Chapter one
Lan Hikari was running late, as usual, for a NetBattle with Dex.
"Lan! We're gonna be late! Hurry up and let's get going!" Megaman shouted
through the PET at Lan while he was rushing to get his stuff together to go. "I am hurrying, Megaman!" he said as he got his rollerblades on and rushed out the door, almost forgetting to grab his PET containing Megaman.
"Sorry Megaman, I almost forgot you." apologized Lan as he began picking up speed on his rollerblades on the way to Dex's house. "It's all right Lan, but I do have one question to ask you."
"What?" said Lan.
"Why in the world did you accept Dex's invitation to NetBattle so early on a Saturday morning? You know you are really sluggish in the morning."
Lan shrugged while picking up speed and almost running into someone. "Sorry!" He yelled over his shoulder.
The girl he had almost ran into looked at him knowingly and decided to follow him on her scooter. "He is gonna get into trouble today, I can just feel it." she said, seemingly to herself as she sped after him.
Lan walked into Dex's house just as Dex walked out of his room sleepy-eyed.
"Oh, Hi Lan." Dex yawned, "I didn't know you would be here this early, I thought you knew I was joking."
"What?!? You were joking? You tricked me into getting up this early? On a Saturday?!?" Lan fumed.
"Well, as long as you're here, let's NetBattle!" Dex said, waking up with enthusiasm.
"Yeah, might as well..." Lan said, knowing he'd been tricked. "Jack in, Megaman! Power up!"
"Jack in, Gutsman! Power up!" Dex repeated.
"Dex!" called Dex's mom, "Did you adjust the thermostat without asking again? It's getting awful warm in here."
"No, I didn't Mom, maybe the hardware is messed up or somthin'" replied Dex, slightly annoyed that his mother had interrupted them.
"I don't think it was accidental that the temperature is rising, Lan." Megaman said from the Cyberworld. "I think I saw some viruses run off when I jacked-in" he continued.
"Yeah, it is getting pretty hot in here" said Lan tryiing to fan himself. "Well Dex, you wanted a NetBattle, so let's go bust some viruses!" Lan exclaimed.
"I am gonna follow them Lan. You coming Gutsman?" Megaman looked at Gutsman standing ready for battle.
"Yeah, Gutsman ready!" he replied while following Megaman cautiously.
Meanwhile in the Real World
"Mom! Can ya open some windows? It is getting too hot in here!" yelled Dex.
"I'll help!" volunteered Lan, who was already burning up from the heat. He ran to the window to try and open it but it wouldn't budge. "Dex! Your windows are stuck!" Lan yelled at him while trying to pull it up.
"What? Whadya mean it's stuck? MOM!!!" Dex yelled, getting mad at being so hot.
"What Dexy? Oh, Lan, do you need help?" she walked over the the window that Lan was pulling on and started to pull too. Then she stepped back with a worried look on her face. "Oh dear... it seems to have gone into storm lockdown.."
"What?!?! You mean we are stuck in here in the the heat with no way to get fresh air? We're gonna suffocate!!" Dex said frantically.
"Calm down Dex." Lan said. "We just have to bust the virus that is doing this and then we'll be fine. We need to keep our cool in order to beat this thing."
"Keep cool?! How in the world are we supposed to keep our cool when it it so hot in here!?!" Dex said as he was pacing around acting nervous and mumbling to himself.
Lan tried to ignore Dex's whining and decided to check out Megaman's progress. "Megaman, have you found the virus that is causing this problem?" he spoke into the PET.
"Not yet, but I think we are getting closer. It is getting warmer here too." Megaman replied.
In the cyberworld, Megaman and Gutsman are walking through the Net of the house to try and find the virus. Then, all of a sudden, a fireball comes at them from behind almost hitting Gutsman. "Whoa, where did that come from?" Megaman wondered aloud, looking in the direction where the fireball came from. He started walking in that direction, while getting his blaster ready to retaliate if attacked and sure enough, another fireball came in his direction. He dodged it just before it hit, but not quick enough to avoid feeling its heat.
An evil laugh rang out from the direction the fireballs were coming from. "Megaman! How good to have the chance to delete you once again!" Torchman stepped out of the shadows still laughing. "You will not prevail this time. I have become stronger since the last time we met."
Megaman stared at him with determination and Gutsman did the same.
"Lan, I found it! It's Torchman!" Megaman said through the PET.
"Torchman?! I shoulda known World Three was behind this. It's just like the time when the ovens kept burning houses down." Lan deduced. "Here comes some battle chips, Megaman! Cybersword battle chip in! Download!"
"All right!" said Megaman excitedly as his right arm extended into the Cybersword. "Enough talk Torchman! Let's get this over with!" He started running towards Torchman preparing to strike, when Torchman suddenly dodged out of the way and hit him on the back with a flaming punch.
As Megaman went down, a sphere of water came out of nowhere and hit Torchman, paralyzing him.
"What was that?!" Megaman wondered aloud as he got out of Torchman's striking range.
A female voice rang out from the direction the water ball had come from. "Now Megaman! Get him! I'll take care of the rest of the viruses!"
"Right! Lan, could I have a Long Sword please?"
"Good idea Megaman! Long Sword, battle chip in! Download!"
As Megaman's left arm extended into the Long Sword, he jumped up and double-slashed Torchman until he was forced to log out. "Torchman, logging out" came the female voice that announced it.
"Yes! How ya feeling Lan?"
"Better, we can get the windows open now and it is cooling down pretty quick. Who was that NetNavi that stunned TorchMan?" asked Lan.
"I don't know. Whoever it was. I owe them big time." Megaman looked in the direction where the water ball had come from to see a sillouette of a female NetNavi with an aqua green and light blue outfit. She also had churning, ocean like eyes to match her water-like hair cascading behind her.
"Hey! Thanks!" Megaman called out to her.
"No problem. The name's Aquaria by the way. See you around Megaman." She said with a nonchalant tone. She waved and then the female voice said, "Aquaria, logging out." and she cubed out of the Net.
In the real world, Dex was running around outside in the sprinkler, and Lan was just walking out the door with Megaman in hand. He sees a girl across the street, jacked-in to the phone booth. She seemed familiar to him. Then he remembered. 'Its the girl I almost knocked over this morning!' he realized. "Hey!" He ran over to her waving. "Hey, I am sorry for almost running you over this morning."
She looked up at him with a smile. "It's all right, Lan. No harm done. Great NetBattling by the way." She waved and walked off, leaving him with a confused look on his face.