Author's Note: I don't own Mega-Man Battle Network, or any characters thereof. O.K.?

This fic is not related to my Mega-Man.EXE: Network series is any way. I have a feeling this is going to become a series in itself, but we'll just see about that.

Enjoy but don't forget to review please!

Tuesday 10:10 AM: Higsby's Chip Shop.

"You want how much for that chip?" Lan's jaw dropped.

"It's an easy 100,000 Zenny," Higsby calmly replied, "There's only five of them in existence. Besides with the new Tag-Team Tournament coming up, it'll come in handy. Do you have a partner yet?"

"No, I'd probably better find one soon, otherwise I can't compete." Lan commented as he eyed the Battle Chip. If Higsby was right, this one, called a Time-Stop, could freeze time in a Netbattle, allowing the user to move around, but everything else would be frozen in place.

"But, I don't think I'm willing to pay that much." The Op said.

"In other words," Mega-Man spoke up, "You can't afford it."

"Hey!" Lan cried at the P-E-T, "My finances are no one else's business."

"Right," The Navi grinned, "Uh, Lan? Phone call!"

The Op punched a button on the Terminal, before he could say anything a gravelly voice greeted him. "This Lan Hikari?"

"What do you want?" Lan asked suspiciously.

"Just to give ya a warning." The voice continued, "Wily isn't too thrilled with ya, so I figure that if I can delete you and that Navi, I'll move up the ranks."

"Dream on." Lan retorted.

"Anyway, I just wanna say, you've got a cute 'girlfriend', it'd be a shame if anything happened to her."

Lan's face flushed with anger. "You leave Maylu out of this! If you've got a bone to pick come, get me!"

"Whoa-ho-ho. Ya do care for her, so I'll give ya a chance to save her. Ya've got twenty minutes to get to the Antiques Shop on the southwest corner of town, if you're late then, you'll need a new 'girlfriend'!" The connection dissolved.

As Lan struggled to control his anger, he tore out off the Chip Shop leaving a startled Higsby behind; he flew across the streets as fast as he could.

"Wow!" Mega-Man gasped as they just barely missed an oncoming car; "Can you be a bit more careful?"

"No time!" Lan was visibly angry, "We've got to get there fast!"

The Bomber closed his eyes as his Op dashed across a yellow light; mercifully, they quickly arrived at the Antique Shop. With seven minutes to spare, Lan kicked of his roller blades and didn't even take the time to clip them to his backpack; he just left them lying there on the sidewalk.

The Antiques Shop resembled a mall more than an antique store, with the layout of a modern shopping center, but it was packed with old furniture and such.

The enraged boy crashed into the doors; they wouldn't budge. "Locked!" Lan gasped.

"Phone!" Mega-Man cried.

Lan jabbed the button and roared into the speaker. "I'm here now, let her go!"

The gravelly voice cut him off, "Not yet, squirt, ya gotta beat us in a Netbattle to save your 'girlfriend'. Ya see; she doesn't even now that she's in danger, I've toyed with all of the lights in this building. In exactly five minutes they'll all explode! As in 'boom'! Naturally, it won't be a big explosion, but it'll be more than enough to-"

"Where are you?" Lan cut the voice off.

"See that terminal on your right?" The voice asked, "If you jack in there, then you'll go straight to the light controls, once there, fight the Navi. If you win, you can have your 'girlfriend', if you lose, 'boom'!"

Lan's teeth were clenched so tight that he thought his jaw would snap. "You just messed with the wrong guys, Jack in Mega-Man Power Up!"

Mega-Man crashed into the Network, and faced his opponent, Blaster-Man.

"You're going down!" The Blue Bomber cried, as he leveled his Mega-Buster and fired away.

"Ha! Just wait'll I blow you off the bit-map!" Blaster-Man moved slightly to let the laser bypass him, then he launched a bomb at his adversary, the explosion caught the Battler and flung him backward.

"He's been upgraded." Mega-Man groaned as he got to his feet.

"There's no time for this!" Lan shouted, "Let's take him down with the Program Advance!"

"Got you!" Mega-Man agreed.

"Cyber-Sword Battle Chip in! Download!" Mega-Man felt his right wrist transform into the Sword.

"Wide-Sword Battle Chip in! Download!" The Blue Bomber raised his right wrist as the Wide-Sword activated.

"Long-Sword! Battle Chip in! Download!" The Bomber raised his hands above his head, as the three swords fused into the Program Advance Sword.

"Program Advance NOW!" Mega-Man swung his blade, releasing a wave of Program Advance energy. The wave traveled about three inches before it blew up in his face.

"Ah!" Mega-Man sank to his knees, stunned. "Lan, you zoned out big time, we have to be in perfect synchronization for the Program Advance to work."

"Sorry, but this guy's got to go down, there's only three minutes left!" Lan cried, "Here! Long-Sword Battle Chip in! Download!"

The Blue Bomber raised his sword and charged at the WWW Navi.

"Try some explosives!" Blaster-Man kicked off a pair of Bombs, which rocketed at the two Navis.

"No thanks!" Mega-Man quipped as he sliced through the loaded projectile; "I'm on a diet!"

The Blue Bomber came in close and swung at Blaster-Man, he passed him by and turned to face him. The WWW Navi was unscratched.

"This can't be!" Lan hollered, "Mega-Man, we'll use the Program Advance again! Get ready!"

"Lan!" Mega-Man corrected, "you're so out of focus that we'll never pull it off!"

"You're right, I've got to calm down." Lan agreed, "you ready, Mega-Man?"

"Let's blow this guy to the moon!" The Blue Bomber agreed; he started running towards Blaster-Man.

"Spreader! Battle Chip in! Download!" Lan jammed the chip into his P-E-T.

Blaster-Man turned and kicked off a pair of explosives that spun through the air towards Mega-Man. The Blue Bomber felt the Spreader-Cannon form and used it to blow the explosive projectiles out of the air.

"Good-bye, punk!" Blaster-Man's right hand transformed into the Blaster-Cannon, he leveled it at Mega-Man and fired away.

"Blaster-Guard! Battle Chip in! Download!"

Mega-Man raised his shield, and kept going as the miniature explosives crashed into his defense.

"Electro-Sword! Battle Chip in! Download!"

The Blue Bomber's shield transformed back into the cannon, which in turn morphed into a hilt as the Electro-Sword came to life.

Blaster-Man switched back to his bombs, and sent two flying at Mega-Man. The Navi cleaved through them with his sword, and without breaking his motion, he brought it down across Blaster-Man.

"AAHH!" The WWW Navi roared with anger. "NO!"

Blaster-Man logging out.

"Quick, Mega-Man! Shut down the lights!" Lan cried. "And open the doors!"

"You got it!" Mega-Man found the program controlling the lights and instructed it to override the hacker's directions. "Oh no, phone!"

The Op jabbed the button, and heard that familiar voice say; "Don't you think you'd better get moving?"

"What are you talking about?"

"Didn't I tell you?" Gravelly Voice continued, "When ya defeat the Navi, ya only unlocked the doors, the lights will still go boom in a few seconds!"

"You coward!" Lan roared into the P-E-T, "I'm surprised that WWW would even let a sneak as low as you into their organization."

"Ya're running out of time." The phone call ended.

Lan jacked his P-E-T out of the terminal and ran into the shop, Maylu was the only one in the store; she had her back to him.

"Maylu!" Lan shouted at the top of his lungs, "Get out of there!" Time seemed to shift into slow motion, as Maylu turned around and started walking toward him.

Then all of the lights in the shop brightened to an intense degree, a series of explosions sounded as light after light blew up.

After what seemed like an eternity, the noise and explosions ceased.

Lan was moving as fast as he could, but could only watch as his friend collapsed to the floor with a soft thump.