MMBN4-Sidestory C-7: Solution Error

[DJ ZipZap (Dyne)]

Title: Megaman Battle Network Four – Sidestory (Pending Title)*
Author: DJ ZipZap (Dyne)

*Author’s Note
-Any Unofficial Character used in this fic is my own fictional character unless otherwise noted. For example, I’m thinking of asking a friend to use a character, therefore I shall give credit to them.
-Also, due to the fact that I do not completely know all of the Japanese names for characters, and would rather not mix, I will be using the English Game names.
-This FanFic will be following the story of another entrant in the three tournaments in EXE4; hopefully I can give it more story than the actual game. XD

Eh-hem… Now that that is over…

Chapter One: Discovery

Rup, tup, chup, tup… Rup… Chup, tup, tup…

Inside the Sharo Space Center, a tired-looking man looking to be in his mid-thirties typed into his keyboard. Despite his apparent need of sleep, he typed quickly, moving his fingers across the letters like a world-renowned painting an anticipated masterpiece. A few hundred types later, the man abruptly stopped. He slowly raised his head. Excellent… the man thought. Satisified with his work, he started turning on the computer’s sleep mode.

The man, excited to get home after a long day of work, walked away from the computer and turned off the lights. He then looked back at the room, taking a good look at it.

“I’ll be back tomorrow,” the man said. “Don’t get lonely.” He chuckled, and was about to leave the room, when something disturbed him. He recalled seeing something odd on the computer… A glowing red dot on the PC. The man racked his brain for the correct meaning of the red glow, and then gasped in shock.

Rushing back to the computer-only about ten feet away-he already felt his eyes widening. The glowing in that position of the computer meant one thing. Simply, it meant that something was going on important. However, the red-colored shine meant that there were two meanings. One, it could be incredibly good… Or, it could mean something terrible was about to happen. Either way, the importance of this glow was not to be ignored, even if a certain tired young man wanted to go to his home and get some sleep.

Instantly ‘waking’ the computer, the man typed his way into an orbital observatory program. This program received wave frequencies from a satellite that revolved around the earth, transmitting video from outer space to it. The man watched intently, using a small ‘joystick’ of sorts to make the camera, thousands of miles above him, view different angle. The man searched, his tired, bloodshot eyes glued to the monitor screen.

At first, he believed there must’ve been a malfunction with the program. For the longest time, the man did not see anything at all. Continuing his search, he passed over something that caught his eye. It was small, a tiny blip, but a red, almost ‘flaming’ blip. Since the satellite could pick up video hundreds of miles away-a new video upgrade had been recently added to the satellite-the man assumed that this could probably be the meaning of the red glow. To make sure of not wasting his time, he lowered his head and looked at the glow again, assuring himself it was still red.

He magnified the picture, slowly. As the picture grew larger and larger, it grew blurrier. The blurs made the quality of the feed incredibly low, but the blip was large enough to recognize. A flaming ball of earth, crashing straight toward them…

The man’s eye’s widened to the point of him looking like an alien, then he muttered to himself, “Must… tell the others…” And with that, the man burst out the door of the computer room, racing to the telecommunications room. He didn’t even bother to turn off his beloved computer.

***

At about the same time, a blond haired young man at NAXA spotted the asteroid himself.
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Yup... Finally kicked my butt into writing something. I know at the moment it's not much, but it took me a while to write this... So... enjoy. Please gimme comments... I enjoy them... And criticism is totally justified. :D Just help me better my writings.
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[Hikari Angel]

so this is a remake of the exe4 story line? or yea, great job! i can;t say anything else though. I'll sdit this post later i think.
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"To give ourselves, and never count the cost of other's greater needs."

[DJ ZipZap (Dyne)]

Sort of. It's the story of another entrant in the tournaments in MMBN4, and his unnoticed involvments in the plot line of the game... Completly fictional, of course, but I believe it's a good idea. :D
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[DJ ZipZap (Dyne)]

Chapter Two: Kail

Bededebeep! Bededebeep! Beep!

The alarm clock started off immediately. With a sudden jerk of his head, Kail Ekna bolted to groggy awakening. He blinked a few times, staring at his dull white bedroom wall with the picture of Lan Hikari-one of the greatest Net Saviors of the present-on it. He shook his ‘just-below-ear-length’ brown hair out, and looked to his right side.

On his bed stand table sat his Personal Terminal, as usual, in sleep-mode. He quickly reached out to it and wacked the ‘ON’ Button, allowing the dull light in the screen to adjust his vision; it was six o’clock on the morning, and it was still dark. Suddenly, Kail could see all around him, and routinely got out of bed. He walked over to his small armoire and gathered his everyday clothes, ready for another day of school.

Kail lifted himself into the black shirt and pants, and put on his long white, short-sleeved coat. He looked at himself in the mirror next to his bed. Something wasn’t quite right.

“Your hair, dope,” a voice came from his PET. The voice laughed softly.

Kail peered back at his PET sitting at its regular charging station. He realized that by turning it on to see in the dark, he had also ‘awaken’ his netnavigator. “Oh shut up, Raid*.” Kail laughed with the voice. “I coulda’ told you that.” A small grin crossed Kail’s smooth face. “Shut up and turn on the lights, I can’t see very well.”

He looked back at the mirror and realized that his navi Raid had been correct, his hair was the oddity of the morning. He darted his hand at a shelf next to the mirror, shelving hair products galore. With a quick spray and douse here and there, his raggedy brown was back to its old, shining self. Kail smirked at his-what he called-devilish good looks. “Perfect,” he mumbled to himself.

“I heard that, you egotistical air-head,” Raid said, and laughed louder. “You honestly need to get over yourself.”

“Didn’t I just say shut-up?” Kail asked, sarcastically. “Come on, let’s get downstairs; I’ll see you at the the downstairs TV.” After these words, Kail grabbed his PET, rushed out of the room, took a sharp left, and thundered down the main stairs.

In the Net-World, Raid.exe compliantly obeyed, stepping onto a small circular tile in the ground. His body spun with brilliant force, and soon he was flashing a neon light blue. Without time to say a word, Raid was teleported to Kail Ekna’s Internet Website. Looking to his left, he spotted a new circular tile, marked “D-TV”. Raid slowly strolled over to it, and the process was repeated, landing the purple, scarf-wearing navi in the Ekna House’s downstairs television’s cyber world. Raid patiently watched for his owner to pass by the outer part of the screen.

As soon as the fourteen year-old did pass by, Raid shouted out, “Loving the new link you made, Kail! Quite useful! Hah!”

Kail grinned at the television screen and jacked out Raid, sending the navi into his PET once again. “Lovin’ the wireless ability, I am.” Kail said happily, and rushed off to the kitchen, PET-with Raid inside-in hand.

“Yeah, these new Advance PETs are pretty cool, but allow me to ask, please,” Raid started, “why do you make me go to the television? You can easily take me with you in my PET.”

Kail smirked, then looked at the PET. “For exercise, bud. It’s that time of year again…” He smirked wider, then pulled a chair at the bar and sat down.
“Ah,” Raid mused. “NetBattle Tournament coming up, I assume?”

“You got it,” Kail said. “There’s a City Tournament being held in each nation’s main city this upcoming week.” He paused, putting his hand to his chin, sarcastically rubbing it. “I wonder what I’ll win.”

All of a sudden, a pretty blond haired women materialized at the bar. “Good morning, hon. Pancakes are on the way. You’d like some, right? You’re in for a big day of school today. Isn’t there some sort of test today?”

“Yeah…” Kail muttered, but he smiled and quickly added, “it’ll be a piece of cake, though. It’s on advanced programming techniques. I’m an ace at that kind of stuff.”

“Good,” Kail’s mother said. She seemed to stretch the word. “And how are you this fine morning, Raid?” She looked at the still glowing screen and smiled.

“I feel great, Mrs. Ekna,” Raid stated. “Last night’s re-charge rest was a good one; I can feel some powerful stuff surging through me.”

Mrs. Ekna reached to her left for a plate of pancakes and handed them to Kail. “Eat up.” Then she ruffled through her apron pockets and found a small subchip. “And here, I made this with the Synth-Machine last night.” She handed it to Kail who shoved it into his PET’s chip slot. “That should give Raid another extra boost.”

“Awesome,” Raid exclaimed. “FullEnergy! I’m feelin’ truly great!”

Kail began his plate of pancakes, ready for another day.
-----
*Raid is Valiant's Fan-Navi; used with permission.
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I have returned! Also known as Dyne Kiline, DyneX14, etc.

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[Roy Tanaka]

This is pretty good, Dyne. Good job, can't wait to see the tournament. :D

And now you make me want pancakes ;_;

[DJ ZipZap (Dyne)]

Chapter Three: The Agent

Regal eyed his men, noticing each detail, visible or not. A man like him could tell most anything about a person. He need only take a quick, studious glance at someone and already he would know what your fears, hopes, emotions were. With this, he could also torment or compliment you perfectly in a matter of seconds. Regal was just gifted with the ability.

He looked slowly at the one in front of him, moving his eyes up and down the whole body, settling on the face. Straining, he looked into the man’s face, a person’s most revealing section. Fear. Regal sensed fear. A man like this was afraid of rejection, afraid of loss. He was not suitable for what Regal had in mind. Regal made a soft grunting noise. He allowed his feet to guide him to the next man in line. This one had dull black hair, and a hideously ugly face. Regal looked here and there, noticing every distinct aspect of this one. Regal finally took a look at this man’s face, and after only a few seconds, cast his eyes away and then rolled them. This man obviously couldn’t stand a single defeat, no matter how small. With this kind of temper, Regal’s mission could be destroyed in no less than a few hours, maybe days.

Regal made his way down more of the line, occasionally stroking his beard in thought, believing that he might have found the one. However, after closer examination, his optimistic beliefs were stomped down; he would find small flaws that were critical to the mission. Suddenly believing he wouldn’t be finding the perfect one-or at least suitable-this day, Regal found himself slowing down. He knew he’d find one sometime, but he wished to start his mission soon; in fact, he had to… Time was running out.

At last the end of the line had come. Only one more remained. Regal turned to this one, boredom and slight disappointment shadowing his thoughts. Regal straightened out his white lab coat and adjusted his head to stare right at the man’s face.

This one had shoulder-length dirty blond hair, and incredibly sharp eyes, covered slightly by a pair of dark shades resting on the end of his nose. He wore a long dark coat and dark black pants that became white at the end of the knee. His face showed little emotion, except that of being completely calm. This one was a cool one, Regal could tell-on the outside, at least. Regal focused on the eyes, but the slight coverage of the shades permitted no close examination. Those had to be taken off.

“You,” Regal said slowly, “take off your glasses.”

The man did so almost instantaneously, locking his sharp eyes with Regals. There was no fear in those eyes, only determination. The man, of course, did not know what this examination was all about, but he obviously realized that it was important. Regal focused stronger now, looking into the deep pool of blue that was the iris. Regal was appalled; there were no flaws. Shaking off the sudden startle, he straightened himself, and smirked devilishly.

“Name?” Regal asked. He didn’t care to know the names of his employees, so he had to ask this one’s.

The man showed no excitement or fear as he clearly said, “Drake Kratos, sir.”

Regal smiled. This name was reasonable. He knew that judging someone based on name was foolish, but he had always believed a strong name lent credit to the bearer. And this name had strength. “Well, Mr. Kratos, may I ask you to follow me?” Regal backed up a few yards and called out, “The rest of you are done. Resume your natural doings.” With that, Regal turned away from his candidate, and strode briskly toward a set of shining silver automatic doors. He knew his man would follow; this opportunity was a chance for this ‘Kratos’ to get on the Doctor’s good side. Hardly something to pass up.

Walking quickly and with a purpose, Regal finally arrived at the door of his destination. Calking his head slightly-just to make sure-Regal saw that Kratos was following just as quickly. Regal pressed a small button near the door, and a circular keypad slid out of a seemingly unnoticeable compartment in the wall. Regal shot his right index finger at the keypad’s tiny numbers, pressing an intricate pattern of numbers. Suddenly the keypad withdrew back to the wall, and the door slid open, revealing a small conference room.

Regal indicated to come in to Kratos and slowly stated, “Please, come in.” With that, the man went inside, and Regal followed.

Kratos looked around, and then glanced at Regal, his eyes asking ‘Where do I sit?’

Regal chuckled, and then said, “Sit where you want, Mr. Kratos. There are plenty of seats available. Oh, and please, open your mouth. You are my guest of honor.”

“Yes sir,” Kratos said, nodding sharply. He walked around the table and pulled a chair out, sitting on it immediately. He pulled himself into the long oval table in the middle of the room. Regal slowly did the same, taking a seat directly across Kratos.

“First, before we get to business-and I mean strict business…” Regal started, smiling, “any questions, Mr. Kratos?” He slowly folded his arms, resting his head on them, staring at his guest.

“Not at all, sir,” Kratos said, “I am, however, rather curious as to what this is all about. I am patient, though. I expect you will explain when the time comes.”

“Indeed, Mr. Kratos,” Regal mused. “And that time is now, for what I am hoping you will take part in’s own time is running out.”

“Yes, Master Regal,” Kratos said, lack of information aching his mind.

“Well, you are obviously ready to wait,” Regal said, content with the name ‘Master’. “Which is a good. As the saying is… ‘Patience is a virtue’.” Regal chuckled. “And you certainly seem to have it.” He paused a slight moment, examining Drake Kratos one more time. The shades were back on his face again, once again concealing his eyes ever so slightly. “You see Mr. Kratos, we are Nebula. The Dark Chip Syndicate Nebula. You of course know that we deal in the darker side of things…

“To put it short, Kratos, I wish to spread the darkness. It is my wish that the evil of this world so much that it engulfs the people. Out of the chaotic moments, I will rise, and Nebula will rule. Myself, and a few select others,” Regal looked strongly at Kratos, “will take control over the earth. The world will be ours. Nebula’s power will be the only power in this world.

“However, there are problems. With our darkness, comes the light of side. Might I mention a few? The Net Officials, Net Saviors, a certain Lan Hikari… All of this stands in our way. But this is obvious, and I am wasting our time mentioning these… people. They will stop at nothing to save this earth from any sort of evil, and so we must take gigantic action. Our choices must be powerful. You understand, of course?”

Kratos nodded, taking in each word slowly, as if trying to decipher Regal’s true meanings.

“For quite some time now, Kratos,” Regal said softly, “I have been monitoring the cosmos with our Space Division. Not many aspects of interest come out of there often, as we have learned a lot about our solar system already. However… Just recently, one of my scientists picked up a small blip on the radars. This blip was traced to be about five hundred miles away. Further investigation proved that it was something to be taken seriously.

“To put it short, the blip is a asteroid. This asteroid is headed to earth. Collision could be catastrophic, but thanks to today’s technology, that will not happen… At least, it wouldn’t… But this meteor is very different. An interior scan showed that this asteroid is…”

Kratos was absorbed in the speech, his face spilling interest.

“This asteroid is…” Regal repeated, “man-made.”

Kratos, despite his clam attitude, could not help but gasp. “Man-made, Master Regal?!”

“Yes, Kratos,” Regal started, smiling happily, “A man-made asteroid is hurling toward the earth, and due to this fact, the earth’s technology cannot stop it; it has a sel-protecting shield. But, the most startling fact about the asteroid is that it is actually a huge cyber system. Scans have shown that there is a great source of energy inside the asteroid, but it is not yet known what. Either way, I believe we can handle it.”

“What does this have to do with Nebula?” inquired Kratos. “Surely the asteroid is a good thing? Can we not escape it?”

“No, we cannot,” Regal sighed, “Not even us. At first, I thought it was all over, but upon further thought, I came up with something else. I will use my net navi to go inside the asteroid and harness its power. With a asteroid that can destroy the world under Nebula’s control, we will be in control!”

Kratos’ eyes widened as he began to put the pieces together. “Oh! So you’ll use the asteroid as a threat? Might I say ingenious?”

Regal laughed. “Yes, it is genious. Now, here is where you come in. I have devised a way to use NAXA and the Sharo Space Center to reach my goals. When everything is set up, you will be briefed further.”

Kratos scowled. “So I don’t know exactly what I’m here for yet?”

“No, you won’t know now,” Regal said, smiling. “But you will. Now, if you’ll excuse me…”

“Where are you going, Master Regal?” Kratos asked?

“To NAXA,” Regal said, a wicked smirk forming out of his smile. “The world-renowned Doctor Regal is about to show NAXA the way to ‘stopping‘ this asteroid…” Regal broke into a insidious laugh and tossed Kratos a small wristband. “Wear it, and listen. I will contact you soon, and then you’re part in my play will be revealed. Mr. Kratos, you are now my Agent of Darkness.”
-----
The story is heating up, no? :D
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I have returned! Also known as Dyne Kiline, DyneX14, etc.

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[WarpObscura]

Your talent is great and it will only grow, but remain to the earth, I beseech, for pride leads to a great fall.

*coughcoughAMZcoughcoughhackwheeze*

Sorry, I have a bad cold today.
_________________
The name is Warp "Ligia" Obscura. *Cocks gun to shoot mispellers*

[Roy Tanaka]

Indeed, the story is heating up. :D Which rules. Good chapter, this "Kratos" is interesting.

[DJ ZipZap (Dyne)]

[DJ ZipZap (Dyne)]

Chapter Four: Battle Chip In! Download!

School seemed to drag on, Kail often found his mind wandering onto different subjects that seemed to just pop up in his head, doing so with amazing speed. He lifted his head off of the small tan desk and looked at the east wall of the schoolroom; the poster was rather bland, with just three words on it. It read “School is Important!” Beneath the letters, a small cartoon boy grinned widely, and held his arms up, both hands forming the two-fingered ‘peace’ sign. Kail groaned.

“Alright class,” Kail’s homely-faced teacher started. “Time for the quiz.”

The class, excluding Kail and a few others, all let out a moan of angst; the students were more than ready to get out of school. In perfect unison, almost all them took out compact laptop computers, ready to get the quiz over with.

“Now class,” Kail’s teacher said cheerfully, “remember how I said this was about advanced programming techniques?” All the students nodded their heads slowly, showing no cheeriness like the teacher. “I lied!” She let out a short, annoying giggle, and then continued to say, “Think of this quiz as a pop quiz! It’s on battle chip codes!”
The class cheered simultaneously, and Kail rubbed his hand over his forehead in relief while sighing. He shot a look at Raid and whispered softly, “Excellent luck, don’t you think? We had to memorize some chip codes for the tournament!”

“Yeah,” Raid said, a confused look on this face. “Hard to believe it’d be this coincidental. Surely your teacher knows about the tournament?” He shrugged and then added, “Just don’t jump to conclusions, kay?”

Kail rolled his eyes and blurted, “What could be concluded falsely about a chip code test?” He snorted lightly-in a sarcastic tone-under his breath.

“Now class,” the teacher chattered on, “since we all know there is this tournament thing coming up… I decided to prepare the ones who want to enter for the preliminaries, and to refresh the minds of those who don’t!” She closed her eyes and her eyebrows lifted in glee.

“See?” Kail mumbled to Raid, still looking at Kail in disbelief in his PET. “She’s just being nice for once.”

“But to make it more interesting,” the pleased teacher said, “I’ve made it so you have to ‘name’ the chip codes in…” She took a deep, happy breath and smiled wider.

The classmates looked around, their faces spilling out the question ‘What? What is she talking about?’ Kail too spread the look around.

“In a NetBattle!” the teacher said happily, clapping her hands in utter delight. “You will NetBattle the student in the desk to your immediate right-or if you’re at the end of a row, go to the first student in the next row-, and-in a special arena, designed specially for the school’s use-will have to speak the name of the chip you wish to use and a code that is compatible with it! Won’t that be fun!”

The class cheered in unexpected happiness, smiles spreading across their relieved faces. Each of them turned to their right and took a meaningful glance at the person sitting there, even if they already knew who was there. Kail did not, however, he already knew whom he was sitting to the left of, and he was quite glad. Knowing a good amount of chip codes was useful enough, but having to NetBattle Grelen Frasch was an added bonus. Grelen was the cool kid in school, but he wasn’t at the least partial to NetBattling. This was probably because he was absolutely horrid at dueling Net Navis, claiming that his navi was ‘dumber than a sack of dull light bulbs’.

Kail grinned madly at Grelen and said to him, “So, you ready to NetBattle?” He laughed inaudibly. Grelen only nodded, a sad look in his hazel eyes.

“Alright class,” the teacher said, “Jack your navis into your laptops, and then send them to the school’s Website. You’ll find a new link at our class’s homepage. Activate it, and each of your navis will be in an arena with your NetBattle partner’ navi. Do not commence battle until I say so.”

Kail eagerly obeyed his eight-grade educator. He typed in a few keys, and in an instant a ‘Favorites’ program opened up. Kail clicked on the “School” icon and immediate the Sharo Junior High’s school Website showed up. Kail pointed his Advance PET at the laptop’s jack-in point, and then shot his eyes at the PET screen. Raid disappeared in a swirl of different letters, eventually spelling “Jacked-In” vertically across the screen. The fourteen year-old turned his attention back to the laptop screen, and pulled up a window showing Raid in the Cyber World. He was standing in a rather generic neon blue room, with a sign saying “Sharo Junior High”.

“M’kay,” Kail muttered happily, “go to the link.” Raid quickly obeyed, and ran toward a glowing platform, new to the area. His dark body-a black skin-tight jumpsuit equipped with dark purple and red armor on the chest, foreleg and wrist areas-was again covered by the swirling blue letters. The words soon spelled “Teleported” and the screen flashed to a new area. This one was a small arena, glowing neon green. Raid looked around and shrugged, then turned back to Kail.

“Tiny,” Raid said, lifting an eyebrow.

“Yeah, I hear ya,” Kail mused. “Oh well.” He whispered to his navi, “We won’t be needing much space to delete this guy… He’s a push-over.” Again he laughed quietly.

“Is everyone in their respected arenas?” the teacher inquired, ready to start the ‘quiz’.

A small and somewhat excited “Yes” from most of the students indicated they were. The teacher waited only a minute more, then put her arm up. “On your feet now…” She shot her arm down and shouted, “and NetBattle!”

Kail focused his face on the screen, looking at Raid and his new opponent. Grelen’s navi was actually very interesting to look at. The navi’s name was an odd ‘LolliMan’. His design was quite obvious; LolliMan was a lollipop-based navi. His attacks revolved around lollipops, his battle cries were often puns involving the word lollipop, and he was ‘as loopy as a lollipop’. Kail could only help feeling sorry for Grelen and his navi; their loss would be more than they could handle. He found himself smirking.

Immediately Raid was in action, and was already shooting his buster at the strange-yet-interesting navi. LolliMan made no distinct actions; rather, he was taking the shots. Kail looked at Grelen and realized that the cool kid was trying to remember some chip codes. He had a nervous look on his face. Kail decided to poke fun at him by not using a chip yet. He decided to continue Raid’s pelting shots.

Minutes after Kail’s glance at Grelen, the boy finally remembered one. “Eh… Canon J!” Grelen stared at the screen, but instead of LolliMan’s arm transforming into a green canon, nothing happened. The lollipop navi blinked twice, and looked meaningfully at Grelen.

“Please, Grelen!” LolliMan exclaimed in despair as he finally realized that he ought to dodge the buster shots. “Remember a code! I’m dying out here!” His voice squeaked in a way only a candy-based navi’s voice would.

“I’m trying!” Grelen said madly, cursing under his breath.

Kail smirked wider and commanded, “Raid, let’s see… Am Area Steal S, followed by a Sword S!” The dark-colored navi obeyed quickly, and found that he was able to use the chip abilities without Kail actually slotting in the battle chips. He quickly appeared behind LolliMan and then he slashed his bladed arm horizontally at LolliMan. The candy navi flew wildly in the air, crying digital tears.

“Grelen, please!” he shouted, his voice echoing in the arena with a dismayed sound. “I need something!”

At this moment, the teacher passed the two boy’s desks, looking at their screen. Quickly noting each one’s chip usage, she smiled, and then turned away and walked onto the next set of desks. Kail was content; he was using chips galore.

Into the mood now, Kail continued to shout out chip codes. “Canon A, Canon B, Canon C, battle chips in! Download!” He knew saying the download phrase wasn’t necessary, but he found himself saying the words anyway. “Program Advance! Giga Canon!” Raid’s arm turned into a canon and shot a massive blast at LolliMan.

“Uh… Wait! I remember one!” Grelen cried. “Side Bamboo Z!” Again, nothing happened. “Aw, darnit!” Grelen stomped his foot.

With a wider smirk now, Kail said slowly, “Let’s finish him off with another Area Steal S, followed by Sword S, Wide Sword S, and Long Sword S, shall we?” Instantaneously, Raid teleported behind LolliMan and slashed the program advance ‘Life Sword’ at him. LolliMan let out a horrendous squeal of pain, and then, without any delay, blue letters swirled around him, eventually spelling “Deleted”.

Grelen cursed, “Damnit! You won!

Kail had won. “Not like I hadn’t expected to.” He turned to Grelen and smiled. “Sorry, Grel. Heh.”
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I don't like this chapter so much, but I'll be glad to hear what you all think. I might need some of my own beta readers, as it seems all the other good fanfic-ers seem to have some. ^-^;
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[Roy Tanaka]

Pretty good chapter, "Lolliman" was probably the most original navi EVER. :P

And I volunteer to be a beta reader, if you want. ^_^

[DJ ZipZap (Dyne)]

Coolioio! You are on my Beta-Reading Team. Expect an update sometime tomorrow. :D
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[WarpObscura]

The tale is still interesting. I wonder, Kail's going to make it to the Red Sun/Blue Moon Tournament, isn't he?
_________________
The name is Warp "Ligia" Obscura. *Cocks gun to shoot mispellers*

[DJ ZipZap (Dyne)]

Eh, perhaps... I still haven't decided if I'll go with calling the second tournament Hawk or Eagle and the third Blue Moon or Red Sun. >.> I'll figure that out.
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[DJ ZipZap (Dyne)]

Chapter Five – The Agent in Action
--Beta Reader: Roy Tanaka--
Kratos stared dully at his wristband-com-link. He could be patient, but to have been told by Regal himself that he was important to a mission involving using a man-made asteroid to take over the earth, Kratos was in no mood to wait any further. He turned his attention upward, looking at the gloomy walls of the hall he had only minutes ago walked through, curious of what Regal had in min. Kratos came to a fork, and tried to remember which way he had come. His angered impatience was clouding his cool thoughts.

Through impulse, Kratos went right. He walked down this corridor further, remembering exactly what Regal had told him.

“Wear it, and listen. I will contact you soon, and then you’re part in my play will be revealed. Mr. Kratos, you are now my Agent of Darkness.” The doctor had said. Kratos wondered why he deserved such an extravagant name, but he was quite content with it. After all, this was the Dark Chip Syndicate Nebula. Being the Agent of Darkness made practical sense. He shrugged off the slight moment of curiosity and continued down the hall.

Coming to a door, he knew shot his eyes at the keycard slot to the left, and calmly put his left hand in his pocket. He pulled out a small white card with the intricate Nebula design on it. Kratos quickly inserted the card, and then slowly pulled it out, allowing the red light above the slot to turn a dull green. The door opened, and Kratos pocketed his card.

Immediately the agent realized he had gone the wrong way. Kratos was in the aquatics portion of the Nebula Headquarters; the section of it dedicated to researching and observing the waters of the earth. Any strange happenings there would be found first by Nebula, and with any luck, they’d be able to harness it to do some sort of dark deed.

It was true that for a while Nebula had been committing petty crimes, nothing to be concerned with. In fact, only a few of the most informed Net Officials knew about the syndicate. But what Regal had told Kratos would make them global… Not only for the size of their actions, but because they would soon be ruling the planet… If everything went in order, that was. Kratos doubted anything would go wrong; it seemed that if Regal could easily slip in and out of NAXA that he obviously knew what he was doing.

About to turn around, Kratos noticed something on one of the computer screens. No one was around; obviously all of the necessary attention of Nebula was turned toward the Space Department. He strolled over to it and lifted his dark shades slightly upward, able to get a new and better look at the screen.

“Ah!” Kratos exclaimed. There was a flashing icon in the upper right corner meaning danger in the system. He scowled. “Viruses.” He did not need to be an expert at the aquatics system to know that the computer was infested with viruses.

Quite coolly, Kratos dipped his right hand under his coat and pulled out a slightly rectangular object, a screen glowing in the center of it. Kratos pointed his PET at the computer’s jack-in screen and shouted, with no hesitation, “Jack In! UmbraMan.exe! Download!” With that, a dark figure on the PET screen disappeared in a swirl of dark purple letters, eventually vanishing. Kratos looked at the computer screen and saw his navi appear on the screen. Kratos, who looked to be in his early-30s, smiled devilishly.

UmbraMan was menacing, to say the least. He was a bulking, dark, cloaked navi. Despite his apparent massiveness, his mind was deviously clever, and his thoughts always revolved around the next move to make. He used the shadows as cover and could disappear completely in their veil. His face spilled maliciousness, and his red eyes showed no fear. UmbraMan’s long silver hair reached all the way down to his lower abdomen. A broad, dark purple-hand-held-cyber sword could be seen in his left hand.

“Yes, Master Kratos?” UmbraMan asked quickly. His voice was not deep, yet not high. It had a strange hollowness in it adding to his menacing figure.

“UmbraMan, look around,” Kratos ordered. “Do you see any viruses?”

UmbraMan obeyed astonishingly fast, swirling his head around, searching for any sign of the annoying computer bugs. His eyes had a long range of view, and he finally spotted a single mettaur to his east. “Virus spotted. Do you wish for me to delete it?”

“Of course,” Kratos said, a small tinge of delight in his voice. UmbraMan’s deletions were ruthless and at the same time beautiful. He deleted enemies in such a way that it could be considered art.

The navi didn’t walk toward the virus; he disappeared. It took only the time of a blink of the eye for him to reappear, only yards away from the mettaur. Now he could see farther, and realized there were thousands of viruses. All the better, UmbraMan though, a sinister smile forming on his lips. Casting his broad sword upward, he softly whispered, “Shadow Cast.” In an instant, a huge dome of shadows covered the viruses and UmbraMan; it had a radius of one thousand yards.

“Excellent, UmbraMan,” Kratos stated. “Give them a scare.” He coolly inserted a battle chip. “Muramasa! Battle Chip In! Download!”

In the computer, UmbraMan’s sword turned into a slick black katana. He took a moment to admire it, and then raised it high. With deadly force, he swooshed it downward, nailing the mettaur’s outer helmet. With a horrendous scream of digital pain, the mettaur materialized into flying letters, spelling “Deleted” as usual. All the viruses in the area turned to see their companion deleted, and focused determinedly at UmbraMan. At that moment, the Muramasa blade turned back into UmbraMan’s broadsword.

“Now give ‘em hell!” Kratos shouted with a sinister tone.

UmbraMan nodded and looked cruelly at the viruses. He raised the sword and started dashing toward the masses of viruses, disappearing and reappearing in the shadows. When he met with a virus, he stabbed or slashed viciously at it, deleting it instantly. Through hundreds and hundreds the hulking shadow navi went, slicing, stabbing, and slashing with vigorous passion. UmbraMan did not once get tired, and continued deleting.

Kratos, although satisfied already, decided this was taking a bit too long. Besides, he wanted a grand finale. “Ok, time to finish them off with something big, UmbraMan. Let’s see…” He dug out some oddly colored chips from his pocket; dark chips, of course. “A Dark Pile-Driver Program Advance! GundelHel1, GundelHel2, and GundelHel3! Dark Pile Driver, activate!”

Two massive ‘solar’ panels appeared on opposite ends of the shadow dome. Since the area was covered by darkness, the panels absorbed in the shadows instead of light. UmbraMan held up his right hand and his finger pointed upward. He shot more shadows into the dome, adding to the darkness capable of being absorbed by the panels. Then he shot it downward and smiled devilishly.

“Fire!” UmbraMan shouted, his voice echoing in the dome. Raw fear began to darken the viruses faces, as they knew their impending deletion was coming. The panels stalled for just a minute, then shot a massive amount of darkness at each other. The dome, for a long moment, turned pitch black, and Kratos could not see what was happening.

Then it all cleared. UmbraMan stood smirking an evil smirk in the middle of the dissipating dome. He sheathed his broadsword at his hip, folded his arms, and awaited jack-out.

“UmbraMan.exe, jack-out,” Kratos said slowly and satisfied, pointing the PET at the jack-in point. He attached the PET to his right hip again, and turned around, walking toward the exit.
All of a sudden, the com-link on Kratos’ wrist buzzed in. Regal’s voice came quietly. “Agent Kratos, your part will now be revealed.”
-----
Um...
I like UmbraMan... ^-^
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I have returned! Also known as Dyne Kiline, DyneX14, etc.

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[Roy Tanaka]

As I said via PM, excellent chapter! Umbraman is quite intriguing, like his operator. As for the tournaments, I'd say maybe mix 'em up and have Hawk and Red Sun or Eagle and Blue Moon.

[DJ ZipZap (Dyne)]

Chapter Six: Combo! Combo! Perfect!

Kail mashed the buttons, pressing two at once. “Awesome! I’m gonna beat the high score!” He rotated the joystick madly, making the little man on screen dodge with rapid speed. As he bashed another small circle, his PET chimed in.

“Kail, you have a new email,” Raid said informatively. “It’s from the Sharo NetBattlers’ Association.”

“Well,” Kail started, his eyes still focused on the screen, “open it and read it out loud, would ya?”

“Sure,” Raid said, and his voice paused. “It reads: ‘we here at the SNBA would like to inform our subscribers that the Sharo West Division tournament is arriving with quickening pace. For all those interested, the preliminaries will be taking place in exactly three days, followed by a four-day delay till the actual tournament will start. Please, polish up your battle chips and get into the game, we want to have a big turn out. And for our subscribers only, here’s a hint at what to suspect in the preliminaries: Be sure to have your PETs checked for viruses and your chip folders set up wisely! The preliminaries will involve these two things! Thank you for taking the time to read the newsletter. Your SNBA Newsletter Editor, Peyton Wills.’… That’s it.”

“Sounds great,” Kail darted his finger at one button to the far left side of the game machine, but it was too late. A low beeping noise indicated game over. “Aw! Well, at least I got the new high score.” He lifted up his PET quickly, taking another glance at the email. “Eh? That isn’t a hint. Of course any serious net battler would have their PETs checked for viruses or their folders in order. Yeah, that’s not a hint at all.”

“I dunno, Kail,” Raid said while shrugging. “There might be more too it, just don’t jump back to conclusions. You’ve already been proven wrong once today.” He laughed and added, “Although we did kill LolliMan, huh? Hah!”

“Yeah, we crushed that candy man,” Kail noted. “Seriously, he didn’t pull off one chip, did he?” He snorted sharply. Raising his head from the PET, he slowly took a look around the arcade. Wondering which game to play next, he took his time to wander around the technology-filled building. Tossing his eyes here and there, he finally spotted something he would really like to try. “Boy, this new arcade has everything, doesn’t it?” Kail held up the PET so Raid could see.

Raid shot his glance around, examining each machine. “Yeah, I guess. Eh, which are you going to try, exactly? Wouldn’t want to end up embarrassing yourself, would you?”

Kail snorted once more, and spat, “Yeah, right. Me? Embarrass myself? You’ve got to be kidding.” He paused, biting his lip. “I’ve really got to stop grunting like that.”

“It’s more of a snort, dope,” Raid mused, laughing it up. “Get it right.”

“Yeah, shut up,” Kail said. Without a moment’s hesitation, he strolled innocently toward the machine that had caught his interest. Slowly stepping up on the platform, he shot a glance downward toward the symbols on it. Small arrows pointed forward, backward, right, and left. “It’s called Jiggedy Jiggedy Revolution. This ought to be fun, huh?” He slipped a coin in the machine’s coin slot and continued to, inserting the exact amount of zenny needed.

“Remember what I said?” Raid face reddened inside his PET. “Don’t embarrass yourself.” He looked awkwardly to the side. I do not want to see this.

Kail read the directions closely, coming to a stop on one of them. “Hey, look at this. It says I can use a navi to watch repeat my steps on screen… Some sort of new feature… And, I don’t have to jack-in. Just need to…” Kail found a small blue cord dangling on the left side of the dance machine, attaching it to his advance PET. A small window-in-window screen appeared in the upper left corner. “Cool. You’re now emulating everything I do!”

Raid smacked his forehead in embarrassment, and soon appeared in the new window screen. “Do you honestly need to drag me into this? Ruin your reputation without me having to ruin mine… My net friends think quite highly of me.” He shot another odd glance to the side, his almost-pink face growing brighter.

“Oh, come on!” Kail was obliviously excited. “This’ll be fantastic!” He followed a few more directions, taking his time to learn the nature of the game. All of a sudden, a newcomer materialized to the right of Kail, dropping a bag he held in his hand, and inserting a few coins into the machine’s right side. Kail shot a quick yet studious glance at this one.

The newcomer looked to be in his mid-20s. He had dark black hair, thick, but ‘spiking’ backward shone brightly in the light of the arcade. He had a long five o’clock shadow, riding all the way from his sideburns to his chin. He wore a tight pare of black shades with a silver colored frame. His ears were covered by a set of horizontal headphones. His nose was sharp. He wore a puffy white coat; underneath, a black shirt with what seemed to have a navi logo on the center-in it was a single multi-colored instrumental note. His pants were baggy and black, and his shoes were wide and white.

The hip-looking man took out his black and white advance PET, again the music note navi symbol there. He took the right cord and jammed it into his PET and blazed through the directions, immediately getting to the “Wait for Opponent” screen. Kail tried to get a look at the screen of his PET, but it was covered by the man’s right hand. He then shot a glance at the window-in-window screen of the right side, but the navi wasn’t there. Shrugging, he turned his attention back to game’s directions, continuing to read.

“Gonna be done anytime soon?” the man asked. His voice was rough and had a sting to it, but it was genuine. “I can’t wait forever.”

“Huh?” Kail looked at the oddly dressed man again. “Oh yeah, right. One more paragraph.” He looked to the side and said, “This is my first time in this arcade.”

“Wonderful,” the man said feigning interest. “Look, you don’t need to read. Just dance.”

Kail ignored him and finished up the last paragraph. “Ok, ready!” He quickly pressed the button indicating “Next”. All of a sudden, a list of songs came up. “Eh… You know what you’re doing, so you can pick… Eh… Right.” He shrugged and focused on the screen.

“Ok,” the man shot his finger at the right arrow button on his side and the list of songs whirled crazily. He lifted his finger up, and the whirling stopped, landing on a song called “Sandstorm*”. “Get ready, I’m starting…” He darted his finger at the “Next” button and instantly the game started. The music began playing, a quick and addicting techno tune.

Kail straightened his legs on the right and left arrows. Without mercy, the arrows began flying up the screen. Trying to match them, Kail shot his legs up and down, looking mad as he did so. He shot another fast glance at the man. He was dancing like art. No mistakes, and his side of the massive screen was shouting “Perfects”. Focusing harder now, Kail again straightened up and began matching the beats, his screen shooting “Good”. Kail began to imitate the patterns in his mind, thinking them slowly.

Up…

Left…

Right…

Right and Left?!

Another stumble. The man didn’t even notice; all of his attention was on the music and dance. Kail quickly righted himself, and got back to playing. The bar indicating how well he was doing soon elevated itself from red back to a dull green. Getting the hang of the game now, Kail looked at his window-in-windowed navi, copying Kail’s exact moves, right down to the stumbles. His face had gone from pink to an excited red, dancing with a passion now. Kail landed the moves on the spot now, his face filled with determination. The bar turned rainbow-colored.

The song ended. Each score was calculated, and Kail had gotten a “C+”. Not the best, but good for a first try. The man looked over, already satisfied with his “AAA” rating. “You sure you’re a beginner?” the man asked. “That’s quite a good score for a newb.”

Kail grinned widely, and nodded swiftly. “Really? Awesome. Yeah, I’m new.” The man’s eyebrows raised, then he shrugged, apparently content.

He looked back at the screen and said, “Ready for another round? You still got two left till you have to pay again.” He didn’t turn to face Kail.

“Of course!” Kail exclaimed, excited that the man accepted him. “Go for it!”

The man’s right index finger hit the button but nothing happened. He pushed it again. Still nothing. He jabbed once more, and then an error message popped up. Confused, the man checked his PET. After a few seconds of inspection, the man looked up and shrugged.

“Check yours,” the man said. “Might be a bug with your stuff.”

Kail, doubting it, did so anyway, but nothing showed up. He pushed a few keys here and there, but still couldn’t find anything wrong. “Nothing, sorry.”

The man’s eyebrows raised, and then he ordered, “Well, take the cord out of your PET. Might be a problem with the machine. I’ll go check with the clerks, wait here.” He unplugged the cord attached to his PET and walked off with it, calling back. “Watch my stuff. And save my spot.”

Kail waited a few minutes but grew impatient. “Eh… He’s taking long… Maybe I should investigate hands-on.” Kail searched the front-side of the machine but found nothing. He crept to the back of it and found a jack-in spot. He raised his arm and pointed the PET toward it.

“He said wait, Kail,” Raid’s voice chimed in. “Can’t you be a bit patient?”

“Meh, patience is nothing,” he slowly muttered, “Jack-In! Raid.exe! Transmit!” Raid disappeared from the PET screen and reappeared in a screen on the backside of the machine, directly above the jack-in spot. “Ok, figure out what’s up. I’m eager to get back to playing.”
Raid strolled around the area, a bright black and blue prism with arrows along the floor. It was rather big, stretching maybe 200 cyber-yards, bigger than most non-net machines’ cyber areas. He swiveled his head around and around, searching for a problem. Seeing nothing, he continued the search for several more minutes.

“I’m not seeing anything, Kail,” Raid mused. “Maybe the error’s not there anymore.” He shrugged and continued searching.

Kail raced around the machine, and pressed the button to continue. Still the error message flashed on the screen. Taking his time, Kail said, “No… There’s something—“

“Augh!” Raid’s voice came in pain.

Kail darted back to the screen, grasping his PET tight. His eyes followed the screen till Raid was visible. Melody viruses surrounded the purple navi. Their bouncing music note bodies were pelting him, and without operation, he could only dodge a few of the slamming attacks. They shook their maracas wildly.

“Woah!” Kail shouted, instantly digging in his backpack for battle chips. “Problem spotted!” He found one and looked at it. Spreader? Uh… Good enough! He slotted the chip in and yelled, “Spreader! Battle Chip In! Download!”

Instantly Raid’s right arm-bladed arms became a blue buster gun. “Aiming Spreader!” He focused at the horde of viruses, nearly one thousand of them. Teleporting away, he pointed the buster at a good portion of them and shouted, “Firing!” A buster shot flew forward, hitting one of the bouncing melodies. Upon impact, it exploded, hitting six or seven of the others. Quickly, they were deleted.

“Ok, how about this!” Kail flung another battle chip into his PET’s slot. “Vulcan2! Battle Chip In! Download!”

“Changing arm-weapon!” Raid exclaimed loudly. The blue buster turned white and the void of empty color transformed into a silver, three-barreled machine gun. “Aiming! Firing!” Raid’s arm Vulcan shot a succession of five shots, hitting four melodies altogether, deleting three of them. “Kail, there’s too many! I can’t delete them all!”

“Ugh!” Kail grunted. “I hate too admit it, but you’re right! But we can’t give up!” Too focused on the battle, Kail wasn’t able to see the man come back and jack-in to the machine, only a few yards back from the fourteen year-old. “Ok, High Cannon, slot in!” He slotted in another battle chip, and this time Raid gained a cannon arm. Blasting it, he only deleted three more viruses.

“This is hopeless!” Raid yelled with desperation. “I need some help!”

“I’m coming!” a high-pitched voice screeched. What seemed to be another melody teleported in and shouted, “Offbeat** Perfect Combo Ray!” The music note-shaped navi stretched his stubby arms in front of him and blasted a multi-colored, note-shaped energy ray at some of the viruses. The beam deleted several of them. “Now what, ZipZap?” the navi shouted.

“Time for some dancing,” the man called from behind Kail. Instantly Kail turned to face him and his eyes widened.

“You own this navi?!” Kail said, confused.

“Yes,” the man nodded, then added, “Hurry up and command your navi to dodge! A melody’s gonna bounce on him!”

“Oh, right!” Kail looked at the screen and shot an Invis battle chip in the slot. “Invis, slot in!” Raid went transparent, the melody bouncing right through him. He started firing his buster at the viruses.

“X-Slasher!” the purple navi called out. He crossed his arms and swung them in and “X” pattern, creating a large red cross in the air. It zoomed towards the viruses, its speed increasing as it went till suddenly, it made impact. A grand explosion occurred, deleting at least a hundred viruses. Raid collapsed, exhausted. The remaining melodies gathered around him.

“Offbeat, dancing program uploading!” The man lie out a smaller, plastic version of the platform on the machine. Then he connected it to his PET and stepped on the pad. “Sync-dancer, uploaded! Ready to dance!”

The navi called Offbeat shot a few buster shots at the viruses, gaining their attention. They flew into the air and aimed toward Offbeat, crashing down with incredible speed. The man did a few side steps and so did Offbeat in perfect unison. The attacks were avoided, and then the man commanded, “Offbeat, Perfect Combo Slash!”

The note-shaped navi did a small dance, then raised his stubby hands up in the air, and brought them down with tremendous speed. A giant arrow-shaped red beam made its way toward the viruses, and slashed the rest to deletion. Calmly, the man jacked out his navi, and unplugged his pad, folding it up and putting it under his coat.

Kail jacked out Raid and slotted in a FullEnergy chip, restoring the purple navi perfectly. He turned to the man and exclaimed, “I can’t thank you enough! What’s your name?”

“Name’s DJ ZipZap,” the man held out a hand. “You handled yourself pretty well there, even if you couldn’t wait for me to get back.” The two males shook hands and grinned. “That was my navi Offbeat yours just battled alongside. What’s its name?”

“Raid,” Kail grinned wider. Something had been slipped into Kail’s hand when the two had shook, and he questioned, “What’s this? Looks like a sub chip.”

“It is close,” ZipZap said with a smile. “It’s a program chip called Virus-Wipe. Use it next time you’re in trouble. It’s the program the clerk gave me to get rid of the problem. Too bad you couldn’t wait.” He grinned and quickly added, “What’s your name, anyway?”

“Kail,” Kail stated. “Kail Ekna. Pleased to meet you DJ ZipZap.” He paused. “Wanna play those last rounds?”

“Oh,” ZipZap looked at his watch and said, “Sorry. Can’t. I’m due at the Sharo Electric in five. It’s the nightclub I DJ at. You should stop by some time. Tell them Zippy sent ya.” With that, the DJ added one more thing, “Use the program only when you need it. It has… odd effects, you might say.” And then ZipZap was off
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Eh... Long chapter! :D
Might I say, the character DJ ZipZap is nothing what I look like, heck, I'm only a teen anyway! He's just a character I thought up when I created this name.
Oh, and sorry Roy, no beta-reading today... I wanted to get this chapter out, I like it... ^^
*The song Sandstorm is made by Darude and exists.
**Offbeat is Valiant's navi, used with permission
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I have returned! Also known as Dyne Kiline, DyneX14, etc.

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[WarpObscura]

Very impressive! I don't know how you keep the quality up, but it is good for such length!
_________________
The name is Warp "Ligia" Obscura. *Cocks gun to shoot mispellers*

[Roy Tanaka]

My gosh, that was excellent! ZipZap's pretty cool. Might I say, this is infinitely times better than the REAL BN4 story. ^_^

[DJ ZipZap (Dyne)]

Sankya... I might get another chapter ready today... Or tomorrow, not sure... But I will ask one thing about it...

Should the next chapter be in Kratos' perspective or still in Kail's? I don't want to do continual switching, so I'm kinda partial to the second option. But I need opinions.
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I have returned! Also known as Dyne Kiline, DyneX14, etc.

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