The Zoo Squad was gathered around a holographic map of the Net, the air thick with tension.

"Anything?" growled Kodiak, his massive black bear avatar looming over the table.

Anya, in her small white rabbit form, hunched over the map, her ears twitching nervously. "His signature is… weird. It's not a standard Reaper Code trace." Her avatar stuttered. "Whoever this stickman was, he was good. Really good at hiding his tracks. I can't find the door he used."

"Useless," Leo muttered, his Ursa Major avatar slumped in a chair.

"Shut up, Leo," Reina snapped, her sleek fox avatar pacing restlessly.

Kodiak's calm authority silenced them. "Glitch, take Major back to the point of contact. See if you can find anything on-site."

Anya nodded, and her avatar, along with Ursa Major's, dissolved into pixels. They reappeared moments later where the attack had happened.

"Okay," Anya whispered, her rabbit avatar kneeling, its nose twitching as it "sniffed" the air. "Show me exactly where you were standing."

Leo pointed with his fluffy paw. "Right here. He just… grabbed it."

Anya didn't respond immediately. To her, the code of the street was a flat, predictable grid, but here, there was something else. A faint, shimmering residue clung to the spot where the stickman had stood, its code was not degrading, but actively… squirming. It pulsed with a faint rhythm.".

"There's something weird about the residual data here," she finally said.

Reina's voice came over their private comms channel. "What do you mean, 'weird'?"

"It feels… alive," Anya whispered, her own avatar glitching with anxiety. "A normal strider's trace is just data, a footprint that slowly degrades. This is different. It's not just degrading; The trail is actively trying to erase itself, re-writing its own code to match the background noise. It almost looks organic."

Kenji's pragmatic, rumbling voice joined the channel. "That sounds like high-end military tech."

"If Major hadn't brought me to the exact location, I would have missed it completely," Anya continued, her voice trembling with a mixture of fear and excitement. "Even now, the trail is fading abnormally fast. But… I think I have it."

Lines of faint, shimmering code appeared on her tactical overlay, a ghost of a trail leading away from the encounter. "I've got a lock," she announced. "It's faint, but it's heading toward an old, public-access node in the lower sectors. A place called the 'Digital Rainbow' arcade."

Ray changed his avatar, just in case that teddy bear would come looking after him. He chose "The Glitch"—a pixelated, low-resolution figure that intentionally lagged and stuttered as it moved.

He materialized at the entrance of the "Digital Rainbow" arcade, a place famous among netstriders for being built on a "haunted" server node. The air here was thick with the psychic echoes of a million forgotten players—the ghosts of triumph, the bitter sting of defeat, a thousand lifetimes of joy and frustration soaked into the very code of the place.

He remembered the last time he had been here, more than twelve years ago, his small hand held tight in his mother's. He remembered the overwhelming symphony of sound, the dazzling cascade of light, the pure, unadulterated happiness. And now, as he walked through the familiar rows of glowing machines, he realized that nothing had changed.

He sat down at a classic shooter game, one he had loved as a kid. His nanite-enhanced reflexes were too perfect. He didn't need to learn the patterns; his processors saw them instantly. Every shot was a headshot. The game's AI, designed to challenge a human, was laughably outmatched. He beat his old high score in minutes, but felt nothing. The challenge was gone. The fun was gone.

He moved from game to game, a ghost searching for a feeling he could no longer remember.

"The goal is not to win, is it?"

The voice was calm, with a strange, layered quality, as if multiple people were speaking at once. Ray turned. An old man stood there, his avatar weathered and kind, wearing a simple, worn coat. At his side sat a humanoid dog, its avatar a patchwork of pure, shifting data, its tail wagging slowly.

"The goal is to play," the old man continued, his gaze not on Ray, but on the game window. "To lose yourself in the dance. You, young one… you are not dancing. You are merely… counting the steps."

Ray said nothing, his glitched avatar stuttering, the words striking a nerve he didn't know he had.

The old man finally looked at him, his eyes ancient and knowing. "The light is gone now." He smiled, a sad, gentle expression. "You have won the game, but you have lost the joy. What a terrible trade to make."

The old man and his dog turned, and instead of walking away, they simply dissolved into lines of shimmering, silver light, leaving Ray alone with the flashing screens and the hollow sounds.

Ray sat frozen on the data compiled stool. The old man's words echoed in the sudden silence of his mind, sharper and more piercing than any blade. You are not dancing. You are merely counting the steps.

He had dismissed the feeling as a symptom of his new, inhuman nature. The joylessness, the detachment—it was the nanites, the machine. But the old man's words suggested something else, something far more unsettling. That this hollowness wasn't new. That it had been there all along.

He stood up and walked to another game, a simple racing simulator he remembered loving, the thrill of impossible speed a welcome escape. He sat down, gripped the controls, and tried to follow the old man's advice. Lose yourself in the dance. He didn't focus on the optimal racing line, on the perfect gear shift. He just tried to feel it. The roar of the engine, the blur of the neon-drenched city, the thrill of the chase.

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But he couldn't. His mind, his very being, defaulted to calculation. His processors analyzed the track's geometry, calculated the precise angle for a perfect drift, and optimized his fuel consumption. He won the race effortlessly. And felt nothing. The victory was as hollow as the last one.

A terrible, painful realization began to dawn on him, a truth he had been running from his entire life. He had never really asked himself what he wanted. His life had always been a series of objectives, a checklist for survival. Objective: Earn enough for rent. Objective: Get meds for Mom. Objective: Survive the next day. Objective: Don't get killed. He had been a machine long before the nanites ever found him. They had just stripped away the pretense of humanity, the illusion of choice.

Now, for the first time, the circumstances had changed. He had power. He had resources. He had the freedom to chase any dream he wanted. But as he stood there, surrounded by the ghosts of a joy he once knew, it was becoming painfully clear that he had no dreams left to chase. He was free, but he was hollow.

Ray was lost in the ghost of a memory, the phantom taste of synth-pop and childhood joy turning to ash in his mind, when he registered a new presence. Five of them. They moved with a coordinated purpose that set off a low-level alert in his system. They were hunting.

He didn't look up from the game he was pretending to play. He watched them in the corner of his vision, their avatars a bizarre collection of digital fauna.

"That's him," a synthesized, cutesy voice growled, thick with accusation. "The stickman."

Ray's glitched avatar stuttered, and he turned, feigning surprise. The teddy bear, Ursa Major, stood before him, his fluffy fists clenched. Beside him, a sleek fox avatar watched with narrowed, sarcastic eyes. A massive frog in a pinstripe suit stood like a silent, stoic bodyguard, and a small, anxious rabbit peeked out from behind the frog's bulky leg.

"Uh, can I help you guys?" Ray asked, his voice a distorted, low-resolution sound that matched his avatar.

"You can start by giving me back my katana, you program-eating freak!" Ursa Major shouted, taking an aggressive step forward.

"I... I don't know what you're talking about," Ray said, making his avatar flicker erratically.

"Don't play dumb," Goro, the frog, rumbled, his voice deep and pragmatic. "Our scout traced your digital signature from the point of contact directly to this node. Very unique and very hard to trace."

"Enough," a new voice commanded, calm and authoritative.

The leader of the crew, a massive black bear in a noir-style trench coat, stepped forward, his presence instantly silencing the others. He looked down at Ray's simple, stuttering avatar, his own expression unreadable.

"We know who you are," Kodiak said, his voice a low, even rumble. "And we know what you can do. My friend here is... emotional. He lost something important to him." He glanced at Ursa Major, who just grumbled and crossed his fluffy arms. "We're not here for a fight. We're here to talk. Business."

He sent Ray a private message. It was an invitation to a neutral, secure virtual space. A digital Shinto temple garden.

KODIAK: We'll pay for your time.

Ray hesitated, his processors analyzing the situation. This was a direct, professional approach. They weren't just angry thugs looking for revenge. They were a real crew. And they wanted something.

RAY: Fine. But if this is a trap, you'll regret it.

The virtual Shinto temple garden was a haven of tranquility in the chaotic Net. Cherry blossom petals made of pure data drifted on a nonexistent breeze. A gentle stream of flowing code gurgled over smooth, black stones in a meticulously raked zen garden of white sand. Stone lanterns, their light a soft, warm glow, marked a path leading to a small, open-air pavilion. Inside, a low, polished black table sat on a tatami mat floor, surrounded by simple cushions. The Zoo Squad was waiting for him there, kneeling around the table, their strange, mismatched avatars a stark contrast to the serene, traditional setting. The atmosphere was tense, but not immediately hostile.

"Thank you for coming," Kodiak said as Ray's glitchy avatar materialized before them.

"What do you want?" Ray replied, his voice still distorted.

Kodiak gestured to the empty cushion across from him. Ray's avatar glitched, then settled onto the cushion.

"Introductions are in order," Kodiak began, his voice calm and direct. He gestured to the fox. "This is Kitsune, our strategist." The fox avatar gave a sharp, critical nod. "Goro, our muscle." The frog grunted, his gaze unwavering. "Glitch, our scout." The rabbit's ears twitched, but she didn't look up. "And you've already met Ursa Major, our... enthusiast." The teddy bear just crossed his fluffy arms and pouted. "I'm Kodiak. And you are?"

Ray's avatar flickered. He needed a name, something that fit the persona. "Glitchy," he said.

Kitsune snorted, a sound of pure, sarcastic disbelief. "Glitchy? Really? How very... creative. Did you come up with that all by yourself?"

"We don't want revenge," Kodiak began, his voice calm and direct, cutting off any further commentary. "What you did to my friend's program... it was impressive. Unprecedented, even." He paused, his calm expression hardening into one of grim desperation. "Our territory is suffering from a… corruption. Some kind of digital blight. A very nasty daemon had been corrupting our systems."

Kitsune, the fox, spoke next, her nine silver tails swishing. "Just before our friend here ran into you, he had an encounter with one of this entity's minions. It attacked him, and he barely escaped, his katana program ended up damaged from the fight." She looked at him, her vulpine eyes narrowed with a mixture of fear and scientific curiosity. "But it wasn't just damaged; it was infected. Riddled with the daemon's malicious code. But when we analyzed your digital traces after the... incident... there was no trace of the infection."

There was as short pause then she began to speak again.

"So, you eat programs. Cute trick," she said, her voice sharp with sarcasm. "But how did you handle it without getting your own code scrambled into oblivion?"

Ray's glitched avatar remained perfectly still, the lack of a reaction more unnerving than any threat. "I'm more resilient than I look."

Kitsune scoffed, clearly unimpressed by Ray's response.

Kodiak rumbled with something that might have been approval. "We need your unique ability," he said, getting to the point. "The daemon is consuming our safe houses, our data caches... our home. We've thrown every piece of Reaper Code we have at it, and it just gets stronger. We're losing territory and being erased. Help us hunt this thing down."

The offer hung in the digital space, a stunning, unexpected twist. They saw him as a weapon. A possible antidote.

They were desperate, Ray thought, the cold logic of the situation settling in. Consuming a daemon is… an interesting prospect. What new abilities would it unlock? I have to know.

"How much?" Ray asked, his voice flat.

"We can't pay much," Kodiak admitted, his tone honest. "We're not a big crew. but we can offer four thousand credits for the job."

It was a lowball offer for a job this dangerous.

"I'm in," he said.

A wave of relief washed over the Zoo Squad. Ursa Major even let out a small, hopeful whoop before Kodiak silenced him with a look.

"Good," Kodiak said, extending a massive, furry paw across the low table. "We have a deal."

Ray's glitchy hand met the bear's, and the contract was sealed. The potential enemy had become a client.

The digital air in Kodiak's secure server space was clean, sterile, and silent. He stood before the assembled Zoo Squad, his massive black bear avatar a pillar of calm authority. A holographic map of the Net pulsed softly between them.

"This is the entry point," Kodiak rumbled, indicating a flickering, unstable node deep in a lawless sector. "Glitch has confirmed the daemon's corruption is weak enough here so we can dive safely. Once we're inside, we stick together. Goro, you're on point. Kitsune, run active analysis. Major, try not to get yourself killed." He turned his gaze to Ray. "And Glitchy… you're our ace in the hole. Stay close. Watch how it operates. Find a weakness."

Ray gave a single, curt nod. The hunt was on.

Together, they dove.

The transition was not a smooth slide into a new server; it was a violent, nauseating plunge. The clean code of Kodiak's safe house dissolved into a digital hellscape. The architecture here was a nightmare of impossible, non-Euclidean geometry. Walls of writhing, organic-looking code seemed to breathe, pulsing with a sickly crimson light. Streets twisted back on themselves at impossible angles, and the very ground beneath their feet felt unstable, shifting like treacherous sand.

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