Chapter 8: Platform Tag Part 2: Sasser the Seventh

Übel looked down at her once friend's face lying limp on the ground beside her feet; She fell to her knees as she held her friend's dead, cold, corpse in despair and to the skies she screamed her name

"JAAADEEENN!!!"

As her scream grew louder Sasser's grin grew wider, he happily walked over to the crying Übel and gave her a pat on the head as she continued to grieve over her friend who was slowly being consumed by the Virus' red glow.

"Oh dear" said Sasser "It seems your friend is about to disappear Übel"

"Shut up... Please..."

"Oh my, by that tone it seems that you actually want her to disappear"

"NO I!-" Sasser then cuts her sentence off by grabbing her cheeks with one hand and clasping her mouth shut

Pulling her ever so closely, Sasser in a calm tone says "Listen here you little Leech, I've fed you and cared for you up until today, and now that I kill another one of you friends you get the gall to snap back at me?!" But then Her0, who had had enough of this yelled at Sasser to stop whatever he's doing to Übel and I backing their statement pulled out from my inventory the PLR with it aiming directly at Sasser. He merely laughed at the sight of us standing up against him, he manifested a dagger, again filled with the Red aura which signified to us that that weapon was to be avoided.

"This is going to be fun" Sasser said in a manic tone before pulling out his skill window and activating the skill Speed++. He rushed over to us and tried to swing at me but thatnkfull Her0 was there to support me and block the attack with their own dagger. Sasser backed away in a readied stance but before he could balance himself Her0 had already jumped in front of his face. They Kicked and kicked him in a spinning motion before calling out a move "HELLSWEEP" like Kazuya Mishima's move; The spinning kicks manage to confuse the Tall Lanky man enough for Her0 to get in one more more hit and calling out "SHO-RYU-"

"PHANTOM HAND" Übel yelled as she used the skill's projected hand to grab Her0 and slamming them into a nearby wall. I didn't let that pass me by as I targeted her. I revved my weapon and waited for it to fire but before it did Übel had used Phantom Hand again to move herself around the field quickly and as my shot Fired out into the sky breaking the many platforms above, Übel disabled her skill and dropped down on top of me spinning intensely. As she collided with the ground, her scythe's red aura erupted and split the ground open in an alarming red glow. 

"Übel why are you doing this?" I yelled out to her as she continues to attack me "Isn't Jaden your friend?!" Her slashes remained unrelenting as I dodged and dodged "ÜBEL!!!" I yelled loudly until I saw her scythe coming down on top of me.

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The scythe had barely missed my head with the red glow still eminating from it and slowly creeping up the hilt of the weapon. Drip Drip Drip I felt tears drop from top of me onto my face; as the red glow dissipated I saw Übel's face, her eyes red with the copius amount of tears she had shed "How could I?" She said in between her sobs "Sasser isn't a man you can just ignore... After all" she paused.

"He is the seventh member of the Seven deadly Viruses..." Übel said in her steady position. I tried to reach out to the girl's crying face to comfort her before Her0 came crashing into my right arm, having been thrown by Sasser who casually walked over nonchalantly "Awwwhhh~ I wish you'd have kept my identity a secret baby girl." I layed down there on the ground as Übel's words had finally hit me, this man is the 7th Member of the renowned Viruses of V-net Apokalypse.

One of the seven people that infected this world of their malice. The people who caused the DATA LEAK TRAGEDY on that fateful day.

"Oh well, guess the cat's out of the bag! Yes I am the 7th Virus of the V-net, they call me Sasser the Seventh" He said with a wide, S#it eating, grin so vile looking it made me want to gag. I stood up carrying Her0 on my back and activated Speed++ to run away as fast as possible but to no avail as Übel moved so fast it appeared to me as if she'd teleported in front of me. She activated Phantom hand to catch me before I turned around and dashed away further. Her0 slipped out of my hands and was left lying on the ground as Sasser slowly walked forward with the infected Diego and the newly risen Jaden right by his left and right sides.

"Well well looks like I she's feisty too, ain't she Übel?" He asked as if insulting her

"Whatever Sasser, you promised my freedom if I give you one toy to play with" she snapped at him "So lease me from our contract and form one with this girl!"

"Hmm... Very well, our deal is done and you may escape, have fun exploring the world with the... Well you know what happened here~"

"This is YOUR doing!"

"But who brought me these labrats?" He snapped back at her "Of course the Orange and Blue brat were from Veronica, but you? You were the one to bring me your friends~"

Sasser patted her head, congratulating her on her accomplishments for him making her fall to her knees and then he turned to me.

"And you Blue girl! Have we met before? I feel like I've seen you somewhere?" He asked. Obviously it was the first time we'd ever seen each other so I told him so, he shrugged it off and turned to Her0 saying "Oh you... Hmmmm... Your face too it's familiar but I can't quite point out from where... Eh who cares" He said as he raised a dagger filled with that Red aura and struck down at the unconscious Her0.

SLASH-----

Her0 awakened and screamed their hearts out, being covered in that same red glow that creeped up the Diego and Jaden's bodies. Her0 grew brighter and brighter with a sickening red aura as I was forced to watch helpless and powerless to stop their advances into deeper and deeper corruption. Sasser laughed out loud harder and harder as Her0's screams of pain bellowed out; My friend was writhing in pain and all I could do was watch and cry as they are consumed by that Virus. That was until suddenly I felt the hand loosen, it was only a bit but it was enough for me to reach out my hand and open up my menu, I selected one Item in it...

The item manifested on my head, it's body growing behind my head and ears, it's appearance had then taken form, I adjusted the settings, took a deep breath, and I yelled out it's name; with it also being it's attack.

"ROCKER-BY" I screamed from the top of my lungs, the scream was amplified by the Rocker-by and shook the ground as hard as a magnitude 5 earthquake, not enough to kill eny one, but enough to stun them in place. The Rocker-by is practically the equivalent of a Megaphone if used normally, but as an attack weapon it's practically useless; but the stun effect it applied was enough for Übel to lose her grip on me and for Sasser to lose balance. My still active Speed++ gave me enough speed to kick Sasser away and run from the two of them.

Sasser seemingly was pissed at me for doing such a thing to him that he chased me with his hand having been fueled by the V-01D virus. He was planning on infecting me just as he did with Diego; but just as he was about to touch me until suddenly Übel came from the left and tackled the wild man. She'd urge me and Her0 to run as she held him off and she was already holding him with her scythe and was ready to slash him ope-

TAP

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Sasser had touched Übel's pale white face with his infecting hand and pulled her close "You... Shouldn't... Have done that" He said slowly as her body filled with red veins of the virus. Übel fell to the ground with tears falling down her face and yet she wasn't sad, she looked more relieved. I could only watch as Übel became engulfed in that red glow and suddenly her body became as limp as those that went before her.

Sasser stood up and walked over to me claiming that this same situation has happened before with Übel, only she was smart enough to surrender and fall down on her knees to him, and that unlike her I was still willing to fight which he didn't like. He stared into my face and got so close that it freaked me out, he continued to say that whenever he looks in my eyes, he could see nothing. No emotion, desire, nor humanity in me; he liked that look on me, but not my fiesty spirit. He tried to lean in to give me a pat on the head just as he did with Übel, but faintly we hear grunts and small words being said.

"Ge... Ge-het your hand... A... way." Her0 grunted in a baited breath as they swatted Sasser's hand from my head.

"Excuse me ahah you're supposed to be dead little one"

"Let... me... rephrase..." Her0 continued as they took my Rocker-by off and will of their breath, they screamed out

"!!! FUCK OFF !!!" Her0 Screamed out! Their body glowed from a bright, disgusting, red to a calming and hopeful blue. Following suit, Her0's clothes had also undergone a change going from Yellow and Orange to an Aqua Blue accented with Yellow. Their hair flowed as the bright blue aura surrounded them and lowered down as it dissipated. Sasser, who had been knocked back by the loud scream, was in shock as Her0 once again stood up with a determined look on their face as they yelled out "Sasser! Know this, I don't care who you are, but you hurt my friends." Her0 paused to take a stance "And now you're gonna pay"

The shocked Sasser stood up with shaky legs, seemingly terrified of Her0 right now but still yelled out "Bring it on." Hero then turned around to me and said "Hey Marla, do you trust me?" I stood up from a kneel and answered in a playful way "Do I have a choice"

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A maddened Sasser ran at our direction and tried to attack us only to back away the moment he saw Her0 preparing the Rocker-by; Her0 gave chase to the man as I readied my Laser Gun at a far distance ready to to fire at the right time. They blitzed each other, punch after punch and kick after kick they stood their ground and kept on fighting. Sasser eventually pulled out his Virus skill again and tried to attack Her0 with it with them being able to dodge it as if seeing what their opponent was about to do.

Her0 kept dodging the skill until Sasser made a mistake by tackling Her0 while they were crouching, this caused them to fall towards the ground and lose their balance leading to Her0 kicking them behind their back down to the ground and making a loud sound of cracking tiles. Just as it seemed that Her0 had the advantage Sasser stood up, dagger in hand, slashing away at any safe opportunity, not letting Her0 reach a state of safety; He made sure to go for their head rather than their body and not allowing the player to jump.

Her0 took a huge jump backwards away from Sasser to which the deranged man used to his advantage to attack them. Her0 had other plans.

"HADŌ-KEN" They yelled as they threw out a ball of blue energ, hitting Sasser directly and launching him backwards. Her0 wasted no time and rushed forward as fast as they could and launched a flurry of kicks and punches just as they did before only this time the punches launched further, the kicks knocked around harder, and their jumps became exponentially higher. I could see Her0 having the easiest fight of their life right now until finally it once again culminated into one combo

"HELLSWEE~P!"

*SHO RYU~ KEN!*

Sasser's body was launched in the air and I saw my chance as Her0 backed away and I readied my shot and called out to him "HEY SASSER!!!"

"This is for the pain you gave to our friends, this is for all the experiments you've done and this one..."

I yelled out as I paused, images of Übel, Jaden, and Diego flashing in my mind, I readied my resolve and yelled out in righteous justice "AND THIS IS FOR THEM!!!"

Whiirrr~~~~

BAAAAMMM!!!-----------------------

My gun went off and in a split second Sasser had been blasted into a wall, his clothes ripped to shreds and most of his skin showing signs of damage. He laughed at this in a manic tone, growing louder and louder just as he did before. We walked over to him preparing for a continuation only for him to admit defeat. We had bested him and that he was going to keep his end of the bargain.

"Hey girlie, you wanted to know how to advance to reach the V-01D right? Let me tell you, it's not gonna be too long after you reach the next city"

"Talk!" I loudly said, holding his collar

"Neonyan City, that's the next closest city to the V-01D. But you won't be able to pass yet" he said in weak breaths

"And why is that" Her0 asked sternly

"A tournament! A Dice Dungeons tournament is about to be held, in fact Jaden was supposed to attend and I was to tell her a good shop for Dice monsters but, heh, she's dead"

This reminded me of the dreadful fact that we were the last players standing or more like last players alive until Her0 walked up over to Diego and touched his face. In an instant Diego's body went from covered in red to being purified of it and returning him back to normal. Her0 did the same to both the unconscious Übel and Jaden.

Confused, I asked "How... Did you do that?"

"I... Don't know?" Her0 responded "I just felt good you know? I thought that it would transfer to others as well if I touched them and uhh... Yeah it did?"

Übel, Jaden, and Diego all woke up and celebrated, they didn't know how they lived, but they're sure as hell not gonna complain. Then Sasser spoke and it took all of our attention.

"Well now it seems that you kids have recovered nicely" he said while being tied up in chains and continued his say "So Diego, first off the tournament your looking for is in the east at StritFeit city. Jaden, the shop you're looking for is not too far from here, it's a shop called... Well, weirdly enough it's just Game Shop. And Übel... Well you can take an Item back at my mansion I guess"

"And!?" Her0 said with a fierce smile followed by a clutching of their fist

"And... You're free" Said Sasser,in an annoyed tone

We cheered for Übel, however she still seems saddened by what had happened today and she still couldn't face Jaden. Well that was the case until Jaden pulled her in and proclaimed to the skies "Übel is my friend, from now until forever!!!" And they smiled at each other as they made up.

It was late afternoon that Diego parted ways from us saying that he'll be venturing towards StritFeit, and with a final goodbye the four of us waved goodbye to Diego as we went on our way towards "Game Shop"

What a weird name for a store though!

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BEEP* (Robotic voice)

NeoGen database entry:

Username: Marla

Distance: 3595Km

Virus assignation: ILY

Expected time of arrival: 6 weeks, 1 day