Chapter 3: Registration
"Step Sword, Battle Chip in! Download!"
Those were the words that started the battle. Protoman dashed forward at immeasurable speed, but Haseo was faster, sending a Reflector chip to Blademan. The sword attack struck the shield, but Protoman got out of the way before the shockwave could hit him.
"OK, now it's on!" Haseo shouted. "Area Steal, Katana 1, Battle Chips in! Download!"
Blademan flashed and disappeared, but Protoman remained vigilant, keeping his guard up for any sign of his target. Chaud was hovering over the slot, ready to send chip data when it was needed.
From a distance, Blademan saw a split-second opening, and he was going to take it. He rematerialized behind Protoman and activated the Katana attack, slicing wide with one sword and piercing long with the other. Protoman stumbled forward, surprised that the Navi could actually land an attack.
"Hmph, looks like you're not one to be underestimated," Chaud said. "But I'm afraid I'll still be putting you under arrest. As for your Navi, he'll die by the sword. An honorable way to go, don't you think? Protoman!"
Protoman got back into his battle stance.
"Delta Ray, Giga Chip in! Download!"
Haseo blanched. "Did he just say 'Giga Chip'?"
"Ah, crap," Blademan said, putting up his swords.
Protoman launched himself at Blademan and attacked in order from Cyber Sword, to Wide Sword, to Long Sword. The final attack sent Blademan flying into the wall of the arena, leaving an imprint. Blademan slumped to the ground, not moving.
"Blademan, NO!" Haseo cried.
Protoman walked up to the unconscious Navi, ready to finish the job. But Blademan had other plans, pulling his swords in and sweeping Protoman off his feet. The black Navi flipped up and landed behind Protoman, swords drawn and still able to fight.
"How in the heck…?!" Chaud said, his cool starting to dissipate.
"I've had fun, but I think it's time to end it," Haseo said, slotting in his trump chips.
"Cyber Sword, Wide Sword, Long Sword, Battle Chips in! Download! Program Advance activate!"
Blademan's swords grew to a massive size as the Life Sword Program Advance took shape. Even Protoman was thinking whether he would survive or not.
"Life Sword, GO!"
Blademan launched forward, slicing with both swords in a cross motion, hitting Protoman with the full ferocity of the attack. He screamed in agonizing pain as he was forced out of Haseo's homepage.
"Aw, yeah!" Haseo shouted with joy. "We actually won!"
Chaud shook his head as Protoman was beamed back into his PET.
"I don't know how you beat me, but if you're strong enough to stand up for what's right, then so be it," he said, his cool attitude returning. "I'll be expecting you over at SciLab for your registration."
With that, Chaud cut his link to the Net, leaving Haseo starstruck.
"He acknowledged my skill as a Net Battler..." Haseo said dreamily. "This is freaking sweet!"
Blademan shook his head, retracting his mask and sheathing his swords. "I don't care that he's an Official, all I care is that I managed to wipe the smirk off that Navi's face. Priceless."
"In any case, we should get some sleep," Haseo said, yawning. "SciLab closes early tomorrow, so we gotta hurry and get you registered."
Blademan nodded, then looked at the temple near the arena.
"By the way, what's the point of that temple?" Blademan asked curiously.
"Oh, right!" Haseo said. "You can live there if you want. I set it up so you can use it to go into sleep mode when you're tired. What do you think?"
"Well, alright!" Blademan said, heading to the temple. "I'm gonna catch some sleep. I'll see ya tomorrow."
Haseo nodded, waiting until Blademan was asleep before going that way himself.
The next day…
Lan sent another e-mail to Haseo's PET. He had already sent three messages to him asking where he was at, and he hadn't answered any of them. He finally decided to call Haseo's mother.
"Hello?" she answered politely.
"Mrs. Tomokari, it's Lan," he said. "Is Haseo home?"
"No, I'm afraid he had something to do," Mrs. Tomokari replied. "He went to SciLab to get his Net Navi registered."
"OK, thanks!" Lan said before he hung up. "C'mon, Megaman! Let's head over to SciLab!"
"Why? We don't have anything to do over there," Megaman said.
Just then, Lan's PET rang in with a call from his dad.
"Hello?" Lan said.
"Lan, how are you?" Dr. Hikari asked.
"Oh, hey Dad," Lan said. "What's up?"
"I have something I want to show you," Dr. Hikari said sternly. "Come over to my lab."
"O-OK," Lan said, confused by his father's tone of voice. Dr. Hikari cut the link, leaving Lan standing there aghast.
"Well, looks like we have a reason to head over there now," Megaman said. "Let's go see what Dad wants."
"Right," Lan said, triggering his skates and dashing off to the metroline.
Haseo stood in front of the SciLab doors, looking up at the massive complex.
"What's up with you?" Blademan asked. "You're acting all nervous. It's just a registration."
"Yeah, but there's also an ability test involved," Haseo said. "If we don't pass, you'll be deleted."
"Oh, come on!" Blademan shouted. "We've beaten the best Net Battler in the entire city, as well as an Official! Why are you scared?!"
Haseo jumped as Blademan gave his short yet powerful speech. He forgot that the volume was all the way up, and now all of the people in the square were looking straight at him.
"OK, OK! I got it," Haseo said, looking around nervously. "Let's go."
The two were about to head in when Haseo heard someone call his name. He turned around to see Lan running up behind him.
"Hey, Lan," Haseo said. "What are you doing here?"
"My dad called me here," Lan said. "So, you're going in for registration, huh?"
"Heh, yeah," Haseo said. "I'm pretty nervous, but I'm confident that I can beat anything they throw at us."
"Yeah, you weren't earlier…" Blademan scoffed.
"Quiet, you!" Haseo hissed.
"It doesn't matter," Lan said. "I guess I can watch your registration so you can have someone back you up!"
"Thanks, Lan," Haseo said with a smile. Then he looked back at the doors.
"Well then, shall we?" he said.
The two walked in to the complex, Haseo feeling confident because of Blademan's short pep talk.
With our teamwork, nothing can stop us! Haseo said to himself.
While Haseo and Lan walked into the SciLab complex, a lone figure sat in the treetops, looking at the young Net Battlers.
"Hmm…looks like I've found my next targets," he said with an evil grin.
"What should we do, Kazuto?" said a Net Navi from the boy's PET. He was a pure black Navi, the only adverse color being his eyes, which were a striking red. The Navi was decked out in thick plate armor, and he was wielding two katanas.
"Follow him through the Net," Kazuto said. "We'll analyze his abilities first, then we'll strike when he's alone."
"Got it," the Navi said, jacking into the Net.
"Welcome to SciLab," the receptionist said. "How can I help you?"
"I'm here for a registration," Haseo said, putting his PET up onto the desk. The receptionist connected the PET to her computer, downloading data about the owner and his Net Navi.
"So, you're Haseo Tomokari, and the Navi you're registering is called 'Blademan', correct?" she said.
"That's right," Haseo answered, taking his PET back from the receptionist.
"OK! This way, please," the receptionist said, opening a door to behind the desk. Haseo and Lan stepped in, where the receptionist directed them to a room where three scientists were waiting.
They're already here…Haseo thought. Chaud probably told 'em about me.
"Ah, Haseo Tomokari," one of the scientists said. "We've been expecting you."
Nailed it, he said to himself.
"Step forward and jack into the terminal in front of you," the scientist said.
Haseo nodded, pointing his PET at the terminal.
"Jack in, Blademan! Power up!"
Blademan beamed into the terminal's Net, activating his mask and drawing his swords, ready for anything.
"First will be a physical examination of your Net Navi's file system," the first scientist said, typing on his keyboard.
Blademan felt something going through his program matrix, and it made him shiver slightly. Navis didn't like it when someone rooted around in their files when they were awake. It felt like he was being seen without his jumpsuit.
"Hmm…everything checks out," the scientist said, ending the scan. Blademan sighed with relief; he was glad he passed the first test.
"Next will be an examination of your battling abilities," the second scientist said, tapping away on her keyboard and spawning a wave of viruses.
"You will fight through three waves of viruses without your NetOp's help," the scientist said. "Begin when you're ready."
Blademan closed his eyes, smiling beneath his mask. He dashed forward and sliced wide with one sword, destroying the three Mettaurs that she had spawned.
"Perhaps that was a little too easy," the scientist said, pulling up three Base Gunner viruses. Blademan dodged to the side as each virus locked on to him and fired their Mach Gun attacks. Once they were finished, he ran in and destroyed all of them with just a cross swipe of his swords.
The scientist was amazed. No one had destroyed those viruses in so little time. She knew that Haseo had spent a lot of time on perfecting his Navi's abilities.
"Final test," she said, activating the final level.
Blademan shivered as he was left looking at three Spikey viruses. These were known to be fast and incredibly violent, utilizing a Heat Shot attack. They were also known to fight better in packs.
"Whenever you're ready," she said, smiling cruelly.
Blademan took a deep breath and steeled himself. As far as he was concerned, it was just another virus busting. He opened his eyes as the three Spikies charged him.
Blademan rolled underneath as the three wolfish viruses launched their attacks. Then he jumped up and deleted the first with a swipe of his swords. The other two ran at him from the side, but Blademan was already prepared, spinning with his swords extended, catching the remaining Spikies and dicing them up like a Netopian sushi chef.
The rest of the scientists were immediately impressed. No one had deleted the final wave in such little time.
"Very impressive, Blademan," the battle scientist said. "You've passed the second test."
Blademan spun his swords and sheathed them. "Bring on the next test! I'm ready!"
"Your final test will be your data analysis skills," the third scientist said. "There is a piece of data hidden somewhere in Net City. You must find it."
A portal shimmered into view inside the terminal that led to Net City. Blademan nodded and stepped in, teleporting to the city square.
"The data will be a Variable Sword Battle Chip," the third scientist said. "If you find it, I'll even let you have it."
Blademan nodded, taking a massive leap at one of the buildings and running up the wall, hitting the top and landing.
"Time for a little free run," Blademan said, smiling.
The Net Navi dashed forward and started jumping across the skyscrapers that covered Net City, also running diagnostics on the area to find any loose chip data. After a few minutes, Blademan stopped, getting a signal from one of the main streets. He jumped down and landed smack in the middle of the street, earning a few odd looks from the Navis walking through.
"It's somewhere around here," Blademan said, fine-tuning his analysis. He finally locked onto a piece of Battle Chip data lying near a trash can. Blademan walked over and picked it up, running a scan on it.
"Yup, this is a Variable Sword, all right," he said, compressing the data.
"Good work, Blademan. You can jack out now," Haseo said.
Blademan nodded and logged out, beaming back to Haseo's PET.
"Congratulations, Haseo and Blademan," the lead scientist said. "You've passed all three tests. You are now registered in the SciLab database."
Haseo breathed a sigh of relief and said, "Thank you." He looked down at his PET and said, "We did it, Blademan! We won!"
"Yeah, and we got some new chip data while we were at it!" Blademan said.
"Oh, yeah," Haseo remembered, slotting in a blank chip. Blademan copied the data onto the chip, and the Variable Sword Battle Chip pushed its way out of the slot. Haseo pulled it out and looked at it before putting it in his Battle Chip sack.
"I think it's time to head home," Haseo said. "This was a long day. I'm bushed!"
"OK, hero boy," Blademan said, rolling his eyes. "But first, Lan sent us a message. He wants us up at his dad's lab."
"Huh? I wonder what for?" Haseo asked himself.
"Well, let's find out!" Blademan said. "Let's hitch a ride on the elevator!"
Author's Note: Man, I didn't realize it would be this hard to juggle two incomplete fanfics. I spent some time updating Mystery of the Legend Keepers, and now I've finished this one. Enjoy.
Strato Abyss signing out.
