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Chapter SevenThe 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.
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Ooh, the enemy has infiltrated! What will happen now?
Find out later..
I hope you liked the longer chapter!
