Chapter Three: The Prelims

Friday Afternoon

Chaud walked the entire way home, Nami still unconscious, thoughts and theories running through his head a mile a minute.

What could FlashMan have wanted? Why does Wily need it? And how did FlashMan know Nami? Why did he call her a traitor? He was the one trying to blast her to bits...

Once he had gotten inside his house, he laid her down on the soda that he normally threw his backpack on after school.

"Well... we've got all weekend to do that essay..."

"Let's wait up and see if Nami's ok," Chaud said, sitting down on the floor in front of the sofa, pulling out a piece of paper and a pencil to begin his essay.

He only had been writing for ten minutes or so until she woke up.

"Huh... wha...?"

"Nami?" Chaud looked up from the table that he was writing on.

"... Sen... m-midnight..."

"What's she talking about? It's 5:45," ProtoMan said.

Sen answered immediately. "Nami! Are you all right?"

Nami's eyes flew open. "S... Sen..." She faltered.

"Nami!"

"Where... are we...?"

"In my house." Chaud finally spoke up. He turned around in order to face her, essay forgotten. "Feeling better?"

"Y-Yeah..." Nami managed to sit upright. "Wha... What happened?"

"You blacked out after that Flash of Despair, or whatever it was," he reminded her.

"Oh... yeah..."

"If you're feeling up to it, I can walk you home," he offered.

"Sure... thanks, Chaud."

---

A month passed after FlashMan's attack on the school. Lan, Maylu, Yai, and Dex could remember nothing of the incident, and in all honesty, Chaud preferred it that way.

He and Nami had become fast friends (shocking all who knew Chaud half as well as he ever allowed anyone to). She was a little more extroverted and immediately friendly than he was, and, despite her appearance, was a year younger than he was.

For a while after the attack, she and Chaud had been trying to figure out what FlashMan could have stolen. Obviously it was something either very valuable, or very dangerous, or else Wily wouldn't have wanted it.

"Maybe it's some sort of weapon," Nami suggested one afternoon after classes when they were walking home. "He seems to like that sort of thing."

"True. But why would the school allow a weapon to be kept in the staff room?" Chaud asked.

"Yeah..."

They both fell into silence. Chaud liked walking home with her. She was intelligent enough to be an investigator for the Officials if she had wanted to. She may not have been too terribly strong or intimidating, but she could at least protect herself.

"Maybe it's a kind of data," she tried again. "What if it was some sort of Data X that can give him ultimate power or something?"

"Maybe," Chaud agreed. "But still. Why would something like that be kept in a public school?"

"Maybe it's the last place anyone would ever think to look," Nami suggested.

"Hmm... maybe. We could call in reinforcements," Chaud said. "Get some help."

"I don't know if that'd be a good idea," Nami sighed. "I mean, that would call attention to the problem, and that might be exactly what Wily wants: get a whole pack of Officials there, and wipe them all out with something."

"Hm. I never thought of it like that..."

These sort of discussions occurred every day, until one Friday in April.

They had a substitute teacher, who immediately called roll.

"Ayano, Yai?" Present.

"Blaze, Chaud?" Also present.

Roll call continued...

"Hallissy, Namirra?" No answer. "Namirra?"

"She's not here," Maylu said.

"All right."

Not here? Nami? That's a first, Chaud thought. Then again, he hadn't known her long enough to make those sort of judgments, yet... missing school didn't seem like something she would do purposely. She'll be here Monday...

He called her continuously throughout the weekend. She wasn't there. Chaud reassured himself that she'd be at school on Monday.

But she wasn't there either. Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday passed. Still no Nami. Finally, when she still hadn't shown up on Friday, Chaud decided to call her again. No answer.

It was as though she had never existed. She had been wiped from the face of the earth.

"Stop worrying about her," ProtoMan said. "She'll be fine."

"What if something happened to her?" Chaud asked himself. "What if someone overheard us talking, and someone got her...?"

"Chaud! Chill!" ProtoMan shouted. "Stop worrying! Hey, I heard there was going to be a tournament in the Den Tech Cybersquare today, wanna check it out?" ProtoMan asked, trying to get his mind off of Nami's disappearance.

"Sure. Go for it," Chaud said, jacking in to his computer.

ProtoMan made his way to the Square where a fairly large crowd of Navis waited.

Apparently, the task was to find the correct data for a set of questions. Easy, right?

"Ok. Question 1: Complete the pattern: A E I M Q U blank. What do you think?" ProtoMan asked.

"Hm..." Chaud thought for a moment. "You want Data Y."

"Ok."

(A/N: I know, I know. Prelims suck. Tourneys are better. I promise.)

Eventually, they had found the all the data they needed, and turned it in. Fortunately, they advanced to the next round. Those Navis that had lost left, those that advanced stayed in the Square for further instruction.

"We will contact you with information as to where and when the second preliminary test is to be held," the announcer Navi said.

"Jack out, ProtoMan," Chaud said, turning off the computer. "Good job. I'm going to bed... school tomorrow..."

"Not yet, Lan calling," ProtoMan said.

"What do YOU want?" Chaud snapped at Lan's image on his PET.

"Hey! Chill out!" Lan said at once, raising his hands submissively. "I just wanted to ask you if you knew what was wrong with Nami!"

"Wha... Nami? Is she back?"

"Yeah," Lan said. "I figured you'd know. She came back about ten minutes ago, and Maylu said she was crying... what's going o—"

Chaud had hung up, not waiting to hear another word. He ran down the lane to her house, rang the doorbell, and waited anxiously, completely breathless.

A young man opened the door. "Eh? You need something?"

"I--- is Nami here?" Chaud asked, confused.

"Oh! Yeah... come in." The young man led him inside, shutting the door. "I'm Raize, by the way. I'm one of Nami's brothers."

One of her brothers?

His confusion must have showed. "She never told you about us?" Raize asked.

"I think... she said something..."

"Yeah. There's Mamoru, the oldest, Ailee, her sister, me, and Sean."

Mamoru, studying papers on a table in the front room, was a redheaded man of about 20 years, the woman Ailee in the kitchen appeared to be his brown-haired twin; they had the same green eyes. Raize, about 18, looked a lot like Nami: black hair and gray eyes. Sean, 16, pacing the upstairs landing, however, was blond with blue eyes.

"Y-Yeah..."

"Wait... where is she?" Raize asked, looking around.

"Nami?" Sean asked, descending the stairs. Raize nodded. Sean said something in Netopian, clearly not understanding English. Mamoru sighed, his head in his hands, Ailee shook her head sadly.

"Oh... well... she's in her room," Raize said. "I can't guarantee she'll talk to you, but if you can..." He shook his head. "Never mind. She's upstairs, third door to the right."

"Thanks..." Chaud walked up the stairs, mind reeling.

"Wonder what happened," ProtoMan said in dismay. "Probably something big..."

"I just hope it isn't too bad..." Chaud knocked on the door, noticing that it was locked. "Hello? Nami? It's Chaud..."

Footsteps. The door opened a moment later.

"H-Hey, Chaud..." Maylu had been right, Nami had definitely been crying.

"Nami..." He wanted to rush into the room and hug her, but something told him that probably wasn't the best thing to do right now. "Wh-What happened?"

"Come in..." She let him through the door, shutting it behind him, sitting down on her bed.

Her room was simple, white, black, and violet, with a lot of cardboard boxes in the corner. She must not have completely moved in yet.

"What's happened?" Chaud asked. "Where have you been?"

"N-Netopia... my parents died two weeks ago," she told him softly.

"Oh..." Unsure of what to say, Chaud sank down beside her on the bed. "I... I'm sorry to hear that..."

"I don't know what we're going to do now," she said in almost a whisper. "The Officials in Netopia want us to go back to Netopia, and they want to split us up..."

No... they wouldn't do that to them...?

"But even if we stay here, Sean and I are still too young to live on our own... and Raize and the twins have to work..." She shook her head, silent.

"Hey... if things get too bad you can always come stay with me," Chaud offered. "Someone's always there..."

"Thanks..." She trailed off, silent once more. Semi-consciously Chaud laid his arm around her shoulders. She rested her head softly against his shoulder, clearly on the verge of tears again.

"Cheer up, Nami," ProtoMan said, smiling wryly. "The class is taking an overnight trip to the new Yoka zoo next week..."

"What?" Nami asked, a note of confusion in her shaky voice. "The... zoo? We are in eighth grade, right?"

Chaud laughed for the first time all week. "They were desperate on that one. I guess they thought even thirteen-year-olds need a break."

"The way they figure it, it's like you guys are sill three," ProtoMan added. Nami smiled weakly.

"Do you want to go?" Chaud asked.

"... Only if you do."

Her words surprised him, catching him off guard, but after a moment, he smiled.

"Why not. Sounds fair." Her smile broadened.

"Hear that, Sen?" she asked, directing her question to the computer on her desk, lifting her head from Chaud's shoulder.

"Eh? What's that?" Sen's image appeared on the computer along with four others, presumably her siblings Navis. "Hey, Chaud."

"Hey."

"By the way, this is Akiron, LaMoon, Torch, and Orion," Sen said quickly, nodding to the other Navis.

Akiron was a dark Navi, much like Sen was. LaMoon seemed like Akiron's female twin, only she was more light and airy. Torch was evidently fiery like the flaming reds and oranges he wore, and Orion was simply green with a star, carrying a small board-shaped piece of data.

"We're going on a class trip," Nami said. "Yoka zoo, next week."

"Zoo?" Torch asked. "What are you, three?"

"Torch!" Sen snapped. "Shut up!"

Torch laughed. "Sorry! Hey, we going cyber-sliding or what?"

"Yeah, let's go," Orion agreed.

"We'll be in our usual spot," LaMoon said. "If you need us, give us a shout."

"Thanks, LaMoon. Have fun," Nami said. The images disappeared with numerous blips.

"I think I'll go now," Chaud said, smiling. "See you tomorrow, okay?"

"Okay."

---

The day of the trip arrived. Lan arrived late enough to get them caught in traffic for an hour in the bus, and after five MORE hours they managed to get to Yoka just after 4 PM.

"Class 8-B!" Mr. Matsu called over them. "Class! I have just received news that the zoo is closed for repairs today. Feel free to explore the rest of the town, but be back at the Ura Inn by five o'clock for dinner!"

After this little spiel, the class dispersed in various directions. Chaud spent a while wandering around, looking for the Inn until he heard ProtoMan.

"Chaud. There's Nami."

"Hm?" Looking around, he saw Nami leaning up against a wall near to a bridge passing over a small stream.

"Are you SURE this is what we're up against?" Nami asked Sen. "Ohh... he can NOT be serious!"

"He LOOKED pretty serious when he tried to KILL you with that flashy thingy!" Sen shot back. "I am POSITIVE."

"Well, what are we supposed to do that will be useful?"

"Tell someone! Like... like Chaud. He's an Official, he'll be able to do more than we can as far as stopping the maniac goes."

"... You're right. We should tell Chaud."