Annihilation
Hunters
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Green skies ahead, blue streets far below, other navis like ants looking up at the her, Darklady soared through the digital skies with exhilerating pleasure. She hadn't lost control and crashed once since arriving in the area. She was getting used to her new body, and she was loving it. Within moments she would reach the link to the Undernet, and she could not feel more ready to return to that haunted hellscape. Up that high and free she felt like nothing could harm her. She was beginning to understand why the previous Darklady seemed so upbeat.
Although it wasn't quite enough to fly across the net like that. She soon spotted some BomBeetle viruses crawling along the walkway below and swooped in to test her powers. Responding to her violent impulse, a translucent black axe materialized in her hands. The weapon's appearance surprised her a bit, but she didn't need to figure out what to do with it. With a fearless dive she ran the blade clean through one of the viruses before any of them even noticed her.
The BomBeetles certainly noticed her at that point though, and now small explosives were raining down on the new Darkloid who took to dodging while trying to figure out her other abilities. It didn't take long then for her operator to notice and spoil her fun.
"What the hell are you doing? You're supposed to be en route to the Undernet!" Alia's voice barked through the comm line.
"I just...thought I should warm up first?" Darklady explained nervously. The interjection distracted her enough for a Double Bomb to strike her dead-on. The blast sent her tumbling backwards.
"You're just wasting time and HP! Now finish them off and get back to work!"
To make sure the navi would execute the command, Alia sent a DarkBomb chip. As Darklady returned upright, she found herself holding the pulsating sphere of evil and felt compelled to throw it without hesitation. When the ball landed in the midst of the large robotic insects, the black explosion that resulted made their puny viral ordinance look like cherry bombs. A purple mushroom cloud rose into the emerald skies and the charred platform below it was swept clear, the viruses obliterated. Darklady trembled ecstatically.
"What are you waiting for? Move it!"
Alia's sharp order snapped Dark out of her pleasant thoughts and back to the task at hand. Regaining her focus, she took to the skies, her gaze locked on the delapidated warp platform that would transport her to the Undernet. She didn't get far though, before something else stole her attention. She noticed she was somehow in the shade, prompting her to twist around and crane her neck upwards. There, just a few megapixels overhead, blotting out the system's light source, soared a silhouette with a long tail and large wings. The shadow was gliding on a flight path parallel to her own, and she could feel it watching her intently.
"Another virus?" Darklady wondered aloud. She kept Alia's orders in mind, but figured she was still permitted to take care of enemies chasing her. She summoned her axe once again and rotated her flight axis so she was facing upwards, only to have lost track of the flying creature. Movement out of the corner of her eye alerted her that the target was still there, but now circling her. She turned again to try to match it, but it dipped and rolled underneath her, winding up behind her again. She whipped around trying to keep the winged monster in her sights but it was too fast and maneuverable, zipping around her in all directions like an annoying housefly.
Still not completely accustomed to flight herself, Darklady soon became dizzy, lost control, and wound up plummeting to the platform below, unable to right herself. She regretfully braced for another crash landing, but to her surprise the falling stopped, and something was holding her. She opened her eyes and looked up to see she was now in the arms of the very winged creature that was evading her. It grinned slyly with its surprisingly humanoid face. "Are you alright? Heh, well of course, you're fine."
"Y-you're a navi!?" Darklady exclaimed.
The man smirked. "And you're a navi. It must be fate that brought us together. Y'know, if it weren't for me, you could have had quite a nasty fall..."
"Um...thanks..." she responded softly. Then she remembered what happened, shook her head, and struggled out of his grip. "Wait a minute, if it wasn't for you, there wouldn't be a fall! What the hell were you doing?"
The mystery navi graciously released her so they were both floating shortly over the platform with the Under link. She could now see the full extent of his dragon-like features. Fiery orange armor, reptillian green limbs, spiky red hair, and large claws to go along with the demonic wings and serpentine tail she'd noticed earlier. Though overall, his body was in the form of a young man. "I just saw how you dealt with those viruses. I mean, with a blast like that, who didn't see it? Anyway, I liked the way you moved, so I thought I'd say 'hello'. I just like to say 'hello' with aerial maneuvers. I'm guessing you like to say 'hello' with your axe."
Darklady noticed she was once again brandishing her main weapon at the other navi. With a blush, she mentally commanded it to disappear. "Sorry...you shouldn't have snuck up on me like that!...I have to get moving."
She began to float down to the warp, but the man blocked her way. "Heey what's your rush, babe? I haven't even introduced myself yet. You can call me Dragoon. Now what may I call you, besides an angel?"
Darklady grew more uncomfortable every time the Dragoon opened his mouth. She deftly slipped by him. "I'm hardly 'an angel'...a 'babe' maybe, but not that you can call me that either."
Without any more of an answer, she dove into the sparking light of the teleporter and after a split second of a disoriented rushing sensation, she rematerialized in the dark space of the Undernet. She took a moment for her eyes to adjust to the new lack of light. Unfortunately, the voice from behind alerted her that the strange Dragoon character had followed her.
"I guess you already noticed, but you took a bit of a wrong turn. I could lead you to somewhere safe. Just stay close to me, cutie."
This time she barely even turned her head to acknowledge him. She muttered "Definitely not 'cutie'." then took off into the night as fast as she could fly.
The Dragoon scratched his head with one of his talons as he watched her disappear into the fog. She seemed to know what she was doing, but he wondered if she could really handle what the undernet could throw at her. Still, she could always jack out. With a shrug, he turned back through the warp and flew away. He chuckled to himself as he reflected on the encounter. "Heh. Yeahh, she totally digs me."
* * *
"I've lost him again!" Flashman shouted in frustration while warping around a maze of decayed pillars far from where he first set out in pusuit of the annoying Jester.
"He's got to be leading you somewhere. Keep an eye out." Matt advised.
"Bah, I know. He could just offer to lead me to his boss without this stupid chase, but let's face it...this kind of obfuscation is just that bastard's style."
"Well you could have just ASKED." The voice of Jester suggested as he dropped down in front of a startled and irritated Flashman.
"I DID ASK!"
"Try asking nicer."
Flashman warped behind the Jester and attempted to hit him with a Neon Light attack. Matt tried to warn his navi against getting carried away, that they had a mission, but the proud electric warrior was not used to such indignation. To his credit, the clown was relishing how easily he was getting under his new friend's skin. He dodged the Neon Light and ducked behind another pillar. Flashman teleported behind the pillar after him, but found a cardboard cutout instead.
Jester whistled from behind, and Flashman turned to find the little annoyance mooning him. He continued the chase between the pillars, flash teleporting as fast as he could. He tried to blind and paralyze his quarry with his light-based attacks, but the stone towers everywhere always provided cover. Flash had no choice but to keep following, blinking in and out of existence, pushing his teleporter to the limit. Flash, slip on a banana peel, flash, there he is doing a Sharoan dance, flash, look out for the banana cream pie, flash, flash, flash-
"Wait...where am I?"
There was no more sign of the Jseter, and Flashman was feeling quite lost. In all the excitement, he didn't even notice when the chase had left the maze of pillars, and landed in some kind of dense field of tall...grass? A sense of alarm sprang up in the blue navi's thoughts. If there was one kind of environment that made an electric-elemental navi nervous, it was the dreaded Grass Stage, and this one looked like it had been growing for a long time. He had somehow found himself in the thick underbrush of the Undernet.
"Yes, I would say this is definitely a trap." Matt surmised. "I think we've been led around by the nose enough. Jack out before things get any worse."
Flashman shook his head maliciously. "No, let him try something. We'll show him what happens when they mess with the Acid Hackers. Send me IceStage and Shadow!"
"...Alright, but don't say I didn't warn you."
Flashman received the battlechip downloads. Matt sent a few more powerful attacks for good measure, but before he could activate the chip that would completely freeze over all of that grass, a pulse of abnormal energy hit the battlefield, causing the PET screen and Flashman's vision to show nothing but static for a split second, and when it had cleared and he regained his bearings, all five of the chips he had on hand were gone.
"What was that!?" Flash screamed.
Matt was shocked as well. "Uh, ah, Interrupt, or Jealousy, or something..."
"Quick! Send me another IceStage!"
"We don't have another IceStage! Jack out!"
"Then, um, PanelReturn!"
"It's not up yet, there's no time! Just jack out, we're not prepared for this!"
"Agh, fine! Jacking...out?" Flashman was upset to find escape was impossible. Someone had set in place a navi transmission lock.
"It's too late for you to run. Now take your medicine." A voice from above taunted as the grass everywhere began to shake, spreading pollen into the air. The BadSpice attack hit Flashman hard, eating away at his elemental weakness.
"Gahh! We have to fight back! Send me Repair, a fire attack, anything!" Flashman cried desperately, starting to realize he was in over his head.
"Damnit, if you would have just listened to me sooner...I'm afraid this is all I can do for now!" Matt then loaded two ElecSwords, a ZapRing3, and a Shake1. "Just stay alive for a minute and I'll hack the blocker."
As the swords formed on Flashman's arms, he looked around in all directions for his enemy. "Fat lot of help these chips are going to to if I can't see who to attack."
The other voice responded again. "Then allow me to step in." At that point, a navi appeared above Flashman as his Invis wore off. "FootStomp F!" The navi's heel fell like a ton of bricks, but Flashman deftly teleported out of the way before he could be crushed. Amidst the dust that was kicked up after the FootStomp's impact, Flashman warped into position behind his attacker and swung his ElecSword, but a strong feeling of stinging pain prevented him from landing the blade. Besides the dust, the navi was surrounded by an orbiting shield of BadSpice.
The navi stood up, turned around, and pointed a VariableSword at the reeling Flashman. It was some kind of green customized Heel navi. "For the crime of navi abduction, you will be deleted." The voice came not from the navi, but from his operator through the comm link. "WoodAura J!"
"Don't know what you're talking about, but you'll have to do better than that!" Flashman then charged the Heel with his other ElecSword, parrying it against the VarSword and narrowly avoiding a SonicBoom attack with his teleport. "So that Jester was just the bait and you're the trap, huh? Send as many flunkies as you want, asshole. We'll still find you!"
"I don't know what you're talking about, but you will not escape your fate!"
"Heh, yeah, that's what I thought you'd say."
Flashman eventually wore down the less-sophisticated navi's reflexes and had him in a position where his blade couldn't miss. The mysterious operator had more surprises up his sleeve, however. "AuraHead3 F!" Before the ElecSword could destroy the WoodAura, a Megalian head formed in the Heel's arm, absorbed the aura's energy, and launched into Flashman with intense force. The Heel was now unprotected, but Flashman was still at a disadvantage with all the damage he had taken already. "SideBamboo3 F!" Bamboo shoots stabbed at Flashman from the tal grass. He was reaching the end of his rope.
"Agh! Matt, any help now would be appreciated!"
I'm almost through the blocker, until then I got some more chips ready for you. PanelReturn, to get rid of the grass, finally." Matt reported.
"Before that, I want him to regret the next wood chip he sends my way."
"...Understood."
Flashman received the next batch of chips, and the first thing he did was activate the LostForest trap that would immediately punish his opponent for the next wood-elemental attack he tried to use. The other operator received the warning that a trap had been set. Though the trap was unnamed on his end, it didn't take a genius to narrow down the likely suspects. Anticipating the AntiWood, he switched to the final part of the plan. He disappeared with another Invis and then ran to an earlier-placed BlackBomb hidden among the grass. Then it was just a matter of lighting a match, sparking the fuse, and...
KABOOM!
...enjoying the fireworks.
Flashman didn't get a chance to use another chip. The explosion, enhanced by all the burnable grass was enough to finish off his dwindled HP and delete him. Matt breathed a sigh of relief as the blocker went down a split second before the detonation. At least Flashman would return to his PET ready to fight another day.
...So where was he?
Matt quickly checked the transmission logs, Flashman's remains had indeed followed the emergency jack-out procedure, but something was wrong, the target ip for the transfer had been altered by another hacking program that had been put in place while the blocker was being taken down. Whoever but the blocker up in the first place only meant it as a distraction. Their real goal...
"Wh-Where am I? This isn't my PET!"
...was to abduct Flashman.
"Maybe you see the irony in this, after what you did to those other navis..." The same voice that had been taunting him during the battle spoke coldly to Flashman as he looked around his dark void of a prison desperately for signs of escape.
"What are you talking about? That 'crime of navi abduction' crap? You've got the wrong guy!"
"Hm. Maybe so. Unfortunately for you that was just an excuse. Now take this and go say goodbye to your old operator."
"What!? Wait, what are you...aaarrghhh!"
Matt frantically searched for a way to find where Flashman went. The trail was there, he only needed to follow it. He had all the hacking skills necessary. The jerk that entrapped them may have prepared for every move he could make, but he wasn't going to give up while he could still type.
Much to his surprise, his search eventually led him right back to the scorched battleground where he started. Flashman had been transported back there in the Heel navi's place, and the remaining link to his original PET ensured Matt could see his own navi there clearly, but something was wrong. The navi of electric light was looking particularly dim. A dark aura surrounded him and Matt had to take off his ever-present signature sunglasses to get a better look at him.
That's when Flashman looked up towards the screen with a demented and sorrowful look in his eyes. "M-Matt, I...I can't...help...HYPNOFLASH!"
Matthew Gemini would wake up the next morning remembering nothing of the last 24 hours. The message that led him to the Undernet, the encounter with the Jester and that custom Heel navi, and Flashman's defeat were all lost to him. He only had an inoperable PET, unanswered questions, and the lingering sense that he had just been royally screwed over.
* * *
