Mega Loops 24 (AN: There seems to be some technical difficulties with the numbering…)

24.1 (OathToOblivion and cj304)

If there was one thing that Lan and Hub really hated when it came to baseline, it was Anetta and PlantMan's attack on the Beach Street Hospital. And it wasn't just because of Mamoru being in the middle of an operation, although that certainly contributed a lot. No, it was the fact that they attacked a frickin' hospital! If they didn't care about all the sick, injured, or really badly damaged people that they put in danger due to their stunt, then the Hikari Bros. were going to give them the same regard, or lack of as it were.

They had already visited Mamoru, and were now headed up to wait outside the Operation Room. They hadn't been able to convince anyone to let them guard the computer housing the TetraCode, so this was their only option. "How do you think it'll go?" Lan worried as they rode the elevator up.

"Assuming this is baseline, he'll be fine. We've been stocking up on fire Chips, so we should be able to blaze through in record time," Hub pointed out.

"Yeah, I know. I just can't help but worry," Lan admitted.

"Yeah," Hub sighed. The elevator dinged, and they arrived on the top floor of the hospital. Lan walked over to outside the Operation Room just as the light turned red. "You going to stay here the full three hours until the attack happens?" Hub questioned.

"What do you think?" Lan said rhetorically, waiting there.

About two hours into the wait, Lan was rummaging through his Folder to make sure that they were optimized for what was coming. "Hm...do you think I can get away with some of the later fire Chips like FireHit?" Lan questioned.

"Probably not. After all, Champy Viruses aren't a thing yet," Hub pointed out.

"Yeah, good point. Guess I should just stick with the things that have appeared," Lan decided, closing his Folder.

"Well, hey there, Lan!" a voice greeted. Lan blinked in surprise, turning to see who it was. And to his surprise, it was Tamako Shiraizumi, the Operator of and Mamoru's aunt. But what was she doing here? It did make sense for her to be here, being Mamoru's aunt and all, but she hadn't shown up in baseline.

"Oh, hey, Tamako!" Lan greeted back. "What are you doing here?" he questioned. He had a feeling he knew, but wanted to be sure.

"Oh, my nephew Mamoru's here for treatment. Which you should know about, Lan, since he's mentioned you a lot. Why else would you be here?" Tamako teased.

"Eheh. Yeah, I guess," Lan chuckled sheepishly.

"Still can't believe I managed to get time off to even come here. Usually this time of the month there's this one guy who's always pestering Sis and I about some random stupid thing. Was a no-show this time, thank goodness," Tamako commented. Lan blinked at that. Well that certainly explained that.

"So, while we're waiting for news, how about a Netbattle?" she offered. Lan thought about it. It was going to be about another hour until things started going ahead. There wasn't really anything else to do...

"Sure!"

Lan didn't usually feel sorry for a lot of the guys in WWW, 'cept Mr. Mach and Baryl. But as soon as the trouble started, Tamako had went ballistic in fury over the whole thing. Lan had already surreptitiously sent Hub to clear the emergency exit's system, so the first time Tamako and MetalMan saw what was going on in the Hospital's Network was in the basement.

"Grr...who's responsible for this?!" Tamako demanded.

"Well we're not going to find out like this! Let's clear this place out!" Lan pointed out.

"Right!"

In the HospitalComp, Hub turned to MetalMan. "Don't worry, MetalMan, I know exactly how to deal with these plants! I have a program that will convert fire-type Battle Chips into special flames that can burn them. And Lan has a lot of fire chips right now, enough for the two of us!" he declared.

"Well, it never hurts to be prepared, for when you might need an extra fire chip... or fifty," Lan grinned sheepishly.

Hub nodded. "Exactly! Now, if you can keep the viruses off my back, we can sweep the hospital from the ground up in no time-!" he attempted to say.

Tamako cut in at that. "What! That'll take too long! And fire's too risky! MetalMan! Charge through and cut down every plant in your way until you get to the programs running Mamoru's room!"

Lan blinked in surprise. They had already tried that before and and it had never worked. "Wait! Cut? How can he...?"

Tamako rolled her eyes. "With his buzzsaws! Duh! Go, MetalMan! I want to have this asshole's head removed from his body in ten minutes! We'll leave cleanup to these guys!" she declared.

MetalMan grinned a rather evil grin. "Right! HA! Silly plants! Trying to bar the way of someone who can produce an infinite number of saws! It's deforesting time!" he yelled, charging straight forward and tossing Metal Blades to and fro.

Hub blinked. "Well... that didn't go as planned. Kinda makes you wish they were here in baseline," he muttered to himself so Tamako couldn't hear.

"Now what am I gonna do with all these fire chips?" Lan complained. He wasn't usually one to go for the "Kill It With Fire" plan.

Hub thought about it to himself. "MetalMan's taking the direct route forward, but if we leave the plants in the side areas alone, they'll probably reinfect the whole system," he said seriously.

Lan nodded at that. "Right then, we'll follow their lead in this! Since every Virus in here seems to be plant-themed..." he mock-rationalized so as to not give away that they already knew this was going to happen.

"Right behind you, Lan! Style Change: HeatGuts Style!" Hub declared, summoning the code rings around him. Now in the red fire-based Style, he dashed after MetalMan, burning down the trees that the Breaking-element Navi had left in his tracks.

Lan grimaced. Not too long after they had jacked in, Anetta, PlantMan's Operator had walked in. The moment Tamako had learned that Anetta was the one responsible for the current condition of the hospital, she tossed her PET into Lan's hands and chased after Anetta, an almost demonic aura covering her. Lan was still shuddering at that. But Hub and MetalMan had made it to the back of the area, where PlantMan was.

"Give it up, PlantMan!" Hub declared.

"Yeah! Your puny little plants aren't going to save you from the pummeling we're going to give you!" MetalMan yelled.

PlantMan gulped, but knew he had no choice but to engage them earlier than he had anticipated. "Don't underestimate the power of nature!" he exclaimed, launching into battle.

With the amount of fire and Metal Blades being tossed around, the battle was completely one-sided. Let's skip ahead.

As Hub and MetalMan stood over PlantMan's broken body, Hub couldn't help but comment about something. "You know, I was pretty impressed with your ferocity there. You must really care a lot about Mamoru yourself," he said.

MetalMan grinned. "Hell yeah! The little squirt's family! Course I care about him!" he boasted.

Hub grinned. "Well, anyone who loves their family that much is alright in my book!" he declared.

"You know what, MegaMan? You're alright!" MetalMan said, holding out his fist. Hub grinned some more and gave his companion a bro-fist, not even flinching at how much it hurt. Suddenly, a familiar feeling rose up in Hub. He only had time to blink before he flashed white and transformed into a familiar set of armor based off of MetalMan. Hub had entered MetalSoul!

MetalMan whistled. "Woo! Snazzy! You look like me now! Is that a Style Change?" he wondered.

"It's a DoubleSoul!" Lan said in surprise.

"Err...DoubleSoul?" MetalMan wondered in confusion.

"You know how most custom Navis have a special ability? Double Soul is MegaMan's, and lets him temporarily use the power of Navis he's synchronized with!" Lan declared with pride.

"Really? That's pretty cool," MetalMan complimented, before noticing a suspicious lack of plant. "Hey, where'd-?" he wondered, before noticing PlantMan making a break for Beach Street's Net Area, and most likely the Undernet. "Hey, he's getting away!" MetalMan said in alarm.

"Both of you, after him!" Lan ordered.

"Roger!" Hub declared, disengaging MetalSoul for the time being.

"Got it!" MetalMan complied, and the two of them immediately took off after PlantMan.

PlantMan ran for all he was worth, and he didn't dare stop.

He ran and he ran, passing Navis and Programs as he went, ignoring their cries as he bumped into them. He ran without rest, past viruses and data streams, power lines and flying messages. He didn't dare stop, not when he knew that if he did, his pursuers might catch up to him.

He kept running, even as his surroundings turned darker and gloomier as he crossed over into the Undernet.

Really, things had been going so well. That probably should have been his first clue that things would have turned out like this.

He and Anetta had just successfully hijacked the Hospital Server when the problems had started in the form of and his Operator being on-hand. Dr. Wily had warned all of them about the Blue Bomber, whom had personally helped take apart the previous incarnation of the World Three, and had even deleted the Life Virus singlehandedly. His presence alone would have been cause for alarm, especially as he had already started interfering in their operations, but Mr. Match had given them a heads up about his fighting style, and had stressed MegaMan and his operator's naivety, so PlantMan had been reasonably sure that he and Anetta would have been able to beat him once the Server had been rendered under his control, and he could control the battlefield.

Too bad MegaMan hadn't been alone. As it had turned out, one of the Hospital Patients had had family visiting at the time, an aunt he believed, and she had taken exception to PlantMan putting her nephew's life in danger, and had promptly sent her Navi into the Hospital Comp to "punch the face in" of the one responsible. And was more than capable of doing so, being incredibly strong physically, a skilled battler, and capable of generating a seemingly endless amount of buzz saws.

PlantMan shivered just thinking about them, and the storm of blades that had almost torn him to shreds.

MetalMan alone would have been a problem. But MegaMan as well? They had made short work of his Data-Vines, between MetalMan's saws (shudder) and MegaMan's program generated flames, supplied by his operator from a seemingly endless amount of fire-chips that one would almost think he had stocked up on before-hand. The viruses hadn't even slowed them down; they had torn into them so quickly. MegaMan's skill had been sublime, he could admit to that. It was almost like he had been doing this for years he was so good.

And then they had been upon him. And not only had he had to worry about MetalMan punching his face in, or trying to cut him in half with his saws (shudder), but he'd had to deal with MegaMan trying to light him on fire. Because apparently MegaMan not only had an obscene amount of fire chips on hand, (so many fire chips; FireBlade, FireSword, HeatShot, HeatV, Salamander, FireRatton, FireDragon, RedWave, and many more) but he had a HeatGuts Style as well!

They had known that MegaMan possessed the capacity for Style Change! But FlashMan's Operator had reported that Megaman had possessed a WoodShield Style, not HeatGuts! (And he had apparently combined it with a WoodAura chip in his rather one-sided fight with FlashMan. Hah! Take that, FlashMan! Wood Power always beats Electric!) WoodShield he could have dealt with, if MegaMan had been foolish enough to try using a Style Change granted elemental affinity against a purely Elemental Customized Navi of the same element. But HeatGuts? That just wasn't fair!

What kind of Navi had complex enough programming to support two different Style Changes, let alone ones that opposed to each other? That kind of duality was almost human in its complexity!

Needless to say, the fight hadn't gone well for PlantMan. He had been lucky to escape with his life; they had beaten him so hard, and hit him with so many attacks, some of which would have been lethal had he not drawn energy from the GrassPanels MegaMan hadn't burnt to ashes. He'd barely held on to consciousness, faintly able to make out Anetta screaming as she was chased out of the Hospital by MetalMan's enraged Operator, and MegaMan and MetalMan taking a moment to exchange a fist-bump over his prone body, before MegaMan had been engulfed by a bright light and had seemingly evolved some kind of super Style Change that bared a resemblance to MetalMan.

He'd taken the moment that the two were distracted by MegaMan's Operator monologuing something about Double Souls to quietly get up and attempt an escape. Unfortunately, Anetta had dropped her PET, severing the connection, so he'd had to leave the server and find some place to hide until Anetta re-established contact when- well, if she got away.

Too bad they had spotted him, he'd almost managed it.

He hadn't wanted to find out what kind of damage MegaMan could dish out in his new form, as he suspected that he truly wouldn't survive another fight with him, and so he had abandoned all pretense of stealth and simply run before MetalMan and MegaMan could catch him.

And so now here he was, running through the Undernet, hoping that if he could get deep enough the denizens would become enough of a detriment to them that his pursuers would abandon the chase.

"Psst! Hey, over here!"

Startled, PlantMan stopped as he looked around for the source of the noise. Turning his head around wildly in his fear induced frenzy, he spotted a HeelNavi waving at him from around a far off corner.

"Hey, buddy, over here! Hurry!"

HeelNavi's had originally been designed as an off-the-shelf type of workforce Navi, meant for some of the more dangerous jobs that required durability and carried the risk of high-level virus attacks. They were resistant to Bugs and viral corruption, and their signals were rather faint, and could be modified to not disturb the more sensitive scanners they had been intended to maintenance, and they could put up a better fight than all but the more advanced NormalNavi brands. They were perfect for jobs that required the handling of Bug Frags, could herd and battle viruses with decent results, and were easy to upgrade. It was almost ridiculously obvious in hindsight that they would become the preferred brand of Navi to be used by criminals without any customizing skills.

Nowadays, you had to have serious self-confidence to use one in public without people thinking you were a thug of some kind, so there was a better than even chance that this Navi was a criminal of some kind. Meaning he might be a possible ally, something PlantMan sorely needed right now.

"Hurry up! You want them to catch you? I ain't sticking around to get caught in the crossfire like those other schmucks that hang around the area!"

Rushing around the corner, he saw the HeelNavi jogging in front of him, briefly turning around and motioning him to follow. Deciding that he didn't really have many options at the moment, PlantMan obliged, and followed the purple Navi for a good five minutes, running around corners and along corridors as they ventured deeper into the Undernet until his mysterious rescuer had deemed them safe enough to rest.

"Whew! I thought they were gonna follow us for sure! Guess it's a good thing they aren't familiar with this part of the Undernet!"

"Um, yes, thank you for that," PlantMan replied, now that he had a moment to talk. "I wasn't looking forward to those two finishing the job they started earlier. They almost did me in last time."

"Heh, I'll bet! But you had to expect a few PO'd goodie-goodie's showing up when you decided to take a Hospital hostage like that. "

PlantMan stilled, suddenly aware that he was deep in the Undernet, cut off from his NetOp, and in no condition to fight as he stared at the Navi that was apparently very well informed.

"You heard about that? So quickly?!"

The HeelNavi chuckled. "Relax man, I ain't here to fight. And yeah, it's the talk of the town in almost all the Under Squares around here. They say that gossip spreads faster than a PM, or something like that, and you're the latest, juiciest gossip for people like us."

PlantMan relaxed a bit. Yes, that made sense. It was only natural that actions of the World Three would be of interest to those that dwelled in the Undernet. Still, something the Navi said stuck with him.

"Then... what are you here for? Why did you help me?"

The HeelNavi chuckled again, not bothered the least by the subtle accusation.

"Sharp one. Good, the Boss'll be happy about that."

"Boss? You mean, your NetOp?"

"Nah, man. I mean the Boss." The Navi put emphasis on the word, making the difference clear.

"The Boss is the one in charge of this part of the Undernet. Goes by the alias 'No. 1', 'cause of the Ranking System that we use 'round here to measure who's top dogm" the purple Navi continued to explain. "Though sometimes the Boss goes by 'S', if that makes things easier for you. The Boss heard about your little stunt, said it made an impression. Asked a few of us to keep an eye out for you when we heard you were heading in this direction, said that e'might appreciate a meeting with you. Y'know, to talk shop."

Plantman's thoughts raced. This... this was good. This was really good. The Undernet was a strange, and multi-faced beast, that grew larger the more private servers were linked onto it. It was divided into fifes, servers, and chaotic areas that occasionally connected to elsewhere, and even the World Three's staked area was only a fraction of the nebulous web. If he had made a favorable impression on one of the powers in the area, and they wanted to meet with him, then maybe the day wasn't a total loss. If he could convince this Boss, this "S", that they would be better off throwing their support in with the World Three then Dr. Wily would probably even forgive the failure at the Hospital!

"I see. Well then, lead the way to this... S. It wouldn't do for me to ignore the help I've received because of them."

The HeelNavi cackled, slapping PlantMan on the back as he led him off deeper into the Undernet. "Thought you'd say that!"

Cautiously, PlantMan surveyed the area he'd been brought to. The HeelNavi had brought him deeper into the Undernet than he'd ever been, before showing him to a teleport platform that would take him the rest of the way. He'd then taken to guarding the entrance to the area, claiming that he wasn't important enough to listen in on their conversation.

This place... if felt old; like it had been created decades ago. The coding was rustic, if functional, and the entire area seemed to be weathered, as though it had experienced the warping of the Undernet longer than most of the areas he was used to. The lighting was dim, and there was no background coding in the sky, as was the norm in the more recently created areas. Everything here was simple and straightforward. A single square area, connected to the teleport platform he'd come in from, leading to a set of stairs. Climbing the stairs, he saw what awaited him.

A single access point for a remote server.

PlantMan frowned. That access point was ancient, old enough that he would believe it if someone claimed it was a leftover from the Alpha or Beta Networks. And it was secure too. Just looking at the thing he could tell that he'd never be able to hack that, even if he had days to make the try.

Who was this S?

And, more importantly, where were they? Were they in the server this connected to? Should he go in? Could he?

Taking a few cautious steps forward, PlantMan touched the Server Access Point and hesitantly tried to activate it.

BOOM

The force of the reaction as the Access Point rejected him was so violent that he flew back, all the way to the edge of the stairs, then he tumbled down them, turning over and upside down until he came to rest a few feet away from the bottom steps.

"Sonofa-! What's the point of me coming here if I can't use it?!" PlantMan cursed. He normally wasn't a vulgar Navi, but he'd had a long day at this point, and now his head was spinning so much that the ground felt like it was shaking.

...

No... the ground was shaking, PlantMan realized. And so were the stairs, the walls of code that surrounded the area, even the sky was shaking. At this point PlantMan wouldn't be surprised if this entire section of the Undernet was shaking!

"It's... coming from the... Access Point?"

No, not from the Access Point, from whatever was coming through it!

Light, so bright, so sudden, hit him. Brighter than anything FlashMan had ever used, whiter, hotter, and infinitely more terrible. It felt like just this light, just this bright luminescence might burn him to ashes, it was so fierce.

He wasn't aware of how long it took his eyesight to return, but when it did he stared at the top of the stairs and saw her.

White legs that bore a resemblance to pants, and a black torso and arms, with golden and emerald accessories, long platinum strips of hair escaped from a helmet that rested atop a surprisingly human looking head, and two circular raiment's floated behind her.

This was S.

She, and it was a she, he realized, despite her slight frame being a few degrees away from being androgynous, radiated power. It poured off her not in waves, but in a constant rush of pressure that pushed down on him simply for being in her presence. A constant, all-bearing power that was like the sky, so vast and enormous that it would swallow you whole without even noticing. It was like being at the depths of the ocean and being crushed by the sheer weight of its depth.

Not that PlantMan paid any conscious notice to that, as he was too busy staring at her chest.

That is not to say that he was ogling her. That was the furthest thing from his mind at the moment, to be honest. Even if he hadn't had a female Operator who had been sure to program a sense of respect for the female gender into him, and who had threatened to punish him severely should he ever go against that programming, the truth of the matter was that this Navi was so slight of frame that she might very easily be confused for a male.

No, he was staring at her chest, more specifically her stomach, because the belt attached to it bore a Navi Mark.

One he was sure he had seen on a wheelchair at the Hospital.

If PlantMan were human, his mouth would have been drier than the Sahara Desert.

As she walked down the stairs, the feeling of a BlackHole growing in his gut increased with every step down she took.

It felt like the stairs trembled with every step she took...

Oh wait, supremely powerful Navi, they probably were.

Briefly, PlantMan considered making a run for it, but even if the Teleport Platform was still working, and even if his 'new friend' wasn't standing guard to make sure he didn't do just that, he knew, on an instinctive level that this Navi was only taking her time because she could end his existence any time she wanted. She was taking her time going down those steps because any speed he could muster to try and retreat would be a snail's pace to her, and she would delete him if he tried.

And so he waited for his doom to arrive.

The Navi, S, finally reached the bottom of the stairs and came to a halt, standing but a few feet away from him and staring.

An eternity seemed to pass, during which PlantMan experienced the unique, and highly illogical, sensation of his life passing before his eyes, before the Navi spoke.

"So...you are He. The one who attacked the Hospital."

Her voice... it was soft, yet firm. It was mellow, like the wind across the waters of a pond. Yet PlantMan could tell... there was something lurking just below the surface. A Typhoon waiting to happen. A calamity kept in check by a soft shell.

All directed at him.

PlantMan swallowed, the action painful.

What a perfect end to an absolutely terrible day.

"Ordinarily," she began, seemingly content to draw it out. "I am bound by my duties. I may not venture out but to the deepest areas of the Undernet, and only to those areas close to the Uranet that I guard, for I must never stray too far from that which I am obligated to protect. Only in the direst of circumstances may I venture into the Network at large. Unfortunately..." And here her tone began to grow sharper.

"The protocols that I must adhere to would not consider a terrorist attack on a hospital to be dire enough to warrant my intervention. Especially when measures were already taken to counter such an act." Her tone softened at the end, as she considered the reports she had received about the ones who had resolved the issue.

"I must thank them, for they not only protected Mamoru for me, but also did me a boon by chasing you here."

Plantman nearly jumped out of his frame at the twist in her voice, feeling the malice directed at him, even as her voice remained at the same volume.

Mustering what remained of his courage, PlantMan dared to reply.

"So... so that you could have your-your underling bring me here."

"Yes. He is the current Ranked 5, and one of my subordinates. When I asked him to bring you here so that I might deal with you myself, he was kind enough to comply." Shadows seemed to frame her face as her voice once more twisted without rising in the slightest.

"Who... who are you?" PlantMan had to know, even if it was the last thing that he would know.

"Know that I am Serenade, the holder of the Rank # 1, the one titled Ruler of the Undernet since its birth, protector of the Uranet, and keeper of the Forbidden Program." As the Navi, Serenade, introduced herself, her form seemed to glow brighter and brighter with an internal luminescence, and the pressure around her grew and grew until he was fairly sure he saw the ground beneath her feet beginning to melt.

PlantMan considered the Navi in front of him, felt the Power coming off of her form, recalled the menace in her words, and tried not to think about what a ruler of the Undernet could do to him if they were angry enough. He took all of this in, and realized that his life was now probably to be measured in seconds. Still, there was only one thing left to try.

"If I said I was sorry, begged forgiveness, and turned myself in... would you let me live?"

Serenade smiled, a tiny little thing that gently upturned her lips without stretching her cheeks.

PlantMan shivered, trembling in fear, even as he forced himself to look at that smile and remember it. To remember the last thing that he would ever see.

There was no compassion in that smile at all.

"No."

The world flashed white, the ground trembled, the very Undernet shook, and rumbled. Heat blasted across the connected networks, and a wave of sound that deafened all in its wake and knocked them aside, so terrible was its pressure, followed after it.

The weaker denizens of the Undernet felt their knees grow weak and collapsed, the stronger ones felt terror drown their souls as they trembled, and the oldest and vilest beings that made their home in the cracks of the ever growing hell felt fear for the first time in so long. All save one Navi, cloaked in a ragged brown cape, who laughed at the power that rolled across the Net, a sharp-toothed and blood-thirsty smile on his face, and one who was clothed in blue, who stared off in the direction he could feel the power from, before grimly nodding and turning to help his companion to his feet.

Of where PlantMan had been, there was simply an absence of space, as he, and everything around him, had been reduced to less than ashes...

Anetta was eventually arrested, but only after the police pulled an enraged Tamako off of her. Eventually she was rescued from prison by her World Three comrades, but when she connected to the Network to look for PlantMan, or failing that his Ghost-Data, she couldn't find a single trace of him, no matter how hard she looked. She was forced to use a backup copy to restore him, though his copy couldn't for the life of him explain why he developed an irrational fear of wheelchairs.

24.2 (Sirkaid)

"I'm picking up a large energy buildup in the centre of the room, Megaman! Be careful!" Roll said through the radio.

Megaman readied his buster cannon and waited. The cylinder in the middle of the room had lit up when he entered but hadn't had any further reaction.

"I don't think it's a Reaverbot, Roll, Megaman replied. "I'm going to give it a closer look."

Megaman slowly approached the cylinder. Apart from being able to hear a quiet hum, nothing changed.

"It looks like some kind of metal and glass pod. It's about the size of a tall man, and... Woah!"

Megaman's report ended when he touched the pod and a translucent blue man appeared inside. He was wearing a lab coat and had a large bushy beard. "Hello, X, I... Wait. You're not X," the man said.

Something about that name seemed oddly familiar, but Megaman shook his head. "No sir, my name's Megaman Volnutt."

The man closed his eyes and muttered something that Megaman couldn't quite catch. What was a 'Variant Loop' anyway?

"Right," the man declared, "my name is Dr. Thomas Light. I'm a brain upload of the original Dr. Light, doubtlessly long since dead, and he put me in here so that I could present our youngest son with upgrades long after his death. Unfortunately it looks like he never found this capsule. If you would be so kind as to escort your mechanic to me, I could walk her through the process of detaching my capsule from the floor and moving it to your ship. I'd love to see how the world has changed since original-me's death. If you'll have me, of course."

"Roll, did you catch that?" Megaman asked.

"OhmygodareallifeAncientscientistthisisamazing- Megaman, I'm coming down! Meet me at the elevator!"

Dr. Light chuckled. "I suppose that answers that. Go ahead, it isn't polite to keep a lady waiting."

24.3

"Well, this is a strange variant, nya," Roll observed as she Awoke. And it was. Apparently at some point in history, it became common for humans to possess varying degrees of animal traits. Which explained why she was, once again, a catgirl.

"Still have the verbal tic?" Rock grinned in amusement.

"Nyah... Go chase a car, Rock Rush Light," Roll Tango Light hissed.

"Woof, woof, sis," her brother laughed teasingly.

"I have claws you know."

"Woof. Woof. Kitty. Cat."

Dr. Light was awoken by the sounds of his robot children chasing each other around the lab a few seconds before his radio alarm went off, playing an old favorite by Queen.

Are you gonna take me home tonight?

Ah down beside that red firelight.

Are you gonna let it all hang out?

Rat bottomed girls,

You make the rockin' world go round.

24.4 (Scorntex)

"Anything?" Roll asked. Rock looked at the crumpled pile, nudging aside a few pieces of armour, and winced at the sight.

"Yes," he said quietly, picking up a small item. It was half an IC chip.

Roll's expression remained neutral, and Rock sighed. He'd been hoping, even after seeing the poor robot's head was shattered, that there would've been something he could've done.

"Sorry dad," he said, through the communicator, "but Bass has made sure we can't rebuild Dubstep Man."

REATTEMPTING ACTIVATION OF LOOPER CANDIDATE 'BASS'...

ERROR: ACTIVATION FAILED.

BRANCH DESIGNATED 'MEGA' CURRENTLY UNABLE TO SUPPORT CANDIDATE 'BASS' AS LOOPER.

COMPILING LOOP MEMORY DATA FOR LATER ATTEMPT…

24.5 (Scorntex)

"Hey, X?"

"Yeah, Z?" X tapped the side of his helmet, hoping it would deal with the odd wobble on the line.

No such luck, alas. Though given the size of the ruins they were exploring, any coherent signal in there was frankly a miracle.

"You know how we thought some of the defence mechanisms down here still worked?"

There was the sound of gunfire.

"Let me guess," X said, now wearily looking about in the gloom, "you found something."

There was what sounded like a mechanical yelp. "Oh, I found something."

After a few seconds whatever had been occupying Zero's attention had been dealt with. "Incidentally, I'm under attack. Well, I say "attack". Guess your siblings forgot to break some of Wily's old toys last time around."

Great, so it was the remains of a Wily Castle. And some (though less than there were five minutes ago, at least) of the things down here were sti–

Something exploded past X's head. As if on cue, several lights flickered into action, revealing what could have been almost like a house of horrors.

If they were littered with rubble, the remains of... well, at the moment, the best X could go on was "things", and traps.

Also, a battered, one-eyed thing was aiming a weapon at his head. A Joe, from the looks of it.

Frankly, it was amazing the thing was still functioning. Most of its head was missing.

Meanwhile, over the sound of the comm., Zero could be heard chuckling as several more things found themselves falling victim to Zero's blade (and need to vent his boredom).

Aiming at the Joe, and ignoring the sound of several more things in the distance turning on, X winced.

This had been supposed to be a boring walk through some ruins, just for Doctor Cain.

24.6

Quint looked down at the garment he was expected to wear as part of an 'infiltration' mission to the convent of the Sisters of Perpetual Weepiness. A Loop where everything was grayscale was one thing. Being a police lieutenant was another. Dealing with the local Anchor's (supposedly) Unawake best friend and his antics on the other hand...

"Nigel," he looked up from the outfit and stared the man in the eyes as he held an identical such garment, "is the desire to shoot Harry an uncommon one?"

"Not really," Nigel Grouse answered with a sigh. "Lieutenant Foster, the man you're replacing, has expressed such a desire on numerous occasions each Loop, Awake or otherwise. Still, he manages to suppress it well enough. In fact, if you can manage to go the whole Loop without actually attacking Harry, then you're eligible for an achievement pin."

"Hmm..." Quint grunted noncommittally as he looked over to the man who was supposedly the 'brains' of this operation, despite none being evident. Harry Hunsacker, 'world famous detective' and aspiring actor... 'I swear, the man could starve a zombie simply by being within fifty feet of it...'

"This is gonna be great, you guys! A real secret mission!" Harry beamed where he was dressed as a priest of the catholic church as part of his cover. "Come on, get into costume! You don't want to blow the mission, do you?"

Sighing heavily, Quint gave in and put on the nun's habit.

24.7

Cthulhu chuckled to himself as he snuck up on the blue and red forms silently, looming over them and casting his shadow. They noticed the shadow and turned to meet him, gazing upon his carefully crafted and geometrically impossible avatar.

"fhTagN!" he bellowed at them.

"Devil series?" the blue one asked the red calmly.

"Don't think so, X" the red answered, shaking his head and sending the long blond ponytail hanging out of his helmet swishing. "I'm not getting any of Wily's transponder signals from it."

"yOu"rE SuPPosEd tO B3 sCreAM1ng n0w..."

"Not feeling it," the one called X shrugged. "How about you, Zero?"

"The angles may be giving my processors conniptions," the one called Zero folded his arms, "but Weil's still got this guy beat hands down."

"i wIll dEStr0Y yOUr mIndS!1!"

"That sounded hostile," the one called X blinked, one arm forming into a cannon.

"That it did," the one called Zero nodded, pulling out an object that ignited into some form of energy blade.

"wHat d0 yOU tHinK tO... oW!1! wAi–aRgH! n0T tH3 fAcE!"

24.1) Plantman. exe's terrible, horrible, no good, very bad day. As promised.

24.2) On some island somewhere, there's a guy who goes by Captain Archer that is enjoying a quiet Loop to fish and relax. Upstairs in his office, Hephaestus is banging his head on his desk over the fact that this isn't supposed to be happening yet.

24.3) This Loop they're fighting like cats and do–*is shot*

24.4) In Archie comic Short Circuits, Bass drops you!

24.5) You know, I have to wonder. For every Skull Fortress found in the classic series, how many escaped detection?

24.6) I live in Dallas and we have these amazing and hilarious local plays every year around my birthday called 'living black and white' that are spoofs on 30s and 40s detective shows. This year's was new, seventeenth written in the series (they don't go in chronological order), called Death Is A Bad Habit.

24.7) You know, you'd think the guys over at Shoggoth-chan would learn...