"It's a huge amount of data." Professor Oozora stated, watching the many number sprawled across multiple tabs on the main monitor. "This is the hope we've been entrusted with."

"We have to finish this to answer to these calls for hope." Takuya stated. "An LBX to surpass O-Legion..."

The door opened and Jin came in, holding a familiar red tablet. "Professor, I have it."

"Alright. Plug it in here." He was led to a separate monitor, where he transferred all kinds of data from the device.

"Eva's customization data..." Ban muttered.

"There's so much!" Asuka's eyes were wide as the numbers kept growing.

"This is roughly two to three years of design and battle data." Jin stated. "This tablet broke once and deleted everything else from the years prior."

"This is only three years?!" Ran exclaimed.

"You two sure did a lot when you were living together..." Ami noticed his fist clenching, and almost immediately realized why. "But even after you separated, you still kept in touch, right?"

"Something like that."

That didn't sound like a good answer. "Jin-" Hiro opened his mouth to speak, but was cut off by Takuya.

"What's wrong?" The main screen was showing static, and Yuuki was struggling to get it back to normal.

"Someone's trying to access the data by forcing their way from an external plot! Traffic is increasing!"

A footage of the Infinity Net appeared. A familiar black LBX was forming in the middle of a dark storm.

"That's Vector!" Ban exclaimed.

"A virtual LBX." Professor Yamano stated. "Is Mizel hacking?"

"I'll suspend the data downloading for now." Yuuki informed. On the screen, they saw a black box with tiny specks of light fluttering in. Slowly, the specks of light disappeared, and it was just the box and Vector left.

"Leave the rest to me." Otacross cracked his knuckles before typing rapidly on his console. "I'll hold back his hacking! Otacross' special firewall version 12, activate!" A transparent dome appeared around the box, protecting it. "Get a load of these 12 unique protective walls! I've spent a long time modifying these to perfection. He won't be able to break through easily!"

Vector flew over and swung its axe at the dome. It did so continuously, until a shattering sound came and sparks of electricity could be seen. Three firewalls were knocked down at once.

"How dare he do this to my firewall?! What kind of guy is he? But I won't lose that easily! Sakura-tan!" He took out the bunny-girl-shaped LBX and hugged it. "Oh, Sakura-tan! Actually there's this guy called Mizel attacking me and he's causing trouble. 'It's okay! I know you can do it Otacross-san! I, um, you see...' Yes? What? Mmhm... Oh! You're cheering for me, Sakura-tan?! 'You can do it, Otacross-san!'"

"Again?" Ran, along with the other two girls, wore annoyed expressions.

"Is that how he usually is?" Asuka asked, the disgust clear in her tone.

"Energy up 120%! I'm totally motivated!" The old man began to type faster. "How about this?!"

"Alright! You've pushed back Vector!" Hiro cheered.

A dark glow came from Vector before it struck the dome again. This time, it caused an explosion and when the purple smoke dissipated, the dome had shattered again. It had broken through the eleventh barrier.

"Oh no... He's too strong, it's impossible. I don't have any power left."

"Wait, Otacross! Get a hold of yourself!" Ami said, running over.

"We'll lose the data from everyone if you give up now!" Ran stated.

"Cheers..."

"Huh?"

"If I had more cheers from pretty girls..." He muttered.

"HUH?!"

"Is that all you want? Then I'll cheer for you!" Asuka did the best cheer routine she could think of. "Hooray! Hooray! Otacross!"

"Not cute."

"WHAT?!"

"If the cheers aren't from super pretty girls like Ami-tan and Ran-tan..."

"B-But even if you say that..." The two girls turned to each other uncomfortably, an unspoken message travelling between them. "...Right?"

"Vector is on the attack again!" Yuuki warned.

"Otacross, hurry!" Hiro urged.

"The firewall is about to break!" Ban added.

"Why aren't I good enough?!" Asuka complained.

"If I had a cheer..." He continued to sulk.

"But..."

"That's..."

"The twelfth wall won't hold much longer!"

"Otacross! Hurry!"

At Takuya's stern voice, he let out a cry of frustration. "FINE! THEN WHAT ABOUT THIS!" He pressed on a button and holograms of Ami, Ran and Eva LBX-sized appeared. "Don't give up!" They said, smiling cutely.

"Huh?"

"I believe in you, Otacross!"

"I know you can do it!"

"You're the best, after all!"

"We're cheering you on, okay~?" They winked.

"W-W-W-WHAT THE HECK IS THIS?!" Two of the three girls yelled.

Otacross was dancing along with the three holograms. "This is a voice conversation software I made using Shibune Kikuzou as a base and your voice samples! That's 'Cute Ami-tan', 'I'll punch you Ran-tan', and 'Happy times Eva-tan'! As long as I have this, I can make Ami-tan, Ran-tan and Eva-tan say whatever lines I want!"

"You can do it!"

"Don't give up!"

"I believe in you!"

"OTACROSS!!!" As the two girls yelled at him, Jin made a mental note to ask Eva to break the program. Or maybe he should ask her to break the entire console altogether? Or maybe he could do it himself when this battle is over.

"All charged up from the cheers of pretty girls! This is the final showdown, Mizel! Mizel won't be one where I can overflow his buffer. In that case, I'll use the exchanges of the beat code every 0.01 seconds! While he's lost in the complex number directory, I'll chuck him out!"

Vector came in for another attack, but as soon as its axe made contact with the dome, a bright light came out and the Vector disintegrated.

"You did it! You were able to stop Mizel's hacking!" Yuuki cheered.

"I sure did!"

"Otacross, you're awesome!" Asuka exclaimed.

"That's what we'd expect from the legendary super hacker!" Ban grinned.

"Not bad." Professor Oozora smiled.

That was when another Vector appeared. It held out its hand and an orb appeared, forming something within it.

Jin's eyes widened at its familiar structure. "That's Seto 50!"

"He can turn Seto 50 into data...?" Takuya muttered.

The black LBX threw the finished Seto 50 towards the dome, causing a bright explosion. When the light faded, they found the box leaking specks of light to the net.

"The twelfth firewall has been damaged! 29% damage! Data is falling apart from the fissure!"

"In that case...!" Otacross pushed on another button. A pillar came up from the floor, showing a little compartment. "Use that!"

Ami blinked. "That's..."

"The virtual space scanner!" When questioning eyes turned his way, Ban began to explain. "It's a device that can convert LBXs into data and send them to the Infinity Net!"

"I've given it an upgrade so that it can convert three machines at once."

"Then we can fight Vector with this!" Hiro summed.

"If he uses Seto 50 again, it's over." Jin stated. "Let's hurry."

Ban and Hiro nodded, all three taking out their LBXs. The brunette placed them into the compartment, just as vector prepared for another assault. The orb it's creating is at least five times larger than the first.

"Transfer!" At the push of a button, Ikaros Zero, Ikaros Force, and Triton all appeared on screen.

As they headed towards Vector, they were blocked by three more dark storms. Out of those came Dark Pandora, Zenon, and Ifreet. They took on one each, Ban with Ifreet, Jin with Zenon, and Hiro with Dark Pandora. Mizel had increased their stats so that they would at least be on par with their LBXs.

They knew that they wouldn't be able to make it if things continued that way. Jin proposed a plan to lure them into a single point before finishing them off with finishing functions, which went quite well. But that's when another, much larger, figure appeared.

"Sigma Orbis..." Professor Yamano muttered.

Otacross' eyes narrowed. "He even turned Sigma Orbis into data..."

Hiro's expression fell. "I can't believe we have to fight Sigma Orbis as an enemy..."

"It shouldn't be a surprise. In virtual space, you can recreate any LBX as long as you have the data for it."

"Mizel..." Ban turned to his friends. "Hiro, Jin, let's go!"

The three began to close in from different angles, but the large LBX was fast enough to shoot them one after the other. Ikaros Force managed to attack, but its swords were blocked by the shield and it was knocked away. Triton swung its hammer, but was parried by the shield and flung the same direction as Ikaros Force. It then used Sigma Drive Sword, but the two were saved by Ikaros Zero.

"Professor, what's Sigma Orbis' weak point?" Hiro asked quickly.

"That's a tough question... Sigma Orbis utilizes the strong points of Perseus, Elysion, and Minerva."

Asuka turned to him. "Then how do we win against it?"

"I stopped the data from flowing out, but I can't recover the firewall in time!" Otacross informed. "We're finished if another Seto 50 hits!"

Sigma Orbis continued to fire its lasers at them, not letting them get close. Triton ducked out of the way and caught its attention as Ikaros Zero tried a sneak attack, but it noticed and blocked with its shield.

Ran's eyes widened. "That Sigma Orbis... There's a time lag between when it switches attack and defense."

"Huh?"

"I see." Jin was the only who caught on. "Sigma Orbis is operated by having three players cooperate for attacking, defending, and maneuvering. That should be the same even if it's a virtual LBX."

"That's right. If all three aren't in sync, then its movements are inconsistent and it can't fight to 100% capability." Hiro stated.

"That means Mizel's computer doesn't have your combination data."

Ban nodded in understanding. "Then we've got our chance to win!"

Sigma Orbis blocks another attack, but it misses its fire on Ikaros Zero. It blocked another attack, but wasn't able to land a hit of its own. Ikaros Zero flew around, dodging its lasers as it has its full attention.

"Hiro, Jin, now!"

The large LBX turned around just as Ikaros Force and Triton came in from behind, however,

"Too slow!"

It wasn't able to react when the latter slammed its hammer on the enemy's head.

"Sigma Orbis is the machine that first unified Ban, Ran, and me." Hiro muttered. "Even if that data is copied, it makes no difference if it doesn't have soul!" Triton went out of the way as Ikaros Force flew in close. "Hissatsu Function!"

"Attack Function, Cosmo Slash."

The large LBX disappeared, but they couldn't let their guard down. The Seto 50 was over half way done.

"Vector!" Ikaros Zero had flown a bit too far away to be able to reach it on time.

"I've got it! Hissatsu Function!"

"Attack Function, Ocean Blast."

Triton managed to get the black LBX away from the structure, but it was still moving.

"Ikaros Zero, Weapon Form!"

"Hissatsu Function!"

"Attack Function, 00 Sword."

Vector broke over and the Seto 50 disappeared along with it. The girls cheered as Otacross fixed the firewall and recovered all the lost data.

"The ultimate development team is back in business!" Ami stated.

"Let's get started right away." One by one they filed out of the room, but Professor Oozora turned back when he noticed a certain person missing. "You aren't coming, Otacross?"

He had quite a serious look on his face. "There's something I want to check out first."

~~~~~

"Hm?" The boy watched as the purple LBX came to sit beside him. "What is it? Do you miss them?" No sound came from the machine. It merely sat there, watching a replay of the battle that had just finished.

"Are you worried for them?"

Its head turned to him.

"I apologize, but I do not have the ability to, what the humans call, empathize. But there's nothing for you to be concerned about." He picked it up and placed it on his shoulder. "They'll soon find out about us."

It turned away.

"There's no need for you to be scared. You wouldn't be going back to that human body anyway. Once it shuts down, you'll truly be free."