Two boys darted back and forth across the spacious training hall, fists and feet a veritable blur as punches and kicks were traded back and forth. Even as they traded attacks, they were busily slotting battlechips into their PETs; in the virtual dojo, two Navis were engaged in similar sparring.

"I see...you've learned some new...aerial kicks, Saotome," Hibiki Ryouga grunted.

"An'...you've got some...new battlechips," Ranma noted. "You're almost a challenge for me an' TigerMan."

"Get serious...LionMan's gonna shred your pathetic Navi, just like I'm gonna rearrange your face!"

An e-mail alert sounded; Ranma held up a hand to signal a pause to the battle. The two boys landed a meter apart, in relaxed stances. Their Navis had also stopped sparring. "It's Kaasan," Ranma said. "She needs me at th' lab."

"A virus?" Ryouga asked.

"Yeah, probably," Ranma said. "Someone's been sendin' 'em a lot lately. Oyaji's in China, so Kaasan's got me workin' harder than usual keepin' this crap under control."

"I'll come with you," Ryouga decided. "LionMan, plug out."

"You don't need t'—"

"Hah...let's make this a contest, Saotome," Ryouga said. "A race to delete the virus."

Ranma grinned. "You're on. Okay, TigerMan, plug out."

* * * * *

Saotome Nodoka was upon her son as soon as the two boys stepped through the massive double-plate sliding glass doors of Hikari Tomorrow Lab. "Hurry up to the lab, dear," she said. "...Oh? Ryouga-kun is here too?"

"Yes, ma'am," Ryouga said, bowing.

"That's good then, because this is..." Nodoka fidgeted. "This is truly dreadful."

"Don't worry, Kaasan," Ranma said. "We'll take care of it."

"Be careful, Ranma-kun," Nodoka said. "This one's a lot worse than last time...and there's a Navi involved."

"A Navi?" Ranma asked, frowning. "I guess whoever's been screwin' around with us is gettin' serious. C'mon, Ryouga."

The two boys followed Nodoka to the elevator, where she slid her security card into the panel. It whirred, made a strange clunking noise, then flashed a red light. "What...?"

"Damn, they've gotten inta th' security system," Ranma muttered. "We'd better plug in here."

The two boys drew out their PETs. "Security's pretty tight on this one, right?" Ryouga asked.

"Yeah," Ranma replied. "Sorry, Kaasan, but we're gonna hafta bust th' firewall."

"Please do whatever you need to," Nodoka said. "Chichiue shouldn't have any problem rebuilding the firewall after this is over."

"Yosh'..." Ranma said. "Plug-in! TigerMan.EXE! Transmission!"

"Plug-in! LionMan.EXE! Transmission!"

* * * * *

Two Navis, one orange with black stripes, white boots and sharp-clawed gloves, and a tiger-like head, the other white with gold boots, clawed gloves, and a lion-like head with a massive gold mane, appeared in front of a roiling red-and-violet energy barrier behind which the silhouettes of viruses wreaking havoc could be seen.

"Leave this to me," LionMan growled, approaching the firewall. His sharp eyes studied the barrier for a long moment, before he nodded and raised a hand, one finger extended. "CODE BREAK!"

The firewall shuddered, turning yellow-and-white as it pulsated and wobbled, before exploding in an impressive shower of fireworks. The viruses behind the firewall came into sharp relief.

"Not bad," TigerMan said. "Leave the rest to me."

"You wish," LionMan rumbled. The two Navis charged forward, unleashing powerful buster blasts that began reducing viruses to delete data left and right.

"There's the door release program," TigerMan said, approaching a terrified-looking green program which was surrounded by Metools.

"Help me!" the program squeaked.

The two Navis made short work of the viruses. "You okay?" TigerMan asked.

"Hai!"

"Then would you mind opening the door for our operators?" LionMan asked.

"No problem! Sorry about that!" the program said.

//Good work, guys, the door's open. Plug out.// The trio rushed into the elevator.

* * * * *

Cylindrical tanks full of a pearly silver substance stretched from ceiling to floor along one wall of Saotome Nodoka's lab. Another wall was entirely occupied by a massive supercomputer. A third wall contained Nodoka's workspace, with a large desk, a terminal, an elevated drawing table with a schematic diagram spread out on it, and a row of shelves full of blueprints, journals, and other documents. Lastly, along the fourth wall was a combination break area and crash pad, featuring a row of cabinets, a refrigerator, a countertop with a microwave, a coffee pot, a kitchen sink, a cupboard, a small end table with drawers, and a plush sofa with an overhead reading lamp on a swing arm.

"Come to think of it, I've never actually seen your lab before, Hakase," Ryouga said, looking around with wide eyes.

"You can get th' tour later, Ryouga," Ranma said grimly. He raced over to the massive computer and slid open the master access panel, revealing several connection jacks. "Let's plug in!"

Nodding, Ryouga joined his rival at the access panel; the two boys plugged in, transmitting their Navis into the system.

* * * * *

//How's it look?// Ranma asked.

"Bad," TigerMan growled in reply.

"Something's very wrong here," LionMan said. "Look...those viruses..."

"Yeah, I see it."

The Metools busily deleting several important research programs had turned jet black, and their attacks were doing far more damage than normal. The + symbols on their helmets had changed into white Σ symbols. Black Flappies were smashing data and network connections left and right. Shadow viruses were floating around, and in the center of it all was a scaly black Navi with long arms, sharp steel claws, and gleaming fangs. It too bore the Σ on its forehead, above blazing red eyes.

//Masaka...// Ryouga gasped.

//Don't tell me it's...//

* * * * *

"What's wrong?" Nodoka asked, noting the pale, stricken looks on the boys' faces.

"I thought we deleted it..."

"It must've escaped to the Uranet," Ryouga growled. "I knew we hadn't seen the end of this!"

"What's going on?"

Ryouga sighed. "My parents created a new security program called Sigma. It was supposed to be the ultimate anti-virus, anti-intrusion, comprehensive security system, perfect to protect any network.

"But...there was a serious bug in the code. Somehow, a viral core was switched out with the AI core before they brought Sigma online. It became self-aware, and..." Ryouga closed his eyes. "It started infecting every program and Navi around it, turning them into viruses. I tried to delete it before it got out of control, but it escaped onto the Net."

"Ryouga called me, an' I helped him hunt it down. We cornered it at th' firewall blockin' off th' Uranet, an' I thought we finished it off, but..."

"It must've tricked us into thinking it was deleted, then escaped," Ryouga said. "And now..."

"Now, it looks like it's active again."

* * * * *

LionMan and TigerMan roared as they cut down viruses left and right. Still, more kept pouring into the system, and the black Navi wasn't standing idly by.

//Time t' get serious,// Ranma said. //Sword! Slot-in! WideSword! Slot-in! LongSword! Slot-in!//

//Right,// Ryouga replied. //Cannon! Slot-in! HiCannon! Slot-in! MegaCannon! Slot-in!//

//Program Advance! BetaSword!//

//Program Advance! GigaCannon!//

A massive sword of pure energy appeared in TigerMan's hands; with a broad, sweeping slash, he deleted ten viruses and tore a deep gash in one of the black Navi's arms. LionMan's arms reformed into a massive cannon, which fired a devastating bolt of plasma that nearly took the black Navi's head off. The corrupted Navi stood, twitching as bits of his body began to de-rezz; arcs of energy surged across his damaged body.

"It's over!" TigerMan cried, raising the BetaSword once again.

The black Navi smiled evilly.

"DARK RECOVERY."

A foul purple-black aura bubbled up from beneath the Navi; as it coursed over his body, his wounds began to disappear, leaving him undamaged.

"And now...DARK SWORD."

//Watch out!!//

A jet black sword appeared on the black Navi's arm; he performed a wide, sweeping slash which sent a crackling wave of dark energy ripping through the other two Navis, knocking them to the ground. With an evil chuckle, he approached them. "You are worthy, yes. Lord Sigma would be pleased to possess you..." His arms shot out, his claws sinking into the downed Navis. They screamed and roared in agony as black arcs of energy ripped and burst across their frames.

//TIGERMAN! NO!!//

//LIONMAN! GET UP! GET AWAY FROM HIM!//

LionMan and TigerMan stood; their bodies had turned black and purple, and their eyes burned a blazing, hellish red. With malicious laughter, they turned their weapons on the system core...

* * * * *

The supercomputer exploded. Ranma and Ryouga screamed as white-hot shrapnel ripped through their bodies, shredding their flesh. They were blown across the lab, crashing into the wall above the sofa and sliding down to land on it. Their heads lolled as they pitched off the sofa and landed bonelessly on the floor, blood pooling beneath them.

Nodoka clutched at her chalk-white face and screamed.

* * * * *

The doctor came out of the operating room, scrubs stained with blood. He removed his mask and gave Nodoka and her father a sorrowful, sympathetic look. "We've done what we can," he said. "There's just...there's just too much damage. I'm sorry."

Nodoka sobbed into her father's shoulder. Holding her, Hikari Tadashi looked grimly up at the surgeon. "Can you keep them on life support?"

"For a while," the doctor nodded. "But it won't do much good. Even if we could find donors, they're just...they're so badly chewed up..."

"How long can you keep them alive?"

"I'd say three days, maybe four."

"Do it."

* * * * *

"Are...are you sure this is going to work, Chichiue?"

"It has to work. What about the nanoborgs?"

"I switched everything over to the backup system after lab computer exploded. It's not on the network, so the Sigma Navis can't get into it. It...it should be possible to do it. If your part works, I'm fairly certain mine will too."

* * * * *

Ranma opened his eyes. His head felt strange; everything around him was pitch black. "Hello? Okaasan? Ryouga? Anybody?"

//Oh, good, you're awake.//

"Jiichan? Where are you? Where am I? What's goi—" Ranma's eyes widened. "TigerMan! He got infected by that Sigma bastard! Jiichan, we gotta—"

//Hold on there, Ranma-kun. Take it easy.// Dr. Hikari paused. //Ranma-kun...there's something I have to tell you. It's going to be hard for you to accept...//

* * * * *

Ryouga groaned as he opened his eyes. "Ugh...my head..."

"Yo."

Ryouga looked up to see someone that looked a little like Ranma, and yet... "Saotome? What the hell're you wearing? You trying to do some cosplay thing?"

Ranma snorted. "You should take a look at yourself before you say that."

"What happened? Where are we?"

"We're in Jiichan's lab computer," Ranma said.

"We're where? Huh?"

"We died, man." Ranma sighed, sitting down and folding his blue-gloved hands in his lap. "That explosion killed us."

"The...the hell're you talkin' about? I'm not dead. You're...you're not even hurt, there's no bandages, no blood, what—"

"You know how Jiichan was workin' on a new kind'a Navi?"

Ryouga nodded; his head felt strangely heavy. "Yeah. You said something about trying to copy human DNA as computer code...I couldn't really get it."

"Well, after that explosion, they tried t' save us, but we were too messed up," Ranma explained. "They kept us on life support long enough for Jiichan t' download our minds inta his computer. Everything we ever were, converted inta terabytes of computer data. Then..." Ranma gestured at himself and chuckled. "This."

Ryouga held up his own hands and stared at them. The flesh was gone, replaced by white-gloved hands at the end of heavy black-and-gold bracers. His eyes widened. "What the hell—?!"

"We're Navis now," Ranma said, standing up. "Right now, we live inside Jiichan's lab computer. This was th' only way they could save us."

"Uso..." Ryouga stood, turning away from Ranma, fists clenched. "This is ridiculous," he said. "There's no possible way we're—I'm—it's just not possible!"

//I'm afraid it is, Ryouga-kun,// Saotome Nodoka's voice echoed. //I'm transmitting a full record of Ranma's conversation with Chichiue directly into your memory.//

The blue four-pointed-star crest on Ryouga's helmet lit up; his eyes widened and he staggered as suddenly memories were implanted directly into his mind. "Ugh...what..." He stood, then stared at Ranma. "We're...we're really..."

"Kinda sucks, huh?"

* * * * *

The Tendous stared incredulously at the redhead. "Bullshit," Nabiki said.

"I wish," Ranma snorted, sighing. "But that's what happened."

"So...if the two of you are Navis, then...then how can you be walking around looking like people?" Akane asked.

"That would be my wife's doing," Genma said. "You see, while Hakase's field is computer networks and NetNavis, Nodoka's field is nanotechnology. Before the incident, she had perfected the integration of nanomachines with artificially-created organic tissue, creating microscopic cybernetic life she calls 'nanoborgs'. Nanoborgs are designed to mimic any part of a living being's anatomy, so long as there's a driver program to imprint them with the form they're supposed to take."

"Kaasan made me an' Ryouga new bodies outta nanoborgs," Ranma said. "Since it's a lot harder t' make a whole body an' not just an arm or a leg, th' only program with enough power t' control it is a Navi." She chuckled. "Lucky for us, that's what we are. So these bodies..." She gestured to herself and Ryouga. "They're just machines. Well, cyborgs. We call 'em Nanoforms. That's why we don't move much or talk at all when we're plugged into somethin'. Th' backup driver programs in our bodies are only strong enough t' hold th' shape an' make 'em act a little human." She grinned. "An' since our bodies can pretty much change shape at will, we can..." A flash of red light emanated from her body, and the red-haired girl in Chinese clothes was replaced by a human-sized version of the red Navi that had called herself "Roll".

Akane, Nabiki, and Soun jumped away from the table, staring in shock. Kasumi tilted her head, her mouth a comical 'o' of surprise. "WH-WH-WH-WHAT THE HELL?!" Akane shrieked.

"Now do you believe me?" Ranma asked in an amused tone, before shifting back to 'normal'.

"Ara," Kasumi supplied. "So the two of you are cyborgs driven by Navis created from the minds of two boys who died in a lab explosion?"

"That's what I spent th' last half hour tellin' ya," Ranma said.

"That still doesn't explain the sex-changing thing," Nabiki said, arms folded.

Ranma grimaced. "Ah, yeah. Well...after we got these bodies an' got use'ta bein' Navis, we tracked down TigerMan an' LionMan. We..." She sighed. "We hadda delete 'em. It sucks, 'cuz we had those Navis for so long, but by th' time we found 'em, they were just wild, savage beasts. More virus than Navi.

"Well, we battled 'em, an' they tried t' do t' us what that Sigma Navi did t' them. It didn't work, an' we managed t' delete 'em, but..."

"They managed to infect us with a bug," Ryouga said. "Hikari-hakase has identified it as 'JusenCode'. It's a rare bug that alters the physical parameters of any Navi, program, or virus exposed to it. Each instance of JusenCode causes different effects, and responds to a different trigger mechanism."

"Worse still, it spread to our Nanoforms," Ranma said with a grimace. "Jiichan's tryin' t' find a way t' debug us, but for now, we're stuck like this. It ain't really bad, just...kinda annoyin'."

"I've never heard of anything like that before," Akane said.

"It's pretty rare," Ranma said, shrugging. "It's somethin' that came outta th' Uranet."

Soun shuddered. "The Uranet. The Hell of the cyberworld. Naturally, something so insidious would breed in such an evil place..."

//Wait a minute!// Cherry exclaimed suddenly. //That weird pig-thing from before...was that you, Ryouga?//

Ryouga grimaced. "Hai."

Ranma laughed. "Yeah, Ryouga here usually looks pretty badass as a Navi, until he uses a recovery chip. Then it's bacon city."

"And your JusenCode trigger is Aqua chips, right?" Akane asked.

Ranma nodded. "Un. O'course, sometimes we just change randomly. It is a bug, after all." She shook her head. "Worst part is drivin' th' girl body when my Navi form's a guy, or th' other way around. Throws my balance off."

"And the same trigger works in reverse?" Soun asked.

Ranma nodded. "Which is handy for Ryouga. Not so much for me."

Nabiki sighed. "I can't take any more of this. I'm off to bed." She stood and rather theatrically exited the room.

"I should clean the kitchen," Kasumi said, rising as well.

"Um...I...uh...homework...yeah," Akane said, hastily rushing upstairs.

Ranma sighed. "Well, so much for that."

"I told you so," Ryouga said smugly.

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