A few weeks had passed since Matt had created Firewolf, beaten and joined L-Drives 'posse' and the excitement was starting to die down, although that may have been that school had started again.
"Why didn't you wake me up earlier!?" Shouted Matt as he ran down the street.
"Matt, I've been trying to wake you up for an hour, you kept sleeping!" replied Firewolf.
"You didn't try hard enough!"
"I did! I was at full volume!"
"Man, and today had to be the field trip, I was looking forward to it!"
Matt sprinted around a corner, then skidded to a halt, whirled around and sprinted the other way.
"Ack! Not that way, THIS way!"
Matt sprinted faster, knowing that he was late already. He lowered his head to try and push more speed out of each stride he took, but he was careless. Without realising, he ran headlong into someone in front of him. Both of them fell to the ground with a clatter, as both their battle chips flew from their pockets and spread onto the ground. Matt sat and rubbed his painful rear end.
"Owwww, that hurts!"
"Excuse me, please mind where you are going" said the other person, picking up his own chips from the ground.
"S-sorry"
Matt looked up and got a good look at the person in front of him. He was about Matt's age, with shoulder-length platinum blond hair. He wore a trenchcoat over his red waist coat, which almost covered his grey shirt. He also wore leather boots and dark blue trousers. He picked himself up off the ground, scooped his chips into his pocket and wiped some dust from his coat.
"Hmm, at least my laptop hasn't been damaged. Try to be more careful"
"W-wait, you're about my age, right?"
"Hmm? Well, I do attend ACDC High, if that's what you mean"
"You do!? Great! I do too! Say, you don't know where my class is, do you?"
"Yes, you're with them. I heard someone mention someone who looked like you"
"What were they saying?"
"That you'd be late, as usual"
Matt smiled and laughed weakly, he pulled himself up and looked around. As the boy had said, his class was just in front of him.
"Thanks for the help ... uuuh ..."
"Daniel Fear, but just call me Daniel"
"Sure! Are you with us?"
"I think so, anyway"
"MAAAAAATT!" shouted a voice from the crowd. Matt jumped suddenly and tried to look innocent.
"L-Drive! W-Where were you, I barely noticed ... you ... oh darn"
There was no fooling L-Drive. He looked as if he was about to explode.
"Let me explain..."
"EXPLAIN!! MATT, YOU PROMISED TO BE ON TIME FOR THIS BUT YOU WERE LATE! WHAT IS THERE TO EXPLAIN! I DON'T CARE WHY, YOU SHOULDN'T GO BACK ON A PROMISE!"
Matt doubled over as L-Drive shouted out loud, attracting strange looks from people around him. Matt looked around for an excuse to leave, but couldn't find one. Until...
"Hey! It's Ray! Ray, Ray, Ray, Ray, Ray..."
Matt ran off towards Ray, desperate to leave L-Drive's roasting behind him. L-Drive glowered, but followed soon after.
"Ray, Ray, Ray, Ray, Ray Ra-"
"Shut up, Matt, you're getting on my nerves!"
"Sorry, I just needed to escape from L-Drive for a moment" Matt whispered.
"I HEARD THAT!" shouted L-Drive, storming towards the duo.
"Here we go" groaned Matt.
"Hi, Ray. I was just telling Matt off for breaking a promise"
"Really? Was he late again?"
"Hey, Shut up! Firewolf didn't wake me up!"
"I tried to! You were the one who didn't wake up!"
"Whatever!"
"Class! Quiet down at the back" Shouted their teacher, Mr McKenna.
"Yes, sir" the kids chorused"
Standing in front of the crowd was a tall man with spiky brown hair. Next to him was Mr McKenna, who was slightly shorter and had smooth blond hair.
"Okay, we're going to be given a tour of the Science Labs by the famous NetBattler, Netto Hikari"
All at once, Matt, L-Drive, Daniel and Ray gasped out loud.
"THE Netto Hikari?" gasped one of the girls in the class.
"Yeah, that's me" Netto grinned. "I'll show you around and let you in on some of the developments you can expect real soon. Plus, I'll let you guys in on a few Virus Busting techniques that Rockman and I used to use"
The whole class shuffled forward, clamouring to be seen close to Netto. Matt and friends held back to say goodbye to Ray, before joining the swarming crowd.
"Here is the R&D room, where everything we've created is tested. There's nothing going on just now, though"
"Matt, isn't this place cool?"
Matt's mind was wandering. He was thinking of how the legendary Netto Hikari had defeated the World Three, Gospel and Nebula, all in his younger age. He was snapped out of it by Daniel bumping into him.
"Whoops, sorry about that, Matt"
"W-Wait for me!"
Matt ran after the crowd, and caught up with them quickly, as they hadn't moved far.
"Here's one of our newest developments" announced Netto. "This is what we call Cross Fusion. My Father created it, but when he died, we lost the procedures for it. We think we're close to a breakthrough, however"
Matt peered over the ledge and saw the equipment below. It all looked terribly complicated. There was strange equipment everywhere, queer-looking chips and scientists busying themselves with dials, levers, knobs and all manners of buttons. He couldn't even dream of understanding what was going on, despite knowing a lot about computers. Still, he had a desire to use Cross Fusion someday. A desire that he thought he'd never fulfil. He stared on, but was brought back to reality by L-Drive.
"Yo, we're moving again, keep up with us"
"This place is cool"
"Yeah, but I don't wanna have to babysit you! Keep up!"
As far as Matt was concerned, he just wanted to stay and watch that 'Drop Fishing' (or whatever it was) thing. On the Science Lab network, things were quiet. Alomst too quiet.
The science Navis went about their normal business, taking data from one computer to another, then back again, watching over the programs run the vital systems ... basically keeping everything in the Real World running as smoothly as possible. Suddenly, a single Metool virus appeared out of thin air. It looked around shyly, and hid under it's helmet when a Navi came to delete it. The Navi stood still, waiting to delete it completely, but it wouldn't budge. Unknown to that Navi, other viruses had appeared too.
"GARUUUU!!" growled something behind it.
The Navi spun around, ready to delete a single Garu virus, but was taken aback by the amount of them. There wasn't just one, there was closer to one hundred of them! The science Navi didn't stand a chance. Before it could even attempt to Plug-Out, it was deleted, leaving the viruses to disrupt everything on the Network. It seemed that no-one would know about this.
Back in the Real World, Matt's class were nearing the end of their field trip. Netto had just shown them the Science Control Room, where the computers kept everything in check.
"I hope you enjoyed the tour of our labs. Maybe one day, you'll be here making the latest discoveries!"
"Well, I'm sure we'd all like to thank Mr. Hikari for allowing us to visit, wouldn't we?" added Mr McKenna.
"Thank you, Mr. Hikari!" the whole class chorused.
"Any time!" smiled Netto, as he pushed the door open for the class ... or at least tried to.
"Huh? What's going on? The door shouldn't be locked"
Netto pushed the door harder, but still nothing happened.
"Hey! Who locked the door?"
Suddenly, the lab's sirens wailed out through the corridors and the crimson-red lights flashed violently, illuminating everyone in the hallway.
"What happened!" shouted Netto, pushing his way past the kids.
"Warning! Virus in main network!" said a computer voice, almost in reply to Netto.
"Darn! Rockman! Let's go!"
Netto pulled his PeT out of his pocket, and some of the kids in the class gasped. It was an honour to even SEE Netto's PeT.
"I'm ready, Netto! Let's go!" replied Rockman.
Netto ran down the hall and towards the Control Room. Matt, L-Drive and Daniel gathered together in a group.
"This sounds serious! Maybe we should help out?" said L-Drive.
"We can't, Mr. McKenna would go crazy!" replied Daniel.
"Yeah, but what if Rockman gets deleted?" added Matt.
"This is ROCKMAN, we're talking about! He's the STRONGEST Navi ever!"
"Matt, we could sneak down the hall while he's not looking. Let's give it a shot!" added Firewolf.
"Count me in too!" added Cyberlink. "Daniel could keep lookout for us"
Matt and L-Drive looked at each other, then looked at Daniel, who nodded and turned his head to face in Mr. McKenna's direction.
"Wait for it ... a few more seconds ... NOW!! Go!"
Matt and L-Drive dashed down the hall and around the corner. They stood panting for a second, before L-Drive grabbed Matt and dragged him down the hall to the Control Room door, where they both eavesdropped on what was going on.
"Rockman, watch out behind you!" shouted Netto, staring into his PeT screen.
"Ngh! There's just too many of them!"
"Hold on, I'm gonna send some chips!"
"Hurry! I don't know how much longer I can last!"
"Battle Chip! M-Cannon! Slot I-"
"GAAAAAAAH!"
"ROCKMAN!!"
Rockman didn't answer.
"ROCKMAN! ROCKMAN! ROOOCKMAAAAAN!!!!"
Matt ran forward without thinking, his PeT in his hand. He grabbed the cable and slammed it into the port on the console in front of Netto.
"Plug In! Firewolf.EXE! Transmission!" he shouted, as Firewolf was transported onto the Network.
"Huh? Who are you?" asked Netto, but it went upon deaf ears. Matt was concentrating on operating Firewolf more than anything else.
"Matt! Don't forget me!" Shouted L-Drive, running forward and slamming his PeT Cable into a free slot. "Jack In! Cyberlink.EXE! Transmission!"
Cyberlink beamed in next to Firewolf. He a strange looking Navi, since he was based on a cartoony hedgehog. He was completely blue with large spines, and wore a green tunic. One half of him was metal while the other half was normal. The two seemed extremely out of place in the Science Network, yet so did all the viruses.
"HOMING ATTACK!"
Cyberlink leapt into the air and morphed into a blue-green ball, that launched itself at many viruses in random succession, each of the viruses being deleted on contact.
"FIRE CLAW!"
Firewolf dashed forward and cleared a path through the sea of viruses, allowing him to get Rockman out of the horde and into relative safety. Rockman was out cold, but not deleted. Firewolf grabbed him with one paw and hurled him over the viruses, leaving Cyberlink and Firewolf surrounded as they all closed in.
"Damn, Rockman was right. There's too many" spat Firewolf.
"Well, I ain't going down without a fight!" replied Cyberlink.
"And how do you suppose we take them on?"
"Just keep shooting at them! That's my plan"
"And when they overwhelm us and are close to deleting us?"
"CHARGE SHOT!!" shouted a voice from the side.
A large blast wiped out most of the viruses, leaving Firewolf, Cyberlink and all of the viruses stunned. They turned around and saw Rockman standing with his buster smoking at the barrel.
"What are you waiting for? Get a move on!"
Both Firewolf and Cyberlink nodded and leapt into the air.
"Battle Chip! Shotgun! Slot In!" shouted Matt.
"Battle Chip! YoYo! Slot In!" shouted L-Drive.
Both of them slammed their chips into their PeTs and watched on as their Navis fought with all their strength. Rockman was taking out viruses using his Rockbuster, as it was powerful enough already. Firewols Fired his shotgun at a horde of Garu viruses, deleting them as they howled in pain. Cyberlink threw the YoYo at a group of Metools, who were deleted too. Only a few viruses remained, but they were taken out with relative ease. Firewolf's Fire Claw, Cyberlink's Homing Attack and Rockman's Rockbuster finished the job in no time at all. Firewolf cracked his knuckles as Cyberlink struck an outrageous victory pose.
"Seems like you guys are really into this" laughed Rockman. "You guys were good"
"It was an honour to fight alongside you, Master Rockman" said Cyberlink, bowing slightly.
"No need to call me Master, just Rockman will do. What are your names?"
"I'm Cyberlink! This is Firewolf"
"Cyberlink and Firewolf, huh? Sound like the most unlikely duo to be heroes"
Both Firewolf and Cyberlink laughed slightly.
"Well, I'd better get going. Netto has some research papers to finish off. He was always like that, even as a kid. He left everything until the last minute. Well, see ya!"
Rockman beamed out of the Network. Firewolf and Cyberlink did so too. Matt and L-Drive were proud of their Navis, having shown to Netto that they were good NetBattlers. Netto turned to face the two boys, and smiled at them.
"You kids remind me of myself when I was young. I always focussed on nothing but the battle at hand. I like that"
Matt and L-Drive felt a little embarrassed, but smiled anyway.
"Tell you what. Drop by the lab again tomorrow. I'll have a little gift for you both"
Matt and L-Drive blinked in disbeleif, then echoed "Okay!"
"MATT! LUKE!" boomed Mr. McKenna's voice, as he stormed through the hallway. "YOU TWO ARE IN BIG TROUBLE! YOU SHOULDN'T HAVE RUN OFF!"
"Uuh, excuse me, but these two helped delete the viruses in the system. We owe them our thanks" interrupted Netto.
Mr McKenna blinked, then walked off saying nothing. Netto sighed, then said "You guys have it tough from him, huh?"
The two nodded and ran off, waving to Netto and smiling at the same time. They caught up with the group and managed to fight their way through the crowd to Daniel.
"How'd it go?" he asked.
"Great! We deleted them all and saved Rockman!" replied L-Drive.
"Plus, we're getting something from Netto himself!" added Matt.
"Quiet, class!" said Mr McKenna. "Now, thanks to the unforseen delay, and the disappearance of TWO PUPILS, school is now ended, Please return home at once. Class dismissed"
The crowd dispersed outside the labs as each child went their own seperate ways, except Matt, L-Drive and Daniel, who were making plans.
"Hey, let's meet in ACDC Square! It just opened and it sounds like fun!" piped L-Drive.
"Sure! I'll be there as soon as I get home!" replied Matt.
"I can't, my Navi is broken" groaned Daniel.
"Damn, that sucks. Let us know how it's repair comes along"
"Sure. Look, I have to run, so I'll see you guys later. Bye"
Daniel ran off without saying any more, leaving Matt and L-Drive confused.
"What's with him?"
Daniel didn't stop running until he came to a bush, which he hid behind. He pulled out a black PeT from his pocket and turned on the screen. On the screen stood a twenty-foot tall Knight Navi called Omega. Daniel grinned evily and spoke to Omega.
"Time to cause a little havok on the Cyberworld, Omega"
"GRAAAAAAAWWWWRRR!" roared Omega, as he was jacked into the net through a nearby lamp post.