A/N: In this fic up until this point, the word "Rockman" appeared about 730 times; "Forte" appeared about 650 times; and "Mega" appeared around 60 times. Some of those "Rockman"s are due to "Rockman X" and "Rockman Zero", though, so I think the number of times Rockman and Forte are mentioned are pretty equal. "Shadowman" also appears like 100 times, which sort of surprised me how much he was mentioned. In contrast, the word "said" only appeared about 110 times.

FallenwaterTheFallen: I like to think that Forte's a lot smarter than most people give him credit for. Sure, one would need to be physically strong to brute force their way through security, but that would only get you so far. Forte being able to excel at his job back then wasprobably in no small part thanks to his intellect.

"Oh!" Rockman gasped as he suddenly remembered something. "How's Blues doing?"

"Who?" Forte asked.

Rockman looked at him. "The Navi you bet on that would win, Forte. I can't believe you betted on him and don't even remember his name."

Forte made an 'Oh, him.' expression. "I'm surprised you remembered."

The blue Navi began to flip through the N1 Grand Prix Battle Index, quickly locating the data on Blues. Rockman found that the red Navi had defeated all of his opponents thus far- this wasn't anything surprising. Enzan and Blues wouldn't have been Net Police Officers if they weren't good at net battling, but the records showing that Blues had won all his matches in under half a minute still shocked him.

The other Navi seemed to have guessed the red Navi's performance just by reading his emotions alone. "Worried yet?" Forte grinned.

Rockman looked back at him. "Of course not!" He huffed. "Just you wait! Netto-kun and Rockman X are going to win this!"

"Things are beginning to heat up in the Battle Dome!" Kiro smiled as another match finished. "The next match will be Netto Hikari and his NetNavi, Rockman X, against Hino Kenichi and his NetNavi, Fireman!"

"Netto-kun." Rockman X spoke out from his PET. "That's the Navi that set fire to Maylu-chan's oven."

"I remember." The younger Hikari said. "So that's his operator, huh?"

"We should be careful." His Navi told him. "Did you see what had happened during Hub and Zero's match with Colouredman and his operator? I'm afraid Fireman might be up to something, too."

"Don't worry about it!" Netto grinned. "We've beaten this guy before, right? It'll be no trouble beating him again!"

"Here come the contestants!" Kiro announced as both operators stepped onto the stage.

"So, you're that blue Navi's operator." Hino said as the two approached the Battle Sphere. "I won't lose this time; prepare to be deleted!"

"We'll see about that!" Netto took out his PET. "Plug in-"

"Rockman X!"

"Fireman!"

"Transmission!"

"You may have gotten away last time." Fireman told Rockman X as the two Navies entered into the Battle Sphere. "But you'll be a pile of ash when I'm through with you!"

"Alright! Battle Start!" Kiro exclaimed.

Fireman went on the offensive immediately. "Fire Blast!" pointing both his arm cannons at Rockman X, Fireman sent a barrage of fireballs his way. However, anticipating his attack, the blue Navi was able to dash out of the way of each of these shots.

"Now it's our turn!" Netto took out a Battle Chip. "Attack Battle Chip; Vulcan! Slot in!"

Rockman X's hand shifted into a Vulcan as he received the Battle Chip data. He aimed at Fireman. "Vulcan!"

As the multipla rapid shots flew towards him, Fireman was ready with a counter. He slammed one hand onto the ground. "Flame Tower!"

A pillar of fire bursted out from the battle stage, canceling out the vulcan shots at they collided with it, the Flame Tower quickly making its way towards Rockman X as it rumbled.

"Alright, then! How about this?" Netto Hikari selected another chip. "Attack Battle Chip; Mini Bomb! Slot in!"

Rockman X threw several Mini Bombs into the incoming Flame Tower, the bomb exploding, dissipating the pillar of fire from within.

"What a heated battle!" Kiro cried out from the announcer stand. "Both Navies are matching each other, shot for shot!"

"Flame sword!" One of Fireman's arm shifted into a blazing sword as he swung at Rockman X.

"Battle Chip; Barrier! Slot in!" A half-transparent barrier surrounded Rockman X in an instant, Fireman's Flame Sword breaking in half as it collided with the barrier.

"Now's our chance!" Netto Hikari pulled out yet another chip. "Attack Battle Chip; Canon! Slot in!"

Rockman X's arm formed into a canon. "Take this!" He yelled as he fired the shot directly at his opponent. The fire Navi was unable to avoid the blast in time as he was countered, the shot damaging one of his arm canons badly.

"And it seems Rockman X has gotten the upper hand in this battle!" Kiro announced. "Hino and his Navi Fireman are in quite a pinch!"

"That's it, mister! You're done for!" The younger Hikari grinned as he yelled at the WWW operator.

"..." Neither Navi nor operator appeared particularly concerned with this development. "Tch. I still have an Ace up my sleeve, kid."

"An Ace…?" Rockman X was both confused and worried. "What does that mean…?"

"Hmph." Fireman stood up tall as he recovered. "Prepare to be doused in my flames of vengeance!"

The loud sound of turning gears began to encho and churn throughout the entire area, the open ceiling of the Battle Dome was closing in on itself. The lights within the arena all went out at the same time, plunging the interior of the Battle Dome into darkness.

"Wh-what's this?" Kiro was alarmed. "Has the power been cut off…? Ah!"

The entirety of the spectating crowd was shocked when the Battle Sphere began to shine intensely, lighting up the entire Battle Dome with just its glow alone.

"This can't be normal!" Hub said from where he was among the spector stand. He had been watching Netto Hikari's match along with their group of friends.

"Yeah! There's no way the Battle Dome would just close up like this!" Yaito agreed with him.

"And it's gotten so hot, even from here…" Maylu added. She looked at Netto worriedly. She could only guess what the younger of the two Hikaris was feeling, standing so close to the Battle Sphere like he was.

"Damnit! How is that Kenichi guy looking completely fine?" Dekao asked.

"I'm not sure-" Thoru began, but he quickly noticed something. "Ah! Guys, look!"

Within the Battle Sphere, Fireman's form began to glow, his damaged arm cannon quickly repairing himself. Slamming it onto the ground, a wave of fire began to spread out from where he was standing, changing the entire battle stage into a fiery pit.

"Someone's feeding energy into the Battle Sphere!" Hub realized. "And Fireman is feeding off of that energy!"

Empowered by the suddenly influx of heat, Fireman slammed both his arm cannons into the ground, summoning two pillars of flame. "Double Flame Tower!"

It was obvious that the younger Hikari was already being affecting by the heat. Rockman X had barely managed to dash out of the way of the first pillar of flame when he finally managed to find the Battle Chip he wanted. "Area Steal, slot in…!"

That allowed the blue Navi to avoid the second Flame Tower just in time. "That was close…!"

"Y-yeah..." Netto had to shield his eyes from the intense light radiating from the Battle Sphere.

"Hmph, so you survived that attack." Fireman looked surprised. "But you won't be leaving this inferno alive! Fire Blast!" Raising both his hands, Fireman once again fired a barrage of fireballs at his opponent, this time, fueled by the sheer amount of energy he was receiving, the Fire Blasts came one after another. Rockman X could jump out of the way of the first several ones without much of a problem, but the fire Navi fired shot after shot at him, not giving any room for the blue Navi to recuperate, until the balls of fire finally landed their mark just by sheer overwhelming him.

"X…!" Netto realized his Navi was in danger, but he was fumbling. The heat was getting to him. "Just wait a moment more… I'll send you a Battle Chip…!"

Up at the spectator stand, the group of friends have noticed this as well. "They must be doing this by somehow hacking into the N1 Grand Prix systems." Hub reasoned. He turned to the others. "If we can find the problem and fix it, then we can return the Battle Dome back to normal!"

"What are we waiting for, then?" Dekao stood up. "Let's go! We have to help Netto!"

"I'm going, too!" Maylu offered.

"No, Maylu, you have to stay here in case something happens to Netto." Hub told her. "Don't worry, we'll find out what's happened and be right back!"

"Well… alright." Maylu nodded. "But please, hurry! I'm not sure what will happen to Netto-kun if this continues…"