Author's Notes: I don't own, you don't sue.

V. If you want Mamoru, then you'll have to check out, "Mega-Man.EXE 4: Network 404", because he shows up later on in that fic. Star-Man, no (Don't know a thing about him). But Kai makes a one-liner cameo later on. Which Sean are you talking about?

V. (Again) Roll/Beast-Man? (I hope you're not asking me to write that) Beats me, I'm not into romance, but Laura is, so I guess I'll let her answer that when she takes over on Friday. Yeah, the Lan vs. Maylu will be very interesting, I just hope I don't get killed for how I'm going to end it. And I could give them an 'Anti-Sword' chip, but surely Chaud's had to face that before, right?

B. D. Yugi, I don't believe it! I never even saw the irony in that 'Stealth' bit until you pointed it out. Anyways, I'm not going there yet, because of an 'accident' that happens later on....

S. Rain, WHOA, calm down there. No, Chaud's not going to beat Lan, because Roll and Mega-Man must clash. I don't have a clue why I hate these strange hairstyles (99.9% of the shows you rattled off I've never heard of, so there.

Begin Chapter.

This was it; today was the first day of competition in the Battle Chip Expo.

"So, what's the lineup?" I asked aloud.

"Just a moment..." Roll scanned the information, "wow, we're in the very first match, followed by Lan, and then Chaud. Our opponent's someone named Felicity, and her Navi's just called Stealth."

"We'll find out what they can do soon enough." I replied, "I just hope that we can pull this off."

"I know, the Hospital's riding on us, whether they know it or not." My pink friend agreed. "But we'd better hurry, the match starts in five minutes."

"Then let's go." I hurried away.

With Roll's guidance, I made my way to the arena, just as the announcer started the preliminaries. As it turned out, Ribbita was the host, again. Funny how she always got these tournament assignments.

"And welcome to the Battle Expo!" She shouted into her mike. "This is guaranteed to be an exciting match, as we have several top ranked Netbattlers in this competition!"

I felt along my control board, getting a feel for the area, the transmission gate was in the center, right next to a computer screen of some kind. I assumed that it would show me various statistics about the fight, but it wasn't going to do me much good.

"So let's get this started!" Ribbita hollered. "First off, we have Felicity Ram, and her Net Navi, Stealth! Her opponent will be Maylu Sakurai, first place winner of the Tag Team Tournament, and first blind Netbattler in championship competition!"

I sighed. Here we went again.

"With her Navigator, Roll!" The announcer finally finished her speech, "So let the games begin!"

"Jack in, Stealth!"

"Jack in, Roll!" I yanked out my connection wire, and slipped it into the gate.

"Power up!"

"I'm in..." My Navi replied, "Stealth's sort of like a female Shadow-Man, she's got that ninja style of look, and a gray color scheme."

"Then be careful." I cautioned her, "We don't know what she can do, so let's feel her out before we attack."

"Got you."

"Hey, Sakurai!" A voice, probably belonging to Felicity, shouted at me. "You might as well give up now, because I'm going to pound that pathetic pink puffball into the dirt!"

"Puffball?" Roll and I shouted in perfect unison.

"That's what I said." Felicity's voice was filled with smirk.

"BATTLE START!"

"Let's go Roll," I felt along my chip folder, all of my chips had labels with raised printing on the top so that I could feel them and know what they were. And since I kept my folder perfectly organized, I knew just where everything was. "Aqua-Tower, Battle Chip in, and Download!"

"Bath time!" My Navi quipped, just before I heard the sounds of a geyser erupting. "You've got to get squeaky clean!"

"How pathetic can you get?" I heard Felicity's voice. "Stealth, dodge it."

"Right." A strange voice said. I heard footsteps and the tower splash on until it cancelled, we'd missed. "She's fast." Roll gasped.

I heard the sounds of a disk hurling through the air; Roll hadn't done anything, so it must have come from Felicity. "Watch out!"

"I see it!" My Navi shouted as I heard her leap away. "She's got shurikens!"

"Cyber-Sword, Battle Chip in, Download!" Felicity cried.

"Roll, coming your way!" I found the required chip, "Cyber-Sword, Download!"

"Got it!" I head the two blades connect in rapid succession, I could tell that Roll was having a hard time keeping up with her opponent, Stealth was just incredibly fast.

Two more slashes sounded, then Roll cried out and a crash blared at me as she hit the floor. She'd been hit.

"Take her out!" My opponent cried.

"No way," I snatched a chip, "Area Steal!" I listened to the slight 'hiss' as the chip warped my friend to safety, and Stealth's blade whistle through the air without hitting anything.

"She's good," Roll panted.

"We can't match her speed," I thought aloud, "so we'll have to start playing smart, Typhoon Virus, Download. Roll, hang onto that sword!"

"Right, Typhoon!" My pink Navi agreed. "Attack!"

"Like that'll work," I heard Stealth's voice over her footsteps, "Once quick slash and it's bye-bye virus."

"That's what I'm counting on." I thought as I raised my second copy of the Area Steal. "Put your focus on the virus."

I heard our opponent strike.

"Area Steal, Download!"

"Watch your back!" Felicity shouted.

"Too late!" Roll cried, just before I heard her weapon connect with something. "Got you!"

"You'll pay for that!"

"Bubbler, Download!" I shouted. "You washed and rinsed, but didn't repeat!" I heard Roll fire. Stealth shrieked as she got soaked.

"Enough fooling." Felicity snapped, "Take her down!"

"Right," the Navi agreed, "Berserk Slash!"

Roll cried out as I heard her adversary attack in rapid succession, she was just too fast to keep up with. Then an explosion sounded, and Roll groaned just before a loud crash sounded.

"ROLL!"

"I'm fine." She wheezed, "I just need a moment. The sword's gone."

"We've got to even this out." I ran over every scenario I could think of, and then I felt like kicking myself. "Which we could have done long ago! You've got the Wood Shadow style."

"Of course!" My friend agreed, "why didn't I think of that?" "Finish this!" Felicity shouted.

"Style Change!" I pounded the button on my P.E.T. "Wood Shadow!"

"Activate!" Roll announced. "Grass Blade Sword!"

There was a loud crash.

"No way?" Felicity gasped, "She blocked? But how?"

"It's the Style Change." I explained, as I hit the second button on my Terminal, which would allow Roll to turn the arena into a grass type. "When Roll's in Wood Shadow Style, she's much faster and her defensive abilities skyrocket. Plus, she becomes a wood type Navi, and can heal herself by standing on Grass tiles, which we just created."

"Stealth, end this now!" The Op screeched. "Hero Sword!"

"Bamboo Sword, Download!" As a plant Navi, Roll could strengthen any kind of Grass element Battle Chip, which included the Bamboo Sword.

"Perfect!" My Navi voiced, and the following sounds told me that they were parrying their blades, but this time Roll was holding her own.

"She's much faster now!" Stealth gasped, "I've lost my advantage!"

"But I'll get you another!" Felicity shouted back, "Fire Sword, Download!"

"We're ready for you!" I slipped a chip into my terminal, "Leaf Shield!"

I heard the barrier appear around Roll. And then our attacker's blade swipe through space.

"Thanks for healing me." There was a grin in my Navi's voice. "The Leaf Shield transforms any attack into HP!"

This would be close, while Roll's style change was a great benefit; we didn't have an edge over Stealth. So it would all come down to one final stretch.

"I've got you now!" Stealth stated. I heard a blade slash through space.

"Nice try!" My Navi retorted, just before she retaliated.

"NO!" Felicity screamed.

Stealth Logging Out.

"And Maylu has done it again!" Ribbita roared into her mike. "She and Roll have beaten Stealth in the very first round of the Battle Expo, what an exciting way to kick off this tournament, but don't go away! Lan Hikari and Joe Smith are battling next, so this next match is not to be missed!"

"That was a nice match Felicity." I extended my hand, "You nearly had us there for a second."

"I guess I did." My opponent took my hand, "You weren't so bad yourself, that Typhoon trick almost did us in, I hope we can square off another time."

"You never know." I agreed just before we went our separate ways.

"Nice going." Lan's voice cut through the air.

"Thanks," I tried to hone in on his position, "good luck, Lan."

"Maylu," His voice was filled with concern, "Be careful around here."

"What?" I hadn't been expecting that.

"I just overhead a guy talking, he's got a really deep voice, and he was saying that he'd get even with you if it was the last thing he did."

End Chapter.

Next: Roll vs. Lotto-Man! (B. D. Yugi, )

Next Update: Friday.