9

Chapter Thirty-Seven:

Pride, Sabotage, and the Third Match

Eleven-thirty came, sending Nami and Chaud onto the bullet train to the Dendome, tossing around ideas about the upcoming match.

"Believe it or not, I don't think this'll be too difficult," Chaud said confidently, sitting down in a chair near the door.

"Why's that?" Nami asked. "Yesterday we both thought this whole tournament would be tough."

"We're facing Terry and Tensuke, remember?" Chaud told her. "If you could beat Terry in the N1, I doubt he'll be much more of a threat now. As for Tensuke, he doesn't really look like much. He's old!"

"They got this far, though."

"I'm not worried," Chaud said firmly.

Nami shook her head. "Beware the power of pride, Chaud..."

Terry and the elderly Tensuke boarded the train a stop later, Chaud and Terry avidly avoiding each other's eyes.

Nami shook her head. "What's with you guys?" she asked in a whisper.

"We haven't been on speaking terms since Christmas," Chaud told her.

"I see." She leaned back in her seat with a sigh. "This is gonna be a long day..."

---

"Now stopping at Dendome Station! Passengers please disembark!"

The two teams left the tram station, each as quiet as the other.

"I don't think this will be an easy match," Nami said nervously. "Knowing you two..."

"Relax," Chaud told her. "We'll get this over with nice and quick."

"I think it's past 'prideful' by now, Nami," Sen whispered, adding something else that Chaud couldn't hear.

"I see."

"What?" Chaud asked.

"Nothing... look, I'm going to walk around for a bit," she told him. "I'll be back in time for the match."

"Is something bothering you?" Chaud asked. "Do you want to talk?"

"Not now..." She walked away, leaving Chaud very confused and a little guilty. "Prideful..."

---

Chaud decided to walk around as well, eventually running into Terry, who was busy fiddling with his PET.

Both of them glared at each other for a moment, then Terry finally spoke.

"Where's Nami? I need to talk to her," he said, not bothering to look up from his PET.

"I don't know," Chaud told him. "Why do you need to talk to her, anyway?"

"None of your business."

"Tell me."

"Why should I?" Terry retorted. "It doesn't concern you."

"How should I know?"

"Because I just told you," Terry sighed, turning heel and beginning to walk away. He paused for a moment, then looked back over his shoulder at Chaud. "By now, I can safely assume that you've seen the picture in the DTC."

"What about it?" Chaud snapped.

Terry merely shrugged, an odd look in his eyes. "Later."

As he walked away, Chaud began to put it together.

"You wrote it, didn't you?" Chaud asked accusatorily. Terry stopped. "You took the picture and wrote the article."

"Say what?"

"Just now. You just asked about 'the picture.'"

"So?"

"Everyone else is more interested in the article rather than the picture."

"Again. SO?" Terry scoffed, walking away.

"You had to edit the picture because you took it from inside the Hallissy's house."

Terry finally turned around, coming to the realization that he probably wasn't going to be able to get out of this one without a fight.

"What's your point, Sherlock?"

"All the windows were locked. You had to have taken the picture from inside the house looking out of the windows. But since the windows are made of glass, they would have reflected the room you were in, so you had to edit the picture so no one would find out it was you," Chaud pieced together.

"Again. What's you point?" Terry demanded, his shaky voice betraying his guilt.

"Taking the picture, editing it, writing that piece of deceit, and then sending it to DTC, you think that was a smart idea?"

Terry remained silent. "So what are you going to do about it?"

"Report you."

"To who?" he demanded. "What do you think they're going to do about it? Arrest me?"

"At least get a confession," Chaud snapped.

"Confession of what?"

"Violation of privacy or something."

Terry glared at him. "You can't possible prove it to them."

"I'm an Official. People will take my word over yours any day," Chaud reminded him.

"So I've heard. That still doesn't take care of the fact that Tensuke wants to see Nami."

Chaud frowned. "Then why do you need to talk to her?"

"Because Tensuke's afraid of her," Terry sighed, shaking his head. "Now really, where is she?"

"I don't know. She took off somewhere. Don't you have anywhere better to be? Some other reputation to ruin?"

Terry shrugged. "Nobody better than you."

At that moment, ProtoMan spoke up. "Um, Chaud? Nami's been calling for ten minutes..."

Taking his PET from his pocket, Chaud answered her call just after the answering machine kicked in, turning around.

"Hi, Nami."

"Hey! By the way, you need a new answering machine," she told him.

"Why?"

"It so conveniently says that you'll be gone Thanksgiving break, but it's after Christmas. You might want to change it."

"Right, thanks. What's up?"

"I just wanted to let you know that I might be cutting it a little close as far as getting back to the stadium goes," she said quickly, obviously caught up in the high-noon lunch hour rush. "I should be there about ten minutes before the match. So don't get worried, okay?"

"I won't. But you'd better be here!"

She laughed. "I will! I promise, but—"

The phone cut off as another file popped into existence.

"Hello? What's going on?" Chaud asked ProtoMan.

"Not sure. We must have accidentally cut off connection."

"Are you sure it was our signal?"

"Yeah. Her signal was perfect, but ours was getting a little shaky for some reason..."

"Weird. Maybe we should check it out."

"Whatever's going on here, it doesn't seem to concern me, so I shall leave you to your own devices in peace," Terry said, turning and dashing off.

"That was pretty fast for having nowhere to go," ProtoMan noted.

"No kidding."

---

"How are we on time?" Nami asked Sen.

"Just about six minutes til the match," she said. "I think."

"Good, we'll just make it on time," Nami said breathlessly. "I HATE lunch hour..."

"It was never this bad in Netopia, was it?"

"No, because everyone brought lunch to work..."

"Want me to call him again?" Sen asked.

"Yes, please! I don't want them to start without us."

Sen called, but got nothing other than a dead signal. "It's still not working."

Nami sighed. "I wonder what's going on?"

"He hung up on us first, and now he's not even answering," Sen added.

"He didn't hang up, because when someone hangs up, there's a click, and there was no click, remember?" Nami asked.

"Ok, then his signal sucks, let's go!"

Finally, they came upon the Dendome, finding Chaud sitting on a bench, frowning down at his PET.

Nami slid onto the bench beside him. "Hi, I hate your phone," she said matter-of-factly.

"Yeah, me too," he said. "It's not working."

"We know," Sen said. "We've been calling you since the signal died, and it just gives us a dead signal."

"Which is weird, because when I check it, it's fine and says the signal is fine, but when I try and call someone, it decides to fizz out and make my life miserable..." He sighed, giving up trying to fix it. "I'll take it in to the other Officials tomorrow... they'll probably be able to fix it better than I can."

"I could give it a shot!" a voice called to them from across the courtyard. Looking up, the pair of them saw the elderly Tensuke hobbling across the snow towards them. "Lemme see it, sonny, I might be able to get it working!"

"Um..."

"You can trust me, I swear," Tensuke added. "I know how tense you Officials are, I understand if you don't trust me."

Chaud thought for a moment. "Well... okay..."

"Good idea?" Nami asked as Chaud handed his PET to Tensuke.

"It better be..."

After a few minutes of fiddling around with it, Tensuke looked up at them shocked.

"Son, there's almost no way to get this bug out now."

"Why not?" Chaud asked.

"Someone—other than me, I mean— must've jammed it or something, there's a lock on all your data," Tensuke told him.

Shocked silence for a moment. "Can you do anything?"

"I could," Tensuke admitted, "but I'd have to take the durn thing apart. And I don't think you want me to do that."

"Sabotage... how?" Chaud wondered aloud.

"Did you talk to anyone between the time I left and now?" Nami asked.

"Yeah... Terry," Chaud said, realizing exactly why Terry had been fiddling with his PET. "I think that... Hm..."

"What?" Nami asked.

"He and I got in an argument about the DTC article when you called, and when our connection got sliced, I received a new file," Chaud said. "I was so busy trying to fix the phone I didn't pay any attention to it... Terry must've sent it to me, he had his PET out the whole time."

"Shouldn't there be a disqualification then?" Nami asked.

"I guess. But beating him would probably be a better punishment," Tensuke said. "Knowing my grandson, he won't listen to reason."

"Grandson?"

"Always the troublemaker, that one..." Tensuke shook his head.

"What did he do?" Chaud asked anxiously.

"It's correctible, don't worry. It's just that I can't work with it," Tensuke said. "It'll just inhibit performance capabilities during... crossfusion..." Tensuke realized exactly what this meant for the match. "Oh, Terence, what have you done!"

Chaud sighed, falling backwards down onto the bench. "Great."

"Well, at least when you beat him, it'll be because you're all around better, even with diminished power," Nami said consolingly.

"Yeah... just don't expect me to turn out the Mona Lisa and a barrel of monkeys today... oh, Terry said that Tensuke needed to talk to you," he remembered. "Right?"

Tensuke frowned. "I'm not famous for my memory skills, but I don't seem to remember any reason at all that I would need to have a chat with you," he said. "However, I do believe that I need to have a stern talking-to with my grandson... excuse me..."

Tensuke hobbled off, leaving Nami and Chaud alone, both feeling disappointed and betrayed.

"I can't believe Terry did that to you," Nami sighed. "I'm going to have to destroy him."

"Be my guest. I am apparently incapable of doing so myself," Chaud said bitterly. "HE'S got a confession to make to you... and the rest of the world..."

---

"Welcome to the Den Tech City Crossfusion Doubles Battle Tournament!" the telecaster announced. "The final match is about to begin!"

Thunderous applause filled the room, the excitement of the upcoming match palpable.

As the telecaster continued, Nami turned to Chaud. "What do you mean? Does Terry need to tell me something?"

"More things than one," he assured her. "This battle will be interesting, I assure you that."

"What's going on?" she demanded. "This isn't something bad, is it?"

"That depends... what do you define as bad?"

The timer ticked down to zero, forcing them into battle.

"Chaud, just tell me what's going on!" Nami shouted, immediately bounding into action against Tensuke.

"It's not my place to tell!" Chaud shot back, staying on defense since Terry's little stunt had taken out all of his attacks. "If you really want to know, ask Terry!"

"Ask me what, now?" Terry snapped, fending Chaud off. "Nothing important, I hope?"

"You sabotaged him!" Tensuke shouted at his grandson, fighting Nami off. "Terence, that was NOT a good thing to do!"

"Who ever said I sabotaged him!"

"Interfered, impaired, messed up, weakened, whatever you want to call it!" Chaud shot at him, blocking Terry from shocking him. "It wasn't fair!"

"I'm still here, aren't I?" Terry pointed out.

"That's not all!" Chaud shouted.

"WILL SOMEONE PLEASE TELL ME WHAT IS GOING ON?" Nami shouted, shooting shuriken at Terry.

"Remember the article?" Chaud asked her, fending off more attacks.

"Yeah, what about it?" Nami wondered, showering Tensuke with shuriken. "Wait a second..." She froze. "Terry... you didn't have anything to do with it, did you?"

In her momentary lapse of concentration, Tensuke managed to get her on the ground, pummeling her with tops.

"I didn't write it—"

"Oh, yes you did, sonny boy!" Tensuke shot at him. "At it all day, you were!"

"Granddad—"

"YOU WROTE THAT THING!" Nami snapped.

"Uhh... maybe," Terry said guiltily.

Nami rounded on him, leaving Tensuke alone. "I can't BELIEVE you would DO that!"

"Yeah, well, me neither," Terry added, fighting her off. "I didn't do it on purpose!"

"Then explain to me in no uncertain terms WHY that article was published without your name on it!" she raged, pinning him against the wall.

"Nami, I'm sorry!" he told her.

"No. No you're not," she said, her voice quiet. "But you WILL be!"

Before she had a chance to give Terry what he deserved, a complete power outage shut down the dimensional area. The lights went out, the microphones and cameras started sparking and shorting out.

"What's... going on?"

---

Mamoru was still in the shop... slacking off and watching the match with the rest of the crew.

"What do you think, Mo?" one of his coworkers, Angela, asked. "Who's gonna win?"

"It's a fair shot for both of them, I suppose," Mamoru said fairly. "They both got this far."

"What, not rooting for your sister?"

"I AM," he protested. "You didn't ask who I wanted to win, you asked who I thought would win. They're two very different questions."

Angela laughed. "So. You want little sis to win, but you think she might not?"

"NOT what I said."

As they watched the small TV, the image started to go into static.

"Huh?" Angela banged on the top of the TV in a shoddy attempt to fix it. Nothing happened. "What's going on?"

"I don't know..."

As Angela examined the TV a bit more, the entire picture went blank.

"Angela, I don't think it's the TV," Mamoru guessed. "I think the video feed at the Dendome is screwed up..."

"That can't be good," Angela said. "I mean—"

Angela broke off as the world around them went dark, the only light coming from outside.

"What the...? Oh, great. Citywide power outage..."

"Then I guess we can take break now!" Angela decided, leaning back in her chair.

"Good. Tell the boss I'm going to the Dendome," Mamoru said, pulling on his coat.

"Why are you—"

"My little sister is there. If that's where this whole thing started, I want to make sure she's safe," he said, dashing out the door.

---

"What's happening?" Nami asked, moving blindly towards Chaud. The Dendome had no windows, and without the lights on was very, VERY dark.

"I don't know," Chaud said cautiously, "but I have a REALLY bad feeling that we're about to find out... and we're not gonna like it."

"You're right..."

A bang sounded in the dark, a gunshot.

"GET DOWN!" Chaud shouted, pulling Nami down onto the ground. The shot whizzed over their heads, embedding itself in the opposite wall.

"Good call," she gasped softly, still crouching on the ground.

"Who's there?" Chaud shouted into the deafening silence. "Identify yourself!"

The lights flicked back on; the audience was still sitting down, obviously completely unaware that this was for real.

Looking around, nothing seemed out of the ordinary. Perhaps it had just been a pathetic attempt at murder.

"I don't think this is over," Nami said quietly, standing up.

"Neither do I..." Suddenly, as the lights flicked out again, a person appeared in the middle of the arena. A person dressed entirely in black.

A person with a gun and a knife.

"Nami... get out of here," Chaud instructed softly, keeping an eye on the weapons. "Get out now. Take Terry and Tensuke and get reinforcements."

"You don't seriously expect me to just leave, do you?" Nami asked him. "Whatever happens, we're in this together."

"Nami, I'm not kidding," Chaud said firmly, "get out of here, and get out now. I don't want you to get hurt."

"Look. I am NOT just leaving you here alone," Nami said. "I won't do it."

"I'm not asking you to. I'm telling you to," Chaud said. "This is too dangerous. Go and get help."

"Reinforcements can't help you now." The person in the center of the arena had finally spoken. It was definitely a male's voice, possibly no older than they were. "No one can get you out of here 'safely'."

Chaud and Nami froze. "Nami, just go," Chaud said, still watching the weaponry in case of an attack.

"No. I won't leave you here."

"Then get Terry to get help from the police or something."

"The police are locked up." The black-clad man in the middle ground spoke up again. "I locked them in their own jail. They can't save you now."

"Then what about the Officials?" Nami suggested.

"Also locked up. I find it interesting that the Official buildings ALL have inaccessible exterior padlocks," the person added. "Rather interesting building design."

Chaud surveyed the arena, Terry and Tensuke were still there, and Nami obviously wasn't leaving if it killed her.

"Do you even know who I am?" he asked. "I'm sure YOU do," he said, turning to Nami.

Looking sideways at her, Chaud saw that she did recognize him.

"You. You killed Angel."

"That I did. And I'm going to kill you too!"

"You aren't gonna kill ANYONE!" Chaud said firmly, stepping between Nami and this man.

"How do you know that? You don't even know who I am."

"I think I do," Chaud said slowly, remembering what Nami had told him. "You're the Black Assassin. Aren't you?"

He nodded. "Very good... for a KID."

Chaud kept watching the assassin's every move. "Funny. You're more frightening as a faceless entity than you are in person," he said.

"Don't push me, boy," the assassin snapped. "I am NOT a person to cross!"

"So I've heard. Who are you out to kill now?" Chaud asked. "The mayor? A world leader? Some random person so the world will take notice of you?"

"If you MUST know... to the contrary of what everyone believes, I'm not out to get you... just your little girlfriend here!"

With that, he rushed at her, easily knocking Chaud aside as he pulled out his knife.

"GET AWAY FROM HER!" Chaud shouted, scrambling to his feet. "Don't you DARE hurt her!"

"It's always the same story with you hero types," the Black Assassin sighed. "You always give everything up to save one person. I don't get it."

"Because you're not a hero type," Nami snapped.

"Oh? Little miss holier-than-thou here finally decides to speak." He turned on her, quick as a flash bringing the blade deadly close to her throat, backing her into the glass enclosure that blocked the audience from the contenders during battles. "So then, tell me. What does make one a hero type?"

Nami looked torn between whether to answer or attack her assailant. Finally, she closed her eyes, took a deep breath, and said, "Being a hero means being compassionate and willing to help anyone who needs it. It means being a role model for people around the world, and being that leading light that inspires people." She glared at him. "It means being everything you're not."

"Then what exactly am I?" the Black Assassin asked, pinning her against the wall, the knife still threatening her life.

Nami thought for a moment, frazzled under the pressure of the blade. "Schadenfreude," she spat at him. ((A/N: For those of you that are wondering, schadenfreude is German. In this case, probably like Sharo-ese or something...))

The assassin looked away for a moment. "I'm not familiar with that word. Care to enlighten me?" he asked, moving closer to her, putting more pressure on her throat.

"Schadenfreude. Happiness at the misfortune of others," Nami choked out.

"Ah. If that's what it really means, then yes. That would be me."

"Let me go," Nami demanded, gasping for breath.

"Not just yet, my dear."

"LET HER GO!" Terry chose the moment to dash in and attack the assassin, landing a blow on his neck.

Unfortunately, the assassin was stronger.

"Foolish boy. What on earth do you think you're doing?" With a swift swipe of his hand, the assassin knocked Terry backwards, skidding to a halt on the ground.

"No..." Chaud was still, carefully watching the assassin's blade. Should it go any further, there would inevitably be blood.

"Please... let me go..." Nami closed her eyes, wishing she was anywhere but there.

"I'm not going to. Not until someone in this room gives me a very good reason to," the assassin said, his voice low.

"I'll give you a reason!" The doors burst open, Mamoru dashed up the stairs and onto the arena. "That's my little sister, and I will NOT let you kill another member of my family!"

"Ah. Yes. Mamoru. I should have guessed you'd come round."

"Let my sister go," Mamoru snapped curtly. "I won't let you hurt Nami."

"You couldn't save Angel. What makes you think you can save her?" the assassin snapped.

"The fact that I've got six years experience on you," Mamoru shot at him. "Let her go. Now."

"Or what? You give me a lecture?"

"No." Mamoru hit a switch, the dimensional area flew back up, and the cameras went back online. "I fight you."

A laugh escaped the assassin's mask. "You honestly think you can fight me?"

"I'd rather fight you and lose than watch you kill my sister," Mamoru said firmly. "Let her go. Take it all out on me instead," he said, crossfusing.

"Another sacrificial hero type. Wonderful. More schadenfreude for me." Although he ultimately decided on destroying Mamoru, that didn't stop the assassin from leaving a mark on Nami. As he turned to face Mamoru, he left a long, shallow gash on Nami's throat, leaving her to slide to the floor.

"Nami!"

Unsure of whether or not to move, Chaud looked over at Mamoru. Mamoru, jerked his head towards her, giving Chaud enough proof to go to her.

"Nami... are you all right?" he asked softly, crouching beside her.

"I'll be fine... what's going on?" she asked, her breath coming in short gasps, having been deprived of air for three full minutes.

"Mamoru's here. He's fighting the assassin..."

"WHAT!" Nami struggled to get to her feet, Chaud stopped her quickly.

"What do you think you're doing!"

"Helping my brother!" Nami said incredulously, "what does it look like?"

"Nami, you're bleeding, we need to get you out of here," Chaud told her. "To a hospital or something..."

"It's not deep," Nami assured him frantically, "I'm fine, we've gotta help him!"

"I'll help him if you stay here and don't move," Chaud told her. "Please. I don't want you to hurt yourself."

Nami gazed sadly at him. "All right... but you'd better win."

Chaud smiled, crossfusing. "I will, Nami. I will..."

With Mamoru and Chaud's combined efforts, the Black Assassin beat a hasty retreat. Stopping at the door, he turned around.

"With my reappearance, I call out Johnny Thirteen!" he announced to the confused crowd. "If I do not see him in 24 hours... someone will die. And one more person will die for every hour after 24 that I do not seen the one who calls himself Johnny Thirteen!"

With that, the assassin dashed out the door.

"We're really just gonna let him go?" Terry asked.

"What other choice to we have?" Chaud pointed out bitterly. "Hopefully, when everyone saw the broadcast, they all locked their doors."

"Who's this Johnny Thirteen character he wants to see?" Nami asked, still on the ground at the edge of the arena.

"I don't know... I'll do a search on him later... for now, let's get you home... we've got dinner to get ready for with Chaud's dad, remember?" Mamoru said. "Let's get outta here..."

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