Posthumous Note: Extracted from an archive of the old forum, this is basically an incomplete early draft of Chapter 0. I liked some of the parts when re-reading it, so I decided to post it along with a bit of the thread commentary.

**June 19, 20XX**

*Ryan's home in Regina, Canada, his PET phone rings.*

Phil: Hey Ryan, how's it going?

Ryan: Not bad, how the world of Netcrime in your region?

Phil: Pretty good, in fact, that's what I'm calling about, interested in getting involved in an organized Netcrime deal?

Ryan: OOooh, organized, sounds classy. We'd be just like the WWW, huh?

Phil: That's where I got the idea, but I'm talking something even BIGGER. An organization at least twice as big.

Ryan: Wow, a whole eight people?! Where are you going to get that many interested?

Phil: As a matter of fact, I've got two of my cronies on right away, I also picked up a couple people from outside my territory. I just got the idea now to make it a sort of INTERNATIONAL organized Netcrime deal.

Ryan: Heh, I guess that's why you're calling me.

Phil: Yeah, and after you I'm gonna try contacting this mad scientist from England, and those crazy guys from Australia.

Ryan: Ah, I know the guys you're talking about, it would be an all-star team indeed.

Phil: By the way, seeing as you're closer, you think you could find Gauntlet?

Ryan: Can anyone find Gauntlet?

Phil: Well, no, of course not, but you might know where to contact him at least, and he has experience with organizations like this, he could be a valuable asset.

Ryan: I'll see what I can do, but he might not be interested.

Phil: He will be when he sees what I have waiting for him, which brings me to how I'm setting this up:

"The other day, while visiting Den City, I tried hacking into some local bank accounts, and I came accross the lost data of a former WWW agent navi called Magic Man. Before it was able to fully stabilize and attack me, I instead used the download program I was going to use for the money, and actually captured Magic, and after some re-programming, I made him my own personal navi. This guy is really powerful, and useful, I also found that among his several program-altering abilities, or "spells" if you prefer, he had the ability to copy the data from certain lower forms of netlife, bring them under his control, and summon them to his aid when necessary. A lightbulb went off in my head and after some modifying of this ability, I was able to turn it into a full viral infection technique. Then I sent Magic out into the net to search out as many strong navis as he could, battle them until they were in submission, then copy their program and use the viral infection on the copy. I was able to find fifteen new "recruits" for the team this way! There was one other powerful navi Magic encountered, one that would have probably been the most powerful team member, but this one was too strong for Magic to beat and I had to settle with what I had. But still, that blue navi would be a great addition to the team if we ever got the chance to capture it. Anyway, I now have four recruits, and with you and the other foreigners, it'll be eight, and I'm thinking of getting more, too. I certainly have a wide selection, anyway."

Ryan: Cool, so what have you got to offer me?

Phil: Take a look. *brings up a stat sheet of the ten un-picked navis*

Ryan: Oooh, that skeleton guy looks like a badass.

Phil: He's really strong too, though not a very good defensive rating.

Ryan: I'll take him, but why are there ten shown here? I thought you said you had fifteen minus the four already hired?

Phil: I'm saving one for Gauntlet, I'll give the file to you to show him when you find him. *uploads the file onto Ryan's PET*

Ryan:...Hah! A ninja! Good call man, that's an offer he can't refuse.

Phil: ^_^ My thoughts exactly. I'll get Skullman ready for you, now I gotta make some more calls. Later.

Ryan: See ya.

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Rai: More to come, some suggestions from the other team members would be appreciated, this first part was mainly from my point of view anyway. I'd make this a Sim-Battle story, but seeing as I can't rely on each member to input their own history at the right time, and continuity is important to consider since this is the very start, and after seeing the BN:TEN origin story in there, well, I don't want it to turn out like that. :P Anyway, I have a lot of other good ideas.

Next Chapter: The team move into their first base in Geo-City!

Saiyan: OOC: Is this gonna go by our current roster, or chronological? (I.e. we had Kamui on the team before Sam.)

Rai: Chronilogical, it's going to be sorta a microcosm for what happened in real life. We move to Geo-City, realize how much it sucks, get a new place on Dijo street, but then it explodes for no apparent reason, then the roster shifts around a bit because people keep mixing up their PETs and some members never reported to duty in the first place. :P

Sam: This sounds very intruiging. I just have one suggestion. Can you make me a serious videogame player in the story? And I mean VERY VERY serious

Rai: Well, you won't be coming in until much later, but yeah, if the origin does get that far, I'll make sure I get your personaliy right. Anyway, might as well get on with Chapter 2.

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**June 26**

*VI Base#1, Phil's brother's basement. Some of the most notorious criminals of the world are gathered making adjustments to their new PET settings. Among them are Kamui and Sam, the two of Phil's cohorts he mentioned earlier. Kamui was a skilled thief and Sam was notoriously known for grand theft auto. The two other guys Phil picked up before calling Ryan were Sky and Dominic, the former was a reknowned bank robber, the latter was a successful pornographer. The foreigners had each just made it in from their flights from their respective countries, and mostly showed signs of jet-lag. Ryan's criminal skill was espionage. The mad scientist from Britain was Professor Fritz Fandango. One of the Australians was Trent, a supervillain mastermind who used his brute strength to carry out his jobs. The other was Luke, aka Sanityisoverrated, who was a member of the criminally insane's elite mainly due to his name. The last figure in the room was Gauntlet. No one knew exactly what he did because he would never tell anyone, but whatever it was, he was famous for it. His skills were valued by the team for his experience with a mafia group known as "The Maniacs", no one knew exactly what he did there, either. Phil came into the room and cleared his throat.*

Phil: Thanks for coming everyone, I've all spoken to you individually, and I know some of you are familiar with each other already or have at least gotten to know eachother while you were waiting. So I'll cut this short and ask if there are any questions.

Trent: Yeah, I got one, why are we in your brother's basement?

Phil: Good question...well, right now this is all we can afford. Foom's place isn't so bad really, we just have to work around his own business.

Ryan: Foom? I thought you said he was called Waveman.

Kamui: Last I heard it was Yellow Devil

Phil: He decided to change his codename...twice...but it's good for keeping people from tracking him.

*Phil's brother comes in and greets everyone*

Phil: Just in time, guys, I'd like you to meet Foom.

Foom: Actually, it's Bluebomber now.

Phil: Oh, well how's that deal on the real base coming along?

Bluebomber: I got that place staked out in Geo-City ready, you can start moving your equipment in there tomorrow.

Phil: Great, See ya BB.

Bluebomber: You know? That's a stupid name, I think I'll change it...*wanders off to think of a new name.*

Sky: Aww, Geo-City? The network in that town stinks, they don't allow off-site linking. How are our navis supposed to travel?

Phil: The base I got picked out has a lot of potential, we'll make it work. Anyway, there are some better places we should be able to afford once we go on our first heist.

Ryan: Heist? What are we going to do exactly?

Phil: Well, I'm not sure...but it doesn't have to be a heist, it could also be a gig, a job, a deal, a run, a break, a mission, a spree...that's what we gotta decide today...or maybe tomorrow once we get a chance to scope out our new area. Other than that, I guess we don't have any business to discuss, so let's just get drunk and play ping-pong.

Team: Yay!

Next chapter: VI's first Heist...or gig, or job, or deal, or run, or...whatever :P