Author's Notes. Yes, I know the updates a sporadic, but I warned you about that.

To be honest, I'm having a lot of trouble with this fic for some strange reason...

Begin Chapter!

"Where are they?" Lan stormed around their empty seats.

"I wish I knew." MegaMan replied, "Neither one of them's answering the phone, and if they aren't back in about... two minutes, then Maylu looses her match by default."

"Something big must have come up." The brunette concluded as he continued to scan the bleachers. "It's the only reason that they'd have left like this."

"And we're back!" Ribbita shouted at the top of her lungs. "Now that the World Tour server has been repaired, then we are ready to begin again! Will our next two battlers, Maylu Sakurai and Janet Petiole, please come to their stations? This match will begin in exactly one minute!"

"One minute!?" Lan shrieked in disbelief.

"Come on..." MegaMan dialed the two numbers once again. "Somebody answer!"

"And I don't know what the problem is..." Ribbita's voice reflected her bewilderment, "but Maylu has not entered her station yet! If she doesn't arrive in the next thirty seconds, she will be disqualified."

"We're here!" Chaud's voice flooded the stadium as everyone turned to see the two friends explode through the doorway. Quickly he led Maylu over to her station, and then retreated up to his seat next to Lan.

"Cutting it kind of close there." Lan voiced his disapproval.

"Sorry," The Op replied, "We got called away on business. How'd you do?"

"We smoked him." The brunette grinned, "Piece of cake."

"In other words, Otis nearly wiped the floor with you."

Before Lan could reply, Ribbita interrupted again.

"Now that our battlers have arrived, let's start this match!"

"Let's go, Roll." Maylu felt out the connection and then proceeded to connect her P.E.T. "Jack in, and Power up!"

"Before we begin," Janet disagreed, "I want to say that it's a pleasure to meet you, Ms. Sakurai."

"Oh?"

"Yes, you see, I went blind in a car accident several years ago. But unlike you, I just moped and pitied myself about it, then I heard about what you had succeeded in doing... and... it gave me the courage to start living my life again."

"You're blind too?" Maylu couldn't believe her ears.

"I am." Janet nodded, "And so I have a lot to thank you for."

"I'm... well... I don't know what to say..."

"I just wanted to thank you." The Netbattler continued, "But don't think that I'm going to go easy on you. We're still going to give it our best."

"I wouldn't have it any other way." Maylu agreed.

"Alright then, Jack in, Bloom, Power up!"

With the required blast of light, the two Navi entered the Network.

"I'm in." Roll called back, "As we expected, Bloom's a plant type Navi with dark gold armor over a verdant bodysuit."

"Let's go!" Janet announced, "Wood Tower, Battle Chip in, Download!"

"Heater, Download!" Maylu countered.

Roll summoned her Heater as she watched the Wood Towers race across the field towards her. When she felt that they were properly in range, she raised her cannon and fired, her shot exploded against the towers and took them off of the field.

"I'm used to defending against fire attacks." Janet replied as her Navi unleashed a blast from her default buster, "So don't expect that strategy to work against me."

"I wasn't expecting it to." The redhead replied, "In fact, I think we'll even the playing field a little."

"My thoughts exactly." Roll commented as she dove out of the shot's way.

"Style Change!"

"Wood Shadow!" The pink Navi cried as her boots and gloves turned green and grew yellow knee/elbow pads. Her bodysuit took on gray tones as her body armor turned verdant as two red shoulder pads resembling petals appeared, then her helmet switched to green as her hair filled out and a mouth guard appeared.

"Cyber Sword, Download!" Maylu, issuing a silent challenge, felt over her deck, singled out the chip, and slid it home.

"I'll take that one!" The Netbattler accepted the dare. "Cyber Sword, Download!"

The two Navi mirrored each other perfectly as they activated the Swords and rushed in to attack.

"Grass Stage, Download!" Janet shouted.

The field grew long blades of foliage as the Roll and Bloom's swords met in a shower of sparks.

Roll blocked her opponent's next thrust, and then the healer countered by launching into a sharp forward thrust, only to have her blade blocked by her opponent's. Quickly she brought her weapon back into a defensive position, just in time to stop the plant Navi's next attack.

"Let's turn things up a notch." Janet instructed her Navi. "Bamboo Sword, Download!"

The gold Navi switched to the new weapon and began attacking again. This time she ignored any opening to attack Roll directly and focused all of her slashes against her opponent's blade.

"She's focusing on the sword!" Roll shouted as she deflected another one of Bloom's powerful slashes. "I think she's trying to break it."

"Hang on! We'll figure something out, the solution may just be hidden for now..."

The healer smiled as she dodged another one of Bloom's attacks, that code phrase was all she needed to hear...

The plant Navi lashed out again, and her sword made solid contact with her adversary's blade.

Everyone gasped as the Bamboo Sword, powered up by Bloom's plant element, cut right through Roll's standard sword, causing the top half to shatter into thousands of pieces.

"Gotcha!" The plant Navi announced as she hauled back her blade for another strike.

Roll just stood there, keeping the half of a blade that she had raised.

Bloom attacked, sending her sword slicing through the air.

"Bye!" The healer announced, signaling Maylu about her move, right before she vanished from sight.

"What?!" Bloom shouted in disbelief as her blade whistled harmlessly through the air. "She disappeared!"

"It's the Shadow Style!" Janet caught onto the move, "It lets Roll turn invisible for a short period of time. Look out! She could attack from anywhere!"

"Now, Roll!" Maylu shouted.

"Right!" The transformed Navi shot back into view from behind Bloom, and launched three small Shurikens at her opponent.

"Nice try." Janet slid a chip into her P.E.T., "Leaf Shield, Download!"

"They didn't make it." Roll reported to her Op as the spinning disks bounced off of the plant Navi's shield.

Maylu bit her lip as she thought through their various options. Roll could go into Heat Custom, and then have an easy battle, but she didn't want to win like that, she wanted Janet to have a fighting chance... Wait... what if they...?

"Wide Sword, Download!" The redhead pushed the chip into her gate, a small plan was forming in her mind.

"Thanks!" Roll acknowledged the fact that she had received the weapon, before racing in and resuming her duel with Bloom.

The two Navi attacked, dodged, and parried repeatedly, neither one scoring a hit.

"Now, Remote Blaster, Download!" Janet announced.

"Roll, when I say, jump as far back as you can." Maylu instructed her companion.

"I hear you." The healer blocked another thrust of her opponent's blade.

The redheaded Netbattler waited until the sound of the Remobit firing reached her ears.

"Now!"

Instantly Roll launched herself backward, and just barely managed to avoid the burst of energy that had been aimed in her direction.

"Keep Bloom off balance with these!" Maylu fed three chips into her terminal in rapid succession, "Burners, Battle Chips in, Triple Download!"

As the healer touched down from her leap, she raised a hand and summoned the bird-like viruses, which immediately targeted her opponent and went racing in to ram the plant Navi.

"I've got it covered." Bloom commented as she twisted and turned out of the Burner's way.

"We're almost there." The redhead explained, "Deactivate the Style Change and-"

"I think I know what you're thinking!" Roll hastily returned to her default style, before unleashing a small pink heart that flew across the arena and crashed into the Remobit. "Roll Control!"

"Uh oh..." Janet realized that they had been had. "Watch out!"

"Fire!" The pink healer commanded her new virus.

The blaster rotated, and then fired off another spurt of energy towards the plant Navi.

Bloom didn't have a chance.

For one thing, she was too busy dodging the multiple Burners to worry about the Remote Blaster, and so she was caught full force by the attack and thrown through the air across the arena.

"Now, Fire Sword, Download!" Maylu downloaded the upgrade.

"This will do." The flaming blade appeared around the pink Navi's wrist, and she rushed in towards her stunned opponent.

"Aqua Sword, Download!"

Bloom summoned the weapon, and then wobbled to her feet as Roll closed in.

The two met in an explosion of light as their differentiating elements battled against each other.

Slowly the light faded away...

And then it was over.

Roll came into view, and deactivated her blade.

Bloom fell to the floor, right before she vanished in an explosion of data.

Bloom Logging Out.

"And this match is over!" Ribbita roared to the cheering crowd, "Roll and Maylu have done it again!"

"Ms. Sakurai." Janet headed over to her former opponent as Maylu jacked Roll out. "It was a pleasure, I'll never forget meeting you."

"Please, call me Maylu." The redhead replied, "All of my friends do."

"You mean-?"

"I do." The smile was as bright in her voice as it was on the girl's face. "I consider you my friend now, Janet."

Meanwhile, Lan had just received a welcome visit from Laika.

"Laika!" The brunette greeted his companion.

"Lan." The Sharrian nodded, "You deserve to know that I am grateful to you."

"You are?" Lan tried to figure out just what he had done to receive those words. "What for?"

"Indirectly, you have saved my job." Laika explained his frosty exterior melting just a little, "If you will remember, you battled Otis and DracoMan recently."

"I remember," The Op still didn't make the connection.

"Otis was to be my replacement. After my Netbattle against you, the president began to doubt my capabilities. However, in part to my work on the oil situation, and your defeating Otis, I have been reinstated. For that I owe you my thanks."

"Well, uh, you're welcome..." The brunette stuttered over his words, "It's not like I could let old dragon-breath beat me could I?"

"And now it's time for the next round of Netbattles!" Ribbita shouted, "Up next we have HatMan against RockMan! This is the last day of battles here in Sharro, and then we'll be moving on to the next stop in our tour: Netopia!"

End Chapter.

Yes, that was low...

HatMan is indeed a Net Navi that belongs to Capcom.

Next: Some badly needed subplots are uncoveredon the way to Netopia.