FAQing Hostile

SubCultural Mutant Otaku versus the Mundanes

Chapter 33

END of FAQ

By Assassin
With Mad Propz to the FAQ Mailing list

(FAQing Hostile spawned by Twoflower)


	Dave's vision faded back in like a reverse Final Fantasy segue. His head lay
on Vixen's shoulder. She was yet unconscious. The world was burning around them,
as the remains of Directress Richard's army was swept away in the tide of
LARGO's holy fire. Dave closed his eyes, and lay back on Vixen, a look of
contentment on his face.

	He opened his eyes again. White light blared down on his face. There was a
bleeping sound coming from somewhere to his right, and he was no longer lying on
Vixen. The details of his surroundings slowly came to him. He was in the
hospital bed, back in Otakuland West. A small tube curved its way up into his
arm. There was a figure next to him.

	His head pounded as he let it flop to the left. B1FF was sitting next to the
bed, manga in hands. Dave fought to raise his left hand. He brought it up a half
foot, and it hit the bed again with a thump. B1FF peered over the top of the
manga, and jumped to his feet when he realized that Dave was awake.

	"D00d!" B1FF's manga hit the floor. "Ure 0k!" He swept Dave up off the bed
in a Mungo-sized bear hug. Dave dangled, his internal organs compressing to
fractions of their former size. Dave's hand jerked, searching for the little
button that would pump more sweet painkillers into his blood. He managed to grab
onto it and hit it faster than a Wild Arms 2 junkie.

	"Gaaackt," Dave groaned as he was squeezed like a plushie beneath B1FF's
large arms. His eyes, protruding markedly from his head, swiveled to look at
B1FF. Focusing what he hoped might be latent psychic abilities, he thought
Ôletmegoletmegoletmego' very hard. B1FF did not let him go.

	That failing him, Dave resorted to wiggling his arms and legs frantically
until B1FF got the message, and set him down. "D00d, I th0ught U w3r3 fr4gg3d 4
g00d.." B1FF took out a little handkerchief and dabbed at his eyes. Dave saw
that there were dark rings under B1FF's eyes.

	"You look like you need sleep.. Have you been staying up here by my bed all
this time?" Dave asked, as the morphine kicked in, giving him a feeling the
likes of which he had only felt in the Ah! My Goddess! opening theme.

	"M3?, 0, n0 d00d. U w0uldn't b3li3ve h0w 1nt0 g41j1n s0m3 0f th3s3 ch1cks R.
1'm g3tt1n m0r3 4ct10n th4n th3 0v3rf13nd!"

	Dave squeezed his eyes shut, trying to block any images before they fully
surfaced from his subconscious. As he did, he could feel the slight throbbing of
a headache echoing in the insides of his head. "What.. happened?" he asked.

	"d00d! U 0wnz3d that b14tch!" B1FF announced happily. "U 4nd V1x were l1k3
Max N M1r1y4 tog3ther."

	"Who... and who..?" Dave said, fumbling for the reference.

	"Heh," came a weak voice from his other side. "Max and Miriya..Sterling..
newbie."  Dave heard a weak giggle. "I bet you wouldn't know Breetai if he bit
you on the ass."

	Dave flopped his head over to his right. Vixen lay in the bed next to him,
gauze covering parts of her arms. As he looked at her, she lay her head back
upon the pillow and closed her eyes. A purple blotch covered her cheek. While
she bore few other marks, her skin was pale, and her face was drawn.

	Dave turned back to B1FF. "Sh3'z b33n here 4s l0ng as U," B1FF whispered to
Dave. "The d0cs s4y sh3 is GTG, but sh3 w0ulnd't leave. 1 think sh3 w4nts to
kn0w U R ok." B1FF peeked over at his recumbent sister.

	"She did?" Dave gained some heart.

	"Y34h d00d, and U w3re 0ut 4 like f1ve d4yz," B1FF said opening his arms
wide to encompass the bed's surroundings. For the first time, Dave noticed he
was surrounded. Cards, flowers, and small dolls were positioned around both his
bed and Vixen's. Squinting hard, he could make out Japanese characters on many,
although some bore English.

	"U N V1x3n R her0es d00d." Again, B1FF's smile split across his large face.

	"Heroes..." Dave whispered. He didn't feel like a hero. How could he be a
hero? Was this the hero experience? Heroes were the ones who were dashing, and
could topple the world with a smile. Dave just felt bruised. "What about
Sherman? Is he a hero too?"

	B1FF looked down. He choked a bit, and said: "Sh3rm4n d1dn't m4k3 1t."

	Dave blanched. He stared up at the ceiling.

	"1 kn0w d00d. 1 l0st 4 g00d fr13nd too.... n0t t0 m3ntion my h3nt4i
c0ll3ction."

++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

	Days past. Dave began to feel a bit like himself again. Eventually he got
well enough to go outside the hospital. On the first visit outside, he had to
shade his eyes from the neon aura of Otakuland West. It was Akihabara on acid, a
high speed anime trip from one thousand years in the future. Rather than the
urban decay he had grown up in, it gleamed like a newly polished mecha.
Shadowing the entire town was the Macross fortress, its giant guns reaching to
touch the stars themselves.

	"So newbie, you really don't know about Max and Miriya?" Vixen sighed. They
were sitting on a bench staring at the giant fortress. "I thought you knew right
away what the Macross was when you saw it." Dave squirmed next to her.

	"Well, yeah," he muttered. "But I only knew that because of the FAQ. I've
never actually seen the show, and I can't remember that much. Besides... its
old!" Dave frowned.

	Vixen laughed sharply. "I keep forgetting that you're new. No, on second
thought, I don't. But you haven't got the respect for true classics. If it were
not for Robotech, and I do not mean Macross, anime would have never made it to
America. I had to study Carl Macek for weeks when I was young, and write about
whether he was a good or evil force towards the origin of Anime."

	"Carl Macek," Dave paused. "Isn't he the one with the dark tower that has
his evil masked disciples dancing around it night and day, while he laughs like
a madman and recreates stolen anime in his own perverted image?" He frowned
slightly. Is that where his roots lay?

	"Time and enmity change people," Vixen sighed again. "The fans revolted once
they saw uncut anime. But we must realize that he was a visionary at one time, a
man who brought us a vision of the truth, while working in a constrained
society."

	"Vixen, I don't mean to sound... bad... but are you feeling ok? You don't
sound like you usually do." Dave glanced up at her.

	"I've had a lot of time to think!" Vixen spat. "Lets get going, newbie." She
picked up her crutches off the floor. Her right leg had suffered a fracture, and
it had caused her no end of grief, which she happily passed along to the
doctors, Dave, and anyone else who got in her way. It had not dissuaded a small
group of girls to further idealize her, and follow her around at times. Luckily
they had been lost by some covert action on the part of Dave and Vixen.

	Dave as well had his admirers. Not a day passed when he didn't receive a
sideways glance from some seifuku girl, who afterward was usually on the
receiving end of a cold stare from Vixen.

	"Listen newbie," Vixen said, calming slightly. "I've hear rumors that soon
they might be striking against the LoTW himself... I'll probably be on the
Strike Team force. And..."

	"You want me to stay here," Dave finished for Vixen. He frowned. I don't
know wh-" He stopped short as Vixen put her hand out in front of his face.

	"No, I want you to come with." Dave froze. "Whether I like it or not, you've
got experience. And you're damned lucky." Vixen stopped. "And I might assigned a
few of this ÔVixen fan club' to join us. After all, they want to be just like
me. They should try it."

	"But, Vixen," Dave protested. "They'll just get in the way, and be
slaughtered."

	"Good," said Vixen. "We might need a couple of human shields."

	Dave's resulting sweatdrop rivaled the great salt lake.

	Vixen let out a long slow breath. "It is strange to be here still," she
confessed. "I mean, what did we get done? Sure we got the black box things, and
a lot of information, but Otakuland is still gone. And we couldn't do a damn
thing about it." She leaned her head back on the bench.

	"Yeah," Dave muttered. "It would have been nice to get some kind of info..
like all that data we received from GENOM... that... we.... couldn't decode!"
Dave jumped to his feet. "Quick! Which way is Sherman!" He swiveled his head
around, looking for the massive tank. Vixen had hopped up too.

	"Where the hell is my tank!" Dave yelled at a young couple passing by. They
nodded nervously to him, and quickly continued on their way. Vixen slapped him
on the back of the head with one leather gloved hand.

	"Aiiiiieeeee.... I'm sorry I scared them, but did you have to do that?!?"

	"I don't care about them," Vixen reprimanded. "But Sherman is MY tank!"

++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

	After a good deal of running and shouting, the pair of them finally came
upon Sherman. The massive tank dominated a tile circle in the middle of a park.
The rays of the dying sun blazed off the now gold plated hull, making Sherman
the vision of a god of war. It was if the two of them had come upon a vision of
Laocorn, resplendent in his armor. Dave stumbled, and paused to take it in.

	Vixen only shielded her eyes, and bounded up the side of the tank, to get to
the hatch. She tugged at it, straining her arms. Her eyes burning, she shouted
down at Dave. "Hey, get the hell up here!"

	Dave swallowed, and shook himself out of his daze. With slightly less grace,
he clambered up Sherman, a moose to her gazelle. At the top, he wiped the sweat
off his forehead, and looked the hatch over. "Don't pull too hard," he offered.
"Remember what happened in Ghost in the Shell."

	Vixen gave him an evil stare. "Don't think you know how to open this thing
better than me Dave," she said. "Now get down here and pull."

	Grimacing, Dave kneeled down and found handholds on the underside of the
hatch's rim. Vixen nodded toward him, and they began to pull, working each
muscle fiber in their arms to the utmost. Dave felt his tendons stretch, and his
joints creak in anticipation of total muscle failure. The gold plating on the
hatch made it at least three times heavier than it ever had been.

	Sweat poured down Vixen's face as she struggled next to him. The exertion of
her arms seemed to extend itself up her shoulders and into her face. The hatch
creaked, and she doubled her efforts, the heels of her boots sinking down into
the plating.

	The hatch flipped open with a pop, and the sound of air being sucked into
the tank's interior. Vixen was thrown onto her posterior, and got up grumbling.
She looked around for Dave, but did not see him. Taking out a small flashlight,
she looked into Sherman itself, which seemed totally empty.

	There was a groan from off to her right. Dave was lying on the tile by
Sherman's treads. His eyes were looking a little swirly, and there was a tiny
bit of blood seeping out from the back of his head. Vixen chuckled, but it was a
gut reaction, and she felt like her brain wasn't approving of it. She swung her
legs off the side of Sherman, and dropped down to pick Dave up.

++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

	hiro walked slowly in the great double doors of NERV's prime office. His
eyes readjusted quickly to the shadowy chamber. Above and below him, violet
lines flowed sinuously across the ceiling and floor, like the flowchart of a
madman. The entire chamber had only one desk, set at the bottom of the unearthly
chart. It sat directly under the source of the lines, labeled only as TEZUKA.

	With a faint limp, hiro walked towards the desk, where a man sat, his
fingers steepled in front of his face. The man had dark glasses on, and a
freshly pressed blue uniform. He was wearing a false beard. When he was only a
yard away from the desk, hiro bowed slightly.

	"Greetings, Gendoji-san. It has been some time since I last saw you." He
spoke politely and humbly.

	"Greetings hiro," the man replied, his eyes glaring into some space beyond
the walls. "How goes.........IT?" His face was strangely intense, although
lacking any visible emotion.

	"It goes well, as always sir. I have gathered many of our brethren here from
the other Otakuland, so the... combining can be performed." hiro spoke quietly
still.

	"Ah... soon they will see the truth, and we shall be in the final phase. We
will complete it, and we shall achieve it! Animentality!" He threw his head back
and laughed raucously, his false beard falling off his face.

	hiro nodded quietly, bowed, and left the chamber, while the man still
laughed, throwing echoes across the chamber. hiro closed the great double doors
outside, and rejoined Kenishi out front.

	"How is he doing?" Kenishi asked, standing up from where he sat.

	"Still the same," hiro nodded. "Completely barking mad," he added.

	Kenishi replied: "Some say he understands both the End of Evangelion, and
Akira."

	hiro smirked. "Some say he holds discussions with his hamster."

	Kenishi arched one eyebrow. "Some say his madness is a form of genius."

	"Yeah, and some say that Sailor Moon was deep," hiro smiled back. "The man
has become a shadow. He founded the Jin, and did so much. Then he found a copy
of the FAQ Hostile, and went mad. Who knows what he read in it." hiro shook his
head, a look of sadness on his face. "I don't deny that he still retains his
genius.. and it does emerge from time to time. But he is nothing like he was."

	"What is this Project Animentality thing he keeps talking about?" Kenishi
asked.

	hiro's first answer was only to shrug. "It is something where we take all
the anime ever, combine the genres, and make one ultimate anime out of them all.
Then it brings us all together into some super being, or something, and we are
god. Maybe." He shrugged again.

	"Well, we know where that came from anyway," Kenishi said, the corners of
his mouth lifting, half amused. The pair of them took one look back at the NERV
building, nodded once to the guards outside the door, and began walking. "But
you never know, hiro. Perhaps there is something to it."

	"And perhaps Kagato was merely misunderstood." hiro pushed his hair back out
of his face. "Lets go."

	"Where are we headed now?" Kenishi kept up with his friend's slow pace well,
despite the ache his bones still carried.

	"I brought one thing from the ruins of Otakuland that was the most important
thing I could have salvaged." Without another word, hiro led on.

	In a short time, Kenishi found himself in a graveyard. The stones were small
obelisks, copied from Japanese graveyards, but with space one could only find in
America. hiro walked up the path between the markers, until he stopped at one,
and kneeled with a silent prayer. Kenishi read the inscription - newly carved,
and marked out "Keiko Matsumoto".

	"Your mother," he said. "Adopted mother," he then amended.

	"The only real mother I knew. She never knew. I was switched as soon as her
baby was taken away by Otakuland Special Divisions. I was given to her three
hours later, with a story about how I was given a surgical change. I never knew
the truth until I was eighteen, and never told her. I still do not know my
biological mother, or the child she raised instead of me. I always knew that I
had one true mother, despite being born to another. This one gave me my name."

	"And that awful pink hairdo when you were fifteen," Kenishi chuckled. "She
was quite a mother. I often wished I had one like her.. except for the hair
thing."

	"Heh," commented hiro. "I still remember how many kids I tried to beat up
for calling me ÔPink Spider'." He smiled, although it did not reach his eyes.
"Well, she was a j-rocker. Her friends used to call her Visual Keiko. I think I
still remember a few guitar chords after all those lessons she made me go
through."

	Kenishi patted hiro on the back. "She is with her idol now. Come, Arashi
should be done training by now. Lets get some lunch."

++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

	Vixen and Dave descended into Sherman's main compartment like spelunkers
entering a cave. Vixen pulled out a small flashlight from her belt, and turned
it on. The beam's light swept over the instruments and panels that seemed almost
alien to her now. Vixen felt like an invader into a holy tomb. She quickly
stomped this feeling out, and proceeded to search around for the DVD. She noted
a small Big Mac box on the floor. It seemed that the people had left everything
just as it had been.

	Dave took out a flashlight of his own, eliciting a smirk from Vixen, of
approval and feigned incredulity. "I'm going to go search our library," he told
her, and walked over to the door to the separate chambers. Vixen offered no
opposition to this, suprisingly.  The door to the storage room creaked open to
reveal a wall of crates and ammunition boxes full of miscellanea. Most were
marked, one bore an especially grim warning: "B1FF'S pr0n! D0 N0T T0UCH CUZ 1
4LR34DY D1D! Dave bore that one very lightly, and with some amount of disgust.

	After separating the ones that were marked from the unmarked ones, Dave
paused a moment before deciding not to open Vixen's own private box. He turned
to the first unmarked crate and opened the top. Faint odors wafted up from the
box, that seemed to be full of small plastic bags and oddly shaped implements.
Reaching in, Dave discovered a hypodermic needle. That clearly marked it as a
Phreak stash. Dave replaced the needle very carefully and smiled. That would
make the little bugger happy.

	The second crate revealed to him all the anime that had salvaged from
Otakuland West. Flipping through it all, he discovered some nice titles, but
none of them were the DVD he was looking for. At the bottom he found Robotech,
and made a note to watch it.

	Dave furrowed his brow. If the DVD wasn't in one of the two other boxes, it
could be anywhere. He opened the next one.

	Inside the box was an assortment of wires, cables, and software. Dave began
digging into it, tearing out some of the snake-like wires. He piled up all the
software disks he found at his right side. Flipping through them rapidly, he
came upon a jewel case that was opaque black. Opening it, a scratched gold disc
peered up at him. This was it, the one they had been unable to decode fully,
that contained the final information from Otakuland.

	Dave grinned victoriously. He shoved all the cabling and other disks back
into the crate. He stood up suddenly to tell Vixen, but hesitated for a moment.
Looking back on the one remaining box, he sat back down to examine it. It
wouldn't take that long to examine, and he might find something useful.

	Upon opening it, all the box seemed to contain was small black pieces of
fabric. Dave assumed his best Ôpuzzled' look. Was it a ninja suit? Or maybe
something ultra secret that would give him super powers once he wore it? He
picked one up, and it unfolded into a small babydoll t-shirt with a stylized
face design and the word "Bauhaus" printed in white. He froze. It was Rachael's.

	His brain kicked into fifth gear. Hadn't they sold everything of hers? How
long had this box been here unnoticed? What else was in it? Why hadn't they
found it? Unbidden, tears streaked down his face. He crushed the shirt to his
chest while his mind filled with ghosts. Suddenly he was illuminated.

	He looked behind him to see Vixen looking down. Ashamed, he turned his face
from the light, and tried to put the shirt back without her seeing. "I found
it," he stammered, holding the disc up behind him. He felt Vixen's gloved
fingers brush his and take the disc. When he heard her turn, he glanced back,
and saw something glimmer on her cheek.

	Vixen marched out, and Dave was shocked. Vixen was crying. Dave didn't think
that Vixen had missed Rachael that much. But what else would she have been
crying at?

++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

	Dave was walking down one of the outlying streets of Otakuland, alone. Or as
alone as he could be with a small cloud of fangirls following about twenty feet
behind him, pausing every few steps and gigglings amongst themselves. Vixen had
taken the DVD and vanished. The sun had sunk into the ocean, setting the stage
for Otakuland's evening dwellers to emerge. Dave stopped to lean on a guardrail,
and gazed into the sunset. Nearby, a man was sitting on the ground, and playing
a an acoustic guitar. Notes from the Serial Experiment Lain soundtrack drifted
on the wind.

	Dave's eyes drooped as he burrowed himself into his thoughts. Perhaps it was
because of his ongoing recovery, or the comedown from arriving here, but he was
starting to feel a little lonely. He lowered his chin down upon his folded arms.
"We did so much to get here," he mumbled. "But we never thought about what we
would do once we arrived."

	"<Pssst, Chiyoko, what did he say?>" One of the fangirls nudged a slightly
taller one.

	"<He said that he was thinking so hard about getting here, that he never
thought about what he would do after that.>" The taller girl sighed wistfully.

	"<Oh, that is sooo bishounen... look at that tortured expression,>" a third
piped in, folding her hands over her chest, and swooning slightly. The fangirls
shared a sigh.

	Dave, although he could not understand, blushed in a pink hue that matched
the horizon. He tried to remember his first Japanese lesson today. His sensei
was very proud to be teaching him, although he was a little lackluster about
learning it. His perfect world was all around him, but he wasn't quite sure he
fit into it.

	The guitar player scooted over toward the crowd of girls, and tried to get
their attention. Noticing this from the corner of his eye, Dave picked up his
box and made a quiet exit. His missions thus far had taught him how to run away
quite efficiently when the need arose. He headed further into the neon dusk.

	"<Kyaaaaa!>" One of the fangirls had turned her head, and noticed the
absence of Dave. "<Where did he go?>"

	Chiyoko, who had assumed authority, nodded seriously. "<He faded away into
the night... like a shadowy warrior.>"

	"<That is soooo coool,>" another whispered. "<Dave-sama, I love you!>"

+++++++++++++++++++

	The sun had just set on Otakuland West. B1FF was strolling out of the hentai
sector, his eyes as wide as laserdiscs, and his skin was slightly paled from
blood loss. While normally he entered that area to do some shopping, this time
he just strolled through it on his way home, from lunch.

	On the way back, he passed a short girl in a seifuku who gave him a curious
look. She had unusually dark eyes, and was roughly the same age as he was. She
was quite cute however, and he had time enough to stop for that.

	Her eyes inflated. "You're B1FF Hiroshima, one of the wai-wai saviors of our
happy land?" Her voice was squeaky with interest.

	"U b3t b4b3," B1FF answered.

	"Sugooooooooi!," she said. "Come with Shino-chan onegai! I want to get some
good pictures of Biff-sama! I have all my... equipment in my apaato."

++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

	Phreakachu was disgruntled. It was a natural state of mind for the pokemon,
lying somewhere between hallucinations, paranoia, and hunger. Since coming to
this place, he had met none others like him, and Vixen was either sick or with
Dave. The Ecstasy around here was like popping Hello Kitty Crunch Candy, and he
had found nothing beyond beer and brandy that would really take him anywhere.

	Besides, all the other pokemon were... happy. They wanted him to play games,
frolic, and above all join AA. The only one who he could really stand was
Psyduck. Most of the time, Psyduck had a few doses of his home-made acid with
him, and didn't mind sharing. Sometimes Phreakachu wondered how many more
headaches he could take from that stuff. He had begun to learn to make small
items begin floating. Or that could have been the acid again.

	Lately he had been trying to get an in at the Kadokawa animation lab. They
were known around Otakuland for their open minds, and their late night pizza
orders. Unfortunately for Phreak, they were also a bit closed about admitting
new members. Stashes only went so far.

	Stumbling back to the pokemon district, Phreakachu cussed a blue streak,
showering sparks around him. Passerbys jumped aside, muttering in a language he
did not understand. He wasn't quite sure where he fit in all this, or if he did.
He also didn't know what he would do if he had to stay much longer

+++++++++++++++++++++++++

	Arashi scrubbed her wet head with a towel. Training had been fiercer and
fiercer each night, causing her to be soaked with sweat by the time she got
home. The commanders had promised that this next week would be the last one, and
they would learn about their mission, and review strategy until it was
undertaken.

	Slipping into a sweatshirt and some jeans, Arashi heard the door open and
shut. Judging from the footsteps, Kenishi was home, and heading towards the
family room. It was a rather large room in the apartment they were given, and
was stocked from ceiling to floor with multimedia equipment. They had a small
satellite dish installed to receive the signals from GENOM. Arashi was glad they
had installed the secondary function of beaming anime across the globe into the
otherwise deadly satellite. She thought it brought a touch of humanity to it. As
well, it allowed her and Kenishi to receive Captain Harlock episodes.

	"'Rashiiii," came Kenishi's voice from the kitchen. Arashi caught the hint
of a slur in it, and wondered exactly where he and hiro had been.

	"Coming dear," Arashi replied, as she stuck a few small hairpins into place.
Adjusting one more time in the mirror, she smiled her shiniest smile, and
skipped out to the living room.

	Kenishi was slumped in a padded chair, his head lolled on the armrest. His
eye was shot through with red. He smiled weakly as Arashi entered the room.
Arashi's own smile evened out when she saw him.

	"Well," she murmured to herself, "I suppose he deserves it after the last
few months." She perked the corners of her mouth as much as she could, and
strolled over to him. Kenishi slumped down in the chair as she rubbed his head
lovingly. Arashi felt warmth spreading from her heart as she looked down on how
cute he was.

	"I love you schooooooooooo mush," Kenishi slurred, as he tried to focus his
vision on the beautiful figure of his wife. "Coming home to you evvry night
makshe it worth goin thru any hell during tha day. Yer my little battle angel."
Arashi beamed down at him, and they grasped each other's hands lovingly.

	Suddenly, Kenishi's eye opened wide, and he ran down the hall. Arashi heard
the bathroom door being slammed, and several sick noises followed. Arashi
sweatdropped, and sat down in the now empty chair. Adjusting herself into the
great fluffy padding, she grabbed the remote, and flipped on Otaku All Night.

+++++++++++++++++++++++

	Vixen stormed into her apartment, her hair flying in a cloud behind her. She
slammed the door, and flung the DVD down at a leather chair. For a moment she
stomped back and forth in a brutal display of pacing. She hit the power switch
on her computer, and cursed.  Her hand hurt from pounding on the door of
Otakuland West's central computing lab. She had left dents on the door.

	Five days had gone by while she and Dave recovered. Vixen did not want to
waste any more time. Behind the shiny plastic of the DVD lay the final damning
evidence of who had destroyed her home. She needed it decoded.

	Vixen frowned at her surroundings. The cushy apartment looked far from lived
in. The only decoration was a small framed drawing by her futon. It depicted
Vixen, B1FF, and Phreak standing in front of Sherman. Her brother had given it
to her on one of their first missions, after drawing it on Sherman's 0ekaki
program. Luckily B1FF had a short time to grab some of their things out of
Sherman before it was plated and sealed with no real explanation.

	Vixen had to give Dave some small credit for remembering the disc. But once
they were inside Sherman, he had to go and find a box of that girl's stuff for
kami's sake, and start bawling like a baby without his mother. Every time she
thought he was finally over her, something like this happened, and it all went
to hell. Vixen kicked the chair, and cursed again. When would he get over
himself and open his eyes? She bit her lip, trying to fight back the tears.

	Her computer had started up. She shoved the DVD in, and waited for it to
show up on the desktop. Her background featured a picture of Rick and Lisa
Hunter together.

	"Computer, translate the data," she barked at it. Her tiny tank cursor
turned into a pistol that fired over and over while the computer worked at it.
Finally, a small text box popped up.

	ERROR: Unable to decode data without access to Genom or LARGO main
encryption database.

	Vixen slammed her fist into the wall. "I need to give this to that neurotic
bundle of nuts?" The last time she had seen LARGO, it had climbed a lightpost,
and started meowing for no reason that had been discerned. After the fact, she
learned that it took three hours and a cattail to lure it back down. There was
no hope of finding him tonight. It was high time to go let off some stress.

+++++++++++++++++++++++

	Dave was leaning on the guardrail, on the deck of his penthouse apartment.
B1FF was gone, as usual, so the double suite was his alone for the moment. The
box of Rachael's things was beside him on the floor. He set his chin down upon
his folded arms, and gazed up at the moon. The moon was beautiful, but so far,
and there was so much coldness between it and him. It was dead, and yet it shone
so brightly... like... He sat down and buried his face in his hands.

	After a while, he looked back up to see that the moon's face had been
covered with clouds. What had Vixen been crying about? He hoped that she was ok.
Dave remembered all the times she had screamed at him for being so emotional. It
had been a real shock to see her depressed. Maybe he was being too stuck on
Rachael, and that had upset her. But why should she be so upset at that? It
would have to mean she liked him, and surely that wasn't the case. Was it?

	He trudged to bed, and lay awake, unable to sleep with that thought in his
mind.

+++++++++++++++++++++++

	Although it was after hours at the shooting range, Vixen was still there,
drilling hole after hole in the targets. After blowing out three major target
areas on one with a 9mm, she moved to the next target area, and picked up a
Desert Eagle. Flicking the safety off with her left hand, she braced her feet
and arms, and sighted her target. In the blasting that followed, the target lost
both of it's legs at the knee, and a sensitive portion of its nonexistent
anatomy. Vixen next gave it three rounds to the heart, two to the gut, and
several more to the head, for good measure. Spent cases rolled across the floor.
She fired once more, and the case ejected, and bounced off her forehead. Vixen
stared coldly ahead.

	"Kowaii...." The shooting range operators were huddled under a table nearby.


++++++++++++++++++++++++

	The next morning, Dave stumbled out of bed, just as B1FF was stumbling in.
Dave blearily rubbed at his eyes, as the world blurred into focus. B1FF was
lurching around like a citizen of  Racoon City, and bleeding just as much. He
had shallow cuts and scratches across his body. Curiously, he was smiling,
although the smile had a haunted cast to it.

	"B1FF! What happened!?" Dave's eyes saucered, and he was now on the tips of
his toes. B1FF slowly fell over, like a great tree that has just been felled. He
lay on the floor, tiny drops of blood running down his cheeks and forehead.

	"Ph33r th3 cut3 0nez," he whispered cryptically, and passed out.

	Dave hastily applied some bandaids and gauze, and managed to drag the
bear-like B1FF to his bed, or at least the foot of it. Dave dropped the leg he
had been dragging B1FF with, and fell on his backside with a plop and a sigh.
The sun was shining brightly through the window, searing his eyes into
awareness. Outside, Otakuland was wide awake, and fangirls were waiting for him
around every corner. A bird chirped.

	Dave knitted his eyebrows. Something in the back of his mind was telling him
something was horribly wrong, but he couldn't quite make out why. Shaking it
off, he got up and went to the kitchen. The fridge was well stocked with
octopus, sushi, okonomiyaki, natto,  mayonnaise, and l33t b33r for the one
currently slumbering. From amidst these various foods, Dave pulled out a
slightly beaten cheeseburger, and dropped it in the microwave.

	While the microwave buzzed, Dave stared out the glass doors leading to the
balcony. A pair of sparrows were twittering away on the clothesline, while
another was hopping along the floor in search of food. Dave smiled to himself.
It was rare that he got to hear birdsong anymore, as it was usually drowned out
by all the ambient noise of Otakuland. Memories of lounging outside Sherman
during lunch came floating back.

	 Before the tears could start flowing again, it hit him. He could hear the
birdsong outside, during early afternoon in Otakuland. There were no sushi chefs
shouting, no j-poppers piping, and no council candidates campaigning. Puzzled,
Dave went to peer over the edge of his balcony at the city sprawl below him. The
streets were deserted by all but the dust, and the occasional small critter.

	With a good deal of confusion, Dave took the cheeseburger out of the
microwave, where it had finished cooking. He pressed the power key on the
computer that ran off Otakuland's internal network, and flipped the switch on
the 42 inch plasma display. The box powered up, and began connecting to the
network.

	That all ended in a giant flash of blue that knocked Dave out of his chair
in suprise.

	He peered up from the ground. The screen was all blue, save a skull and
crossbones icon. Across the center it read "j00 h4v3 b33n fUxx0r3d".

+++++++++++++++++++++++

	The central committee that ran Otakuland was in an uproar when the five
visitors arrived. Papers were being thrown, and all, save one, of the ten member
committee were shouting at each other, including the normally refined
representatives of bishonen and bishoujou. The doors opened to admit them just
as a copy of the FAQ was sailing across the room, apparently thrown by the
Minister of Kawaii, (a small girl seemingly in her mid teens, and with a
perpetual smile), at the Minister of Martial Arts, (a thickly build and muscular
man, who was wearing only long flowing silk pants and a sash to hold them).

	Papers covered so much of the horseshoe shaped table that its collapse
seemed inevitable. While a few of the Ministers were sitting, most were
standing, and several had either knocked their chairs over, or thrown them.
Entering first, hiro was suprised to see that the tall windows that surrounded
them were still intact. Kenishi followed behind him, with Arashi at her side.
Behind them walked Vixen and Dave. Dave clutched the DVD to his chest like a
child. The five of them stood there for a moment, hearing clips of the argument
that had apparently going on for some time.

	"There is no way in all of Jigoku that they could have gotten through from
the outside," shouted a man wearing a plugsuit and Char Aznable's helmet. "There
must be a spy!" He punctuated this by thrusting a finger up into the air,
although he did not seem to be pointing at anything.

	"That is the Minister of Mecha," Arashi whispered back to Dave and Vixen.
"He has gotten a little paranoid since almost all the mecha were destroyed in
the last fight.. he thinks he is out of a job." The edges of Vixen's lips turned
down, and Dave nodded.

	"This is all your fault General!" This came from an eccentric looking man
with a long red robe, and hair that vaguely resembled ruffled plumage. "I'm
telling you that you've gone too far... all this messing with the FAQ Hostile,
and then the LARGO project! I'm telling you, all we need for protection is my
Dragon Slave!"

	"The Minister of Magic," Kenishi noted quietly. "Some believe his arcane
studies have put him a little too close to large amounts of boiling mercury, and
other such substances."

	"LARGO?" exclaimed a small and bent old man with a shock of gray hair. Vixen
and Dave both knew him as the Minister of Hentai Studies, as B1FF and him had
spent time comparing notes. "Why is everyone talking about this LARGO project!
For the final time people, LARGO doesn't exist! Tell them General!"

	At this, the room fell completely quiet.

	"You blasted fool!" the Minister of Martial Arts roared. "Where have you
been the last week?!" Dave had to blink to make sure that the Minister's eyes
hadn't suddenly filled with flames.

	The old man looked slightly stunned. "Weeellll.. I have been inside a lot.
You know... working on my... collection, and my... studies."

	He was immediately besieged with all manner of binders and reports, flung at
him from around the room. At the end of the sudden attack, one shriveled arm
could be seen sticking out of the paper mountain. A servant dressed in the full
suited black of a kuroko seemed to appear out of the room's corner. The servant
quickly dug out the Minister, handed him a report, then quickly bowed and
vanished again.

	"Ahem," said the General, the only one who had not said anything yet. He was
as thickly built as the Minister of Martial Arts, but wore a plain green
uniform. He had short cropped hair and a small mustache.

	"By Spears!" Dave was so shocked that he uttered an oath from his former
home. "He's right out of...."

	"Uncanny, isn't it?" hiro whispered. "But the people in this room represent
a level of anime fandom unknown to most of mortal man. This whole scene would be
considered mere acting in normal otaku. But anime has become so ingrained into
their minds that the border between cel and flesh is almost gone."

	"So they're nutjobs," Vixen muttered. "Big deal."

	The General frowned, and folded his arms over his chest, creating an
imposing image. "Now," he began in a rough voice, "It looks as if some of you
are taking this a little too far. While most of our main systems have been shut
down, I will remind you all that central computing was able to detect the attack
before any compromise, and cut all outside lines from the main database. The
intruders have not gotten ahold of GENOM." The General leaned forward on the
table, taking time to look each of the other Ministers directly in the eyes
before continuing.

	"Our only mecha have been destroyed. As we all know, we lack the
technological skills to make more such as them. The aggressor has unknown
resources. LARGO is unstable, and we doubt the rail cannon is able to penetrate
deeply enough to destroy the enemy's core. We must send in a penetration team to
infiltrate and directly destroy our enemy." He grimaced. "It will no easy task.
Luckily, our exploring compatriots here," he raised one arm towards the group of
five, "have brought us some information that will prove valuable."

	The rest of the Ministers turned to look at the five Otaku, who they had
previously not noticed. Kenishi, Arashi and hiro received the attention with
little reaction. Vixen stiffened, her back straightening immediately. Dave felt
his face burn, and he looked at the ground. Then he glanced around, and tried to
imitate Vixen.

	"Honored Counsel Members," Kenishi smiled. "As you know, we have been
traveling across the land for quite some time now. Most recently, we were in
Seattle, where we received information about the so called Lord of the Warez. We
have confirmed he is behind the constant aggression towards Otakuland and the
destruction of our eastern city."

	With this, hiro plucked the DVD from Dave's grasp, and pulled another disc
out of one of the pockets lining his suit. He walked across to the General, and
handed them over with a bow. He then returned to the entrance of the room.

	The General first opened the disc that hiro had handed him, and a few
pictures fluttered out and landed on the ground.

	"We took those in what was once Alaska," Arashi explained. "The sign of the
Windows is clear. The hacking of the GENOM satellite was routed through that
point."

	The General turned to the wall across from the otaku, the only one without
windows. He flipped a switch on a small beige box, and put the DVDs into
separate slots in it. He sat down in a chair, and turned on the monitor that sat
next to the box, and pulled the keyboard out. For minutes the clacking of keys
filled the otherwise silent room.

	Frowning, he pulled out the one that Dave had carried, and looked at it. "We
can't use this one," he said. "We need to get in direct contact with GENOM to
decode it, and there is only one way to do that now, but..... ahhh." He returned
his gaze to the screen.

	For a moment, he focused entirely on the new windows that had popped up.
Then the General stood up, and turned to face the rest of the conference room.
His eyes glittered as he reported: "We have them now." A collective sigh passed
through the room.

	"Oh dear kami!" The Minister of Hentai leapt atop the table, the last page
of the report held in one trembling hand.

	"Looks like someone has caught up," the Minister of Bishoujou studies
murmured.

	"Yesterday was laundry day at the Goddess Circle Building, and I forgot! Oh
my silky darlings!"

+++++++++++++++++++++++

	The preparations were underway. Dave and Vixen were given the task of
tracking down LARGO, and convincing him to finally decode the disc they had
salvaged. Dave tagged behind Vixen as she asked every scientist they could find
as to where the paranoid android. They received a host of guesses, but it seemed
that LARGO had been hiding off by himself recently.

	After an hour of this, Vixen got really mad. At which time, Dave suggested
they go scout from a high vantage point. This idea was ruefully accepted, and
they made a trek for the closest hill. They climbed a set of stairs up to a
little concrete park with several pairs of binoculars installed on the ridge of
the hill. Vixen went up and leaned over the guardrail, her eyes seeking any
disturbance. Dave fished 50 yen out of his pockets, and plunked them down into
the binoculars.

	"See anything?" Vixen asked.

	"Nothing yet," replied Dave, the binoculars still sweeping over Otakuland.

	"Listen, Dave," Vixen said, her voice a little quieter than usual. "What are
we going to do after all this?"

	Dave stood up from the binoculars, and looked concernedly at Vixen. "Well,"
he fumbled, "we were going to get decorated in a public ceremony this weekend,
receiving that medal you were excited about. And after that, I guess we'll be
heroes, and we'll settle down, and do... something." He frowned. "Yeah, I guess
I've been thinking about that too."

	Vixen sighed, and undid the ponytail that was keeping her hair up. "I'm
going to go out again."

	"What?" Dave was shocked. "But we just got here, and it took so long! You're
just going through culture shock like me! You can't leave!" Forgetting himself,
he took hold of her wrist.

	A tinge of red touched Vixen's cheeks. She felt a terrible vertigo in her
chest as she covered Dave's hand in both of hers. "Listen newbie," she said with
slight affection. "I know how you feel about this place. And I understand if...
if you don't want to come with. I just want to let you know beforehand, and to
let you know... I.."

	The sound of squabbling came from over the stairway as two groups of fuku
wearing shoujou into sight. One group was wearing all black fuku, and most had
dyed their hair blue. The other were relatively normal looking, but all wore
giant buttons with Dave's face printed on them. They seemed to be fighting with
each other.

	"Oh by Saeba," Vixen muttered. She dropped Dave's hand before anyone else
could see. "I want to let you know that you're the best newbie I've seen." She
frowned. "Look, you know as well as I what happens to two anime characters when
they start out at each other's throats, and like it or not, it seems to be
happening."

	Dave nodded quietly, and looked down. He had been right. It was just like in
so many anime he had seen. There the choices were so easy, and you could
ridicule the hero for not seeing who he should end up with. But now he didn't
feel like it was easy at all. He still loved Rachael so much, how could he think
about someone else? But Vixen was here, now, and he had traveled far with her.

	The fuku-clad clans had come within twenty feet of the pair and stopped.
They were quiet, but shared many harsh glances.

	"Hah," Vixen laughed bitterly. "Even our little entourages fight with each
other." She turned towards hers, and called out: "Shouldn't you all be in
school?"

	The girl at lead of the black column, (and indeed, it seemed as if they were
in formation), replied. "Hai, Vixen-sama! But we were evacuated when a possible
hostile entered the classroom!"

	Vixen arched her eyebrows. "Possible hostile?"

	"Hai, Vixen-sama," repeated the girl, "The android known as LARGO."

	Vixen's eyes flashed. "The first one to lead me to your school will receive
uhm, a promotion! By me!" There was some breaks in the discipline of her group
as excited voiced babbled.

	"Silence!" commanded the head of the Vixen fan club. "You heard our
commander! All rise! Aboooouuuut..... fuku! Forwaaaaaaaaard march!" The ranks
obeyed with slightly less than military precision.

	Vixen smiled grimly. Maybe if they came with her, one or two would even
survive. She set off behind them, and Dave followed her.

	As Dave was passing his own camp, one of his fangirls tugged at his sleeve.
"Dave-samaaa," she pleaded, "we don't wanna go back there.. that robot is so
scaaary. Won't you stay here and make us feel better?" She turned downcast eyes
up at him, using every shred of her training at him.

	Dave gulped. "Well, ah...." he started, before Vixen reached back and yanked
him forward by his collar. "You've... ack.. got to face what you *cough cough*
fear!" He tripped on behind Vixen, trying to get his balance back.

	Chiyoko, who was of course leading the Dave fangirls, stared in absolute
malice at Vixen. "Why is Dave always around her?" she demanded. "All she does is
get in our way, and hog OUR Dave-sama's attention!"

	"Maybe he likes her," one of them piped up dejectedly.

	"Are you kidding?" another said. "_Everybody_ knows how much he likes J-Pop.
How could he like someone like her? Especially when he has all of us cute and
sweet girls around."

	"Yeah," agreed a third. "Besides, I don't think _she_ could care about
anybody who doesn't go to sleep with pistols on. Everyone knows she is just
using him to do her work for him, and he was the real star." There was a hmph of
agreement through the group.

+++++++++++++++++

	"Anyway, he doesn't even have a gun," one of Vixen's Pretties, as the
fangirls styled themselves, whispered to another. "Why would she like him?"

	"Well, he did make it all the way across the continent, and he is pretty
cute," the other whispered back. "Besides, she is Vixen. She can like whoever
she wants."

	"Yeah, I guess," the first whispered. "But I hear she was the one who saved
him all the time..."

	The school was a three story stone building, that had been completely
evacuated. Everything inside seemed darker than it did outside. The classes were
organized into lots by their grade and group number, and were mostly seated on
the grass yard. To their right, a small team of identical looking Otakuland
scientists stood, recording data onto small clipboards. Each wore the same long
white coat, and goggles.

	"Hey, lookit," shouted a young boy in a nearby group. "The ÔDirty Hairs' are
back!" He chortled. Then he noticed Vixen step out from behind him, and quickly
stopped.

	"Rrrrr," the leader of Vixen's Pretties, whose name was Shinako growled. "I
wish I could show Ryo his place!" She stomped on the ground with her designer
boots.

	Vixen smiled briefly, but her face turned hard again as she walked over to
the scientists, who were busy scribbling away. She tapped on on the shoulder,
and he looked up from with his clipboard, startled.

	"Give me a full debriefing," she ordered him.

	"Yes'm," he said. "LARGO entered the school roughly an hour ago, and
immediately shorted the main power to the building. The school was immediately
evacuated, and he has since then been running through the halls, and screaming."

	"Screaming?" Vixen asked. "Screaming what?"

	The scientist pulled a sheaf of papers from his pocket, and studied them for
a moment. "Well," he frowned. "he appears to be shouting ÔHelp, help. I don't
like small places, I'm afraid of the dark.'"

	"He is in UY now," one of the other two scientists said with interest. "I
wonder what he'll do next?"

	"LARGO was programmed with all the neuroses of various anime characters, in
order to make him next to impossible to control," stated the third scientist.
"That way, only the Otaku would know all the stimuli to control him... any other
group would most likely be destroyed eventually."

	"So you have a plan?" Vixen asked. The scientists collectively nodded back.

	"Yes," the first one said, "And you are just the person we need to complete
it." The second scientist held up a tiger striped bikini and a green wig.

	Vixen backed off a step. "Oh no... no no no.. there is no way. Make him wear
it," she said, pushing Dave forward. But the scientists shook their heads.

	"You're the only one among all these kids who could come close to Lum's
endowments," the second scientist explained. "You can't fake those."

	"Trust us," said the third. "We've tried it."

+++++++++++++++++++++++++

	Vixen came close to lighting the school herself from the crimson glow of her
skin as she stomped down the school halls dressed as Lum. The resulting noise
and.... other effects of her stomping did little to calm Dave, who was dressed
as Shinobu. His brain was 
flashing between fear, embarrassment, concern, and repressed hentai. He went
over the plan again in his mind.

	They had searched the entirety of the main floor, and part of the second
before they heard the clomping of LARGO running above their heads. The noise ran
on past them, and then they heard him descending the stairwell. Vixen jumped
into the shadow of a doorway, leaving Dave alone to face the oncoming robot.

	The doors at the end of the hall burst open, and LARGO charged through,
wielding a katana, and slashing blindly ahead of him. "Help!" The synthesized
voice itself had changed to resemble the character he emulated. "I'm afraid of
the dark! Lum-chaaan!" He continued to charge towards Dave.

	Dave steeled himself, and forced himself not to move as the robot came
running toward him. He waited till LARGO was within six steps, and opened his
mouth to speak. "Ataru?" he squeaked in a falsetto.

	LARGO charged for another step, causing Dave's confidence to crack. But then
the android froze, and dropped the katana. His crimson eyes clicked shut and
open again as the sword rattled to the tiled floor. LARGO stopped, and looked
directly at Dave. "Oh!" said LARGO, whose voice had now changed. "Shinobu!"

	Dave knew it had worked. LARGO had changed personalities. This caused him to
sigh in relief, until he saw the lecherous grin on LARGO's face. Dave started to
turn, but LARGO launched himself at Dave. Dave was too late, and the glomping
robot knocked him directly to the floor.

	He opened his mouth in terror as LARGO began kissing his face, and moved his
hands up the side of Dave's body.

	"Oh, Shinobu," LARGO exclaimed. LARGO's hands grasped at the balloons under
Dave's shirt. Unfortunately, the robot's strength was too much, and he popped
one of them. "Shinobu!" LARGO cried. "Are you ok?"

	Vixen leapt out of the doorway, taking advantage of LARGO's suprise.
"Dahling!" she shouted, although Dave wasn't quite sure who she was shouting at.
She was still bright red, but her hands were pressed into fists, and her eyes
were slits.

	"Lum!" LARGO was terrified. He stood up, and froze for a half second.

	"Now!" Vixen yelled, and tackled LARGO, the wig flying off her head. Dave
grabbed one of the robot's legs, and pulled it out, causing LARGO to fall back
to the floor with a bang. The next thing he heard was Vixen shouting "Shut your
eyes!"

	"Wh-" Dave started.

	"Just do it!" Vixen's voice was imperative. Once she had made sure that Dave
wasn't looking, and that LARGO was knocked out, she picked herself up from the
floor and adjusted her bikini slightly. She checked herself again. "Ok," she
said, a little more calm. "You can look again... just be careful where."

	Dave complied meekly, afraid to ask what he shouldn't have been looking at.
He checked LARGO, whose eyes had faded to black. "I guess we should get him out
of here before he waked up again."

	"If you say so," Vixen replied. "Get moving newbie.. I'm not carrying
anything out of here until I get my clothes back."

	Dave opened his mouth to argue, but decided against it. He picked up one of
LARGO's legs, and wondered if he was going to be doing this kind of hauling much
more. Maybe Vixen would be next.

	Vixen noticed Dave's smile, and was ready to let loose a scathing comment in
case he had been looking at her. But he had already begun to drag LARGO off. 
She crossed her arms, and turned her back to him. "Make sure you get my fuku!"
She cried after him.

	She thought for a moment. "And don't do anything funny with it!" She added.

+++++++++++++++++++++

	After changing back into her fuku, (inside the bathroom at school), Vixen
rejoined Dave with the scientists. The students had already begun filing back
into the building with groans of dismay. LARGO was still unconscious, and one of
the three scientists was examining it. Vixen noticed that a military jeep had
been summoned, and a stretcher. She returned the wig to them, but gave them a
cold look when they asked for the rest of the costume back.

	"You're not touching this stuff," she said. "There has been far too much
hentai around here already, and I'm not going to support any more." The first
scientist frowned, but assented.

	"So," Dave explained, "we need the data on this DVD decoded by LARGO. It is
urgent, and a matter of top security." He held up the disc for the scientists to
see.

	"Hmm," the first one said. "We will have to take it to our leaders. Only
there are the computers still working, and they have all the equipment to link
up LARGO. We will take this disc, decode it there, and send the information by a
safe method to the General." The other two scientists nodded simultaneously at
this.

	Dave looked up at Vixen, who nodded with a frown. The DVD was given to the
scientist, who pocketed it, and finished jotting some notes on his clipboard. As
one, they put the clipboards away, and pulled LARGO up onto the stretcher. They
put this in the Jeep, and then got in themselves. The driver started it up,
saluted to Vixen, and drove off.

	"Some of these people are a bit too much," she commented.

	Dave nodded in agreement. "So where to now?"

	"I'm going home, and so should you," Vixen said, looking across the city.
"We'll probably be summoned for a briefing eventually, and we need to be ready."

	"Vixen?" said Dave, in a low voice.

	Vixen stopped in the mid motion of putting her ponytail back up. "Yes?" she
replied, not looking at Dave.

	"Uhm," he said, looking down. "Have a good night," he added, even though it
was as yet midday. "See you later." Dave started down in a direction different
from where Vixen was looking.

	"You too," she said softly, after he had left.

+++++++++++++++++++++

	After the counsel meeting, Arashi had gone to a nearby gym to work out. She
changed into a loose black gi, and began stretching out her muscles for the
workout. She mentally did a small checklist. Kenishi at home, trying to relax.
After the meeting, he had been frustrated, but she had given him a long back
massage, and some Emaraldis tapes. If those didn't keep him relaxed enough, he
could go out, and take care of himself. So no worry there.

	She lowered herself into full splits, and wondered how the Hiroshimas and
Dave were doing. They'd fully recovered physically, and she knew B1FF was more
than happy here, but she had no word from Vixen or Dave. And she knew for a fact
that Phreakachu wasn't doing well. She'd watched him a few days in a row, and he
was going through some major issues of withdrawal. That was unfortunately not
something that she could help him with. 

	She'd also watched hiro a couple times, although he was a bit trickier to
spy on. He seemed to be a bit more pleasant than he had been on the trip up
here. He seemed to know a few people around the city. More than a few times, she
had seen him having extended conversations with a cute girl who ran a mochi
stand. He seemed to have become the Lupin-esque rogue she remembered in school,
rather than the manipulating Brian J. Mason he had been on the trip up here.

	Finishing her stretches, she began a routine on the high and low bars. The
creaking of the bars and the spinning of her body made her a bit more at home
and relaxed. She flipped up at the top of a rotation, and spun in the air,
landing with her feet on the bar. She stood up carefully, and surveyed the gym
out of habit. She walked down the length of the bar, and flipped to the ground
with ease.

	After this attack, she was sure that they would conduct a strike against the
Lord of the Warez. The General had already inquired if she would be interested
in the military action. At the thought of this, she felt knots begin to climb up
her back, and quickly flexed her back muscles to untie them.

	Arashi knew she was still in her fighting prime, but she had seen more blood
spill in real life than she liked. She had seen fights that rivaled Fist of the
North Star for amount of gore. She felt like it was time to have a quieter life,
and settle down. Maybe think of little Ken-chans running around the house. She
smiled to herself.

	But the thought of duty quickly invaded this scene. She breathed out in
disappointment when she realized that even if she didn't go, Kenishi would. And
then she would have to go along to make sure he didn't get hurt. But it was a
pleasant little thought. Maybe after this fighting was over, she would be able
to make it come true.

+++++++++++++++++++++

	hiro at attention in front of the General, his hands at his side and his
back totally straight. He had been summoned with urgency, and had shown up with
celerity. They had even let him past the standard security check with no
questions.

	The General was smoking a cigarette, and looking out his office window. The
long desk in front of hiro was covered in small topographical maps and reports.
Along the back wall was a gigantic map of the world as it had been before the
war. hiro gave the briefest of glances to Japan, the home none of them had
known.

	The General extinguished his cigarette in a small ashtray, and turned to
face his visitor. His intense eyes scanned over hiro once before he began to
speak. "hiro, you are one of our most valuable operatives currently. You have
traveled this country multiple times, planting seeds of Otaku culture, and
recording what you could about the other tribes. You are the last living of a
great organization within the Otaku, and one of the top in your class. You've
been called the Duke Togo of your time."

	hiro stood waiting. While the flattery was always pleasant, it did not stand
well with one part of him that knew some of the measures he had to take in order
to complete the missions that had earned him his name. He was glad to have had
at least a brief rest from the constant feeling of dancing on a knife's edge.

	"I'm sure you've heard all this before," the General continued as he studied
hiro's lack of expression. "I am reminding you of it because I have a mission
for you. I just received the data from the DVD that Strike Team Theta brought
in. With it, and all the other data that we have, we have finally affirmed the
location of the Lord of the Warez. We are now placing our forces and the two
Strike Teams that you lead here on twenty four hour mobilization alert. It will
be a logistical nightmare, but we plan to move out the first wave tomorrow
morning, consisting of one infiltration group, and then move in five strike
teams tomorrow afternoon."

	hiro nodded. This explained the urgency. He anticipated the next sentence
with a slight feeling of nervousness. It was the same feeling he got when he
knew he was going to be stabbed or shot,but knew he could not do anything about.

	"You are leaving tonight," the General ordered. "I've assembled these maps
and files for you. The maps are the last ones we received from GENOM before it
was hacked. I've secured you a motorcycle. A quiet one. As well, you have access
to the armory for weapons and defense. Do you have any objections to this?"

	"No sir," hiro replied. He did not know the risks that waited for him, but
he knew their magnitude. He would have to be extremely lucky to get in, not to
mention getting out. He began putting together a plan whereby he could be
captured when they found him, rather than killed outright, therefore giving him
time until the main strike occurred.

	"Hmm," the General pondered. "How have your wounds recovered?"

	hiro grimaced. "My ribs feel as brittle as sticks of Pocky sir, if I may be
honest. But there was no serious damage to my organs, and I've kept up the
constant diet of Pocari Sweat that I was proscribed. I will not be fully
recovered when I arrive, but I should be able to perform well enough."

	"Ah, the wonderful powers of Pocari Sweat," the General said. "Then I'll
begin to brief you on what we know..."

++++++++++++++++++++

	After the briefing, hiro left, and considered any business he had at
Otakuland. He had to write a note for Mariko, and to leave it at her shop. He
had to write a quick revision of his will. He began pacing down the streets
toward his home.

	On the way back, he stopped in front of the apartment building that housed
Arashi and Kenishi. He walked up three of the steps to pay them a quick visit,
then stopped and turned around. He could not tell his friends goodbye. If he
died on a mission, they would understand. Better to die without saying a final
farewell in person than to say it before every mission and live constantly
knowing how brief your life might be.

++++++++++++++++++++

	After receiving the alert notice, the rest of Dave's evening was spent
watching various anime, trying to decide what to do about Vixen. He had started
with Kimagure Orange Road, but quickly reconsidered, as he remembered what Vixen
liked. He had gone through Riding Bean, Gunsmith Cats, and City Hunter. He was
just finishing an episode of Bubblegum Crisis, in which Leon had once again
failed to impress Priss.

	"They're all trying too hard," Dave mumbled sleepily. "Look at Golgo 13...
he doesn't do anything, and the girls fall over him... I wish I had that gift."
Dave settled back in the beanbag chair and closed his eyes. "Maybe I should talk
to B1FF, if he ever gets back..."

	"4b0ut what d00d?" The door closed behind B1FF who had snuck in, thinking
Dave to be asleep.

	"Er," Dave sat up quickly, not quite knowing what to say. "About, uhm,
Vixen...."

	B1FF laughed. "0 c0m3 on d00d. I kn0w U 2 hav3 the h0tz 4 3ach 0th3r." He
slapped Dave on the back.

	"Huh?" Dave's initial startle had shifted into confusion. "How do you know
that? I didn't even know that. I still don't know if I do or what."

	"W3ll d00d, 1 kn0w my s1s lik3s U b3cause sh3 h4sn't sh0t at U yet, like 5he
did w1th all th3 0ther b0yz who h4ve c0me aft3r h3r. And 1 kn0w U and Rach43l
had th4t thing, but U g0tta get ov3r 1t sometime. Ure y0ung d00d. But 0ne
th1ng... n3v3r try to me55 around with my s1s."

	"Because you'll pound me?" Dave offered.

	"No d00d," B1FF grinned. "Cuz sh3'll k1ll U."

++++++++++++++++++++

	The next day was filled with preparations. After talking with B1FF till his
head hurt from the alphanumerics, Dave had collapsed in bed. He was woken in the
late morning by B1FF, who seemed just as groggy as he felt, but looked very
serious.

	"D00d," he said. "W3 got the c4ll."

	They had met up with Vixen outside the briefing room, where a large group of
military personnel were waiting. The double doors to the room itself were still
closed. Vixen was sitting in a corner, staring at a spot on the wall, and
holding a large black bag.

	"S1s, wh3re 1s Phr3ak?" B1FF and Dave took seats next to Vixen on the bench
she was sitting on. She pointed in the bag, and said nothing more. That seemed
to chill any further conversation, and the three of them waited until the doors
opened, and found their seats without any further speaking. Kenishi joined them
at the table they were assigned with a grim nod.

	When everyone had settled down into their seats, the General joined them.
With a smile, he had the five Strike Teams present themselves, to make sure that
everyone was present. When they reached Strike Team Theta, the general smiled.

	"I am glad to see you are willing to undertake further missions for
Otakuland. I apologize that you have not received full decoration for previous
missions, but it seems we'll have quite a few medals for you when you return."

	This broke Vixen's poker face, and she grinned, along with B1FF.

	"In this case, your companion Kenishi will be added into the Strike Team.
But I see that you seem to be short one member? Where is Phreakachu?"

	At this, Vixen opened the black bag. Slowly Phreakachu rose out of it like a
yellow balloon. He hovered there for a moment, with a giant smile across his
face. Then he began to float across the table before Vixen gave a small tug on
the leash she had made for him.

	"Chuuuuuuuuuuu," Phreakachu smiled. The new stash certainly took the edge
off Psyduck's LSD.

	The General was almost taken aback. But any Strike Team that had crossed the
country relatively unscathed had to have a few ways to get away. "Well then," he
said. "We're all accounted for. I'll begin the briefing."

++++++++++++++++++++++++

	The details of the mission took over an hour. They learned that the initial
teams had left, and that one scout had been sent before that in order to gain
intelligence and recon. The Strike Teams would provide the main assault force,
once the entrances to the base were secure. They had another hour to pack up
what they needed, and then they were to meet at the northern gate of Otakuland.

	"Sir," asked Vixen, towards of the end of the briefing, "if I may ask, is my
team being lent a tank?"

	"We have added to the armor of the Rurouni," the General answered. "Your
team will be the fastest vehicle in the forces, so it will be your job to play
the traditional cavalry role. Harass the infantry, and make sure you don't
become surrounded."

	"Sir, I humbly request a tank. With due respect, my Strike Team's experience
is with heavy assault vehicles, not a light carrier hovercraft. I believe we
will serve the raid better with something that has treads and full armor." Vixen
frowned. She did not want to be going into war with a hovercraft. While she had
seen what the Rurouni was capable, it was hard to take a vehicle seriously when
you could immobilize it with a thick needle.

	"I understand your concern Squad Leader Vixen," the General replied.
"However, we have nothing that can currently be offered to you."

	Vixen's frown deepened. "I understand. Thank you sir."

++++++++++++++++++++++++

	Dave stood in the doorway of his room, unsure of just what to pack. He had
decided against any reminders of Rachael already. First he chose the katana he
had bought over in the main shopping street. He didn't know how to use it yet,
but it might come in handy. Secondly, he added a few Yoko Kanno and Utada Hikaru
albums. He took the one gun that he had been allowed to have, and a handful of
ammo, along with his everyday necessities such as clothes, toiletries, and a
some Ah! Megamisama mangas.

	Finally he took his reporter's journal, filled with all the things he had
recorded about the current plight of the Otaku. It was looking a little stuffed
now, as he had tried to write at least a few things down each night. He had not
touched it since recovering it from Sherman, but it would certainly come in
handy now.

	In the other room, B1FF already had a large CD case marked "pr0n". He looked
around, grabbed some tissues and a gun. After another moment, he stuffed these
into a suitcase with some clothes, and headed out.

++++++++++++++++++++++++

	Vixen walked into her room and stuffed her suitcase full of fukus. She
grabbed a few things from her bathroom, dropping that in next. Third were the
eight pistols and their respective ammo. Lastly she grabbed the picture from
B1FF, and closed her suitcase, leaving once again.

++++++++++++++++++++++++

	Kenishi had simply walked back to where he had brought the Rurouni at the
north gate. He knew all about it since Arashi had already left, and he was eager
to join her. He leaned back on the hull, and adjusted his eyepatch. hiro was
gone already too, although Kenishi did not know when he had left.

	Kenishi let his head rest on the cushion of the hovercraft, as he let his
mind wander. After this, K1b0 would be able to establish dominance, and continue
the war against AOL. GENOM would be under little threat that they knew of. All
might be quiet for a little while. Perhaps enough time to find something that
did not involve traveling across the nation.

	He cracked his neck and his knuckles, and headed into the ship. It might be
a little while till the Hiroshima kids got back, and he wanted to finish those
Emeraldis tapes. Then he could fool around just a little while longer. A smile
lit his face as he settled into the cockpit.

++++++++++++++++++++++++

	The five Strike Teams rumbled off to battle at 13:00. Much of Otakuland had
heard about the mission through OPR's Morning Musume program, and had chosen to
give them a hero's farewell. As the engines of the Strike Team's vehicles came
to life, they were drowned by the cheers from the citizens assembled on the
city's wall.

	Inside the Rurouni, Strike Team Theta had taken up their positions. Kenishi
sat in the driver's seat, while Dave was seated next to him as the navigator.
Vixen was checking the armory, and B1FF was in charge of computers and
communications. Phreakachu had nominated himself for the position of getting
high in the storage closet.

	The routine soon set in, while each of them prepared again for once again
going back into the world they had known for so long, after having escaped for a
short time in Otakuland West. The Strike Teams covered the distance in a matter
of days, while the previous team had managed to get a half day's advantage.
While the Strike Teams slept on their fourth night of driving, the raid had just
begun.

+++++++++++++++++++++++++

The former city of Redmond, Washington:

	The shadow slipped in past the two heaps which bled out their life on the
floor. It glided down the stairs, seeming less tangible than it's reflection on
the steel plates of the wall. The tabi whispered to the floor, letting it alone
know the secret of the intruder.

	The shadow paused, flipped, and let a sibilant arc of death behead another
guard. 
The kodachi whipped around, cleaning itself like a cat, letting the blood
scatter off its shining coat. It was more of a solid entity than the shadow who
walked.

	Following the trail of blood, five more figures entered the broken gates of
the camouflaged stairwell. They moved as a conspiracy, huddled against each
other, hands gripping various implements hidden below dark cloaks.

	One of the figures nudged the one to his left.

	"Hey Shido-kun, you took your pills this morning, right?"

	The shadow paused.

	"Pills?" she asked.

	"Yeah," answered the previous speaker, a young man named Toru. "He's got the
Akira Syndrome you know."

	All eyes turned to Shido.

	"Akira Syndrome..." Arashi looked perplexedly at her squad.

	"Un," Toru answered for Shido, who was huddling sheepishly. "It's like
Tourette's I gather. But every time he tries to attack someone, he has to shout
out their name first. You know.. like when Tetsuo fought Kaneda."

	Small sweatdrops began to form among the squad. Toru, oblivious, was
grinning, and slapping Shido on the back. Arashi's sword drooped slightly, and
she rubbed at her temples with one hand, trying to block the rising headache.

	"It plays hell on stealth missions like this," Shido chuckled. "But he's
fine if he's taken his pills... you took them this morning, right?" He beamed
confidently at Toru.

	"W-well..." Toru began, the edges of his mouth perking up, as another guard
turned around the corner to face them.

	"G-G-GUARD NUMBER FOUUUUUUUUUUR!!!!!!" Toru screamed, and began firing his
pistol, sending echoes down the hall.

	Arashi's sword clattered to the ground, and her face paled with shock.
Bullets ricocheted off the steel walls, some piercing the guard, some zinging
off down further passageways like pinballs. The guard slid down the wall,
leaving a smeared trail of red. The squad had stuck themselves to the wall in
panic as Shido continued to fire, despite the fact he had long run out of
bullets.

	Arashi put her head in her hands and knelt to the floor. "Kami," she swore,
"What idiot made _these_ guys the Metal Gear squad..."

	"Well, we did access the ninja levels in our VR training facility faster
than anyone else in Otakuland," one of the two women in the five offered. The
group smiled feebly.

	"Of course, in your case Haruko," countered the other, known as Michiko,
"that was because you ran in and killed all the guards with a machine gun before
they had time to reach the alarm."

	Haruko turned up her nose at this. "Just because _you_ won the Snake-chan
plushie by sheer luck..." Arashi held up her hand.

	"Where is our fifth member... Satsuji?" Arashi had not seen him leave,
neither had she heard anything. Her headache rose just a touch more.

	"Well, he could have urgently needed to go back outside," Shido offered. "I
told him not to have sukiyaki tonight, but he didn't listen." Shido smiled in a
way he hoped was hopeful and morale raising.

	"Alright," Arashi said. "You four go back outside and search for him. Make
it quick! We need to get inside and start preparing this place for the main
force." She punctuated this by jabbing towards them with the kodachi. Shido
jumped back, saluted, and led the others outside.

	Arashi forced herself to relax, sheathing her kodachi and surveying the
entrance. The stairwell down from outside led into a small room with a doorway
to what she assumed was the main portion of the base. The only part she could
see was a long hallway that had one turn, and then ended. She frowned, and
rearranged the guard's bodies, and stopped the blood flow from seeping out into
view of anyone in the further corridors.

	According to her briefing, hiro should have come this way approximately
twelve hours ago. She wondered if he had left anything behind for her. Then
again, there was always the possibility he had not even made it this far. The
trip out here had been dangerous enough. Arashi knelt down and traced her
fingers over some of the tiles to see if any of them were loosened.

	Satsuji took this moment to round the corner in front of them, from inside
the base itself. He was wiping blood off a katana with the remains of a guard
uniform. His dark eyes looked up at his companions and he smiled. "I think I got
most of the nearer guards," he said. "Although I'm sure there are some inside
that heard the ruckus, so I'm not sure how much time we have, ma'am." He put his
own sword away in a scabbard that was half hidden beneath his cloak.

	Arashi raised one eyebrow. "How did you manage to slip in and kill them so
quickly, and without me noticing?" She put her hands on her hips and looked at
him critically. He was in good shape, with no scars or distinguishing marks. He
looked confident enough, and he must be to have taken out guards like that.

	"I'm glad to be working with you," he said. "I've heard information about
you and your husband from our scouts. You seem very competent, and now that I've
met you, you are quite beautiful as well."

	Arashi almost blushed in spite of herself. "Yes, but I am still your
commander, and we don't have time for this. Gather your teammates, they're
outside looking for you. The stunt you pulled gained us some time, but we're
losing it all because you didn't let us know. So hurry up."

	Satsuji did blush at this, and he hurried out to get the others. Arashi was
glad that she had taken hold of the situation. Reaching back into her belt, she
took out a metal box about the size of a large liquor flask. The surface was
covered in a ten key numeral pad. She flipped a switch near the top, and typed
in a number combination.

	Her squad quickly reassembled. She noticed that someone had the foresight to
gag Toru. Haruko handed her a small piece of paper.

	"I found this outside," she explained.

	Arashi held it in her free hand. It was a note from hiro. She read it to
herself:

	"Arashi-san,

		If you are reading this, then you have arrived at the entrance to our
	target. I have the greatest confidence in your ability to arrive. I have
also
	arrived without incident, and will be entering the compound shortly, once
	it is possible to enter without incident. I have searched the local terrain,
	and this seems to be the only entrance.
		I will be trying to obtain information here that can be transmitted to
	the main Strike Teams by way of GENOM, if I can access the satellite itself.
	However, I cannot make any assurances as to my success, under the
	current situation. I will make every attempt to create some quiet upheaval
	in the compound, so your entrance will be less likely to be noticed.
		Please note that your team is perhaps not what you expected. They
	have their strengths, but they are still rather green. It may take them a
short
	time to convert their previous training into reality on a mission of this
kind.
	Satsuji will be able to help you directly. He was a scout before, but was
	forced to retire to Otakuland West after a diplomatic incident involving
	the daughter of a tribe we share the coast with's leader. The Surfers have
	not yet forgotten the incident, and we had to bring back in a talented
scout.
		It is my hope that we meet on the inside, and that this mission is
	completed successfully. May your team have the best of luck.

	hiro

	PS: Please make sure that your member by the name of Toru has taken
	his medicine.

	Arashi smirked at the last line, and crumpled the paper into a ball.
"Alright," she commanded. "Satsuji, take point. Everyone in... quick and quiet."
Satsuji peeked around the doorway's corner, and slid through. After a few
seconds, he gave the signal for the rest to enter.

	After they were all through, Arashi took the metal box, and attached it to
the side of the door that faced out, half jutting out over the bolt. It stuck
when she took her hand away, and she joined her squad on the other side.
Cringing, she shut the door quietly, hoping the device wouldn't make too much
noise.

	A small flash and a hiss came as the door shut. Arashi saw some smoke rise
from the crack between door and jamb. She sighed in relief, and tried the door.
It didn't budge.

	"Yoshi," she said, "before any of you ask what that was, it was a device to
fuse the door shut until the Strike Teams arrive. No one else is getting in or
out. So no thoughts of retreat."  She narrowed her eyes and gave them a grim
look. Shido's smile had toned down several shades, but the rest of them seemed
to be taking it well.

	"Ja, our main objective is to locate the armories, and destroy what we can.
Our secondary mission is to establish contact with our operative, hiro, and gain
information from him. After we have met these objectives, we will either strike
at targets of opportunity, or secure ourselves, and wait for the Strike Teams to
arrive."

	"Yokai," her squad answered as a unit.

	Arashi surveyed the area. The corridor that ran straight from the now sealed
doorway seemed to be the edge of the current room. "We'll skirt the edges for
now and see what we can find. Lets go." Satsuji took a position well ahead of
them, while Arashi and the rest of the squad followed behind.

+++++++++++++++++++++++++++

	hiro smiled in his cellblock. The security in here was fairly tight, but
stupid. He hadn't run once they encountered him, and he had stashed his sword.
Therefore he did not appear to be an immediate threat. He had given them little
information when they had initially interrogated him. It was late enough that
they did not have anyone around to deal with him, although he was promised a
"forceful decryption" soon. He could probably survive one or two, and then the
main Strike Teams would arrive. Then it would all depend on them

	He leaned back on his bunk, and looked outside the cell. There was little
surveillance here. He pulled the thin computer from a pouch on his suit's leg,
and began writing up the information he had gathered so far.

	"So what'd they bring you in for?" The voice came from the cell next to him.

	hiro furrowed his eyebrows. He wanted to ignore whoever it was, but the
voice seemed oddly familiar. "I am sorry," he replied, "but that is somewhat
classified."

	"Ah," replied the voice. "I see. Sore wa himitsu desu, eh?"

	hiro shot straight up in his bunk. "How do you know that?" he asked
cautiously. He might have underestimated his opponent, and it could be a trick.

	"What, you mean that sentence I just said? Ever hear of the Otaku? I'm one
of their greatest heroes. I'm one of the elite... they call it the
Jinruigakusha. I won't go into the detailed translation of the name." The voice
seemed to have this story well rehearsed. "Anyway, I was one of the best. Top of
my class, set highest scores in several generations. All my peers looked up to
me. I was sent out here to gather information because they knew if anyone could
do it, I could. I infiltrated this place like only only a master could, and when
they found me, they had to devote entire squadrons to my captu-"

	"Shin," hiro announced, grinning. "Only you could tell that kind of story."

	"-re and... HIRO!" Shin shouted with glee from the next room over.

	"You've got it," hiro said. "And if I recall correctly, you were ranked
average in our class, most of us looked up to our instructors, and you were sent
from Seattle to Oregon to gather information, but you got lost, and vanished
here. By all the kami in heaven, it has been three years since you vanished."

	"Yeah," Shin replied. "But I'm ok," he reassured hiro. "The cellblocks here
are wired with the net."

	hiro facefaulted. "So why haven't you sent any relays back?" He was
overjoyed to find one of his comrades still alive. "I thought I was the only one
left!"

	"It is limited," Shin explained. "I don't want to have access to the full
internet apparently. Nor do I want a web browser that won't possess any computer
it happens to be on, or next to for that moment. The people here are very
convincing."

	hiro frowned. "You haven't given away any classified information, have you?
I remember how much you enjoy talking." Shin had always been the gabby one in
the class, who was almost denied the SWHD level access that you needed to become
a Jin.

	"Nope," Shin said cheerfully. "I've been talking a lot, but not saying much
if you know what I mean. They think I know a lot, and so they've kept me alive,
and they're trying to convert me to their cause. They give me cool stress balls
and notepaper sometimes."

	"Hmmmmm," hiro contemplated. "I'm going to get in touch with Otakuland now.
Do you have any information that could be of use?"

	"Yeah," Shin replied. There was a moment of quiet where hiro could barely
make out the sounds of shuffling paper. A moment later, a small pile of tablet
paper covered with scribblings was pushed over in front of his cell. hiro
quickly retrieved it, and looked it over.

	"Aha," he murmured to himself as he came upon a map drawn out painstakingly
on graph paper. Turning back to his computer, he opened a small program, and
began the process of copying it.

+++++++++++++++++++

Deep at the bottom of the Pacific Ocean:

	The atmosphere in ROMMEL was now getting uncomfortably damp. Bill wasn't
sure how long he had been here now, after he had regained consciousness. The
woozy feeling had gone, although he still had a few problems thinking straight.
But that was no matter. ROMMEL's main circuits were disabled, so the tank had
been stuck on the bottom of the ocean floor since that day.

	Auxiliary power and many of the functions were still available. The hull had
miraculously survived the pressure of the deep sea, and the air recyclers were
doing fairly well. Bill noted bitterly that it wouldn't make much difference
because he had eaten the last of the food supply today.

	He gingerly touched the large scab that covered the right side of his head.
For a moment, his vision swam as his eyes failed to focus. He wasn't quite sure
how long he would last at this point. If only he had not been such a gaming
addict, he could have still been in HQ, maybe settled down and hitched up with
one of the flower print models.

	But it did not matter anymore. Gaming had dragged him down into this hell,
but it would ultimately serve his revenge. He gritted his teeth, looking the
picture of a madman. Although he still had problems remembering the last few
weeks, he had decided that he would get revenge for himself, and for Jenine.

	He was fairly certain it was the Lord of the Warez's fault somehow. He
vaguely remembered a large battle, just before the giant robot. It had to be a
battle with the Lord of the Warez.

	Bill grinned as he sat himself at the computer terminal. He had hacked it
once and he would hack it again. It took some time for the satellite signal to
get through the water, but this time he would use any trick possible.

	The sound of crazed laughter reverberated through the hull of ROMMEL as the
tank gathered seaweed.

+++++++++++++++++++++

	"Chikusho," swore Arashi. "This place is as big as Mai's cup size. Why do
people like this have to make everything so big? It is going to be a while
before we can find the armories it seems." Arashi had broken the main group off
into three teams so that they could work faster.

	The area of the compound they were in seemed to be work related, and thus
was now abandoned. They had slipped around most of the guards, but it would only
be a matter of time before the door's sealing was noticed. At that time they
would have to move deeper in, to avoid investigations. That would make the whole
thing more difficult.

	"Mmph! Mmph!" Toru's muffled voice came from around a corner.

	"It sounds like he found something," Shido said. "Or maybe he got shot. Or
maybe something else completely different it is kind of hard to tell."

	"Arashi-san, I believe our comrade has found something of interest." That
was Satsuji, who sounded quite pleased.

	Arashi followed the sound of his voice until she found the other four of her
team members gathered around a large poster on the wall. She was about to
mention to them the risk they were taking by being together until she looked up
and saw the big green lettering.

	YOU ARE HERE ->

	"Yatta," she smiled.

+++++++++++++++++++++++++

	About this time, a badly damaged cadillac was coming into the sights of
Otakuland West's main guard. Its one headlight was shining in the pre-dawn.
Several of the guards had trained rifles on it already, although it seemed that
any further damage to the car was impossible.

	The car stopped around fifty feet short of the main wall, and three people
got out, each of them dressed in a dark suit. They all raised their hands up so
that the guards could see them, and slowly walked toward the wall.

	"I'll do your setup," Agent Hancock nudged Agent Doe in the ribs. "Now
remember, make it convincing."  The two of them walked slightly ahead of Agent
Boy, and looked up at the guards. "I have come from a nearby group," Agent
Hancock shouted up at them. "We mean you no harm! We found this man, and he has
been searching for you! He wishes to join you in the study of Japanese cartoons!
We brought him here because of this! Isn't that right?" He shoved Agent Doe
forward and whispered to him: "Don't worry about these foreigners... you can
deal with their crazy culture. Do it for the glory of America."

	"Pleaaase let me join you," cried Agent Doe. "I would do anything to be a
part of your great group, and learn about anime! I have knowledge to share with
you of the world!"

	Agent Hancock grunted. That hadn't been part of the original speech, but
Agent Doe did sound convincing enough. All he needed was to gain the FAQ, and
then the mission would be complete. Agent Hancock smiled widely. "Oh beautiful,
for spacious cars, for rambled waves of rain," he hummed to himself.

	One of the guards turned to the other. "Do you think guy is real?"

	The other guard put his hand to his chin and thought a for a moment. "Well,"
he said. "It can't hurt if we take him in. He sounds like he really means it."

	"Ok! We're opening the gates, but only he can come through," the first guard
told the three agents.

	As soon as the door opened, Agent Doe came rushing through. He waited till
it had closed again before he got to his knees and kissed the ground of
Otakuland. The guards watched this with some bemusement.

	One of them walked up to Agent Doe. "So, it looks like you were serious," he
said conversationally.

	"You bet," Agent Doe said. "There is a lot I can tell you. Can I get
something to eat maybe?" He looked around, but everything was still dark.

	"Sure," said the guard. "There is a good Kissaten around here. I'll show
you."  He looked back to his companion who was still on the wall. "I'm gonna get
the guy something to eat, if you need me, use the radio!"

	"Sure thing," the other guard said down.

	Outside the wall, Agent Hancock was secretly celebrating their victory. From
here, it would be no trouble at all to gain a copy of the FAQ. "Uhm," he said up
to the guard, "it has been a long drive! We're just going to rest a little while
here." The guard shrugged at Hancock.

++++++++++++++++++

	Half an hour later, Agent Doe showed up on the wall, and threw down a copy
of the FAQ at them, and then vanished again. Agent Hancock scratched his head,
and picked up the large bundle of text. On the outside, Agent Doe had written a
note:

	Sir, I believe I will be staying here to do a good deal of Ôinside
research'. I
	believe there is a great advantage here to be discovered for the glory of
	America. I will have to be strong in order to live here, but I can take it.
I will
	send you more messages when I can. God bless America!

	Agent Hancock pondered this a moment, and sniffed. That man was something
else, to give up all his freedom, and live with barbarians for their cause. It
brought a tear to his eye just to think about it.

	"God bless America," he shouted, and got back inside the Cadillac with Agent
Boy. The car squealed back off towards the horizon.

	Inside Otakuland, Agent Doe and the guard were chatting inside the Kissaten.

	"So that is the story," Agent Doe concluded.

	"Think it will work?" the guard asked.

	"Yeah, I'm pretty sure." Agent Doe smiled contentedly. "So what do we do
around here? Watch cartoons all day?"

	"Hmmm, well, that does take up most of it," the guard replied. "With all the
information you've brought in, you'll have a pretty easy life after reporting
it."

	Agent Doe took a deep breath and relaxed. "Ahhh... anything is better than
another day in that car." He lit up a cigarette and took a drag, letting the
smoke waft out from his nostrils. "I think I'm going to enjoy being an Otaku."

+++++++++++++++++++++++

	Strike Team Theta was just finishing a breakfast of rice, seaweed, and ham
sandwiches on really thick slices of bread. This was the last morning of travel,
and all of the members were quiet. According to their data, they would be at the
compound in a matter of hours.

	"So this is traditional?" Dave looked at his warm sandwich, and took another
bite. It was certainly better than a stale Big Mac.

	"Something like that anyway," Kenishi replied between bites.

	"H3y, d00dz," B1FF said from the computer terminal. "W3 g3t s1gnal."

	Kenishi slowly grinned. "Main screen turn on," he said.

	The five of them gathered around the screen where data was coming in from
the GENOM satellite. hiro's transmission had been received by Otakuland West,
and was now being sent back to them. There was a feeling like a silent cheer as
the information filled the screen.

	"There," said Vixen. She pointed down at one file. "Open that," she
commanded. B1FF did so, and the map of the compound opened up. "It is
underground," she muttered to herself. "But maybe a couple of teams can get in
through those hangars there, and storm it from there."

	Kenishi nodded in agreement. "They'll have to ditch the vehicles, but it
looks like that is our only chance. I'll send out the word to the other teams."
He grabbed the short wave transmitter, and started making contact.

	"We're really gonna do it," murmured Dave. "We're going to get revenge for
the destruction of Otakuland."

+++++++++++++++++++++

	Sweat ran down Arashi's face as she dropped down from the ceiling. She
coiled up the grappling hook, and replaced it at her side. The last couple of
hours had not been the smoothest, and she was now down to Mariko and Shido.

	The first setback had been entering the third quadrant of the compound. The
map they found convieniently forgot to list all the armored boxes around the
compound with gunmen and rifles inside. Unfortunately there had been two of them
in direct view of the sole entryway to this quadrant, and the guards were fairly
awake.

	Luckily, Haruko had been able to put her unique approach to infiltration
into good use, and the gunmen had not lasted too long. However, that had set
every other guard on alert, and they had been able to capture Haruko, and
unfortunately Satsuji as well. The other two had managed to hide themselves well
enough.

	After the guards left, they had split up. There were three armoires in this
area, and each was assigned one of them. Arashi had taken the secondary one,
which was the farthest from their current position, and was now the one most
heavily guarded.

	She glanced around the corner quickly. She was around twenty feet from the
entrance, and there was another sniper's bunker down there. Reaching inside her
gi, she pulled out a small black sphere with a pin on the end of it. Moving
quickly, she pulled the pin and threw the smoke grenade down the corridor. It
flew halfway down before the thick black smoke started blowing out of it. Arashi
heard the confused shouting, and waited a few seconds. As the storm of coughing
started up, she covered her nose and mouth and sprinted down to the door.

	Before the guards knew she was there, she hit the key to the door, and
flipped in, shutting it quickly behind her. She didn't have much time, so she
tore the a black pouch off her belt, and put it down on the floor. She took out
four pieces of C4 with timers attached to them. Each was the size of a piece of
cake.

	She lifted a piece of cloth on her wrist to reveal a watch, and set the
timers. Each of the C4 blocks went in one corner of the armory. As soon as she
had done that, she ran back outside the door, where the smoke was beginning to
fade. She sprinted once more down the corridor, and knocked herself flat against
a guard.

	"So," he said, training his pistol on her. "You think you can get in here
and steal our weapons eh? Well, we'll see about that."

	Arashi knew she was trapped. She laid her head back on the floor, and put
her hands up.

++++++++++++++++

	She had been lead to a room in the fourth quadrant, where they were holding
all the members of her squad. Each looked down at the floor when she entered the
room. She looked down as well. Now it seemed their hope was with the Strike
Teams.

	Each of them was lead into a separate chamber for questioning, one by one.
The questions were short and to the point. When Arashi refused to answer, they
merely grinned.

	"Well," said one of the guards, "it looks like we have a full house for our
decryption teams today." This caused the other guards to smile with malice.
Arashi turned her eyes to slits. She knew that they would get no further
information out of her.

	After the questionings, they were lead to the cellblocks, where they were
greeted by hiro. Arashi was tense as they were shown the cells they would
inhabit. She was getting ready to act at a moment's notice.

	The C4 went off, rocking the compound in a slight quake. The guards were
disoriented for a second, which was all the time Arashi needed. With a series of
cruel and swift kicks, she took down the three that had escorted her.

	hiro grinned at her from behind the bars. "It looks like the kami of luck
are with us today. Now get me out of here."

+++++++++++++++++

	At this time, the directors had all been summoned for an emergency meeting
with their lord.

	"WHAT IS GOING ON HERE?!" the Lord of the Warez demanded.

	"Lord," offered Mark, "it seems we had some invaders. We are taking care of
it right now Lord. Please don't make us Extras Lord."

	The Lord of the Warez appeared furious. "WHY WASN'T I INFORMED OF THIS! I
DEMAND THAT YOU BRING THESE INVADERS TO ME IMMEDIATELY AND BRZAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA-"
The screen went blank. Then the lights turned off. Full panic ensued.

+++++++++++++++++++++

	Inside ROMMEL, Bill screamed with laughed. It had worked! He had done
something much worse than any virus. He knew that he had completed his revenge,
and dealt a permanent blow to the system. He continued this laughter until he
passed out in his chair, succumbing finally to the degraded air and his fatigue.

+++++++++++++++++++++

	The emergency backup lights came on, with a few problems. The chamber was
now slightly dimmer than it was before, and the Directors had to get the Extras
to put out a few more candles. The Circle of Directors were stunned by the
disappearance of their Lord.

	Mark moved to the main terminal below the screen, and punched in a few
commands. He frowned to himself as a program named revenge.exe began running.
Seeing that he could not use the holy motion of C-A-D to end the program, he
backed off, and continued to watch the main screen.

	A polygonal starship appeared on the screen, soaring through black space.
The viewpoint of the screen rotated around it, before plunging into the center
of the ship itself. There stood a figure totally encased in a suit of green
power armor.

	A small text box opened:

	Your systems have been shut down. In order to bring them back online, you
	must defeat the ultimate warrior - Unreal Tournament's boss, Xan Kriegor!

	The deathmatch began as the little color that the Directors possesed drained
out of their faces. Mark opened his mouth in shock and horror. One word came out
in a desperate cry.

	"Shazzzzzzzbooooott!!"

++++++++++++++++++++++

	The infiltration team, plus hiro and Shin raced out of the prison block.
"Follow me!" shouted hiro. "I received a message from the Strike Teams! They'll
be here any moment!" He slid to a halt as he passed a door. He slammed his palm
down on the switch that opened it.

	As it slid open, Shin threw himself in, and dealt a hard blow to the face of
a guard who was waiting there. Inside, the Otaku troops found their weapons,
which they quickly reapporopriated. Once they were rearmed, hiro lead them back
out.

	"We're going to head to the entrance and-" His words were cut short as the
entire base shook, and several of Arashi's squad stumbled and fell. hiro braced
himself against a wall. "That will be them," he said.

	They managed to pick off the few guards that were in-between them and the
next quadrant with ease. The rattle of gunfire was heard from elsewhere inside
the base. As the door to the third quadrant slid open, the source of the noise
was made quite apparent.  They had a clear view of Strike Team Theta, who had
entered the eastern side of the base from a hangar, and were busy taking care of
anything that came in their way.

	"KENISHI!" Arashi shouted with joy. Her husband glanced her way, and a look
of utmost happiness broke across his face. He shouted a few indecipherable
things to the rest of the Strike Team, who all quickly saw them.

	Arashi managed to reach the Strike Team's side in half the time of her team.
She leapt into her husbands arms, and immediately gave him a kiss which he
returned with gusto. Her team was arriving by the time it finished.

	"No time!" Vixen snapped, taking command. "Where is the main computer
system?" She looked directly at hiro.

	"North," he said, "and down."

	Vixen nodded quickly, and the Strike Team began advancing up to the second
quadrant of the base, where the stairs down to the lower level awaited.

+++++++++++++++++++

	Downstairs, one of the directors had just gotten up from the chair in a
failed attempt to win the deathmatch. "By all my kracks and codes," he swore.
"The AI is insane! It gets all the weapons and never misses!"

	Mark was next. He was sweating bullets as he sat down. He reached back deep
in his memories. There was one chance here, and it was only if he still
remembered his youth correctly.

	He pulled up the text menu and typed: iamtheone.

+++++++++++++++++++

	As they opened the door that separated the quadrants, B1FF unloaded a hail
of cover fire with an automatic rifle. After several bursts of this, they
stormed through. The stairwell they needed was in the northeast corner, farthest
away from them. The coast was clear when they started towards it, and all looked
fine. Then the giant metal plates came down from the ceiling, sealing off all
exits, and trapping them.

+++++++++++++++++++

	The directors cheered Mark as he had quickly dispatched Xan Kriegor, and
reestablished full security. Mark himself was shaking with nervousness, and
freezing from the amount of cold sweat that was coming out of every pore. He had
won. He had saved the whole facility. He had brought his Lord back. And he had
finally justified his former video game habit! Boy would he have a good talk
with his parents when he got home tonight.

+++++++++++++++++++

	"B4kusa1 t3nketsu!" There was a large boom, and B1FF was knocked back from
the wall he had just attacked. The shiny metal plating didn't have a single mark
on it. "No good s1s," he apologized. "1 just c4n't br3ak thru."

	Vixen screwed up her face in a foul look. "We're trapped," she cursed. "we
don't have nearly enough firepower to get through this, unless we could somehow
get back out to our vehicles. And the other Teams have got to be in the same
situation! Damnit!"

	Dave hung his head. "And to think," he said. "We were finally going to do
what we had come so far to do." The wild frenzy of battle had been knocked out
of him. They sat there for several minutes, waiting for something to happen.
They were completely unprepared when the explosion threw them to the floor.

	"WTF??" B1FF unsteadily rose, and looked around for the source of the blast,
but it was somewhere outside of their blocked off session. He noticed that the
blast plate was slightly askew. "D00dz! G1mme sum h3lp w1th this!" He ran over
the the plate, and grabbed the end, trying to bend the inch thick plate.

	hiro, Shin, and Vixen immediately joined him, and pulled for their life on
the plate, which would not budge. They tried three times before the next
explosion threw them back again. Which was good, because it had also unlatched
the plate, which fell forward where they had been standing. The corridor down to
the end of the hall was now open to them. As some dust settled back down
however, it revealed one major alteration.

	"That wall is bulging," Vixen said. "That is one of the most amazing thing I
have seen. Whatever it is that is doing this, I've gotta use, just once."

	In answer, there was another blast, this one deafening as the wall blew open
completely, throwing out chunks of stone and gravel from what had been a solid
wall of earth. The hole was leading into one of the hangars, and was certainly
large enough to admit passageway for most vehicles now.

	There was a low rumbling as the large vehicle came through the dust. The
first thing to stick through was a long cannon that identified it as a tank. Any
other details were obscured by the amount of dust and dirt it had blown into the
room.

	"R-Rommel?" Dave asked in a moment of panic.

	"Konnichi wa Miss Vixen!" Sherman's cheerful voice announced. "I am glad to
report that internal repair systems have restored all functions to one hundred
percent, and I am feeling quite genki!"

	Vixen looked up at the tank that she now recognized completely. Smiling, she
skipped across the distance to Sherman a giant hug on one of his turrets.
Afterwards Dave would  swear that Sherman had blushed.

	"Sherman, you are the best thing to happen to us," Vixen said, a smile on
her face. "Now blow the hell out of that wall down there!" She pointed  to the
opposite end of the hallway.

	"Yokai," Sherman chirped, and sent a shell soaring down towards his target.
The metal crumpled and folded like origami under the blast. Sherman's cannon
swiveled back to face Vixen. "Unfortunately Miss Vixen, I am too large to
accompany you down these hallways. Please instruct me as to what my role is."

	Vixen grinned evilly. "You're going to go back up and give this place some
skylights!" She resisted the urge to bitchlaugh. That would show these geeks the
true power of anime.

	"Yes ma'am," Sherman responded, backing into the hangar once more. "I'll
send them to another dimension! Ha ha ha ha."

	Vixen chuckled, but paused when she realized that it was the first time she
had heard Sherman laugh. For a moment she pondered if something had mixed up in
their circuitry, but she shook her head and reminded herself she was on a
mission. "Strike Team Theta... Sanjo!" She powerposed, and headed towards their
objective.

++++++++++++++++++++++

	The Directors were still putting the candles back in order for the ritual of
summoning when the Otaku stormed the room. Mark put up his hands and shouted a
warning, but then Vixen shot him in the face. He dropped to the ground in a red
pool.

	"Anyone else who tries anything funny gets the same," she warned. "Now then,
we're taking over this room. Any questions?"

	The screen lit up. "YES," said the Lord of the Warez. "DO YOU HAVE ANY IDEA
HOW LONG I'VE BEEN WAITING FOR THIS MOMENT? MUAHAHAHAHA."

	Dave shot twice at the monitor, but the bullets ricocheted off the almost
invisible armored glass plating that surrounded it. The Lord of the Warez
continued to laugh.

	"THAT IS NOTHING YOUNG ONE," he sneered. "COME, DO WORSE. LET ME FEEL YOUR
ANGER!"

	Vixen raised her pistol and fired at machines across the room, more than
happy to comply. Terminals shattered, and small electrical fires started up.
Vixen, noticing she hadn't gotten a proper horrified response from the glowing
face, emptied a clip into the keyboard where Mark had sat just a moment before.

	"MUAAHAHAHAHAHAAH... YOU CAN DO NOTHING TO THE LORD OF THE WAREZ!" The giant
glowing face expanded and stared down at them. "IN MY TRUE FORM, I AM
UNBEATABLE."

	"True," Kenishi offered. "But it doesn't look like you can do much to us
either. You're just a big bunch of pixels. Why should we be scared?"

	The Lord of the Warez paused. "HMM... YOU ARE SMARTER THAN I HAD PREVIOUSLY
GUESSED. BUT NO MATTER! FOR YOU SEE, I HAVE PLANNED FOR THIS. BEHOLD!" In one
corner a group of Extras ran to pull the sheet off something.

	"LOOK NOW UPON YOUR GREATEST NIGHTMARE... COME BACK TO HAUNT YOU!" The Lord
of the Warez gazed triumphantly at this, his greatest creation.

	The figure under the sheet had at one time been human. Various wounds were
still evident on it's body, where the steel had not taken it over. Part of it's
flesh seemed to have been torn off at one time, and those areas revealed wires
poking out from under its skin. Its hands had been replaced by sets of steel
claws, and a thick cable led into the back of it's neck. The figure groaned as
the sheet was pulled off.

	It raised two intense eyes to stare at the Otaku. They seemed to glow from
underneath the dirty and ragged mop of blond hair. "Daveee..." Evan said
hoarsely. "Damn you Daave... Look what you've done..." Evan's chest spasmed as
he hacked and coughed. "Looook.... what you've done to mee...." His voice was
dulled, but Dave still heard the hate that had always been there.

	"NOW," announced the Lord of the Warez. "USING MY NEWEST SLAVE, I WILL HAVE
HAVE THE PLEASURE OF DESTROYING YOU PHYSICALLY. WITH HIS NEW BODY, AND MY MIND
SHARING IT, WE WILL PROVE A SUPERIOR FORCE TO YOU!" The screen faded, and Evan
began jerking as the Lord of the Warez uploaded itself into Evan's brain.

	Strike Team Theta were all frozen with revulsion as this living carrion
twisted in a macabre parody of life. Then the jerking stopped. A single clawed
hand reached up and snipped the cable behind his head.

	"NOW I...Daaaaaaaave... WILL KILL YOU.... revenge Dave.... for my... AND
RULE UNCHALLENGED! MUAHAHAHAHA," The puppet lurched forward a  few steps,
sending the extras running from it.

	"Well, it is complete," Vixen said to Dave. "Do you want to do the honors,
or shall I?"

	Dave looked darkly upon what Evan had become. At one time, there had been a
spark of promise for this boy, who was in some way like himself. But now it was
too late.

	Dave took a grenade, pulled the pin, and threw it across the room at the
creature. It roared in anger. And then it blew up.

	"Damn," said Shin. "You'd think that after all that time directly plugged
into the internet, he would have at least read the Evil Overlord list. Or played
some old video games."

	"Y3ah," agreed B1FF. "B1g mist4ke ther3. What 4 t0tal n00b."

	Vixen and Arashi rounded up the prisoners.

	"H3y s1s," B1FF offered, looking at the former storage computer of the Lord
of the Warez. "H0w much pr0n U th1nk this w0uld hold?"

++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

	The mission was finished, and the Strike Teams went through ceremony after
ceremony in a blitz. Vixen had as many medals as she could ever wish for, and
more than she could wear. There were parties, and celebrations and speeches to
give. After two weeks, Dave and Vixen found themselves hanging out staring over
the east gate at the sunset. They were both exhausted after a giving a speech on
bravery to Kingodomo junior high school.

	"Listen Dave," she said. "I've been thinking. There are still a lot of Otaku
out there in the east who haven't been found. We've got Sherman. I think I could
get authorization from high command, and if I don't... well, lets just say that
I am getting out of here in two days if they like it or not."

	Dave frowned. He was beginning to like Otakuland West again. "But, what
about settling down?" He looked up at Vixen, hoping she would understand what he
meant.

	"Listen," she said, in a little more private voice. "There is no way I am
going to stay in this city any longer than I have to. This is who I am. I need
to be out there fighting. It is what I have always been, and no one is going to
change that."

	Dave paused for a moment, and nodded quietly. "Well, in that case," he
murmured. He snapped his fingers. There was a rumbling as Sherman came out of
his hiding place farther down the wall, and stopped at the gate. B1FF and
Phreakachu popped out of the hatch.

	"C'm0n s1s!" B1FF shouted. "W3've g0t U all p4cked and GTG!"

	"Pika," cried the electric rat, downing a swig of Jack Daniels.

	"Whaaa?" Vixen froze. Dave just smiled at her.

	"I received authorization from the General this morning. Strike Team Theta
will be doing a search and rescue mission. We leave whenever you want, captain."
The grin on his face widened as he saw Vixen's shock.

	"Is there anything else you need to tell me before we leave?" she managed.

	"Well, I'm the reporter," he said. "But didn't you already know that?"

	Vixen: 0_0

	"Uh 0h," B1FF said.

	Vixen: 0_0

	"Uhm, Vixen, are you ok?" Dave looked concerned.

	Vixen: 0_0

	"D00d, I th1nk U sn4pp3d h3r mind!"

	"Vixen! Say something," Dave pleaded.

+++++++++++++++++++++++

	Arashi and Kenishi watched from a nearby rooftop as B1FF lowered his still
frozen sister into the cockpit of Sherman. The two veterans smiled, and Kenishi
pulled his wife a little closer.

	"I wonder if they'll be ok without us," he mused.

	"Oh come now dear," Arashi teased him. "Not even Mihoshi could fail in that
tank." Their laughter was carried away on the wind as the tank roared to life
and drove away, into the night and the darkness of what was once America.

OWARI


Ravings of a madman:

	Gods.. that was a pretty cheesy ending. I'm sorry. But hey, at least things
are all A OK now right? Ok, if you believe that, don't look past these notes.
Hehe.
	Much love to the FAQing Hostile mailing list, without which this chapter
would be worse, because it would have less of their funny ideas, and more of my
melodrama. As it stands, I still could have packed more into this chapter, but
it is done now, and that is that. Also, thanks of course to 2F for this whole
thing.
	Ph33r The Cute 0nez is probably copywritied by Megatokyo. Maybe if I put up
their link here, no one will sue. Not like you don't have it anyway fanboy.

		www.megatokyo.com

	Go there.

	Anyway, I'm happy that I got a chance to bring this fun impro to an end.
Thanks to everyone who liked my last chapter, I hope you all enjoy this one as
much, and know that you probably put as much into it as I did. And hell, you
didn't even have to lose sleep. Wow.
	So I unfortunately couldn't get this thing preread. I hope it turnes out all
ok and not fuXX0red, or whatever. We'll see. And thanks to Improfanfic.
	Honestly, I don't know what to say. It has been quite a roadtrip. Mark, if
you're readin this, gimme your epilogue, and we'll see if you can't get in a
fifth Ôchapter' too ;).

11/19/01
Assassin

kiete yuku

+++++++++++++++++++++

	Somewhere deep in the net, a small worm turned on. It began seeking out bits
and pieces of information spread through the web. A 1 here, a 0 there, and it
grew slightly larger. It followed the bits of information slowly, in a path that
had been set for it long ago. Eventually, it would reach its goal, and transform
into something far different than its current form. It would take some time, but
eventually it would reach that day.

	A shallow synthesized voice laughed in the dark chambers of the Lord of the
Warez.