Thanks for all the reviews! Sorry I kinda took awhile to do this chappie, but a long chapter takes a bit longer to write.. I also have encountered a slight writer's block. More reviews might inspire me! Enjoy!

-------------

Chapter Seven

The group of friends stopped short of the dark hallway, trying to peer into the heavy darkness.
"D-d-do you think we should go in there?" Dex stuttered, obviously scared of the uncertainty that the dark brings.
"Why did you guys stop for?" Aquaria asked from her PET in its case at Kris' waist.
Kris picked up her PET and showed her aqua-eyed NetNavi the dark hallway.
"Ah. Scary hallway gonna stop you from making amends with your friend, huh?" Aquaria said, trying to convince her NetOp that this was nothing to be afraid of.
Kris glared at her PET, but she knew her NetNavi was right. She finally sighed and turned to her friends.
"I have to do this. You guys coming? You don't really have to ya know."
"I am not gonna let you go in there without help. You never know what lurks in the shadows." Lan said, trying to sound more brave then he felt.
"You can count on me to help too." Maylu said.
"Same here." Roll said from Maylu's PET.
"I would never let a friend do something like this alone." Yai said sternly, even though she was shaking slightly.
"Y-y-yeah. M-m-m-me too." Dex stuttered, still staring off into the darkness.
"Thanks guys. That means a lot to me." Kris said, smiling at each one of her friends.
Aquaria gave a cross between a grunt and a sigh. "I don't know what you guys are so worried about. They probably just turned out the lights for repairs or something."
"Y-y-y-eah. M-m-m-aybe that's it." Dex said, still looking scared.
"Well, it's not getting any brighter the longer we stand here, so let's go." Yai said, stomping off down the hallway with everyone else following close behind.

Meanwhile, in the security room of the tournament building..
The operator at camera thirty-two was watching as Lan, Kris, Maylu, Dex and Yai walked down the darkened hallway. He called his overseer, which happened to be Maddy, to look at his screen.
"I think that's Megaman's NetOp. Should we alert Mr. Wily?" the operator asked while pointing to Lan on the screen.
"Yes, it is, and those annoying girls too. Good work. I'll take care of telling Mr. Wily." Maddy said, then turning to another screen, she turned it on to reveal Mr. Wily glaring.
"What now? I was in the middle of something." the evil madman asked with a tinge of annoyance in his tone.
"Megaman's operator and his friends have been spotted. They seem to be following-" she stopped and looked over at a subscreen to the right of Mr. Wily's picture. "the boy you assigned to spy on that aquatic NetNavi, Tai Denkou." she continued.
Mr. Wily seemed suprised for only a few seconds, then his face settled into a satisfied look. "Ah. Good. Radio Tai and alert him that his objective is following him." he said, an evil smirk forming on his face. "It's time to initiate plan, 'Light in the Dark'." he said, beginning to laugh evilly before he was cut off by Maddy shutting down the video screen.
"I can't stand it when he laughs like that. It's just too freaky." she said with a shudder, then went off to notify Tai.

The group of friends continued to walk along the dark hallway, trying to use the faint light from their PETs as a guide.
"Can you see anything Megaman? 'Cause I sure can't." Lan asked his blue NetNavi that was facing frontwards.
Megaman squinted and stared into the distance. "I think I see someone ahead of us." he said, "It's just a shadow in the darkness, but it's definitely a person."
."Yeah, I see it too." Aquaria said from Kris' hands.
"Hello?!" Lan called out hesitantly before tripping and falling flat on his face.
"Lan! What happened? Are you all right?" Maylu asked, reaching down to help him up.
He accepted the help and stood up, holding his forehead. "Yeah, I'm OK. I don't know what I tripped over though. It must have been a crack in the tile or a cord to something." he said as he put his PET light where his feet were before he tripped. There was a cord there, a rather large one at that, stretching across the hallway perpendicular to the walls.
"I wonder what that is used for." Kris said, staring at it.
"Probably to supply light to people who where working on the wiring for the lights." Yai said.
"Maybe." Maylu said, peering at it as well.
While they were all staring at the cord, a light suddenly came on, almost blinding them because they had been so used to the dark. They all screamed out in pain.
"Hey! Who turned on the lights?!?!" Dex yelled, holding his hands over his eyes.
A boy's voice came from the direction they were heading.
"Oh, I'm sorry! I'll turn them down a bit."
As the lights dimmed to a comfortable level, they all squinted in the direction the voice had come from since their eyes still hadn't adjusted to the light.
"Zap?!" Kris called out. "Is that you?"
"Kris!? I didn't realize you were participating in this tournament too!" the voice replied, becoming louder as he walked closer.
As soon as their vision adjusted, they watched as a blonde boy a little taller than Lan walk up to Kris. He had on dark blue, slightly baggy jeans and a dark blue long-sleaved shirt with yellow stripes running down his sleaves and two yellow lines running down the front. Near his left shoulder was a circle with a lightning bolt inside. His piercing blue eyes locked on Kris. "I thought I asked you not to call me that anymore." he said with a hint of anger in his voice.
"I'm sorry Tai, I keep forgetting." Kris apologized.
"It's all right, I guess, just try and remember next time." he said, then looked around at the rest of the group. "So, who are your friends?" he said with a smile.
"Oh, this is Dex, Yai, Maylu and Lan." she said as each raised their hand slightly as their name was said.
Tai nodded as his gaze rested on Lan. He recognized him from his earlier briefing.

flashback
"This is Lan Hikari, Megaman's NetOp. Keep a lookout for him and alert Mr. Wily if you see him. He is dangerous to our main mission." the leader droned, pointing to a picture of Lan cheering Megaman on during a battle against World Three viruses.
end flashback

'So this is the NetOp of the mighty Megaman. He seems harmless enough, I wonder why he is considered such a threat?' he thought, while trying to mask his recognition.
Lan looked back with curiosity. 'Why is he looking at me like that?' he thought.
"It seems you have gotten over your shyness to have so many friends." Tai said, returning his gaze back to Kris.
"Well, they just kinda welcomed me into their group, I guess." Kris said, with an appreciative smile at her friends.

Meanwhile, in the cyberworld, introductions were being made as well.
"OK, listen up Clingboy. This is Gutsman, Glyde, Roll, and Megaman." she said, pointing to each and speaking slowly as if instructing a small child.
An anger vein appeared above the electric Navi's blue eyes. "My name is NOT Clingboy, and you know it, Aquarium-head!!" he yelled.
The others watched, slightly amused at the rivalry between the two Navis. They noticed Staticman's dark blue bodysuit and helmet with the lightning bolt design running down his arms and legs. When he yelled, the lightning bolts on his helmet seemed to glow yellow with fury.
"They fight more than Lan and you do, Megaman." Roll commented.
"Yeah, they do." Megaman agreed.
When the two finally stopped yelling at each other and calmed down, they noticed his blue eyes sparkling with electricity and the simple lightning icon on his chest.
"Contrary to what my liquid-brained friend over here says, my name is Saticman." he said calmly to the rest of the NetNavis. He looked at Megaman with a calculating look. 'So this is the puny NetNavi World Three is so afraid of. I wonder why, he doesn't look like much.' he thought to himself.
"Liquid-brained? Why I outta pound you right now!" she said as she went into a fighting position, then she heard Kris' voice.
"Aquaria, you'd better not be picking a fight with Staticman. You have to stay in top shape for our NetBattle later today."
Aquaria relaxed out of her battle stance with a disappointed look on her face. "Yeah, I guess you're right, Kris." she said, then she glared at Staticman. "You got lucky, Clingboy, I woulda soaked you to the bone." she threatened.
"Yeah, right." he said sarcastically.
"All right guys, break it up." Megaman said, walking between them.
"Can't you guys just get along for a little while?" Roll said.
"They won't have to. We're gonna head to the auditorium to watch the rest of the matches before ours." Kris said, her voice echoing slightly in the cyberworld.
"All right, let's get outta here." Yai said as she walked towards the exit.
The other's followed, with Tai in the back, with a smug smile on his face.

----------

Ooh, the enemy has infiltrated! What will happen now?

Find out later..

I hope you liked the longer chapter!