Normally, I don't claim one-shot fan characters, but in this case I am. RangeMan and Ray are mine, and I won't appreciate anyone else using them.
Also, if you are one of the few who know about RangeMan, no, this is not a self-insertion.
Oblivious to his impending doom, Lan continued to stare straight ahead, getting himself psyched up for his oncoming match. He was supposed to take on some Op named Ray and his Navi RangeMan. Now there was a ridiculous name, who, aside from Match, would name their Navi after an oven?
"Lan Hikari?"
"Huh?" The brunette glanced up to see a large man towering over him. "Uh, that's me…"
"I'm from the Netopian government." The man replied, "And-"
"You're here because they need some virus busting done." The Op grinned as he started to stand up, "Fine, what's the situation?"
"That's not why I'm here." The man nudged Lan with his arm, causing the Op to plop back into his seat. "I'm here about the tournaments. You see, we've had a small problem."
"Problem?" Lan's face went white. Now what was happening?
"Yes, it appears that you have entered several Tournaments on Netopian soil." The man answered, "Now, what the Netopian government would like to know is 'why didn't we ever receive our taxes on your prize money?'"
"T-t-taxes?" The Op's eyes went wide… he'd never even considered that.
"That's right."
"Oh no, Lan you didn't!" Maylu spoke up, her voice filled with shocked fear, "I told you about that months ago!"
"You did?" The Op realized that a large number of people in the audience where staring at him.
"Oho! So, you did know about this." The man whipped out a small notebook and began writing frenziedly.
"No, wait! I didn't know-" Lan's rushed explanation was cut off by MegaMan's voice coming from his P.E.T.
"Oh boy, Lan, you'd better hope that they don't find out about your bank accounts…" The Bomber mumbled.
"Bank accounts?" The man's eyes widened behind his sunglasses, "this is getting interesting… deliberate tax evasion…"
"What are you talking about?" The brunette shouted at both man and Navi. "I don't have any bank accounts!"
"Obstruction of justice: lying to investigators…"
"You're crazy!"
"That's enough, now take off your shoes."
"WHAT?"
"I advise you to cooperate." The man in black folded his arms over his chest.
"Do as he says." Chaud snapped at his friend. "You're already in way over your head."
Grumbling under his breath, Lan reluctantly reached down and slipped his sneaker off.
"Though so!" The man snatched up the shoe and inspected it closely, "genuine leather, that'll cost you big time."
"Huh?" By now, Lan was so bewildered he didn't have a clue as to what was going on.
"You're wearing an endangered species, that's really going to look good on your record. I'll tell you what, if you can come up with 10,000 Zenny by sundown, we'll call it square and the Netopian government will forgive your debt."
"10,000!" The brunette gasped, "Are you out of your mind?"
"No, wait, is that…?" The man leaned over and stared at Lan's headband.
"Now what?"
"Aha!" The government official reached out and pulled the Op's bandana down over his eyes, "Thought you could hold out on me, eh? Well now you're really in deep."
"What'd I do now?!"
"The bandana's 100 percent cotton, for that we'll have to up the fine to at least 100,000. How many Chips do you own?"
"400- Cotton? What's that got to do with-"
"WHOA! You're over the 250-chip limit… Let me see your passport.
"Now come on-" Lan stopped as he realized that Chaud and Maylu were snickering behind his back.
"Hold on…" The brunette finally put two and two together. "You're not really with the Netopian government are you?"
"Lan my friend, you've caught me." The man whipped off his sunglasses and wig, to reveal the familiar face of Raoul.
"Raoul? What made you do a crazy thing like this?" Lan slid his shoe back on and straightened his bandana in an attempt to preserve some of his rapidly shrinking dignity.
"You razzed Chaud about his Disco." Raoul grinned, "No one messes with my partner and gets away with it."
Bewildered, Lan just stood there for several seconds.
"One last question, how many of you were in on this?"
"Well, of course I was." Chaud smirked. "I told you that if you ever mentioned my Disco to anyone, I'd make your life miserable."
"Sorry Lan, but I was too." Maylu couldn't suppress her giggles; the entire episode had sounded hilarious.
"Same as." Roll called out.
"Guilty." MegaMan confessed his part in the 'crime'.
"Why I ought to-"
"Get down to the station." Chaud interrupted, "Or else you'll be late for your match, and then you'll be disqualified."
Although Lan grumbled something unintelligible under his breath, he turned and stormed down the steps.
"And Lan," The Official called after him, "Don't ever bring up my dance moves again."
"Whatever." Lan's reply was thrown over his shoulder as he smashed his way down the steps towards the arena.
"Oh, come on." MegaMan called up to his seething Op. "It was just a joke."
"A very cruel joke." The Op muttered as he stopped in front of his station. "Although… I probably did look ridiculous back there."
"More like 'stupidly shocked'."
Lan's eyes widened as he realized what his Navi had done. "You didn't-"
"Record the whole incident?" The Bomber's grin was clear in his voice. "Yep. I've got it right here on film."
"Oh, brother." The brunette shook his head as he glanced up to see his opponent. And he gratefully changed the subject. "That must be Ray."
"The guy in the gray jacket, blue shirt, and blue-jean pants?"
"Yeah." As Lan studied his opponent, he noticed that the opposing Op was blond, and about the same size as Chaud.
The two Ops sized each other up, and then simultaneously raised their P.E.T.'s. At Ribbita's command, they each went into their respective Jack In sequences.
"Jack in, MegaMan!" Lan whipped his P.E.T. around at arm's length before raising his device over his head; then he brought the Terminal down to chest level and hit the button. "Power up!"
"Jack in, RangeMan." Ray also moved into his sequence as he thrust his arm overhead with Terminal in hand. Then he dropped his arm and connected his P.E.T. to the Network. "Power up!"
MegaMan slammed into the Network, glancing around in an effort to find his opponent. It didn't take him long to spot the red Navi standing a short distance away, and in a few short moments, the Bomber had summed his opponent up. RangeMan was about the same size as himself, with a medium blue bodysuit and red cylindrical gloves, boots, and chest armor. On both sides of his chest plate a yellow shoulders pad hung from a loose connection so as to allow maximum arm movement. The Navi's helmet was crimson with a touch of azure on the sides, and a green visor wrapped over his eyes. All in all, MegaMan couldn't make any sense out of the Navi's name: RangeMan.
"I've always wondered how I'd do against you." The red Navi spoke in a soft voice. "And now I get the chance to find out. May the best Navi win."
"I hear you." The blue Navi nodded.
"And now let's get this match started!" Ribbita shouted. "Battle Start!"
"Mega Buster!" MegaMan transformed his right hand into its powerful Buster state and cut loose, peppering the air with his firepower.
"Ranged Rifle!" A cannon resembling a sniper rifle materialized around RangeMan's left hand, which he promptly raised and fired repeatedly.
Amazingly, both sets of lasers crashed into each other and fizzled out of existence, leaving both Navi untouched.
"Let's kick things up a notch." Ray slid four chips into his P.E.T., "Rock Cubes, Battle Chips in, quadruple download!"
"Rock Cubes!" RangeMan pointed his Rifle skyward as the four rubix-cube-wannabes appeared in the air over his head; the Navi snapped his cannon down to point at his opponent, and in response the Cubes rocketed through the air towards the blue Navi.
"Not bad." Lan nodded his approval as he inserted his own pair of Battle Chips, "But not going to work. Area Steal, Cyber Sword, Download!"
MegaMan's Buster transformed into a round hilt, right before a glowing blade burst out of what used to be the gun barrel. The transformation finished, the Area Steal took effect, causing the Bomber to vanish from sight.
The four Rock Cubes slammed into the ground around the now vacant spot in the Network.
"Oh great…" RangeMan turned slowly, wondering just where his opponent would reappear at.
"We'll be ready…" The blond sent a chip home.
"HIA!"
The red Navi's head snapped around as MegaMan came flying at him from the right; the Bomber's sword was already carving straight towards him.
"Barrier!"
A wall of semi-transparent energy exploded out of the ground around the red Navi, and shielded him from the blue Navi's sword attack.
"No way-" MegaMan's sword slammed against the defense and rebounded off, leaving him wide open.
"Yes way!" RangeMan dropped the shield and instantly sighted his Rifle at his opponent, he pulled the trigger, unleashing a burst of plasma energy.
Throwing himself to the left, MegaMan just barely managed to squeak past the attack.
"Fan Virus, Double download!" Ray shouted.
"This'll blow you away!" RangeMan grinned, as a Fan Virus appeared before him, a split second later the virus activated, sending a rush of air rocketing through the air towards the blue Navi.
"Not if I have anything to do with it!" MegaMan leapt out of harm's way and reformed his Buster; a quick Charged Shot later the Virus was nothing more than smoldering megabytes.
"Time to end this…" Lan shoved a chip into his P.E.T., "Yo-yo!"
MegaMan's right hand morphed into a flat launcher, which he raised and pointed at his opponent. The launcher opened, sending its load spinning through the air.
The red Navi bounded backward, causing the Yo-yo to miss completely.
"Sorry, but you'll have to get closer than that." RangeMan come down just in front of his pile of Rock Cubes that were still resting on the field, and just outside of the Yo-yo's range.
"Fine by me!" The Bomber rushed forward and snapped his arm forward, unleashing his yo-yo, which rocketed out of his launcher and sped through the air towards the red Navi.
"Checkmate!" Ray shouted as he slid another chip into his P.E.T., "Shadow!"
RangeMan's frame dimmed as the yo-yo sped straight through him without doing an ounce of damage. The spinning toy rocketed on and slammed into the Rock Cubes deleting them on impact.
MegaMan's yo-yo spun back into its launcher, as the Navi's eyes widened in shock.
A Fan Virus had been hiding behind the Cubes, and his yo-yo had just freed it! To make matters worse, the Virus already had a cyclone tearing straight at him!
"That's why I'm called RangeMan." The red Navi explained as the miniature tornado slammed into MegaMan and sent the Bomber flying backward. "I'm a long range strategist."
"Lucky shot." The blue Navi grinned as he corrected his fall, landing upright. "Although I do feel like kicking myself. Ray sent you two Fan Viruses, but I only destroyed one."
"Now, how about the Zappic Boom?" Ray interrupted the discussion.
"Fine by me!" The red Navi nodded, as he deactivated his Ranged Rifle.
"Zap Ring,Quintiple Download!" The blond sang out.
"Zap Ring!" A pair of electrodes replaced RangeMan's left hand, which he whipped up and aimed at his opponent. The next instantfive bands of electrified metal were zooming through the air towards MegaMan.
The Bomber gasped as the Zap Rings collided with him, and stunned him to keep him from moving.
"Black Bomb, Download!"
"That was the 'Zappic'," The red Navi announced as his hand reappeared with a large round explosive appeared in his palm. The Navi ignited the fuse, and sent the bomb hurling through the air towards his stunned opponent. "And here's the 'Boom'!"
"I don't think so!" Lan snapped.
RangeMan shielded his eyes as his bomb landed next to MegaMan and erupted into a blinding explosion of light and smoke.
"Yet another victory thanks to the 'Zappic Boom'." The red Navi nodded to himself, "But we really need to find a better name for that move."
RangeMan took a step forward as the smoke began to clear.
"Uh, Ray, you aren't going to believe this…"
"What?"
"We just blew up a Body Double!" The red Navi shouted.
"Look behind you!"
The Navi spun round, just as MegaMan clobbered him from behind with his Mega Buster.
"Surprise!" The Bomber charoled as he fired off blast after blast, and watched his attacks hit home.
"Wide Sword, Download!"
The Bomber broke into a forward run as his cannon transformed into a Wide Sword. Swiftly he closed in on his opponent and cocked back his arm for the swing.
"Yikes! I'm no swordsman!" RangeMan stared in horror at the blade slicing toward him.
"Jack out!"
RangeMan vanished in a burst of data, just as the blue Navi's sword whistled through the spot he had been occupying.
"Our winner once again!" Ribbita declared the match over, "is Lan Hikari and MegaMan!"
MegaMan smiled at his Op, as he raised his sword skyward in a sign of victory.
"Jack out." The brunette recalled his Navi, and looked up to see Ray. The blond Op was just standing there grinning, his hand raised in a 'thumb's-up' gesture.
"Nice match." Ray called over his shoulder as he turned to leave. "Maybe we'll meet again someday. In the meantime, I've got to train RangeMan in swordplay."
"You weren't so bad yourself!" Lan shouted back.
His work done, the Op raced back up to his seat, only to find Maylu and Raoul waiting on him. Chaud was nowhere to be seen.
"Where's Chaud?"
"Oh, Blaze Quest called him back to Den Tech." The blind girl answered, "He said that he'd be back before we left for Yumland."
"I see… just like him to run out on us." Lan slid his used, empty chips into the Battle Chip Recharger, and turned to resume his discussion with Maylu.
He never saw the sign of the Dark Chips appear on his cartridges.
The next second, the terrible design was gone, and his Chips displayed the old uncorrupted labels and pictures.
That might have been rushed, but I wanted to get another update in before I disappear for a few weeks. (Christmas, Exams, etc.)
Also, Chaud's revenge was inspired by a recent (excellent) episode of 'Sue Thomas: F. B. Eye'
And since I'm feeling... strange... here's a teaser: Chaud did not dash back to Den Tech on Blaze Quest business, he went for a different reason.