Annihilation
"The line you are calling is no longer in service. Please hang up, and try your call again"
"Damnit" said Sam. "So much for asking for some more strategists."
20 people, and not one could be reached.
Sam scratched yet another option off his mental list of ideas.
"Damnit, what would Sun Tzu do in this situation?"
It was than that Dr. Cossack, still in a heap and suffering from temporary insanity, began talking, as if in a trance.
"1. Sun Tzu said: Whoever is first in the field and awaits the coming of the enemy, will be fresh for the fight; whoever is second in the field and has to hasten to battle will arrive exhausted.
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3.By holding out advantages to him, he can cause the enemy to approach of his own accord; or, by inflicting damage, he can make it impossible for the enemy to draw near.
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5. Appear at points which the enemy must hasten to defend; march swiftly to places where you are not expected.
6. An army may march great distances without distress, if it marches through country where the enemy is not.
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9. O divine art of subtlety and secrecy! Through you we learn to be invisible, through you inaudible; and hence we can hold the enemy's fate in our hands.
10. You may advance and be absolutely irresistible, if you make for the enemy's weak points; you may retire and be safe from pursuit if your movements are more rapid than those of the enemy.
11. If we wish to fight, the enemy can be forced to an engagement even though he be sheltered behind a high rampart and a deep ditch. All we need do is attack some other place that he will be obliged to relieve.
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19. Knowing the place and the time of the coming battle, we may concentrate from the greatest distances in order to fight.
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23. Rouse him, and learn the principle of his activity or inactivity. Force him to reveal himself, so as to find out his vulnerable spots.
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26. How victory may be produced for them out of the enemy's own tactics--that is what the multitude cannot comprehend.
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28. Do not repeat the tactics which have gained you one victory, but let your methods be regulated by the infinite variety of circumstances.
..."
Sam was, to say the least shocked. He waited, to see if Cossack would say more, but none came.
And than inspiration struck.
Sam got up from his seat next to Dr. Cossack and headed towards the stairs, passing by the other operators on the way.
Sam thought the other operators wouldn't notice, what with the yelling match going on between them, but one of the operators began to walk alongside Sam.
"I have to ask" began Nijubu "About why you think I'll be able to handle Kingman"
Sam stopped walking at the top of the stairs. "I told you already, if what Cam-"
"Don't start with that. I want the real reason. I know for a fact that the Prince hates my guts. So talk"
Sam sighed. "You're not gonna leave me alone until I give you an answer you're happy with, are you?"
Nijubu nodded, which caused Sam to groan.
"Fine. Walk with me. We have an errand to run."
The remaining team members practiced for another hour. The timing problem was eventually more or less resolved through pure repetition. Kalinka had the TV turned off for much of the time in order to let the others concentrate and not feel too much pressure from the rapidly approaching swarm. The netbattlers did what they do best and concentrated solely on their fighting. Even Punk managed to get a consistent pattern of successful executions, although with only Drillman and Yamatoman to aim at, he was less enthusiastic about it.
With their PETs once again in recharge mode, the operators convened once more to go over the finer points of their strategy.
"Hold on, we're missing some people here..." Cyros observed once the group had gathered to one side of the flat. He did a quick mental headcount. "David...Sam...and Vidal too? Where'd they go? They need to be here for this!"
"Your fearless leader ducked out to go work on his own lame plan." Jeremy announced with a smug grin. He was clearly enjoying the fact the Net Guardians had two deserters so far, despite what this meant for his own team's chances at success.
"The chess nerd left with Nij before I could say anything!" Johnny pouted, looking somewhat jealous. "I think I heard him say they were running an errand."
"Did anybody see where Vidal went?" Stuart asked, prompting a round of shaking heads from everyone else. "Last I remember seeing him was when Kalinka was explaining the new programs. He'd been pretty quiet the whole time."
"Oh, that's right!" Adrienne exclaimed. "Mistman isn't a hybrid navi, he's...I dunno what. Whatever he is I guess he can't use the programs so he's no help to us any more. Maybe Viddy snuck out to spare himself the embarrassment of excusing himself."
"Oh, this is unbelievable." Matt lamented. "Well screw those guys. We're going to war with the army we got. Now how should we find Gamma, and how should we hit it?"
"Sooner or later Gamma is going to come to us. I just hope we don't have to go through too many GUs before we get a crack at it." Moe suggested.
"If all else fails, try having Drillman going into subspace again." Kalinka advised.
Moe raised an eyebrow. "What will that accomplish? He can't warp around with Gamma online."
Kalinka elaborated. "No, but for the brief moment that he's in there, he should be able to sense where the disturbance is greatest. The representation of cyberspace is compressed in subspace, so even if he can't travel there he should be able to tell which general direction Gamma's core is in."
Moe was impressed. "Huh. You sure know sure know a lot about Drillman's abilities..."
"Well naturally. The Drill Navi concept was a Cossack design to begin with. Wily just copied dad's work to make yours."
"...Learn something new every day..."
"Let's stay focused here, guys!" Jon shouted impatiently. "Now what do we do when we find this thing?"
"Gamma's core would be the bright light emanating from the ooze in its midsection." Kalinka defined.
"The ooze...That's probably what we want to shoot for." Stuart realized. "The armor on its upper torso is pretty bulky and thick, but the lower extremity just has those two rings. If we aim from down low, we should be able to tunnel right up to the core."
Jon shook his head apprehensively. "It won't be quite that easy. The ooze isn't exactly molasses in January. At least if we blast a hole through the armor it might stay open for a while before healing up again. The ooze will probably seal up immediately."
"We'll be focusing our attacks on a single point anyway." Stuart reminded him. "Neither material will have much time to heal, and at least with the soft ooze we should get through faster."
"I'm a little worried about the non-flyers." Jake interjected, slightly nervous about adding his own thoughts to the discussion. "If the battle is anything like the last one, the ground is gonna get torn up reeeeally fast. Most of us aren't gonna be much help if our navis don't have anywhere to stand."
"We could set AirShoes to our NaviCusts." Johnny suggested.
"Ergh, I don't like that. Takes up way too much space." Stuart sneered. "I'd have to take out SetGreen or Reflect, and then Plantman's..." he trailed off, looking like he came to a sudden realization.
"What, he wouldn't be able to defend against Gamma's piercing lasers or stand on the grassy ground for the whole two seconds it's in tact?" Cyros mocked the green netbattler by pointing out the obvious flaws in his usual NaviCust setup.
Stuart didn't acknowledge the insult and simply adjusted the bridge of his glasses with his middle finger. "Well, I supposed I could work some flight powers into Plantman's itinerary just this once. What about the rest of you?"
"Guess I could lose BeastHunter." Jake shrugged. "Virus busting sure can wait until after we're done with this nightmare."
Matt bit his lip and shook his head. "Flashman would be weakened considerably if I messed with his blocks. I do keep a couple Repair chips on hand for just such an occasion though, so hopefully I can keep some ground under his feet long enough to get the job done."
"Flame has Floatshoes already. They won't keep him in the air for long, but they should keep him from landing too roughly. He's a good jumper too, so he can keep moving from one platform to another if he has to." Johnny reported.
"Eh, I'll figure something out." Jeremy answered dismissively, obviously bored with talking strategy already.
"I have an alternative solution for Yamatoman." Carlos stated proudly. "As Naomi cannot provide direct support without the hybrid program, I have been working on integrating her form and abilities into Yamato for this battle. NaomiSoul, if you will."
"Clever." Jon commended. "I guess for Bowlman I'll ditch the Shield and SetMetal blocks in favor of AirShoes and something else. It's gonna be tough for him fighting without ground to roll his attacks down though."
"Well, he can stand on Gamma if he needs to, that's another challenge all by itself though." Adrienne pointed out.
Moe grabbed his jacket and started heading for the door. "Well, let's figure out the rest on the way to the centre. We should get moving before things get even more worse."
"Wait, where are we going?" Jake asked, confused by the Net Guardians' all getting ready to leave.
"We've arranged to have the city centre servers all to ourselves today." Carlos explained. "We need the best possible connections for this, and I doubt we will be very comfortable crowding around the only terminal in this building."
"Waitaminute! There's a load of Officials there waitin' to take us away as soon as we're done, isn't there?!" Jeremy accused the other team of backstabbing them.
"No, I made sure of that." Moe assured him. "Trisha is in charge of guarding the centre today while the rest of the Officials are out on the field dealing damage control on the Gamma mess. She'll make sure no one knows we're there. Trust me, I hate dealing with the Officials almost as much as you do."
"Trust you? Don't push it." Jeremy spat. "But whatever. We'll weasel out of any trap you try and pull anyway. C'mon boys." He beckoned for the rest of the AH to follow.
"Whatabout Nij?" asked Johnny.
"Send him an e-mail telling him where we're goi...oh yeah, his PET's busted." Jeremy grumbled.
"Sam and David know where to go. We'll meet them there...hopefully." said Kalinka while dragging her father away from the couch. "Let's get going. There's no time to lose."
* * *
"You sure this is going to work?" David asked through his PET. "The way I understood it you could only enter that area through a certain server in Electopia..."
David was jacked into an old computer hidden in a dilapidated basement deep in the seedy area of Crescent City. The cowboy glanced warily over his shoulder as he heard police sirens passing by from above. There was no one around at the moment, but he was aware this location was a favored spot for lowlifes to access the Undernet. Rumor had it the basement became active after dark, so David supposedly had a few hours before things got complicated. Still, he couldn't be too careful.
"You should have worn a disguise like I suggested. You get enough weird looks from normal people with your western getup, it's certainly not going to do you any favors with this crowd." Serenade criticized upon noticing his operator's nervous tone.
David scoffed and tried to sound calmer. "I'm not really worried about the people that might show up here. They're net-criminals after all. Worst they'll probably do is demand a netbattle. I'm more worried about the escalating situation with Gamma outside. We can't waste too much time looking for your GigaFreeze."
"Don't worry about it." S assured. "The entrance to the Secret Area IS on the net, it's just not normally accessible unless you go through the server in Okuden Valley."
"Normally?"
"Well, if any navi was the exception, it would be me."
Serenade glided elegantly through the distorted, decaying network of the Undernet. It didn't take long to trek from the Netopian region to the Electopian Ura region, despite the complex and difficult terrain. The bright navi shone like a star in the dark slum. When the Lord of the Undernet arrived at the Square at its deepest point, a few Under-Navis scattered around the meeting spot immediately took notice of the out-of-place visitor and regarded him with awe. The platform went silent as Serenade walked confidently up the steps and towards the shrine in the center. The few newbie occupants that tried to approach the regal navi believing him to be an outsider to be taught a lesson were stopped by the older, wiser regulars. Nervous whispers broke the silence as the witnesses explained to each other who this newcomer was and what his presence meant.
"Hm. I guess it's been a while since I came through this way." Serenade muttered. "I guess I should have tried to keep up the original's mystique and tried to remain hidden."
The Lord of the Undernet stepped up to the stern-looking statue overlooking the Square. Flickering in the distance behind the statue were the torches marking the entrance to his old home, the Secret Area. From there it looked like he could glide over if he wanted, but he knew there were invisible barriers that sealed the isolated platform off even from flyers.
However, Serenade knew what to do. He spoke to the statue, clearly and succinctly. "Open the gates of heaven."
The statue spoke back in an ominous, booming voice. "The gates shall open at the end of the world; when the time of judgment is at hand."
"That time has come." Serenade replied solemnly.
There was a pause, then the statue answered back, sounding less ominous than before. "Really? Sh!#! Alright, go ahead boss. Aw man, this can't be good."
There was a thunderous rumbling and tremoring for a moment, causing the other navis in the Square to quickly jack out in fear. When the sound subsided, Serenade hopped by the statue and floated towards the pit that would lead him to the Secret Area, the invisible locks now removed.
As he glided by, he could hear the statue mutter quietly to itself. "Damn, I wish I had legs..."
* * *
The familiar sound of a charging buster filled the air, only much more fearsome. The navis gathered by the second of Yumland's main hubs panicked.
There was a horrible noise as Gamma unleashed its final blast against the hub.
Then only silence filled the air.
Which was broken as Fate laughed an evil laugh.
"Hahaha.....One more, and Yumland will fall."
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Meanwhile, at the Yumland Branch of the Officials
"Sir! We just lost Hub #2 !"
"Crap!" answered Officer Mario. "All remaining forces, head to hub #3! We're gonna make our final stand!"
He than took a swig of his mug of coffee, combating the fatigue that plagued him.
"Darklight, you got anything?" Mario asked the man sitting to his right.
Samuel Darklight of the Darklight Mercenaries looked up from his notes. "Honestly, I've never dealt with anything like this before. This is beyond me."
"Stop with the excuses!"
"Well I'm sorry, my specialty is army to army. Giant monsters aren't exactly in there!" Darklight snapped back, exhausted.
"Honestly" continued Darklight in a calm tone "I think we're witnessing the apocalypse. I don't know about you, but I would rather spend my last few hours enjoying myself instead of fighting a futile battle. I'm out."
And without listening to the cries of everyone around him, Darklight walked casually out of the doors, and went to the empty streets of Yumland.
He walked with a purpose. He hardly noticed the various broken windows. Looters had been there, and law-abiding folks had taken refuge in the castle.
He reached the Darklight Mercenaries Yumland branch that he called home, and entered. He walked to the closet. He opened the closet and opened a hidden panel in the floor, pulling out a bottle.
A bottle of wine, from France, circa 1777.
He opened the bottle, and poured himself a glass.
He rose the glass in toast. "To a glorious apocalypse"
______________________________
The sound of a buster filled the air, only much more fierce.
There was great horrible noise. There was a great horrible silence.
And Fate laughed once again.
* * *
Sam and Nijubu finally came to their destination: An old, worn-down antique shop.
".....ok, why are we here?" Nijubu asked, slightly annoyed.
"Three reasons, my friend."
"And those are?"
"One: This place hasn't been looted."
Nijubu looked at the antique shop, and then looked at the surrounding buildings. The antique shop was the only shop that still had windows. Everywhere else was broken into.
"Two: this place's net jacks in very close to where we need to be at."
"To do what?" Nijubu asked.
"Three: This place has a friggin' treasure trove of PETs with navis in them."
At first Nijubu was surprised.
That was, however, until they walked in and saw this "treasure trove" of Sam's.
"All of these are twenty years old at the youngest!" Nijubu exclaimed.
"Yeah. And?"
"What are you planning?"
"Don't worry about that. I'm gonna need Kingman." Sam said, holding out his hand.
Nijubu was about to argue, but than merely sighed, handing Kingman over.
"Kingman" Sam said, grabbing a random PET from the pile. "I need you to download files A39J through Z67P to this PET."
"Certainly" Kingman acknowledged. 5 seconds later, King Man announced "Download complete."
"Perfect. Nijubu, you go back to the group. Tell them to engage Gamma in Crescent City net area 277."
"But-"
"Go." Sam snapped in a stubborn tone. "I have work to do. Oh, and you can have this back" Sam said, handing King Man back over.
Nijubu, beginning to realize there wasn't much point in trying to get a straight answer out of this guy, turned and left without a word. What was the point of his coming along? It was beginning to feel like the Net Guardian was taking pity on the navi-less Acid Hacker by giving him something to do and a navi to do it with. The fallen angel did not take kindly to being patronized, but had learned long ago to put his own desires aside before an important task. Whatever issues he had with Sam could wait until later. For now, he had to take his chance to avenge Desertman.
* * *
Beautiful. That was all Fate could think as he gazed upon his new world. Within Gamma's belly swirled a turbulent mass of twisted space. The scarlet void swelled with energy as data poured into it from every point of the globe. The shattered data fragments left over from the destruction of Asina's networks were absorbed the fastest, like the ripest fruit shaken from the tree. The vision was almost too much for his human mind to comprehend. The laws of physics and perspective became increasingly irrelevant the deeper he gazed into this new dimension.
The old man reached his hand out towards the cloud. He longed to dive in and explore his new universe, to experience that new state of being, to create a new race to serve him out of the ghosts of the old world's navis and viruses. He stretched his arm further, hoping to grasp at this new existence, to feel it, if only for an instant.
Then his sense of purpose returned to him. He turned away from the vision quickly and floated out the massive steel gateway in Gamma's chest, waving his hand to signal it to close behind him. As much as he wanted to cast aside that imperfect world as soon as possible, he knew he could not do that until his work was complete. Left unchecked, Gamma could easily fall to the same weakness that felled its predecessor Alpha. Though a living thing, the beast had not yet acquired sentience, and even the largest and most powerful monster can be outsmarted. Fate was the parent, and his child was not yet ready to walk on its own. He would stay with it until then.
But what next? With much of continental Asina offline, he was running out of networks to kill time with.
Electopia. That wretched, pompous island. The nation that took Fate's destiny from his hands. Despite the small physical size of the region, its technological status allowed it to boast the most advanced, intricate, and densely populated regions of the Cyberworld. It was also the home of many of the Cyberworld's strongest warriors. The security level of its servers were particularly formidable.
Still, anything that could stand up against an onslaught of Gamma Rays? Hardly. Fate itched for the chance to rampage through this proud bastion of net society. However, this was a treat best saved until the end. What better location to finally wipe out the taint of Beta than its birthplace?
Besides, Fate had another target near the top of his "to do" list, and had no such inclination to put it off. His home for many years since his exile. Where he was treated as the dregs of society, walked over by countless selfish and capitalistic gluttons. Where he had built up his most familiar recent assortments of allies and enemies. Where he knew those same allies and enemies were no doubt waiting and preparing for his arrival.
Netopia. Crescent City. Back upon his creation's shoulder, Fate pointed dramatically to the east, signaling Gamma and a platoon of accompanying GUs to begin shifting to the large networks across the Pacific. Fate had lost track of his charges since going their separate ways in Sharo, and did not know what they were up to. Could they have regrouped and discovered a way to actually fight back? He hoped that was the case. This could very well be the most entertaining siege he would make that day. Not that he was the least bit worried about their success.
He knew their Fate from the start.
To Be Continued...
