L & L: Season 3: Episode 14

[Zodiac]

Extreme liberties have been taken with official storylines. Lan and Lyne was started during the Access series, because cross fusion is cool. Megawoman set Bass' origin as Dr. Cossack's creation (manga based) while maintaining a connection to Pharaohman from the anime. Then Stream occurred and we saw Laika cross fuse, so she decided to use it. And Zero is a navi rather than a virus, so the whole storyline is completely non-canonical and exists in every time or no time. Basically its own time.
I've considered the idea of trying to actually make the story fit with official works, but I would have to be able to use kage bunshin no jutsu in order to have enough hands and minds to make it work while still being able to deal with the other things that I do with my time. There's work and children and anime and manga and console games. And there's World of Warcraft. That there is a huge time sink, but I really enjoy playing. I'm an altoholic too. I will work on the fict, though at a slower pace than I originally did. I don't think I'll ever have the drive I had at the end of the first season, the energy that allowed me to go through the whole season and revise it into its current incarnation. To those who enjoy reading, my apologies.
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Church: Are you following any of this?
Caboose: I think so. That guy Tex is a robot, and you're his boyfriend. So that makes you... a gay robot.
Church: ... That's right... I'm a gay robot.

Red Vs. Blue

[Megawoman.EXE]

That is true. When we left the states we were expecting now we have two kids, and live in Okinawa. Our son William is now three and our daughter Ashley is 10 months old. I hope we can make one conference while we're out here and go to Akihabera other then in the Narita Airport. But as the editor said we hope to get things rolling as good as they can and maybe update faster then VG cats.
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Megawoman (Lyne)

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[Speedy]

Good to see a new Lan & Lyne chapter, as well as you guys back.

Have been waiting a long time to hear from you, and to see you return with such an excellent chapter.


And yes, I do know I am a 'new' member around REO, but I've been around.. just never got to registering, haha..

This fict having a new chapter was enough reason for me to finally do so, I guess.
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"But... the future refused to change."
"If all else, my glass aint half full.. it's infuriating that someone else drank half of it."

[Megawoman.EXE]

Thanks for the reply Speedy. I know you were more of a background fan of the fict when it started off. It is good to see you post a reply. I'm glad that there has been some review and it gives me such a thrill to be writing for the REO board once again. Progress on 13 is kinda slow but that is to be expected with the editor's WoW fetish at the moment.
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Megawoman (Lyne)

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[Elementalman.EXE]

Holy hell, I didn't think I'd ever see this again.

I remember sending my character to you like....5 years ago it must be now. Wow I'm getting old.
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Elementalman.EXE
Nothing is True. Everything is Permitted.
1000 Post on Sept. 18 2005 at 6:29pm

[Megawoman.EXE]

Yeah and we got it back up and running. We had been busy for the past few years. Moving to Japan, two kids, and the occasional business trip. Glad you checked in on it, and I did manage to get your characters into the fict, but I may need to know what the navi's weapons are JIK I need it in the upcoming chapters.
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[Rex]

Wooow, this is quite the good surprise! NIce chapter by the way and good to see you're ok!
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[Megawoman.EXE]

Thanks for posting. I've been working in finalizing 13 and so far it's fun getting all the action scenes working. I hope to get it done by the time my business trip's end, but you never know with the factors of life.
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[Serenade.exe/HotShot]

Wow, was going through my bookmarks when I stumbled across this. Flood of nostalgia. Life sure has flown by and it looks like I need to re familiarize myself to this gem.

Good to hear from you again and looks like life has kept you busy as well. Hope everything is going good for you!
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[Megawoman.EXE]

Wow! It's good to hear from you too HotShot. I've been finally gaining some creativity ground and am starting to work on the action in the next chapter. There's going to be a lot of it which makes it kinda hard to do but also fun. I've also been working on the next big series which will have me delving into MMDB quite a bit. I can't divulge any info right now but a hint should be revealed next season when we get there.
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[Megawoman.EXE]

I know it's been a while since I've posted a read and I figured that it's about time to fill the gap a little with a Holiday Special. Since it's a small one shot related to the fict I didn't want to really start a seperate thread, and posted it here. So have fun and enjoy the color fest.

Chemicals = BOOM: A Lan and Lyne Holiday Special

“Okay,” Bass said as he worked on his homework for chemistry. “So that’s how this works. Then this should work this way,” he said typing out a formula. “Sweet,” he spoke victoriously. “Save…Now to actually try these out,” he said as he got up from his desk and went to a locked cabinet he had in his room and unlocked it.

He shuffled through the various chemicals stored there. “I need magnesium…sulfur…sodium…not calcium,” he said as he started gathering supplies. “Maybe aluminum…nah. Definitely not doing the chlorine reaction it will make too much gas. ” While he was working Mega showed up on his desktop.

Well there he is. Hum…What is this? he pondered as he looked over Bass’ homework. This doesn’t compute… he then started working on the formulas. There that should work better, he thought with a smile on his face as Bass went to an empty table and started mixing the chemicals that were in his problems.

He started measuring out the chemicals carefully before combining them and then grabbed his sparker. It only flashed for a moment but wasn’t as reactive as he thought it would be. He then scanned it, “That’s not what I was supposed to make, and there’s left over sodium. What did I do wrong?” He then called up a window that had his homework on it. “What the hell is this?!” he exclaimed as he read the formula. He then went to fixing the problem. As he started to work he felt a presence nearby. “Alright who’s here?” he growled as he followed it to his computer. “Hub…leave my homework alone! You’re not programmed to deal with this stuff yet.”

“I understand it well enough and I made it a safer reaction,” Mega boasted.

“Do you even know what I’m trying to do?” Bass asked pressing his hand against the side of his head.

“Blow up Famous’ apartment. Cause that definitely doesn’t look like homework.”

“Oh yeah. I might help if you had looked at the book,” Bass said propping it up so Mega could read it.

“I see…so they why are you doing these labs here?”

“To make sure I got them right. All these reactions are to leave no leftover elements and combine into compounds.”

“Okay then why not do them in a safer environment? Say for example SciLab.”

“Cause I can. Are you just going to nag or leave me alone and watch?”

“I’ll help,” he said as he used his Reality Jump Program to form physically in Bass’ room.

“You help me,” Bass pointed at Mega then at himself. “HAA! You’ve never messed with chemicals before.”

“I’ve messed with digital models. How is this any different?”

“Digital models are just calculations not physical reactions.”

“I’ve messed chemical simulators too.”

“They’re nothing compared to the real thing,” Bass said as he started working on the next reaction he then stopped and looked back at Mega. “You messed this one up too. Please tell me you didn’t save over my homework.”

“Oh no, I didn’t do that. I didn’t get finished reviewing your homework before you took the working screen.”

“Good,” Bass said as he closed the document before reopening it. “There that’s more like it. Damn I’m going to have to get more sodium. This stuff isn’t easy to come by.”

“Pure sodium?”

“Yeah. This amount ought to do it,” he said grabbing a vile that had a few pebbles of the softened metal inside it. Mega scanned it making sure it was covered with protective oil. He breathed out a sigh of relief after he finished his scan. “Hub I know what I’m doing. You think I wouldn’t store my stash properly.”

“Where did you manage to get this stuff?” Mega asked as he took a peek at the chemicals stored in the cabinet.

“Most of this stuff is easy to find in the physical environment,” Bass started to explain. “The rest I got from SciLab and school. You tell my relation I’ll delete you.”

“And then my sister would have to return the favor. Does she even know about this?”

“Yeah. She helped me find a really good spot to get natural sulfur. That’s the best stuff. Lets hurry up with this I’m trying to get it done before she comes over to work on our trig homework.”

“High School Juniors must have a lot of home work.”

“Nah it’s all easy stuff,” Bass said waving his hand at Mega as he started following the first formula from his homework. Mega watched as Bass measured and placed the chemicals in a glass dish, and situated a glass test tube above it, before igniting the powders with his sparker. It flashed quickly before releasing a small puff of gas escaped and went into the test tube. “There that’s what I was supposed to make,” he said pointing at the compound that was left in the dish.

“You made two things though,” Mega complained.

“It was a two component problem,” Bass replied as he quickly disposed of the gas and threw out the compound he had just made. “Now to check the other three. I’m definitely not going to mess with the chlorine formula,” Bass said as he went to work on the other problems. As he worked Mega noticed Bass had not thrown out the first reaction he had done.

“Hum…I know this one,” he sounded as he decided to borrow some sulfur and phosphors while Bass was looking over his homework. “I’m thirsty are you?” he asked Bass.

“Sure. There’s bottled water in the fridge down stairs,” Bass said not looking away from his homework. Mega went downstairs to the studio apartment’s kitchen, grabbed two bottles of water and returned to offer Bass one of them. “Thanks,” he said as he took it, drank some of it before starting work on the third out of four problems. He was about to start when he realized he was short an ingredient. “Hey where’d some of my phosphors go?” he asked before he noticed Mega was about to pour water on the leftover dish. In a quick reaction Bass smacked the water bottle Mega had in his hand away.

“Hey!”

“Don’t be Baka! That’s something I expect from Lan not you,” Bass said as he started cleaning up the water spill with a rag from his bathroom. “My table is not a simulator,” he said as dropped the rag over the top of the dish Mega had mixed chemicals in making it make a loud *POP* *Fizzle* sound, making the rag smoke. “See? Let me finish my work and maybe we’ll do something cool.” He then threw out the dish he had covered with the rag. “Now where was I?” he said as he went back to his school work.

Mega decided to just watch as Bass finished working on the final problem that he could work on safely in his room. Once he was finished he saved and closed his homework document. “You want to try your hand at fireworks?” he asked Mega.

“How complex are you going? There are many varieties.”

“Yes that is true, but simple mini color bursts should be fine…Lets say blue or maybe green, which is kinda complex. Red and yellow are the easiest,” Bass said as he got some chemicals out and started mixing them. “This is basic gunpowder which is the foundation for all Fireworks. What color do you want to see first?”

“Why not red?” Mega said before Bass took a portion of the powder he had just made and sprinkled another chemical over the top of it.

He then handed Mega his sparker. “Go ahead and give it a try,” he encouraged.

“Okay…” he said as he squeezed the sparker over the small pile of powder. It burst to life with a small steady plume of red colored fire. “Neat. Can I try one?”

“Sure. I’ve already premixed the other colors I know how to make,” Bass said. “Just put about 15 grains of the color on top of about 25 grains of power. We can make a guessing game out of it.”

“I beat Lan at those all the time. Let’s see…this one should burn yellow in color,” Mega said as he followed the recipe before lighting it revealing it’s color.

“That would actually be orange,” Bass commented as he took a seat beside the table. “Not as easy as it looks is it.”

“No…” Mega replied as he. Oh I forgot the reaction to oxygen, he thought as he redid the recipe and ignited it. “There yellow,” he boasted with pride. “And this one burns white,” he said pointing at one of the other dishes. He then arranged the seven dishes in rainbow color order. “This should be right.”

Bass got up and looked it over. Impressive. He might actually be on my level of computing, “Okay how about this?” Bass asked as he made a new mixture and added different colors to the mix.

“I’m not lighting that,” Mega responded as he held back the sparker. “And neither are you. There are too many reactions in that dish.”

“I’m not asking you to light it. I’m asking you what color it will make,” Bass said as he took back his sparker and placed it in a drawer. “I know you can do this.”

Mega just stood there and scanned the mix over for a few moments. Red + Blue = Purple + White = Lavender…There’s also Green, but what does Lavender and Green make other than an ugly color? he pondered. “Some kind of brown?”

“Let’s check…” Bass said as he snapped his fingers making a small flame appear before he released it to ignite the pile of flammable powder.

“Wait!!!” Mega shouted before covering his face. He then peeked when he heard it fizzle.

Sure enough the plume of sparks burned brown in color. “And you thought it would cause a mess. This powder is for burning and does not create the gas for propulsion. And I’m not going to show you how to make that.”

“This isn’t the stuff that makes fireworks go *boom*?”

“I’m not Baka Hub…”

“Then what are we going to do with the rest of the stuff you made?”

“Probably make one more reaction and then throw out the leftovers,” Bass said as he started combining them. Mega joined in as they combined the dishes into. “That ought to do it. Ready?”

Mega shrugged his shoulders. “Sure.”

“Heh…It’s about time I found something you’d throw caution to wind on.”

“This reaction doesn’t compute as dangerous since you didn’t mix a propulsion powder. It should just be a colorful plume of sparks just like before, and you have a glass cover on the table,” he said before leaned against the wall beside the table.

“Okay here it goes,” he said as he called up a small flame once more and released it. It burned for a moment doing nothing. “Maybe we shouldn’t have piled all the color on top of the gunpowder,” he said as he made another little flame.

“Shouldn’t we just let it do it’s thing and burn out?” Mega asked as he now stood more erect and started to back away from the wall.

“Nah a little more heat won’t hurt anything.” With that he released the small suspended flame which joined with the first already on the dish. Still nothing happened. “Man…I hate duds,” he said as he thumped his fist on the table making the dish jump.

*BANG!!!!!*

Mega and Bass had ducked for cover under the table and covered their ears. “What did you do?” Mega scolded.

*POPPLE*

“What? Owww…” Bass asked still covering his ears. “Damn that hurt.”
*SVING*

“I asked what did you do? It’s still going.”

*SWHOOOO*

“I don’t know…It might be firing the colors separately since we didn’t mix it, and maybe igniting the gas byproducts.”

*ZING*

“That’s just great. You didn’t say anything about mixing them.”

*SWHEEE*

“WHAT THE HELL IS GOING ON UP THERE?” Famous yelled as he came in the front door of the apartment.

*CLAPPP*

“Crap! He wasn’t supposed to be home for another hour. Jack back in,” Bass ordered as he commanded his chemical cabinet to lock.

*Fizzle* *POP*

“You’re nuts. I’m staying put.”

“Connor what were you burning now?” Famous asked as he came upstairs and crossed the room. “It smells like sulfur up here. You were playing with fireworks again?” he asked covering his nose and taking note of the smoking dish on the table. He then opened the window to air out the room. “What have I told you about this?”

“Not in the apartment,” Bass mumbled quietly.

“So you’ve done this before,” Mega spoke drawing Famous’ attention to look under the table.

“Shut up!”

“Get out from under there. Both of you,” Famous ordered as he poured water over the small fire that was still going on the dish. Bass and Mega did as they were told. “Now you don’t mind explaining this,” he said pointing at the dish.

“It was for a Matsuri,” Bass piped up.

“Yeah the one the American’s throw on the 4th of July,” Mega agreed.

“Then who lit it?”

“He did it!” They both pointed at each other.

“Really? Alright give it to me,” Famous said holding his hand out in front of Bass.

“Give you what?” Bass asked.

“The key to that lock,” he said pointing at the cabinet behind the two mischievous navis.

“That? I can’t open that I don’t have a key. It was here when I got here. I thought you had one.”

“Now you’re being a smart ass. Give it.”

“Actually he doesn’t have a key,” Mega replied. “I’ve not seen one.”

“Go home before I tell your father you were over here,” Famous ordered making Mega gulp and jack back into Bass’ computer and link back home. “Now cough it up. Or you’re going on a navi system lockout. That means no network excursions or missions for a while.”

“But it’s my property not yours.”

“Open it! I still want to see what’s inside it. Then I will determine if you can keep it.” Bass huffed as he leaned against the table and crossed his hands over his chest. “Now Connor or I’ll email Gateman,” he said holding up his PET.

“Fine,” Bass said as he waved his hand sending a command prompt to open the cabinet.

Famous opened it and his jaw dropped, and became speechless. This is quite an impressive collection. Almost rivals Scilab. Oooo and its organized like the periodic table with the exception of the gasses. Where did he get all these chemicals anyway? he pondered.

“So…”

“Ahem…” Famous sounded as he closed the cabinet and faced Connor. “Connor, Why do you have all this stuff?” he asked. Shock was still apparent in his voice.

“So I can do my chemistry homework. And I plan on blocking Hub from my computer so he can’t mess with my homework anymore. I almost had a disaster on my hands twice.”

“Not from what I see,” he said glaring at the smoking dish.

“I was just showing off. Can’t I do that with a fellow navi from time to time?”

“Online or elsewhere yes, but not inside the apartment. You could’ve burned the place down. I trust this will never happen again,” he said pointing at the dish.

“No more fireworks, check. Just my homework. I’m really glad I decided not to do the chlorine formula,” he added before cleaning up his mess. “You might’ve thrown an even bigger fit. Not that you’d play with chemicals anyway,” he mumbled as he finished cleaning the table and throwing the glass dish away. “I’m going to have to get some more of these.”

“Just wash them they’ll be fine,” Famous said before he took a look at the chemicals again. “I bet you I can show you a thing or two with the stuff here.”

Bass perked up at those words. “That I’d like to see. Challenge accepted. Show me,” Bass dared.

“Wait what?”

“You opened mouth and spoke a bet. And I challenge that bet by saying you can’t.”

Famous palmed his face. Why’d I open my big mouth. He sighed. “Fine but we’re going the roof.”

“Why? How is that any different than inside the apartment?”

“Ventilation,” Famous said as he started gathering up stuff, and the sparker.

“Why didn’t I think of that before?” Bass asked as he followed Famous to the roof.
______________________________________________
******Happy Belated Fourth of July Everyone!!!!******
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Megawoman (Lyne)

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[Serenade.exe/HotShot]

Hehe, and this is why you don't mess with chemicals.
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[soberflight]

nice work...a little holiday fun. Where'd you find time to write?

[Megawoman.EXE]

It was a spur of the moment thing actually. It takes me about two to three days to write an actual chapter. The harder part is the editing which in this case didn't get finalized by Zodiac my Editor. I was glad to get permission to post this small excerpt. But as of right now I don't have permission to post episode 13 yet. Multiple action scenes can be fun to write and edit. Til then or the next special, Ma ten e.
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Megawoman (Lyne)

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[Megawoman.EXE]

Good Day All. I have been working on a plan to update the fict to how I have been writing what I have waiting for the editor to edit. I started writing Japanese school year chapters starting in Lan and Lyne Season 2, and just haven't updated earlier chapters. I may also release a timeline before Episode 13 is released. If you think this is a good idea please post in this thread, and I will start working on it. Other then that I hope we can get 13 to you guys soon. Until then I will be updating the prior posts. There is links to them in the Disclaimer section which is page one of this thread. Hope to hear your inputs on my suggestion soon.
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[Serenade.exe/HotShot]

[Unknown Neo]

Sadly, I'm surprised when someone shows up in parts of the site like this.

But I'm all for it too.

[ElecGuts]

I had to double-take when I saw the notification email. A topic update from REO? Surely it can't be Megawoman updating L&L... and sure enough, here you are giving us an update on what's going on.

I am for the idea, but after how busy you've both become since starting this fanfic, I do wonder if you'll be able to finish it, and how much of it will actually get released for reading. I mean no disrespect, but L&L began in the prime of REO, and I'm sure many readers have long since given up on seeing a new update after how long its been.

[Megawoman.EXE]

After over a year wait it is finally here.

Link: Lan and Lyne Time Line

Coming soon: L&L Season 3: Episode 13: Exodus

Enjoy this little present first.

Happy Holidays
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[Megawoman.EXE]

Episode 13: Exodus Part 1 (Edit: 01/22/2015)

~1 February 20XX ~ Outside DCF ~

Lyne, Treno, and Soma were driving in silence. They didn’t make any reaction when the door opened and Bass slid in, going smoothly from flying to sitting. He sat back, grinning and breathing heavily for a minute. “Oh, I had a blast!” he exclaimed suddenly. Nobody responded, but he didn’t notice. “If anyone else has something to destroy, let me know; I’ll be glad to.” There was still no response from the rest of the car. He’d been leaning back, and hadn’t even looked at anyone else. He noted that Soma looked uncomfortable, and he wasn’t in a position to see Treno. He turned to Lyne. “You look upset. Something wrong?” Treno cleared his throat and shifted in his seat. Bass got the impression that his face would look uncomfortable too.

“Clothes,” Lyne said in a low tone.

“Clothes?”

“Yes.”

Bass noted that she was wearing clothes. “Okay, you’re wearing clothes. Or, do you mean my clothes?” Treno hid his face in his hands. Soma grit his teeth. A cloud actually covered up the moon, although that was probably just a coincidence. Lyne turned and stared at Bass, glowering intensely. “So… not mine?” he said in a weak voice.

“No. Not yours. You still have yours.”

Bass blinked at that. “Yeah,” he said. “Ah,” he said. “Your clothes would be…” There was a boom somewhere in the distance of the night. “…burning.”
____________________________________________
~Dark Nation Network~

Four figures trudged along through the network. Two looked uncomfortable, one looked angry, and the fourth, hooded, was grimacing, apparently in some pain. He may have been exaggerating the appearance of pain to hide his amusement though. Occasionally, he would snicker quietly, but would repress it again when the angry figure looked back at him.

“I’m sorry about the car Soma,” Lyne said to the figure stalking in front of them. Soma had cross-fused with Geist, sporting his white trench coat, smoky steel armor, and mirrored visor ring. Treno had cross-fused with NeoKnight as well so the half navis could bring them onto the network.

“Yeah, I know,” Soma responded. “You were upset already, and someone made it worse.” He turned to scowl back at Bass, who didn’t have the decency to look sorry. “Well! Don’t you have anything to say?”

“I was really impressed,” Bass said appreciatively. “You two moved incredibly fast to get out of there before she blew it up.” Soma stopped walking and stared at the half-navi. He was so flabbergasted by the response, his anger went on a momentary pause. “Well, ‘blew up’ isn’t accurate. That was an implosion. Kind of weird. What was it, a gravity burst?”

Lyne didn’t respond. Everyone was quiet for a moment. Treno was the first to say anything. “Actually, I’m curious about that too. It was visible, and bright. Electromagnetic blast?”

“Light element,” Lyne said. “A burst of light energy. Not magnetic.”

“Huh? What does that mean?”

“Oh, I get it,” Bass said.

“That’s a surprise,” NeoKnight said sarcastically.

“No, no. Let’s hear this,” Geist said, though he had a sarcastic note in his voice too.

“Can it you two,” Soma said, some of his irritation rising again. “Explain it then.”

“I’m the dark element, she’s the light element.” Soma was waiting for him to continue, but Bass said nothing else.

“Yeah, he doesn’t get it,” Geist said with a sneer in his voice.

“Actually, he might,” NeoKnight said. “You mean that since dark and light are opposites, so are their effects.”

“Right,” Bass said with a nod. Again, there was no further explanation, and Geist growled. “Oh, geez. Fine. Dark energy is destructive. It makes things come apart. That’s its nature. Light is the opposite of dark, so its effect would be opposite too. Pulling together instead of breaking apart.”

“Fusion instead of fission,” Soma said in comprehension. “It’s the strong force in physics terms, only in this case, it’s applied to more than just atomic bonds.”

“Yeah, that’s about right,” Bass said.

“So then Bass would be…” NeoKnight started to say.

“…weak,” Geist finished with amusement in his voice. Both navis laughed at that, and then Soma started laughing too.

“Oh shut up!” Bass yelled, and Treno finally joined in on the laughter. “Damn physicists. They had to go and use ‘the weak force’ to describe fission.” The others only laughed harder at that. “Hey, Soma. You’re car’s still scrap!”

“I can get another one,” Soma replied. “Now that I think about it, the two of you have let me log into the network. This is an awesome experience. Plus, we’re making fun of you. Heck with the car.” Bass half growled and half howled in frustration. “Keep it down. Anyway, I was probably going to have to sanitize that anyway. Danger of doing spy work is the potential of losing personal property. Thankfully, it’s budgeted.”

“Hmph. I couldn’t get away with sanitizing the plane.”

“No, you couldn’t,” Lyne said. “We need it to get back. We can’t keep Soma or Treno online for a whole lot of time. Have you figured out where we’re supposed to exit Connor?”

“No… I hate to admit this but I’m not too familiar with this section of the network. My signature’s blocked most of the time.” He drew his hood tighter around his face. “I just hope I don’t give us away.”

“I don’t think it’ll be that much of a problem,” Treno said. “The pictures came out bad.”

“What?” Treno pointed at what he’d spotted. Bass saw a poster with three people on it. He laughed when he realized what was on it. “So, you’re the only one they got a good shot of Treno?” Treno’s picture was very clear, as he was unconscious when it was taken. Bass’s picture was taken while he was flying, so it was cloaked and far too blurry to make out anyway. Lyne’s picture was clear enough, but it was while she was in the guise of Hanz.

“And Treno is cross fused right now, so even he won’t give us away,” NeoKnight added. “The plane is safe. No disturbances are detected.”

“Good,” Soma said. “And since NK isn’t on the poster, it’s intended for net operators to see. They’re looking for us in the real world, not here.”

“Plus, you’re not on the poster,” Treno put in. “You could probably split off from us and not have any worries.”

“Nah, I’m done here. Besides, if you get into a scrap, I wouldn’t want to miss it.” He grinned around at them. “Let’s just get on with it. Shouldn’t take us all day to get to the other side of the city through the network.”

“So, why don’t you know this place better?” Bass asked. “I figured our inside contact would know how to get around.”

“I don’t have Geist doing all the work. When he goes in, he goes in where I’m at, then gets back out rather than travelling to different servers. What about you? Why don’t you know this place?”

“Any time I was here, it was to destroy a target, then lay low. Um, are you alright Lyne?”

She’d weaved to the side and was holding a hand against the side of her head. “I don’t know,” she responded. “I’ve been feeling drained. I should be better off now that I’ve dropped the morph I was in, but I actually feel more out of it.”

“Hang on,” Soma said, and went to a nearby vendor.

“Run a diagnostic,” Bass suggested. “Make sure there aren’t any viruses or anything.”

“Viral issues aren’t a problem for me,” Lyne replied. “But maybe that should leave me more worried.” She closed her eyes for a moment. “Huh? System resources allocated to what?”

“You’ve got some program running?” Bass asked. Lyne wasn’t paying attention to him though.

“Optimizing what!? Grr, I should know what my own system is… uhn.” Lyne swayed and stumbled. Bass lurched over and caught her before she could hit the ground.

“Lyne!?” He looked into her face in concern and tried brushing his hand over her cheek to get a response. He kept it there and tried doing his own scan.

“Aww,” Soma said as he walked back up to them. “How romantic.” He observed that Lyne had apparently lost consciousness. “Or maybe creepy. Are you taking advantage of her in her sleep?”

“What? No!” Bass said.

“Yes,” NeoKnight said.

“Shut up!” Bass snapped.

“Not cool NK,” Treno said, though he was laughing.

“Awesome NK,” Geist said, and he was laughing too.

“Oh, you all really want to be left here, don’t you!?” Bass shouted in a rage. “Yeah, you cross fusers just see how long you can last here on your own!”

“Whoa, hey! No need to threaten that,” Soma said, waving his hands in front of him.

“Yeah, at least let me use the data synch chip first,” Treno said. “Although, I guess that wouldn’t help Soma so much, huh?”

“The what chip?” Soma asked.

“Oh yeah. You used that when we fought Havok,” Bass said, breathing heavily. He considered it for a moment. “Actually, that’s not a bad idea. Turn around.” He stood up after placing Lyne on the ground.

Treno took a step back. “Whyyyyy?” he said apprehensively.

“Well, you need the data synch chip, right? I’ll pull it out for you. Just turn around.”

Treno turned just his head at first, looking at Bass sideways with obvious distrust on his face. Bass frowned and made a ‘come on’ gesture, and Treno figured Bass would just get more annoyed if he didn’t cooperate. He turned, then made a sudden, “Gah!” as he felt… he wasn’t sure how to describe the sensation in his back. When it stopped, he made a face like he felt nauseous, or at least like he thought he should be nauseous, and then he looked annoyed that he wasn’t nauseous.

“Here. Slap this on your icon,” Bass said, holding the chip in front of Treno’s face. “And you might want these too, just in case.” As he walked around in front of Treno, he offered a few other chips, knowing that they could be used with NeoKnight’s Fusion Sword.

“Oh. Yeah.” He looked over the batch of chips, considering how this would work, then shrugged and made the whole lot of them into a stack. He pressed them up against his icon and watched as they sank into it. Energy wavered around him as his synchro chip started working with the data synch chip.

“There. Now I don’t have to worry about losing track of you. You’ll be able to get out on your own if anything goes wrong.” He looked over at Soma. “I just have to keep an eye on you to make sure you don’t get lost here. Need any battlechips?”

“Uh, no. I’m good,” Soma said, looking a little pale.

“What? Don’t be a wimp,” Geist said to his operator.

“Don’t argue with him,” NeoKnight suggested to him. “You really want Bass messing around with your insides?” Geist’s lack of reply answered for him. “Yeah. No.”

“Uh, we are wasting time here you know,” Treno said nervously. “We should get moving again.”

“Okay, do you want to get Lyne’s legs so we can carry her?” Bass asked.

“Hold up,” Soma said, holding out one hand. “Let’s see about reviving her first.” He walked over to her, opening his hand to show the energy chips he was holding.

“Oh, good. An energy spike ought to do it.” Bass started picking the chips out of Soma’s hand and placing them on Lyne’s icon. Soma had ten chips. Bass thought it might be overdoing it, but decided it would be best to use them all. “… Huh. She’s, uh, not waking up.”

“You’ve got to be kidding me! I couldn’t afford any more than that right now,” Soma said, annoyance and disbelief on his face.

“She’s got a heck of an appetite,” Geist added. “She eat real food like that?”

“No, not nearly,” Bass replied. “Okay, so, looks like we’re carrying her. Give me a hand.” He slid his arms under Lyne’s armpits and lifted. “Come on, we’re drawing a crowd.”

“Right,” Soma said. “Treno, I’ve got this. Keep an eye out.” He got his arms under Lyne’s knees and he and Bass started off. Treno followed up behind them, looking around at the local navis.

“Say, Bass,” Treno said quietly after a while. “We may have an issue.”

“What issue?” Bass responded.

“The video from the factory. They cleaned it up some.” Bass looked where Treno indicated and saw they’d clarified the image. The wanted poster clearly showed his current hooded appearance.

“Crud,” he grumbled. “Fine. No real problem. I can change my appearance. Let’s just get out of sight.”

The group moved between a couple of buildings as quickly as they could. “Okay, we’re out of sight,” Treno said, looking behind them to be sure. “Hope this works. They’ve seen us all together.”

“We could split up if it’d make you feel better,” Bass suggested while setting Lyne down.

“Don’t joke,” Soma said.

“Hey, like I said, Treno doesn’t need me to get out of here anymore. And I need your help carrying Lyne anyway.”

“Oh, so you’d just leave me behind? And who’d watch your back while you carry her?” Treno asked.

“For crying out loud, I’m not really going to leave anyone behind,” Bass sighed. “So annoying… Oughta’ just leave you behind so I don’t have to deal with it.” He pulled the hood back from his head and ran a hand through his hair. He then closed his eyes and pulled a strip of cloth from his cloak. It didn’t tear. It just came off in his hand. He then tied it over his forehead as a headband. His cloak then shifted its shape, flowing down and out, forming loose sleeves over his arms and legs. When he was done, his cloak now looked like a brown martial arts gi. “That should do it,” he said as he tightened what looked like a belt built into the waist of the gi.

“Well…” Treno said, looking him over. “Maybe you could do something about the color?”

Bass glanced at him and grumbled under his breath, then shifted both the gi and headband to a dark grey color. “Better?” he asked when he finished.

“Yeah, that should work.”

“Okay.”

“Although…” Treno continued, tilting his head. “Maybe if the belt around your waist was darker, it’d stand out more.”

“…Are you serious?” Bass was staring at Treno in frustrated disbelief. “You’re really going to nitpick about the belt?”

“Well, you should darken the headband too then,” Soma offered. “You know, so it’d match.”

“And he should use a lighter trim around the edges so it’ll ‘pop’,” Geist added sarcastically. “Can we please get moving again?”

“Well, it would just look natural if the belt was a different color from the rest of it,” Treno said defensively. “When I think of someone in a martial arts outfit, I imagine the belt being -”

“What Geist said!” Bass snapped, interrupting him. “Let’s get moving again! Cripes! You’d think we were on a friggin’ pleasure stroll here! Oh, no! No Darkloids at all! Nobody’s in mortal danger! Soma, please grab her legs! Lift! Move!”

“Umm, just one other thing actually.” Bass glared at him. “Hey, I’m the one taking this seriously here. Your face. Those purple marks are kind of a giveaway.”

Bass took a breath and puffed it back out. “Okay, good point.” He brought out a navi coloring rod. He then dismissed his white gloves and held the rod against his hand, adjusting it to his skin tone. Then he started applying it to his face.

“… You do know color rods work on armor not skin right?” NK said after a moment.

Bass stopped and closed his eyes. It was several seconds before he did anything at all. Finally, he brought up a small reflector and looked at it, seeing that the purple marks on his face were unaffected. “When I get ahold of Ratchet…” he grumbled. He thought for a moment, then pulled another strip of cloth from his cloak. He darkened the new strip to black and started winding it around his face. It obligingly lengthened as he wrapped it until his face was covered from his throat all the way up to just below his eyes. He then stretched one last strip under his jaw, up against the sides of his eyes, effectively obscuring the marks on his face.

“Jaw-surgeryman?” Geist asked. Nobody laughed this time. “…I guess we’re ready to go now?” he said more quietly.

The group picked Lyne back up and started walking again. They continued in silence for a while, making their way to the exit near their aircraft. Treno eventually broke the silence. “Their laughing is really starting to get on my nerves.”

“Oh, don’t worry about that,” Soma said. “They just think it’s funny that our friend can’t hold her VirusCLN.”

“No Bass is the one who can’t hold his VirusCLN,” NK teased.

“NK, could you not act stupid right now?” Bass said with a sigh. He continued when NeoKnight started to protest. “Hush. It’s good that all this looks like to them is some navis hauling a passed out buddy, but it’s got me on edge too. The more the locals look at us, the more likely it is we’ll end up getting singled out by someone we want to avoid.”

“You mean like those guys?” Soma said, coming to a halt.

“Yes, like the Darkloids. Keep moving. Stopping will make you stand out more.” Bass hissed at him, seeing the navis Soma had just noticed. The small group of Darkloids, three of them, looked at them, then turned to each other. Bass couldn’t pick up what they were saying to each other. They laughed, and then walked away from each other, not approaching the cross-fused humans or the half navis.

“That’s a relief,” Treno breathed out.

“Hopefully,” Bass muttered.
______________________________________
~Nebula Sub Server 3~

“No, Regal-sama, the ones responsible for the destruction of the factory have not been found,” Swallowman said to the image on the vid-window in front of him. “We believe we have the vehicle they escaped in.”

“You believe?” the image asked, maintaining a level voice.

“Yes, Regal-sama. The car appears to have been half crushed by something, although there is no evidence of what might have done it. No other vehicles or machines of any kind could be traced at the scene.”

“And there were no bodies.”

“No, Regal-sama.”

“Well, that’s an unfortunate situation,” a voice said from behind Swallowman. The bird-styled navi turned to look at the owner of the new voice. “A factory destroyed, the materials lost, the stored chips destroyed as well, and the culprits escaped to you-know-not-where. *sigh* what will we do Swallowman? I’ll handle things on this end Regal-sama.”

“… Very well, Dark Megaman. Swallowman, do as he commands,” Regal said.

“Of course, Regal-sama. As always,” Swallowman replied. There was no bitterness in his voice, despite having his control taken. He’d served the other Darkloid before, and fully expected to again when he heard the familiar voice. “I didn’t know you’d reformed,” Swallowman said when Regal’s image disappeared.

“Oh, yes. I’ve been active for some time now,” the darker clone of Megaman said with a smile. “Months, actually. I just haven’t had anything much to do.”

“Oh, I’m surprised I hadn’t heard sooner.”

“There was no need. So, what do you have in motion?”

“Darkloids, as well as paid informants, have descriptions of the navi NeoKnight, although we aren’t expecting him to be logged in. Humans are checking the remains of the car for any evidence of the people involved in the sabotage… If…”

“Go on, Swallowman. We don’t have time for you to hold information back.”

“The… being that attacked the factory; we believe it was some kind of humanoid robot. Sky surveillance was not able to keep track of it. Oddly, what records we could retrieve showed emissions of dark energy from it.”

“Well! Now isn’t that interesting? A robot powered by dark energy? Heh, as long as the energy isn’t being used to make dark chips, it’s no competition to us, but we can’t have such things being used to destroy our resources.”

“There was a trace of dark energy on the vehicle, so it’s likely the robot had something to do with its destruction, but there’s no direct evidence.”

“The car was crushed?”

“Yes. However, from the looks of the vehicle…” Swallowman brought up an image of the car. “… the force that destroyed it was fairly even over roughly half of the vehicle’s surface, but the robot was too small to have done that physically. It was only the size of an adolescent human or young teenager.”

“Hmm, that much force in such a small thing. Perfectly suited to perform a job like this, and then drop off the map. It will be quite an asset if we could capture and reprogram it.”

“Yes, it_”

“Swallowman, one of our patrols has reported… Megaman?” Kaori said, coming in and cutting Swallowman’s sentence off.

“Tsk. All this, and now Megaman’s here?” Dark Megaman said. “Well, if all else fails, perhaps we could take him out. That should be some small comfort to Regal-sama.”

“… Um, Kaori was referring to you Sir.” Swallowman said quietly.

“… Ah. Yes, of course. What is the report then?”
_____________________________________________
“Okay, we’re almost there,” NeoKnight told the others. “Closest jack out point is right around the corner.”

“So…” Treno started.

Don’t say it, Bass thought.

“…we’re getting away…”

Please. Bass clenched his teeth.

“…without…”

No. There was desperation in Bass’s unspoken plea.

“…a fight?”

Noooooooo!

“Yeah, it looks like…” Soma started, his voice sounding surprised and pleased. Then one crowd of civilian navis made a startled noise and started quickly moving out of the area. Other groups noticed this and looked over to see what was going on. As more of the locals realized what was happening, the area quickly became more clear of civilians, and more full of Darkloids.

“Like we’re surrounded,” Geist finished, his voice sounding surprised and pleased.

“You just had to say it,” Bass muttered in annoyance.

“What? So I said we’re surrounded. It’s the truth.” Soma sighed and rolled his eyes as Geist continued. “Besides, this is a chance for my favorite pass time. Spreading the data of the fallen!”

Bass clenched his teeth. “No, I mean Treno… Oh, never mind,” he said, too frustrated to explain any more. “Soma, put her down. Everyone get around her.” I wish you’d wake up and save me from these idiots. An extra ally might help too, but really, these four are going to drive me berserk.

“Well, it looks like you’re going to put up a fight,” one of the Darkloids called out to the group. “Can you really make it fun for us? You’re badly outnumbered.”

You just volunteered to go down first. Bass grinned and raised his arm, preparing to use his buster, but then he paused. No. I don’t want to do anything that could identify me. And a buster wouldn’t fit this outfit. Something else… He raised his index finger and pointed at the navi who had spoken. “We could make this fun for you, but only if you enjoy pain. Your numbers are nothing. Claws of the Black Tiger!” As Bass called out the last sentence, he extended claws from his fingers and tensed his body to charge.

“Fusion sword!” Treno shouted, calling up NeoKnight’s weapon.

Soma didn’t say anything, but he gave Bass a nudge with his elbow. Bass glanced over to see what he wanted and Soma raised up a hand to show that he too had extended claws, though his were noticeably longer than Bass’s. “Seriously?” Bass said incredulously. “We’re all melee?”

“Bwah, hah, hah, hah! That’s perfect!” shouted the navi who’d first spoken. The other Darkloids were laughing as well. “Blast ‘em into submission! Take off their arms and cripple their legs! We’ll take their hides back to base and seLAAARK!*” His words were cut short quite suddenly. He didn’t see Bass move, but now the half navi was right in front of him, his claws dug into his chest.

“Didn’t catch that last bit,” Bass growled. “Don’t bother to repeat it though. Don’t care.” He threw the Darkloid to the side. His victim was nothing but pixels before he even hit the ground. “So, who’s speaking for you now!?”

“Get them!” one shouted from the opposite side of the group surrounding them. The Darkloids close to Bass silently thanked whoever it was, as they’d unanimously decided to remain silent. All around, the enemy activated their busters and took aim.

“Flame chip fusion! Flame Wave!” Treno called out, swinging the fusion sword in a wide arc, throwing out, as it described, a wave of fire which covered a large number of the Darkloids he was facing towards.

“Fire! Fire! Fire!” Those Darkloids not currently on fire, as well as those not trying to gain some distance from Bass, opened fire on the three navis in the center. Bass grabbed two of the nearest enemies and hurled them into the line of fire, hoping it would deter the Darkloids from firing.

Curse it, I should have known better, he thought to himself as the firing continued, cutting down both of them. Darkloids don’t have the pity or mercy to spare each other. Still, it did some good. He continued to grab those close to him and throw them into the barrage of shots. But I can’t see Lyne or the others through all that.

“That’s it! Blast them to oblivion!” shouted the Darkloid who’d given the order to fire. He laughed as he added his shots to the attack, lost in the violence.

“Where ya’ aimin’ loudmouth?” he heard from behind him. He saw Soma/Geist, or more specifically Geist’s claws, just before those claws rent through his face, tearing his head into several pieces. A couple navis close by noticed their comrade falling and looked to see Soma grinning at them. “So, are you fast enough?” The navis turned their busters toward him, but had only finished half the turn before Soma tore into them and sent their bodies into the next navis near them.

“Woohoo! The only thing that would make this better is if I were doing it myself!” Geist cheered happily.

So, Soma’s alright, Bass thought. But what about Lyne! Darkloids were dropping to his claws, or running away from them, with no real effort from him. He could see that Soma was dispatching his opponents quickly as well, though he seemed to be enjoying it more. Then another thought occurred to Bass. Oh, I hope Treno’s okay too. Almost forgot him.

The formation of the Darkloids was breaking up, just with the one half navi and one cross fuser on the attack. As some moved away from the attackers, and others jumped in, switching to melee as they went, the firing toward the center ceased. When it was clear, Bass could see that Treno must have put up some kind of round wall before the shooting became too fierce, big enough to protect both Lyne and himself. He sighed in relief.

“Void chip fusion! Illusion Thrust!” called Treno’s voice from within the wall. One side of the wall then exploded as a blur, several blurs, shot out. The Darkloids quickly dodged, avoiding the attacks… and ended up grouped up in line with Treno’s actual attack.

“Geez! He’s taken out more of them with two attacks then the two of us took out together!” Bass said with some appreciation in his voice as he watched another large number of the enemies fall. The closest Darkloid to Treno was not in sword range. He started to raise his buster. By the time he had it leveled on Treno’s previous position, the cross fused Net Op was behind him and the Darkloid was falling apart. “Well, it seems we’re all a bit too fast to be in any real danger. Ouch!” A shot hit Bass in the back of the head. Paying too much attention to them. He turned, swinging a clawed hand behind him, but there was no one in range. Another shot caught him in the face, and while he was reeling away from that, one, and then another of the Darkloids jumped at him and grabbed onto his arms. “RrrrAGH!” he growled as he bucked to try and throw them off, but they managed to cling on, kicking at his legs to knock him down and managing to make him stumble.

“Guess it’ll take a few more shots,” said a Darkloid a short way off. He was aiming at Bass, prepared to fire again. Bass attempted to charge at him, trying to at least tackle his enemy if he couldn’t get his claws in, but the navis on his back kicked again, one finally hit him right behind his left knee. Bass wasn’t able to recover as his leg buckled, and his momentum sent him falling forward. “Hah, hah, hah! Well, maybe it won’t take a few more shots, but it won’t hurt me to do it anyway!” Bass turned his head and glared at the navi who was taunting him.

He blinked.

The Darkloid was hitting the ground around ten navimeters away and rolling to a heap, pixellating to deletion as he went. Standing in his place was a navi in grey and black armor. Bass couldn’t see any details, as the new navi was whirling around, giving a sweeping kick to a Darkloid’s gut and sending him sprawling into a third target. The navi finished the turn on that kick, placed the foot on the ground, and immediately launched straight at Bass, still spinning, and used a heel kick to strike at the navis holding Bass down. He felt them shift on his back, but they were still holding on. Then he saw their heads hit the ground out of the corner of his eye, and the weight on top of him vanished as the two bodies deleted. “Oh, wow,” Lyne’s voice said in a surprised whisper. “That was a lot more forceful than I expected it to be.”

“Lyne?” Bass said as he got up and looked over at her. He blinked in surprise at her appearance. Head to foot, Lyne’s armor was a dark grey and black in a mottled camouflage pattern. Her hair was tucked into her helmet, rather than exposed as it normally would be. Ignoring the color, the armor seemed very much like Combit’s, but there were short nozzles in several places, all of them currently smoldering with vented energy. Lyne’s knuckles, the tips of her boots, knees, elbows, shins, and forearms all looked to have additional reinforcement to the armor. Bass noticed with concern that Lyne was shaking and her fingers were twitching uncontrollably. “A… are you alright?”

“Too much energy. Got to burn it off.” She didn’t say anything further. She just rushed off and, with hand and foot, pounded every Darkloid she could reach. Now that Bass could see properly, he saw what the nozzles were for. With each leaping step, some nozzles fired, boosting her movement so that few Darkloids were out of reach for long. With each punch or kick, other nozzles would fire, making each blow strong enough to delete some of the Darkloids in one shot.

“Awesome…”

“I agree,” Treno said by his side.

“What are you doing over here?”

“Well, there aren’t many left now. Soma’s just toying with them now, and even Lyne seems to be enjoying herself. I’m actually having fun just watching.”

“… Actually, I was enjoying it too. She’s really, um...”

“Um?” Treno repeated with a leer.

“Over-energized actually. I think I overdid it, using all those chips.”

Treno sighed. “For a second there, I thought you might talk about her beauty. Well, in good time I guess.” He grinned at Bass, who frowned back at him. “At least we didn’t have to deal with any real Darkloids. We might’ve actually been in trouble.”

Bass twitched at Treno’s words. He stared at the cross fuser.

Bass closed his eyes.

Bass opened his eyes.

Bass sighed as he noted that Swallowman had arrived with several other major Darkloids that he recognized from Lan’s reports.

“Treno,” Bass said in a low voice. “You aren’t allowed to talk anymore.”
__________________________________
“That’s what I thought,” Kaori said half to herself. “It’s NeoKnight, but cross fused with his owner. This could be more difficult.” Her eyes narrowed into a glare as she scanned the field.

“And the other three?” Swallowman asked her.

She observed the cross fused Soma/Geist, the disguised Bass, and Lyne in her Combit Style transformation. “I don’t know any of them. They’ll probably be less trouble than NeoKnight. I’ll handle him. He’ll hold back with me. It’ll be easy.” She sneered at the thought of how weak someone would have to be to hold back against an enemy.

“Perhaps,” Dark Megaman said thoughtfully. “That one next to, ah, NeoKnight? He has quite a lot of dark energy to him. Actually, only one of them doesn’t have any dark energy at all. Cosmoman, Blizzardman, I want the two of you to subdue the one next to NeoKnight. Swallowman, attack the one that doesn’t have any weapons. You needn’t spare her. The other three will be enough to bolster our ranks. I will handle the clawed one in the white coat.”

“Yes Sir,” Cosmoman replied.

“Yes Sir,” Blizzardman echoed.

“Gladly,” Swallowman said.
______________________________________
“Lyne, we have company!” Soma called out, running up to her.

“Yeah I saw them,” she said, tossing away the last Darkloid she’d attacked. “It looks like… the purple one is in charge. I’ll go after him.”

“I think they’re taking that out of your hands,” Soma said when he saw Swallowman rocketing toward her. “Duck!”

“No,” Lyne replied, jumping over Swallowman’s head in a tight somersault, kicking off of him when she finished the flip, and starting toward her chosen target. “He’s not a duck. Yours.” She kicked at the ground and was out of range before Soma could respond.

“… Okay, have fun,” Soma said with a shrug.
_______________________________
“I assume you’ll be the one fighting Kaori,” Bass said to Treno.

“Yeah, that’s right,” Treno replied, a serious tone in his voice.

“So, I’ve got the other one.”

“Two.”

“What?”

“You have the other two.”

“What do you mean two?”

“The big one with the yellow face and the large snowball on skis in case you didn’t notice it.”

“I saw him. Just figured he wasn’t worth counting. He’ll melt fast. Go on ahead.”

“Sure. Have fun,” Treno said, snapping off a quick salute before taking off. Cosmoman and Blizzardman stopped and tensed up as he approached them, but he passed them both by.

“Are you not navi enough to face us!?” Blizzardman called out to the cross fuser.

“Blizzardman! Pay attention to our target!” Cosmoman warned.

“Wha? Whoa!” He dodged to the side, just barely avoiding some kind of spike as it flew by. “Hey! It’s not nice to attack someone who’s not looking!”

“Well, look then,” Bass replied. “Oni Fangs!” Three spikes, almost black, with a tinge of purple, formed in his hand. He hurled them at the pair of DarkLoids, then dashed forward. They dodged in different directions, and Bass shifted toward the shorter of the two. Take him down so he can’t distract me, then deal with the bigger one.

“Stay Away!” Blizzardman squealed. He slid one ski back, and then quickly flicked it forward in an arc, launching a pair of snowballs from it. Bass dove to the side, but still took a glancing hit from one of the projectiles.

“Ahh,” He hissed softly at the chilly sting. “It’s impolite to pack ice in your snowballs!” he yelled, prepping another batch of Oni Fangs. He had to dodge quickly as a snowball the size of his head flew at him. He hurled the spikes in a flat arc after his side-step.

“Rolling Slider!” Blizzardman called out, rolling out of the way and leaving a trail of snow behind him. Bass rushed forward to catch Blizzardman at the end of his roll, almost running into a buzzing, blue ring in his haste. He stopped with a growl, quickly throwing another Oni Fang along the trajectory the ring came from.

“I hope you didn’t forget there were two of us,” Cosmoman said, glancing sideways as Bass’s attack went through the ring he was holding at his side. “Nice shot.”

“Don’t take me lightly!” Bass replied. He heard a hissing noise and dove sideways as Blizzardman skied past him in an attempt to tackle him. He flattened to the ground as another ring buzzed over him. I should not take them lightly. Oh. The snowball is actually maneuverable. Blizzardman had used his ski poles to make a u-turn, then propel himself again at Bass. The half navi kicked his legs up and over his own head, rolling to his feet.

“Blizzard Breath!” the snowball called out as Bass backed out of his ski path. He faced to the side so the icy breath would catch Bass as he passed by.

This is a problem! Bass tried to jump back, but one of his feet got caught and was trapped in an ice block. It wasn’t a clean hit thankfully, and the ice wasn’t secured to the ground. Bass was still able to awkwardly retreat to a nearby building. He kicked his frozen foot on the wall to break the ice off, then dropped to the ground again as another ring stuck into the wall over his head. His dodge was more controlled this time. He used one hand to catch his fall, and then pushed himself back to his feet. Bass decided to get some cover and slipped into the shadows between this building and the next.

“He ran!?” Blizzardman exclaimed as Cosmoman claimed his stuck weapon from the wall.

“We might have to bring things up a notch. Nobody has been able to dodge that attack twice and get away with it,” Cosmoman said. He motioned for Blzzardman to follow as he pursued Bass. Blizzardman shrugged his shoulders before skiing after his partner.
___________________________________________

Treno/NK and Kaori stood off in the open commons; darkness was swirling in Kaori's eyes as she drew her tonfas and went for a strike. Treno swiftly dodged the blow and hammered Kaori in the back with the pommel of the Fusion Sword.

"Sorry lady," Treno said. "But I'm not gonna’ go easy on you this time." He slashed out a wave of energy from the fusion sword. Kaori leaped from the ground and went for a cross slash at his face. Treno back dashed and began his next attack. "Ice Sword Fusion, Ice Strike!" Treno yelled. He made an arc of a swing with his sword, and splinters of ice formed and exploded from the ground in front of him which caught Kaori off guard. She backed off slightly and spit out some loose data, looking angrily at the fuser.

Treno and Kaori's weapons clashed hard, sparking bursts of energy as they struck and parried, as they began to grapple each other.

"You're weaker in this form," Kaori said. "The frail human body you've bonded with has made you pathetic."

"Wrong..." Treno said, breaking the grapple and slashing Kaori's arm, exposing a jagged pixelated gap. "We are one! Never are we as powerful as we are when we are together, just as you and Leina used to be!"

"That pathetic wench?!" Kaori said favoring her arm slightly. "She was always my weaker half, keeping me from my true potential."

"Again you are wrong!" Treno said knocking the tonfa from Kaori's left arm and injuring her hand. "Leina loves you very much! You and her are as much one as we are! Without her you are left incomplete! She loves you for who you are; these DarkLoids are only using you for what you are!"

Kaori leapt back and up, grabbing behind her to cling to the sill of a second story window. She looked down at Treno/NK and grinned. "You don't know anything! You talk like you’re not being used, but all you are is armor for that human. And what was I to Leina? A program. Her tool to reach her objectives on the Network. I’m free of that. I make my own decisions as an equal to the free navis around me. Fighting you…” She suddenly jumped straight at Treno/NK, sending a charge of dark energy from her second tonfa directly into his chest and sending him flying onto his back. “…is MY decision!”
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Megawoman (Lyne)

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