the room.

Lyne opened up a file with a picture of their contact. Bass looked at it for a second before he scanned the area for him. "He's right there," he said as he pointed at a person in the distance.

Lyne stood there and gulped. "We have to go to the back of the casino?" she asked.

"C'mon," Bass said as he dragged her along. They stopped beside a roulette table. "Ooooo, a rigged table," he said in a malicious tone.

"What's that?"

"A table that allows the House to pay someone off. Or not pay anyone off," he said as he placed his hand on the side of the table and sent a pulse of electricity into the table. "Now not rigged." He then dragged her off, rejoining Treno before leading the way again.

"Leave it to Connor," Treno said, shrugging. Treno studied the contact as he approached, cautiously. He and NK had been ambushed by treacherous contacts before, and he wasn't about to play ransom bit again. "Keep on guard, guys," Treno said. "There is always a chance that this contact is corrupt.”

"Why'd you do that?" Lyne asked Bass curiously, not paying attention to what Treno had said, as she saw the person who was gambling just lose.

"I just saved the guy’s life. When you get paid off, the house has plans to delete you, so I did the guy a favor and stopped the table," Bass replied as they walked along.

"Oh," came Lyne's quiet response as they came to a stop in front of the contact.

"So, you're our contact. Mr. McFarse," Bass said as the man gestured for them to sit down.

"I am, and you’re the trio that NSHQ Japan has sent to destroy the factory," the man replied as he watched his contacts look around cautiously. "No worries. I'm alone, and nobody followed me here."

Bass took notice of a suspicious looking character at another table before continuing. "Fine, but we should still keep this short. We need a location of the blasted place and a way to get in."

"That's simple. Five miles west out of the city. It will appear abandoned, but there are guards and workers there. There is a tunnel out the back of the facility which smugglers use to steal some of their own chips so they can be sold on the Black Market. That's the only place around the facility unguarded. It's like the distributor wants them stolen."

"Interesting," Bass commented as leaned back in his seat. Wonder why Regal would want them stolen. Must be the way he distributes them in this area. "Looks like we'll need that car of Soma's again NK." NeoKnight didn’t respond right away. “Hey NK, did you hear me?” He tapped Treno’s PET to get the navi’s attention.

“Hmm? Oh, Soma should be back momentarily,” he responded.

Treno nodded. “He probably went to check in with his contacts. Let’s get back to the door and wait.” He offered his hand to Mr. McFarse, who accepted and shook his hand.

“Be careful,” their contact said.

Treno nodded and turned to leave. Lyne and Bass followed after him. “I hope Soma’s contacts are credible,” Bass said as they walked off.

“I do too,” Treno responded. “We need to know as much as possible before striking."

Once the car arrived, the three of them left the casino. As they went outside, the man that Bass had noticed earlier went over to their contact. "So McFarse, is that the team?"

"Yep, but they looked ill equipped to take on such a large distributor of Dark Chips."

"Looks can be deceiving. The one male kid there was pretty alert... I'll give the factory a heads up to look for a male adult and two teenagers, one female and a male." The stranger then stood up and disappeared from McFarse's sight.

"I hope those three can handle this. The destruction of that factory is my only hope for escape from this country," McFarse said, looking at the door they’d left through.
___________________________________

Soma got out of the car when he saw the other three coming out of the building to him. "So how went your chats?" Treno asked as he walked up.

"Quite fine," Geist said.

"This is one of the big ones," Soma added. “All my contacts say that the factory is actually run by a navi and not Regal."

“Darn,” Bass grumbled. “I was hoping to scare him for siccing Ayra on Lyne.”

“Connor, Regal isn’t our concern,” Lyne said. “The factory is. Lan will deal with Regal.”

“She’s right Connor,” Treno said as they started piling into the car. “It’s even in my mission notes that Regal isn’t even in this country”

“Spoil my fun,” Bass huffed but didn’t complain any further. “Hey NK, why were you quiet in there? Somethin’ up?”

“Um, nothing really,” the navi replied. He hadn’t mentioned Kaori being corrupted yet, and wasn’t about to with Soma or Geist there. He knew how much of a rampage they’d go on if they knew.

“Well, you seemed a little lost. I just want to know you won’t get distracted by wh-”

“I’m fine! I don’t get distracted on missions, so shut up!” Bass blinked at NK’s outburst. He didn’t really want to leave things alone, but it looked like NeoKnight wasn’t going to talk.

“We know what we’re doing Connor,” Treno said. “We can handle whatever we’ve got coming. Just do your part and we’ll be fine.”

“Hey, I got the fun job,” Bass said. “It’s going to get done, trust me.”

Lyne was playing a puzzle game on her PET and Bass got her to agree to a challenge match. Soma and Treno quietly went over the directions and it didn’t take long before the factory came into view. "You need to play stealth," Soma said. "This is as close as I can get you by vehicle. Call me if needed. I'll stand by to back you up."

"Stealth I can do," Bass said as he left the car and activated his armor and cloak. "Let’s do it."

"Connor, we can't do that yet," Lyne said, holding him back. “We’ve got to be inconspicuous for now. We'll just sneak in quietly through the woods. Thanks for the ride Soma." She glared over at Bass for a moment. “Connor, deactivate the armor. We’re not using it yet.” Bass sighed and complied.

“You’ve got a real boring idea of what stealth is.”

"You really do rely on your Navi powers too much," Treno said, cracking his knuckles and stretching. "You should learn to use your human abilities."

"Agreed," NK said. "Though I lack the ‘humanity’ you have, I understand full well that Treno's potential isn't hindered by it one bit."

“Hey, I’m learning, okay?” Bass growled.

Soma managed to find some concealing shrubs near the road and waved at them as they started moving through the woods. They’d been walking ten minutes or so when they saw dim lights up ahead. Treno stopped Bass and Lyne and looked at them.

"Think one of you could get us a bird's eye view?" Treno asked.

“You got it,” Bass said and reactivated his armor. Lyne grabbed one of his fins and pulled him back when he tried to take off. "Hey, leggo!”

"He meant climb a tree stupid, not show off our location," Lyne chastened him as she pointed at a tall tree beside them. "Now get climbing."

“Can I at least use my claws to do this?” Lyne sighed and rolled her eyes, but waved a ‘go ahead’ at him. Bass turned to the tree and began to scale it, sinking his claws in a little more aggressively than necessary. “What's wrong with using my powers?" he grumbled when he reached the top and looked around.

"The Master Dark Element, yet so ignorant to the concept of energy conservation," NeoKnight said, laughing.

“NeoKnight, give us a voice link to his PET,” Treno said. "Connor, had you openly used your powers, you'd have set off alarms within a 10 mile radius."

“Wha?” Bass replied.

"Why? Simple. Your energy. It isn't hard to set up an energy detection system when you have access to technology like they do. Any foreign energy that is detected would instantly be pinpointed and investigated. To put it simply, use your powers and you give away our location."

“My energy wouldn’t be foreign,” Bass grumbled. He brought a pair of binoculars out of program storage so he could get a close up on the factory. “It’s dark energy. We’re attacking a Dark Chip Factory. Full of dark energy.”

"Copy dark energy," NeoKnight reminded him. "A Darkloid would go undetected, because they have copy dark energy. You hold the pure dark energy. I'm a master of energy manipulation; I can tell the difference easily, and they should be able to detect it too."

Bass glared downward at the group waiting for him. NeoKnight was probably right, but Bass didn't have to feel happy about it. "Yeah, copy dark energy," he grumbled while he looked around again. "Copied from me in the first place. Damn Wily. If he hadn't made copies of my programming back then, there wouldn't be so much dark energy spread around. Damn Regal. Why'd he have to cultivate that energy? Caused so much damage to…"

"What's the scoop Connor?" Treno asked, ignoring Bass’ irritated soliloquy.

"It's quiet, a few wandering guards. And our contact was right; the place does look abandoned. Well mostly. There are a few lights in the main complex. I'm betting that’s where the chips are located."

"Is that it?" Lyne asked.

"Yeah, that's it. Can I come down now?"

"Wait a minute," Treno said. "Do you see any viable entry points that could be used without drawing attention to our intrusion?"

"And by viable, he means without having to fight everyone in the complex, Bass," NeoKnight said, laughing.

"Why can't I have a little fun?" Bass moaned. "Taking out the guards in a stealthy manner would be good exercise. And I couldn’t find that tunnel McFarse had mentioned.”

"Cause, baka, we don't want to get caught," Lyne said sharply. "I bet you don't want to be caught and held up in a cell for a bit do you?"

"Not that it would happen." Bass cringed when he felt Lyne glaring up at him. “Oh fine,” he mumbled and took another look for an open spot to sneak through. "Okay, I found one. Let's go," he said as he hopped out of the tree and landed on the ground in front of Treno wearing his normal clothes.

Bass took the lead, with Lyne yanking on the collar of his shirt when he started moving too fast and making noise carelessly. "What'd you find?" Treno asked quietly. "And what do we need to do to get there?"

"Well the security was a little tighter then I expected, so I found the easiest gap in sight. Hold up here," Bass said, motioning back to his companions. Lyne wondered what was wrong until she noticed, just barely visible through the dull foliage, a pair of guards patrolling by. “They’ll pass by, and we should have decent window to get in,” Bass whispered. “See? Good spot to sneak in.”

“As long as they don’t turn around,” Treno said.

“And if the third guard doesn’t stick around,” Lyne added. She pointed out a third guard who was approaching the other two.

Bass eyed the guard closely. "I don't remember him being there before." The guard stopped and waited for the other two. "Hum... Looks familiar."

"What do you mean?"

Bass watched the guy closely for a second before he finally remembered where he had seen the guy before. "He was that suspicious guy at the casino sitting at the table behind us. Wonder why he's here?" Bass then turned his head to the side so he could try to catch the guard’s conversation.

"What's he trying to say?" NeoKnight asked.

"Quiet," Treno said. "It's hard enough to hear without your jabbering." Treno tried his best to listen into the conversation. "Son of a... I can't hear them. Connor, can you hear?"

"Hush," Bass hissed.

"Okay, heads up," the stranger spoke. "Keep your eyes out for three people: a man, a woman, and a teenage boy. They've been sent here to investigate the factory. If you see them approach, send them away, but if they are found in the complex, capture them. Understood?"

Both guards saluted him. "Yes sir," they said, then went back to their posts.

"So I’m a teenager and Lyne’s a woman, huh?" Bass mumbled as he watched the man leave the two guards to march back and forth once more.

“What was that?” Lyne asked.

"We've been found out."

"I knew something was up," Treno said, grabbing his PET. "NK, put a connection through to Soma."

"Got it," NK said, opening a line to Soma.

"Soma," Treno said. "We've got a problem."

"What's up?" Soma asked.

"They knew we were coming. I'll send you another transmission in five minutes. If you receive no transmission, then that means we've been caught. You know what to do."

"Of course. See you in five." Soma closed the connection.

"Okay," Treno said. "We've got backup if something goes wrong, but I hope he doesn't have to get involved. The last thing I want is them finding out about Kaori. By your lead, Connor."

"Okay," Bass said with a nod and crouched low to begin sneaking up. He then tilted his head curiously and looked back at Treno. “Uh, what about Kaori?”

Treno winced and his jaw tightened. “Shoot. I still hadn’t said anything. We don’t have time for a long explanation, but we’re expecting to meet her inside there.”

“Wait, if Kaori’s already inside, why don’t we have better information on this or-”

“Her core was corrupted,” Treno interrupted. “She’s a Darkloid. We’re trying to collect her to fix the corruption.”

“Oh. That explains it.”

“Poor Leina,” Lyne said. “And NK too. Why didn’t either of you say anything?”

“It’s not that easy to talk about,” Treno said, and was going to go on when Bass waved a hand at him.

“Explain after the mission. We gotta’ move.” He didn’t wait after talking this time. He ran from the woods to a set of boxes, sliding around it and crouching out of sight. Treno was impressed by how fast he moved. He didn’t think either guard could have turned fast enough to spot him if they’d started before he left the tree line.

"So… ladies first?” Treno whispered.

“No, not yet,” Lyne said, grabbing his shoulder. One of the guards looked their way barely a second later. There was an alertness in Lyne’s eyes that made Treno think, oddly enough, of a soldier. Her grip wasn’t tight enough to be painful, but it was certainly tense. “Okay… go now!” she hissed and pushed him ahead. He quickly turned his head to look where he was going and ran to where he could see Bass leaning out from behind the boxes. When he got there, Bass caught his arm and pulled him out of sight. “Ow! Hey, don’t break my arm again, jeez!”

“Sorry,” Bass whispered and leaned back out to reach for Lyne, pulling her in as well.

“Okay, now we just get to the door,” Lyne said, immediately getting to where she could see the door and the other guard.

“Whoa there. Can we catch our breath first?” Treno said. He felt like he could make it okay actually, but Lyne was breathing unusually heavily, even though she was keeping it quiet. “You okay?”

“ ‘M fine. This just reminds me of the stealth infiltration drill Lyne used to do with me. Not that we did much infiltrating mind you. Ready?”

“Wait, what? Lyne are y-”

“She’s fine,” Bass said, pulling him forward so he’d be ready for the next dash. “It’s just a perspective issue. We’ll trade our explanation for yours after the mission.”

“Perspective?” Treno shook his head and turned his attention back to the task at hand. “Right. After the mission.”

Well, I feel silly now, Lyne thought to Bass.

Don’t worry about it now, he replied. Just keep thinking about stealth infiltrations.

“No problem. Go!” She pushed Bass forward, and he didn’t hesitate at all to dart right for the door. Treno wasn’t expecting her to move him out immediately, but he managed well enough and made it to the door without a problem. Lyne came in right behind him.

“Don’t let your adrenaline get the better of you,” Treno cautioned.

“We had a 5.67 second window to get through without being seen and made it with 1.24 seconds to spare,” Lyne replied.

“A new world record!” NeoKnight exclaimed quietly with his arms raised up in victory. Bass considered giving his PET a smack, but Lyne smiled, so he decided not to.

“I’ll be alright Treno. I’m just extra alert and prepared for trouble. What now?”

"It's best we split up for now," Treno said. He made a small diagram on the ground and pointed at a location. "You guys head here. We need to meet up here, in the central processing area. Keep constant contact. If we don't hear from you every five, I'm calling Soma in for backup. Lyne, keep him out of trouble. The last thing we need is the Darkloids on our asses." Treno looked inside, making sure everything was clear, then moved off to his objective, leaving Lyne and Bass alone.

"What's that supposed to mean? I can do fine on my own," Bass complained. "I have no need for a babysitter. I've been doing fine as a human on this mission so far. So why don't we just let lose and level the place now that we’ve made it?"

"Connor this isn't the time to argue, or do crazy suggestions like that. We have to investigate the situation first, then if permitted, we blow it up,” Lyne admonished, then grinned at him. “But I have to admit, I am feeling more aggressive than usual right now. If we have to tear it down, I’ll help. C'mon, let’s go." Bass didn’t argue with that but just smiled at hearing those words.
________________________________________

"Have you picked up on Kaori's signal yet?" NK asked Treno anxiously.

"I've got a reading alright," Treno responded as he looked down at a tracking device on his belt. "No other DarkLoid navi signatures though. That should make things easier. She must be a loner as a Darkloid."

“It took time to get her to work with others. She was almost inaccessible when we met. I hope this doesn’t mean we’ve lost that much ground.”

“Yeah,” Treno said quietly as he opened a door to outside the building he was in. He looked both ways, then moved quickly to the building across from him, slipping inside. "Okay. Kaori should be in the server near here. You know what to do."

"Of course," NK said, jacking into the net. "I'm coming, Kaori. Just hold on. Your NeoKnight is here to save you."
__________________________________

"Stop dragging me. I can walk," Bass growled at Lyne. He was impressed at the way she was weaving through the compound, but being pushed and pulled all over the place wasn’t something that he enjoyed. “How many of those infiltration drills did you put Combit through anyway?”

“Just a sec,” Lyne said. She went over to a sturdy-looking drainpipe and pointed up. “One-thousand two-hundred forty.”

“Really? That was your spare time, huh?”

She was already on her way up and turned to glance back down at him. “I got the idea from modern war depictions. Y’know, like movies and stuff. Even when a unit isn’t meant to be stealthy, they still learn to avoid detection, and the better they are at being unseen, the more effective they are.” Bass, now climbing behind her, nodded at that. She didn’t see the nod, but she went on. “When the gym class put me through free shot drills, I put her through stealth drills. I stopped at the end of the school year when I asked how many she’d done. But you know, viruses never saw her coming after that.”

“Heh, heh. Cool. Careful!”

Lyne had just pushed off from the pipe and grabbed the ledge in front of an open window, swinging herself inside with her momentum. She looked back out and stuck out a hand. “I’m getting better at keeping my own perspective I think. I’ve been letting Combit’s stealth knowledge steer me, but I still know that I’m me.”

Bass sighed slightly, fighting off the nervousness she’d just caused him by leaping like that. “You slipped earlier,” he reminded her as he reached for her hand. She pulled him in and nodded.

“I know. But at least Treno and I have stories to tell tonight.” She turned and moved down the hallway they were in. It went straight into a railed walkway overlooking working machinery. They were above the main factory melting plant where they were melting down the metal that would form the dark chips. They both looked down and Lyne was slightly startled by the appearance of the contents of the vat in front of them. "Ewww, what is that?"

"Dark Souls." He looked grimly at the fluidly moving mass of purplish, black substance. "What they do is place one dark soul which equates to I think a drop of that stuff inside one of those chips and it takes over the body of any navi that it is used on, by crushing the soul that once inhabited the body or imprisoning it. We should call this in to Treno."

"Right," Lyne nodded as they squatted in the shadows. She pulled out her PET and opened a secure channel to Treno's.
_______________________________
~Factory Server~

NeoKnight scanned the server. Security was tight. He knew it would have to be disabled if of this mission was to succeed. "Treno," NK said. "I need to disable the security first. If I don't, Meggy and Bass are liable to be caught."

"I'd be surprised if they aren't already," Treno said, getting a ring on his PET.

“Ye of little faith,” NeoKnight said quietly.

"Treno here. What's the situation, Lynie?" Treno asked, happy that he was wrong about their capture.

"We managed to get inside one of the buildings without alerting security,” she said and then turned her PET to face the vat. “We found this. Connor says that thing has dark souls in it. What do we do about this? Do you want us to make note of this and move on to another building?"

"This is seriously dangerous stuff Treno. We have to disable production of the chips now," Bass growled. "Alpha made sure I had a hand in starting this process off and I want to make sure this doesn't continue. We have to destroy this plant now."

"Hold up for a minute, Bass," NK said from within the security system. "Let me disable the security before you do anything. If you shut down the process while security is enabled, you'll have the whole plant on our asses." NK checked for more readings on Kaori. His sensor indicated that her position hasn't changed. She may be in sleep mode, he thought to himself. At least that buys me some time. he walked over to the control panel of the security system and hacked into it, managing to disable it without alerting any backup systems. "Green light on stopping the chip production, Bass," NK said.

"We've got something to take care of," Treno said. "Keep in touch."

"Soon, Kaori," NK said to himself as he worked away at the controls. “Soon.”
______________________________________
~Molten Metal and Soul Warehouse~

Bass cracked his knuckles and prepared to activate his armor and jack into the computer system when he came up with a better idea. "Hey Lyne. You want the first shot?”

“Okay. What do you want me to break?”

“Actually, I was wondering if you could set the vat on fire with your Holy Fire attack?"

"Um... Sure just a second," she said. Somehow, she sounded disappointed, which Bass couldn’t understand. He knew she wanted to help tear things down, so why would burning it be disappointing? She activated her armor while he was contemplating and mixed together fire and light elements to send a streak of nearly white fire down into the vat. They watched as it sizzled and started changing colors. "So, why’d you have me do that?" Lyne asked curiously.

"You just purified the souls. They are now useless to the production process. See? I'm a genius.” He smiled at her and she offered him a little nod. “So, do you like fire now?”

“Huh?”

“You didn’t seem to want to burn it. I thought maybe you didn’t like fire.”

“Oh, that was fine. I just… wanted to do something else.”

“What?”

“I’m not sure yet.” Bass looked at her curiously and she shrugged her shoulders. “Sorry. There’s some idea forming, but I don’t know exactly what it is yet. I think there’s something I haven’t done before or something.”

Bass was really getting curious to know what she meant, but Lyne didn’t seem to know what was on her own mind. He almost laughed when he thought about it that way, but there was still stuff to do. “Now we need this place to destroy the factory still. The molten metal should provide me with enough combustible material," he said placing his hand on his chin while looking around the area. “Or at least enough heat. This will surely piss Regal off.”

"Okay then, but let’s go find where they store the chips first," Lyne said as she deactivated her armor and exited the opposite window, followed by Bass.
___________________________________________
~DCF Server~

NK confirmed Kaori's location once more before departing. Security around the Darkloid barracks was rather lax, but Darkloids were so empowered by the dark chips that additional security wasn’t considered necessary.

After about fifteen minutes, NeoKnight approached the entryway to the Barracks. Two grunts stood in conversation near the entrance. Kaori was in a room by herself in the back.

"Time to take out the trash," NK said, preparing to cut them down.

"Wait a moment," Treno said, hearing parts of their conversation. "Let's hear what they have to say first. We may get some valuable information."

NeoKnight put his ear to the crack in the door and listened quietly to what the grunts had to say.

"…have company tonight," Grunt 1 said. "Supposedly two teenagers and a young adult male are supposed to be infiltrating the facility."

"They won't get anywhere," Grunt 2 said. "Not with what we have in store for them. We've already got confirmation on the destruction of the Dark Souls. They are right on the path to the trap we've laid. All they have to do is go for the Dark Chip Storage area and they're ours. I'm sure their Navis, pathetic as they may be, will make fine additions to our troops.”

"Son of a," NK said. "So close to Kaori... but I can't let them get caught. Treno, try contacting them on the PET. We've got to warn them."

"No good," Treno said angrily. "There's too much interference. Try reaching them mentally."

NeoKnight tried, but grasped his head as a stab of pain went through it. "That won't work either," he said. "The jamming is affecting my telepathy signals.... Treno watch out!"

Too late. Treno had been knocked out cold by security. The grunts who were talking began to assault NeoKnight, blasting him with Dark Energy Cannons.

NK cussed as he dodged the corrosive blasts of energy. With two quick slashes, he disarmed and maimed the Navis. He made a third strike to delete them, feeling it necessary to avoid any potential problems they could create if left alone. He then continued running as more guards chased after him.

Damn now what do I do? he thought while running away. I need chips to pull off a stealth move.

You don’t need your human for that, a voice spoke to NK as he rounded a corner. You have power. Use it. NK wasn’t sure what the voice was talking about as he found a shadowy corner. This won’t do. They’re going to find you, it taunted inside his head. You have yet to get in touch with all your abilities. I’ll help you out. Shadowmeld,

“Huh?!” NK sounded as his body started to fade away. What is this, and how? he pondered as he felt it completely disappear from sight.

No need to ponder on that now. You can escape to ensure your survival, the voice said with a slight edge in tone. This gave NK the impression that it was more interested in him surviving then he was. He then shrugged his shoulders and hurried off to find Kaori.
_________________________________
_________________
"NetAngel Style Change Activate"
Megawoman (Lyne)

Avatar made by Serenade.exe

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

[Megawoman.EXE]

Episode 12: Enter Dark Nation: Part 2
________________________________
~Dark Chip Storage Area~

“Security increased,” Bass commented quietly. He and Lyne had found the storage area moments before, but saw that proceeding would be too risky.

"Yeah, it is getting tighter," Lyne agreed. "And more guards are… oh no."

"Hmm?"

"They caught Treno."

"Serves him right," Bass huffed. "He was complaining that I was going to goof up and I didn't. I so got this one up on him." Lyne slapped his arm and Bass averted his eyes and cleared his throat. "I mean, this is a problem."

"No joking right now," Lyne said with an edge in her voice. "We have to help him. They're taking him across to that building. We should figure out what's in it."

"Why don't we just link in?"

"Too risky. We'll have an easier time avoiding detection out here."

"Is this really the time to be going on about stealthiness again?" Bass asked with a note of impatient complaint in his voice.

"Yes. It is. The people guarding him probably won't do anything to him right now, but enemies under attack become more unpredictable. We want to get to him without them realizing we're there."

Bass thought for a moment while Lyne scanned the area and muttered to herself about what the best route to take would be. "Well, this is perfect for you. You won't even have to sneak in."

"Huh?" Lyne responded and glanced back over at him.

"Your morph program. You could just walk in like you own the place."

"Regal isn't in Dark Nation right now. They'll notice something's wrong."

Bass grimaced in distaste. "I wasn't suggesting you turn into Regal Lyne. Oh!" he lightly exclaimed when he caught what she meant. "Regal, because he owns the place. I didn't mean it literally Lyne. You just need to look like you belong here."

Lyne's face went a little pink and she turned her gaze back to the surroundings. "I don't want to," she muttered.

"Don't want…? It's the stealthiest way though. It'll keep you from getting caught."

"But…" The color on Lyne's face deepened and her voice got quieter. "They're all guys."

Bass gaped at her like a fish out of water, opening and closing his mouth wordlessly. Lyne suddenly pulled him down as a guard passed near their hiding spot. After he’d passed by, not noting their presence, Bass whispered, “This is not the time to be picky. Our friend is in danger.” He paused for a moment, unsure if he should be saying what he was thinking, but decided to go ahead with it. “You’ve been getting personality overflow from Combit, right? Draw on that now. She was a soldier navi. She’d be practical about this.”

“Combit was female too,” Lyne responded, staring him dead in the eye.

Bass looked at her quietly for a moment, then turned away and stood with his forehead against the wall. Bass observed that another guard was near. He sighed and muttered a quiet, “Sorry.” Before Lyne could react, he called out to the guard, but not with his own voice. “Come here quickly! I need to talk to you!” He sounded like the strange man they’d seen in the casino, the one who tipped off the guards to their intrusion.

The guard turned to the alley the half navis were in and stepped toward it. “Mr. Yanis?”

“Yes. Come quickly,” Bass responded, adding impatience to the urgency in his voice.

“Ah, right,” the guard said quickening his pace. “I just… I wouldn’t expect you to be in an alley sir.”

The guard gasped in shock as a fist struck him in the back of the head, Bass stepping out of a shadow he’d quickly concealed himself in. “Actually a good instinct,” Bass commented. “Follow that reasoning in the future and you’ll be a better guard.” He twitched as Lyne smacked him upside the head. He turned and met her glare. “Lyne, just transform already,” he grumbled.

“Oh, fine, you jerk,” Lyne huffed. She crossed her arms over her chest and pouted, but still morphed her appearance to match the guard’s. Bass gave her an odd look when she’d finished.

“You can stop pouting now. It looks really weird on his face.”

“I will have my revenge on you Connor Cossack,” Lyne said, glaring at him again. Bass made a gesture that Lyne translated as ‘I’m so scared,’ which only intensified her glare at him. Bass bent down to the unconscious guard, and Lyne guessed he was going to pull him farther into the alley, but after a moment, she realized he was doing something else entirely. “Why are you taking his clothes off?” she squeaked.

“You can’t change the appearance of your clothes Lyne,” Bass pointed out. Lyne glanced down at her clothes, which hadn’t changed. She sighed in resignation, looked back up at Bass, about to concede his point, then quickly turned away entirely, blushing in embarrassment at seeing the guard half-undressed. “You might want to fix your voice too.”

Lyne gritted her teeth in annoyance, then quickly reached down to touch his bare leg, only having changed based on visual information before. She walked away once she was done updating the morph data. “Just don’t expect me to wear his underwear too,” she said in his voice.

Bass considered offering another tease, but decided not to push his luck any further. He brought the clothes over to Lyne when he’d finished, then gave her privacy to change. When she was done, she came up to him, frowning. “So, how are you planning on getting through this?”

“In your shadow, like how I hid from the guard a moment ago,” Bass said with a shrug. He then sank down, merging with her shadow, just like he said.

“Oh, wasn’t that Sable’s trick?”

Bass’ head appeared again. “It’s a dark element thing. Seeing Sable do it reminded me it was something I was capable of too. It’s just not really m… Where’s your gun?”

Lyne glanced to the empty holster at her side. “I don’t like guns.”

“Lyne, they’ll notice it’s not there.”

“But-”

“Just take the bullets out and keep the empty gun with you.” Lyne made a little whine of complaint. “Anything that could get you noticed is bad. Just carry it unloaded. Please?”

Lyne sighed, then went back to where she’d left the gun, along with her clothes. She unloaded the clip, then put the empty weapon back in its holster. “I really don’t like guns,” she muttered quietly as she walked back and out into the open.
_________________________
~DCF Server~

“Over that way!” a guard called nearby. NeoKnight turned to look, thinking they may have somehow spotted him, but they passed by his position. He clenched a fist tightly and waited a moment for his tension to ease a little.

“That’s not a navi, you twit. You’re jumping at junk shadows and hungry viruses,” A second voice responded to the first. There were a few blaster shots and some animalistic squealing. “Look, the leg’s still twitching,” he continued with a sadistic laugh. The other dark navi laughed in response, and more shots were fired.

This is nerve-wracking, NeoKnight thought. No operator, voice in my head, and I still can’t find Ka- NK’s thoughts cut short as he turned to continue and tripped over some of the junk data the dark navis had been talking about. He struck his head sharply, and the shadowmeld dropped.

“Drat,” he growled, getting up off the floor. “How am I supposed to effectively perform with all this junk in the way?”

For starters, you could tread more lightly. It would’ve saved us a trip,

“Oh, so now it’s bad puns? Whatever. Like you could’ve avoided that,” NeoKnight snapped back angrily.

At the speed you were travelling, or lack thereof… Yes.

“Shut up!” NK demanded of the voice. “It’s bad enough I can’t even figure out a way to help my friends and Treno without you taunting me.”

"Worry about yourself, NeoKnight," a dark, yet familiar voice said behind him. NeoKnight turned and his heart sank and leaped at the same time.

"Kaori," NeoKnight said, looking hopefully into his lover’s cold, distant eyes.

"Now that your pathetic wretch of an operator is out of the way, I can kill you and feast on your pixilated remains!" Kaori laughed. She drew out her bladed tonfas and stretched languidly, gazing at NeoKnight through half-closed eyes. There was challenge in her eyes, mixed with unmasked disdain. NeoKnight drew his sword, but there was hesitation in his movement, and he steadied himself to defend rather than attack.

Delete her, the voice within said. Lick her data from your sword as you cut through her body, and watch the pixels flow. NeoKnight made no outward indication of hearing the voice. He refused to respond to its taunts. He defended against two swings of Kaori’s weapons, then sidestepped as she thust forward with both blades. Just as moments before, the trash acted as his foil, sending him falling backwards as the junk caught him at the knees. That was the bit you hit your head on before. You’re being pathetic! Pay attention to your surroundings! Before NK could get up, a foot stamped down on his sword hand. He twisted his body to push the foot off, which gave Kaori access to grasp a handful of his blue hair and lift, stretching his sword arm so that he had even less ability to maneuver.

"Wondering why I didn't delete you?" Kaori asked, smirking. "Simple... I want you to feel all the pain I felt when you abandoned me!" Kaori dropped down, simultaneously slamming his head into the ground and driving a knee into his crotch. The attack took her weight off his pinned arm. In the split-second he realized he could draw his arm free, she jabbed a blade into his upper arm. The hilt slipped in his grasp slightly, but he didn’t release it completely. “Cry out,” Kaori whispered in mock seduction, giving the blade a twist, but NK bore the pain.

"Kaori... I still love you," NeoKnight spoke weakly.

"I hate you!" Kaori let go of the tonfa that was pinning NK’s arm and pressed that hand against his forehead, using the pressure to expose and stretch his neck. She then reached for the tonfa she’d released to grab his hair earlier and smiled in anticipation. "Now you die."
____________________________________
~Outside~

Okay, now walk casually and show the guard your ID, Bass guided from Lyne’s shadow. She looked at the guard’s ID for a moment and thought of something creative to say if she was to be asked why she was there. She relaxed as well as she could and presented the ID to the guard.

"What brings you here Hanz? We have no need for you," said the man she’d approached.

"Um... Orders from Mr. Yanis," Lyne said. She noted that the other guard had a higher rank and hoped saluting wasn’t necessary. A quick internal database check suggested it was not an officer rank. "He ordered me to check the prisoner’s body for hidden explosives."

"The prisoner has already been checked for explosives," the other guard replied. He twitched when he heard a growl that sounded, oddly enough, like it was coming from under the guard in front of him. “Did you just growl at me Hanz? You do want me to pull rank on you, don’t you?”

Connor, you got me in trouble now, she scolded as she started to think of a comeback.

Sorry, Bass grumbled. Will it make it better if I just jump him? He won’t see it coming.

Don’t you dare! "I’m sorry. Mr. Yanis knows he was searched. Something happened to some of the vats, which he must have had something to do with. He sent me to make doubly sure the kid has no other way to sabotage the operation. I don’t want him pissed off at me if he finds out I didn’t check. You don’t want him pissed at you if he finds out you kept me out, right?"

"Okay, fine. Hurry up and make it quick.”

Lyne took a step in, then hesitated. "Um, Mr. Yanis didn’t say where his holding cell is.”

"Up two flights. Cell 305," the guard said, waving down the hall. Lyne glanced down the hall, hoping that the information would be enough, but unwilling to risk any more questions. The guard seemed to expect her to understand.

"Thanks Crew," she said, taking note of the guard's name tag.

Crew paused for a moment before answering. Lyne worried she’d just made a mistake, swallowing as she took in his glare. "Anytime Hanz," Crew said, suppressing annoyance.

Lyne would have breathed a sigh of relief if it wouldn’t have seemed suspect. He was just annoyed by the veiled threat and thought I was thanking him tauntingly, she thought as she went down the hall and located the staircase.

I would have put more menace into my tone, Bass criticized. You know, glared at him, put in a significant pause before saying ‘right.’ That sort of thing.

Lyne didn’t respond to him, though her footfalls were more forceful as she reached the top of the second flight of stairs and came out into the hall. She saw another guard in the hall, and realized that must be the room she wanted. She walked quickly up to him, whipping out the ID. “Orders from Mr. Yanis,” she snapped.

“Problem Hanz?” this guard asked, raising an eyebrow.

“Just people who aren’t the ones doing the job themselves, then being all critical about how it’s being done.”

The guard laughed a little, appreciating the plight that Hanz was going through. “I know how that is pal. Just don’t let him hear you saying it. He’ll get on all our cases.” He opened the door, patting Lyne on the shoulder as she passed by.

Bass detached from Lyne’s shadow when he was sure they were alone in the room. That was cleverly worded, Bass thought to her as she went to check on Treno’s condition. He managed to find NeoKnight’s PET and checked it to find out how the other navi was doing. Idiots. They should have kept his PET in a different room so he’d have no chance to access it.

He’s shackled here, she thought back. There was a snapping noise, and she amended, He was shackled here. And thanks for complementing my wording by the way, she finished, letting her ire ease off.

Not a… “Oh, crap.”

”What?” Lyne walked away from Treno to look at the PET in Bass’ hands. “Oh… what you said.”
__________________________________
Kaori grazed the tip of her tongue over her bottom teeth, tracing the tip of her tonfa’s blade across NeoKnight’s throat teasingly. He glared angrily back up at her. "That's it," Kaori said joyously. "Hate me. Loathe me. Throw away all the love you ever had for me you worthless piece of network trash!"

NK toned down the intensity of his glare, then smirked. "My Kaori would never slay me," he said. "I have nothing to fear from you." Kaori simply laughed at him.

"You think so?" Kaori said. "Well then time to prove you wro- Yeeee!" she shrieked and jumped, throwing a protective hand over her backside where he’d grabbed it.

NK finally had the room he needed to roll and pull the blade out of his arm. He scrambled to his feet, gripping his sword in both hands to make up for the wound in his favored arm. He held the fusion sword defensively again, prepared to take the attack he was about to bring on himself, and said, “Kancho.”

Kaori gaped at him, blushing in embarrassment and fury. "You bastard!" she yelled, charging at NeoKnight. She hadn’t picked up the other tonfa, and she was too angry to keep a proper grip on the weapon in her hand when NeoKnight swatted it away. He then let go of the Fusion Sword with one hand and caught her with the other and she collided with him. She was about to shove him away when he kissed her full on the lips. Startled, she paused and squeaked, and NK saw a softness sneak its way into her eyes.

"Your love betrays you, Kaori," NK said. "I was always saying love was a weakness, and here I am using it against you." The momentary softness NK saw quickly vanished, and Kaori snarled at him in her anger. Just as quickly, shock registered in her eyes again before they lost focus and fluttered closed. “Sorry,” NeoKnight muttered, ashamed at hitting her with the pommel of his sword, but not sure what else to do. He shifted his grip on her so that he could drag her out of the server, but lost hold when a wave of dark energy lashed at him. He turned to see what looked like 30 Darkloids facing him. “Fodder Darkloids. You’re not keeping her from me,” he growled, tightening his grip on his weapon, willing to take them all on if he had to. The sound of feet striking the ground behind him made him pause.

“Get him. We need his data intact,” a voice ordered the platoon. NK glanced back to see a Navi in blue armor with a birdlike appearance. He’d picked Kaori up and was backing away.

Damn. If Swallowman’s here, the purple pipsqueak can't be far NK thought. I could take the fodder, even injured, but Swallowman presents a problem, and Dark Megaman a bigger one. I need back up. “Where the hell are those two when you need them?"

You don’t need them. Raise your sword and let their data flow! NK snarled in annoyance, then flexed his arms and chest impulsively as a surge of aggression washed through him. The pain in his wounded arm receded to nothing, as did the weight of the sword in his hand. NK raised his sword and prepared to let the data flow.
____________________________
"Jack him out!" Lyne pleaded. "There's too many of them there for him to fight."

"Well, I could jack in and help. Actually, kicking some ass would be fun about now,” Bass said with a grin.

"Baka! Gimme that thing," she growled, snatching up the PET from his hand. She pointed it at a port inside the room. "NeoKnight, jack out!" she commanded as a beam of light shot into the port.
___________________________
"Hell yeah!" NeoKnight roared as his aggression surged within him. The sensation was almost tangible, flowing through him, and eagerness that channeled itself to his hands and into his blade. Swallowman was already taking off, bringing Kaori with him. He readied to charge into them, and then suddenly found himself in the familiar confines of his PET. "What!?" NK yelled. "Who!?... Who the hell are you!?" he yelled at Lyne. “Send me back in there you bastard! I’ll destroy them! I’LL TEAR THEM APART!!”

Lyne blinked in surprise, forgetting momentarily that she still looked like the guard Bass had knocked out. Rather than trying to explain anything to NK, who appeared to be out of his mind with fury, she pocketed the PET and turned to Bass. "All team members accounted for. We need to complete the mission.” She turned and lifted Treno. “I’ll get him out of here. Connor make us a door, then get ready to destroy this place."

"About time!" Bass said as he activated his armor. He activated his dark blades to cut a hole out of the wall. "Go!" He popped through first and grabbed Lyne and Treno, levitating with them safely down to the ground. “Stay out of sight and try to rouse him. Once the party starts, they’ll be too busy to wonder why one of the guards is leaving with their prisoner.” At that, Bass took off for the molten metal plant, happily anticipating letting loose.

Lyne was left with an unconscious NetSavior over her shoulder and a furious navi letting out a stream of obscenities from her pocket. “Say, NK,” she started, switching her voice back to her own, hoping it would register on him. “When you have a spare moment, could you contact Soma? We’re going to need a ride out of here soon.”

“Lyne!?” questioned the navi. “Where are you? Get me away from this guy!”

“… Don’t worry about him. We, uh, took him hostage. Just contact Soma, okay?”
___________________________________________
Bass flew up to the top of a building and landed for a moment. Alright, so they should know that a major power source just switched on, if what the others said earlier is right, he thought to himself. So, they’ll already be figuring out a response. Hmmm, I should probably start at something other than my primary target, just to make sure they don’t respond to it right away. He reached up to scratch the back of his head while he considered his options. And how big do I want the first boom to be? He grinned at that thought, absentmindedly tapping one of the fins on the side of his helmet. Then he stopped tapping and frowned. And I’m not sure I really want them knowing exactly who’s attacking them. He grasped the fin he’d been tapping and pulled the helmet off. After a moment’s concentration to send his helmet away and modify his cloak, he pulled at the collar of his cloak, drawing it up to cover his head and hide his face. I’ll have to figure out something better. But first…
___________________________________________
The first explosion didn’t come from the direction Lyne was expecting to hear it. She felt a moment of concern, then realized that Bass was drawing attention away from his real target. “Good plan,” she commented.

“What is?” NeoKnight asked from her pocket.

“He didn’t go straight for his primary target. He attacked something else so they wouldn’t respond right away to what he really wants to hit.”

“Well, I wouldn’t have expected that. First time he’s used his brain today.”

“That’s not fair. He’s…” Lyne thought back to the rest of the day. “Um, oh! Well, he figured out how to neutralize the vats of dark soul material.”

NK laughed a little. “You two. You’re going to be just like Treno and Leina. Except you don’t have any navis to annoy.”

Lyne blushed at NK’s suggestion. “Well, there’s Gospel.”

NK laughed again, hearing the embarrassment in Lyne’s voice. There was another explosion and the sound of a building collapsing. “That one was louder. Was that the target?”

“Nope. That one… Okay, he’s making the attacks make a trail away from our exit. Let’s get… NK, keep quiet!”

NeoKnight almost asked why, but stopped himself. “Hey, what are you doing?” He heard someone asking. “Someone’s setting off bombs on the other side of the compound!”

“I heard,” said another male voice. NK remembered hearing it earlier, the voice of the guard that was holding his PET. “Crew told me to take this kid out of here though. Figures Mr. Yanis will still want him. Did anybody get the other two?”

“No. They’re probably the ones with the explosives. I gotta’ go. Hurry up with him and get back to help.”

“Sure thing,” the man carrying NK responded. He heard footsteps running away, as well as footsteps beneath him, going another direction. There was a third explosion, this one much larger than the other two.

“Ah, that’s the primary target,” Lyne said. The footsteps picked up their pace. There were shouts in the distance, then doors slamming, the sound of people running, vehicles, and more shouts.

Huh, why didn’t the other guard ask for help? NK wondered. And… he said the other two hadn’t been caught? If Lyne’s here, why didn’t the other guard see her? NeoKnight was feeling very frustrated. He wanted to find out what was going on, but Lyne had told him to keep quiet, and he didn’t know what trouble would be caused if he tried asking.

There was only continued background noise, punctuated by an increased number of explosions, for about a minute after the guard quickened his pace when someone shouted, “Hanz, where are you going?”

The guard stopped, breathing heavily from the exertion. “I’ve gotta get this guy *pant* out of here.”

“Well, geez. Why the heck didn’t you get a truck or something?”

There was another pause as Hanz tried to catch his breath. “They’re all in use. You know, with the disaster here.”

“Yeah, I’m giving up on that. Come on, I’ll give you a ride to the gate.”

“Seriously? Oh, that would be great.”

NeoKnight heard the sound of a vehicle engine getting louder as the guard, Hanz, walked over to it. Crap. I hope Lyne can handle this, he thought. This could be really bad if this guy decides to ask for help. And there’s not even anything I can do from in here. There were some noises of exertion, probably from Treno being shoved into the vehicle, then the doors slammed closed.

“So, what are you carting him around for anyway?” the guy driving asked.

Hanz took another couple deep breaths, “Getting a hernia.” The driver laughed at this, and Hanz did too after a couple of seconds. “Seriously though, he’s involved in the explosions back there. We don’t know if we can get the ones setting off the explosions, but we got this guy.”

“Oh, good. Yeah, those explosions though? Not explosives. There’s actually… a robot or something? I don’t know what it is exactly, but it’s flying around and blasting the Hell out of this place.”

“Really? …Huh, so a robot’s doing this.” NK wasn’t sure, but somehow he thought Hanz sounded satisfied.
________________________________________________
“Well, there sure is a lot of smoke coming from the compound,” Soma remarked as they approached it.

“The idea was to destroy it. Do you think they managed it?” Geist asked his operator.

“Most likely. Oh, ho, hooo. That was a niiiiice ball of fire.” Soma grinned wickedly. “Man, if I could do something like that… How’s NeoKnight’s becon?”

“Still on. We’re pretty close now. Really close.”

“Good. I’m coming up to the gate. Oh, there’s someone about to exit too. Lucky.”

“Just gonna’ drive straight in, huh? Long as you can get back out, sounds good to me. Um, say. The person about to leave. About 14 yards ahead, just left of our 12 o’clock?”

“Yeah, wh… Is that where the signal’s coming from?”

“Yes. NK’s in that vehicle.”

Soma tensed up, considering what to do next. Driving into the facility would be stupid now. Driving into the truck might damage the car. “Okay,” he muttered and put the car into reverse, turning the car around, then driving away from the facility. He kept an eye on his rear-view mirror to make sure the truck was still coming. When he came up to a bend in the road, he made sure he was just out of sight of the truck, then turned the car to block the road with the driver side door facing away from the oncoming truck. He quickly got out, bringing out his pistol and crouching slightly behind the front of the car for cover.

“Careful what you shoot at Soma. Remember, Treno could be in there too.”

“I’m careful Geist. I know what I’m doing.” As the truck rounded the corner, it quickly slowed when the driver saw the road was blocked. Soma wasn’t going to wait for the driver to do anything else. He took aim and fired at both front tires, blowing them out. He then aimed up at the cabin. “Out now! Throw out your weapons and get out!” The passenger of the truck was the first to react, tossing his gun out the door and putting his hands in the air. The driver grabbed him by the shoulder, apparently chastising him for that. “Shut up and get out here!” The passenger shook his head at the driver, apparently apologizing, then dropped his left hand to the driver’s shoulder. Soma blinked in surprised when he suddenly slammed the driver’s head into the dashboard, following that up with a downward chop to the back of his head. He then got out of the truck, keeping his hands up. “Alright, what the hell’s your game!?”

“No game Soma. It’s me,” the guard replied.

Soma blinked more than once in surprise at the guard’s voice. “…Lyne?”

“Yeah. Give me a hand with Treno. We’ve got to get going.”
_________________________________________
“Whooooooohooooooo! This is the best day ever!” Bass shouted into the sky, reveling in the cacophony of destruction around him. The people working had been trying to put out fires for a few minutes, but gave up shortly and were in full evacuation now. His attention was caught by an incoming signal. “Yo!” he answered.

“Yo? You sound like you’re having fun,” Lyne said.

“Oh, yeah. I’ll have to ask Famous if he has any more jobs like this that need to be done.”

“*sigh* Okay, good luck with that. If everything’s been blown up enough, we got Treno out. Hurry back to the rendezvous point so we don’t get caught out here.”

“Killjoy,” Bass said with a grin, though his mood didn’t drop at all. He’d recorded the whole thing on internal memory and intended to watch it all over again before he went to bed. “I’m on my way.”
__________________________________
“He’s on his way now,” Lyne told the others in the car dropping her guise.

“That’s an interesting ability you have there,” Soma said. “And changing into a guard was a good plan too.”

Lyne frowned and looked out the window. “It eats up a lot of energy. I’m exhausted.”

“Well, you got me out,” Treno said. There was still a note of pain in his voice when he talked, but he was conscious at least. “Thanks for that.”

“That was risky though, getting into the other guard’s truck,” Soma said.

“Like I said, it uses a lot of energy. I’m not sure I could have kept going, carrying him like that.”

“You could have told me at some point what was really going on,” NeoKnight spoke up, irritation in his voice.

“Sorry. I was just trying to get out. I couldn’t really talk while moving.”

“*sigh* Yeah, I guess.”

“Say, Lyne,” Treno said. “Why haven’t you changed the appearance of your clothes yet?”

“…Crap!”
_____________________________________

Author’s Note:
Usually this is the place where we put a zany next episode preview. But both Editor and myself have decided to nix it so we can focus on the chapter content. I apologize for taking so long in getting this chapter finished. At this point in the story I had a request from a member of the board to not use their characters anymore. So the story took its first turn toward my writer’s block wall. I had to think of something to fill in the two chapter gap that it created, so I resorted to an RP that I did on a different forum board to fill in the gap. Finalizing the chapter to mesh into one train of thought was rather difficult. It has taken 4 years 5 months to get past this darn thing writers call the WB Wall to get the story back on track. I appreciate the patience of the Fan Fict Board Mods Mari, Plantman, and Sol in not clearing out a long inactive thread. And to the Fans, I hope you have enjoyed the updated chapter and hopefully we will have the next one out to you guys in a shorter time frame.

See you next time for: ~Lan and Lyne Season 3~ Episode 13: Exodus
_________________
"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

[KazeExE]

Awesome job with the chapter! :3 Can't wait for more, partly for personal reasons but mostly because I want to see the story progression.
_________________
This post is brought to you by Strider Angelus Productions!

[ElecGuts]

Pretty good for a returning chapter content wise, though like a lot of fans I guess, I'm hoping the wait for the next chapter isn't anywhere near as long.

Though there is one question. With the mention of Dark Megaman, where in the anime/games would this be set?