It was a peaceful afternoon at the Net Guardian headquarters. Half the team was just waking up while the other half prepared a lunch of donuts and TV dinners. Cyros wearily stuffed down his donuts while David waited at the microwave, salivating. Cyros leaned back in his chair and yawned. "Man, if I eat any more I'll end up as big as Carlos, and yet I'm as tired as I was since I woke up two days ago. What gives?"

David blinked at the question. "Well...where to start? You've been working on 50 hour days and then getting 20 hours of sleep, and you've ate nothing but jelly donuts since we got here."

"Your point?"

"You're malnurished and overloaded. By all logic you should be dead by now."

Cyros grinned in a delirious sort of way. "Eeeyyy, I know my limits. I'm a picture of health."

"Well, you may want to at least eat an orange or something, you don't want to end up like Sam and get scurvy."

"No sweat. Orange Jelly Donuts."

"Just because the jelly is coloured orange doesn't mean it's made from oranges."

"Dude, you make no sense when you talk. I'm outta here."

Cyros lifted himself up and swaggered out of the room. At the same moment, a freshly awakened Carlos made his way into the kitchen in search of breakfast.

Carlos looked at the microwave, "Well? Is it ready yet?"

David laughed, "Make your own, you lazy fat ass."

"You dare test me? During my morning crankiness, of all times?"

Moe had just walked into the kitchen to get his own food when he saw it was turning into a battleground already. He turned around and headed out. "Well, might as well eat out today. What's good and cheap?"

Drillman answered from the PET in Moe's inside jacket pocket. "Those two words are mutually exclusive. Anyway, McDonalds has a discount on McChicken today."

"Well then. Let's break out the McChange and get some McNourishment."

Moe left the building and walked down the street to the nearest McDonalds. He got a meal and picked a small table near a window. He ate his cheap food and read the slogan plastered over the packaging.

"'I'm loving it'? Hey, I'm eating it, what more do you want?"

Drillman's PET was out on the table with the food. "Y'know, it's not like you're broke or anything, Moe. Why subject yourself to this slop?"

"You know very well the money's going towards a bigger cause. Besides, this stuff isn't all bad once you get used to it."

Drillman shrugged and gave his drills a spin. "Say, I feel like taking a look around the net. Anywhere nearby I can jack in?"

Moe shrugged and casually plugged the PET cord into a port near an electrical socket. Drill disappeared and Moe was alone to eat, or so he thought.

"Moe? That you?"

Moe looked up from his sandwich and noticed a familiar looking young woman had spotted him from the line at the register. Moe recognized her as she came over to the table. "Trisha? What are you doing here?"

She sat down across from him and suppressed some laughter. "I'm passing through on some Official business."

Moe didn't want to hear that. "Oh, so they let you guys stay onboard afterall." He felt better off not knowing.

"Man, what the hell did you do to your face?" She wasnh't suppressing her laughter so much any more. Moe was embarassed. Most people didn't ask about the decoration on his face, but then again he hadn't seen anybody who knew him before he got it until now.

"It's part of my disguise and new identity...it...seemed like a good idea at the time."

"Oh sure, you look REAL inconspicuous right now."

Moe groaned and rubbed his forehead. "I guess I over-reacted back then. The WWW rose and fell again and neither Shan or the Life Virus were seen during the incident, and they certainly weren't using the technology 'cause they had something better in the Pulse Transmission system."

"Don't sweat it, I think you actually made a good choice. We WERE in trouble with the officials that day. Olaf took all the blame himself, and now Rick and I are mostly errand boys. As for the 'WWW', intelligence suggests the Life Virus broke off and formed his own faction some time before the N1. Shan's probably with him, she was directly infected by the Life Virus after all, so if he went renegade, she'd probably go with him rather than Wily."

Moe got a little optimistic after hearing that. "I'd heard rumors about that. Glad to hear them confirmed. Err...what did the Officials think about me going AWOL?"

"We claimed you were a casualty. They didn't seem to care. They were pretty mad about Shan. By the way, how's Fortissimo?"

Moe chuckled. "He's changed even more than I have."

As if on cue, Drillman popped up on the PET. "Hey Moe, you'll never guess who I saw on the Net." Drillman spotted Trisha and paused. "Oh...maybe you would. It was Overdrive."

Trisha blinked and stared wide-eyed at the PET. "Is THAT Fortissimo? What have you done to him?"

"Fortissimo never fully recovered from that battle, he was no better than a generic normal navi until I joined the NetGuardians and got him merged with the ghost-data of the WWW navi Drillman. Now he's got all his power back and thensome."

"Well, sounds like you have things under control. Glad to hear it. Overdrive's on the Net getting some data neccessay to keep our Mystery Data locked. I'd tell you more, but secret Official business you know."

"Don't let me force it out of you. It makes no difference to me."

Drillman spoke up with a grave tone. "Moe, you may wanna get back to base. We've got business to take care of. Trisha, you'd better get back to your jack-in point too..."

* * *

The NG HQ was its normal rotting self. David and Carlos were still killing each other in the kitchen. Jonathan casually surfed the net with Bowlman. Adrienne strolled over from the TV and watched him. "Isn't it Sam's shift on the net?" Adrienne asked curiously.

Jonathan shrugged. "He's taking Cyros to the hospital. Apparently they both need changes of blood or something. I took over his shift."

"Oh well, I guess it'll be okay. What are the odds we'll run into the AH today anyway?"

Bowlman rode the CyberMetro, streaking across the landscape. He was testing his cannon's sniping ability on random flying viruses near the track. As he neared the business district he spotted something unusual on a distant platform.

"Yo conductor! Next stop please!"

Before the car even came to a complete stop, Bowlman leapt off and dashed towards the only yellow part of the mostly bluish cyberworld landscape. As he got closer, he saw his guess was right. Navis were being deleted left and right...by the Acid Hackers.

Jon nearly choked on his donut when he saw what Bowlman was seeing. He gave a cold stare to Adrienne. "You just HAD to say it, didn't you?" Jon yelled at the top of his lungs in the direction of the kitchen. "Break it up you two! We're on!"

Carlos and David rushed towards the computer. Both were covered in food from David's TV Dinner which had turned into a weapon as soon as it left the microwave. The four put on their game faces and jacked in. Jon plugged in an extra two PETs. "Well, luckily Sam and Cyros left their PETs behind. Metal and King will be at a bit of a disadvantage without operators, but we'll have to risk it."

Once the five NetGuardians were in, they were left with the problem of getting to the business sector in time. Before they could even make it to the teleporter that left the buliding's system, a large hole burst open in the ground in front of them. Drillman popped his head out and gestured for the rest to follow. Not having time to argue, they all leapt in and found themselves at the battle scene just a few panels away from Bowlman.

"I thought your wormhole ability had problems making long-distance trips." Yamatoman said to Drillman out of curiousity.

Drillman nodded. "It's no problem when I have the spatial coordinates for the exit-point committed to memory. I was already here, so all I had to do was tunnel back home."

Back in the real world, Moe had returned to base. Noticing the others were already on top of the situation, he just plugged his PET into the computer and joined in unnoticed.

The team surveyed the battlefield. It was at the end of a road in the city's business section of the internet, and three tall buildings formed walls, boxing in a plaza where all the fighting was taking place. The part of the plaza that connected to the road the team was on was sealed off by a makeshift wall of sand, but it had several gaps in it likely made by Bowlman shooting it down. The plaza itself was covered in sand and who else but Desertman lay waiting in the middle of it all. The rest of the Acid Hackers were surrounding the plaza from above on the ledges halfway up the buildings, shooting down at Bowlman with long-range weapons. A purple haze covered the lower level of the plaza and the cause appeared to be a Poison Pharaoh statue that stood near Desertman, surrounded by Sand Pillars for protection. Bowlman hid behind a wall a few panels away from the sandwall, occasionally peeking around the edge to fire off a couple rounds of Pin Missiles. The rest of the NetGuardians ducked to avoid the crossfire and ran to meet Bowlman at his hiding spot.

"It's a trap" said Kingman contemplatively. "Or at least it was...whoever it was intended for couldn't have lasted long."

"They didn't" interrupted Drillman. "They'd already begun the slaughter by the time I arrived. I tried to get them out with my wormholes but I was only able to save Overdrive." Drillman gestured to an unconcious girl navi on the panel next to Bowlman. "There's a jack-out lock in the area and she's too injured to move by wormhole right now. It looks like the Acid Hackers aren't done yet either. It looks like the only option we have is to confront them."

Serenade's expression took a hardened state as he looked up at Punk on the ledge of the center building taking aim with a Magnum Cannon. "Like we were going to do anything else anyway?"

Bowlman ducked behind the edge of the wall as a spray of Plantman's thorns struck the spot he had been shooting from. "Well, we don't have the advantage all the way back here! What's the plan?"

"Leave the poison to me!" Kingman announced. "Without chips, I'm not much good for anything but my crush attack. I'll get in there and destroy the Poison Pharaoh statue, then you guys will be able to get in and take care of the rest."

Metalman clenched his fist. "I've got enough weapons I don't need chips, but I'll help you out anyway, King. My defense is even better than yours. I'll get in there first and break the pillars and get rid of the sand, then it'll be easier for you to take care of the statue."

"To knock the Acid Hackers off their high horse, we'll have to attack the buildings themselves." Darklady suggested.

"That'll cause a lot of collateral damage." said Bowlman.

"Yeah, but we have Vigilante liscences, we can get away with it." retorted Darklady.

Bowlman shook his head. "I wasn't disagreeeing with you, I was just pointing it out. Now come on! Let's crush a few buildings!"

Metalman picked up Kingman and flew with his jets at full power over the sand wall and towards the Poison Pharaoh. The rest charged the wall and demolished it with breaking attacks. The Acid Hackers, noticing all the targets were out in the open, unleashed their heavy artillery. Punk and Beastman went straight down into the fray while the elementals kept thier high ground.

From the building on the left, Plantman thrust his vines into the wall behind him and they re-emerged under the feet of Darklady and Drillman, tangling them and halting their attacks. Flameman threw a barrage of fireballs from the same ledge as Plantman, creating powerful explosions around Dark and Drill, who felt extra heat from the burning vines.

On the opposite building, Bubbleman and Flashman pelted Metal and King with Bubble Lead and Neon Light attacks. Metal did his best to counter with missiles but his attention was focused on punching his way through Desertman's pillars and not be overcome by the poison draining his energy. Kingman did his best to hold off Desertman himself who was determined to defend the statue.

Yamatoman countered the assault of Beastman's claws with a Cursed Shield, but Beast was fast enough to avoid the shield's bite. Beast took a leap back, loaded two swords from Jake and disappeared as his body portions separated and spread out for a fast Savage Beast attack. Yamato sensed the oncoming attack as did his operator. Carlos loaded three Rock Cubes to intercept the oncoming attack.

Punk went straight for Serenade and the two engaged in another duel. Punk launched his Screw Crusher attack at Serenade again and again while Serenade attempted to take his sword to Punk's chains as to effectively disarm him.

Metalman, nearly deleted from the onslaught of poison, lightning and bubbles, gave one final swing of his Metal Fist and destroyed the statue's last defense and cracked the panels it stood on. He then collapsed on the ground. King saw this and made a huge leap, landing next to the statue and destroying it. The poison faded away and Kingman was crushed by Desertman's SandStone attack. Before the unoperated navis could be finished off, Bowlman dashed into the now unpoisoned plaza and rolled a powerful strike right through Desertman's head, forcing him to retreat underground. The Bowling Ball continued on at full speed right into the building Bubbleman and Flashman were perched on, causing it to shake and crumble. Bubble and Flash nearly lost their footing. Drillman finished the job with a spray of fully charged Drill Missiles from every angle. The building collapsed in a cloud of pixel debris.

Darklady decided to take the clean approach with Flame and Plant's perch. She downloaded some Airshoes and Invis chips and flew unseen up to the ledge where they were attacking from. Darklady then snuck behind them and used her FireTower and IceWave on Plant and Flame respectively. The two were knocked down to ground level with the rest of the party.

By the time the smoke cleared, Beast, Desert, Plant, Flame, Bubble, and Flash had recovered and managed to surround the four standing NetGuardians. Not far away, Punk and Serenade continued their battle. Locked in a pushing contest between Serenade's sword and Punk's Shield, they took a moment to glance at how their comrades were faring.

Punk laughed. "Your lot did pretty good at first, taking us out even when we had the advantage..."

Serenade didn't care how, he was only interested in why at that point. "What was this set-up for? What are you after?"

"I thought we made that clear already. Chaos and Destruction. Preferably YOURS! It looks like we already have a start on two of your navis..."

Serenade noticed with horror that Metal and King were indeed out of energy. The last bit of poison finished them off and they were slowly disintigrating into thin air. With the Hackers' Transmission Lock in place, the deleted data would not return to the PETs and they'd be lost forever.

"Well..." Serenade uttered calmly, "We'll just have to even the score then."

In a sudden burst of fury, Serenade released a wave of energy that knocked Punk away. Punk tucked into ball mode to recover, but by Serenade was already making a full-on attack on the nearest of the Acid Hackers in the Plaza, Beastman.

"Huh?! What?! That's not fair! GRR!"

Everyone was surprised by the move, especially Beastman. The other Guardians received the plan and gave their all on Beastman as well. Beast couldn't stand against the assault of swords, spears, drills, axes, and bowling pins from all directions for more than five seconds. The navi exploded with violent deletion. Everyone saw as the scattered data shot up into the sky and disappeared with a fading twinkle. Serenade smiled with satisfaction.

"Couldn't let one of your own get permanently deleted, could you? The Transmission Lock is gone. Jack-Out Metalman and Kingman!"

The two fallen navis were already gone before he finished talking. Before he could revel in his victory, Punk knocked him onto the ground and pinned him with his foot. The other NetGuardians found themselves just as easily conquered.

"That's a pretty nasty trick alright." Punk spat. "But when you all drain your own energy on one opponent while leaving the rest time to launch a counter-attack, it's not a very good strategy overall, is it?!."

Serenade just smiled. "It was neccessary to save our team mates. I would gladly throw the rest of the battle to make sure we all made it out safely. Besides, do you really think it's over just yet?"

Punk was suddenly hit from nowhere by a sword attack. Serenade escaped and regained his stance. David had downloaded a Slasher chip so his navi could attack even though he couldn't move.

"Look, even though we're still outnumbered we're still overcoming the odds. Looks to me like you guys need to brush up on your battling skills if you want to pose a threat to us."

Punk was getting angry. "Oh yeah? You shoulda been here when we sprung our trap! You'd be singing a different tune. Speaking of which, we got what we came for, we don't have anything more to prove to you. Until next time then! Jack-out Acid Hackers!"

The six navis teleported out of the cyberworld, leaving the NetGuardians to ponder the situation.

"Well, I guess we might as well jack out now too." suggested the team leader.

"Uh...shouldn't we check on the one they were attacking? Yamatoman said, shaking his head in disgust. "Drillman, you said her name was Overdrive. You know her?"

The five navis started dashing back to where they left her. Drillman didn't say anything just yet. As they rounded the corner they saw a normal class navi hunching over her. Before they could even shout "Hey!", the navi teleported out of sight.

"What was that about?" Darklady asked, completely confused.

"I dunno." Drillman said. "But I guess we need to find out."

* * *

An hour later, everyone was back at the NG headquarters, including Trisha, Sam, and Cyros.

"So let me get this straight..." Sam said slowly. "We go to the hospital for a couple hours and you delete our navis."

"To be fair, you only have to re-write about 15% of their programming." said Jon with a smile.

"But that could take days..."

"Well, I hope you learned your lesson. From now on, eat from more than one food group and you won't have to make such frequent visits to the hospital."

Moe turned the attention over to their guest. "So Trisha, did that navi do anything serious to Overdrive?"

She sighed and hung her head. "You could say that. It stole the data package we were transporting. A virtual convoy of Official Soldiers all wiped out by a single trap. They were trying to get the locker powered up when those goons tore through and lead them to that plaza. Then they just got blasted and posioned to oblivion, and Overdrive's speed advantage was worthless in all that sand."

David was ponderous. "That's the first I've seen the Acid Hackers use a plan of some sort...and it sounds like they even did their homework."

The team collectively gasped. Moe continued. "What was in that data anyway?"

Trisha shrugged. "Some random stuff that had to go from headquarters to a holding facility. A few odd files...and about 500,000 Zenny."

David shook his head. "You'd think it was the money...but what would make them go through all that trouble? I wonder what the Acid Hackers are really up to..."

The End

Stories main