"The potent new virus continues to spread throughout the eastern hemisphere with no signs of slowing. The Official Netbattlers of every nation are on the case, doing their best to contain the infection, but any civilian navi on the net right now is at serious risk of deletion with loss of backup. We will have more on this disastrous story as it develops. Once more we urge everyone to stay off the net until this crisis passes. This is Ribitta Midorikawa for DNN, broadcasting live across the net...oh wait, everyone's offline...ah f*ribbit!* it all to *ribbit!* *ribbit!* this was supposed to be the *ribbit!*ing story of the century and I don't have a *ribbit!* audience! F*ribbit!*...ugh...oh...sorry, that was unprofessional...Thank you Toadman, that was very helpful. Ahem. To any brave viewers still out there, this is Ribitta, signing off...and switching back to a normal TV broadcast. F*ribbit!* it all..."

A plague was sweeping the cyberworld, but it was no virus. Gamma was moving faster and causing more damage than the people of the world could keep up with. Still, it didn't take long for the planet to become aware of what was happening. Some recognized the subtle, widespread power drain as the same effect that preceded the second Gamma Rebellion months earlier. Others noticed it was something much worse. Few civilian navis were foolhardy enough to brave being jacked in once the news of what happened to Sharo spread.

However, the cyberworld was not completely empty that day. Official Navis, heroic vigilantes, and confident thrill-seekers stood in defiance of the online apocalypse and gave everything they had to stop the sudden threat. The world's most powerful navis, many of whom had encountered challenges just like it before, faced the rampaging Gamma Units head on. To their credit, some were more successful than the Net Guardians and Acid Hackers had been. Powerhouses good and evil worked independently towards a common goal, their own survival. Megaman, Protoman, Bass, Zero, Colonel, the Darklight Mercenaries, Viral Infection, the Getsumen Corps, the Life Force, the Famous Four, ONBA Aftermath, the Net Saviors, LIT, and other brave souls fought the GU swarm across the globe and won their share of victories, felling one GU after another.

Yet, for all their strength and courage, these teams and individuals were unaware of the scope of the battle. They had no idea where to look for the source, as Fate and Gamma's core had destroyed any means of tracking them along with Sharo. For ever GU destroyed another was produced elsewhere. The warriors of the net succeeded only in slowing the assimilation down by a small margin. Sadly, even if they were blessed with the knowledge of how to truly combat Gamma, none of them were equipped to do so.

The only navis with the technology to face Gamma head-to-head were not fighting in the current battle for survival of the Cyberworld, they were not even yet fully repaired from their last battle, which they lost miserably. At the moment, everything relied on these navis, and just as much on their operators and their ability to temporarily put aside their differences.

The latter point was about to be put to the test as Samuel Jeffries led the criminal group known as the Acid Hackers to the doorway of Go-Nuts Donuts, the headquarters of the Net Guardians. Both teams, perpetual enemies, fresh off an eight-hour flight from Cyberia, little sleep, little patience, and terrible moods all around. It was time for these people to learn to get along.

"THIS is where you assholes have been hiding the whole time? Damnit, I've been buying donuts here every friggin' day!" Jake cursed in disbelief.

"Uh, yeah, could you guys lay off the 'asshole' stuff once we get inside?" Sam requested dryly. "The last thing we need in this situation is to get into a fight over name-calling."

"Aw, whassamatter? Are we gonna hurt the baby's feelings? Is baby gonna cry?" Jeremy mocked Sam in the most condescending voice he could muster.

"Will you shut up? Some of us actually want this to work out. There's too much at stake." Nijubu shut Jeremy down with a stressed and irritated tone. It was enough to keep the entire group quiet long enough to bring them upstairs and into the NG flat. The rest of the NG team was there, waiting anxiously. They turned to see the Acid Hackers standing in their home and were noticeably on edge and unhappy. The AH only mirrored this uncomfortable silence.

Sam looked back and forth between the tense staring contest and sighed. It was going to be a long day.

"Well, what are we standing around for? Don't we have a world to save or something?" Adrienne broke the silence and pointed to the computer.

"Don't go lumping in our reasons with yours..." Matt grumbled.

"Alright, Sam. How exactly did you get these guys to agree to this?" David softly asked his teammate.

Sam answered calmly and detached. "Does that really matter? I told you to leave things to me, and I got them here. Let's just concentrate on the task at hand."

"You guys didn't bring any of those weapons, did you?" Cyros asked warily.

With someone unconvincing sincerity, Johnny responded. "Of course not. Why? Are you armed?"

"...of course not." Cyros snuck the circular saw-blade back into his pocket.

"Maybe it's best you just kept your distance until we find out what we're here for." Nijubu warned. "We won't bother you if you don't bother us."

"Well, I'll leave you to your own devices then." Cyros said, backing off slowly.

The next few minutes were an uneasy balance between reluctant cordiality and restrained violence. Attempts to make progress in the meeting were quickly derailed and no one could stay focused on the task at hand with their own tempers flaring as seeing the tempers of others flare.

"To think that OUR base was bigger than YOURS the whole time! Hah!" Jeremy gloated.

"You think that justifies everything you've done?" David challenged.

"Oh, here goes mister righteous again. You gonna tattle on us like you always did in school?" Matt sneered.

"What are you talking about? I never did that!"

"Don't act so innocent. You gonna deny what you did to me, too?" Vidal seethed.

"Oh, quit whining about that. Darky likes it better with me anyhow." Adrienne boasted.

"Seriously, I get donuts here all the time! I want my stomach pumped!" Jake screamed.

"There are perks to living on the side of justice." Carlos stated.

"It doesn't do you much good in the end. Believe me." Stuart said cynically.

"Being an outlaw won't serve you any better, believe me." Moe countered.

"Shut up you guys, this is stupid!" Johnny pleaded.

"What the hell are you anyway? Are those cat ears!?" Jon demanded, bewildered.

"Don't talk to him like that!" Nijubu commanded.

"Where are the Cossacks, anyway?" Sam asked.

"Could you jerks keep it down up here? You scared away all my customers." Samantha claimed in a rare visit from the main floor.

"I think the news may have had a hand in that, Ms.Stake." Cyros proffered.

"Fair enough. Then I guess I'm not doing anything right now. Does anyone want any coffee or donuts?"

A resounding "Yes!" came from the group of stressed and exhausted operators. The offer of refreshments somewhat quelled the near riot.

"Okay, I'll be right back. I'll just leave it on Dr.Cossack's tab. I think he owes me that much for making the meeting place here." and with that she returned downstairs.

"Why are we meeting here anyway? We had to go halfway around the world all over again!" Jake complained.

David offered the answer. "Well, there was nowhere in Sharo to jack-in after that blackout. Electopia probably won't be very safe for the next several hours either. Netopia is the safest place in the world from Gamma at the moment. The Cossacks needed the time to finish coding up our secret weapons. That emergency jet flight from the Cyberian base right back home was the best move we could make."

"Well how much longer are they gonna take? I need some sleep..." Johnny pouted.

"We can't afford sleep right now. We need strategy." said Sam.

"How can we strategize against something we know near nothing about?" shot Jeremy.

"You're right: We know nothing of Gamma. But we know of Fate. Take out the brain, and whole system falls."

"Or goes completely nuts and destroys everything."

"Which wouldn't change the situation. Until we get more info, that's our best bet." said Sam, matter-of-factly.

"Well, Fate's pretty tough too. And scary." Johnny pointed out. "How do we get a guy like that?"

"Some extra firepower would be nice." Moe stated the obvious. "Sam, can't you plug in that Vengeance thing again?"

The netbattler shook his head. "Not for a while. There's a reason I was saving it for a special occasion. It burns energy a lot faster than a normal navi, and with the capacity it's designed with it'll take months for me to gather enough data to get it back to 100%...Sorry."

"Great, way to shoot off prematurely." Jeremy commented snidely. "Probably the best weapon we had right now and you wasted it!"

Sam glared at Jeremy. "Nobody thought it was a waste at the time, if you'll recall. Although I must admit, Gamma is quickly making Giant look like a pushover..."

"It might not be as hard as we think." David said with some inspiration. "Keep in mind our navis were pretty well drained by the time Gamma showed up. We spent too much of our strength fighting Fate and each other, it was no wonder we lost."

"You think it's as simple as going in there again now that our teams are recharged?" Stuart posed skeptically. "I don't think we really have anything in our arsenal capable of damaging that thing. And now that we're short one member..." he trailed off and looked to the silent Nijubu apologetically. "Sorry."

Nijubu shook his head. "Don't be."

"Well, if it's an edge you want..." the unusually upbeat voice of Kalinka caught the teams' attention as she and her father entered the flat from the stairway, each carrying their own laptop. "We have just the thing! Sorry we're late guys, but we had a lot of work to do on dad's programs. We've been coding the entire flight!"

"'We'?" Cyros repeated, confused. "Since when were you a programmer?"

Kalinka was suddenly irked by this and smacked him in the head. "Where have you been? I've been following in the family business since I could use a computer! And dad needs all the help he can get, especially now...and...well..." she looked to Dr.Cossack with a distressed expression. The good doctor was glancing around randomly until he noticed it was his cue to speak.

"Can you believe I'm stuck in here helping you stupid kids when I could be out looting like everyone else? Let's get this thing over with already. Where are we? What are those ill-mannered punks doing here?"

Kalinka sighed heavily. "He's been working a little too hard, it looks like he's relapsed a bit on the...you know...insanity...But we're still here to help!"

Kalinka set her laptop down on the table and booted it up. She then went to take her father's laptop to do the same but he clutched it to his chest, not wanting to give it up. After some struggle and David and Cyros coming in to pin Cossack down, she was able to wrestle the computer free of his grip and set it down to boot it up as well. She then dusted herself off and addressed the teams.

Well, everyone take turns jacking into each machine and start installing the programs inside. You'll be pleased to find them to be just the thing we need to get the drop on Fate and Gamma." She claimed confidently.

One by one, the team members jacked in their freshly rejuvenated navis and accessed one of the neatly laid-out golden mystery data packets spinning and sparkling in the middle of the floor in the laboratory-like setting of the laptop systems. After a few minutes of decoding, analyzing, and uploading back to their PETs, the net-battlers were murmuring to each other trying to figure out exactly how to install the mystery programs the Cossacks supplied for them. They resembled NaviCust blocks, but too large and complex to fit in any grid they had. Any attempt to install programs like these into their navis would overwrite too much pre-existing code, causing serious bugs.

Eventually, everyone was set up. Even Bubbleman in the AH's own portable laptop got his share through a link-up between the consoles. That's when Kalinka finally explained what they were holding. "The programs each of your navis now possess are called 'Gammask' and 'EarthBuster'. The former is a basically a defense upgrade courtesy of my father. It contains bits of Gamma's source code."

"This is your plan to keep us from getting absorbed by Gamma? Infect ourselves with it?" Flashman questioned in disbelief.

"I don't want this crap anywhere near me!" Flameman screamed, throwing the program onto the ground.

"You guys are misunderstanding..." Kalinka clarified. "Those programs basically contain ID codes for Gamma's systems. Once installed, they'll leave you mostly unchanged. They should just fool Gamma's assimilation program into believing you're already assimilated. You'll be effectively immune to the energy drain effect from just being online. Hopefully you'll also be safe from being completely absorbed, like Desertman was."

Some of the navis warmed to the concept after hearing this. Others, mostly the Acid Hackers, weren't as convinced. "Mostly unchanged? Should? Hopefully? You don't inspire a lot of confidence, lady. Just what are the side effects of this thing?" Punk asked warily.

Kalinka turned coy. "You'll just have to find out when you install it. It's a risk you'll have to take."

"Woah, Risk? What do we need risks for? These things are supposed to help us!" Beastman growled.

"Keep in mind we didn't have much time to put this together. Dad just used his memories of Gamma's design from decades ago along with the scans he managed to take before the blackout back in Cyberia." Kalinka explained. "Not to mention the natural unpredictability of the installation method...and well..."

Again, she trailed off, looking to her derelict father, sitting in the sofa, pigging out on Ms.Stake's donuts, and laughing uproariously at the television as horrific images of the online doomsday played out on the news. "Bwaahh hah hah hah! I just love these disaster movies! Like things like that would ever happen for real! Hoh hoo ha hah!"

Even the Net Guardians were less enthusiastic to install the Gammask after hearing that, not that any of them even knew how to install it yet anyway. Kalinka changed the subject to begin describing her own invention in a more upbeat tone.

"The EarthBuster is weapon-modifying program. The effects route through your PET, so it applies to all your battlechips as well as your standard weapons. The catch is there will be a slight delay between sending a chip and receiving it for the chip's attack data to be modified. Depending on the strength of the chip, you may have to wait anywhere between a tenth of a second extra, to a whole two seconds. I don't think I need to tell experienced netbattlers like yourselves that even half a second can mess up your synchronization, meaning you guys will definitely have to do a little training with EarthBuster before you're ready to go into actual battle with Gamma, or the results could be disastrous."

"Well now we're getting somewhere!" Beastman pumped his paws in anticipation. "A nice firepower upgrade! What do we get? Ten times the power? A hundred times? Tell me this'll make me a thousand times stronger!"

"Um, no. It won't make you any stronger, technically."

"What!? Again with the worthless crap! Give us a break!" Punk complained.

Kalinka sighed. "Allow me to clarify. EarthBuster makes all your attacks formatted to delete terrain-type data rather than navi/virus-type data. Few netbattling attacks are designed to damage the ground, and even fewer are designed only for that."

"Yeah, and there's a reason." Flashman pointed out. "All it does is slow your opponent down and restrict its movement for a bit. Why would we...wait, Gamma is made entirely out of terrain-type data, isn't it?"

Kalinka nodded. "That's right. As a prototype Internet, Gamma is basically the ground you walk on. Its form in the Cyberworld is made of exactly the same stuff. That's why most of your attacks bounced right off it before. A PanelOut Pickaxe would have been more effective than a LifeSword in that battle."

"So we go after Gamma with pickaxes, then?" Darklady asked, having been paying little attention to the explanations so far.

"No, with this program you won't have to. Basically, all your attacks will be less effective on each other, but much, much more effective on Gamma, who I think we all agree is much more worth your aggression right now."

This made some of the team members uneasy. They knew they had to work together, but somehow the thought of actually not hurting each other any more left them feeling vulnerable. At least if each Net Guardian nerfed their own weapons, the Acid Hackers would have to as well, and vice versa.

"Okay, so how do we equip these things, anyway?" Bowlman asked with resignation, willing to give them a chance.

Kalinka beamed. "How else? The Hybrid ability! The very reason you're the only team of navis that can handle this mission, as only you possess the upgrades required to use these programs."

The navis had nearly forgotten about the Hybrid ability. They had been warned against using it on anything else after acquiring their new navi forms all those months ago. Acknowledging the significance of their status, they each activated the ability one more time to merge with the programs given to them. They felt their entire form ripple with the implemented changes. When they opened their eyes again, they all looked the same, but felt strangely different, as if they were suddenly separated from the world around them. Somehow, this made them feel stronger, more hopeful.

"So I suppose that the EarthBuster destroys my plan of just killing Fate than?" asked Sam, rather nonchalantly.

For a moment, Cossack looked as if he was going to answer, but he instead continued cheering for the "horror movie" on the TV.

"You know, even before this, we couldn't even dent Fate. I would know." Punk answered, still mindful of his now reattached arm.

"Than I suppose another plan of attack is needed. Kalinka, how much data do we got on Gamma as far as attack and defense systems are concerned?"

"Only what we saw at Cyberia."

"Hmph. In that case, I have strategy to plan. Nijubu, catch." Sam said, tossing his PET to Nijubu.

"wh...." Nijubu was about to ask, but Sam only interrupted.

"Like Kalinka said, you guys need to practice with the EarthBuster. I've got to work on a plan of attack."

"But-"

"Hey, if even half of the stuff Cam says about you is true, than you'll do fine."

And that was the end of that.

The Net Guardians and Acid Hackers trained with the programs given to them by Kalinka.

Namely, on each other.

"Booyah!" Yelled Johnny, after a successful hit on King Man.

Though it did not do much damage, King Man sighed "Why did Sam give me to you?"

"You know" answered Nijubu "I honestly wish I knew. I mean, can anyone even get a good strategy against that thing?"

Sam, meanwhile, sneezed while watching TV with Dr. Cossack, studying every detail that the news gave.

"Hmmmm..." Sam thought aloud to himself. "Ok, let's say it took Gamma 4 hours to take out Sharo....It'll take him at least twice as long to take out Yumland, and double that to take out Electopia....that gives me a day at most...."

"Yumland's defenses aren't any better than Sharo's" answered Moe, walking over, taking a breather from his training.

"You're right, they're not. They're just different in two ways."

"Which are?"

"One, Yumland's main hubs of power are spread out through the Yumland net. Sharo's were all gathered in one spot"

"Even so, that doesn't count for much"

"And two, Yumland is defended by one of the most powerful navis to ever be created."

"Who?"

"Shade Man"

And it was that answer that confused Moe even more.

"I've seen him in action. From what I remember, King Man went toe to toe with him, and nothing personal, but King Man isn't much of a fighter"

"Shade Man holds back when he fights"

"Why would he do that?"

"He doesn't want to destroy his food. He eats virus and navi data. The moment he finds out Gamma and his drones are made of terrain data, he'll have a chance of taking Gamma down."

"How big of a chance?"

"So small, that it might as well be impossible, but the chance is there anyway."

* * *

"Big Bomb!" Punk shouted out the name of the battlechip Jeremy had transmitted...albeit prematurely. The frantic red roadster made a dramatic throwing motion towards his sparring partner only to have the bomb materialize in his hand at the nadir of the throw, causing the explosive to drop clumsily at his feet.

"Oh shi-"

The blast sent shrapnel and debris in every direction. The sinister navi's opponent gracefully dodged the shards, spinning between some and reflecting others off his indestructible scarves. When the smoke cleared, a massive pit occupied the space where Punk was standing. The EarthBuster effect indeed paid its toll on the ground more than the navi at the epicenter, who fell roughly back to the platform several panels away after being propelled quite close to the system ceiling.

"Hm. Too bad. And after you finally perfected the timing with your CrossBombs too." Serenade mused in a detached manner as he strolled over to his rival, who was struggling to his feet with shaky legs.

"Grrr...Shut up! That dumb blonde bitch was BS-ing us about these attacks not hurting us! That hurt almost as much as a regular BigBomb explosion!"

"Hey, watch what you call her." David interjected with a threatening tone.

"Yeah? Or you'll do what?" Punk returned, shaking his fist at the voice in the sky, defying the human's ability to hurt him.

Serenade answered for his operator. "Or I will teach you some manners myself."

Punk's hateful glare redirected to the other navi once again. "Yeah, just try it, sucker. I may have dropped a bomb or two, but at least I'm doing something in this frickin' training session! You're just dodging and mocking me by looking bored!"

Serenade suddenly looked mildly surprised and then slightly remorseful. "I'm sorry. I'm not bored...just...pensive."

"The word yer lookin' for is 'emo' ya fruitcake! Why don't ya just admit yer givin' up and go let Gamma eat you!"

Serenade paused for a moment, narrowing his eyes as he looked off to the side. "Maybe...maybe that's just what I'll do." He mumbled enigmatically.

Punk gave him the most baffled look of confusion and anger he had ever seen. "Just what the hell is wrong with you all of a sudden!? Yer s'posed ta be puttin' up yer best fight right now since we're not gonna get to fight each other for a while once we get out there...ugh...working together...and yer just standing there muttering crazy sh!# and pissing me off!"

David was concerned as well, though in a more amicable way. "He does have sort of point, S. We should actually get some training done before we go into battle."

Serenade was still distant, pondering something of serious consequence to himself, and possibly everyone. He wasn't sure if it would be their best chance, or his own downfall. Could he take the risk? Could he stand to avoid it?

"I think...I think there is something I need to do on my own."

* * *

Sam continued to mull over the options. It was quite a dilemma. Before the new software was introduced, he was convinced his plan was their best chance, though still a long shot. Then the Cossacks introduced their own plan negating his own, and while it sounded like a decent plan by itself, it too was a long shot.

To make things more complicated, both plans hinged on the concentrated effort of every member of both teams. As much as Sam wanted to cover their bases by dedicating forces to each plan, he knew giving anything less than the full complement to either side would decrease their chances at success dramatically.

Could they afford to choose one plan over the other? Neither was guaranteed to work, but which had the greater chance at success? There was no way to know. On the one hand, Fate would never expect the alliance to attack Gamma itself to any effect, so using the Cossacks' plan could have the advantage of catching him off guard. On the other hand they were experimenting with new programs, and a straight man-on-navi brawl played more to their teams' strengths. Mishandling their one chance at survival could be disastrous.

Insufficient data, multiple possible outcomes, high chance of failure either way. It was a strategist's nightmare. In these situations, finding an all-new, overlooked solution was often the way to go, if possible. But could any course of action have as much potential as the ones they already considered?

"This just in" said the TV reporter. "We have footage of the virus spreading across the net"

"Finally" said Sam, to no one in particular. "Let's see if we can get some info here."

The video, which lasted 30 seconds, showed Shade Man battling with Gamma Units. The quality of the film was shoddy at best, and at the end, Shade Man got a claw right through the chest, deleting him.

Sam winced. "Guess I was wrong about the darkloid. Poor guy must not have gotten a chance to bite one."

There was something else Sam got from the video, though if it would be important or not remained to be seen.

"Giga Freeze? What the hell is a Giga Freeze?" Punk grilled the pensive Serenade, demanding to know what was important enough to make his rival completely ignore their sparring match.

"It could easily be Gamma's downfall. And I'm the only one in our forces that knows how to use it. I'm afraid I'll have to leave the rest of you on your own."

"Oh, I get it." Punk said mockingly, rolling his eyes. "Miss Primadonna here can't stand to be on equal footing with the rest of us schlubs, he just HAS to go on his own special quest to be the center of attention."

Serenade let out an exasperated sigh and turned from the irreverent red navi. "David, I'm jacking out. I don't have to explain myself to this cretin."

"Uh...hate to say it, but he's got a point...again." His operator answered back uneasily. "The success of the main plan relies a lot on all of us being there giving our all, you're one of the strongest navis here, do you really want to leave the others on their own?"

Serenade overlooked the lack of confirmation and returned to his PET, leaving an irritated, ignored Punk behind, shouting obscenities at the departing teleportation beam.

"They'll be fine...I'm sure of it. If my plan works they'll only need to hold Gamma off until I arrive anyway." The serene deity answered his operator from inside his PET, sounding less sure than he claimed.

"And if your plan doesn't work?"

"...then all is lost either way...Please, take me to where I need to go."

David looked across the room at the other team members, absorbed in their own sparring matches, and to Jeremy, standing four feet away, giving him a judgmental, incredulous look. The long-haired young criminal kept silent, but gave his temporary ally a look that said "You're not seriously gonna go off on your own little mission to save the world, are you? Get your head out of your ass." David treated the look with the same lack of regard as Serenade had just given to Punk. He then turned back to his navi.

"...I have faith in you buddy, I always will. Just lead the way."

* * *

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