MMBN RP - Heart♥Racing! The Oran Isle Expedition!

@snoruntpyro + @scenegraph + @Owens

It seemed rather in-character for Lan to suddenly be thrust into yet another expedition at Triese's behest; at the very least, they weren't travelling to a 400-year-in-the-future aquarium or - worse, some random person's apartment - but staying on their turf in exchange for it being an abandoned island hardly seemed like she was trading up at all. At least she had experience - at least there wasn't someone waiting for her on this island. As it turned out, Dr. Wily did have a drilling machine lying in storage from when he was working for the Netopian army - apparently, he was so annoyed with material delays that he just did it himself occasionally. From the sound of things, he was pretty excited to see it have a use - and also invested in why one would even need MagnoMetal in the first place. Lan neglected to explain the whole truth - he, and the rest of the WWW by extension, were aware of the chatroom by virtue of Triese's sickness, but she never wanted to go into detail about it - the less people that knew, the better. (Dr. Wily had also seen right through that scope; passing it off as a "gift from a friend" was not satisfactory for him.) ("I haven't even thought about MagnoMetal since Tadashi passed away," Dr. Wily had typed in that email. "There was an old project he had collected notes on - that he never got started on. MagnoMetal was a known interference for a certain signal he was using. As far as I'm aware, besides this, there is no practical use for that metal; it seems it's more a hassle to work with than anything." Lan hated that there was a fog in her brain whenever she tried to think about Tadashi Hikari. Her grandfather - not that that meant much to her. She had been told by her mother that he had seen her as a baby, and that he had done so much work for the Net, but she couldn't remember any of it. The man was a ghost to her.) After some brief correspondence with Dr. Wily, they laid out their plan. Blackbeard's rental boat they used for Tartarus was not going to carry the weight of an entire drilling machine, so they also had to bring along a carrier platform for the machine that Wily just oh-so-convienently already had handy. ("How did you think I got this machine all the way from Netopia?!" he explained.) Attaching the drill machine to a car and getting on the road to transport it to Marine Harbor was also a major pain in the ass, but eventually, after a long, sweaty thirty minutes, everything was prepared at the dock. Blackbeard was prepared to transport the whole crew to Oran, and Dr. Wily had also sent Jasmine as backup - she rendevouzed with them at the harbor once they were locked and loaded. "Hey! Been a bit, hasn't it?" she greeted, waltzing up to Lan - she was still carrying her umbrella, even though it wasn't that hot out. "Triese is doing okay now, right?" "U-um, yeah," Lan stammered, leaning against a pole on the dock. "She's doing a lot better. But... I wasn't sure if she should come here, since... this is kind of a dangerous place, and..." Jasmine shrugged. "Yeah, it's kinda weird, isn't it? Why am I the one being voluntold for this?" she jokingly complained. "What's a nurse got to do with some weird metal?" "It's not like the old man has a driller ready," Meddy offered as an explanation. "I guess everyone else was just busy." "Eh. Guess so. I bet it'll be fun, anyway," Jasmine replied, tilting her head. "Where's your other friends?" Lan blinked, burying her face into her PET, much to Rock's amusement. "O-oh. Yeah. I have to message them really quick." [MSG:

️] we're ready. i attached the coordinates. [MSG:

] we're ready. i attached the coordinates. (edited)

Meiru made sure to bring as many hard hats and gloves as she knew there were going to be people. Hot pink for girl Lan, yellow for her, and orange for boy Lan! And a GoExpert that Roll was manning via the PET for their stream back to base-slash-documentary footage, and a cooler bag with more sandwiches than three people could conceivably need, and sunscreen in case somebody forgot… The coordinates took her right in front of Lan. “Hi!” she greeted, then passed Lan the pink hard hat and work gloves without preamble. “As the chaperone, I insist on safety first. And also style.” And next to her was a very familiar, if more gothic, figure. “Oh my gosh! Jasmine!” It didn’t surprise Meiru that she had to look down to see Jasmine, since she was naturally petite. This was a new look for her compared to the Jasmine she knew, but she was rocking it! Which reminded her that girl Lan was a whole lot younger than the Netto she knew. “Er, in case we’re not friends for you, I’m Meiru! Nice to meet you! …Unless you already know me.” She laughed sheepishly. With that out of the way, Meiru stepped back to get a better look at everything. It was super impressive! And behind the wheel of the boat was—“Captain Kurohige?!” And his beard was still not black. Why he called himself that remained a true mystery to Meiru.

Before leaving, Lan made sure he was an expert on all things MagnoMetal. He knew more than the average person, seeing how he owed his life to the material, but that wasn't good enough for him. The others were relying on him for knowledge, this was important! If he messed up, he would be putting dozens of lives at risk. The coordinates came at an opportune time -- he had just finished his crash course with Mr. Famous, and was getting ready for the expedition. In addition to his typical amulet, he was also bringing along the MagnoMetal sample they retrieved from the lab in Creamland. Rough and unrefined, it would serve as a prime example of what they were looking for. Upon reaching his destination, Lan noticed he was the last to arrive. The other Lan was already there, of course, as was Meiru. There was also an older man piloting the boat, one he didn't recognize. Although, this man's vibe was striking. "You have a pirate ship?" Lan exclaimed in awe. This trip was cool already! Alas, his excitement was diminished when he noticed the final guest on the dock. This one was instantly recognizable, though her vibe was no less striking. Quickly, Lan stepped away from the crowd and stuffed his face into his PET. "Hey, HeatMan," he whispered. "Why is Jasmine here? And why is she evil?" "What makes you think she's evil?" HeatMan asked, crossing his arms. "Well... look at her! I've never seen Jasmine dress like that! You don't think she's from our world, do you?" "That doesn't make sense, Lan. They wouldn't invite someone evil to join us. And isn't the Jasmine in our world your age?" Lan peeked a glance at Jasmine once more, this time noticing the smaller details. She was a bit older, wasn't she? And she sure didn't look like she was harming people. Maybe he was just being paranoid. With that imagined crisis averted, he returned to the group once more, smiling apologetically. "Sorry about that, just had to ask my navi a question! I'm Lan! Um, I'm also Lan, I should say!"

Lan meekly stepped aside and bowed as both Mayl and her... other, other, other, other counterpart showed up, bowing and motioning towards the boat. This was the first time she'd seen this other Lan since the sleepover- she'd at least met Mayl once after that. Though- either way, it was better than working with complete strangers. She hesitatingly accepted the hard hat, and for a moment she was almost going to ask what it was for before remembering what they were actually here for. Really, really stupid question. Both Blackbeard and Jasmine were inordinately caught off guard by being recognized by someone they'd never seen before in their lives. Blackbeard sank into his seat, a befuddled look darting between Mayl and the other Lan; seeing the latter told him enough about what was going on here. "E-eh? Sure, ye can think of this as a pirate ship," he responded, motioning toward the other Lan. "It ain't very grand, but it'll do." He turned to Mayl. "So, when did ye mateys figure out tricks like that? This other-world stuff's too complicated for me. I'm content to stay out of it." Jasmine curled her lip, awkwardly waving at Mayl. "Uh...? Hey. Sorry, uh, I don't... know you?" she responded stiffly. "Well, I guess we're saving a step with introductions if you somehow do..." "She was one of the people that helped rescue Triese," Lan quietly clarified as she shuffled over to Jasmine. (Where was she getting a hard hat...? Did the umbrella substitute for one...?) Jasmine nodded, before her attention drifted toward the other Lan. He... looked pretty worse for wear, compared to last time, she thought. "I knew that already, kid. Didn't we see each other before? And- what happened to you, anyway?" she wondered out loud. "Hasn't been that long - where'd the bandage..." "A-ah! Um, no, he's a different Lan," Lan immediately corrected, waving her hands wildly. Jasmine stopped dead in her tracks, looking decidedly befuddled as her gaze flipped back and forth between the two Lans. "How many you-s did they make...?" "More than enough," Rock curtly answered. Lan chose not to acknowledge that subject and walked back over to her counterpart and Mayl. "S-so, um, they're some... friends, of... our informant," she explained. "I think Jasmine is coming with us onto the island, so... we can just, leave... whenever? If we're ready?"

Upon realizing just how differently things had gone in this world, Meiru explained, “Oh, I see… In my world, you’re a really strong Netbattler! I’ve fought next to you several times before,” to Jasmine. As kindly as possible, she explained to Blackbeard, “The version of you I know is from another world, himself. It’s pretty complicated… but I was just super surprised to see you and Jasmine here! Sorry about that." To both, she said, "If I’d have known, I would’ve gotten hard hats for you guys, too!” Boy Lan! Meiru was happy to see the little guy again. “Netto-ko!” Then, he disappeared for a bit. “Oh…?” When he returned to the group and introduced himself, Meiru told him, “I wasn’t sure whether to get you blue or orange, so I got you orange, if that’s okay.” With that, she fished Lan’s hard hat and work gloves out of her duffel bag of infinite space. The hard hat had an adjustable strap to keep it secured to his head, and it had a bit of padding, as well. “It’ll be a bit easier to see, either way!” With that out of the way and hearing girl-Lan's question, Meiru agreed, “Yeah! Anything else I need to do, I can just fiddle with on the way over.”

Lan's heart nearly skipped a beat when Jasmine started talking to him. Why did she recognize him, when they had never met? Was she an evil Jasmine from his world after all? No, it was just a misunderstanding. Good. Still, it was strange. Out of all the other Lans he knew of, none of them were close enough in appearance to get mixed up. They were either way older, or they were a girl. Were there somehow more of them out there that he hadn't heard of? And how did Jasmine of all people end up meeting them? That question would have to wait for another time. Meiru had a present, in the form of PPE. "Orange is fine!" he answered, graciously accepting the helmet and gloves. The color blue reminded him a bit too much of things he didn't want to think about. Lan wasted no time putting the hard hat on. It was heavy and slightly awkward, but it beat carrying the thing around in his hands. Once he had it adjusted, he placed his hands on his hips and directed his attention to the boat ahead. "I'm ready whenever you guys are ready."

Jasmine's confusion was quickly replaced with haughty pride at such a declaration. "Hah! Good to know," she laughed. "I'd like to think I'm not a slouch here, so getting complimented by a stranger like that... it's a nice feeling! Makes all of this worth it, in a weird way." "She's definitely no slouch," Rock added, appearing on Lan's shoulders and thereby inflating Jasmine's ego further. "It's too bad this isn't, like, some weird cyberworld mine or whatever. We'd be more than covered if it was that." She curled her wrist, inspecting her blades. "You think saws substitute for pickaxes?" As Lan adjusted her own helmet, Jasmine eyed the drilling machine. "There's probably a helmet or two packed with the tools," she shrugged, before glancing back at Lan. The helmet was a bit big on her, and with how much hair she had, it looked a bit goofy - something that Lan was keenly aware of, given how she was practically shrinking as she fastened it. "I'll just be guardin' the boat, anyhow," Blackbeard clarified. "We've been learnin' firsthand that ye shouldn't leave yer vessel unattended. But if ye need any help, just gimme a holler." Lan nodded fiercly, stepping toward the boat. "R-right. Um, then we should get going," she said, scurrying off and climbing inside as Jasmine ferried the others on right after. After double-checking to make sure the platform holding the machine was properly fastened, the boat's engine roared to life, and they set sail for Oran Isle. The boat was relatively small on the inside - there were two benches on opposite sides of the boat in the back and a monitor for the Navis to jack into hoisted onto the wall separating their rest area from Blackbeard's control panel. Lan was quick to take her seat in the corner, with Jasmine sitting on the opposite side. "We aren't dealin' with rough waters like the last time," Blackbeard called once Diveman had jacked in to help with the navigation. "So this'll be a pretty smooth n' short trip." The monitor flickered on to display a generic-looking comp with a brown skybox patterned with silhouettes of steering wheels. Meddy was jacked in first, with Rock following soon after; they gave each other nods of acknowledgement, like they were old friends even though the former had absolutely, objectively existed for longer.

Next to arrive in the comp was Roll! (Hey, at least they’d done something with the skybox; it wasn’t the generic blue it probably would’ve been in her world…) Meiru was fiddling with the GoExpert, but neither was far from the other in case something was needed. She seemed to have it under control, so Roll instead turned to Rock and Meddy. “Hi! I’m Roll,” she greeted. “Nice to meet you!” The lack of prior knowledge certainly made things easier! Roll certainly hadn’t been looking forward to explaining everything to another Meddy. And this Meddy was blue and pink instead of white and purple! How cool.

Lan looked around the boat's interior before sitting down, a bit disappointed. So it wasn't actually a pirate ship. Oh well, a regular boat was almost as fun. According to their captain, the ride wouldn't take too long. Of course, a boat wasn't the fastest means of travel. He would have to find a way to entertain himself before the real excitement began. The first thing to catch his eye was Meiru, playing with her camera. With nothing better to do, he sat down next to her and watched with curiosity. Really, he couldn't believe this was actually being recorded. HeatMan was the last to jack in, his flames surrounding him as he appeared. Grinning, he waved at the others. "Hey Rock, hey Roll, good to see you guys again." Maybe he was acting too familiar with these navis he had only met once before, but it wasn't a huge deal. They played truth or dare together, they had to be friends. "Been doin' well?" Greetings set aside, he turned his attention to the one navi he wasn't familiar with. He hadn't actually met Meddy or Jasmine before; he'd only heard stories from Lan. Thus, he had no frame of reference for how they were supposed to look or act, beyond the obvious. "Nice to meetcha! My name's HeatMan."

Lan had already forgotten that Mayl had decided they were recording their mission, and eyed the camera for a few moments like it was a strange bug crawling along the wall. She promptly realized how strange that seemed and shrank into her corner, content to let the Navis do the talking. "Hey! Nice to meet you both," Meddy replied, giving Roll a firm handshake and Heatman a slightly less firm one, given that she was unsure if the latter was going to set her on fire or not. "I'm Meddy, Jasmine's Navi. I guess we'll just be hanging out for the time being... 'cuz who knows how much we'll have to do on a tropical island." Rock waved back at Heatman - it had been a bit, but the guy seemed pretty chill at the sleepover, so she wasn't necessarily bothered by the familiarity. "Hey. Been doin'... okay, I guess," she answered. She'd... had her ups and downs since she last saw Heatman, but that wasn't really relevant. "This'll be a nice change of pace, yeah?" Meddy tilted her head and turned toward Heatman. "While we're here. Lan said one of you knew a lot about this metal stuff, right? And Oran Isle?" she asked. "I've never heard of the place, since we're not really from here..." "I guess we need our chaperone to go over the ground rules, too," Rock chortled, jabbing a finger toward the monitor. "I doooon't think my kid has ever thought about mining in her life." Lan blushed anyway, in spite of her Navi being completely correct.

“You bet!” Roll replied cheerfully to Heatman. “We’ve been making plans for Halloween decorations! I’m so excited!” She had little doubt that, between Meiru and Enzan, the pink house in Akihara Town would wind up being the most spooky in the whole area. Meiru gave her lookers-on an encouraging smile, then turned back to getting the GoExpert communicating with the PET. Easier than it looked, even without Navi supervision! Just as she’d finished and clipped the GoExpert onto the collar-y bit of her hoodie, Rock called her up to the plate. “That’s the thing about mines—they sneak up on you,” she said. “I was twelve when I first saw mining up close! It was dangerous, but really amazing. But I don’t think I’d ever thought about it that way before then…” As opposed to submarines, which were just as dangerous, but really terrifying, Roll thought to herself. “Anyway, we definitely want to keep our PPE on while we’re in the mine, because old tunnels like this can be pretty unstable,” Meiru explained first. “And we need to stick close to this mining machine, especially if we’re descending, because you don’t know what’s down a dark path! We definitely don’t want to try to get into anything smaller than we can stand in, because it’s very easy to get trapped somewhere no one can reach you—“ “Meiru-chan, that’s too detailed, you're making it sound too scary,” Roll called. “We’ll be the only ones who actually go in the mine, at this rate.” “Really?!” Meiru asked, thrown from her spiel. “Let’s just say that you all should stick together and wear our hard hats and gloves, and if something specific comes up, we can handle it then,” Roll decided.

"Halloween!" HeatMan exclaimed. "It is that time of year, ain't it? I totally forgot. Well, I hope you guys have fun decorating!" He was careful to extinguish the flame on his hand before returning Meddy's handshake. A navi like him had plenty of experience dealing with physical contact. Mining, not so much. "Yeah, that's right," HeatMan said. "MagnoMetal's the only thing keepin' me and Lan from losing our minds, and Oran Isle is the best source of it." "An individual person doesn't need a lot to be safe," Lan added. "Which is good, because it's really rare! But if we want to invite lots of people to our beach party, we'll need as much as we can get." Maybe things were different here, and the mine would be full of the stuff. They didn't know until they began the expedition. Lan listened attentively to the safety lecture. Meiru did make it sound scary, but he had been in a crumbling mine before. At the very least, he knew what to expect. "And you don't dig straight down, right?" he said. "I- I learned that from playing video games."

Rock's expression lit up at the mention of Halloween - this would be her first holiday, right?! Her activation date was in September, so that lined up - and it was the one that sounded by far the most badass. How lucky! "You're decorating and everything?! Man, I'm jealous," she bemoaned. "I don't think the kid's very interested in that stuff, but maybe I can convince her. I gotta know what this holiday's whole schtick is." Meddy, on the other hand, was way more concerned with whatever the hell Heatman was on about. "Keeping you from losing your minds?" she repeated incredulously. "What are you... do you just... really like it, or...?" "Oh. Nah, they mean it," Rock elaborated, after a brief pause. "There's this fucked up thing called... SoulNet? Or somethin' like that?" As Roll had feared, Lan was shrinking back a little listening to Mayl's safety spiel - she was making it sound a lot more complicated than she expected. Though, they were going to be operating some large drilling equipment - presumably Dr. Wily would be sending them the instructions? She couldn't imagine Wily having a storied mining carrier, so she had to assume the process was pretty intuitive. "I... kinda don't know what we're getting into, here," Lan admitted tentatively. "I got briefed a little, but... no one's really been to Oran Isle in a long time, according to... um, our informant. We don't even know if there'll be a mine..." "So if there isn't, we're gonna have to make one from scratch? That's a hell of an ask," Jasmine lamented. "Maybe if we're lucky, this MagnoMetal stuff'll be exposed enough. Would save us a lot of time."

Meiru and Roll exchanged sad glances at the mention of SoulNet. Then, Roll added in, “SoulNet warps your thinking. It’s like… the worst of yourself, and the worst of everyone, all at once…” “I bet Netto-ko here could explain it the best,” Meiru said. Lan and Jasmine’s conversation made Meiru realize, “Ah, I guess I assumed it’d be in a cave, or there’d already be a tunnel dug in. I wonder if this drilling machine we’ve got can punch through to make a tunnel for us, like Groundman’s drills could…” “Dotarou and Press were using Groundman and Dustman instead of regular drilling equipment, though, weren’t they?” Roll pointed out. “I’m sure what we’ve got here is capable of boring tunnels, too! It sure looks big enough.” After a moment, she added, “We’ll find out when we plug into it, I’m sure!”

Lan's expression went grim at the mention of SoulNet. It was the gravest of matters to him, not something to taken lightly. He had seen too much for that. "SoulNet is the thing that destroyed my world," he said. "It makes people miserable, too miserable to function. It turns them evil. All these good people start doing terrible things because they can't imagine it any other way." "But the MagnoMetal blocks that out," HeatMan continued, sparing Lan the pain of saying more. "It's why we're still normal." "My friends and I... don't meet a lot of people like us." Lan gripped the handle of his bag as he spoke. "If we get enough of this stuff for other people to visit, then we don't have to be isolated anymore, even if it's just for this party." Lan's mood had dampened, but the discussion of SoulNet didn't send him into a depressive spiral like it normally did. This party meant everything to him; right now, it was his main source of hope. If nothing else, his tainted world could offer some form of joy. "Do you really think we'll have to start from scratch?" Lan turned his thoughts towards the mine itself. It had yet to occur to him that this could be different from the Oran Isle he was used to, aside from the abundance of MagnoMetal. "It can't be too hard, can it? You just create a tunnel and go inside." "Did you forget Meiru's safety ramble already?" HeatMan said. "It's more complicated than that. Mining's not an easy job." "Still, I think we can do it." Lan's brow furrowed with determination. "We have to."

Jasmine and Meddy both balked at the mention of a world being destroyed - but, noticing how grimly the other Lan was explaining this, they hid that shock and nodded along understandingly, waiting until both he and Heatman were finished explaining. "That's... messed up," was all Meddy could offer after a brief pause. "I can't say I'm fully understanding, but... I hope what we're after, here, will really help you guys out." Lan, meanwhile, had heard this story before, so she was more focused on the immediate planning. "I mean, it's got a big drill on the front... and... um, hopefully it has more extendable parts?" she speculated. "If it can't dig a tunnel, then why'd they make it so big...?" (She had half a mind to ask about how they used a Navi to dig an actual tunnel, but then she remembered the whole substantiation schtick.) "I can ask the old man for some schematics," Rock offered, before briefly pausing and trying to coolly play off the slip of the tongue. "Yeah .But... jacking in, huh. I didn't even think that we could probably operate it..." "I mean, it's not like I can drive," Lan protested, averting her eyes. "Neither can other-me, I'm guessing..." Her eyes drifted out the back window, scanning the machine up and down. (She only just now noticed that the front of it was kind of skull-shaped... of course.) "How long is it supposed to be until we get to Oran Isle, anyway...?" "It will be another hour, at least, de a~ru," the disembodied voice of Diveman answered, much to Lan's dismay. That was basically forever - Tartarus was way closer. (Or, at least, it felt like it...) Rock finished typing up a message to Dr. Wily before turning back to her operator. "That means we've got all the time in the world to plan, 'tho, doesn't it?" she cheerfully added. "Kinda feels like we've got the least experience compared to our guests, too. Never seen mining, never seen an Oran Isle... we've got lots of info to eat up, yeah?" She vaguely, incomprehensibly gestured at Heatman and Roll, somehow making just enough and absolutely zero sense at the same time.

’Ramble’?! …Even so, Meiru couldn’t help but notice how desperate boy-Lan was for this to work. Poor little guy. “We’ll figure it out,” she told him gently. "No matter what it takes." In the meantime, a very different conversation was going on inside the comp. “Of course!” Roll said cheerfully at Rock’s wonderment. “Us Navis are great at operating heavy machinery! We arrive in the control system, and we just know what to do!” …Though she was pretty sure she’d seen Gutsman pass over the interfacing script a few times. But Heatman, Meddy, and Rock were a reliable sort of bunch, so it didn’t seem worth mentioning. (Roll hid a smile behind her hand at Rock’s vague gesture. She really was freshly booted, wasn’t she?) It was then that Meiru remembered that this was the world with less network development. Meaning that there was a chance Roll would have no virtual cockpit to man the controls of, leaving Meiru herself as the only one remotely close to being able to pilot this thing. Her driver’s license definitely did not cover mining equipment. But that was okay. She wasn’t going to let the Lans (or the Jasmine) down—she was Sakurai Meiru, Mining Explorer! She had this! “Just leave it to me and Roll! Unless one of your Navis wants a turn, that is.”

"Thank you," Lan said to Meddy and Meiru. Their support meant everything to him. "We should be able to handle this," HeatMan said. "A team like us can do anything. That machine shouldn't be hard to figure out. Really, what we should be worried about is the mine itself. Who knows what's waiting in there." "It is kinda hard to plan if we don't know what to expect," Lan agreed. "The mine I'm used to was old and abandoned, but this one could be anything!" Lan eyed the time on his PET. They still had another hour? How were they supposed to wait that long? He was getting antsy just thinking about it.

Rock was amused by the burst of confidence from Mayl and Roll. "Well! I mean, if this thing's compatible, then I'd love to give it a whirl. Not every day one of us gets to have... like, some... drill machine joyride," she said, oblivious to Roll's amusement at her own wonder. "I'm sure it'll let us in. Would be weird if... uh, y'know, our informant left that functionality out." (Nice! No slip of the tongue this time!) Lan, meanwhile, tilted her head, staring wistfully outside the window. It was nice to be able to gaze out into the sea under less dire circumstances. Not that there was much to look at, but the skies and the water were both clear enough to provide a sufficient distraction. Rock found that that specific look of determination that Lan liked to wear was pretty normal, but she couldn't help but wonder if the other Lan was rubbing off on her somehow.

The featureless void of the ocean made the hour-long trip feel like it passed by both faster and slower than expected - but, eventually, a green spec appeared on the horizon, which Blackbeard immediately pointed out. "Ah! Almost there, lads," he said. "Should just be a couple more minutes, now, eh?" It wasn't long before the view of Oran Isle became a little clearer, crawling into view just westward of the boat. There was a large mountain peak towering over the island, looking quite similar to the one the other Lan might be familiar with - it wasn't like most of the others had any frame of reference. The mountain was covered by swaths of green, and one could just barely make out the silhouettes of... palm trees? ...as well as bamboo stalks towering over the shore. "It's... really green," Lan silently observed, leaning against the wall and tilting her head awkwardly for a better view out the opposite window. "So maybe it is overgrown... it's way greener than Tartarus was..." "Said the girl who has only been to one island," Rock responded, jokingly accompanying her comment with airquotes. "Of course there's gonna be... y'know, other types of islands." "Said the Navi who's been to zero," Lan retorted. Rock crossed her arms. "Point taken."

Meiru had long since finished getting the GoExpert streaming back to the chatroom, and was content to watch the water for any signs of marine life. It was pretty to look at from over the water. Then, finally, the island came into view. Roll immediately entered hologram form to look out the window next to her Operator. “Wow…!” It was lush and wild, like something out of a movie or book. She turned to Meiru, excited. “Meiru-chan, it’s so exciting!” “Yeah!” After she and Roll had shared a bright smile, Meiru turned back to their view of Oran Isle. “It really is the perfect place for a beach party!” And, of course, for going on a quest for MagnoMetal! Nothing was going to stop Sakurai Meiru, Mining Explorer, or her plucky companions! Roll giggled at her Operator's barely-concealed excitement, then turned to boy Lan. "It's beautiful. Is it like this in your world, too?"

Lan had spent the ride zoned out, the endless blue waves lulling him deeper into his internal world. In many ways, this was the worse place he could be. A solemn expression covered his face, interrupted only by the announcement that they were arriving. He snapped back into action, shaking his head and jumping to his feet. No more depressing thoughts, they had some metal to mine! Despite watching the window the entire time, he had failed to register the approaching island until the others commented on it. He peaked out the window once more to get a good look. Oh wow, they were right. It was green. Seemingly abandoned, too. "It's kind of like this," he answered. "There are lots of trees, but some of them were cleared out for the mine. I think there's more space on the beach in my world, too." Now that the island was in view, Lan was eager to get started. He scooted his way closer to the exit, ready to burst out on cue.

The boat reached the isle before they knew it - though they had to spend a little bit of time circling the shores to see if there was a dock to work with. After an extra minute of sailing around, Blackbeard and Diveman actually did spot a dock, though it was worn, chipped and covered in sand. Neither of them were sure if it would be stable, given how old it looked - but they needed to roll the drill machine straight onto the shore and let the passengers disembark at the same time, so they didn't have a ton of options. Blackbeard was first to hop off the boat - yup, the dock was stable enough - and made sure the platform the drilling machine rested on was properly flush with the ground and fastened to a pole on the dock. With a swish of his PET, he jacked Diveman into the drill machine, and a few seconds later, the machine backed up onto the shore all on its own. "Oh. I guess that confirms it," Lan mumbled to herself, glancing at Rock. "Uh, I hope you can figure out how to drive that, then..." Rock watched the machine with awe, its treads rolling along the ground and the engine whirring with satisfyingly mechanical noises. "I sure hope so! I don't need a license for that, do I?!" she beamed. Blackbeard raised an eyebrow. "What, did ye think you'd have to drive this manually? Who do you take the old man for?" he chuckled, as Diveman parked the machine. "Either way... I'll be on standby for ye maties. Would be a waste of time to lug this hunk o' metal around before ye all find a deposit." "R-right. Thanks," Lan sheepishly said, before awkwardly waving toward the boat to motion for her (debatably plucky) companions to follow. Jasmine was already a bit ahead of her, staring into the jungle and wondering where the hell to start. The island was breezy and comfortably cool, given the time of the year - though there was a dampness to the air around them. Eeerily, there was no life in sight other than themselves - and besides a small, sandy clearing by the dock, the island appeared to be entirely covered in a thick palette of palm trees and overgrown weeds. "Well! Uh, if I was going mining... I'd probably head for that mountain, right," Jasmine said, pointing at their target. "Y'know, if we want an exposed vein or something."

Meiru was quite relieved to see Diveman park the drilling machine just like any sort of heavy equipment at home. (Though part of her was a bit disappointed that Diveman would be standing by to come in, and she couldn’t tell Roll to be all cool and go drive the machine.) With that question answered, she was definitely plucky! She strode ahead to where Jasmine was, on the edge of the jungle. The weather was great for walking, and the vegetation made it look even more exciting up close. Thankfully, the GoExpert was capturing everything in glorious high definition. “Yeah!” she agreed, impervious to any eerieness. “We’ll see if there are any natural caves leading into the mountain first, then plan our line of attack from there.” With that decided, she turned to face the Lans and raised a triumphant fist in the air. “Let’s begin the Oran Isle Expedition!” “Here we go…!” giggled Roll to herself.

Lan bolted out of the boat, ecstatic to set his feet on land once again. Placing his hands on his hips, he stopped momentarily to take the scene in. Crisp air, warm sand, and way more greens than he was used to seeing on Oran Isle. The island he was used to had been abandoned for several years, but the signs of life were still present; this one had never been touched by man, by the looks of it. And the drill! It was really cool, now that he had a closer view. The skull shape on the front was a bit weird, though. Initial survey done, he ran to catch up with the others. At Meiru's cue, he raised a fist, a determined look on his face. "Right, to the mountains. Let's get started!" Realizing that the others weren't as familiar with their target, he pulled the MagnoMetal sample out of his bag and held it up for all to see -- the best he could, at least. At just bigger than a coin, showing it off wasn't easy. "This is what we're looking for. It's white and kinda weird-looking. Oh, and magnetic! I don't know if anyone keeps any magnets on them, though."

Lan leaned over to inspect the MagnoMetal with the most genuine curiosity she could muster. "O-oh. Uh, no, obviously," she responded. "But we should've asked... I guess I should have known, since... y'know, it has magnet in the name, kinda..." Mayl's confidence was infectious to Jasmine and especially Rock; the latter appeared on Lan's shoulder and pumped her fist at the call to action. "Hell yeah! Let's punch into that mountain... or something like that!" Rock decreed with way more confidence than she probably earned. "Hey, kid, do you know how an island expedition is supposed to work?" she whispered, leaning over to her operator. Said whispering was loud enough to be overheard by virtually everyone present, including Jasmine. She was enjoying the breeze too much in the moment, twirling her umbrella and soaking in the sights, but eventually she turned around to face the two. "Well, presumably, we're gonna have to cut through that jungle," she pointed out. "I doubt it'll be a straight shot, but... if this place is abandoned, then I can't imagine there'll be too much getting in our way." She squinted at the piece of metal the other Lan was holding up. "If that MagnoMetal stuff looks like that, then I guess spotting exposed bands'll be pretty easy." Jasmine stepped ahead to survey where they had landed. The jungle was fairly thick, and a large mass of rock jutted out of the ground east of where they landed, cutting them off. Obviously, there were no man-made trails to work with, so cutting through the jungle was a matter of finding the path where it'd be easiest to slink between the trees and the tall grass. "Should've brought a cutlass," Meddy joked. "Or a lawnmower." There was a river in the distance that spilled out into the sea - likely a good place to start. It was an easy way to keep track of where they were, as well, as they forayed into the mess of palm trees.

“Wow! It’s really tiny…” Meiru turned back to the massive drilling machine on the shoreline. “…Maybe we should’ve brought some hammers and chisels. That thing seems kind of like overkill now.” “We packed a compass, but not a magnet by itself…” mused Roll next to her. “I wonder if the MagnoMetal would exert enough force on the magnetic needle to spin us in the right direction?” “It’s hard to say. Guess it’s worth a try…” Meiru fished out the compass, then studied the needle to see if it moved. “I’ll try moving in closer and further, so if there’s any reaction, we’ll know how close we have to be to it.” With that, she would test the force of the MagnoMetal on the compass by standing across from Lan, then slowly walking closer.

"No, no, it won't be this tiny when we find it," Lan said, waving his free hand around for emphasis. "At least, I don't think so. It's just really hard to find, and you only need a little bit for it to work. Though I've never seen a huge amount, even at the mine I visited, so who knows." "You'll know it when you see it," HeatMan added. "It's real obvious." Lan stood still as Meiru tested her compass, eagerly watching for results. Unfortunately, it didn't react until it was right on top of the sample, and even that only influenced the needle slightly. "I guess it's not that magnetic," Lan said, frowning. "Oh well, I'm sure we'll find it some other way. It can't be too hard." The more pressing issue was how they were getting through the jungle. The sheer amount of greenery was overwhelming, too much for them to simply walk around. "A cutlass? You mean like what pirates use?" Lan turned his head back to where Blackbeard was standing. "You don't think there's any on the boat, do you?" On a more serious note, he opened his bag and searched for anything useful. Plenty of emergency supplies, but nothing sharp. He really wasn't a weapon kind of guy; that was better left to his friends. Still, there had to be something they could do. "What about the drill?" he suggested. "Just kinda... ram into the trees?"

Lan balked at the suggestion. "W-what? Wouldn't that just... break all the trees or something?" she said, approaching the greenery and eyeing it like it was a strange mud she'd have to wad through. "I don't think we should make it obvious that we've been here..." Jasmine, meanwhile, found it deeply amusing that - for one, that a magnet metal wasn't a particularly strong metal, and two, that the other Lan took Meddy's joke completely seriously. "I really don't think we've got a spare sword on hand, kid," she chuckled, then twirled her umbrella. "I don't think the little point on top of this substitutes for one, either." The path next to the river was actually clearer than they expected up close; not wide enough for the drilling machine to squeeze through without knocking down trees, but following the shoreline to get to the mountain would be simple enough. They would surely have to take a twisty path and be careful not to step in mud or trip, but it was doable. Lan stayed at the back of the group, but she did swerve around where they stood to peek down the river. It didn't reach far - she could just barely make out a pond it was emptying into in the distance. "I-I guess we should head over there?" she said, pointing out the pond. "The mountain's pretty big, so it'd be really hard to miss if we just went straight..." The grass had grown to about ankle height, and the soil around the river was damp, so they would have to be careful not to slip in. The trees, by contrast, were fairly tall, so they wouldn't have to worry about ducking under overgrown messes of branches. There were still no animals around - maybe there were some bugs hiding in the grass, but not much else. The island was startlingly silent for how lush it was at a glance. "Well, lead the way, Ms. Sakurai," Rock jokingly lead on. "Start recording that footage of us trudging through grass for our lovely viewers. I'm sure they're on the edge of their seats."

Even though it had ‘Magno’ in the name, it wasn’t magnetic enough. Meiru shrugged and said, “Oh, well. We can still use the compass to keep our bearings.” She listened along as Lan, Jasmine, and Rock chatted. “I don’t need to start anything,” Meiru retorted to Rock when she was told to get a move on. “It’s been going the whole time.” “We’ll edit it in post, so it looks cool!” Roll said confidently. Meiru wasn’t sure if they were actually going to wind up making a documentary out of it, but the thought counted. Lan’s suggestion was as good as any, so Meiru took the initiative to set off. Even with the bag of supplies in hand, her walk was more of a stride than a trudge. She kept the compass in hand, making sure they were traveling in the same direction as they had been when they started. Finding their way back would be easy enough, with its help.

Well, so much for cutting through the jungle. Lan would freely admit that the ideas he had weren't practical, but he at least tried. Honestly, he was a bit disappointed that no one had a way of cutting through. Going the long way around would take longer, but it was their only feasible option. Lan grimaced as he stepped through the tall, soggy grass, the moisture seeping into his socks. It was unpleasant, but the promise of adventure kept him motivated. With Meiru leading the way, it really felt like an expedition now! He glanced at the GoExpert as they walked, curious yet cautious. It had been a while since the last time he was on TV, and it felt odd outside of a netbattling context. Was he supposed to act differently? Stand at a certain angle? How did that work? "I wonder if anyone's watching right now," Lan said. "Do you think our adventure looks cool, or will that have to wait for editing?" Narrowly, he avoided running into a nearby tree. Clearly that was his sign to pay more attention to the path in front of them.

By contrast, Lan was maybe a little too focused on the path in front of her. It took the sound of her counterpart swerving out of the way to snap her out of her determined march through the mud - and when she peeked over her shoulder, her eyes fell squarely on the GoExpert. Her shoulders tensed a little - she didn't love being recorded, but their audience was pretty small, so she couldn't complain too much. (Rock, meanwhile, blinked at apparently having missed the cue for the recording. How was she supposed to do her awesome intro for the crowd now?!) "I think our walking trip would have to be edited pretty heavily to be super exciting," Jasmine pointed out in the meantime. "Y'know, it'd be one thing if there were some cute animals around, but... there's just nothing, huh." She shrugged. "Hopefully the mountain's more exciting." Rock, standing guard on Lan's shoulder, surveyed the area for anything of interest. The trees were practically the only thing to look at - the grass was so thick that she couldn't even see a cool bug or worm if she wanted to. At the very least, some of the trees did have colorful fruits hanging from them - that was something she hadn't seen before. "Hey, kid, you ever seen a mango before? This is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity," she said, jabbing her operator's neck. Lan stopped in place to glance at the mango - yup, it sure was a fruit. (There were also some coconut trees in the distance, but she wasn't the type of person to get inordinately excited about fruit.) "U-uh. Okay? What's making it an opportunity...?" "It's not a fruit you see every day! It's part of the tropical island experience," Rock explained with an unearned confidence. "Y'know, I wonder if it's safe to eat-" "No," Meddy firmly stated. "Do not start eating random things off trees." "I wasn't going to," Lan protested - Rock, on the other hand, looked like an arrow had just been shot straight through her heart. In spite of the fact that she couldn't even eat the mango if she wanted to. The group had made it to the pond the river emptied out into by now; the dripping of the water provided some nice ambience. The mountain was definitely still quite some distance away, however - so they'd need to kill some time, or their hypothetical documentary would be extraordinarily quiet and boring. "Riiiight," Rock mumbled to herself. "Hey, either of you two got good island-hoppin' stories? Y'know, for the crowd?" she asked, motioning toward Mayl and the other Lan. "I know the other kid's been to the real Oran Isle, but... y'know, sorta, uhh... my first time, I don't know what to expeeeeect..."

Meiru steadied boy-Lan, then tuned out the banter momentarily upon Jasmine’s observation, slowly scanning their surroundings. No noise, not even the common ‘pest’ animals and insects scampering about. She knew what that meant, but that was impossible here. …As impossible as her own setting foot on this island in an entirely different world was, and she couldn’t Cross Fuse. The Oran Isle Expedition had abruptly found itself in a big pinch, it seemed. Viewers would be on the edges of their seats! “If nothing else, we can use the coconuts as a blunt object,” she observed to herself cheerfully, instead of start a panic. “I don’t really have anything too exciting to share. There was a ghost ship off an island, but that was a virus, and another ghost ship, but that was a Zoanoroid.” “Everything is squarely explicable!” Roll added brightly, before sagging on Meiru’s shoulder. “…Which isn’t exciting at all.” “And a tournament on an island full of traps and puzzles,” Meiru added, “but at least the person in charge of it knew what was going to be there…” “Compared to all that, this is a pretty normal island,” Roll cheerfully and easily lied, also interested in not starting a panic.

If not for Meddy's warning, Lan definitely would have started eating the fruit lying around the island. Fresh produce of any kind was rare for him, especially something tropical. He was a bit upset he couldn't have any, honestly. "Why would we need a blunt object?" he asked. "That doesn't sound useful for drilling. You don't think we're gonna be fighting anything, do you?" Danger wasn't out of the question, but the smoother their drilling expedition went, the better. If he wanted to fight, he could go home and find one. Luckily, he had plenty of island stories that he was eager to tell. "Oh, I've been to Oran Isle a lot! My friends got trapped in the mines there, and I had to rescue them." His eyes widened as he realized how bad this sounded for both their mining expedition and the beach party. "It was okay, though! The mine was safe, we just ran into a mishap with the drill. I doubt anything like that would happen here, since the island is abandoned and none of us are up to trouble." He paused, thinking of any other island stories. "I also visited this place called Hades Isle for a tournament once! It was pretty cool, even if the tournament turned out to be a front for the WWW. Speaking of them, I fought them on an island too!" "You've been to a lotta islands, huh, kid?" said HeatMan. "Yeah, I guess I have. Though I've never been to an island this unknown. We're charting new territory!"

Both Lan and Rock weren't sure what they expected when they were hit with a handful of proper nouns that meant nothing to them; whatever the hell a Zoanoroid was was a complete mystery, The more surprising drop - one that made Jasmine react with about as much surprise as Lan did - was the WWW. It took a moment for Lan to realize what her counterpart meant; the handful of details she'd absorbed from Megaman and that story from Dr. Wily helped her connect the dots. Oh, do not say anything, please- Unfortunately for Lan, Jasmine only knew of the latter point; and without a gift Navi from the doctor hovering over her head as a reminder of the stakes, she reacted a lot more audibly than Lan did. "A front for the what?" she muttered, dooming her to be on the receiving end of a harsh glare from Rock. "Uh- nevermind," she backpedaled. Rock laughed awkwardly, taking the easy conversational out that sat in front of them. "Heh! All of that sounds pretty neat. Or bad, or both," she responded. (She was unrelatedly entertained from Mayl's comment about the coconuts - she still didn't understand why one would go to a tropical island and then not interact with its... tropical... elements.) "I guess the kid's been to an island, but it wasn't for fun. Sounded like it sucked." "We were there, too, you know," Meddy added. "Still wasn't really 'fun', though." Lan really just wanted to feel like they were making progress, so she wasn't particularly invested in the conversation, even with Jasmine's slip-up. She was looking straight ahead, trying to calculate in her head how long the rest of the trip would be from how far away the mountain was- but as she peeked behind the canopy, she spotted something very out of place. "H-hey, there's something," she mumbled, gesturing at the rest of the group. The path they had taken had ended up directly leading them to a chainlink fence covered in barbed wire, blocking their path as far as the eye could see. With the river having stopped a while back, there didn't appear to be an easy way around it. Rock tore her attention away from the tropical fruit to give the fence a look for herself. "Well, shit," she complained, crossing her arms. The fence looked old - rust had completely overtaken it so thoroughly that patches of green broke up the scratchy brown. Their only solace was a locked gate off to the side; oddly, upon closer inspection, the actual door lock on its hinge looked considerably less rusted than what it was attached to, like it was freshly installed. "Man, what the hell. I thought this island was supposed to be abandoned," Rock complained. "What now? We turn around and find a new path?" Lan squinted, eyeing the lock. "Do you think the lock is electronic?" she speculated. "I don't know why it would be, but... it looks weirdly new..." Rock shrugged. "Maybe?" she noncommittally answered. "If all else fails, maybe we could try smashing the gate with the drilling machine." (edited)

Meiru wasn’t that surprised to hear about the WWW. Though having ‘a mishap with the drill’ sounded decidedly not fun. Both of those things were quickly forgotten, however, at the appearance of an Obvious Bad Guy Fence. (There was no use for MagnoMetal in this world. So who could possibly be there, besides a group as improbable as they themselves were…?) “We are not smashing the gate with the drilling machine,” Meiru said immediately after Rock made her brilliant suggestion. “Until we know what we’re dealing with, we’re gonna attract as little attention as possible.” She would’ve told the kids she normally worked with to turn back at this juncture, but this time she was with two Lans and a Jasmine. There was no way she was convincing them to stay out of it entirely, even if what they were about to find was, she suspected, entirely out of their league. They would all just have to prepare as best they could. …But there was also no way boy-Lan, unused to his current ocular situation as he was, was going to be able to outrun much more than a pack of Metools. And if there was much more than a pack of Metools behind the gate, they could probably manage to put up more of a fight with the drilling machine than they could with the coconuts alone. “Netto-ko,” she said with a reassuring hand on his shoulder, as blandly cheerful as if she was asking him to go get the girls some crepes, “why don’t you return to where Kurohige and Diveman are and go plug Heatman into the drilling machine? Here’s the compass—we’ve been traveling northeast from the river, so follow it southwest until you’ve found it again.” She held the compass out to him. With another thought, she added, “You might even be able to meet them halfway, if you call ahead—you have his number, right, Netto-chan?”

10:42 PM

Then, she asked her Navi, “Roll, what’re you picking up?” Roll spread her antennae and focused. “There’s a signal coming from the lock, Meiru-chan,” she reported. Meiru nodded her thanks. “We need to take a little more time to prepare, anyway, so see if you can feel anything else out in the meantime.” “Got it!” Then, she turned to the two plucky companions she had yet to address. “Netto-chan, Jasmine, let’s see about collecting some of the heavier coconuts. If we run across any mangoes ripe enough, they might work as a sort of blinding bomb, in a pinch.” “I’d rather put my faith in the drilling machine,” Roll admitted. “Well, yeah. But stranger things have worked in times like this,” Meiru pointed out. (It went without saying that if they were cornered sans drilling machine, they would at least have the satisfaction of going down hurling fruit.) “…True,” Roll sighed. (edited)

Did Lan say something weird? Their response to his story was a bit off. Oh well, he figured it wasn't important enough to bring up. Lan looked at the gate with fascination, wondering how something like this got on an uncharted island. Were they not the first to arrive there? Did that mean someone else had mined here before? No, not necessarily -- a mine would have a lot more infrastructure, and that was yet to be seen. There were a million possibilities behind this door, and his brain buzzed thinking of them. He figured the best way to find answers was to look for them himself. Lifting his PET in the air, he was about to jack in, when Meiru addressed him. And his heart sunk. "Why do we need the drill?" Lan asked. "You just said we weren't breaking down the gate, and we're not to the mountain yet..." A thought dawned upon him: they were trying to get rid of him. It explained the sudden change of plans, the fact that he was supposed to leave the group, and the condescending tone that Meiru spoke to him in. But why would they do that? He thought these were his friends. Did they secretly hate him, or think he was useless? It occurred to him that he was overreacting, but he couldn't think of any other explanation. A story that haphazard had to be a lie. Lan frowned, bitterness clear on his face. "I'm staying with you guys. This computer probably has viruses, and I'm really good at fighting viruses." HeatMan wanted to say something, but he was just as confused at the situation. Meiru's true thoughts were an enigma, and there was little he could do until he had a clear picture of what was happening. For now, he followed Lan's instructions, jacking into the gate.

Jasmine gave Mayl the most incredulous look imaginable at her suggestion. Between such an absurd idea and the fact that she was trying to turn that other Lan away, it wasn't difficult to tell that something had her rattled. "The hell's gotten into you?" she questioned. "You're acting like something's gonna jump out any second now." On the other hand, Rock had entirely missed the point. She was weirdly excited about the idea in spite of the obvious tension from literally everyone else around her. "Oh! Oh! What for?!" she asked excitedly. "We throwin' fruits?! I mean, we don't really have any targets, but it sounds fun! I wanna see a mango blow up." Lan twitched listening to the rattling. "H-hey, no, what? Why?" she protested, her shoulders tensing up. "U-uh, Lan's right. Why do we need to split up?" She bit her lip, eyeing the lock. "There's nothing else around..." Rock was taken aback by the protest, but with the other Lan already ahead of them in checking out the door lock, it was clear this supposed plan was well on its way to becoming outvoted. "R-right. Uh, sure, yeah, she's right," she hesitantly agreed. "The lock's... probably more important than the coconuts," she pouted. Her operator had been faced with a more pressing mission, and that took priority. Lan's expression hardened as she stepped toward the lock. "Okay. Let's check the lock really quick," she said. Pointing her PET outward, she drew an upside-down heart shape with a crack through its center in midair. "Cut the light, Rock! Execute!" Jasmine couldn't help but giggle at the motion; it came out so effortlessly, like she'd been practicing it for a while. "When'd you start doing that?" she asked, before holding up her own PET to follow. "Jack in, Meddy! Execute!"

Heatman was already ready to go by the time Rock and Meddy materialized. The former gave Heaman a quick wave as she spun around to survey their surroundings; the lock's comp was nothing to write home about, with a monochromatic grid pattern and dull blue skybox making it feel rather lifeless. There was a single control panel in the center and little else - and surprisingly to Rock and Meddy, the floors were only a little dented instead of the pothole-laden nightmares they were used to. Of course, there was one more thing about this comp that stood out, especially against such a bland color scheme. A strange door attached to seemingly nothing was sitting on the opposite side of the comp; it was a red door engraved with some kind of pattern, with a yellow emblem embedded in the center and a white rim covered in spikes surrounding it. "The hell is that?" Rock mumbled to herself, activating her visor. There was some kind of signal emitting from the door, but the visor was just not picking up anything sensible from it. Part of her wanted to step closer, because man was that a cool door - but it was probably a terrible idea.

“You’ve noticed it too by now, haven’t you?” Meiru began to explain. “There’s something unnatural on this island, that’s killed off all the—“ …And Lan was taking it entirely the wrong way— “—animals… and insects… that should be here…” —and Jasmine thought she was insane… “…and this is probably where that something is stored…” …and now everyone had plugged their Navis in but her. Meiru sighed, exasperated at how quickly everything had descended into chaos. When Enzan warned people to prepare, they listened. But when she tried to take charge, she was nuts… “I guess I’m going to go get the drill in case we need it—“ “Meiru-chan, you can’t leave them here unsupervised!” protested Roll. “You’re the chaperone, remember? Even if you can’t fight, you’ve got to send me to disable whatever comes charging out of the door now that they know we’re here.” There was a moment of silence as Meiru composed herself. “We’re supervising,” she agreed after a moment. “Yeah!” cheered Roll. “We’re being such responsible adults!” “We’re adulting,” repeated Meiru. “That’s what we’re doing. Right.” …Surely by now three Navis could have gotten through a typical lock program, or their Navi signatures had been logged and the counterattack was well on the way… right?

Lan stared blankly at Meiru, confused as to what she was talking about. The lack of animal life was so common to him, it hadn't occurred that it could be indicative of a problem. But even then, there were plenty of reasons why they would be out of sight, why jump to danger? It didn't make sense. "Let's... worry about this first," he muttered, slowly turning his attention back to the gate's computer. "Oh, I get it now," HeatMan nodded. "She was just looking out for your safety. I don't think she was trying to hurt your feelings." "That's not fair," Lan whined. "I can help out with important missions, I do it all the time at home!" "I know that. She doesn't." Lan groaned. He was done thinking about this, he just wanted to get to the netbattling. Admittedly, the blandness of the computer made him uneasy. He was used to seeing empty streets and a net full of life, not the other way around. It served as a reminder that he really was in another world, where things were different. The juxtaposition of the door to the rest of the computer was even more unnerving, almost alien in nature. It was dangerous for sure, screaming "villain organization" or something of that nature. "HeatMan, open that door," Lan said. HeatMan turned to look at Lan, puzzled. "Shouldn't we think this over a bit? You don't know what's in there." Lan turned to address everyone. "I don't see any other way of continuing. We're all prepared for danger, right?"

Jasmine's incredulous look continued to pierce straight through Mayl. "Unnatural? The hell are you talking about?" she asked, her tone a mix of skeptical and genuinely confused. "I mean, the lock is kind of weird, but... I seriously doubt something's gone through and systematically killed all the animals." She twirled her umbrella, trying to think of a better explanation. "I just think there're probably no animals around because... uh, there aren't any." Blink. "I'm not a zoologist, though." "It's true," Meddy agreed as she surveyed the door. There was something... nauseating, about being in the presence of this door. It was decidedly alien, and extraordinarily out of place; and with the bad vibes it was giving her, it surprised her when the other Lan commanded Heatman to charge in so brazenly. "Er- shouldn't we be keeping our distance?" she said, reaching out. "There's something... weird." Rock tilted her head, focusing harder on the door as she stepped forward; she was foolishly putting herself front and center of the pack. "Huh. Now that you mention it," she said. "There is something kind of fucked up about it, isn't there?" "Like...?" Lan asked; she was starting to be put on edge, both from the mysterious obstacle and Mayl's own paranoia. Did they really wander into something that was way over their heads-? "I dunno. Just feels gross," Rock shrugged. Before they could plan their attack and figure out why Mayl was so apprehensive, however, a low rumbling sound emitted through the cyberworld. The yellow emblem on the door began to glow as the door shook back and forth; and after a brief pause, the door swung open, revealing an empty purple void beyond it. Rock reflexively took a step back. "O-okay, yup. Definitely bad vibes," she said. Something about that void was even more nauseating than the door itself. A pixelated mass of data coalesced just in front of the door; and a few moments later, the data formed into a grey bush-like virus with blue lips and logs for eyes. Another torrent of data was choked out of the void of the door and formed into the same virus; another data chunk formed into a grey Mettaur; another into that flying flower bud virus with a buzzsaw circling around it (Twirlix? She always thought they cramped her style); another into a purple virus resembling a living stove with wheels; and the data continued to launch out of the door on an interval. "Shit. Of course it's viruses," Meddy said, watching part of the comp's floor fold around and the control panel disappear underneath it. "Fucking strong ones, too," Rock observed. (>MettaurSP | 160HP; >TwirlixSP | 240HP) "Get ready!"

…Boy Lan was not exactly gaining himself any confidence points with his behavior, there. They weren’t even remotely prepared for danger! None of them were armed, most of them weren’t even convinced something was behind the gate besides the mountain, and yet there he went ordering his Navi into danger despite the latter’s misgivings. It was like he expected some kind of last-minute powerup to activate and save him when everything inevitably went wrong… …Yeah, that sure was a Netto, Age Eleven. Was it just not as charming when Meiru had to be the grown-up running after him, or had she always found it reckless? Meiru shook her head, then met Jasmine’s incredulous look with a serious one of her own. “Even on a remote island like this, there should at least be birds, especially with all this fruit around for them to eat,” Meiru pointed out. “So I can’t help wondering, where are they? And why is there a fresh lock on the fence, when MagnoMetal isn’t in demand in this world? We clearly aren’t alone.” Before she could explain how viruses or other autonomous guards would attack anything smaller than them, a sound emitted from the plugged-in Navis’ PETs. “We’d better help them out, and then I can analyze the door,” Roll decided. “Okay!” Meiru didn’t have any special catchphrase for plugging Roll in, though she sort of wished she’d thought of that. “Plug in, Roll! Transmission!” Roll materialized and immediately sank into a ready position. “Aqua Blade, slot-in!” Roll sprinted in a zig-zagging pattern toward the stove-looking virus, even as the Aqua Blade formed on her arm. (edited)

Lan watched the viruses pour out with a steady, determined expression. His decision might have been reckless, but they no longer had a choice in the matter. If they didn't seek out the viruses, they would be the targets. "I knew there would be viruses," he said. "It's an electronic lock, how else would it be guarded?" Of course, the reason why this gate was here in the first place was still unknown, but that was a question for later. If there was more to this trap, something out to destroy the animals and them as well, then they might struggle. But virus busting? Lan was always prepared for a good netbattle. Lan and HeatMan exchanged a look; they were on the same page. Wood virus, meet fire navi. Unfamiliar with the shrub-looking virus (or really, anything other than the Mettaur), they took a second to study its behavior. Cowardly, hiding behind other viruses -- a direct attack wouldn't be effective. Though, with the strength of these viruses, perhaps addressing the crowd could work. "Asteroid3, slot in!" Lan pulled the chip from his pack and slipped it into his PET.

Jasmine shrugged as she reached for her own handful of chips. "I dunno, maybe it's just... not the season, or something?" she attempted to offer as an explanation. "Or they're just... asleep, or out for the day, or..." Lan, meanwhile, was distracting herself with the battle rather than worry about her surroundings. Such was the zone she tended to find herself in, after all. The viruses appeared a little disoriented, like they had just been thrust into the battle as suddenly as the Navis, but they were high-level variants that quickly grouped up and attacked in a fierce rhythm. A simultaneous shockwave attack from some of the Mettaurs forced Rock and Meddy to jump out of the way and separate from each other - and according with the virus' high level, the shockwaves left cracks in the terrain underneath it. The door itself seemed to be providing support beyond just summoning viruses; other masses of data started to coalesce into Rock Cubes for the bush virus (ShrubbySP, the visor finally told her). The other Lan's Asteroid3 made short work of that plan, however; the resulting storm of meteors was the perfect counter, completely avoiding engaging with the obstacles and repeatedly slamming the Shrubbys directly, which left a good chunk of them heavily damaged if not deleted. Already, there was a dent in the crowd. With Roll targeting the Old Stoves, the remaining two Navis turned toward the remaining two virus types; how convenient, that they had been sorted like this...! The Twirlixes zipped through the air toward Rock and spiraled their blades outward in unison as they hovered up and down wildly; Rock was forced to slide straight under them to dodge. Meddy, who had ended up the farthest away from the group, tossed a Black Capsule into the Twirlix crowd to grab their attention - and luckily, she managed to nail one of them in the head as Rock slid past, blinding them with a strange black smoke cloud. The remaining Twirlixes flew toward Meddy as Rock bolted away and charged toward the Mettaurs instead. Lan was able to provide her own support just as Rock leapt over another round of shockwaves from their pickaxes - "Battle Chip, Air Hockey! Slot in!" Rock tossed the Air Hockey puck into the crowd, letting the improvised weapon bounce between and stun each of the Mettaurs; even the ones hiding in their helmets were stunned anyway thanks to the chip's breaking property. The chip wasn't enough to delete most of the Mettaurs, since SP-level viruses were pretty bulky, but to make up for it, Rock jumped straight into the crowd and whirled one of her own blades around her to finish off all the Mettaurs in her radius. (She could pull this off so much better than those damn flowers...) As Jasmine considered their next move, she turned to Mayl again to address the rest of her query. "You're right that this is pretty suspicious," she said. "I don't think the lock means that someone's here at the same time, really... but we should be prepared, anyway. This weird door is not a good sign."

Meiru nodded in agreement with Jasmine, explaining, "I guess I find that whether I hope for the best or not, I've always gotta prepare for the worst..." Roll leapt and spun around the Old Stoves, leaving whirls of water in her wake—and, momentarily visible before her targets were deleted, numerous cuts across their frames. Dodging their attack patterns was simple enough, disrupting the rhythm of her attack pattern so little that it seemed as though she wasn’t even making a point to evade the jets of flame she danced past to score further hits. …But there were still more viruses coming through the door; something had to be done to give Roll enough space to actually sink her antennae into the thing and get some answers. “Get as close to the doorway as you can, Roll!” Meiru commanded. “Okay, Meiru-chan!” Careful of the meteor attack coming down further into the battlefield, Roll ducked and weaved around the chaos, lashing out with the Aqua Blade when she needed to either clear away an enemy or change her momentum by pushing against one. Finally, Meiru deemed Roll close enough. “Battle Chip: Aqua Tower, slot-in!” Roll clearly understood what Meiru was trying to do. Dismissing the Aqua Blade, Roll set off, “Aqua Tower!” slamming her fist into the ground to shoot up a massive pillar of water; not toward any of the enemies in particular, but to crash directly into the door. As soon as the Aqua Tower had been fired off, Meiru gave Roll, “Battle Chip: Ice Wave!” Roll waited for the Aqua Tower to strike the doorway, then called out, “Ice Wave!” The Aqua Tower began to lose form once it had made impact on such a large obstacle; the Ice Wave froze it into place, forming a thick wall of ice to block the viruses’ entrance. With that, Roll approached the door frame, spreading her antennae before her to learn what she could from it. “Just be careful of how the ice wall’s holding up,” Meiru advised. “We don’t know how much uninterrupted time we’ve got here.”

HeatMan stood back as he continued pelting asteroids into the crowd. Between the bouncing Air Hockey puck and the flurry of aqua attacks that would delete him quicker than any virus, he figured that getting closer would be a death sentence. That didn't even include the pelting from the viruses themselves, their numbers dwindling but unrelenting. He did more than just that to help out, of course; in between chips, he sent out his own Flame Towers, carefully aiming them to hit the viruses and not his fellow teammates. Lan placed his full concentration in the battle, tuning out the conversation around him. These viruses were tough. Though a team like this was capable enough to take care of them, they still required his full attention to be taken seriously. Of course, this changed when Roll managed to freeze the door. HeatMan continued to battle the stragglers, but with this momentary pause in the onslaught, Lan had time to say his thoughts out loud. "This is weird," Lan commented. "I've never seen a door like this before. Normally, a security system would just put viruses in the computer, or have them come out when you trigger the security part... This is more like a portal." "Wonder if it has to do with the lack of wildlife," HeatMan said, watching Roll study the door from afar. "I don't know what's going on. Jasmine's right, this probably isn't good."

The virus crowd was starting to thin, both thanks to the continued assault of the four Navis and Roll's gambit. With the wall of ice in its way, the flow of data chunks ground to a halt - and the viruses, clueless as to what was going on, made no attempt to block the door or break the ice on their own. (It was almost as if they were... completely unaware of their surroundings?) The Twirlix crowd had been firmly aggro'd by Meddy, the viruses surrounding her on all sides and spiraling their blades outward. The crowd was poorly coordinated, their blades bouncing into each others' blades and knocking them back, but the wild assault still had Meddy on the defensive. "Chemical Flash!" she yelled, leaping over the storm of blades and summoning two colorful, pronged capsules on the edges of the crowd. With a wave of her hands, the capsules slammed into the Twirlixes and detonated, deleting them all with a massive explosion. The ripple effect was enough to make Rock stumble over, but with the Mettaurs stunned from the Air Hockey, she had nothing to worry about. Lan sent in a chip to assist as she regained her bearings - "Battle Chip, Circle Gun! Slot in!". A cursor spun wildly around Rock, and once it lined up with enough of the Mettaurs, she snapped her fingers. Several cursors locked on to the Mettaurs, and a moment later, all of them were sniped by an invisible force, finishing them off. "A portal, huh?" Rock repeated, now that she had a moment to breathe. "I guess it does kinda look like a void. But there's no way that's safe, right?! No way we're waltzing right in if it does go somewhere..." "We should probably get a read on the door first!" Meddy shouted from across the arena, dodging an incoming pillar of flame from an Old Stove and retaliating with a Pink Capsule. Lan's face scrunched up. "Why would it have to do with the wildlife? It's in the cyberworld," she said. "But it's still really weird..."

Roll concentrated on probing the doorway. “It’s written so differently,” she murmured. “It’s… ancient, like, millennia old. And it leads somewhere even stranger...” “Like that network on the ocean floor?” wondered Meiru. “Yes and no,” answered Roll. “It’s got a lot more in common with what we use now than anything there did. But I’m still amazed this is able to interact with a modern network at all. I can barely make sense of it…” The viruses were small potatoes compared to what it felt like the door ought to be capable of. It exerted an otherworldly pressure, as though it was trying to warn Roll away. Nonetheless, she concentrated again, looking for metadata that would give her clues to the identity of its owners. “But even though the code is ancient, this instance is brand-new. It was just placed here today,” Roll explained. “The door’s old, but the people using it just arrived on Oran Isle,” Meiru summarized. She looked down at the lock, shiny and new, once more. “We haven’t heard them, and they haven’t tried to interfere with us other than this autonomous defense. So they’re probably closer to the mountain…” “We just need to get the control panel back out of hiding, and then we can keep going,” Roll pointed out. “Maybe we can find a way around it while the door’s blocked." “Or maybe we’ve just got to destroy it…” finished Meiru.

HeatMan jumped forward, clearing out the remaining crowd with his press attack. It gave them a moment to think, but more importantly, it gave him a chance to look at the door for himself. "Ancient technology, huh..." Lan hummed. "If only we had my friend Sherrice with us. She's- she knows a lot about ancient net technology." "Might not be the same time period," said HeatMan. "Then again, I can't imagine many ancient civilizations had a working network." "Nevermind that, she says it's from today! That means there's someone else here!" Lan turned his head left and right, surveying the outside world. Nothing stood out to him as odd; the perpetrators were not in visual range. "You don't think they're after the MagnoMetal, do you?" Lan asked. "That would be weird, but... well, is it a coincidence that this abandoned island suddenly isn't abandoned when we show up?" HeatMan let out a hmm, deep in thought. "I agree it's to dangerous to enter. If there's nothing more we can learn from it, maybe destruction's the best option."

Another round of colored capsules from Meddy and a Splash Balloon chip from Lan were enough to pick off the rest of the Old Stoves and Twirlixes - and with the door still blocked off by ice, that was the last of the viruses, finally affording the group a chance to breathe. Rock dusted herself off and met back up with Meddy, both of them approaching the door and catching the tail end of the conversation. "A-ancient... technology?" Lan repeated, her expression utterly baffled. Ancient net sounded like a ridiculous oxymoron that someone would make up as a joke, but here were two separate people around her treating it as entirely plausible. "How is that even possible?" Jasmine also found the idea pretty ridiculous. "You sure your sensors aren't on backwards or something?" she said. "Maybe it's like... so new, that it wrapped around to being really old. Like a number overflow." Meddy approached the door, squinting her eyes as she tried to make sense of that vague, nauseating feeling. "I'm not sure," she said. "It has... this bizarre aura. I've never felt anything like it." Rock crossed her arms, turning her back to the door. "The other kid's right. It's really fuckin' weird that some super-recent trap's been set up here when the island was supposed to be ditched," she complained. "It's some insane timing, is what. And if it's not the MagnoMetal, what is it? The mangos?" "There could be other metals in the mountain, you know," Lan pointed out. "But... um, I don't think we should destroy anything. If we know there's other people on the island... then we really need to be careful..." The moment Lan stopped speaking, however, the ice blockading the door began to loudly crack; and before anyone could react, the doors swung on their hinges and slammed shut, shattering the ice in an instant. The control panel folded back out of the ground, ready for interfacing like nothing had ever happened. Meddy tilted her head. "Huh. I guess... we got through whatever security this was supposed to be," she mused out loud. "Still..."

“That’s what I’ve been trying to say!” Meiru agreed. “There could be literally anyone searching the mountain. Even someone else who traveled through a Fossa Ambience unrelated to the chatroom portals.” “I’d say that’s a leap too far normally, but we’re here, and we aren’t from this world,” Roll mused, indicating both her own Operator and Lan. “And the people who set the doorway here could be from the place the doorway leads to, themselves. We’ve had something like that happen before, too, where viruses were coming out of a portal to another world as a kind of advance guard.” To girl Lan’s question of how any of it was possible, Meiru explained, “There’s lots of ways weird stuff like this happens. Lost civilizations as advanced as our own, other worlds, even alien contact. The chatroom has lots of aliens from the future hanging around, right?” “…But it’s true, we could be here for two different reasons. Netto-ko would know if there are other metals to be found in the mountain, wouldn’t he?” Roll allowed, looking up at boy Lan’s window for confirmation. The sound of the ice breaking and the feeling of that power reverberating through her antennae broke Roll’s concentration on the conversation, though. She leapt away in case they were back in danger, but instead, the door swung shut. Meiru watched the control panel fold back out, then scanned the silent brush once more. “I think we should head in—if Roll finesses this thing, it won’t send an alert back to its owners telling them we’re here. But we’ve got to be quiet, and make sure we’ve got a plan before we move in on the mountain itself.”

"Ancient technology sounds weird, but it exists," Lan said confidently. "There's at least one lost civilization with a net like our own, I've heard it from the expert." He kept his explanation vague, to maintain his friend's secret. Not that it mattered much in the first place, as they had plenty of other things to worry about at the moment. Case in point: the mysterious island intruders who threatened them. "I don't know if there's anything else here," Lan answered. "When they ran out of MagnoMetal in my world, the mine got abandoned. Whoever's here, I doubt they're looking for iron, or whatever they keep in mountains." Truthfully, he didn't know anything about mining outside of video games. "No other reason to visit an abandoned island," HeatMan agreed. "You can find other resources in places with better documentation. It's easier and safer. Nobody's coming here unless they want this island's shining feature." HeatMan jumped as the door slammed shut. It seemed quiet, but he didn't let his guard down. Whatever was happening, it seemed too inviting. This couldn't be the end of it. "I wouldn't be surprised if there's more security on this thing," said HeatMan. "We could go in, but we need to be prepared for anything. If it spawned that many viruses, I'm sure it's even worse on the inside." "We're going inside now?" Lan raised his eyebrows. "I thought that was too dangerous!" "Unless we can think of something better." HeatMan crossed his arms. "It is dangerous, but it would bring us answers."

Heatman raised a very good point - good enough that Lan was really starting to worry. "B-but... it didn't sound like anyone even cared about MagnoMetal. At least from what Triese said," she pointed out. Part of her was getting a little paranoid that Mayl's assumption was completely accurate - that someone else had followed them, or had known about their plan in advance. "If it's any consolation, that door's... aura felt nothin' like a portal," Rock offered. "I doubt it leads to another world. So I guess that lends credence to... whatever this ancient technology stuff is about." Lan sighed - it was starting to feel like she was in over her head again. She'd vaguely heard Triese talking about aliens in the chatroom, but she just assumed it was the same confusion that she had over Megaman - not something literal. "U-uh. I... guess I have to believe that," she admitted sheepishly. She was beginning to view Mayl as a bona fide Weirdness Expert, given how much she'd learned about from both her and her world's Lan. "I-is that all you know? Just that... this ancient stuff, and the aliens, they exist?" "Maybe we'll need to know," Rock added. "If this is what we're up against." Meddy waltzed up to the door to investigate it further. "Doesn't look like this door is gonna swing open any time soon," she observed. With a wave of her hand, she summoned another pair of Chemical Flash bombs that she promptly rammed into the door - and despite the massive explosion their collision caused, the door escaped completely unscathed. Jasmine scoffed at the display. "Going through that door might not be an option," she said. "So I guess we’re leaving it to Roll to disable the lock?" (edited)

“We’ve been out here for this long, we haven’t been particularly quiet, and we haven’t heard anything from the inside,” Meiru pointed out. “We’ll get a better idea of what to do next once we’re through the gate.” “On it!” Roll dipped her antennae into the control panel interface and concentrated, her eyes clouding over momentarily. True to her world, she weaved around anything meant to catch interlopers like herself and began dipping the lock values into place. As her Navi worked, Meiru explained to girl Lan, “My friends and I’ve run into ancient stuff like that in our own world, and we’ve fought an alien. So it’s pretty easy for me to believe they’re telling the truth in the chatroom… but I don’t think I know an expert like Netto-ko does! And that door is totally new to me.” In the cyberworld, Roll completed her task, lifting her antennae from the panel. “We’re in, everyone!” “Now that we’re getting closer, we really should be a little more careful...” Meiru inched the gate open; it was time to see what sort of group had set up camp on the other side.

"You've fought aliens?" Lan gaped in awe at Meiru's claim. "Like little green guys?" "Lan, you've fought an alien," HeatMan retorted. "The whole world saw it, remember?" It took Lan a second to figure out what HeatMan was talking about. "Right, I guess Duo was an alien. But does it really count if he's a navi?" HeatMan did not respond, instead turning his attention back to the other navis. He was impressed by how effortlessly Roll hacked the lock mechanism, navigating with nothing but a pair of antenna. Though, he couldn't help but wonder what that door was made of if a big explosion couldn't destroy it. Was ancient technology simply more durable, or was this an outlier? A question for later, maybe. "Good job, Roll!" HeatMan exclaimed as she opened the gate. He raised a flaming fist in the air in celebration. Lan looked at the others, his expression serious. "You guys are ready, right? It might not be safe, but we can't turn back now. Be prepared for anything." He stepped through the gate, entering the unknown without fear. If there was any advantage he had in this situation, it was that he was used to dangerous scenarios. After all, he experienced something similar every time he left his home. Being careful was important, but it could only get you so far before it turned to cowardice. (edited)

The electronic lock popped open as soon as Roll was done working her magic. Fearless, Jasmine waltzed up to the gate door and slipped her hand through the barbed wire, gently shoving on the gate - and sure enough, the door swung open, allowing safe passage to the mountain ahead. "Ready, I guess," she said, turning toward the other Lan. "Better keep to a whisper once we're inside. If these guys pulled ancient technology out for a door lock, who knows what the hell else they'll try." Meddy curled her lip, glancing at the door again. "You say that, but we've been standing here for a good bit," she pointed out. "Either they're setting up a trap for us up ahead, or they don't even know we're here. It's not like an alarm went off." To their credit, they had hacked around any sort of guard the control panel had, but a giant virus door would have presumably caused more of an active alert. "It's almost as if someone just dropped the door here and left." Lan, meanwhile, was thrust into an internal struggle by both of her alternate-world-companions apparently having experience with alien stuff. "I... well... okay," she responded, eyeing them both wearily. They had no reason to lie or to mess with her, so... she just... had to believe them, somehow. "That's so... weird..." "Duo? How the hell did you fight an alien Navi?" Rock repeated curiously - and incredulously. "Man. The more I hear, the more the shit this kid's been through sound normal by comparison." She jabbed a thumb toward her operator. There was nothing stopping the group from waltzing straight through now. The canopy had petered out to make way for the barbed wire gate, but it appeared to thicken again just past it. Thankfully, there was still a makeshift path going through it that they could follow to the mountain - if they picked up the pace, it wouldn't take that long to make it to its base - though the visibly trampled grass just past the gate was certainly not a good sign. Jasmine jacked Meddy out, with Lan following her lead a moment later. "Well! Looks like there's a path just ahead," she said, pointing her PET toward the mountain. "To the mines it is!" she whisper-shouted.

“Honestly, we mostly fought the things he sent for us to fight. I don’t think we really fought back Duo himself so much as convinced him not to destroy Earth,” Meiru admitted. “Stuff like that is weird, and it's scary sometimes, but someone's gotta do it…” But once they were inside, Meiru was quick to return to the matter at hand. “They left a deterrent, but they haven’t set up a permanent camp here,” she murmured. "No wonder we weren't heard." “It could be that we’ll run into that closer to the mountain,” Roll pointed out. After another careful consideration, Meiru said, “If we follow their tracks for now, we’ll at least know where they are on the mountain.” She nodded along with Jasmine. “To the mines.”

"We fought Duo head-on," Lan said, "In a meteor that was crashing towards the earth." He nodded in agreement with Meiru, though he hadn't realized how strange it was until the other Lan pointed it out. Aliens weren't normal, were they? His eye trailed the path, then briefly turned back to the fence. The idea that someone was here and trying to keep them out made him uneasy, though there was a level of intrigue to it he couldn't deny. Against his better judgement, he found himself excited to meet whoever was behind all of this. With caution, of course. HeatMan, however, was still critical. "Why ancient technology? Who decides that ancient technology is the best way to keep a gate secure? Or is this all a flex?" "Maybe they're also ancient," Lan said. "We were just talking about aliens, it's not much of a stretch." "Doesn't explain why they want MagnoMetal." Lan frowned. There were still so many questions -- questions that wouldn't be answered until they found their suspect. Luckily, as Meiru pointed out, they hadn't been heard yet, and there was an awfully convenient path for them to follow. They had no better option. He took a large step forward, ready to continue their trek. "To the mines."

The resounding enthusiasm made the resulting hike feel a little more brisk, at least for Jasmine. Lan was substantially more bored, partially because she was facing a perpetual pout from Rock as she repeatedly reminded her with pointed glares that they were not going to eat random fruit off trees, and they especially weren't going to use them as blinding bombs. Lan was also feeling quite a bit more impending... dread? Fear? from all of the points that her companions had raised - she did not love the feeling of encroaching on something ten times bigger than her. (But with the continued presence of the chatroom, it was starting to feel inevitable.) The path to the mountain was generally more of the same as what they'd trudged through to get to the gate. A lush canopy, plenty of damp tall grass to wade through, and a mud puddle here or there to hop over; the closer they got to the mountain, the more clumps of dirt and dust had seasoned the grass and trees around them, but that was about it. The trail of trampled grass had a tendency to disappear and reappear at random, eventually disappearing outright as they approached the mountain - and with the tall grass giving way to a sandier clearing in front of the mountain with no footsteps in sight, it was difficult to tell what direction the "perpetrators" could have came from or gone. With no other signs of said perpetrators since the gate, Lan was put on edge. Now that the group had busted through the canopy, they were met with the mountain at full-scale; it wasn't unbelievably huge, even up close, but the cliffs were steep and dotted with foliage growing on the sides, making it intimidating to stare up at nonetheless. The sides of the mountain were fairly smooth, meaning that they'd have little to grapple onto if they did decide to scale it. "Guess it's a good thing we're not here for mountain climbing," Rock said. "Hey, any of you see any MagnoMetal already?" Lan squinted her eyes as she gazed up at the mountain. The only colors she could spot on the parts they had view of were green and various interminably boring shades of brown - nothing like the distinct shade of white that the other Lan's MagnoMetal was. "I don't see anything," she admitted. "Maybe it's inside the mountain..." "There could be an open-air entrance or somethin' like that," Rock suggested, before glancing at the other Lan. "Maybe this is familiar to the other kid? You got any thoughts?" "We also need to figure out how we're getting the drill machine here," Meddy reminded. "It might be wise to circle around the mountain to begin with."

Meiru was quite surprised to learn that Lan and MegaMan were so strong that they could actually fight Duo, considering how unreal his power had been up close. …And yet they had thought she was barking up the wrong tree to assume there were substantiated viruses or automated guards on the island, as if they had no idea that was a possibility, even though she remembered Duo being able to conjure and unconjure threats out of thin air. Maybe, considered Meiru, Lan’s encounter with Duo had been a bit different. She still assumed that Duo had stuck Lan and the Un-Cross Fusion Members on his spaceship, where they had… taken cover and Operated while the Navis Netbattled Duo face-to-face? But Lan acted like he’d never seen substantiation at all, so it had to involve a cyberworld. Had they fought Slur instead? She was beginning to confuse herself… Before Meiru's imagination could disappear down this rabbit hole far enough for her to ask for a recap from Lan, they arrived at the side of the mountain… and the trail went cold. “Anything yet, Roll?” she murmured. “Nothing… but I’ll keep checking,” she reported. “It’s too weird that we’re right here and I can’t catch anything…” She renewed her focus, antennae stretched as far out as they'd go. “Tell me about it,” Meiru quietly added. “No obvious disturbances in this sand, either…” She agreed with Meddy’s suggestion, “Yeah, we definitely need to case the place out first. We oughta stick close to each other, and do this carefully and quietly…”

Lan gazed up at the mountain, using his hand to shield the sun's rays. A sense of deja vu struck him as he stared at the mountain, and it took him a second to figure out why -- the silhouette was the same shape as the one on his Oran Isle. At a glance this island was totally different. There were no signs of drilling activity, only dense foliage, yet this was definitely the same mountain. For all the differences these worlds had, it was surprising to see that Oran Isle of all places still existed, even if it did seem prehistoric in comparison. "I don't see any MagnoMetal," Lan said, squinting, "but I get the feeling it's in here." Now would be a great time to have Mr. Famous's MagnoMetal detector on hand, Lan suspected. No, the MagnoMetal had to be here somewhere. The difficult part was getting in. They had a drill, but was that all they needed? Would tearing through the side of the mountain work? Maybe Rock was right, and there was an entrance somewhere. All they could do was check. "I don't think being quiet is an option," HeatMan said in response to Meiru. "Not once we bring the drill in, at least." The element of surprise was nice, but it would be difficult to balance that with actual mining progress.

Rock felt like she was being tugged two different ways between Mayl and Heatman's assertions. It was true that them bringing in a giant skull machine was going to be quite the beacon for whoever else was on the island - if not for the noise, then the vibrations it'd inevitably send through the mountain. "Shit. You're kinda right," she mumbled to herself. "So... what do we do, then? Try and flush out whoever else is here before we go digging?" "It's hard to commit when we don't know much about what we're up against," Meddy pointedly added. "And I think if we keep getting hung up on this, we'll just be running in circles. I think... we should just go." Lan was inclined to agree, given how antsy she felt. In spite of Mayl's assertion that they should stick together, she began to wander off, attempting to awkwardly lean over and look around the mountain, as if this would give her literally any clarity. A cool breeze blew straight past her, forcing her to lurch backward a little and narrowly avoid a dirt-in-eyes incident. "Hey, Lan, why're you wandering off?" Jasmine said, intentionally keeping her voice down. Another breeze kicked up a second round of dirt, which Lan turned around to block with her back while Jasmine simply shielded herself from the front with her umbrella. Lan turned around and gave Jasmine a generically annoyed look. "I don't know," she responded curtly. "I was just looking around." She turned around and took another few steps, making a valiant effort to see around the completely blank base of the mountain- only to be distracted by a sudden static noise emitting from her PET for a brief moment. Rock, who was similarly trying to look around the bend to even less success, noticed that her hologram flickered - and then, a strange electric feeling ran over her. "U-uh. What the hell?" she mumbled out loud, clutching her head as she kneeled down. The feeling had lessened now that it had hit her, but there was still a sort of hum running through her that was vaguely uncomfortable. The annoyed sounds coming from Jasmine's PET was enough of a giveaway that Meddy had felt it as well. Lan's head instantly snapped around out of worry, causing Rock to try and play it off. "I'm okay, kid," she responded, straightening herself out. "I just... I thought I felt something...?" "We both felt it, huh," Meddy said. "What was up with that?"

“That’s why we case the place out first!” Meiru immediately pointed out when HeatMan suggested they just give up their position right away without knowing anything about what lay ahead of them. “Not only will we know exactly where to send the drill, but either we’ll have the peace of mind of knowing there’s no one else here, or we’ll be prepared to react to them. And then they’ll be the ones with less time to regroup, instead of vice versa,” she explained. “That’s exactly it!” Roll seconded when Rock suggested they find whoever had made it there before them. “We should be doing reconnaissance right now!” …Which had been a nice idea, but now girl-Lan was the one doing the running off. Since when was being a chaperone so hard?! Were all Lans just like this? Meiru ran to catch up with girl Lan. “Hang on—“ But then she, too, was interrupted by the burst of static from her PET. “Oh!” Since Roll had been listening for disturbances much weaker than this, she was bowled over, her antennae sticking up like they were the receivers on top of a TV as she lay prone. “Owww…” “Roll, are you all right?” Meiru asked, alarmed. “Yeah...” said Roll, in spite of her stunned form providing evidence to the contrary. “I think… it came from inside the mountain…? We should look for an entrance… or…” “Just take it easy for now, Roll-chan,” Meiru said, the honorific slipping out in her worry and surprise, before turning back to at least say she'd tried to herd the flock of Lans. “Let’s go.” With that, she cautiously but steadily began to get a better sense of the perimeter of the mountain. (Whether anyone else was planning on following her or not!)

Seeing that the others had all disappeared, Lan ran after them. Just as he approached, however, he heard the ensuing cries of the other navis. "Hey, what's going on?" he asked. With a newfound sense of urgency, he pulled his own PET out of his pocket. "HeatMan! Are you okay?" "I'm fine," HeatMan said casually. "Whatever's happen' to them isn't affecting me." Lan scanned the others, catching glimpses at their PETs. Well, that didn't look good. "Do you sense anything, HeatMan?" HeatMan shook his head. "I'm not built to detect metals, kid. Though, I don't suspect the others are, either, unless they were really dedicated to this mining adventure. You know what that means." Lan nodded. There was only one thing that could be affecting them like this. "Listen up, guys," he said, addressing everyone. "I think there's MagnoMetal nearby. A lot of it can cause weird things to happen to certain navis." Lan was fired up now. They were getting close, all they had to do was find an entrance -- or, failing that, make one themselves. In the excitement, he found himself forgetting all about their stealth attempt, and took off running in search of a way in.

Lan and Jasmine were kept busy by fretting over their Navis, long enough for Mayl to catch up to them; it was then that the former felt a little embarrassed over having broken away from the group so much, and she quickly fell in line, with Jasmine following shortly thereafter. Not that the gesture meant much when her counterpart went barreling ahead of all of them - but, hey, at least they were two groups instead of three now. "H-hey, wait," Lan weakly, hypocritically cried out as the other Lan abandoned all stealth in favor of searching the perimeter fast as possible. "S-should we chase-?" Meddy curled her lip, still trying to shake off the residual nausea from the interference. "I do not think we should all run away from each other," she interjected. "Let's just stick together and pick up the pace." Lan sheepishly agreed, so she returned to trailing behind Mayl and frantically glancing every which way for any signs of something that might jump out at them. Rock had recovered by now, and was put a little on edge by Roll seemingly getting hit much harder than either she or Meddy did. "...Weird things. How helpful," she muttered to herself. "But... hey, at least it sounds like we're on the right track." Lan averted her eyes. "O-oh. Yeah. He... he said it messes up Navis?" she repeated, the information finally hitting her in the midst of her anxiety. "Whoever else is here... better not know that." (Well- would that even make sense? That would be a really strange coincidence, given how few Navis there were that could qualify as certain Navis

but she couldn't help but worry.)
- - -
The plucky expedition team that had split apart was lucky that the island was big and covered in foliage as it was; even with the other Lan running off from the group, there wasn't a huge inherent risk that someone would overhear the thunderous footsteps. The trail of dirt from the perpetrators was as cold as ever, further assuaging any theoretical fears. Another minute's run around the mountain, and there was finally a different kind of trail to follow; the ground began to slope downward slightly, with the grass thinning out and revealing a rocky surface underneath. A few steps further revealed a massive entrance carved into the mountain's side, with the trail evening out before it dived too far into the depths. Sunlight reflected off the sides of the cavern walls, creating the illusion that beams of light were fanning out from the entrance. A closer look revealed that the inside of the mountain was very shiny; tiny crystals embedded the walls, with different-colored rocks banding the sides and bright, smooth stalactites dangling from the ceiling. The path looked pretty spacious - and between the glimmering crystals and the light shining from it, the entrance seemed strangely inviting, as if it'd been ripped out of a movie or some dreamlike, curated national park.

Lan ran as fast as his legs could carry him, fueled solely by his determination to find their goal. He hadn't considered that the others would struggle to keep up; to say that he thought about what he was doing at all was an overstatement. Pure impulse guided him now. His pace finally slowed as he felt the ground beneath his feet change. When he inspected his surroundings once more, he was blinded by the light emanating from the entrance. Stopping just short of the entrance, he squinted, until he could make out the crystals within. HeatMan took this opportunity to speak up. "You really shouldn't have ran away from everyone, y'know." Lan snapped his head left and right, just now realizing that he was alone. "Oh..." He frowned and placed his hands on his hips. "Well, it worked out, didn't it?" Poking his head into the entrance, he took another cursory look. Those crystals didn't look like MagnoMetal, but they were pretty. Nothing like the desolate Oran Isle he knew. He was still convinced the MagnoMetal was nearby, with how the other navis reacted, though they might have to drill for it. HeatMan did have a point, however. They should wait for the others before doing anything. He turned back towards the path and waved his arms around for maximum visibility. "Hey, guys!" he yelled. "Over here! I found the entrance!"

The urge to shout Netto’s name to the heavens was building in an almost nostalgic manner. “Look at it this way, Meiru-chan,” Roll placated. “Now we know, without a doubt, that if there’s someone in the cave they’ve heard us. We can send for the drill machine at any time.” Meiru sighed. “Not having the jump on ‘em worked out so well for us last time…” she grumbled, memories of SoulNet close at hand. “Hey, you don’t know if it’s someone that bad!” Roll said. “We cleared out the viruses just fine, and we’re a pretty good team with Rock and Meddy-chan. And HeatMan, if Netto-ko doesn’t get himself captured or anything.” Meiru did not immediately answer, weighing the benefits of letting boy Lan sit out there by himself and look like the only intruder. “We’re not using him as bait, Meiru-chan. And he did say ‘Hey, guys,’ so they know he isn’t alone.” With no remaining elements of surprise available, Meiru turned to girl Lan. “I guess we should call Captain Kurohige, Netto-chan,” she decided. “We might as well go in swinging.” “Or drilling, as the case may be!” Roll added cheerfully to ease the tension. With that decided, Meiru took off after boy Lan, arriving next to him quite swiftly. “Great work, Ne—“ Then, she took in the fantastic beauty of the inside of the mountain, as did Roll in hologram form next to her. “It’s so pretty!” Roll squealed in joy, hopping in place. “Just like a real treasure cove!” Meiru enthused, her eyes shining nearly as bright as the crystals. Then, she turned to boy Lan, any frustration or caution having evaporated. “But the MagnoMetal’s white, isn’t it? Like a moonstone, almost.”

Lan could practically feel Mayl's frustration emanating from that sigh, though the familiarity of it went unnoticed. It was hard for her to tell how nervous she should be with their position being so clearly given up when the threat against them was so invisible; but Roll was right. Just because there was someone else didn't mean they would instantly obliterate them - they could also be explorers like them! Maybe! "You think so?" Jasmine responded, answering in place of Lan. "We don't know if there's a clear path yet. But I guess we can just leave it to him to figure it out..." Rock nodded in agreement. "It won't take that long to get the metal anyways, right?" she speculated. "We just jump in, bash the wall a couple of times... and we grab the spoils and run, yeah?" The sheer lack of realism in Rock's observation elicited a hearty giggle from Meddy and Jasmine. "That's... it's going to take longer than that, you know. You have to carve out the rock - even I know that," Meddy joked. "What, did you think we'd just be using a Drill Arm and the MagnoMetal would just pop out?" Rock averted her eyes as the group came up on the cave's entrance. "Uh," she stammered. "Nooo, I was just... thinking out loud. Y'know." She was not nearly as good of a liar as her operator was. Lan was practically blinded by the light beams shining from the cave, backing away as Mayl and Jasmine marveled at the sight. "Woah! That is cool," Jasmine added, wandering over and around the other Lan to give herself a head start in case he bolted again. "Well... if other-Lan here said that the disturbance was from MagnoMetal, maybe it's just further inside..." Meddy concentrated for a moment, shivering as a goosebumps-like feeling ran over her. "It's... it's still here," she muttered. "The disturbance, I mean. I think you might be right." Rock's hologram flickered again. She exhaled, thankful that she wasn't keeling over in pain just yet. "Freaky that we can feel a metal from here, huh," she thought aloud. "We're not even in the same space." Now that they had a mine to explore, Meddy penned a message to Blackbeard - though she noticed that it took a second to actually send. Presumably, a tropical island in the middle of nowhere would have some pretty terrible service, but she couldn't help but wonder if it was also the MagnoMetal's doing. "Should we just head inside?" she asked. "Maybe it'd be good to duck into somewhere dark, given... well, someone just gave our position away."

Luckily, the others were quick to arrive. Lan didn't want to tackle this adventure alone, even if he was the one to run off. They, too, were distracted by the sight of the cave; it took Lan a bit to tear his sight away, but he was ready to get moving once more. "It's all very pretty, but it's not MagnoMetal," Lan affirmed, crossing his arms. "Though if you guys can sense it, we must be close. Has that feeling gotten any stronger?" "I still don't feel anything," HeatMan said, making sure all their bases were covered. "Hmm..." Lan kicked a pebble in thought, then glanced at Rock's wavering hologram. "Oh yeah, it's super weird how it affects navis. My friends have been doing research and they still haven't figured it out. It's useful, though; a navi stays safe from SoulNet if their operator has MagnoMetal." He was concerned at how the disturbance seemed to cause them pain, however. Hopefully that was due to the quantity of the metal involved, and they would be fine around a smaller concentration. The beach party might not work otherwise. For now, Lan followed Meddy's advice and stepped into the cave -- not before frowning at her insinuation. "Hey, come on! There's no one around and I found the cave. It's fine."

Roll was no longer trying so hard to feel out for disturbances, so she could honestly say, “I can still sense it, too, but I can work around it now that I’m ready for it.” Moreover, she knew how important it was for her to acclimate to the sensation, after her last experience with SoulNet. If the search for Rush took them anywhere near the dark Hikari-hakase, Meiru needed to find MagnoMetal of her own. And, of course, the party would be impossible without establishing a perimeter using it. Like tiki torches, but for SoulNet. (Maybe they would also want tiki torches, if there were insects and animals on boy Lan’s version of Oran Isle…?) Meddy and boy Lan’s exchange brought Meiru back down to earth. “We ought to be moving closer to the disruption, since we know it’s coming from the MagnoMetal. But we should be trying to move from cover to cover as we go,” she said. “If someone else is here and deeper in the cave, we haven’t given them enough time to come out yet. There’s really no telling, and it still bothers me how new the lock on the gate was…” She felt it wasn’t her place to outright scold a Netto that was not her own, even if boy Lan’s easygoing behavior had her beginning to wonder how he’d survived so long in such a hostile world; surely his Meiru would give him an earful when she heard about it. Then again, considering how unfamiliar she was to girl Lan and Jasmine, maybe Meiru herself was the irregularity. What an odd thought that was… “Well, there’s no point in sticking around here,” Meiru decided aloud. “Roll, let us know if we’re getting warmer or colder, okay?” “Got it.”

"If we really felt it just over there... then I hope the MagnoMetal isn't too far," Lan thought aloud. "But we should be careful... so we don't hurt our Navis again..." Rock didn't love that her operator was fretting over her safety like this. She really just wanted to brush this off - she was prepared, now, like Roll was! It's not like she couldn't just brace herself; she was the one who should be worried about Lan, if anything. She was the one actually venturing into a cave with who-knows-what buried inside it. Stepping through the light beams and into the cave was a little blinding, but once they were inside, it didn't take long for their pupils to adjust. The glittering crystals continued for as far as the eye could see, and large bands of ores wound around the cavern walls in jagged and squiggly patterns. The cavern itself was practically the just right of caverns - not too cramped, but not so spacious as to be all-consuming, either. There were plenty of rock piles and messes of stalactites and crystals that served as the cover that Mayl suggested; and so, use them as cover, they did. Still, the cave was eerily quiet. The echoes of their steps and little droplets dripping from the ceiling were the only sounds keeping them company; nothing that implied the supposed intruders, nor the typical subterranean animals. The island really did seem shockingly untouched by all life. Rock and Meddy busied themselves by keeping their concentration, trying to sense if anything about the disturbance changed - it sounded like Roll had a handle on things already, but it was better to be safe than sorry. Blackbeard, in the meantime, had responded to Jasmine, saying that he'd attempt to find a path through the jungle - but it'd probably take a bit for such a slow, bulky machine to catch up. The cave's elevation went up and down at random, though there was a fortunate sparsity of splits in the path, making their lives a little easier. Splitting up the party was a terrible idea at this juncture, so picking a path at random and committing to it was the much safer option. A couple minutes of exploration, though, revealed their prize in the distance - shrouded in the shadows of an overhang, embedded on a far wall, was a distinctly white band of rock just above ground level.

Protection left on a gate with no one around to have set it… It was far too strange. Meiru was relieved when, instead of hearing an unfamiliar voice cut through the silence, Roll instead reported, “It’s gotta be in this room—this is the strongest it’s been when it’s not flaring up! Keep going…” Meiru could tell that finding anything in this cave was going to be like locating a sparkly needle in a very shiny haystack. Still, she scanned the room slowly, until something that might’ve been white and might’ve been a pearly gray in the shadows caught her attention. “Is that…?” She started moving toward it, asking Roll, “It’s getting stronger, right?” After a few steps, Roll agreed, “It sure is!” and that was indication enough for Meiru. “I think that has to be it,” Meiru said, pointing out the band of rock in the distance to the rest of the expedition party. “We might just be able to get at it with a hammer and chisel, if it’s right on the surface like that…” Ducking behind one of the crystal outgrowths, Meiru began rummaging through her bag. “I wonder if the people who left the lock on the door just… took a break from the island, because they couldn’t find it,” mused Roll while Meiru took a small hammer out of her bag. “But we found it,” Meiru pointed out absently, still digging around for the chisel. “They didn’t leave any of their tools behind for later, either. Did they really give up that easily…?”

Lan tried to focus on locating the MagnoMetal, but his attention span was a fickle thing, being pulled every which way by the colorful rocks and dancing lights present in the cavern. Without a navi who could track down the metal, he had little choice but to keep an eye out and follow the others. For all his attempts at concentration, he was the last to see the mineral deposit that everyone had fixated on. When he heard the others speaking about it, however, he made sure to get as close as possible, for a proper inspection. He pulled out his MagnoMetal sample and held it up alongside the cavern wall, for a side-by-side comparison. "Yep, this is it." Lan nodded and set the sample back in his bag, satisfied with these results. The real question was how they were going to retrieve their spoils. It dawned on Lan that he didn't know much about the actual mining process, beyond the broad strokes. Was a hammer and chisel enough? Was a drill too much? The others seemed to know what they were doing, at least. "Maybe they didn't have a way of mining it," Lan suggested. "Like, the wrong tools or something." "You think they would come all the way here without a plan?" HeatMan asked. "I don't know." Lan tilted his head. "I don't think they would come all this way only to miss something this big. Maybe they were just... scouting. Seeing if the area even had MagnoMetal." He shrugged. "There's no way to know for sure."

Lan and Jasmine took a moment to approach the MagnoMetal, waiting for confirmation from their companions that knew way more about whatever this stuff was. When the other Lan confirmed they'd found it, Lan let out a small sigh of relief; at least this wasn't a total bust, no matter what happened. As she carefully walked up to the MagnoMetal, kneeling down and putting her hand up against it, she couldn't help but wonder the same thing her counterpart did - if their drill setup was complete overkill. It looked like there was only this tiny band, until.... "Hey, there's way more over there," Jasmine pointed out. Sure enough, just around the corner to their right, running along the walls and up the ceiling, were even more bands of MagnoMetal. "You only needed a tiny amulet to protect yourself, right? This already looks like more than enough." It was reassuring to know that not only did they have more than enough to work with, they also would reasonably be able to carve out something once they lugged the entire drill machine into the mine. As Lan wandered over to the opposite wall, Rock took a seat on her shoulders and thought out loud. "I don't get it," she said. "I mean, sure, maybe these other people really did turn tail. Even if that'd be a total waste of time. But this is a big mountain, yeah? And a big island. Maybe we just haven't run into 'em yet." "Caves are pretty echo-y," Meddy pointed out. "If they were drilling, we definitely would have heard it by now." Rock had a handful of more protests to that insinuation, such as what if they haven't started yet, but it seemed a bit petty and pointless to keep arguing about it when they had more pressing matters at hand. Lan, meanwhile, had stopped to stare up at the wall - the bands of MagnoMetal weaving between each other, peppered with sparkling crystals, was definitely a sight to behold. The sight was almost enough to assauge her fears; maybe everyone else was right, and the mystery occupants had just booked it. That gave them free reign to dig...! "Blackbeard's looking for a clear path," Jasmine reported in. "I sent him our location. Hopefully we won't have to stand around for too long, if we decide on drilling here."

Meiru located the chisel, listening along—and looked up at Jasmine’s observation to see that there were way, way more of the MagnoMetal deposits to experiment with further down. Getting the drill machine in without destroying too much of the natural beauty of the island would be their biggest problem. Once that was done, even if a few MagnoMetal bands were ground up while they figured out the right settings for mining it, they would have plenty of opportunity to master the craft. “The party’s on for sure, now!” she said, beaming at boy Lan. "Even if those other people come back, there's enough here for both of our groups." "And Meddy's right, we'll have plenty of warning anyway!" Roll agreed. Now that they were right on top of the MagnoMetal and their phantom interlopers were not, the cave worked to their advantage. "We'll hear anyone else coming, if they even come at all." …While they waited for the drill machine to get there, though, Meiru wanted to take a bit of MagnoMetal for her own personal use. Not enough to be missed by the rest of the group, or even by someone else setting foot in the mountain after them; just enough to be set into a jewelry piece. She got to her feet, hammer and chisel in hand, and approached the first band of MagnoMetal once again. “I’m not sure what this’ll do to the interference, Roll,” she warned, angling the chisel in preparation to break loose a chunk of MagnoMetal only a bit larger than Lan’s sample. Once it was shaped and smoothed, it would probably turn out to be about the same size. “Get ready.” “Go for it,” Roll agreed. “It’d set my heart at ease, too.”

Lan gaped at the sheer concentration of MagnoMetal within the mine. One second it was elusive, hiding amongst the other shiny objects begging for their attention. Now it seemed like he couldn't turn his head without seeing it. "I've never seen this much MagnoMetal in one place before," he said in awe. "Not even in places that collect the stuff. This would be enough to protect everyone in the world, I think." "I wouldn't go that far," said HeatMan. "Not yet, at least. We don't know how much there really is around here." "Yeah, but there's gotta be more, right?" This only served to bring up more questions. If it was this abundant, why had no one ever tried mining it before? Even if it wasn't useful for the same purposes his world valued it, they could at least use it for decoration. It was pretty, at the very least. Which brought him back to the strangers. Maybe they were after it for something like that, valuing its potential when no one else did. It made as much sense as any of their other theories. In any case, he watched attentively over Meiru's shoulder. His hand shook slightly, eager to help but unable to think of anything he could do. Maybe he could help collect the metal? Which made him wonder... "How are we carrying all this back, anyway? I didn't expect to find more than could fit in my bag." Well, at least they had plenty to share with the other island intruders.

Jasmine raised an eyebrow. "Can't we just stuff it in some compartment from the drill machine?" she suggested. "It's a big machine, there's gotta be room to throw in a couple chunks." Meddy shared in her operator's confusion, putting one hand on her hip. "We're not... seriously thinking of digging out the entire wall, are we?" she questioned. "It doesn't sound like we even need this much to begin with." She started counting with her fingers, rocking her head back and forth. "I don't think we're gonna be making seven billion amulets, so how many people are we really accounting for here...?" Lan hadn't mentioned to Dr. Wily that they were doing all of this for a beach party, since it seemed kind of flippant. (Well, protecting from some all-encompassing evil influence machine was decidedly less flippant than a beach party, but - the less people who knew about this chatroom stuff, the better.) She inched closer to the MagnoMetal wall, reaching out to touch it; she was pretty curious about the texture. Predictably, it was smooth, but there was also a vague static charge running through it; nothing harmful, but enough to feel a little fuzzy against her fingertips. "Huh. Cool," she muttered. Rock's interest was also piqued, and she leaned over with her hologram to take a closer look as the dinks of Mayl's chisel echoed through the mine. She couldn't actually touch the metal for real, but she decided to reach out anyways for the sake of- █████BZZZTTT███ZZZT█████ZZZAZZZ████ZZZZTTTT█████- Rock's hologram suddenly flickered away as she yelped in pain - and much to both Lan and Jasmine's surprise, Meddy cried out as well. "S-shit," Rock mumbled, clutching her head with her hands. "Fuck. Fuck. Fuck!" "Meddy?! What's wrong?" Jasmine asked, beset with worry. Lan, meanwhile, had been stunned into silence, horribly distracted by the scratching noise emitting from her PET. "J-Jasmine," Meddy replied, her voice breaking up as she keeled over. "Get away- get away from the wall! Please!" She sounded bizarrely angry as she demanded it; and so did Rock, who was growling with an uncharacteristic frustration. Lan hesitated for a moment, distracted by Rock's rage - were her eyes glowing? - but she quickly backed away from the wall, unable to tolerate her Navi being paralyzed with pain any longer. Jasmine followed a second later, and- much to their relief- their Navis recovered, taking a moment to regain their bearings. "W-what was that?" Lan worried, clutching her PET tightly. Rock groaned and forced herself to stand up, electric currents sparking off of her body. "S-shit. I dunno," she mumbled. "Hey, didn't the other kid say..." "That weird stuff could happen to certain Navis? Yeah," Lan finished, giving Jasmine a worried glance. Meddy sighed. "Well," she muttered, sounding like she'd just been punched in the gut. "That was... definitely a 'weird stuff'." She pushed through the pain and stood up, crossing her arms. "I don't know what was up with that. I just... felt so mad for a second..."

Meiru immediately stopped when the Navis cried out. “Oh my gosh, I’m so sorry!” She, too, scrambled away from the wall on Meddy’s direction, not stopping until she was back on the far side of the room. “Roll!” Roll’s hologram had been disabled, too; within her PET, she was crumpled to the floor yet simmering with barely-contained fury, much as she had been under SoulNet. “No, we can’t let this happen again! We have to…” “Roll, it’s okay. We don’t need it this badly,” Meiru said, far more worried about her Navi than about some future contingency that might not even come to pass. “Let’s wait for the drilling machine, okay? It might shield you guys a bit better.” “I don’t wanna lose myself again,” Roll protested, even though she was still struggling to her feet. She’d been closest to the MagnoMetal, since her PET was on Meiru’s wrist. “What if we need our own MagnoMetal, and this is our only chance to mine it for ourselves…?” Now that the initial reaction had worn off, she was scared, not angry, her mind clearly on their experience with SoulNet. “It’s not like there isn’t enough here for us all to get personal samples on top of whatever we’re setting up for the party,” Meiru reassured her. “But I don’t wanna see you get hurt like this over a just-in-case thing. We’ll see how it goes, okay?” “Meiru-chan…” Roll was clearly disappointed in herself, but she just as clearly couldn't come up with a good enough argument against her Operator's renewed caution.

Lan tensed. His hands curled into balls, and every hair on his body stood on end. This behavior from the navis -- the sudden anger, the pain -- it was far too familiar for comfort. "HeatMan," he said quietly, approaching despondence, "be prepared for anything." HeatMan frowned. He recognized a blankness in Lan's stare, a heart in the process of breaking. There was something bothering him beyond the inconvenience. "It's okay, Lan," he said, his tone as soft as he could manage. "It's just a reaction from the MagnoMetal, you said so yourself. There's no SoulNet here, or else the others would be freaking out, too." Lan said nothing. He continued to stare at the cavern wall. Slowly, his hand moved to his amulet, and he grasped it for comfort. He took a deep breath in, and a deep breath out. Then, when he felt grounded, he turned to the others once more. "Keep a close eye on your navis. Don't let them jack into anything. This- it might hurt them." Against all logic, he still wasn't fully convinced that SoulNet had nothing to do with this. They were having a bad reaction to the MagnoMetal, he knew this, but that specific reaction was eerily similar to what he saw daily. He placed his hands on his hips, brainstorming their next move. Was a navi-operated drill safe to bring in with so many navis reacting poorly to the metal? It sure wasn't safe the first time he visited Oran Isle. They had to get this metal, though. "Is there a way we can send your navis elsewhere?" he suggested. "Just until we get done mining. I don't want them to get hurt." It wasn't the greatest idea, and put them at a disadvantage if they got ambushed, but he wasn't sure what else to do. There had to be some way to protect them before things got out of hand.

The obvious anxiety from her companions immediately set Lan's own worries ablaze, though Rock reappeared on her shoulders to assuage her worries. "H-hold on, hold on," she mumbled, jerking her head back and forth to try and shake the static feeling off. "You're actin' like this is the SoulNet shit again? That doesn't make any sense..." Lan nodded fervently, clutching her PET close to her chest. "Y-yeah. Isn't it supposed to be blocked by the MagnoMetal?" she questioned tentatively. "Then it has to be something else..." Heatman had a point, anyways - SoulNet affected humans, too, and Lan hadn't noticed anything in the real world. Jasmine was noticeably shaken by Meddy's reaction, her unbothered facade cracking and revealing some doting concern underneath. She began pacing around the tunnel, eventually stopping in front of the other Lan. "We'll need our Navis to operate the machine, though. We can't just send them off," she protested. "It's not like there are any comps around here, anyways. Besides..." "The door lock," Meddy finished. "I don't think we should hang around there." Almost as if to spare them from dwelling on the subject for too much longer, though, the group was distracted by the distant whirring of an engine and the distinct sounds of tiny rocks being crushed and tossed around by large treads. Both Lan and Jasmine quickly raised their guards - only for the ding of an incoming message to play from Jasmine's PET. "Oh," she mumbled. "Well, I guess now we'll just see what happens..." Light beams shone from around the corner as the drill machine carefully rolled in from around the corner, just barely fitting under the ceiling of the cave. The skull plating on the front was admittedly a little scary when it was only being illuminated by the machine's lights - but at least it was their skull machine! "Apologies for the delay, de a~ru," the distinct voice of Diveman echoed from the cockpit. "Blackbeard stayed back, and the path was a little rough, de a~ru..." As the drill machine pulled up and stopped just in front of the group, Jasmine's smug demeanor returned to her. "You didn't make a loud as hell ruckus, did you?" she asked coyly. "How many trees did you knock over?" "I was as careful as I could be, de a~ru," Diveman noncommittally answered.

“No,” protested Roll when Lan suggested the Navis be sent away. “It’s not like SoulNet was, it’s a resonance interfering with us. That’s why I’m more sensitive to it—but I can cancel it out, too.” To Meddy and Rock, she explained, “Stay close to me when we start trying to get at the MagnoMetal again, okay? My counter-vibration should be able to negate it for you if you aren’t super far.” Meiru was quite happy to see that they’d be putting that to the test sooner rather than later. “Thank you, Diveman!” she cheered. To the rest of the group, Meiru reassured, “Roll will keep Meddy and Rock safe while Diveman’s drilling. I trust her.”

Lan sighed with relief knowing that his teammates had a better solution. He didn't want to send anyone away, but he wanted them to be safe above all else. It had been so long since he'd seen Roll, he forgot all the things she was capable of. Seeing everyone continue to act normal set his anxiety at ease. He shook his head and straightened his posture, fighting the last stray thoughts. There was no SoulNet here. Everyone would be okay. "Thanks, Roll," Lan said, forcing a smile. "Make sure to protect yourself, too." "Yeah, I'd rather not fight any beserk navis," HeatMan said. "If we ever netbattle, it's gotta be on friendly terms." Lan saw the light from the machine before the machine itself, causing the rocks to glitter and shine. When he turned around, he found himself face-to-face with a giant skull, and instinctively jumped. It took him a second to register the rest of the machine, despite standing inches from the giant drill. "With a design like that, you'd think Wily had designed it," HeatMan joked, unaware of just how apt his statement was. "Haha, yeah," said Lan. "Anyway, now that Diveman's here, what's the plan? Are our navis hopping into the drill with him or staying with us?" Now that they had the drilling machine, he was hyped to get started. The MagnoMetal was within their reach.

"A counter-vibration, huh?" Rock repeated, secretly a little thankful that someone had that kind of capability. She was still a little nervous over... the smoke incident at the fight ring, so knowing that Roll had that interference figured out put her quite a bit at ease. "Got it. Glad that won't be a problem." Jasmine balked a little at Heatman's insinuation. "Uh? That's..." she began, before Lan immediately read what she was going to say and shushed her wish a mean stare. Jasmine was stunned for a moment, but figured out why pretty quickly; she shrugged and walked over to the machine, placing her hand on its side. "The machine is a bit unwieldy, de a~ru," Diveman reported. "It was designed for a human to do most of the work. Extra hands would be appreciated, de a~ru..." "That's what I thought," Meddy commented. "I'm sure a few of us could hop in and help..." Lan stepped over to the machine as well, finally letting her PET fall to her side. "But Roll said that our Navis should stick together, right?" she said. "I guess that means we're all jacking in..." "There is plenty of room, de a~ru," Diveman clarified, in spite of the fact that it was pretty hard to imagine a comp that wouldn't be able to fit a small handful of Navis. (Rock was thinking about it now - a really tiny box, where they'd all be smushed up against each other. She found the visual a little funny.) The jack-in port was on the inside of the machine, so Diveman popped the doors open automatically, allowing Lan and Jasmine to climb up and reach for the port. Lan was feeling a little self conscious of if her callout would echo through the entire cave, so she simply silently jacked in Rock, with Meddy following a moment later. The inside of the comp, too, was in surprisingly pretty good shape for a machine that had barely been used in the last decade. The floors were tiled with a rocky pattern, and the skybox was pure black with a jagged grey grid; and in the center, manned by the half-submerged Diveman, was a large, complicated-looking control panel outfitted with dozens of buttons and levers. Diveman was correct in that there was no hope for one single Navi to operate the entire thing, unless they had ten extendable arms.

“It’s not that strange, is it?” wondered Meiru at Heatman’s observation and Jasmine’s reaction. “I mean, we have a friendly Diveman here, too…” …Speaking of whom, it sounded like they were going to need to relocate into the machine itself. “Let’s go, Meiru-chan!” Roll said immediately after Rock and Meddy were sent in. “Right!” Meiru hopped into the machine's cab. With no other adult human around to ‘do most of the work’, she supposed she ought to stay there, in case real-world input was required at any point. Softly, she called, “Plug in, Roll! Transmission!” before settling into the driver’s seat and looking around the console, familiarizing herself with the layout. Roll was quite impressed by this comp, too. A system like this would definitely have been a generic sky-blue in her world. “People really like to decorate their systems in this world, don’t they!” she remarked to herself, “It’s all so thematic.” She wandered to Diveman’s left, giving the control panel a gentle prod with her antennae to see if there were any drivers for her to download to tell her more about how to run the machine.

"It would make sense," Lan said. "I mean, the Dr. Wily I know isn't friendly, but he's... well, it's complicated. He does know a lot about MagnoMetal, though." The Wily of this world obviously hadn't created SoulNet, since the MagnoMetal had never been mined. He didn't have a monopoly on the skull market, either. There simply was not enough evidence to say for sure. That wasn't important, though. For now, he climbed into the machine and jacked in. Like Roll, HeatMan began by observing the comp around them. "I admire the dedication, gotta say. A comp this small isn't always decorated." With Roll going to the left, he took the right, acquainting himself with the controls. He was sure he could figure it out with no problem, though he wondered if Roll's prodding would pull up any additional insight. Meiru seemed to have the operator side of things under control, so Lan was free to watch the navis do their thing. He found the control panel to be pretty impressive, honestly. "Wow, I wonder why it needs so many navis. Is drilling that complicated?"

The idle speculation put Lan and Rock a little on edge, since saying literally anything would confirm or deny what was going on here. Lan had a bad feeling about any sort of crossover between the chatroom and Dr. Wily occurring; there wasn't any real reason to be nervous about it, but part of her was anxious that if he did know, the chatroom situation in general would somehow inexplicably blow up. "Uh. Yeah," was all Lan said to respond to Mayl and her counterpart, with Rock noncommittally shrugging. They thankfully had an alternate subject to respond to, though. "Y-you really think it's that fancy, too?" she continued sheepishly. "I'm kinda surprised. Does your Net not look like this...? I thought we had the lame one..." "I'd have to assume," Meddy said, in response to the other Lan. "It's a big industry with a lot of needs. I doubt it's a one size fits all type of deal." It was strangely fitting that they seemed to have just enough Navis to man the entire control panel; the different buttons lining it all had labels denoting the various parts they controlled. With Roll and Heatman flanking the edges, that left the center of the panel to the WWW and Rock. Rock was loving the feeling of having this much at her fingertips - it really got the adrenaline pumping. Before she even communicated to her teammates, her eyes fell on a toggle named L2 Soft Drill. "Let's get this party started, then," she declared, pressing the button. Consequently, in the real world, a panel on the front of the machine popped open to reveal a comically large drill head, that, even more comically, was being gripped by the handle by a cartoon glove. "Hah! It does look like a Drill Arm," Rock observed, endlessly amused by the sight. Lan raised an eyebrow. "...Because it's a drill, Rock," she responded, completely deadpan. She was making sure to put quite some distance between the drill machine now that Mayl was manning it, and she put even more distance knowing that it wielded cartoon weapons. The movement controls for the drill were separate buttons, so Meddy tested out moving it around. Multiple joysticks controlled its position on the different axes, and there were other buttons to control the force behind it as well. Lastly and thankfully, there was an instruction manual that Roll could download, giving her information on what and how the controls functioned without having to trial-and-error it. There were manual controls, too, to move the machine in the real world, though there were buttons for Roll to hop in for the assist and course correct if it was necessary. Another part of the control panel was connected to an array of screens mounted on top of the machine that displayed camera footage of the real-world, some of them outfitted with scanners that were having an absolute ball detecting the very shiny and very magnetic MagnoMetal lining the walls around them. The best course of action seemed to be cutting out a chunk of the wall, and they'd go from there - but the panel was complicated enough that they'd probably need all the Navis to pull it off. "We going for this wall up ahead?" Jasmine asked out loud, pointing toward the same wall that Mayl tried to take a piece out of.

“Interesting,” murmured Roll upon receiving not the jolt of downloading a driver, with its instructions and various tools instantaneously imprinting themselves on her consciousness, but a text file to read through and parse for herself. “Well, that works for me…” In the human world, Meiru stared in disbelief as the cartoon glove sprang out from in front of her like a deadly jack-in-the-box, thoroughly distracted from any sort of conversation about Wily. This was definitely not like any sort of mining equipment she’d known of. “Meiru-chan, you’ve got a lever for braking and vice versa at your left, and then directions are those joysticks to the right,” Roll explained to her. “But we can take care of it ourselves in here. You just need to know in case something happens with us.” “Which shouldn’t, because you’ll be interfering with the resonance while we drill,” Meiru finished. “But now I know, just in case. Thanks.” “There’s more of it down that way, isn’t there?” wondered Meiru in response to Jasmine, indicating the bigger deposit around the corner. “We need to make sure we’ve got enough to seed Netto-ko’s Oran Beach with it…” “For all we know, there could be a deeper deposit behind this wall that we can’t see,” Roll pointed out. Indeed, that seemed to be what the scanners were indicating. “Plus, I think Rock’s raring to go! Repositioning might not be an option at this stage.” “Well, okay,” Meiru relented with a little smile. “Let’s get this thing moving!” “All right,” Roll agreed. She spread her antennae. “Ring Vibration!” To Rock and Meddy, she explained, “I’m broadcasting the counter to the resonance the MagnoMetal’s been making. I’ll adjust it on the fly if I’ve gotta, so let me know how you’re feeling.”

"We don't need that much," Lan said. "There's plenty here to protect everyone. We should try to get as much as we can, though; it might come in handy later." His mind was buzzing at the possible uses for all this material. He could protect more than Oran Isle -- he could protect anything he wanted. His world no longer had to be off-limits to his interdimensional friends. Sadly, there wasn't anything worth visiting for besides the beach, or else he would love to host more people. He looked between the drill itself, spinning too quickly to see -- just like DrillArm, he agreed -- to Meiru. She seemed to have it all under control, even if she was a bit shocked by the controls. It was then that he realized the danger that a huge drilling machine might pose, and retreated to a safe position near the other Lan. With a grasp on his own controls, HeatMan split his focus between operating the machine and making sure the others were okay. He had confidence in Roll, but erred on the side of caution regardless. If anything happened to them, he would be there to help. "Okay, it's drilling time!" he exclaimed. His flames expanded as he rubbed his hands together, ready to roll.

The drill machine roared to life, rolling toward their target wall at Mayl's command. Jasmine resisted the urge to cheer them on, but she decided to shout some directions regardless over the whir of the engine. "We can back up and go for the other walls later! We've got time, right?!" she shouted. "If we need lots of metal, we've got lots of metal!" Rock and Meddy both felt the same bizarre tingly feeling as Roll activated the Ring Vibration; it caught them off guard and dizzied them for a bit before they regained their bearings. "All good for now," Rock reported in, giving a thumbs up as she eyed the controls for the drill. "So let's test out if it'll hold!" Meddy fiddled with the joysticks to push the drill against the MagnoMetal deposit, while Rock revved the drill up with quite a bit of glee. The drill spun against the MagnoMetal, sparks flying as they carved into the deposit and emitted a distinct buzzing noise. Fortunately, Roll's shielding proved to be a success - the disturbance did little other than making some of the camera footage flicker for a brief moment. Rock mock-breathed a sigh of relief; and, now emboldened to do whatever she wanted, she started to scan the other buttons. Sure enough, there were quite a few toggles for more drills; she activated one that summoned an exact replica of their current drill on the other side of the machine. Meddy already had her hands full, so Diveman floated up to the control panel to help - and soon enough, they had two drills piercing the metal on opposite ends to cut out the chunk they needed. They may have gotten a little excessive for their first go, Rock quickly realized - the chunk they'd cut out was twice as wide as any of the operators and went up to Lan's knees. With one last push on the controls from Meddy, the drills dug through and behind their piece, finally managing to dislodge it from the wall. Diveman activated another pop-out device, a ripper, to scoop up the piece, carry it over to the machine, and gingerly lay it on the ground. At last, they had their MagnoMetal piece. "Nice!" Jasmine cheered. "We can pick that up in a bit. Wanna try the other wall? Get a bunch of smaller pieces?" "Why?" Lan asked. "Can't we just cut out from the same wall?" Jasmine pouted. "What, so you hate fun?" she accused, to which Lan had no real response.

Meiru was pretty aware of how handy the MagnoMetal could be. She kept a careful eye on the controls and the MagnoMetal as it was prised free, sure that Roll was keeping just as close an eye on Rock and Meddy inside the drill machine. Luckily, nothing seemed to go wrong. The chunk they managed to get out of the wall was far more massive than even Meiru in the cockpit had expected. “Amazing…!” “Everything’s okay here, too!” Roll reported. “Our expedition’s a success!” After listening in on Jasmine and Lan’s conversation, Meiru decided, “We probably should just keep digging from the same wall, if there are still deposits there. Not because it’s less fun or anything, but because it’ll leave less damage behind.” “It’s true! This cave is really beautiful, so we should leave as much of it untouched as we can,” Roll added. Meiru wondered, “Do you think this piece we have here’ll be enough to cover the beach? If it is, all we need is maybe… a few small pieces for each of us, for our own use.”

Lan couldn't tear his eyes away from the giant chunk of metal they pulled from the wall. It was way bigger than he could have anticipated. He doubted that chunks that big even existed in his world anymore. "Oh yeah, this is plenty," he answered. "Just a trace is enough to protect one person, so a piece this big will cover us for miles." Still, even after a completing their mission, he wasn't ready to stop. Watching the drill tear into the cavern walls was extremely satisfying -- he wouldn't mind being here all day. They could very well grab enough to give to everybody in the chatroom, barring the few troublemakers who would thrive in his world's society. HeatMan, too, was enjoying himself. Since Roll's vibrations were doing their job, he could focus his energy into unrestrained drilling fun. He grabbed his lever and grinned, the drilling unleashing his full energy. "You guys ready for round two?"

"Sigh! No chunks for us. Oh well," Jasmine complained, mock-upset that her companions really did hate fun. "Well, hey. If this is really all we need, then we can be out of here in no time flat. Pretty simple mission, huh?" "Mayl's right," Meddy added, putting one hand on her hip while keeping the other on one of the joysticks. "It's a beautiful cave. Besides, if we only mess with one wall, it means less evidence that we were here. For... whenever those other people come by again." Rock tilted her head, pouting about the lack of excitement the same way that Jasmine was. "W-well, we'll still need to back up a little, I think," she protested, all too eager to see the machine of all time do its thing. "But- hell yeah, we should go for a round 2! We came out all the way here, so we might as well overstock..." Diveman scooped up the MagnoMetal with the claw and carried it as far around the machine as the claw could extent. "We have plenty of carry-on room, de a~ru," he said, pressing another button to open up a hatch in the back. Lan and Jasmine took it upon themselves to load the MagnoMetal chunk into the back of the trunk, each of them lifting up one side. Much to Jasmine's surprise, Lan was way more adept at lifting than her, and she had to stumble a little to keep up. Rock and Meddy, meanwhile, got to work carving out a second piece as the machine turned and adjusted itself to get a better shot at the wall. "I guess we should've picked the other wall," Rock wondered out loud as the drills bored into the wall once more. "But maybe it's good we picked a smaller deposit. It's like Meddy said - not as noticeable, y'know?" It really was surprising how much MagnoMetal there was for how little they actually needed. There was virtually no reason not to grab another giant chunk or two - if there was this little of a need for it in their world, then why not? They'd be coming back with enough to solve all of the other Lan's problems.

Roll was mostly focused on keeping the Ring Vibration going, watching over Rock and Meddy’s shoulders as they mined the smaller piece. “If that big piece is all we need for the party, then all we have to do is divide this smaller piece up amongst ourselves. We’ll have plenty to protect ourselves and our friends, even with just this.” As she watched the drill work, she added, “Though this is super fun. Look at it go!” “I was thinking we’d each take care of setting our pieces of MagnoMetal ourselves, if we all have the resources to,” Meiru said. “It’ll be harder to guess where it is if we’re wearing different types of jewelry, instead of all having the same sort of necklace…” “So you could have rings, or hair pins, or bracelets instead…” Roll beamed, though she was careful not to lose too much focus. “That’d be really cute!”

Lan smiled. Everyone was having fun drilling, and were just as excited to find the MagnoMetal as he was. Their beach party was in reach, a miracle come true. He was so caught up in this hope, he had nearly forgotten about the other people on the island. "I wonder if they're still here," he said. "If we get in and out quick enough, it won't matter if we leave evidence, right? It's not like they'll figure out who we are from a hole in the wall." Though, honestly, he didn't want to leave yet. Drilling in a cave with friends was may more exciting than whatever he would be doing at home. "It doesn't have to be jewelry, you know," he said in response to Roll. "That's the easiest way, but I've seen it mixed with other metals and made into all sorts of things. A chess set, a wheelchair, a PET... you have tons of options." He stood close to the others, ready to help with loading the rocks if needed. Really, he felt bad he wasn't helping out more. All the while, he wondered where he would be keeping all this metal in his tiny apartment. As much as he wanted to take as much as possible, they only needed a small amount. HeatMan assisted in drill operation, now fully in the zone. His body radiated flames, just barely avoiding the control panel and his fellow navis. There was nothing like a giant drill to provide enrichment for a navi's enclosure.

The Navis' enthusiasm was infectious, bouncing off each other as they all worked in tandem to pry another piece of of the wall loose. The combined efforts of Roll, Heatman, Rock and Meddy had more than enough of a handle on the controls to let Diveman command a smaller drill, which cut their second piece into smaller chunks that easily slipped out of the wall. Lan and Jasmine took turns loading the chunks into the back of the machine, and soon enough, the enthusiasm was spreading to the real world. "I... I didn't think there'd be this much," Lan muttered to herself, smiling a little bit. "It's kind of weird. I guess we have enough." She twiddled her thumbs, glancing at her PET and then at her counterpart. "Though, Mayl's right... we should try to hide it. But I don't really know how to set jewelry..." Jasmine curled her lip. "Could ask Yuika. She's the one with those custom earrings," she pointed out. "I think you'd rock a bracelet, kid." Lan blushed. "I- I guess?" she stammered. "I was thinking it could just be... hidden in my backpack, or something..." It was almost a shame that they couldn't keep drilling - Rock was acting like she was basically playing a video game in real life. But after a point, there was no real reason to keep going - so with one big chunk, two medium sized chunks, and two fistfuls of small chunks in tow, they decided that it was time to call it. "Man, that was fun," Rock muttered to herself, finally taking her hands off the control panel. "Hey, if any of you ever need some other random metal, I'd totally jump on the..." ...opportunity, was what she would have said; but as the drills stopped running and the cave went quiet, Rock's train of thought crashed when she realized that there were still faint sounds of drilling playing back from the real world. Lan noticed the noise at about the same time - and as their machine went still, the faint whirring became easier and easier to notice. "H-hey," Lan said. "You hear that, right...?" Jasmine listened in for a second, her eyes widening once she caught the noise herself. "That can't be our machine," she observed. "Echoes don't last for that long..." Rock raised her guard as she backed away from the console. It seemed almost as if the other Lan had jinxed them - the only explanation that made sense in her head was that this was their first sign of the so-called perpetrators. "Oh, shit," she muttered to herself. "We're not alone. What do we...?"

“I’d guess it should be something you can hold close, though,” Meiru mused. “And something that would be hard to remove, or that someone wouldn’t think of…” Her first idea had been to hide it under her clothes, but there were lots of things that could be done. The similarity to moonstone meant that she could even hide it in plain sight, in an array of decoy stones… The sound of the other drill machine got Meiru to table the idea for now. There was no way they were hiding the drill machine from their unexpected visitors, so there would undoubtedly be a confrontation of some sort. The question was how much of one, and how many people would be involved. “I’m not sure if there’s room in the cockpit for everyone,” Meiru thought aloud, then turned to girl-Lan and Jasmine looking on below her. “Maybe you two should find a good spot to hide, and Netto-ko can squeeze in behind me.” She was fairly certain there was no hiding boy Lan, after their day. “That other drill machine’s still going. It’s like they plan to ram us…” She backed the machine out and, mindful of any stray teens who were not yet hidden, slowly turned it to face the entrance the noise was coming from. “Rock, Meddy, Diveman, HeatMan, how do you feel about jousting?” “I wanna see what we’re dealing with, here,” Roll said. Since they were no longer moving or excavating any MagnoMetal, she relaxed, her antennae falling back into their usual halo-like position. The energy would be better saved for whatever came next. “I really hope we don’t have to fight them, and we can just talk it out… but if I gotta, I might be able to jump to the other machine and cause more trouble there.”

Lan's joy quickly turned to suspense as the faint sound of drilling reared its head. So they weren't alone after all. On instinct, his adrenaline kicked into overdrive; his body was used to associating strangers in the distance with danger. It seemed the others felt the same way. Despite his wariness, he questioned if they were being too hasty. They should be prepared for anything, yes, but they still knew nothing of these strangers beyond their strange door trap. Security didn't necessarily mean hostility. "I agree with Roll," he said. "We should see what they want before we fight them. If it's MagnoMetal they're after, we have plenty to share." He also wondered if they could escape without being seen, but that seemed unlikely. Drill machines were loud enough to hear from a far distance, but they were also slow. Breath shallow with unease, he followed Meiru's instructions, and climbed into the cockpit. It was a tight squeeze, but he managed to fit behind Meiru. "Are you sure that meeting them is a good idea?" Lan asked. "It's like we're asking for trouble." "They definitely heard us drill," HeatMan retorted. "If they are dangerous, we should get a head start. If they're not, then it's no issue." "I guess so..." Lan frowned, still unsure. This fun drilling adventure had quickly turned into an everyday mission where his very life was at risk.

The sound of the other drill finally trailed off as soon as the other Lan climbed into their machine - but then it started up again... before stopping just as quickly. The drill kept turning on and off for the next few seconds, almost as if they were just as confused as the current group and testing the waters. Rock crossed her arms. Ramming their opponents with a giant skull machine did sound like a powerful and somewhat amusing option, but she wasn't thrilled with the idea of leaving her operator behind. "Shouldn't there be some room in the back?" she questioned. "I mean, it won't be comfortable, but..." "Sitting with all of the MagnoMetal...?" Lan questioned. Neither she nor Jasmine were particularly big people, so they probably could squeeze inside - but it wouldn't be pleasant, as Rock said. "Well... I'd rather stay with you guys..." "I don't wanna get lost looking for a hiding spot, either," Jasmine said, folding her umbrella as she walked around the machine. "I'm all for team 'squeeze up against the shiny metal'." Lan squirmed her way onto the machine and inside the compartment that they'd carried the MagnoMetal chunks to. She ended up having to sit on top of one of the medium-sized chunks and curl up against her knees, but it was good enough; Jasmine crawled in right after her a few seconds later. The extreme echo-iness of the cave made placing where the noise was coming from, even without Roll pulling out any fancy tricks. With the jousting party already outvoting any would-be 'hightail it out of here' proponents, Rock and Meddy both shut up and gave Roll a nod - the cue to press onward and track down their theoretical enemies.

“Please don’t get squashed…” sighed Meiru as girl-Lan and Jasmine went ahead and crawled inside with the very solid MagnoMetal. Pen was going to be so disappointed in her if she came back with one Lan and two pancakes… To the Navis, Meiru explained, “We don’t need the drill spinning right now, in case these guys are friendly after all. We just want it at the ready.” Very gingerly, aware of the precarious position of her cargo, she began to inch the drill machine forward. Even though Meiru was being so cautious, as they got closer to the exit, the drilling got louder and louder. Out of an abundance of caution, Roll started broadcasting the anti-MagnoMetal vibration to protect Rock and Meddy. “It’s getting way too loud, isn’t it…?” “You should dig out the earmuffs for Netto-ko,” Roll called up to Meiru. “His hearing’s going to be the most sensitive, after all.” “Okay.” Meiru found them in her bag, a sturdy pair of ear protectors meant for construction, then explained, “They’ll adjust to your head size, here and here,” pointing out the two tracks each muff could slide up and down. More carefully but no less quickly, she put in a pair of reusable earplugs. “There! Now we won’t go deaf.” …There was really nothing she could do for the two in the ‘trunk’ besides hope the drilling machine was thick enough to absorb some of this sound. Still quite cautiously, as if transporting a three-tiered wedding cake in the back seat of her car, she navigated them forward.

As much as Lan wanted to object to his hearing being the most sensitive, he couldn't afford to lose it. Being down an eye was bad enough. So, he accepted the earmuffs and slipped them over his hard hat, adjusting them to his head size. Were the other two okay? Riding in that compartment couldn't be comfortable. At least they could be an element of surprise if this encounter was dangerous. He watched intently outside the drill, the anticipation almost too much to bear. They still had no clue who these other people were, or more importantly, if they came in peace. All questions would be answered soon enough, but he wasn't sure if he would like the answer. Even with the earmuffs, the drilling was ungodly loud. Louder than their own drill, somehow. This felt more like a bad omen than anything. "Brace yourselves," HeatMan warned as they approached. He stood primed in front of the console, ready to start drilling at a moment's notice. Lan was as ready as he could be.

The noise was pretty obnoxious to both Lan and Jasmine, but the cramped compartment shielded them from enough of it that it was tolerable. It was more concerning to the Navis; Meddy was beginning to think that they might be in over their heads, but they had given up their position in multiple ways already. "It's damn loud," Rock gruffly agreed, giving Roll a determined glance. Even though the threat was in the real world, she couldn't help but stay in a combat stance - she supposed it was instinct, more than anything. "What kind of operation are they runnin' here...?" But then... the drilling sounds stopped, and it stayed that way for a good bit; the only noise in its place being the (thankfully quiet) rolling of the treads on the cavern grounds. Lan and Jasmine remained dead silent in the back, said silence only bringing to attention how wildly unsafe this compartment felt to be chilling in. Hopefully the metal wouldn't squash them if the machine jostled around... The machine rounded a corner, the anticipation building - and then, finally, a dim light flickered into view of the machine, putting everyone on high alert. Unexpectedly, though, what followed the oncoming light was... the piercingly loud, cartoonish screech... of a small child??? It obviously wasn't any of the drill machine's occupants, so Meddy lurched over to one side of the console, turning up the machine's hi-beams - and sure enough, standing a few feet away from the drill machine, clutching a shovel like it was a sword that would cut through metal, was a little girl. "I-it's a monster!!" the girl screeched, swinging her shovel forward with abject fear in her eyes. "I-it's a rock-eating demon!! Y-you'll never munch on the metal when I'm on watch, you... umm..." The girl's voice trailed off as she realized that the so-called monster was obviously an occupied machine. "Oh... wait," she mumbled, dropping the shovel to her side. "Hey, that's a weird machine! I'd know if that was ours... um, wait, this makes no sense! There's other people here?! Who are you...???" The girl was speaking way too fast and way too loud for where she was. She took another step forward, letting the hi-beams shine a little more light on her frankly unusual appearance. The girl was about the height of the other Lan, with messy brown hair with orange highlights fanning down her neck; strangely, there were two hair tufts, one near each of her ears, that were stuck and curled out into a vaguely horn-like shape. Her clothes were entirely inappropriate for mining - a brown dress with gold-colored highlights, red shoes, and white socks that were way too big on her. At least she had a helmet. Most bizarrely, there were some strangely heavy-looking chains wrapped around and dangling off of her wrists. There were grey gloves to accompany them, too, patterened with the same yellow lines that ran across her dress. To complete the bizarre picture, she was wearing a necklace with what appeared to be a Navi emblem attached - a black emblem with a red outline that depicted a grey, dotted, upside-down U. Rock was way too stunned to say anything. "Wh... why is there a little girl here??" she whispered, leaning over to Meddy and Roll with a befuddled look on her face. "Y-you know, uh, besides the kid..." (edited)

Meiru was equally surprised by the way she and the rest of the drill machine’s occupants were greeted, but she pulled herself together quickly. The girl had said ours, after all; it would be better to clear this up one-on-one instead of waiting for the rest of the people involved in 'ours' to show up and the confusion to multiply in turn. “We’re, um—“ She realized before she even said it that introducing herself as a Net Savior probably meant nothing in this world. “I’m Sakurai Meiru, and this is Hikari Netto,” she introduced herself and boy-Lan. She didn’t feel the need to remove the earplugs just yet, since the girl had been pretty loud herself; Meiru had to assume her hearing was probably shot from being so close to the much louder drilling machine they’d heard while approaching. “Let’s put away the drills and stuff for now,” Roll told her fellow Navis, looking out at the lone girl in front of them. “We don’t wanna scare her any further.” “I’m sorry we startled you,” Meiru called, careful to keep her voice calm even if it was loud. There was no sign of that drilling machine, and the girl would probably respond better if Meiru was closer to her level, so Meiru hopped down from the cockpit to talk to her. “We were here to explore the cave, too, but we’re finished now. What’s your name?”

Rock and Meddy begrudgingly obliged, recalling the various doohickeys that their machine wielded. The girl posed no obvious threat, anyways; all she had was a shovel, and there was no PET on her person at a glance. The names didn't mean anything to the girl, so she just tilted her head and nodded along. Now that the drills were gone, she felt a little more emboldened to approach the machine, putting a goofy-looking smile on her face as she did so. "OH! That's cool! I thought this island was abandoned, but I guess it's more of a tourist destination than expected!" she said, still keeping her voice raised for no apparent reason. "Well! Um! Hi! My name's Reverse!! Nice to meetcha!!" If Lan was anywhere other than the cockpit, she probably would have questioned what kind of a name Reverse was. (Maybe that was a hypocritical thought, given her name was Lan...) Reverse absentmindedly gazed at the ceiling of the cave for a moment, apparently not having expected to explain anything to a bunch of strangers. "I'm here with Ms. Nereid to look for this thingie called... ummm," she began, hesitating as she wracked her brain. "Maga.... Magoh... Magnet... Metal, or something! I forgot the name..."

HeatMan stopped drilling, and lifted his hands from the controls. He stayed close by, in case this was a front for something more dangerous, but merely kept watch for now. All fear left Lan as he saw the girl, and he breathed a sigh of relief. Just as he had hoped, they were getting worked up over nothing. The stranger in question was both harmless and friendly -- a win in his book. Maybe their mining adventure could result in a new friend. He glanced at his PET, and saw the distrust in HeatMan's expression. It was obvious where it came from -- they had met too many people like this before, who acted friendly as ruse for something more sinister. However, this wasn't there world; few people were actually evil here, especially not someone this young. Lan saw no reason not to trust her. He jumped out of the cockpit and approached Meiru's side. "Hello! I'm Lan! Nice to meet you, Reverse!" It was then that he noticed her emblem. He could have sworn it was an upside-down version of his friend RideMan's. That was ridiculous, right? Why would they be the same? He shook his head and set the thought aside for now. Sure enough, she seemed to be after the same thing they were after. "Oh, you mean MagnoMetal?" Lan smiled, unable to hide his excitement at meeting someone friendly. "We might be able to help! What're you using it for?" HeatMan sighed, hoping that this wasn't a trap. They wouldn't know for sure until they met this Nereid person.

Lan and Jasmine clearly heard both Mayl and the other Lan exit the vehicle, but Rock was skeptical, as nonthreatening as this little girl both sounded and looked. She elected to hold off popping open the back for now, especially with Heatman as on edge as he was. For all they knew, this Reverse person could just be putting on an act, and any second now she'd be slamming that shovel into the kid's forehead...! Though, an assumption like that was a little hard to believe, with how precocious she looked. Now that both cockpit occupants had left the vehicle to greet her, Reverse was brave enough to shoot her arm out and give the other Lan a fervent handshake. "Hi, Lan!! And Mayl!!" she greeted enthusiastically, pivoting to give Mayl a handshake of a similar caliber. "Yeah, MagnoMetal, that's it! Ummm, it's for these robo..." Her voice trailed off as she obviously remembered something. "W-well... it's a secret project! It hasn't been announced yet," she replied tentatively. "I don't know if I should tell you without asking Ms. Nereid first..." Reverse's eyes suddenly twinkled about as brightly as the jewels in the cave. "H-hey, if you say you can help, then maybe we should stick together!" she offered enthusiastically, reaching toward the other Lan. "To tell you the truth, I'm kind of just tagging along... so maybe it'd be better to ask Ms. Nereid yourselves..."

“Nice to meet you!” Meiru said as she shook Reverse’s hand. …Though for as friendly and mostly harmless as Reverse seemed, Ms. Nereid sounded like an adult. Perhaps even the sort of adult who would’ve left a lock on the gate so that nobody else could get at the MagnoMetal. “Ah, we’re working on a secret party ourselves, and that’s why we needed MagnoMetal!” Meiru told Reverse, genuinely mirthful—not only was it true, but it also sounded very silly out loud. “So if you’re after it for a secret reason, and we’re after it for a secret reason, maybe we oughta just point you in the right direction, and then let Ms. Nereid keep her secret. Don't you think, Netto-ko?”

"Uh, right." Lan nodded. "We've already mined a decent amount, but we'd be happy to help out with your secret project." So many secrets! Honestly, Lan was really curious about what these strangers had planned. He knew better than to press, or to share too much about their own plans. Reverse was friendly enough, but they didn't know anything about this other person. "Where is your friend, anyway?" Lan looked around, but caught no glimpse of this mysterious Nereid. She was probably somewhere nearby, just out of sight. It occurred to him that this could be a trap, and Reverse's friend might have sinister intentions. However, he wasn't sure if that was a valid suspicion or the result of living in a world of nothing but sinister intentions. For once, he wanted to trust someone without it blowing up in his face.

Reverse's eyes lit up once more. "A secret party?? That's awesome!!" she beamed, before thinking about the statement for longer than three seconds. "Why would you need metal for a party...? Just for fun...?" Fortunately for their group, Reverse seemed to be satisfied with her own explanation. After all, Mayl was right - they had to keep their secret equilibrium! (Maybe she could ask about it later if it was okay to share their so-called secret...) "Well! Um, anyways," she said, spinning around on her heel to point wildly at the corridor ahead of them. "We have, um, a whole... automatic... drilling thingy, just up ahead!" She took a few steps down the corridor, before she realized that she should probably explain a little more. "Ms. Nereid's still over there, 'cuz we were going back to stock up for a second time, or something like that. But I was wondering where that other drilling sound was coming from, so..." She curled her lip. "Now we're here!" Reverse clasped both arms behind her back, childishly swinging from side to side as her head tilted in the direction of where this supposed automatic driller thingy was. "I dunno what you can really help with, but we could try and find out, I guess," she said. "I mean, you guys were drilling in a totally different way, I guess, 'cuz we don't have a scary machine like that... so maybe you, uh... know... other stuff? No, that doesn't make sense..."

“It’s because it’s in another dimension!” Meiru explained, then winked and added, “That’s why it’s so secret, too.” “We need the MagnoMetal to keep us safe. Like a spacesuit for visiting another planet, sort of!” Roll added. “Oh, did you find a deposit of your own to mine already?” Meiru wondered, peering up ahead in the direction Reverse was pointing. “We left a whole lot behind that you guys can take in a different part of the cave, too. So that’s what I was thinking I’d point out to you.” “But we really don’t want to get in the way of anything Ms. Nereid has going,” Roll explained. “Or look like we are, either.” “Right,” Meiru agreed. “We’re already finished up here, so we don’t want to give her the wrong impression.”

The image of a secret party delighted Lan. In a way, it wasn't wrong -- secret not only to Reverse and Nereid, but also to Nebula and any other evildoers who might try to invade. That's right, they were on a secret mission, with the goal of having fun. He also looked down the corridor, trying to catch a glimpse of this automatic driller. "So you guys have a whole setup, huh? You must need a lot of metal for all that." Roll and Meiru were right to be cautious, but Lan's curiosity was eating away at him. They still hadn't figured out why these people wanted MagnoMetal rather than any other material. Were they even from here? And what was up with that ancient door? There were still so many questions they hadn't answered, were they really backing away now? "So, this Ms. Nereid..." He averted his eyes briefly, wondering how to word this. "...is she nice?"

Reverse nodded along with Mayl's explanation, taking it at dangerously face value for such an outlandish explanation. Yeah, it being in another dimension totally made sense and was consistent with the rules of reality. "R-really?! That sounds so cool!!" she answered enthusiastically, beginning to wonder to herself. "A magnet metal spacesuit... That sounds really heavy." She blinked. "I guess that isn't your secret, though, or else you wouldn't have said it..." The auto-driller was too far off to see from where they were standing, and it had completely stopped in lieu of Reverse wandering off, so the other Lan's gesture hardly revealed anything. She did take note of his expression subtly changing, though, and she couldn't help but frown a little at how tentatively he questioned her. "H-huh? Well, I'd hope!!" Reverse answered, slightly confused. "Of course she's nice! I mean, she let me come along, and she didn't have to do that..." Reverse swung her hands forward, clutching them in front of her stomach. "She's kinda been looking after me, is why," she continued. "Well, her and some of the other people at Dead Hand." She paused, realizing that dropping that name was probably going to freak the others out. "Oh, that's a company, by the way!" Rock's eyes widened - she quickly realized why that name sounded familiar. They'd heard about a leak from that company on the Under BBS a while ago; though she kept her mouth shut, reserving the thought for when this little kid couldn't overhear her. Lan, too, was getting a little restless, given that she was unable to tell whether or not they were going to book it or follow this girl.

“Yeah, you’re right. We’re not going to make it into a whole spacesuit or anything,” agreed Roll. “We’re just going to leave it in the center of the place we’re gonna use, and that’ll take care of everything!” Meiru smiled and nodded along, listening to Reverse’s explanation with interest but no alarm, as though Dead Hand wasn’t obviously the kind of name one gave to an Evil Organization. Considering the world they were presently in, this was undoubtedly going to be girl-Lan and Jasmine’s problem eventually. …But the MagnoMetal they had in hand was way, way more important than making an impulse attempt to nip Dead Hand in the bud, or worse yet, walking into a trap. Plus, Lan and Jasmine had their names to go off of now; they would be able to do a whole lot more with a little more lead time. “It’s okay,” Meiru reassured Reverse, quickly regaining that mischievous kid-friendly grin. “I won’t tell anybody about your friends being here, promise.” (She didn’t need to—anyone who needed to know was in earshot.) "Wanna see where we found all those MagnoMetal deposits?" Meiru asked.

Lan gave Reverse a look of sympathy. So she didn't have a family to return to, only a group of friends (or maybe they were only associates?) to look after her. He knew how that felt. While he doubted a company was anything like his ragtag group of heroes, he couldn't help but relate. "Right. Of course she's nice." Lan gave her the friendliest smile he could manage, as apology for his doubt. Now he wasn't sure what to think. The name "Dead Hand" was downright creepy, bringing to mind the villainous organizations he was well-acquainted with. He couldn't imagine any of those hiring a nice girl like this, though. For now, he figured it would be best to stay cautious, just as he had been. He still wanted to see their mining setup and meet this Ms. Nereid, but it seemed Meiru had other plans. Her plan was probably safest to follow; they had no idea what they were walking into, and they shouldn't try anything until they had more information. That was how his missions back home typically operated, anyhow. "Yeah, we can help you gather more MagnoMetal if you need it! I'm not sure how much you need, but there's still plenty around."

Reverse found the other Lan's reaction a little strange; she wasn't sure why he needed that level of reassurance, or why he was looking at her like that to begin with. The offer to see where they'd been mining excited her, though - she shouldn't be going too far from the rigging setup, or else Nereid would get worried, but surely a quick ride would be okay...!! "Oh!! Sure!! Thank you, thank you!" she exclaimed, trying to respond to several things at once. It wasn't necessarily a secret that they were here to begin with, but she appreciated Mayl's gesture anyways. "I think we have a bunch already, but we never even went to this side of the cave... so it'd be cool to see your deposits!!" Reverse was a pretty small kid, so it wasn't out of the question for her to squeeze in between the seats in the cockpit; she'd certainly be more of a snug fit than Lan or Jasmine. She was a little hesitant to board the Scary Skull Machine, but she'd tolerate it if it meant a chance for adventure...!! Rock, meanwhile, was getting more skeptical the longer they interacted with this kid. "We're just takin' her with us...?" she mumbled to herself. "Whoever she's with is gonna come lookin' for her, y'know." As cramped as it was in the back of the vehicle, Lan was still able to pull out her PET and covertly provide her response. "Maybe that's a good thing," she observed. "It'll be on our terms, not theirs..."

“Oh, you’re right,” sighed Roll, overhearing Rock’s point. “Meiru-chan, maybe we’d better just give Reverse-chan spoken directions, and then we can let her go back to Ms. Nereid.” “Ah, yeah…” Pointing out the direction from whence they’d come, Meiru explained, “So, a few minutes out in this direction, you’ll run into a cavern entrance. And straight back from that entrance is loads and loads of MagnoMetal.” “It seems to emit interference at a certain frequency, so if someone on your team has a Navi that can pick up a wide range of audio signals, she’ll be able to pinpoint it for you,” Roll added. “But once you’re to the back wall of that cavern, it’s easy to see no matter what,” Meiru reassured Reverse. “So you should be good either way.” She thought about just springing out of her seat to give Reverse a lift down, but remembered to ask first. “Sorry we can’t give you a ride in our cool skull machine. Need a hand to hop down, or have you got it covered?” Some kids were quite independent, after all, and some were not.

Lan looked from the machine to Meiru and back, bafflement clear on his face. They were changing their minds after all? Wouldn't that seem suspicious? He held his breath, and chose to go along with it. The others seemed just as suspicious of the situation as he was, probably more so. This seemed like the safest way forward; the two groups would part ways, MagnoMetal in hand, and everyone would be happy. He wouldn't get his questions answered, but he could live with that. Too much curiosity could be a bad thing, after all. But before they parted, he wanted to make sure Reverse could make it there safely. She was a small child, after all. "Hey, uh, do you have a navi?" That emblem of hers still bothered him. Maybe she operated Upside-Down RideMan or something. Though he couldn't say that without sounding weird, so he left it out. "You probably know this already, but keep an eye on your navi when you're mining for MagnoMetal. It might make them act weird. If they're fine, then they can help you navigate the cave. It's real easy to get lost around here." The advice was small, but it was all he could do to help short of taking her with them. They hadn't even become friends yet! How tragic!

Reverse was a little disappointed that Mayl changed her mind, but she wasn't as suspicious as the other Lan had feared; perhaps she had an inner sense of stranger danger that she had been fighting against the whole time. She nodded along with Mayl's directions, excited to see another shiny wall for herself, and took her offer up to hop down from the machine, keeping her balance as she touched by using her shovel as an impromptu walking stick. The assumptions that the two had made confused her, though. "A Navi...?" she questioned, tilting her head. "No...? Why would I...?" She stuck her tongue out as she gazed at the ceiling for a moment, thinking the question over. "I mean, Ms. Nereid brought along one of the... um... the secret thingies, but that's not a Navi..." Reverse clasped her hands behind her back. "Um! Nevermind. I'll keep that in mind, but I don't have a Navi, so it shouldn't matter!" she answered, grinning toothily. "Thank youuuu!! See you later!!" With that, she wandered off in the direction that Mayl had pointed, breaking into a sprint when the promise of shiny metal overcame her. As soon as they were sure Reverse was gone, Lan immediately groaned. "C-can you please open the hatch up? It's cramped," she begged, to which Rock obliged. Finally, Lan and Jasmine could climb out and stretch their legs; they'd been stuck in an uncomfortable position for that entire conversation. "Wow. Ow. Okay, that wasn't a great idea," Jasmine observed, popping her umbrella open. "Can we just walk on the way back instead...?" "It's probably fine, now that we know that the driller is... just a kid," Meddy said, sounding slightly baffled. "And whoever the Nereid person is. But it's not an army or anything." She put one hand on her hip as she glanced at the other Navis. "Well, I guess we should get going..." (edited)

Meiru waved to Reverse as she departed, smile never faltering until the little girl was well and gone. “What?” asked Roll, catching the look on boy-Lan’s face. “Rock had a point.” “I think it’d be just fine to walk, so long as we keep moving,” Meiru said. “I know it’s all mysterious, but I really didn’t want to risk meeting someone who’d get mad about us taking the MagnoMetal. The party’s way more important to me.” And with that, once Jasmine and girl-Lan were out of the back hatch, Meiru got the drill machine moving in the direction of out of here once again before any vengeful sea nymphs could appear before them. “It’s been a really long time since you could do something like this in your world, hasn’t it?” she mused to boy-Lan, thinking back to the awkwardness and trauma at the sleepover. “Do you have any special plans, or are we gonna bring all the fun?” It didn’t sound like ‘bringing all the fun’ would be much of a challenge to her, though she would definitely enjoy it.

Reverse didn't have a navi? Lan found that strange. Then again, he didn't know much about this world; maybe he was the weird one here. Even then, he couldn't imagine what this secret thingy could be, if not a navi. Did he even want to know? He waved goodbye to Reverse, only to jump at the sound of the hatch opening. Yikes, he could only imagine how cramped it was in there. Walking didn't sound like a bad idea after that. "Yeah, I get it," Lan said, trying and failing to hide his disappointment at a lost friendship. "We need to protect ourselves. Trusting other people will only get us in trouble." It was rhetoric he was far, far too used to living by. He had been quick to trust others in a world free of that inherent danger, but no society was safe from threats entirely. These people were from some dubious organization, and he'd fought far too many of those to let his guard down. Good thing Meiru knew how to focus on the positives, or else he could have sent himself on a depressive spiral. His excitement for the party outshone any amount of moping, showing in his suddenly bright demeanor. "We've been planning all sorts of stuff! All of my friends are going to help out, since we never get to do fun things like this. It's going to be great!"

Lan couldn't help but reflexively agree with the declaration about trust, though Rock snapped her out of it pretty immediately. "Well, I wouldn't go that far," Rock said, her tone a mixture of firmness and mild bemusement that the other Lan was willing to say that so straightforwardly. "You can keep yourself safe without actin' like the whole world... well, all the whole worlds... are out to get you. Somethin' like that." Sometimes it is, Lan couldn't help but think to herself. She knew that Rock would rebuke that thought twice as hard, though; and she knew it wasn't really true. It was just hard not to be a pessimist sometimes. "Heh. Lucky you, getting to bring all your friends over to a party like that," Jasmine chuckled, distracting Lan from her own thoughts. "I don't remember the last time I went to a party." She twirled her umbrella, jabbing her thumb towards Lan. "Bet this kid doesn't, either." Lan blushed, lowering her head and diverting her gaze toward the machine. "H-hey. They're, um, just not... my thing," she said. "More of Triese's, I guess..." "She's right," Rock chuckled. "That's why Triese voluntold you to do this whole trip to begin with, yeah?" (It was a good thing she didn't come, since she probably would've been even more loudly excited about everything going on than her operator's counterpart.)

Meiru tilted her head, not sure if she would say something to that extreme outside of obvious places like mysterious caves. (Or obvious situations, like being in a mysterious cave that they were not supposed to be in if that lock on the gate was any indication.) It was similar to her own Netto’s tendency to err on the side of caution, and girl-Lan’s assertion that parties were not her thing sounded even more familiar. “Netto hates parties, too,” Meiru pointed out, “but I’m dragging him to this one anyway. Some parties really are just for trying to impress everyone else, but not ones like this.” She thought aloud, “Maybe it’s lousy to go to a party where you can’t trust everyone. But the people you can trust, you should spend as much time as you can with! And go to their parties.” She turned back to boy-Lan. “I’m really excited to see what you and your friends come up with!”

Lan gave the others a befuddled expression, shocked that his statement on trust was so controversial. It had become a fact of life for him, a goal that he strived to follow rather than one that came naturally. In a situation like this, with so many uncertainties, it seemed like the obvious thing to fall back on. Then again, it was choosing to trust others that let him become friends with all these people in the first place. Like many things, the answer lied in balance. "It's okay if you don't want to come," Lan said to his counterpart. "There's probably going to be a lot of people, I don't want you to get overwhelmed." As much as he wanted all of his friends to be there, the other Lan included, he didn't want to push anyone past their limits. They would have other chances to hang out, surely. "Don't worry, I'll make sure that only people we trust can get in. With so many of us there, evil won't stand a chance!" He pumped his fist, emphasizing his point. "And there'll be a lot to do! Like grilling, and swimming, and maybe even some games. But, uh... you guys might want to bring some food, if you can. We don't have much to share."

"Uh. Thanks," Lan responded curtly. She was getting some mixed messages on the party in general; it seemed a little weird to be dragging hoodie-Lan along if he didn't want to go, but being around Triese all the time was slowly giving her the impression that dragging along was just what friends tended to do. She just... really wasn't used to it yet - so the patience from her counterpart was appreciated. "Y-you're right about, uh, spending time with people. So I'll... think about it," she said as consolation. "But I don't even think I have swimwear in my size anymore, anyways." She could barely remember the last time she went swimming; probably when she was 9 or 10 or something like that. Rock smirked at the other Lan's assertion. "Well, I'd hope evil wouldn't be able to get in," she remarked in a joking manner. "Given we've gone through all this effort to get the Anti-Evil Metal." The trip to where they had met up with Reverse had taken a couple minutes under the cover of the machine, so Lan was surprised when she realized that they were already back at where they had dug up the MagnoMetal. She supposed the talking helped to pass the time; it was certainly better than tense, cramped silence. They'd probably be out of the cave in a few more minutes; Jasmine's growing exhaustion was a giveaway that the cave's novelty was beginning to wear off, though Lan didn't really understand why. Oddly, there was no sign of Reverse. Either she got lost (uh oh), or she'd already seen the display and ran off; given that she broke out into a sprint, and the cave was pretty linear, it was probably the former. (As the machine rolled by the MagnoMetal, heading back whence they came, a taller human peered around the corner, hidden by the jagged rock. She scrunched her eyebrows, before ducking behind the corner once more and walking off, perpendicular to where the machine was going.)

“Sure thing,” Meiru said. “It’ll be like a potluck!” What was a beach party without skewers of some kind, anyway…? Girl-Lan’s excuse to not go was both airtight and extremely familiar. “The Enzan defense!” gasped Meiru. “It took him… at least six years to actually get swimwear, didn’t he?” remarked Roll. “And he never actually bought it. We gifted it to him,” Meiru recalled. “It really is the best excuse to never go to the beach…” "I guess Netto-chan really isn't going," sighed Roll. The novelty of the cave was decidedly not wearing off for Meiru, now that they were back in the super-sparkly chamber again. If only there wasn’t a second party in the cavern; Meiru would’ve been happy to spend the whole rest of the day in here. She’d even brought snacks…! “…Hey, why isn’t Reverse in here?” wondered Meiru. “There goes the rest of the MagnoMetal…” “Maybe she went back to her camp first?” Roll suggested. “The path here’s pretty straightforward; there’s not a ton of ways to get lost…”

Lan considered mentioning that you don't need a swimsuit to go swimming, but it seemed counter-intuitive to the discussion at hand. It wasn't about the swimsuits, it was about getting out of unwanted parties. Now that they mentioned it, it was strange that Reverse wasn't around. Lan wandered off from the rest of the group -- not enough to cause concern, but just far enough to look around the corner. No luck. Maybe she had gone back after all. "You think we should try finding her?" he asked, crossing his arms. "Who knows where she went. I want to make sure she's okay." He returned to the group, awaiting their input. She was probably fine, but a girl that age probably shouldn't be left unsupervised for long. Children may yearn for the mines, but it was not a safe zone for them.

Lan was a little embarrassed that her defense was familiar to Mayl and Roll; she had just said what was true, and now it just sounded like she'd taken a page from the playbook of excuses. At least they were off her case, so it was firmly her choice to go at the end of the day; she was okay with getting dragged around every once in a while, but it did sound like there were a lot of people going to the beach. Neither she nor Jasmine were as immediately troubled by Reverse's absence as the other Lan or Mayl were, but it was easy for Lan to get swept up any sort of anxiety. "That... um, is kind of weird," she said. "But we saw her run ahead, didn't we?" "I mean, she probably has a way to find her way back, anyways," Jasmine added. "Otherwise, whoever was with her wouldn't have let her run off like that." Rock quietly thought to herself that they had someone run off on them, too, but in fairness, they were standing around talking to Reverse for long enough that their companion would have time to catch up. "Or they're irresponsible, but, hey," she joked. "Think we should get our giant skull machine out of the way in case we go searching?" "It'd probably make the trek a little less cumbersome," Meddy agreed.

Meiru frowned. When she’d given Reverse directions, she’d expected Reverse to report it to Ms. Nereid, not to immediately run off and get lost! It was kind of Meiru’s fault for not supervising properly, so she definitely preferred Lan’s idea of searching for Reverse. “I agree—we should get the giant skull machine on its way back to shore with our MagnoMetal,” Meiru said. “Then, we don’t have to worry about it while we search.” This mess was partially because they’d been trying to avoid a confrontation with the mysterious other group that had turned out to be Dead Hand, after all. Removing the mined MagnoMetal from the equation also removed that concern. Meiru jumped down from the cockpit, then asked, “Diveman, you got it here on your own, so can you manage retracing your steps? Or should we send another Navi with you to keep watch?” “It makes the most sense for me to stay wherever Rock and Meddy are, so I can keep them protected from the MagnoMetal if I’ve gotta,” Roll added.

"I brought the machine here, so I can bring it right back, de a~ru," Diveman said. "But if you are hoping to make a quick escape, then you may want to hitch a ride later, de a~ru." Meddy tilted her head. "You mean, we can just ride the machine back to the shore?" she said, to Diveman's agreement. "I guess that makes sense. So will you just wait at the entrance or something?" "That is what I meant, de a~ru," Diveman replied. It was pretty immediately apparent, though, that no one in the group would want to leave the MagnoMetal unattended except by a single Navi. After a brief silence, Jasmine decided to volunteer herself; the machine would be out of the cave, anyways, so there theoretically wouldn't be any risks of Meddy going out of control from the MagnoMetal. (And even if she did, Jasmine insisted that she'd deal with it.) That left Lan, her counterpart, and Mayl to retrace their steps and find wherever this small child had wandered off to.

Meiru and especially Roll were a bit worried to see Meddy separate from the wiggly noodles keeping her safe from the interference, but the easiest way to solve that problem was to find Reverse and get her pointed in the right direction again. So Meiru wasted no time beginning the search. “I do have our location tracking from when we were in the cave,” Roll pointed out, “so I can convert that data into a sort of map, if I need to. But the cave seemed so straightforward…” “I know,” Meiru sighed. “This is too weird.” She led the way as they wandered back in the direction of the spot where they’d last seen Reverse.

Lan waved goodbye to Jasmine and watched the machine off, breathing a sigh of relief. At least they wouldn't have to worry about their MagnoMetal getting stolen, or their party getting ruined. Now, they could focus on the mindbender that was Reverse's disappearance. "I wonder where she's hiding." Lan's brow furrowed as he followed Meiru, staring at the ground as if he were a detective following a trail of footprints. Alas, there were none in sight. He looked up, seeing that his investigation was taking him nowhere. "She has to be hiding, right? Where else would she be? Unless she's with Ms. Nereid..." The idea seemed sound, but they wouldn't know for sure unless they checked. Unfortunately, that involved meeting this Ms. Nereid, and having to deal with the potential dangers of that.

"Why would she be hiding? That makes it sound like she's doing it on purpose," Lan protested as they continued their trek back. Roll did raise a good point, though; the only way they could have missed her to begin with is if she had either disappeared or completely ran a lap around them. Odder still was the lack of the drilling sounds from earlier; they had completely stopped on their approach, and had yet to come back, even as they searched for Reverse. Rock appeared on Lan's shoulder, squinting down the cave as if her vision was going to be substantially better than her operator's (it wasn't). In spite of her efforts, Lan ended up being the one instead of her to spot a crucial detail; as they approached the tunnel that took them to where they met Reverse, footprints actually did start to appear, later than her counterpart had expected. Tiny pebbles were scattered around a cluster of just-as-tiny prints in this particularly dusty corridor; the trail was scattered and looped in on itself, like Reverse had gotten excited and decided to run around in circles to burn off steam. Rock glanced upward, and found her guess why - there was a crescent of pointed white jewels embedded in the ceiling, slightly bigger than the ones that lined the entrance. Before either Lan or Rock could question what had happened here, a voice called out from behind them. "Oh!! Hi, again!!" Reverse shouted from halfway down the cave; their search had been completed for them, Rock supposed. She ran up to Mayl and the other Lan, the headlamp on her helmet beaming. "Sorry!! I didn't find the MagnoMetal yet, 'cuz I got totally distracted, and- oh, and Ms. Nereid caught up to me, so...!" Indeed, another person was with Reverse this time, catching up to her with a speed-walk. Searching for Reverse had gotten them caught red-handed by 'Ms. Nereid', though fortunately for them, she didn't appear to be upset in any way. The woman, Nereid, was a young adult, as Reverse had implied via the title. She was slender and pale-looking, slightly taller than Mayl was, and had a bit more appropriate of a fashion sense for the mines than Reverse did - a red construction jacket with white highlights, and black pants with jagged red lines running down the sides. Her charcoal hair blended in pretty well with the cavern, and a pink water lily was clipped on the side of it, slightly smushed from having to wear the helmet that was currently in her hands. "Hello!" she greeted politely, waving as she approached the group; she thankfully didn't butt into their personal space like Reverse had. "I was wondering who else was on the island," she said, sounding more surprised than annoyed. "What an odd coincidence..." "It is kinda weird!" Reverse added cheerily, before her attention drifted toward the odd one out of their group. "Hey, where'd you pick up a third, anyways?" Lan stuttered, but before anything coherent came out of her mouth, Reverse blurted her mile-a-minute thoughts out. "You look kinda like Lan- a-are you like, his sister or something?!" She wildly pointed between the two Lans to make herself clear. Rock had to hold in quite the guffaw as Lan balked. "W-what?! N-no?!" she stammered, her indignance overriding any sense of stranger danger that she had. Nereid chuckled, extending a hand out of politeness. "Nereid Kantu," she introduced. "Sorry if there was any trouble- Reverse is, uh, a bit of a handful, ha..."

Meiru was relieved to see Reverse again—but shocked to learn that Nereid had ‘caught up’. However, the girl who introduced herself was much calmer than Meiru had expected. There seemed to be no harm in going along with the flow here, at least for now. “Oh, no trouble at all!” Meiru reassured Nereid. “I’m just glad you were able to find her. I’m Sakurai Meiru, and this is Roll.” “Nice to meet you!” Roll added, with a polite bow. “We were wondering who was else was here, too. It really is funny that we got here on the same day!” To Reverse, Meiru added, “I’m not part of the family, so I don’t know for sure, but I think they’re distant cousins…?”

At last, the other mysterious stranger showed herself. Even better, she wasn't trying to kill them! Not immediately, at least. She seemed quite friendly, actually. Lan almost let his guard down -- almost. A glance at HeatMan in his PET reminded him to stay on his toes. "Nice to meet you!" Lan smiled and shook Nereid's hand. Maybe friendship was back on the table after all. His smile vanished at Reverse's insinuation, replaced with a wide eye and an open mouth. He looked at the other Lan, then back to Reverse. "Oh, uh..." He couldn't tell the truth. It would be too much to explain. Luckily, Meiru swooped in with a cover story. "...Cousins. Yeah." Ignore the fact that they had the same face. And the same name. "Anyway." Lan shook his head, trying to get himself back on track. They were finally meeting someone who knew what was going on; he had a lot of questions to ask. "What brings you guys to this mine?"

Lan was intensely embarrassed by the excuse that Mayl had cooked up, but she was a good liar, if anything - and with their guests (well, maybe they were the guests) having bought the story, she was able to tough it out. As long as they didn't ask what her name was, she'd be fine! Rock, meanwhile, was struggling a little more not to fly into a giggle fit, but she composed herself quickly enough. "Funny, yes," Nereid repeated, her tone slightly awkward. "As for what we're doing here - Reverse told me that she mentioned some things already...?" "Well! I didn't say that much, 'cuz you told me the project was supposed to be secret," Reverse protested. "But it's for the MagnoMetal! See, I remembered the name this time..." "Ah, yes," Nereid nodded along, reaching for her PET and showing the back of it to the group. Attached to it was a pin of a company logo - an octagon split apart vertically and horizontally, with two hands reaching for each other in the center. "We're with Dead Hand, if you've heard of them? We're primarily an engineering group." She smiled, clipping her PET back onto her jacket. "A project that we're working on unexpectedly required some signal shielding - and it just so happened that this 'MagnoMetal' worked for what we needed." "Which is weird, 'cuz it's not really used for anything else!" Reverse cheerfully added. "So it's especially weird that we've run into each other! I guess it's getting popular..." Nereid tilted her head. "I suppose I should be asking you the same question," she said. "Reverse said... something about a party...?" She chuckled. "Surely there's more to it than that. Do you have a permit...?"

Meiru and Roll watched in amazement as the mystery of Dead Hand was quite casually revealed. “Yup, Reverse-chan did a great job keeping your secret,” Meiru said cheerfully. “As for us… we needed shielding from a signal, to protect an area. So that’s what she was talking about!” …The mention of needing a permit was a little worrisome. “Yeah!” she lied. “We’re all clear.” Change the subject, change the subject… “I have to admit, I hadn’t heard of Dead Hand before,” Meiru said. “I’m looking forward to when you announce your project, though!”

The Dead Hand was an... engineering company. All this suspense for such a boring answer. Was that the full extent of it? Was this normal engineering, or evil engineering? It would be weird to ask, so Lan had to assume they were good. He frowned at how his party was dismissed as frivolous. This party was the only thing keeping his spirits up, and Nereid had the gall to laugh at it. She didn't understand. "We're also shielding a signal. A big one." He kept his answers vague, not wanting to explain his story to someone who clearly wouldn't get it. "It's very important business." Meiru's blatant lie shocked him slightly, to be honest. Not that she had a choice, or else they would be in big trouble. "I also haven't heard of Dead Hand. Though I don't pay attention to big companies like that." Unless they're causing trouble, that is.

"Ah, we're not particularly famous or anything. We're based in Netopia- where are you from? We don't do much internationally," Nereid explained, thankfully not pressing for the permit. "But I appreciate your interest! The formal announcement and demonstration is... maybe a little sooner than I'd like, heh." The formal announcement. If the Undernet BBS was anything to go by, then it was... some project about robots, Rock recalled. She supposed that needing signal shielding made sense - they probably didn't want... their robots to go out of control, or something like that. Lan and Rock exchanged glances, silently letting each other know that they should probably keep their mouths shut about the so-called 'leak' they'd seen. Nereid found the other Lan's seriousness a little funny, not understanding that it really was that serious; alas, she simply assumed that the only other adult here was playing along and giving children childish explanations for grown-up matters. Mayl's explanation lined up with what they knew about MagnoMetal, too, so there was no need for suspicion. Probably. "I suppose it's a good thing that this metal isn't in high demand," Nereid wondered out loud. "We have a large automatic driller - we'll have more than we'll ever need, and the island is still full of it." She hesitated for a moment. "It's surprising - I had heard that this island was scoped out for certain metals a few decades ago, yet there's hardly a trace of them. Less trouble for all of us, I suppose." Reverse curled her lip. "There was, like, a rusty fence... and, like, part of a dozer. And that was it, right?" she recalled. "I guess everything else just melted..."

“We’re from here in Japan,” Meiru answered. This explained so much—an Ameroupian startup! Probably based in Brand City, like most of these things were. “I’m sure you’ll have it presentation-ready in time. You seem really dependable!” She and Roll exchanged glances at the explanation of where those obstacles—and the lack of animals—had come from. That left the lock on the door to be obviously either Dead Hand or… someone else who was there way more recently than a few decades ago…? Either way, probably better not to mention that they’d overwhelmed the security on the lock to get here. If it was theirs and not a third party's, they could safely wonder if it was a third party who'd broken the lock, too. “Yeah, and the island’s all still!” she added onto Reverse’s recollection. “No animals, no bugs… You could tell someone’d been here before. It was kinda spooky.”

So the Dead Hand was Netopian. Great, that meant they had a valid reason for not knowing them. Lan wasn't a great liar, so the less he had to make up on the spot, the better. "It's sad," Lan said, adding onto Meiru's point. "There's no life here at all... besides us. Just a whole bunch of metal." He wondered if his own world would look the same way if he failed his mission. "It's a good thing they didn't take much back then. Now all of us can leave with plenty of metal. It all works out!" Lan was glad that this encounter didn't end in conflict. It was nice to see a situation work out better than expected, rather than worse. The wonders of being in a world that wasn't out to get him.

"It's a fairly remote island. I'm not sure how much life could be sustained here, if any," Nereid speculated, in response to the group's reports. "I'm not privy to very many details about any previous visits to this island. My thought is that either they chased off what little life was here, or that there was hardly any animal life here to begin with." Reverse curled her lip, reminiscing about the island. "Sad... they're missing out on the mangos," she murmured to herself. "I still wanna eat one of those before we leave," she suggested, earning her a firm no from Nereid. "Wow! Why is everyone against the mangos?!" Rock commented, indignant at this fruity injustice. Lan flicked at Rock's hologram to get her to shut up; and it was only now that it occurred to her that both of the Dead Hand members hadn't commented on the obvious Navi holograms they had. Well- she figured she should count her blessings and not call attention to it. Nereid checked the time on her PET, then smiled at the group. "Well, I suppose that we're done here, then. It's as you said- everything seems to have worked out," she said. "We should probably get back to drilling, ourselves..." Reverse nodded fervently, before suddenly pivoting on her heel to glance at Nereid with sparkles in her eyes. "Yeah! Drilling! You should've seen their setup!" she enthusiastically recounted. "They've got a big monster machine! Like, a literal skull monster! It's super weird!" Nereid chuckled, apparently assuming that Reverse was overexaggerating. "I'm sure it's cool, yes," she nodded along. "Have a good rest of your trip, all of you...!"

Meiru wasn’t quite sure she bought that, with the aforementioned mangos in abundance. (Roll, with her array of preloaded biology facts, definitely didn’t, since something had to pollinate all this fruit and they hadn’t run into ridiculously high piles of rotting mangos.) But their run-in with Nereid was ending peacefully, which was way more than Meiru had expected. Score one for diplomacy! “Thanks!” Meiru replied. “Good luck with the rest of your expedition!” She waited for the Lans to say their farewells before even attempting to herd them back to the entrance. She didn’t want to make it seem like she was in too much a hurry to get out of here with their spoils in hand, after all.

Lan didn't know enough about biology to argue with that point. He always associated remote islands with an abundance of weird wildlife, but maybe this one was different. Maybe it was inhospitable to wildlife. "You see? Now we gotta eat the mangoes. With no animals around, they'll just go bad otherwise!" With how conscientious he had to be about food, the idea of these poor mangoes going to waste infuriated him. As Nereid and Reverse bid farewell, Lan waved them goodbye. "Good luck on your drilling! And whatever your secret project is!" Silently, he hoped that it wasn't an evil project. He still hadn't figured that out. He smiled, relishing the joy of a rare friendly encounter. Even if Nereid was dismissive of his beach party. His mood boosted by the encounter and the wealth of metal they had waiting outside, he turned to the others. "So, does that mean we're leaving now?"

"Guess so," Rock nodded along, crossing her arms. "Doesn't seem like we have any more business here, so we can just book it." Lan was hesitant to give her own goodbyes, given that she hardly did any of the talking, but she figured that she might as well be polite anyways. "Uh. Yeah, good luck with the project, Miss. And, uh..." She paused for a moment. "...Is Reverse really your name...?" Reverse blinked, apparently not having expected the question; Nereid raised an eyebrow as well. "Huh? Well, kinda!" she answered, maybe a little too cheerily for the implied lack of confidence. "It is now, 'cuz I forgot if I had one before. It's kinda weird!" Lan was stunned for a moment at the revelation - but she quickly realized that if she pried more, she'd probably be on the receiving end of a question about her name, and she was not in the mood to make up some bullshit, on top of it being a touchy subject to begin with. "Uh... okay," she mustered in response, flashing a mildly forced smile. "See you, then..." With no reason for the group to stick around, they turned around and set out on their final trek back through the cave - to hitch a ride on the skull machine, as planned. There had been no correspondence from Jasmine or Diveman, which was probably a good sign; so the group vanished into the darkness of the cave, the mood chipper from a mission accomplished.

Nereid and Reverse waved as the group disappeared, standing around in silence for quite some time. Once Nereid was certain that the group was out of earshot, her expression became more dire; she briefly glanced at Reverse before she pulled out her PET once more. "Hm." "Ms. Nereid...? What's wrong?" Reverse asked, entirely clueless. "It's quite the coincidence that others showed up today," Nereid repeated, sounding substantially less enthused than she did the first time. "Reverse, we installed locks on those gates." Reverse was confused at first, before her expression became dejectedly confused. "Wait... what do you mean?" she said. "Well... there could have been a hole in the fence, or..." "They came from the south. Either they took an extremely convoluted path... or they broke the lock," Nereid concluded. "I don't know what they would have been after... but I doubt this meeting was a coincidence." Her expression grew more serious. "We need to check the rig..." "W-well, Magazine would've... uh, nevermind," Reverse muttered to herself. "Is this about that leak thingy you mentioned...?" "Maybe. We can't be sure," Nereid replied. "All that we can do now is... to make sure that those people know not to come back." She curled her lip. "They must have had considerable skill and knowledge, to come all the way out here..." Reverse grew substantially more worried. "What?! But they were nice..." "They were placating us, presumably," Nereid said. She began to type and swipe between different programs on her PET screen. "Reverse, could you give me your hand?" Reverse pouted at the implication. "W-we're... really? But..." she vaguely protested, thinking on the encounter more. Maybe Nereid was right; it was stupid to trust people unconditionally. "Um... okay..." The girl pressed her hand on Nereid's PET screen, the open program scanning and validating some sort of print on her palm. The screen froze for a few seconds, curiously stuck in the middle of a loading animation, before a buzz emitted from the speakers... and a strange, rectangular hologram rose from the PET. Nereid swiped her finger across the screen, commanding the hologram - some sort of card - to hover forward. The card stirred for a moment, before it burst into a web of light that zipped down to the ground, slithering away like a bizarre, holographic snake. "They'll get the hint, I'm sure," Nereid muttered, before gently grabbing Reverse's hand and walking off with her in the opposite direction.

"I'm surprised how well that worked out," Lan said as they approached the entrance of the cave. "Normally I meet other people like that and they're up to no good, especially if they're part of some organization." "We still don't know for sure," HeatMan said. "We don't know anything about them. It could just be that being friendly was the easy option." "That's better than the alternative. I'm really tired of people being mean for no reason." Lan sighed, and looked over his shoulder. If they really were up to no good, was he a bad person for not stopping them? It was too late to turn back now. This uncertainty tampering his mood, he tried to distract himself. "There's nothing stopping our party now. It's going to be so cool, I can't wait." All they had left was to locate the machine and get out of here.

“Well, I guess Netto-chan has lots of time to find out more,” Meiru said. “She has a name, and lots of details…” “It was definitely the easy option for both of us,” Roll agreed with HeatMan. “I don’t think either of us wanted our mining interfered with, especially if Nereid-san was on a deadline.” “She is part of a startup,” Meiru pointed out. “Usually, those types’re just overtly mean if someone’s messing with their business.” (As opposed to passively mean, via the goals of their projects.) “And we did our best not to do that,” Roll added. “So we should be all right now!” “I’m excited, too!” Meiru agreed. “I can actually drag Enzan out to the beach, now that he’s got swimwear. And we’ve got enough lead time to sort something out for Netto, too.”

The talk of Dead Hand reminded Lan and Rock that they finally had time to explain what they already knew. "...That's right," Lan mumbled. "Uh, more than you think..." "You'll never guess what we heard about not too long ago," Rock added. "On the Under BBS." "We were looking for some other information there not too long ago," Lan recalled; Rock was already pulling up the notes they'd taken - and the message they'd sent to Dr. Wily - to refresh their memory. "I think there was a rumor about a company leak... that they were making robots or something." "I guess it's something of an industry," Rock speculated. "And something that they'd need signal blocking for." She tapped her fingers on the rims of her blades. "Don't know much more, but you're right - it's a start, if it's somethin' we ever gotta look into." Lan was a little disheartened by her counterpart's comments; it struck her that he always seemed to be preparing for and expecting the worst. She had no idea what to say about that, but... it did make sense to her, as bad as it felt to admit that. At the very least, the beach topic was providing a sufficient distraction. (Rock idly wondered to herself that if the others talked about the beach enough, then Lan would start feeling bad about not going...)

“Robots…?” wondered Roll, a bit concerned. Meiru had to guess that she was thinking of Copyroids in particular, since she was, too. “It is Ameroupe,” Meiru pointed out; she had also met plenty of ‘people like that’ who hadn’t been entirely on the up-and-up, so she didn’t notice boy-Lan’s rhetoric as being too extreme. “They don’t have the same sorts of restrictions on substantiation as…” She paused. “That’s not a thing at all in this world, is it.” “Well, it would make sense that a startup involving robots would find a safe haven in Ameroupe,” Roll said. “If this world's Ameroupe has the same sort of, um, entrepreneurial spirit as ours.” “It’s definitely worth keeping an eye on them,” Meiru advised. “Who knows, maybe they’re harmless robots.” (Who needed MagnoMetal shielding?)

"Robots, huh..." Lan paused to think about this new info. Building robots wasn't necessarily an evil activity, as Meiru pointed out. They could be just as nice as they appeared. Rumors floating around on the UnderBBS weren't as harmless, and the fact that this leak was discussed there worried him a bit. Unfortunately, their beach talk would have to wait. This could be important. "Why would a robot need signal shielding?" HeatMan wondered aloud. "What kinda signals are they shielding from?" "It can't be SoulNet," Lan said. "That wasn't invented here. I don't know what it could be, though." Now he was getting concerned. Maybe they should have stopped them when they had the chance. With so little info, it was hard to say anything for sure.

Both Rock and Lan shook their head in response to Mayl. "Well, given that neither of us had ever heard of substantiation before the chatroom... probably not," Rock surmised. "Still seems pretty out-there to me, but... I mean, CopyBots ain't too popular as-is. Can't imagine it going much further." "I don't know a lot about Netopia," Lan replied sheepishly. "But, uh... I could ask around for more info, I guess?" She pondered on Mayl's claim for a moment; she recalled Dr. Wily mentioning that legislation against Copybots hadn't amounted to much overseas, since they were so uncommon to begin with. Maybe it was a safe haven, in that sense? "As for the shielding, I dunno," Rock continued, shrugging her shoulders. "Might just be to block all incoming signals, if that metal can do that. Stops people from jackin' in and such..." That subject brought back some bad memories. "Oh... yeah," Lan agreed, thinking back on the... incident at the museum storage closet. "It might just be a generic safety measure..." The incoming rays of sunlight were a dead giveaway that they were finally approaching the cave's exit, hopefully for good this time. Lan winced and shielded her eyes for a moment as they rounded a corner, though even she was itching to get out of here; the trip had been pretty lengthy already, as simple as mining the metal had ended up being.

Realizing there was no remaining auditory danger, Meiru maneuvered her earplugs out as they headed closer to the exit, the first one popping free just in time for her to consider girl-Lan’s comment about the lack of popularity for Copyroids. Things must have been very different in this version of Brand City than the one she’d visited… …It also meant that, in the absence of someone else from the chatroom paying the island a visit, the lack of living creatures on the island would forever remain a mystery. But they had the MagnoMetal, and they were heading toward the cave’s exit unimpeded; she would just have to not let it ruin her day. And it was still daytime! “Wow, it’s still light outside!” Meiru realized. “I thought we’d taken a lot longer than we did.”

Seeing Meiru remove her earplugs, Lan followed suit, taking his earmuffs off. After a certain point, he forgot he was wearing them. As he adjusted to the bombardment of sound, he handed the earmuffs back to Meiru. "I've never seen MagnoMetal block jack ins," he said. "In my world, they were trying to make PETs with the material, so that would just make them useless." Besides that, he figured Rock had a point. There could be a number of other signals they had to block out for compatibility reasons. Still, something about this answer wasn't satisfying. Was it really that simple? He supposed they would never know. Lan resisted the urge to run outside the second they caught view of the exit. As excited as he was to go home and prepare for the beach party, he had learned his lesson from last time.

As promised, the drilling machine was waiting for them right outside the entrance. Jasmine was leaning up against it; the level of combined boredom and... unbothered-ness... meant that she was exuding quite the aura. The return of her companions, though, quickly raised her spirits. "Oh, hey!" she cheered, waving the group over. "That didn't take very long - you found the kid?" "Sure did. Found her chaperone, too," Rock reported in. "Seemed nice. Nothing happened here? We're all clear?" "Nope. Nothing," Meddy reported, her voice echoing from inside the drill machine. She clearly hadn't left - and now that they were heading back to the boat, Rock pushed Lan to let her back inside the comp. Lan obliged, though Rock's whimsy at being in front of the control panel once more brought to mind some logistical issues. "H-hey, the machine still can't fit everyone," she pointed out, not wanting to be stuck in the back again. "We're riding it back, right...?" "Ride on the roof," Jasmine suggested without skipping a beat. Lan balked, but... she supposed that it would work out. Diveman had also zoned out for the entirety of guarding the MagnoMetal, and Rock's return made him snap to attention. "Oh, it is time to go already, de a~ru?" he questioned. "I can navigate the way back... there was a clearer path, and..." (The tiny line of light had caught up to them, zipping along the ground and in between the cracks in the rocky ground. Unnoticed by the group, it homed in on the machine and vanished.) "E-eh?" Rock stammered, being snapped out of her elated daze thanks to sensing a sudden presence. "What was that...?" Diveman turned to face Rock. "What was what, de a~ru?" Rock didn't respond immediately; instead, she drew her blades and started wandering around the comp, her eyes scanning the entire comp with intense scrutiny.

Meiru and Roll both were startled to attention by Rock’s change in mood. Meiru sent Roll into the drill comp before the Navi could even urge her to; if this was to do with the MagnoMetal’s resonance again, Roll knew not to leave Rock and Meddy defenseless. Now Roll was noticing something off in the atmosphere of the comp, as well. “This is something different, Meiru-chan, not the MagnoMetal,” she cautioned. “Something’s here…” Meiru turned to boy-Lan. “I’m sure you’re raring to fight, too, HeatMan,” she said, not even trying to hold back any of their power for later this time. (It was their drill machine, anyway.)

Lan tensed the moment Rock sensed trouble. He was too quick to call their mission a success, apparently. Immediately, he jacked into the machine. HeatMan was shocked to find that he could indeed feel something off in this computer, though what it was wasn't clear. "What's wrong?" Lan asked. "Are you sure it's not the MagnoMetal?" "No, I can feel this one," HeatMan answered. "Whatever it is, it's no good." HeatMan slammed his fist into his hand. "This might get dangerous. Get ready for a netbattle, everyone!" Lan's free hand flew to his bag, grabbing a handful of chips. "Ready!"

Lan's guard raised about as quickly as everyone else's - she was a little thankful that they were so quick on the draw when a threat hadn't even been confirmed yet. It didn't take long for said threat to reveal itself, though. The light trail reappeared, this time inside the cyberworld, and crawled along the ground to the dead-center of the comp, in plain sight for the Navis to see. "W-what the hell?" Rock muttered, taking one step forward to get a closer look. The light trail backed away on Rock's approach, startling her - and a second later, it started to run around in a circle, searing its path into the cyberworld floor. The trail it left behind glowed as the inside of the circle was enveloped by a light blue tint, paving the way for a bizarre construct to slide out from underneath the cyberworld. What appeared to be an octagonal vault appeared in the center of the circle, locked in its own center by a golden emblem that resembled a gear. Rock impulsively tossed one of the Roller Blades at the vault, only for it to harmlessly ding off and return to her. "What... is that?" Lan wondered out loud as her Navi flicked her visor on. "It doesn't look like a virus..." Suddenly, as if the vault heard Lan's words, vines erupted from the side of the vault and began to grow out of control. Some vines wrapped around each other and circled the vault, while others spiraled outward and weaved an outline of a much bigger program. Colors filled in the outlines as the vines continued to grow, the scribble quickly forming into a three-dimensional object significantly bigger than any of the Navis. As its form solidified and the vault disappeared underneath it, a burst of energy erupted from it, pushing the Navis back. Now, the vault looked more the part of a battle program - though whether it was a virus or not, Rock couldn't tell. The program consisted of two low-detail humanoid figures, one taller than the other, sewn together like they were conjoined twins; they had stubs for arms and even stubbier stubs for legs, and in place of hair was a strange fuzz; one of them had a longer 'hairstyle', with the other having a ponytail. Light green vines had wrapped around the two figures' bodies, forming improvised scarves around their necks and metallic-looking guards on their arms and knees. In between the humanoids, mounted on their shoulders, was a large satellite styled after a flower, swinging back and forth as it powered on. Most oddly was that the twins had inhuman-looking ears - horns...? attached to the sides of their heads. Meddy took a battle-ready stance as she clutched a White Capsule. "W-what the...?!" she exclaimed. "That thing is huge...?! I've never seen anything like this..." "Doesn't look friendly, whatever it is," Rock commented, stating the obvious. "Lan! Get ready!" !! WARNING !! WARNING !! !! INCOMING HOSTILE WILL !! The Partners That Kill Each Other = THE_LOVERS.AMP = !! WARNING !! WARNING !! Lan readied her chips in a hilariously identical way to her counterpart. "Right! Blade routine, set! Tear them apart!" The Lovers made the first move, letting out a gurling groan, its satellite tilting forward and shooting out a spray of seeds that grew into vine spikes when they hit the ground.

Meiru watched in stunned silence as the massive creature formed. This looked like the kind of thing she and Roll usually fought alongside Enzan and Blues. …But the expedition team weren’t slouches, either. They’d handled themselves against the virus mob just fine; Meiru just had to trust that they would be able to raise their level in response to this new threat. “Everyone, stay alert,” she said, watching intently as Roll readied herself to dodge. “We need to figure out its attack patterns first.” Of course, neither Roll nor Blues was strong enough to merely sling a Program Advance into the face of one of these things and call it a day. Figuring out the monster’s weak point was vital, too, and Meiru had a couple of guesses as to what that was already. The first of its attacks was shot out at the expedition party in no time, and one of Meiru’s questions was answered as the flower-like satellite fired the seeds. Roll was ready, focusing on dodging forward and to the side as the seeds erupted around her. “I wonder if it’s Wood-element?” There were exactly two Fire-element Battle Chips Meiru habitually carried. “Let's test it. Battle Chip: Ryuuseigun! Slot-in!” “Fury of the heavens, answer my call!” declared Roll, twirling the Ryuuseigun wand like a baton. “Ryuuseigun!” The nice thing about the untargeted nature of the Ryuuseigun storm was that it would be hitting multiple places on the Lovers’ body; Meiru watched for its reactions carefully, especially if it looked ready to suffer a strike to the satellite or to one of the vines that would pull on the twins’ necks.

When Lan heard "trouble", he was expecting a navi of some sort. A powerful one, maybe, but a navi nonetheless. But this? Whatever it was, it screamed "final boss". No, scratch that -- a final boss would have buildup, it wouldn't attack out of nowhere. This was the secret boss. HeatMan jumped backwards as a flurry of seeds flew in their direction, just avoiding the blooming spikes. He was similarly caught off guard by the program, and struggled to comprehend what he was looking at. "What is that thing?" Lan asked. "Is it okay?" Despite the obvious threat, Lan couldn't help but be concerned at how sickly this creature looked. Maybe they would be putting it out of its misery. HeatMan, on the other hand, found a bit too much joy in the thrill of battle. The vines in particular put a huge smile on his face, as that screamed "weak to fire". "Now you guys're speakin' my language!" HeatMan exclaimed. He opened with a simple Flame Tower. Pillars of fire trailed along the ground, zig-zagging until they finally reached their target. Even if this did no damage to the creature itself, it would clear a path for someone to get closer.

The Lovers lurched back unnaturally as it was pelted by both Roll's Meteors and the Flame Towers from Heatman; it seemed as if the guard plates were only to give it a little bit of armor, but the elemental weakness damage cancelled out any work the defense would have put in. Fumes bursting from its chest and billowing from singes on the vines gave away the program's Wood-element before Rock could even point it out. "Damn! I like this plan," she said. The rest of the scattered Meteors made quick work of the vine spikes that it had summoned. Mayl and Roll's plan to test its weak points was sound as well; with how huge it was, each of the Meteors hit a different part of the body, giving them some information. The satellite was protected by a transparent shield from the front, while the meteor that slammed its chest made The Lovers groan on impact. Rock clearly noticed the reaction as well, and dashed toward The Lovers as it buckled backward. She tossed both of her blades outward, converging them on The Lovers' core; the blades slashed away some of the vines, revealing the pulsating vault underneath shuddering from the impact. Whatever that vault was, it was clearly some sort of core holding the construct together - and the program clearly knew this, as the vines quickly regrew, thicker than before, to shield the core. The moment The Lovers recovered, the satellite tilted forward and charged up a light blue energy. Both Meddy and Rock readied themselves to attack the satellite, but The Lovers had a defense plan in mind; the humanoids began to cough, hacking out green energy that dripped to the ground like it was liquid. The liquid rapidly split into drips that spread in four directions, each of them forming into puddles that summoned Shrubby viruses. "These guys again?!" Rock cried. "What's up with these?!" Rock, placing her bets on cutting down the small fries over Meddy's sheer power, directed her attention to tearing down the Shrubby viruses before they could pose a threat. Meddy, on the other hand, stuck with her original plan, tossing a Black Capsule toward the satellite; it failed to reach its target in time, though, as the energy surrounded the mechanism, the satellite's tip shooting bursts of water bubbles like it was a reinforced cannon. The Black Capsule's blinding effect managed to pierce the satellite's barrier, shorting it out for the moment, but it still managed to coat the arena in water bubbles. Some of the bubbles bounced along the ground to clutter the arena, while others bounced toward the Shrubbies, making them more hyperactive once they absorbed the water.

The new information—hit the chest to expose the vault—was enough for Meiru to get the beginnings of an idea; it did, however, hinge on the team behaving like a single unit instead of going off every which way. The chaos of the Morikyu viruses and the sudden addition of the bubbles to power them up did not inspire confidence that they were going to get an opportunity any time soon. For now, Roll could see about cutting down a few of these overgrown Morikyu viruses. “Battle Chip: Boomerang!” Meiru called. It wasn’t attacking with the viruses’ weak element, but Meiru had one Magma Cannon and one Hyper Burst to use on the ultimate prize; there was no sense in wasting them here. And even though there was no way they’d be getting the chance at taking those two strikes right away, it was better to inform the others of what she was thinking, so there wouldn’t be any confusion when the time was upon them. “Rock,” Meiru called to the Navi. “When you find another opening like that to expose the vault at the center, can you let us know and then go right for it?” Next, she turned to Jasmine, addressing Meddy as well. “Once that happens, can you two paralyze the vines, so they’ll get held open?” As Roll took further shots at the Morikyu infestation with her Roll Arrows, she commented to HeatMan, “Sounds like that means we oughta keep our powder dry and stick close, so we’re ready to attack the center!” “And that leaves Diveman to run support,” Meiru finished. “How does that sound to everybody?”

Things were starting to get chaotic -- just like a secret boss, Lan thought. It was nothing this team couldn't handle, though. They had tackled the door with no issue, they could do anything. Plus, they already had this thing's weakness and its weak spot. All that was left was to delete it before they got deleted themselves. HeatMan flipped every which way in an attempt to avoid the sea of bubbles. "Shit! I liked this thing a lot more when I was the one exploiting its weakness!" "I've got you, HeatMan!" Lan called out, already slipping a chip into his PET. "Invis!" The invisibility granted HeatMan a second to breathe and analyze the situation. Right now, those Shrubbies were a huge annoyance. Lucky for him, he wouldn't have to waste any chips on these small fries; he had the power of fire on his side. He jumped into the space between the viruses and slammed himself into the ground, unleashing a circle of flames. Then, with the last few moments of his invisibility, he returned to his previous spot. As he lobbed another Flame Tower foward, he smiled at Roll, indicating he understood the plan. "Sure thing! We'll him 'em with all we've got!" Lan nodded as well, preparing some chips for the next round.

Rock was a little busy cutting down the Shrubbies as they puked out an advancing front of Wood Towers, but the Boomerang from Mayl took the load off of her shoulders for long enough to listen in to The Plan. "Got it," she answered without a second thought - coordinating one big attack with four different Navis was a pretty good way to make quick work of this thing. "Good thing we've got the advantage already!" Jasmine, too, gave the thumbs up. "Was already thinking something like that!" she cheerily responded. "But we'll need to blow a hole in it first, I bet..." Diveman, meanwhile, had entirely distracted himself with defending the control panel; he gave Mayl and Roll a simple salute, locking on to some of the Shrubbies and taking them out with a flurry of Dive Missiles. The horde had already been thinned quite a bit by the Navis' assault, with the few remaining Shrubbies being the ones hyped up by the water bubbles; their frantic Wood Towers were partially counteracted by Heatman's own towers, though. The lack of Rock Cubes for the Shrubbies to hide behind left them wide open for Rock's blades and a Tera Thunder chip from Lan. Rock nimbly avoided the bouncing bubbles and dashed toward a group of Shrubbies that had herded together for protection. Reeling her hand back, she slammed the ground and released a burst of lightning, the currents arcing through the nearby water bubbles to delete all of the Shrubbies in a radius. The Lovers' vines had kept themselves busy attempting to repair the holes left by Roll's Meteors, to little success. With the Shrubby crowd thinning, the construct changed strategies, groaning as it lurched closer to the Navis. Some of the vines blocking the core redirected themselves to stab outward from the humanoids' sides, transforming into large, bulky spikes. The spikes ripped off The Lovers' bodies, a green liquid leaking from the holes in their sides as the vines fell to the floor and slammed toward each other, fusing into one large roller that barreled toward the Navis. At the same time, other vines extended from the humanoids' bodies, whipping around randomly as if to deflect incoming attacks. Meddy summoned two Chemical Flash bombs, intent on connecting them onto the satellite - however, The Lovers' vine manouvers knocked one of them away as she sent them hurtling forward. One bomb connected, enveloping the ponytail humanoid in a fiery explosion, making it groan in pain; the other simply hovered in the air, waiting for input as Meddy was forced to leap over the oncoming spiked roller.

Fire-element attacks? Meiru didn’t carry that many of those. But what she did have in abundance was— “Battle Chip: Area Steal!” Roll was pulled up and out of the roller’s path. “Dash Condor!” With Roll safely observing from above, Meiru said, “We need to give Rock the space to move in. The vines protecting it are frenzied, but that just means they’re unfocused…” She couldn’t use the Magma Cannon, not now, not yet. So instead, noticing the untriggered Chemical Flash, she called, “Fuujin Racket, slot-in!” Roll rode the Dash Condor until she was in front of the spot where Meddy’s abandoned bomb hovered. “Mind if I borrow this?” She swung a blast of wind into the Chemical Flash, aiming to send it speeding into the vines. “Keep the pressure on the point where it hits!” Meiru added. “Machine Gun, slot-in!”

In one swift movement, HeatMan curled into his box and jumped out of the way of the barrelling roller. However, he misjudged his trajectory, and went lampooning towards their opponent, only to get knocked back by one of the waving vines. When he exited his box, he was disoriented, but unharmed. It took only a moment to regain a bearing on his surroundings and get back into the action. As he did, his first priority was getting rid of those vines. His thought process was similar to Meiru's -- to save the fire chips for the exposed core, for maximum damage. His regular attacks could hit a few vines, but it wouldn't be efficient. There had to be a better way of dealing with them. "Lan, ya got anything that'll cut?" asked HeatMan. "Way ahead of you." Lan was on the same page, it seemed. He slotted in a YoYo and let HeatMan handle the rest. HeatMan jumped upward and unleashed the YoYo on the area surrounding the core. It wouldn't get rid of all the vines, but it would clear the area that mattered.

The Chemical Flash hurtled forward from the Wind Racket's force - and with the left humanoid's vines having been distracted from swatting away Heatman, they were entirely unprepared to block the incoming blast. The Lovers groaned, attempting to hold its body steady, but Heatman's retaliatory Yo-Yo cut into its side before it could collect itself. With The Lovers stunned, Lan followed up on Mayl's advice - and the weak spot that Heatman opened up for them. "Battle Chip, Tri-Lance! Slot in!" Rock's arm reformed into a bow and arrow and aimed a three-needle round toward the same cut that Heatman opened up as she lept over the roller. The arrows didn't quite hit their mark thanks to The Lovers' violent shuddering, but they cut straight through the vines and punctured the body anyways - and with that attack, it appeared as if the virus had reached a breaking point. The two humanoids' heads drooped forward as the body shuddered, the vines protecting the core twisting around. A slit opened up in the makeshift armor, showing a tiny sliver of the vault as it glowed and began to turn, rotating 180 degrees and twisting the vines around as it did so. When the vault locked into place, The Lovers moaned as its body discolored, becoming much more desaturated and wilted-looking. At the same time, the roller dissipated and blew away like dead leaves in the wind. The vines that previously were swatting away attacks sagged to the ground as the satellite tilted toward the side of the ponytail humanoid's head. Another round of energy, this time a reddish-brown, charged at the satellite's tip - and a moment later, a reddish laser pierced through the side of the humanoid's head, causing it to lifelessly sag to the side. The holes in the humanoid's head began to spew discolored seeds across the battlefield, some bursting into smoke when they hit the ground and others bouncing along the ground as they popped like firecrackers. "...Ew," Jasmine muttered. "Well, I hope that's good for us!" She tentatively reached into her own pack, providing an assist for Meddy, who was saving on her Capsules for the team's final move. "Battle Chip, Ice Wave! Slot in!" The Lovers' body mass was clearly off-balance now that their right half had been... shot? It was clearly having trouble keeping itself in the air, tilting to the left as it struggled to float through the air. The satellite tilted forward and charged up another round of energy, but Meddy unleashed her Ice Wave chip before it could finish, stunning the program for another moment and leaving an opening for her teammates.

The sight of the satellite turning on the ponytailed twin and shooting it through the head was definitely cool and normal, and not morbid at all. Rather than leave Roll to try to dodge or disperse the tiny seeds, Meiru called, “Battle Chip: Dream Aura!” With the roller gone, Roll was safe to land next to HeatMan, the Dash Condor’s time having run out, and provide defense. “It’s… already weakened?” Roll asked, amazed at just how badly The Lovers seemed to be listing. “I guess now’s the time,” Meiru murmured. “Magma Cannon, slot-in!” “HeatMan, let’s really knock it off-balance!” Roll took aim at the center-right of The Lovers. Not only would the Magma Cannon burn away more vines to provide an opening for the rest of her teammates’ onslaught, ending with her own Program Advance, it would theoretically give The Lovers even more trouble with maneuvering.

HeatMan could only say one thing to such a transformation: "What the fuck?" He winced, realizing there were children here. "Oh, uh, sorry." In his defense, what they just witnessed was way less child-friendly than a simple swear word. Lan barely noticed, as he was too invested in this battle. He recognized a phase two when he saw one, which meant they were one step closer to defeating this thing. Now was not the time to get distracted! Meddy and Roll had paved the way for a stellar finisher, they just needed one more push. Lan had just the chip for knocking an opponent over. "Drill Arm, slot in!" (He had been waiting all day to use the chip. It was too perfect.) HeatMan dove forward and slammed his drill into the creature while it was still stunned. He aimed at the right side, pushing into its lean, aiming to knock it over for good.

Rock was busy dodging the improvised smoke bombs (how fitting) when Roll used the Magma Cannon - but the combination of the fire chip, Heatman's advance, and the seeming decay that The Lovers was undergoing were all pretty clear signs of how to proceed. "Kid, get ready!" she commanded to her operator. "We're goin' in!" The Magma Cannon seared The Lovers' vines on impact, the remaining humanoid groaning as its protective vines sprawled onto its body. Heatman's Drill Arm continued the assault in the exact way that he wanted - unable to bear the pressure any longer, The Lovers sank to the ground, the left humanoid hitting the floor with a loud thunk. The satellite was thrown off course by the impact; the energy coalesced and spurred a cannon blast of acid bubbles, in contrast to the earlier water bubbles, but the improvised cannon was now at such an odd angle that the bubbles were launched perpendicular to where the Navis were standing, doing little other than friendly-fire the last few straggler Shrubbies. The Lovers groaned again, lurching around to try and push itself upward, but all it was able to accomplish was to tilt its satellite the other way. Lan, meanwhile, had slotted in a Needler chip - Rock summoned the Needler virus and hopped off it as she ran straight for the core, intent on forcing the opening Roll was waiting for. The dead-looking vines surrounding the core attempted to swat Rock away as she readied her blades, but the double-needle turret fire of the Needler swatted them away and stunned the program once more. Rock tossed both of her Roller Blades forward, each of them slamming into The Lovers' core and ripping open an X-shaped tear in the makeshift armor. The Needler then fired into the vault, its projectiles worsening the tear and stopping The Lovers from renewing its protection. Feeling emboldened, Rock wound up her knee as she darted in for one last attack - she slammed her foot into the vault, the spikes on her boots tearing up the vine defense further as The Lovers choked up. Now, they had their opening. "Capsule Change! White Capsule!" Meddy cried, summoning two capsules - one in each hand - for good measure. She ran forward, evading the exploding seeds that were still going off, and lobbed the Capsules through the air; luckily, her aim was pretty well-practiced, and the capsules burst on impact with the vault, paralyzing The Lovers. The program was all but helpless now, what with it being sprawled on the floor, deprived of its primary defense and movement capabilities.

“Let’s finish it, HeatMan!” Roll called. Then, with the smoothness gained through years of practice, she and Meiru called, “Program Advance!” almost without a pause in between. “Battle Chip: Spread Gun! Triple slot-in!” Meiru’s rhythm was familiar to Roll, the two guns popping into existence on her arms one after another before she raised them to the sky. “Program Advance: Hyper Burst!” The larger barrel morphed into existence, the slim vents ringing it glowing with pent-up energy; Roll fired it into the tear, trusting that HeatMan was doing the same next to her.

This is it. The final stretch. Lan had been saving his chips for this moment. The second HeatMan was in place, he slotted three chips in, all Fire Hits. "Program Advance: Boxer 3!" Lan called. "Knock 'em out, HeatMan!" At this point, there was little HeatMan could do beyond start the attack. The program advance spoke for itself, a barrage of flaming punches assaulting The Lovers.

The Lovers had more fight left in it than the Navi group had given it credit for, but with its defense having completely collapsed, anything but the absolute hardiest of programs wouldn't be able to stomach a double Program Advance, especially not with the elemental disadvantage. The Hyper Burst popped on contact and blew the rest of the vines away, refreshing The Lovers' paralysis and preventing it from escaping from Heatman's Boxer assault. As the last few punches slammed into the core, burning the vines around the remaining humanoid's body, a guttural cry reverberated through the comp. At last, the program gave out, dissolving into a shower of blue and green light and leaving the upside-down vault exposed. The vault hovered in place for a moment, before it shorted out, as if it was a machine; and it lifelessly fell to the floor, its colors dimming. As the vault hit the ground, light trails flew off in all directions, spreading from the impact point; and with that, the battle had concluded. "Holy shit. Nice work," Rock muttered to herself. Secretly, she was a little jealous that she didn't get to pull off a cool Program Advance, but there were more important matters at hand - such as why the hell that entire battle happened to begin with. "W-what was that?" Lan muttered to herself, the tension finally leaving her shoulders. "Was that a virus, or...?" "No idea," Rock answered, walking up to the vault. Her visor gave her no readings, so she gave it a kick just to be sure; there was no reaction, other than hurting herself a little from how heavy the thing was. "Ow. Hey, what do we even do with this...?" Jasmine, slightly discombobulated from the random NetBattle, could only manage a shrug. "Dunno. I guess this thing's... the core, or something?" she speculated. "It looks pretty dead..."

And just like that, it was over. Both Meiru and Roll sighed in relief, just glad there hadn’t been some second trick to the puzzle of dismantling The Lovers, or more hit points to force them to do it all again. After the initial relief of having defeated a big enemy came a burst of confidence—they'd done it! Meiru turned to the rest of the group. “You guys were amazing. Thank you!” She looked down at her view the Cyberworld, where Roll cheered, “We did it! Nice work, everybody!” Then, the question arose of what to do with the vault. “We can always take it back to the Ministry for analysis… or, that’s what we’d do if we were in our world…” Roll thought aloud. Meiru turned to girl-Lan for consultation. “Do you think our sponsor would know how to give this thing a proper look?”

For the first few seconds following the battle, Lan did nothing but stare at his PET screen in silence. His confusion had already been voiced by the other Lan, and read clear on his face. "Why... why were we attacked?" he finally uttered, turning to face the others. HeatMan tried to come up with a plausible answer, only to come up short. "That thing definitely wasn't in the computer when we were drilling." Lan furrowed his eyebrows. It didn't help that everyone else was similarly clueless. Whatever this was, it was weird. Eventually, he sighed, accepting that they wouldn't know anything until they ran a proper analysis on it. He forced a smile instead. "Yeah, you guys did great!" HeatMan gave the team a thumbs-up. "Good job, guys." That had to be the last of it. Nothing could top a fight of that caliber.

Lan was caught off-guard by Mayl's question, and with Rock busy celebrating their victory, her thoughts froze up for a moment. "U-uh..." "Our sponsor, huh," Jasmine butted in, wandering over to step in front of Lan. "Well, we'll be taking the machine back anyways... y'know, obviously. So I guess he could give it a look." She sounded a bit uncertain given her lack of familiarity and what that vault was capable of creating - but then again, Dr. Wily had his ways of knowing things that one wouldn't expect him to know. "And if he can't figure it out, I guess we can toss it over to someone else. We've got options." Rock dusted herself off, refocusing on the situation at hand. The way the other Lan had worded his question troubled her a bit - between this and the virus door, they were leaving with more questions than answers. The only satisfaction she could really derive was the fact that they won to begin with. "Wonder if this thing came from the same place the door did," she speculated. "But the door was already there, and this got into the comp, and... ugh, whatever." "A real riddle for the ages," Meddy added snidely. "I guess we've got a new problem on our hands." Lan was feeling pretty anxious over the whole ordeal; at the very least, she wasn't alone in knowing about this, but if sticking around on this island had gotten them attacked twice... "We should maybe... leave," she suggested tersely. "Just in case..." "Our ride's been ready," Rock shrugged. "You just gotta give us a shout."

To Jasmine, Meiru agreed, “Just keep the rest of us posted! Our, uh—“ Remembering how fraught a subject the various Hikari-hakases were, Meiru quickly substituted, “—head scientist at the Ministry can figure out just about anything, if he tinkers with it long enough. So don’t worry if you guys can’t turn anything up.” The subject of what had sent the thing to their machine came up next, and Meiru couldn’t help but wonder if, nice as they’d been to the Dead Hand members and vice versa, the simplest answer was also the correct one. More importantly than that, though… “How did it get here?” she asked next. “I didn’t notice any other way into that control system besides the port. Do you, Roll?” “I’ll check on it right away!” responded Roll, spreading her antennae and probing the comp for any additional inbound or outbound connections. In the meantime, Meiru sighed to the Lans, “We were trying to leave before we got attacked, so I guess we should get back to doing that unless we turn up another clue…”

It felt weird leaving with so many questions still unanswered. Lan knew the research was in good hands, but the questions still stirred in his head. Was this the start of a new threat, or a consequence of staying on this island for so long? One thing was clear: it was time to leave while they were ahead. They had what they came for, and they had fought tooth and nail to protect it. Lan would be devastated if anything happened to the MagnoMetal. "Right. I'm ready to go whenever you guys are." Lan nodded. He wondered if Roll had found any additional information, and glanced at the machine. It probably wouldn't be much, but any bit of information helped.

Lan felt a little weird about the mention of SciLab, but Mayl's dancing around the subject had successfully defused the bomb. If anything, Lan knew that if they handed over the vault to that team, then hoodie-Lan would probably be involved, and she had plenty of faith in him. There was no reason not to get a move on, so with assistance from the edges of the mountain, Lan and Jasmine hoisted themselves to sit on top of the machine, leaving Mayl and the other Lan to take their previous seats. "All aboard, de a~ru," Diveman muttered to himself, using the completely wrong terminology; and with that, the drill machine roared to life and began to head back to the shore. The machine thankfully was functioning perfectly, even with the damage from the battle and the vault still half-embedded in the floor. Simply driving the machine took considerably less effort than drilling, so the Navis could hang tight as Diveman set course. Indeed, there was a slightly cleaner path through the jungle that he'd found, a few minutes off from where they'd entered the cave - though, he did knock down part of the fence to get in. Oops. Rock tried to listen in for any signs of Dead Hand's drilling machine, but either it wasn't going, or they were far enough away already. Oh, well. "Guess this ended about as well as it could've," she said, unafraid to jinx them when they were already well on their way out. "Party's probably on by now, huh?" Lan crossed her legs. "I hope it goes well," she said, before realizing that that sounded a little awkward. "W-which, uh. I meant... good luck hosting it. I guess." "You're acting like a party is that hard to host," Jasmine laughed. "Like it's gonna blow up if you don't handle it properly." Lan blushed. "W-well! I don't know!" she protested. "I-I mean it, though."

Roll frowned as she let her antennae bend back into place. “It must have gotten in through the port, there’s no other way in or out,” she reported. “Which means it traveled through the human world…?” Meiru looked behind them as the drill machine made its way away from the mountain; nothing had been left behind them to do so. “But how…?” Relaxing back into her seat, she mused, “Maybe it was a drone…” The subject was rapidly changing, anyway. “I’m sure Netto-ko’ll do great!” Meiru said. “And we can always bring stuff, too. With so many people going, it’d be really hard to be bored, no matter what!” “I wonder if there’s anything us Navis can hang out in, while you’re all partying,” Roll said. “Maybe we should bring a laptop…?”

Lan beamed at the thought of his now rapidly-approaching beach party. "Thanks, guys! This party will be great!" Hosting a party wasn't difficult, but preparing for this one might be a challenge. They didn't have a lot of beach supplies. This was only a minor issue, though -- easily solved by people bringing their own things. Nothing could possibly go wrong, not with the MagnoMetal on hand. "We'll have so many people there, and- don't worry! There's a jack in spot for navis, too! I wouldn't want to leave you guys behind!" He opted to stop his rambling there, or else he could go on forever. This beach party was a glimmer of hope among the crushing despair of reality. Though their mining adventure had its points of uncertainty, they had survived and were better for it. In a way, this was true to life -- any adversity could be overcome, and a bright future lied on the other side. For now, the beach awaited them.