Chapter 10: Reunion

The next morning...

"Haseo! Haseo, wake up!"

"Mnn..."

Haseo was sawing logs that morning, and Blademan was doing all he could to wake his operator up.

"Haseo, don't you remember?!" Blademan shouted. "We have school today! WAKE UP!"

Haseo screamed a little and woke up with a start. He turned to look at his PET, glaring.

"Geez, Blademan..." he said, rubbing his eyes. "I didn't think I programmed your voice to be so loud."

"Hey, I had to wake you up somehow," Blademan said. "If you don't get your butt in gear, we'll be late."

Haseo's eyes widened. "Oh, crap!"

Haseo quickly threw his covers off, grabbed his PET and his chip sack, and bolted downstairs.

"Uh, Haseo..." Blademan said. "You still have your pajamas on."

Haseo looked down and facepalmed.

"Aw, man!"

A few minutes later, he nearly broke the door down, snapping on his skates and skating as fast as he could.

"Aw, man...Ms. Mari's gonna be so peeved..." Haseo said nervously.

"Yeah, and I don't think Net Battling all night is a good excuse," Blademan added.

"And if I tell her someone invaded my page, she wouldn't believe me," Haseo added further.

"Yeah, she wouldn't believe me either!" shouted a voice from behind Haseo. He turned to see Lan skating up to him.

"You too, huh?" Haseo said.

"Lan does this on an everyday basis," Megaman said from Lan's PET. "Waking him up is like trying to make oatmeal cry."

Why would you do that...? Haseo thought to himself.

Blademan laughed and said, "Yeah, I had to turn the volume up to max to wake him up! You shoulda seen his face!"

The two Net Navis laughed together, and all their operators could do was glower at them.

"Well, at any rate, at the speed we're going, we might actually make it," Blademan said, running diagnostics on their current speed.

"Well, then, what are we waiting for?" Haseo said, smiling. "Race ya, Lan!"

"Oh, you're so on!" Lan shouted.

"This is gonna end badly," Megaman said silently.

The two boys began to speed up, racing through the streets of DenTech City on their way to the school. They were bobbing and weaving in between pedestrians, constantly staying neck and neck. Rounding a corner, they kept moving and grinding down the rails on the stairs.

"You're never gonna catch me, Lan!" Haseo said as he hit the ground.

"Bring it on!" Lan shot back, increasing his speed.

The two Net Battlers were still neck and neck, and were moving at a speed that would break those necks if they made the wrong move. They rounded another corner and blew by Rosa Ayanami, who spun around cartoon-like and fell, her books dropping to the ground.

"Hey! Watch where you're going!" Rosa shouted up after them.

"Sorry! I'm too busy kicking butt!" Haseo shouted.

"You won't be saying that for long!" Lan retorted.

The two rounded another corner, and right as Haseo looked back at Lan for a split second...

BAM!

The next thing they knew, they had been involved in a 3-person collision.

"Ow...that didn't feel good," Haseo said, rubbing his sore head. He looked at the person he crashed into and said, "Are you OK? I hope you don't feel as bad as I do."

Everything came back into focus, and Haseo was left staring at none other than Ms. Mari, who was still rubbing her head.

"Oh! Ms. Mari!" Haseo shouted, jumping to his feet. He ran over to her and helped her to her feet. "Heh, uh...fancy running into you..."

"What were you trying to accomplish, Haseo Tomokari?!" Ms. Mari shouted, looking at him with anger pouring out of her eyes. "You could've really hurt someone!"

"Sorry, Ms. Mari," Haseo said sullenly.

"Yeah," Lan said as he sat up, rubbing his head. "We didn't think about how far we should've taken it."

"Figures that you'd be involved, Lan," Ms. Mari said, shaking her head. "You two need to be more careful."

"Yes, ma'am," Haseo said.

Ms. Mari grabbed her books from the floor and went off to the classroom. Lan stood up and brushed some imaginary dust off of his clothes.

"We're probably gonna get detention for that," Haseo groaned.

"Maybe, but look on the bright side," Blademan said from his PET. "You guys actually made it on time."

Meanwhile, in the Undernet...

"Fire Sword, Battle Chip in! Download!"

A green canine-like Net Navi materialized a flaming sword from her back and flew at her opponent, malice pouring out of her icy blue eyes. However, her attack was swiftly dodged, and she was slammed in the back with a burst of automatic fire. She hit the ground, wincing with the pain.

"Humph...and I thought you would be a worthy challenge..." her attacker said, his tattered cape billowing out behind him. He materialized a purple Cyber Sword from his right arm and raised it into the air.

"No...Cynthia, get out of there, now!" the Navi's operator shouted. "Escape, Battle Chip in! Download!"

Cynthia sent up a plume of smoke, and as the attacker tried to clear away the smoke, his opponent was long gone.

"Hmph! I never lose my prey," the Navi said, his red eyes glowing. "We'll finish this battle one way or another."

Later, at Haseo's home...

"HAA!"

Blademan sliced through the remaining Mettaurs that he'd found on his page during his daily virus sweep, deleting them instantaneously. He spun and sheathed his swords, retracting his safety mask.

"OK, that seems to be the last of them," he said. He began to walk away until an unidentified object appeared on his HUD.

"Blademan, I'm picking up a trace of another entity on our home page," Haseo said, running diagnosatics. "It's not a virus, so it has to be a Net Navi."

"Another one of those evil Navis?" Blademan growled, drawing his swords and activating his mask.

"I dunno, but it could be," Haseo replied, readying some of his Battle Chips. "Proceed with caution."

Blademan nodded and made his way around the temple to the arena, where he saw what was raising the alarm. A sleek machine-type Navi was standing in the center, his chrome plated armor reflecting some of the artificial sunlight. His whole appearance made him look like a jet fighter, and he even had a set of wings attached to his back, as well as a propulsion system built into his shoulders and boots.

"Whoa, this guy is impressive," Haseo said, smiling. "I totally dig the way he was designed."

The Navi turned around and looked straight at Blademan, gazing into his eyes with sharp red ones. The Navi didn't have a nose or mouth, which was pretty common for Navis that looked like mechas. Instead, a plate of metal almost like Blademan's safety mask was where his facial features should have been.

"Are you Blademan?" he asked calmly.

"Yeah, that's me," Blademan responded, staying wary of the unfamiliar Navi. "Let me guess, you're here to fight me?"

The Navi chuckled. "You're pretty quick to jump to conclusions. I wasn't here to fight, but I guess I can't say no now. Especially not after the rumors I've been hearing of a shining golden warrior wielding the power of the sun."

"You mean the Sol Cross?" Haseo said, smiling. "So what if we can use it? That doesn't mean we'll let you leave alive."

"Hm...maybe that's why they call you the 'Terror of Death'," the Navi's NetOp said. "Haseo Tomokari, the deadly NetOp that deletes his opponents mercilessly."

"Heh. Not my fault they don't know what they're getting into," Haseo replied, smiling even more. "So let me take a wild guess and say you came to fight me because of my reputation. Is that it?"

Haseo heard the NetOp laugh. "Something like that. But enough talking. Let me show you what Arrow and I can do."

Blademan and Arrow went into their battle stances, and Haseo's eyes flashed with determination. He could tell that whoever was operating Arrow was very skilled in both Net Battling and customizing his Navi.

"Super Vulcan, Mega Chip in! Download!"

Arrow began the battle by transforming his arm into a giant 6-barreled gun, and he fired off a volley of shots right at Blademan, who was sent a Reflector chip to shield him from any harm. But before the attack could be reflected back at him, Arrow transformed into a fighter jet and blasted off at near supersonic speeds.

"Dude, what?!" Haseo shouted excitedly. "He can TRANSFORM into a jet?!"

"Hey, get your head in the game!" Blademan said, trying to serpentine his way out of getting locked onto by Arrow's targeting system. "Send me something to clip this guy's wings!"

"Heh, sorry," Haseo replied sheepishly, slotting in a chip. "Tornado, Battle Chip in! Download!"

Blademan began spinning himself in place and creating a massive windstorm, which swept the fighter jet up into it and sent him crashing back to the ground. But as soon as Blademan stopped, the Navi exploded out of the plume of dust he had created and slammed into the swordsman, sending him flying back into the wall of his arena.

"Blademan! You alright?!" Haseo shouted frantically.

"Ugh...this guy's fast," Blademan groaned, peeling himself from the wall and readying himself. But Arrow had other plans, for he was charging up for a big attack.

"Arrow Flash, Battle Chip in! Download!"

Arrow blasted off at max speed, flying straight at Blademan. Haseo however, already had two chips slotted in.

"Area Steal, Area Sword, Battle Chips in! Download!"

Right as Arrow reached the swordmaster, Blademan disappeared from view and reappeared behind him, spinning around and slamming him with the waves from the Area Sword attack. Arrow cried out and fell forward, landing hard on the ground.

"Boo yah! And that's all she wrote!" Haseo said happily.

"Darn it...I didn't think he would be so strong..." Arrow said. "Toma...I might actually be having some trouble with this guy."

Haseo stopped and froze almost instantly. "Wait...Toma?! As in, Toma Murasaki?!"

A message window soon popped up on Haseo's display, and a smiling teenage boy with dark brown hair and hazel eyes appeared before him.

"Hey, Haseo," he said calmly. "It's been a few years."

"Toma! Dude, where have you been?!" Haseo shouted happily.

"Heh, my family and I have been in Netopia for the past week," Toma replied. "I heard from Kaworu and Atoli that you finally had your own PET and Net Navi. I had to see for myself."

Arrow slowly picked himself and brushed himself off. "Had we known we were gonna fight a strong opponent, we would have prepared a bit. Toma said your battling abilities were only sub-par."

That last comment made Haseo blanch a little, and Blademan was chuckling.

"Hey, you have no room to talk, Toma!" Haseo shot back. "If I remember correctly, you didn't have a PET either while we were still classmates!"

"Yeah, but even with a rental I still beat you senseless," Toma replied nonchalantly. "You probably just lucked out."

"Oh, whatever!" Haseo growled. "I'd love to see you try and beat me now! Your Navi may be cool, but looks are cheap!"

"Oh, for crying out loud! Will you stop arguing?!"

Both Haseo and Toma covered their ears and winced as Atoli Kuramiya's voice rang out through the active mic. Even Blademan had to turn down his volume so it didn't damage his hearing program.

"Geez, Atoli..." Haseo groaned as he opened his eyes and looked at the blond's chat window. "Keep that up and you'll blow out my PET's speaker..."

"Well, if anyone was gonna stop you, it was gonna be her," Kaworu said as his chat window also popped up on Haseo's page. "You guys would have just ignored me."

Blademan chuckled more as Ballade and Lyria made their way into Haseo's home page. The two Navis were looking around at the page and were in awe of its design.

"Nice pad you got here, Blademan," Ballade said, nodding his head in approval.

"Yeah...seems like Haseo really loves the ancient Electopian culture," Lyria added, looking around.

"Yeah, Haseo was always fascinated with the samurai and the legend of the 47 Ronin," Toma replied. "I sense that's what inspired Blademan's design. Am I right, Haseo?"

"Heh, partially," Haseo said, scratching the back of his head. "I wanted that to be the case, but all that heavy armor would have slowed him down. So rather, I took a little inspiration from a couple of famous Net Navis, Megaman and Protoman. I coupled Megaman's speed and acrobatics with Protoman's skill with a sword and added a few of my own touches."

"Heh, so he's a rip-off?" Kaworu said, making Haseo bristle a little.

"No," he replied sharply. "He's my own Net Navi. Sure, their designs inspired me a little, but Blademan is my own creation. I created all of his program data myself."

"Alright, enough, guys," Atoli interrupted. "We should tell Haseo what we came here to tell him."

"You guys came here to tell me something?" Haseo asked, cocking an eyebrow.

Just then, his doorbell rang, and the young Net Battler sighed in annoyance.

"Excuse me for a second, guys..." he said, getting up and going downstairs. His mother was working late, so he was home alone. When he got to the door and opened it, he was greeted with a giant hug by none other than Atoli, with Kaworu and Toma standing behind her.

"Toma! Kaworu, Atoli!" he said excitedly as he hugged the blonde back. "You're here...! But how?"

Atoli pulled away from him and winked, smiling brightly. "Guess who just moved here?"

Haseo couldn't help but smile even more. "You can't be serious...! You guys came to live in ACDC Town?! All of you?!"

"Orders from the Officials. None of our parents could refuse," Toma explained. "Of course, our parents couldn't complain, either. The Officials gave them property that was more expensive than where they came from and moved all of our belongings free of charge. We even transferred schools."

Haseo was way too excited to even respond. He had all of his old friends back, and now they were going to the same school again!

Things really are looking up...

Unknown Location

"So...the girl got away..."

A shadowed figure sat in an executive chair, twirling a martini in his glass as he talked to his Net Navi. The Navi in question was tall and slender, but human based, wearing white armor with golden accents styled like suns. On his helmet, which was very curved and stylish, resides a sun-shaped crest above the open part, and the Navi stared at his operator with ice-blue eyes.

"It was only a small hiccup, sir," the Navi said calmly. "The girl used an Escape chip to shroud herself as she got away. Don't worry...Bass will bring her back soon enough."

"Heh...he better bring her back to us," the man said. "I would hate to delete such a perfect specimen."

Both the man and the Navi laughed evilly as a smaller and slender Navi looked at them from a distance.

"Bass...I wonder why you want to ally with these people..." the Navi said to himself before disappearing.

Author's note: I apologize for the extremely long and unannounced hiatus on my stories. The truth is, I took a major blow to the imagination and couldn't find any inspiration to help me finish my chapters. But now I am back and will do my best to finish these stories as they should have been a long time ago. Also, I would like to give a shout-out to JaneValentine007 for being the reason I was able to complete this chapter and continue the legend of Haseo and Blademan. For that, I am eternally grateful.

All of you who still read this, please read and review. The encouragement helps a lot, it really does.

Strato Abyss signing out.