Reviewer replies!

Jhvh777: The name? Nope, can't tell you yet. I'll give you another hint. Think Prison Break. 'Sall I'm sayin'. Oh, and thanks for reviewing through all this time!

Rose Kitsune.EXE: OMG! You reviewed! (grins evilly and holds up two peace signs) And my Dex is actually IN character (I'm always happy when people say that!) But I didn't get the part about Mega Man being cute... I never wrote that, did I? (pulls up shocked face) Anyway, I'm glad you like it, and thanks for the review!

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Lan's POV

"Hello, cousin Lan," Arnie said.

He extended his hand toward me. I stuck out my own and we shook hands for a few seconds, studying each other. It's been like five years since I last saw him.

"So how have things been in the Hikari household since we last met?" Arnie asked me formally, dropping down onto a stool at the far corner of the room while I sat at the desk in my room.

"Nothing much, really. I got a Navi. But look at this," I said, pointing to the screen of my computer.

Arnie came over to where I sat, his face green-blue in the glow emanating from the computer screen.

"What is it-oh, Lan, can I try this out?" he asked excitedly, his fingers flying rapid-fire on the wireless keyboard as his eyes took everything in.

"It's a Navi power-up," I said slyly, jumping up from the swivel chair in a flash and raising my eyebrows in an eerily annoying way. "It's brand new."

I could just imagine the excited puppy-dog look in Arnie's bright blue eyes as he excitedly tapped away, his curly black hair basked in the bluish-greeny light coming from the screen.

Arnie is a year younger than me, so he's eleven. He's really smart-but nowhere near as smart as my friend Yai Ayano-and a little too formal. But he's a decent guy at heart - and, anyway, as Mega Man would say, politeness is good in a person. Of course, Mega would probably add a sound of disapproval, accompanied by my usual groan of incomprehension.

"What about your Navi?" I asked as Arnie returned to the stool a few seconds later, saying, "It's excellent!", seeing as he had already downloaded the power-up onto his own PET. "What happened to him?" I had these fuzzy memories of a seven year-old Arnie, not much shorter than he was now, holding up a tiny blue PET with a strange humanoid Navi in it.

Arnie whipped out his terminal showed it to me in a flash; his Navi, whose name was Morgan, looking bright and alert onscreen. He was a tall plant-type guy, with a little tuft of leaves strung around the collar of his white tightsuit with the green streak running down the side, like Mega Man's. He seemed to me like a friendly, easygoing NetNavi.

"Getting stronger all the time," grinned Arnie. He was less formal now that we were a little better acquainted.

"Mine's resting." I gestured to my PET in its recharger, where I had remembered something Ms. Mari had once said and made a hologram of Mega Man, slightly shimmering and a little transparent, but otherwise decent, which had now appeared in the screen of my PET. He was basically a replica of the real thing; the only difference was that he was missing the Hikari family crest on his chest and his yellow shoulder protectors.

Hearing me mentioning him, the hologram blinked and woke up. "Hey," he greeted, before disappearing into sleep-state once more. Or so it would seem, as my real Navi was actually at Dex's house. In the Real World, that is.

"What have you been doing lately, Arnie?" I asked, dropping on all fours and crawling over to the computer power-board to turn it off.

"Nothing much." He shifted slightly. "NetBattling with my friends and stuff. I live in a apartment in Netopia."

I grinned, glad that he didn't live in a mansion. Once, when Dex and I had tried to break into Yai's mansion, we had ended up in major trouble In the end, we'd become friends and who knew? A rich - even if a little too young - genius came in handy in the quest of fighting Gospel, World 3, and everyone else.

"Me, I've been NetBattling, too, at the Coliseum and stuff," I announced, standing up again. Then I glanced at my watch. Six thirty. Supper time. Right on cue, my mom's voice rose up from the kitchen. "Dinner! Come on, Lan! Arnie!"

Arnie followed me down the stairway. I bounded down the last three steps and he paused hesitantly halfway down.

"Supper's getting cold!" my mom called from her vantage point in the kitchen. Arnie quit hesitating and climbed down after me.

"So how have you been, Aunt Haruka?" Arnie asked politely when all three of us were sitting down at the table and tucking into a steaming plate of roast turkey. Mph, Mom never makes this sort of stuff when it's just us two; usually, she only makes it when we have guests or my dad is at home for once.

Mom burst out laughing. "Please, Arnie, just call me Auntie. As for what's going on, nothing much really." She nudged me purposefully in the ribs, as if to tell me not to say anything about my "fighting evil." I rubbed my rib cage and looked back at her; I was about to say something before her foot on my shin stopped me.

Mom gave me this sort of "you know what I'm talking about look" before turning back to Arnie. "You like the food?"

Arnie swallowed his food politely before answering. "It was delicious, Auntie."

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A/N: Arnie is Lan's third cousin from his mother's side. Actually, they're not related by blood; he lives with his mom, Jeannie Davis, in Netopia (His dad, Hugh, died in a car accident six months before he was born). He's only related to Lan because his grandmother in-law met Arnie's step-grandfather... Yeah, I know. Things are gettin' complicated here, aren't they? Well, at least you have some information about him now.

Fanfics!

(With this frenzied cry, Fanficcer disappears in a puff of er...green-violet smoke).