Chapter 4- The Substitute
The following is a fan-made work of fiction. Certain original characters made by myself will be claimed under my ownership. However, I do not nor will I ever claim to own Mega Man Battle Network.
Mega Man Battle Network © Capcom
Reddington Bluemann, Phyllis Tina, and Ripley Marduk © HatOnFire/Me
It was a sunny Friday, three days passing by since the oven arson incidents. There would be plenty of questions going in my mind after that day.
One of them is 'What is Cross Fusion?' Another would be 'What did the WWW want in my home's oven, of all places?' But the big one on my mind right now is…
"Mega Man, why didn't you wake me up?!"
Okay, that's a stretch. But I'm not kidding when I say that. The clock was ticking at 8:27 A.M., and homeroom was going to start in three minutes. That wouldn't be a problem if I wasn't one block away from ACDC High.
"Don't you dare start with me, Lan!" Mega Man argued back, "I DID wake you up! Eleven times! But did you listen to me?! No!"
I had an excuse for being late this time. I was only trying to understand this idea of Cross Fusion, so I tried that transformation again, except there was a little problem with that. One of the requirements showed that my Synchro Rating with Mega Man went down a bit. It was at 90% when I did it for the first time, but it went to 70% when I tried again. I could only hold that form for three minutes and I felt even more tired just from the effort.
"Lesson learned," I noted to Mega, "Cross Fusion depends heavily on synchronization, and the form can't be maintained if the rating isn't high enough."
"We were given a time for how long the form lasted," My Navi explained, looking at some data inside the PET. "At a 90% Synchro Rating, Cross Fusion lasted for a little over 7 minutes. At 70%, three minutes."
"Maybe the danger made us act in sync?"
"Probably."
The time went up to 8:28 as I ran into the doors, instinctively moving up the stairs to get to my homeroom class on the fourth floor. But when I got there, the tardy bell rang. It was 8:29 when it did that.
"Aw, come on!" I fell to the ground in defeat, "That's not fair!"
Just then, the P.A. went up with a chime, and a voice could be heard.
"Disregard that bell," The voice told, "It was a premature ring."
"Premature? Yes!" I got up, quickly entered class and took my seat, not wanting to delay. If I didn't know better, I thought I left a trail of dust behind from running inside.
"You are so lucky, Lan," Mayl whispered to me, "What kept you?"
"I'm here, aren't I?" I shrugged, wishing Mayl wouldn't get in my affairs for once.
She heard about the car that caught on fire a few days ago, which was close to our houses. The detective, Redd Bluemann, did say she would try to find out what's going on. My guess is she'll try to ask me if I saw anything. I was coming off as suspicious since I've been avoiding her for a few days…
"Morning, class!" Ms. Tina came in, activating the board with her PET. With a collective greet of 'Good morning!' from us, she stood at her desk. "Before I count heads, I have a little announcement. Some of our teachers were unable to come due to some… circumstances."
"You mean something bad happened," Mayl stated, causing a small commotion. "I've heard the news."
I did too, but I wouldn't say that out loud. Students were reported to be committing crimes and causing some chaos in town. A few teachers were even attacked by these rogue students. They were creepily claiming that 'The age of the Net will get its reckoning.' That was a clip I heard it on a video website, with a few theories being thrown around here and there.
"Class, quiet down," Ms. Tina commanded, "We have police and Officials looking into the matter right now. But our school doesn't have criminals, fortunately."
"Except for Lan," Dex coughed loudly, driving every eyeball to where I was sitting.
"Except for me, Ms. Tina," I sighed.
"Still, we will do our best to fill some roles for our other teachers," She declared, "And for this class, you'll have only one substitute for Algebra. And he's punctually late."
"Guess you'll get along with him, Lan," Mega Man snickered.
"Can it," I muttered, already hating today.
"I'm sorry for being late, huh!" The door slid open and the owner of the voice entered the room.
He wore a plain white button up shirt with a red neck tie, having a special clip on it to hold it down. He had blue pants with a black belt, and despite having white socks, he had brown sandals underneath them.
This guy was pretty thin and lanky, having spike brown hair that was like an afro, but with spikes, and glasses for his eyes. As his eyes looked like they were squinting, there was no way I could tell you his eye color.
"N-No way…" I whispered, seeing the one and only Mr. Higsby in our class.
"Class, you must know of Yamitaro Higsby, the owner of Higsby's, correct?" Ms. Tina questioned, gesturing to him.
"Nice to meet you all, huh!" Mr. Higsby bashfully scratched his head, "I recognize some of you in your seats! It's weird that I'm here, huh?"
"Higsby's gonna be our math teacher?" Dex mumbled, "Guess it'll be fine."
"To think Mr. Higsby will be filling in as a teacher here," Mega Man thought, "Wonder if he'll be paid in Zenny or Battle Chips?"
"Will it matter with him?" I cracked.
After the introduction, Ms. Tina got on with taking role, and we went on with our day.
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As I sat at a lunch table, waiting for Ripley to show up, I actually decided to suggest an idea for food. It was a ridiculous idea, but I genuinely thought I was on to something here.
"Crazy idea, Mega, but what if we actually steam ham instead of grill or roast it?"
"What?" My Navi gave me an odd look, like I just said a dumb thing. Which I may or may not have done.
"Really," I couldn't believe this either, but I wasn't stopping now. "Instead of steamed clams, what about steamed hams? I mean, steamed ham?"
The PET was silent, save for a quiet sigh from Mega Man. I could tell he was so done with me, rubbing his hand against his face.
"Lan, that is the dumbest thing I have ever heard you say in my life," He finally told, holding nothing back.
"It was just a thought, Mega Man…" I uttered, "A simple no would've done it."
"Who's ever heard of a steamed ham?"
"No one, but that's what makes it genius!"
"If no one's ever heard of it, then why do you think no one talks about it?"
"Hey, Lan!"
Mr. Higsby came by with his lunch to speak with me.
"Hey, Mr. Higsby!" I greeted, "How's the business?"
"Doing great!" Higsby grinned, "By the way, thanks for helping me a few weeks ago!"
"No problem!" I nodded, "Anyone who dares to hurt the World's Number 1 Chip Collector is gonna have a hard time with me around!"
Right. Higsby was actually kidnapped a few weeks ago, before I got myself arrested. I took it upon myself to find him, catching up with the kidnappers and chasing them off. He doesn't remember most of what happened, but I can't blame him. He was probably drugged when he got abducted.
"It's not right that you lost your City Net Battler license," Higsby sighed, "You've helped us out so much, then something like this happens to you."
"Well, I guess I did a wrong thing," I admitted, "And I have to pay for it."
"I wish I could've come by to visit you, but I've been so busy and tired on most days."
"That's okay, Higsby."
"No, it's not, huh," He shook his head, "I even made plans to visit you, but something always came up when I got around to it."
"Your work is important," I tried assuring him, "You actually have a chain of chip stores across the country! You've come a long way from a small store in town!"
"I guess, huh," The smart man pondered, "But I still wish I could've visited you."
"That's alright."
It's too bad I can't tell him about my Synchro Chip and show him it. He's a high profile businessman at this point, making him a target for criminals what want powerful chips or Zenny. Telling him about Cross Fusion would only put him at more risk, what with his kidnapping a few weeks ago.
"I should tell you that something's been bothering me, huh," Higsby muttered, eating a weenie. Yes, our school has weenies, the human kind and the food kind, but that's not the point. "It's about when I was taken by those guys."
"What about it?" I was willing to listen, eating my chicken.
"I was carrying some rare Battle Chips and at least 400,000 Zenny in my PET when I got taken," He explained, "My Navi, Number Man, told me they accessed the PET, but they didn't take anything in it."
"Is that so?"
"If they wanted to take me, they would also take whatever I had, huh? But they didn't."
"Are you saying they never meant to kidnap you for any ransom?" I was getting confused.
"Pretty much, huh," Higsby replied, "That's all I got. Hope you work out your ordeal, huh?"
"Thanks, Higsby," I smiled at him, "I'll get past this, then I can be a Net Battler again!"
"We need a guy like you in our streets, huh!" He chirped, heading off to eat his food somewhere. When he left, my PET made a noise.
"Lan, you've got email!" Mega Man told me, to which I looked at the PET. It was from Ripley.
"What's Ripley got to say?" I questioned, pulling up the message. I would be shocked that people still use email in PETs, but it's for business messages, so I'm not too surprised. The subject line read "Cross Fusion Explanation." As for the message, it's a doozy.
It's me, Lan. My computers picked up a Cross Fusion reading in town while hearing news of some car fire. No doubt you were involved, huh? Anyway, I figured you met a WWW member, so I should go into detail about Cross Fusion and how some of it is possible.
Cross Fusion is the form a human can take on with their Net Navi, through the process of a Synchro Chip inserted into a PET, though long durations and the Cross Fusion ability depends on your Synchro Rating, as you figured out. With Cross Fusion, the roles of Navi and Operator are reversed, as you must've guessed. It should be noted, though, that the Navi receives damage if you take damage. It's a drawback that can't be helped, but the tradeoff should be worth it.
Your weapons are the Battle Chips and other abilities of the Navi, your strength, speed and agility is greater than a normal human's, and you should be more durable. Humans aren't known for having thick skin, after all. Oh, and your Navi has impressive scanning abilities and can give you different functions for whatever environment is needed.
Next generation technology made Cross Fusion possible, though not without trial and error. Most attempts to have a Navi and Operator be in sync failed until a year ago, when we had a success with one pair. A few months ago, we even had success with someone else, though a few augmentations needed to be made to have a greater, more enduring team. In fact, we needed something called a Dimensional Area for Cross Fusion to be possible.
Dimensional Areas were made from a concept that Mr. Famous came up with, which involved the manipulation of Electromagnetic Waves, EM Waves for short. They're dangerous in great quantities, which is why it's stored in generators for Dimensional Areas. But we've learned that they can be emitted from PETs, so we decided to take advantage of that. Your PET is customized well, and it's completely possible to store a set amount of EM Waves, then with the Synchro Chip and the Navi, to reconfigure the human and make them a part of the Cyberworld!
"Wait, what?" I needed to stop for a second, this was jumping the shark.
"Lan, this is fascinating!" Mega Man grinned, "Imagine EM Waves having a greater use for this, besides broadcasting, cooking, and for medical equipment!"
"We've gone from casting to manipulating these things?" I did need to continue, as there was more.
Your PET will always store the EM Waves that are around us, whether you were aware of them or not. The waves the PET stores are modified to be in tune with the Navi's signature, which allows Mega Man to Megamerge with you. Get it? Megamerge?
"Rip," I sighed, annoyed with his dumb jokes.
As long as you stay in tune with Mega Man, you won't have any trouble fusing with him. But beware, the WWW has access to this tech as well. They might've even stolen some of our other projects. I heard they made off with a Copy Bot from Cyber City a few weeks ago.
"Would've been nice to know that," Mega spoke aloud, shrugging on my screen.
The WWW will do anything with this tech. That's why I thought you could do something about it? Don't get me wrong, I'm not asking you to pitch in at the expense of your reputation or education. We already have two Officials who can perform Cross Fusion in this group. Mr. Famous believes this could be our best defense against the WWW. And I told him all about you, so he thinks you'd make a good addition to the group. You'd have to tell Detective Bluemann about this, though.
"So there's already two people who can Cross Fuse," I whispered, moving on with my lunch.
It's up for consideration. I only asked you to hang onto the Synchro Chip, not force you into a delicate operation. As long as you take it up with the detective and decide for yourself, that'll work. I wait for your answer, Lan.
Sincerely, Ripley
P.S. I wasn't supposed to tell you about Dimensional Areas or the EM Waves in your PET, so could you keep it a secret even if you don't want to do this? Thanks.
"Ripley…" I slapped my face with my free palm, groaning all the while. "Are you kidding me?"
"Nothing's secret between friends, remember?" Mega Man smirked.
"I agree with that statement," Mayl concurred, sitting at my table like nothing's going on. Wait a minute…
"O-Oh, Mayl!" I had no idea she was right there, so I sort of clammed up. "H-How long have you been there?"
"I just got here," She took a spoonful of chicken soup, which was a little spicy but creamy and tasty overall. "You were talking to Mega Man, right?"
"It's no longer strange to be seen as talking to yourself these days," I murmured, finishing my food.
"True," Mayl nodded, "Roll and I do that too. Right, Roll?"
"Yep," She responded from one of Mayl's bags, "How's your day, Lan?"
"Okay," It didn't feel natural to have a conversation with Roll that didn't involve being sarcastic with each other. She apologized about that one comment about me the other day, but I was over it. It's not like she had to go the extra mile with changing any attitude with me.
"We get out Friday, so it counts for something, right?" Mega wondered, "We've got plans after school."
"I've heard from Redd, actually," Mayl pointed out, "You're going to talk with him about something. He just wouldn't tell me what."
"It's nothing important," I knew I needed to steer the topic elsewhere, "Just some boring stuff that happened."
"Unless it was something crazy or exciting," She pushed it, "Maybe some sort of crime?"
"Why would I get involved with a crime? I'm one strike away from being out."
"Because you can never seem to catch a break," Mayl chuckled, "And nothing stops you."
"I appreciate the flattery, but it's nothing. Really."
"The burnt car in our neighborhood disagrees with you."
"Either the car overheated or someone decided to upgrade to burning cars."
Mayl was intensely staring at me, knowing how dodgy I've been acting. She could tell I had something to hide.
"Lan, where you a victim of the arsonist that's been going around?"
"Me, a victim?" I questioned, "Usually, I'm the one doing the clobbering on criminals."
"I took a peek at some of Redd's paperwork," She directly stated, having some more of her soup. "Your home address was in print, and from the looks of it, another crime happened in your house. An arson."
I blinked, pretending I didn't know anything. She can't know anything, lest I get her involved in my problems when I don't want her to.
"What happened to your oven?"
"Aurora Borealis," I replied, throwing her off. Mayl was disappointed and amused by my answer. "What do you think?"
"Are you going to tell me the rest?"
"You don't need to be involved with everything in my life," I wasn't willing to let her in, "Besides, why talk to someone who doesn't know everything?"
"It's true you don't know everything, but you know something. You just don't want to admit it, for whatever dumb reason."
"It's not dumb!"
Realizing I got caught in a lie again, I closed my mouth, turning my head away from her.
"So you have a reason for lying to me," Mayl sternly crossed her arms, "I hope it's a good one. Because you are technically perjuring yourself."
"Redd's not around, Mayl," I huffed, "Also, I plan on talking with him about that case more. I wasn't up to say everything right there."
"Then he won't mind if I join you."
"Forget it. I'm doing nothing if you're gonna be there."
"Is Mr. Match claiming responsibility for the other arson cases? Did he have an accomplice or an employer?"
"What does it matter to you?" I asked, no longer questioning how compromised Redd's handling of the case was. "You're not a detective, last I checked."
"If you know something, you have to say it, Lan!" Mayl was almost scolding me, "You could be arrested for holding back vital information!"
"I'm not purposely trying to lie to him," I defended myself, "Just by trying to say what happened, he would think that I'm lying. But I can prove that what happened is real."
"Really?" She raised an eyebrow, "But you won't tell me?"
"It wasn't an option for me," I was getting ready to leave, "And it's not your business, anyway."
"After the last few days where the WWW was involved in some local crimes," Mayl scoffed, "I'm invested in this."
"So? You can't take them on. You're not even a Net Battler!"
"And you think you can handle it?"
"If Fire Man's all the WWW's got, then sure, bring them on!" And that was the last nail in the metaphorical coffin.
"Hold on," She raised a hand up, processing what I boasted to her. "Fire Man? Is Match a WWW agent?"
"Well, I didn't mention that detail," I stupidly responded, "But I didn't need the attention on me again. I've had enough of that."
"I knew it…" Mayl grimaced, scowling right at me. "Lan, did your IQ conveniently drop while in detention or did the oven's heat melt it?"
"What's that supposed to mean?" I got up, secretly afraid of Mayl, though my expression hid that part.
"I'll say this as calmly as possible," She hissed, "You. Hid. Vital. Information."
"It's just a small detail, big deal."
"I'm ashamed of you, Lan," Mayl shook her head, "You hid an important detail about the investigation from Redd, and you tried to keep it that way, even after what happened to your mother!"
"Hey, hey!" I shushed her, "First off, people didn't know that the arsons were a WWW crime. Second, having three Ws in the report wouldn't make a big difference, just put more heat on me. Three, Mom didn't get hurt or roughed up, and that's good enough for me. Also, I did okay by myself!"
"Mrs. Hikari was in danger and it didn't matter if the WWW was more concerned with something else or not."
"Well, it's all good, anyway. Whatever they were looking for, they couldn't find it. It was a waste of time."
"And that's supposed to make me feel better? You hid information from Redd. I'll have to tell him."
"I'll do it myself!" I felt justified in trying to keep her out of this, though it might not have been the best idea in hindsight. "I don't need your help!"
"You'll need me to get Redd to overlook it, this time," She got up from her seat, ready to take her lunch tray to be washed. "Even if you had a legitimate reason for keeping this from me, you shouldn't have hid the fact that it was the WWW who attacked your home."
"What's your stake in this?" Mayl was getting in my business as usual, but I felt she was going a little bit far here. I needed to know why she was so concerned over this. "Why have you been asking me these questions?"
"The WWW is going too far," She simply stated, "And they need to be stopped."
She exhaled some air and peered her eyes at me, deciding to tell me something.
"Remember our elementary teacher, Ms. Mari?"
"Ms. Mari?" I paused, remembering her from my past. "Why are you bringing her up?"
Then it dawned on me. It unfortunately dawned on me. With crimes being committed by students and teachers getting caught up in their antics, then that would mean…
"Oh, no," I gasped, "Don't tell me that she's-!"
"She's recovering at the hospital," My worries were quelled by Mayl, "So she should be out soon. But her injuries could've been worse, I'm told."
"And it was the WWW…" I looked back at the arson at home and how I felt Mom and I were in danger. "It's lucky that Ms. Mari wasn't killed."
"Sure," Mayl flatly spat, "Luck is all it comes down to, huh?"
"Wait, Mayl," I doubled back, "I didn't mean it like that. And about me hiding things from you. I was only doing it to-"
"Help?" She interrupted me for the last time, "Since when is lying in the same vein as helping?"
I was beginning to feel guilty over this, despite thinking I was in the right. I was keeping her out of any potential danger, but I severely underestimated Mayl. If only I paid more attention to her, I'd know by what extent.
"I actually met with your dad the other day," She told me, "He even asked how you were doing since getting out of juvie."
"My Dad asked about me?" Truth be told, I was more surprised that he even mentioned me then wondered if I was alright. I haven't talked to him in years, let alone thought any good of him.
"It must be nice," Mayl made a sad smile, "Your parents haven't forgotten nor will forget about you, no matter where you are. Maybe you really are lucky."
She walked off, far away from my table.
"Wait, Mayl!" I tried calling out, but she ignored me. I wished I could've told her then, but it would have to come later. The bell rang for the next period.
"You can talk to her later, Lan," Mega Man spoke up from my PET, "You had a good reason. She just needs to hear it, that's all."
"I screwed up again, Mega Man," I shook my head, "I'm losing another friend because of a dumb misunderstanding."
"Don't think like that, Lan!" My Navi shouted, "Sure, she might not like the implication that you think she can't defend herself…"
"I wasn't implying that when I wanted the detective to keep his mouth shut about the case!" I retorted, holding the PET up to my face.
"Still, she'll come around. Believe me, she'll understand."
"She and Ripley are the only friends I've got left," I sighed, "There's no one else. Dex and Tory want nothing to do with me, I bet Yai's forgotten about me, and Hub is gone…"
I quieted down, having only reminded myself of a great friend who was no longer here.
"Lan, I'm here," Mega consoled me, "Deep breaths, in and out."
"S-Sorry, Hub," I scratched my head, calling Mega Man by a second name I gave him.
Let me say it like this. Hub Hikari was my twin brother. I say was because, well… he's dead. It always hurts my heart to talk about him, and even with Mega Man here, I never got over it. Calling him Hub puts me at ease and helps me to cope with the loss of my brother. This reminds me that somehow, he's still here with me.
"It's all good, Lan," Mega raised his index finger up to suggest something, "You know, maybe we can do something about WWW."
"Take them on?" I put my lunch tray away and headed back up to the fourth floor, "But they have technology, Hub, more technology than any of us. I bet SciLab is trying to make countermeasures for their schemes."
"It might be too late by then, Lan, and people are already getting hurt. Mom's okay, but Ms. Mari wasn't. It could only get worse from here, so we should do something."
"I'm just saying, there's a great chance we could trigger a disaster with one wrong move."
"But we're probably the only ones who can stand against them."
I dwelled on Mega Man's words, taking each step up and processing everything.
On one hand, we could be the ones who could tackle an emergency, having nothing but Virus Busting skills and the Synchro Chip Ripley gave me. We've been in similar situations before, so we could do something. But we aren't qualified to taking on organized crime, and we don't exactly have experience with investigating them. Plus, we've learned that two Official Net Battlers have Cross Fusion and actual experience.
'Even so, shouldn't we at least try to fight so crime doesn't hurt innocent people?' I thought, 'We should've told the detective from the start.'
"We really should've told the detective from the start," Mega Man grumbled aloud, voicing my thoughts. "How come we didn't, Lan?"
"Wait, how did you know I was thinking that?" I asked Mega, raising one of my eyebrows. "Is this some Net Navi ESP?"
"No, I just read your face," He grinned, pointing at me. "It's pretty obvious."
"Am I that transparent?!"
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The bell rang for a new period to start, with every student in the room sitting in their seats. Knowing that this was going to happen, along with the fact that you can only speak when spoken to in class, I had made a message and sent it to Mayl.
Mayl held her PET, seeing my message spell out, "Come and see Redd after school with me? I'll reveal everything. Plus, you'll want to hear something that happened while I was facing Match."
When she turned her head to me, I nodded my head with a promising smile.
"Okay, class!" Mr. Higsby called, taking attendance. "As this is one of the last periods of the day, I'm sure you can't wait to get out, huh! But first, we'll take care of some Algebra II. I'll hand you some algebraic expressions to solve, just for a brief warm-up, huh!"
Higsby handed paper out to the entire class, each with the same sheet of math problems.
"This is for your current know-how on this class," He stated, fiddling with the teacher's desk's built-in computer. "After fifteen minutes of this, I'll take the papers up. Then, we'll move on to linear equations, which the math teacher for this class went over yesterday."
He looked at his watch for moment, then outside the window, until he made a little 'hmm' noise and walked over to the door.
"You can behave yourselves, I'm sure, huh?" He questioned, opening the door open. "I actually plan on trading some Battle Chips with you guys when the lesson's over, huh! I'll be right back to grab some portable Chip Traders!"
Higsby left as soon as he said that, holding his lime green PET. But a few seconds later, he came back in, sticking his head out.
"Actually, Lan," He hollered, "You're kinda smart with math, huh? I think you can do it with only a few minutes, so mind helping me?"
"Wait, Mr. Higsby," I shook my head, "I'm actually terrible at this. I don't think-"
"Nonsense, huh! I could use your help! You'll take care of those problems when you come back with me, huh!"
"Yes, sir…" I reluctantly got up from my desk to go with Mr. Higsby, much to the amusement some of my peers.
"One hundred Zenny says he fails to do his assignment in fifteen minutes," One student snickered.
"Two hundred Zenny for him not even being able to do the assignment at all," Another whispered to his friend.
'I get out of my seat for two seconds, and they're already taking bets,' I sighed to myself, closing the door behind me. 'Story of my life.'
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"So, this is Lan Hikari…" The voice of Wily murmured, watching live footage of his victims at ACDC High School. "The one who thwarted you, Match."
"Fire Man wanted to get even, but he failed miserably," Match's voice echoed over the speaker, calling from elsewhere. "It ruined the Copy Bot I was holding for you."
"We will now see how he and Ms. Sakurai react to this next situation," Wily face peered out from the darkness, showing his white hair sticking out in a few spikes from the back of his head. As an old man, he was balding on the top of his head, which almost looked like a natural skull. His moustache was wild and spikey, and he wore a dark purple monocle with a blue lens over his right eye.
"But if the boy succeeds in interfering," Match pointed out, "He could be a bigger pain in the neck than the Officials."
"The entire purpose of the Reeducation Program is to distract the authorities," The WWW's leader replied, "Now, stay in position. The train will be coming in a few more hours."
With a few taps on the keyboard, he activated a direct feed to his operative.
"Now, my operative. Would you be so kind as to activate the program?"
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"No one is touching Lan's paper, got it?" Mayl inquired, boldly looking around the room as the other students nodded in agreement.
Dex actually thought it would be funny to rip up my paper when I was out, or so I was told from a reliable source. So, that reliable source took it upon herself to guard it like a hawk, even succeeding in an arm wrestle with him over the fate of my paper. Don't ask why, it's easier that way.
"How did I lose?" Dex mumbled, "My biceps are jacked…"
"The day of reckoning has come for Net Society…" A computerized voice echoed throughout the P.A. system as the blackboard lit up with a brief flash effect that captivated most students in the room.
"W-What's that?" Dex was confused, seeing odd optical illusions appear on the board.
"Resistance is futile," The voice continued, barely showing a wireframe head of an old man. "The EndGame approaches, and the WWW will control the world. But the infested Net Society… must be deleted first!"
"It's happening here…!" Mayl whispered to herself as several of her peers panicked, "This must be how the student crimes have happened!"
"You low humans depend on your computers and Navis to live, but they will fail you in the end! But at the end of a great global reset, you will learn to bow to your new master in time! Until then, speed the end up, cause chaos in the name of the WWW! Delete! Delete!"
"The doors are locked!" One of the girls screamed, pulling at the handle. "We're locked in!"
"Don't panic!" Dex attempted to calm everyone down, "Clearly, the problem is in the school's network! Guts Man and I will take care of it!"
'I hope Lan can find a way to stop the WWW while outside,' Mayl thought, realizing there was only one thing she can do now. 'In the meantime, I'll have to disable the program and unlock the school.'
"Mayl?" Roll called, her Operator responding with a press of the emblem on her PET.
"Jack in! Roll, Execute!"
It was her turn now.
CHAPTER 4 END