Tuesday 11:55 AM: Restaurant.

I felt the car come to a stop, and when I heard the other doors open, I popped my own. Ever since the 'incident', I had figured out different ways to do everyday tasks, and my so-called handicap was regularly diminishing. I walked through the parking lot with my parents.

Lan's voice cut through my thoughts, "Hi, Maylu! I told you I'd see you here."

"Hey, Lan." I replied in the general direction that his voice had come from.

I stretched out my hand to shake his, as our hands met, I felt a soft material covering his arm. It was nearly impossible not to tell what it was.

"Lan, you're wearing a- a suit coat!" I stuttered in disbelief.

"Not just the coat." Lan's voice was covered with a grin, "The entire suit. And let me tell you, this tie is choking me."

"You mean," Mega-Man's voice came through the haze, "it would be, if you were wearing one. Besides, he only did it because Yai told him it was black tie only."

"Hey! At least I made an effort!" Lan retorted at his Navi, "You didn't even try to dress up for this!"

"Lan, I'm digital." The bomber replied, "My armor is built right into me, I can't change clothes."

"I know that! I mean- oh, never mind." My teammate sighed in defeat then he addressed me, "You look great tonight."

"Thank you." I replied; the last time I had worn this outfit was during the N1 Grand Prix, on the night that Lan discovered the original Program Advance. "I'm sure that you do too."

By now we had arrived at the restaurant door, and met up with my other friends. At least most of my friends, Dex hadn't arrived yet.

"Where is he?" Yai asked, "If he's not here in one minute, then we'll have to go on without him."

Dex must have arrived, because someone large and chunky nearly knocked me over, as he shouted, "Sorry I'm late! I'm getting to be as bad as you, Lan."

"It's about time." Yai snapped. "Alright everyone, let's go."

"Sorry about bumping into you." Dex apologized to me; "I just didn't see yo- I mean… uh."

Chuckling at Dex's consternation about using the word 'see', I took the stress off of him, "That's alright, now you know how I feel!"

I felt my parents stop moving so I stood still as well. Seconds later, a voice asked us for reservations, and then we were lead to a table. After we had sat down, conversation turned to the Tag Team Tournament.

"You really smoked out the competition, Maylu." Dex stated.

"Yeah, even Chaud and Proto-Man didn't stand a chance." Tory agreed.

"Yep," Lan quipped, "I bet that they're sitting at home, trying to regrow Proto-Man's digital hair!"

An idea struck me as we laughed at Lan's joke, at first I ignored it. But the thought kept nagging at me, what if Lan had left early last night because-

Before I could finish my thought, a voice cut through our conversation. "Welcome, here are our menus so I'll just give you a minute to decide what you want."

I heard Yai gasp, as I tried to figure out why, I felt a tall piece of stiff paper enter my hand. Then I realized she thought that I wouldn't be able to read the menu. However, with a little help from Roll, I ordered like anyone else.

After a few minutes of small talk, I had to find out: "Lan, why did you leave so early last night?"

"Huh? Why do you ask?" He tried to dodge my question.

"Are- are you upset about the tournament?" I pressed forward.

"Why would I be?"

"It's just that- I don't want you to feel overshadowed by me, you did just as much as I did to win."

"So that's what this is about." I heard a creak which told me that Lan had leaned back in his chair, "Maylu, it's natural for people to focus on you, you've done something that hasn't been achieved before. We won, and it doesn't bother me that I'm in your shadow."

"You're sure?"

"Yes," his voice replied, "And the reason that I left so early, was because I wanted to get this for you. It's a gift."

I felt a Battle Chip be pressed into my hand. After a moment's hesitation, I ran my finger over the graphic, and I didn't recognize it. "What is it?"

"It's a Variable-Sword."

I gasped; the Variable-Sword was a very rare chip. So rare that Lan had to win his copy in a battle, because there was no way he could afford to buy one. "It- it must have cost a fortune."

"Not really," Mega-Man interrupted the conversation, "Higsby felt pretty bad about Frank trying to cheat you, so he let Lan have it for half off."

"Hey!" The Op shouted, "That was uncalled for!"

I fingered the Chip; Lan had done so much for me over the past few weeks. And he'd never asked for anything in return. "Thank you."

"You're welcome."

"Well, they'll let just about anyone in here won't they?" A familiar voice interrupted our conversation, "I hope you know, I let you win during the championship."

"That was a good match, Chaud." I replied, ignoring his attempt to annoy me, "You put up a good fight."

"Whatever, I just felt too sorry for you to let you be humiliated." The Op retorted.

"That wasn't nice, Chaud!" Yai screeched at him, "It's no wonder you don't have any friends."

"Friends are of no importance to me." Then Chaud addressed me, "And I'm challenging you to a rematch, do you think you can win without your friends to save you?"

"I don't have anything to prove, Chaud. So no." I couldn't believe that this was happening.

"Scared that I won't take it easy on you?"

"You're the coward!" Lan interrupted Chaud, "You're too scared to admit that you lost fair and square."

"I'm not here for you." The Op snapped, "I'm here for her, Wednesday ten o'clock at the DNN studios, be there."

I heard footsteps as he walked away, and I sighed in frustration. "What's his problem?"

"Well, uh, is anyone else ready for desert?" Lan tried to change the topic.

"No thanks, Lan, I'm not really hungry anymore." I declined.