I sincerely apologize for not updating in so long

I sincerely apologize for not updating in so long. It has been an extremely difficult and busy semester and I have not been able to write. But now school is done for the rest of the year and so updates should be picking back up... hopefully. ; )

And if you want to see what consumed a lot of my time, head to , which is my student website. It has some of my art and a few chapters for an original story I'm writing called Neo Light. I'd love it if you could read it and leave comments!

Okay, now with that said, here is the next long awaited chapter! And please remember, I do not own .

Chapter 28: The Maidens' Sacrifice

"That is five more down, Sire." A small, trembling grey navi bowed down before the greatly adorned Eonite known as King. "The total now amounts to 96 navis defeated by the Twins of Legend," he said. A small blinking light went off on the grey navi's board. The navi looked at it briefly and then bowed deeply once again. "Make that 98."

"How canst this be?" King muttered. "They be two navis of small size. How canst they beat Lord Myst's men in such a quick manner as this?"

"I do not know, Sire," the grey navi said.

"Because they all are small, sniveling fools who do not take my orders seriously," a cold voice rang out from behind King.

The grey navi bowed even deeper. "Ah, Lord Myst," he acknowledged.

"Then what shall we doest, Sir Lord Myst?" King asked.

Myst seemed thoughtful for a moment. After a moment, his serious expression turned into one of pure evil glee.

"We'll use it," he said, his eyes glinting with joy.

"It?" the grey navi asked.

"It! Sir Lord Myst! Are we so concerned with so small of navis to use it!" King said alarmed. "You knowest what mayest happen if we so loosest control!"

"Do not question me!" Myst snapped. The other navis cowered before the powerful navi. Myst turned to King. "I trust you can take care of it, your highness?" Myst said, with distaste as he said "your highness".

"Yea, my Lord," King said, bowing slightly. "Leave all thy matters to me. Thy twins will soon be but a memory."

Myst grinned. "Good." Then, within a moment, Myst was gone, leaving his companions alone.

Laika tapped his pencil as he looked at the screen. "98 navis," he muttered, "and all claim to be working for this Myst." He moved his chair back from the desk he had been sitting at and rubbed his eyes wearily. He had been working on this mystery of Myst and the twins for over two weeks and nothing had become clear. "What do they want with Rockman and Lightman?" he exasperated. "And does it have anything to do with the so-called 'Twins of Light'?"

"Laika, sir."

Laika looked up to come face to face with his navi.

"Get anything out of them?" he asked.

Searchman shook his head. "Sorry, sir. Nothing new. When someone asks them about anything about what they know about Myst, Rockman starts to act nervous and Lightman, for lack of a better phrase, becomes overly obnoxious. They keep telling me that they'll be able to handle it."

"Has Blues has not been able to get anything out of them either?" Laika asked.

Searchman shook his head and then added, "But from what I gather, he does not see them often because of Enzan."

Laika grunted as he remembered what Blues had said about Enzan thinking Lightman was too much like Netto. Laika could see some similarities, but not enough that could set him on edge or dislike the light blue navi in any particular way. He simply thought he could be somewhat annoying. If anything, he was glad for the navi; he personally had not experienced Rockman's depression for any extended period of time, but he had heard full well how bad the depression had been. Now, with Lightman by his side, Rockman appeared to be back to normal. He had become gloomy at one point when Netto had been brought up, but Lightman had brought him right back up, not giving him time to be too mournful. Laika had also noted how Lightman himself had appeared discouraged about the topic, which was what made him grateful for the navi: Lightman, despite his hyper-activeness, was keenly aware of and extremely sensitive to Rockman's pain, and he seemed to know what to do with the situation. Laika was positive Netto would have been glad for Lightman's presence next to his beloved Rockman; in fact, Laika could not help but wonder if Netto had had some hand in Lightman's creation. Laika knew full well that Netto's biggest worry in dying was the well-being of his navi.

Laika's train of thought was broken as his PET began to ring. Laika took the PET in hand and answered the call.

"Yes, sir?" Laika addressed Meijin.

"Send Searchman to Internet City now," Meijin said sternly, which Laika knew meant that he was particularly stressed about the situation.

"What is it?" Laika asked as he simultaneously plugged in Searchman. He was quick to act but he still wanted to know what he was sending his navi into.

"A giant monster has made it's presence in Internet City and is going on a rampage," Meijin informed. "Blues, Rockman, and Lightman are already there."

"Okay, we're on it," Laika said as he shut down the communication and turned his attention to Searchman and the destruction that the navi was quickly approaching.

"Okay, this is just getting annoying," Lightman said as he shot yet another blast at the monster, again with no effect on the creature that slightly resembled a large, metal-like bear.

"Hey, Lightman! Did you know the definition of insanity is 'repeating the same action but expecting different results'?" Tomahawkman said.

"Now is so NOT the time to be joking like that!" Lightman yelled back as he dodged another swipe of the beast.

"Both of you, just shut up and focus!" Rockman scolded as he tried a few bombs, with again little effect.

"Yes, mom," Lightman teased as he tried a sword attack, which once more proved fruitless, and then barely escape a blast sent from the beast. Rockman could not help but shake his head. He should have known that his brother could never be completely serious, even in the face of danger; actually, especially in the face of danger. Maybe that was how he kept his cool in such intense situations?

"Does he ever take anything seriously?" Blues asked. Apparently, he was noticing the same characteristic about the small light-blue navi.

"Guess not," Rockman answered quickly, just as he dodged another attack.

Searchman ran up to the battle, letting off a few shots as he did. "Are you guys okay?" Searchman yelled.

"Never been better," Lightman said sarcastically.

"Yeah," Rockman said more seriously. However, Searchman noticed that his comrades were already pretty damaged from the battle. Rockman pointed up to the beast as he gave Searchman a quick rundown. "This beast has a really hard outer-core. We haven't been able to cut through it except with a Gregar Beast-out. You can see the damage I did by the eye, but as you can see, it's about the only damage we've been able to do."

"What happened to the beast-out?" Searchman asked; Rockman was clearly not in beast-out mode. It was then that he noticed a fairly deep gash in Rockman's side.

Without any indication of pain (though Searchman was positive he was in a lot of pain) Rockman shrugged almost as if the situation was normal. "The monster knocked me out of it just as I did him damage," he said.

"ROCK!" Lightman charged at Rockman and knocked him down, and Searchman in the process, as a large red laser beam emitted from the monster's mouth and nearly hit the navis. "Rockman, you dope!" Lightman said.

"Lightman! Are you okay!" Rockman's eyes went large as he saw the heavy damage Lightman had taken from the flying debris that had resulted in Lightman protecting his companion.

Lightman smiled a cocky, but pained, smile. "Of course," he grunted. "Is Sear…," Lightman stopped mid-word. Searchman had taken a more direct hit and was severely damaged. He was still conscience, but he certainly was not in fighting condition. It was pure stubborn will that kept him from logging out.

"Searchman!" Rockman said. He and Lightman tried to attend to them, but were cut off as the monster swiped at them. With their wounds, they barely managed. Then a sharp scream made them turn to their other side and they watched in horror as Blues flew straight into a building after being hit by the beast's long, sharp claws. He crumbled at the bottom of the building and then disappeared as he logged out. They then turned back to Searchman.

"Log out, Searchman," Rockman said.

Searchman weakly looked up. "But…"

"No," Lightman said. "Do as Rockman says. Can't you see it's us the monster wants?"

"It would do us no good if you were deleted," Rockman said. "And it certainly will do no good to Laika either."

"But what will you do?" Searchman said. "This monster…. No! I've never left a comrade on a battle field!"

"Searchman!" Lightman cried. It surprised him as Rockman leapt at Searchman, barely dodging another of the monster's attacks, and grabbed him in the neck. Giving a sharp pinch and a quick "gomen," Rockman caused Searchman to loose conscience and log out.

"I did not think you'd actually do something like that," Lightman said, stunned at his brother's actions.

Rockman was slightly shaky. "Me either," he said, "but… I had to. He'd have been deleted if I hadn't."

Lightman nodded and then turned angrily on the monster. He had nearly deleted Blues and Searchman. He also noticed that Tomahawkman was nowhere to be seen and he hoped that Dingo has safely logged him out sometime during the confusion. "Com' on, Rockman," he yelled. "Let's show this monster what happens to those that hurt our friends!"

"Twins, you are too damaged yourselves." After dodging yet another blast and the resulting debris, the twins looked to see the Maidens. "Let us, this once, protect you so you can go on to protect our home."

"But how," here they dodged another attack, "can you defeat this power?" Rockman asked.

It was hard to tell, but the Maidens smiled. Lightman could have sworn there was mischief in those smiles. "Let us show you what real Eonite power is!" A bright light consumed the small, virus-like creatures, which caused even the terrible monster to pause for a moment to stare. The twins shielded their eyes from such a bright light. When the light dissipated, there stood, not two small, furry creatures but two young women that looked like humans and dressed in ornate Oriental dress. Lightman would never admit that his jaw dropped.

"Stand behind us!" The dark-haired one, presumably Beam, commanded. Her voice was clear and beautiful but also deadly in the manner in which she spoke: the twins had to obey.

"Monster! Myst! You will not hurt them any more! We will restore our beautiful home!" the Maidens yelled in unison.

"Power of Sun!" cried Rei as a bright yellow light began to form around her.

"Power of Moon!" yelled Beam as a similar blue light surrounded her.

"Light always wins against dark, no matter the world!" The light around the girls exponentially swelled in a powerful whirlwind that quickly engulfed the monster and the entire area.

Even though Rockman and Lightman themselves were surrounded in the blinding light, they felt no pain. In fact, they felt a rejuvenation of energy and their serious wounds began to heal. The monster, however, gave out a deafening scream. When the light drew back, the Maidens stood smiling (though breathing rather hard, Rockman noticed) and the creature groaned as it swayed its heavy head slowly from side to side, smoke emitting from its body.

"Amazing," Rockman breathed.

"That was…" Lightman began, "completely amazing!" he finished excitedly. "How'd you do that!"

Rei looked back at them. "That," she said, "is the power of Eon."

"LOOK OUT!"

It had been Beam that had yelled it. The four leapt out of the way as the monster unleashed an attack in its rage; it was an attack greater than any other previous attacks.

Lightman and Rockman looked back in horror as they watched the light of the beam consume the maidens. When the attack finally ended, neither Rei nor Beam could be seen anywhere, in either human form or virus form. Both blue navis clenched there fists in shaking rage as the bear-like creature roared in victory.

"YOU'LL PAY FOR THIS, YOU UGLY…UGLY…!" Lightman could not finish the sentence: no word seemed adequate to describe the monster.

The monster lowered it gigantic head to look at the two navis that could not even be considered a small snack to the great and terrible creature. It swung its paw. The brothers jumped out of the way. The creature was too stupid to realize that the two had begun to glow; it simply swiped again, only to be dodged again.

The twins landed gracefully a few feet away from the monster, shining brightly. The light concentrated in the twins hands. The monster paused briefly before it unleashed another deadly beam attack.

However, it was no match for the attack the twins unleashed. Within seconds, the monster's attack and the monster itself was consumed within the blinding light. As the attack moved past the beast, the monster disintegrated and was no more but useless data fragments when the light finally died down.

Both navis blinked as they ceased to glow. Rockman was breathless as he muttered, "We…we did it again…" He then looked at his brother who had fallen to his knees, tears welling in his eyes. Rockman looked away, unable to fight back the tears in his eyes. "But this time, we were too late…"

"TIS IMPOSSIBLE!" King screeched. "Mine precious pet! He was destroyed! Oh, oh, oh! What will Lord Myst think!" King breathed heavily, trying to calm himself. After a few moments of this self-treatement, fear turned to rage in the royal Eonite's eyes. "Tis gone on enough! I, by mine own hand, will destroy these Warriors of Light! They will be no match for I, King, ruler of all that great land of Eon, the Eon internet, the Under-internet, and soon the entire internet! Why, even the human scum themselves!" The crazed navi let out a maniac laugh.

In the shadows, Myst grinned wickedly.