The main dome was naturally filled with numerous net battle enthusiasts, all cheering and shifting about impatiently, wanting the next battle to begin. Unfortunately for one skilled, yet shy net battler, their cheers were more of a concern than a blessing.

"Ugh... There are so many people," Saito said softly to himself, "My stomach is hurting..."

"Suck it up, you pansy," Lan snorted, "What's wrong with you? You've been in the dome already, remember?"

"I know, but I have a bad feeling," Saito said softly, feeling more and more apprehensive.

"If you back out, I'll never forgive you, ever," Lan said with a scowl, "I want to fight! Aren't you even a little excited?"

"I am, it's just..." Saito sighed. "You're right, this is silly. I'll do my best, and I know you will too, right?" Lan only grinned and nodded.

"Your match is up," one of the backstage workers announced, "Let's give the people a show before they throw things at us." This did not help Saito's nerves one little bit.

Hinoken smirked as he stood before the stadium audience in all his tight-spandex glory, smirking at the young challenger as Saito entered. The boy was nervous. Hinoken almost laughed at that. How could such a puny child even hope to defeat him, especially after his extensive training?

Saito's face was beat red as he felt the eyes of countless onlookers watching him. Definitely, he was going to be sick.

"And in the main dome we have Hino Kenichi and his Fireman versus the challenger Hikari Saito and his navi Lan!" Kero shrieked out from the sound systems, causing the already jumpy Saito to stumble and fall flat on his face.

"Saito-kun, you're making me look bad again..." Lan groaned as he placed a hand over his face. Saito blushed at his navi's comment and quickly gathered himself back to his feet, trying to ignore the laughter from the crowd.

"S... Sorry," he said softly.

"Don't apologize; just plug me in already!" Lan ordered, and his operator was quick to follow the command. Fireman sneered at the smaller navi when he entered the battle stage, his arms folded in front of him in a superior manner.

"Your puny operator is going to be your downfall," Fireman said with a cocky laugh, "I'll enjoy watching him break under Hinoken-sama's power."

"Shut up," Lan snarled, "Saito-kun is a lot stronger than he acts! I know he is and we'll prove it to you when I break that furnace you call a head right off." Fireman only laughed.

"Lan, don't let him upset you," Saito said softly over the PET, "It's ok. We don't have to prove anything to them. You and I both know that we're strong and soon they will see too." Lan relaxed a little at that and nodded.

"Isn't that cute?" Hinoken chided as if talking to small children, "The net op giving their navi a pep talk. Too bad cuteness won't save you in this match, brat." Saito said nothing, only trying to focus his attention on the battlefield.

"Hino Kenichi versus Hikari Saito," Kero yelled over the loudspeaker, "Battle, start!"

Lan wasted no time jumping headfirst into battle, first attempting to drive a hard kick into Fireman's chest. The larger navi easily blocked by bracing himself and crossing his arms over his chest. When he made no move to try and counter, Lan began trying to break his defenses with a relentless wave of punches and kicks.

"Lan, don't waste too much energy," Saito said over the PET, finally starting to forget about the crowds and focus completely on the battle, "He might be waiting for an..."

Fireman suddenly pulled back and punched Lan hard right in the face, sending the small blue navi flying with a yelp of pain.

"... opening," Saito finished with a soft sigh.

Lan cursed as he righted himself on his landing. "Saito-kun, give me a chip! I'll rip this guy apart."

"Alright, but be more careful about falling for traps like that," Saito said as he selected one of their favorite battle chips, "Sword chip, slot-in."

Lan grinned as the sword formed in his hand.

"You think you're cleaver, don't you?" Fireman said with a chuckle, extending his hand as his own operator sent him a fire sword. Lan cursed mentally at that. Fireman's element type would raise the already powerful sword's attack.

"Lan, don't let it hit you," Saito said as the two navis began to exchange sword blows.

"Easier said than done," Lan snapped, barely managing to block the attacks as it was.

Saito frowned and thumbed through his pockets to look over his chip. All he had was a few spreads, shot guns, cannons, a barrier, swords and mini bombs. Nothing elemental aside from the elec sword. If only he had something that would do damage against Fireman's type...

"Well, these have saved us once before," Saito said softly as he pulled out one of his mini bombs, "Lan stand back." Lan was confused for a moment before jumping away from Fireman.

"You can't escape me," Fireman snarled as he dashed after Lan, sword raised for the kill, only to run face first into the explosion of a mini bomb.

"Idiot, what are you doing?" Hinoken snapped as he glared at the pixilated battle.

"I'm sorry, Hinoken-sama, it won't happen again..." Fireman said as he picked himself up after being thrown back by the blast.

"Still think my operator is weak?" Lan teased as he laughed at Fireman's expense.

"That was just a lucky shot," Fireman growled before he chuckled low and dark, "You'll see very soon just how weak your operator is... No one, especially not a flinchy little brat like that, can stand up to the power of the sun."

"Power of the sun...?" Lan repeated with a quirk of his brow, "If you think you have the power of the sun, then you're deluded. You can't even compare to a gas bubble."

"We'll see how cocky that attitude of yours is once we release our great strategy," Fireman said with another chuckle, "You and your operator will suffer."

Lan glared at Fireman before launching at him with his sword raised. "I'll beat you right now!" he snarled as he crashed his blade against Fireman's with a renewed anger behind every blow they exchanged.

"And this match is really heating up!" Kero cheered, "It looks like Lan and Fireman are equally matched!"

The crowd roared its approval and agreement as the battle raged on with both operators and navis giving everything they had.

"It looks like we haven't missed too much," Tohru commented as he sat down next to Dekao.

"Good," Yaito said as she sat down on the other side of their large friend, "I want to see Lan rip this guy apart."

"For a lady, you sure are violent, Yaito-chan," Dekao commented, earning a sharp elbow jab to his ribs.

"Silence, fat one," Yaito hissed softly.

Meiru giggled softly as she sat next to Mariko. "How is Saito doing?" she asked.

"He seems to be doing very well," Mariko said, "But he looked so nervous when he came out..."

"Well, it isn't like Saito to put himself in the limelight," Meiru said, "I guess he would be nervous."

"Yes, but he seemed worried about something," Mariko said, "He wasn't so upset the last time when he fought with Miyuki-san." Meiru frowned softly as she turned her attention to the battle.

Fireman snarled as he jumped back, forming his buster. "Fire arm!" he yelled as he released his flaming attack.

"Crap," Lan yelped and formed his buster, shooting down what he could and returning the punishment.

Hinoken only grinned as both navis took a hit and fell back. "It looks like they are stronger than we thought they would be," he mused, "Time for our secret weapon... Fireman, are you ready?"

"Yes, Hinoken-sama," the fire navi said as he rose to his feet. Hinoken snickered as he slotted in a battle chip.

"Lan, something is wrong," Saito gasped as Kero started to scream about something being wrong with the solar system and for everyone to try to remain calm.

"What do you mean?" Lan asked, hesitating when he heard Fireman laughing. He growled and glared darkly at the navi. "What have you done?"

"Prepare to face the fury of the sun," Fireman laughed out. Lan definitely didn't like the sound of that.

"W-What is this?" Yaito whimpered as the dome's roof began to close in on them.

"Perhaps a bug in the system?" Glyde offered.

"Let's try to stay calm," Mariko said, though it as obvious that she was worried too.

"Oh, no, the battle stage!" Meiru gasped as it flickered for a moment then came back online, shining as if the sun itself had been dragged down from the heavens to their arena.

"It's getting really hot in here," Tohru said as he began to fan himself.

"The light is killing my eyes," Dekao groaned, "I don't know if I can take this."

"Saito..." Meiru said softly, putting a hand to her chest, "He's in danger."

"Lan, are you ok?" Saito cried out as he tried to shield his eyes from the light.

"Yeah, I'm fine," Lan said, "What's going on? Are you hurt?"

"The light is so intense, it's hard to see," Saito said, "and... it's really hot..."

Hinoken laughed. "Do you like our little strategy?" he crowed, "Now Fireman's strength has been multiplied by the sun's light and he'll use it to rip your precious navi apart."

As if on cue, Fireman dashed in and slammed a fist into Lan's stomach. The smaller navi couldn't even react as he was thrown back, skidding a few feet before coming to a stop.

"O... Ow..." he groaned softly, his stomach smoking just from the punch.

"Lan," Saito gasped, "Lan, say something!"

"Saito-kun... You should get out of here," Lan said as he forced himself to sit up, "I don't need your help to take this guy down."

"What are you talking about?" Saito asked, eyes widening with hurt, "Of course you need me! Fireman is too strong for you to take down on your own!"

"Just get out of here before things get too hot for you to handle," Lan snapped, "Your body can't handle this." Saito hesitated a moment.

"I'm not going to abandon you," he said softly as he pulled out another chip, "elec sword, slot in."

"Saito-kun!" Lan objected, but didn't have time to argue as Fireman dashed in for the kill. The smaller navi had all he could do just to keep the larger of the pair from landing a blow with his sword, but he couldn't avoid another hard kick to the side that sent him skidding again.

"Darn it, I can't play with you anymore," Lan snarled as he leapt back to his feet, "Saito-kun's in danger, so just die like a good little cheater."

"Who's playing?" Fireman sneered as he raised his buster and slammed it into the ground, "Flame Tower!" Lan could only stare in horror as the wall of fire slammed into him.

"Lan!" Roll cried out, placing her hands over her mouth, "He's in trouble... I'm scared."

"As strong as Lan is, he doesn't stand a chance with the solar system going crazy like this," Glyde said, "Saito-kun also seems to be in pain. The heat must be unbearable down next to that light..."

"We've got to do something," Iceman hissed with a scowl, "Tohru-kun! Let's go!"

"You're right," Tohru said over the PET, "Kero said it was a virus causing all of this mess, right?" He looked to Yaito.

"Yeah, so let's go," the small girl said as she jumped from her seat.

"Time for me and Gutsman to save the day again," Dekao announced as he also stood, earning a kick to the shin from Yaito.

"There's no time for this," Tohru said, "Let's hurry." The boy didn't wait for an answer as he raced off to help his friend with Yaito and Dekao on his heels.

Saito groaned as he felt his vision starting to blur. "I don't know... if I can take this," he said softly to himself. What was he doing, anyway? He was no hero and certainly didn't have a strong body, but he couldn't bring himself to leave even though all common sense was screaming at him to flee.

"Lan..." he said softly as he strained his eyes to look at the battle, watching his navi barely manage to pull through, "I wish... I was half as strong as you... I want to become stronger... so I won't run... ever again."

"Saito-kun..." Lan said softly, hearing his operator and wanting to argue that now was a good time to be weak and run, but at the same time, he wanted Saito to become stronger as well.

Saito weakly thumbed through his chips, pulling out another sword. He blinked, trying to clear his vision. Suddenly it was very hard for him to figure out where to slot in the battle chip. Everything turned sideways before a black haze completely covered his vision.

"Challenger, Hikari Saito, is down!" Kero cried over the loudspeaker as the boy's body hit the floor.

"SAITO-KUN!" Lan yelled out the name like it was a life support. A life support that was now lying face down on the floor.

"Heh, looks like the brat couldn't take it," Hinoken jeered. "Don't worry, at least he won't die, unlike you!"

"You bastard!" Lan screamed and threw himself at Fireman. "Bring back Lan!"

Fireman countered with a roundhouse punch that hit Lan in the face and sent him careening into the rubble. He flipped head over heals a few timed and lay still.

"Delete," Fireman said.

Tohru, Yaito and Dekao ran out into the hall desperately looking for a place to plug in their navis. They heard the distant call of Kero's voice saying that Saito was down. Dekao stopped in his tracks.

"Dekao?" Yaito asked in a small voice.

Dekao clenched his fist until it shook, "He doesn't deserve to loose," he whispered. "Not like this."

"Then let's do something about it, degasu!" Gutsman yelled.

"Right!" Iceman cheered.

Tohru found a plug in port by the phones. "There," he said.

"Plug in!" Yaito yelled. "Glyde!"

"Iceman!"

"Gustman!"

"Transmission!" the kids yelled together and pushed the small cords into the holders.

Their navi's disappeared in a blur of pixels and reappeared in the main net computer of the main dome. "Oh my gosh!" Iceman said.

"Viruses," Dekao said darkly. "I bet Hinoken is behind this."

"Then let's turn the tide!" Yaito said. "Paladin sword, slot in!" she yelled and Glyde launched himself at the viruses.

"Go Gutsman!" Dekao yelled.

"Megaguts punch!" Gutsman yelled and tore through more viruses.

"Blizzard!" Iceman yelled. More viruses were pixilated and deleted.

"Glyde, look out degasu!" Gutsman yelled and Glyde looked up to see a large fire virus over his head.

"Ice tower, slot in!" Tohru yelled.

"Ice Tower!" Iceman yelled and slammed his hands down on the ground. Huge spikes of ice came out of the ground at an alarming speed and deleted the viruses.

"Thanks Iceman," Glyde said with apparent relief in his voice.

"No problem," Iceman said back.

"Guts Hammer!" Gutsman yelled and deleted three more viruses.

"Come on, we gotta save Saito!" Dekao yelled.

It was then that it hit Yaito and Tohru, Dekao really cared for Saito regardless of what he said to the smaller boy in class. He was genuinely worried, they all were.

"Flame tower!" Fireman yelled and sent a blistering column of heat towards Lan.

The small navi jumped as high as his wobbly legs would allow him. He felt the heat radiating off of the attack but was thankful that it didn't hit him in full. He landed a few feet away and panted.

"So pathetic," Fireman jeered. "And you call yourself strong."

"What, being strong means you take out people by making them faint?" Lan spat. "Or by using underhanded means to win? Is that what it means to be strong? Cause if it is, I don't think I want to be strong."

"You little brat!" Fireman yelled and hit Lan so that he spun a few feet away and collapsed on the ground.

"Go ahead and delete him," Hinoken said in an almost bored voice.

Fireman placed his foot on Lan's head and shoved it into the ground making him cry out. "Give me a few more minutes," he said maliciously.

"Blizzard!" Iceman yelled.

Another virus was gone. Iceman put his hands on his knees and gasped for breath. They were using all their energy and he didn't know how much more they could take.

"Glyde Cannon!" Glyde yelled and the next two were deleted.

"Damn, do they ever end?" Dekao cursed.

"Iceman, look out!" Tohru yelled into his PET.

Yaito, Dekao, Gutsman and Glyde looked on in horror as Iceman was towered by a huge dragon like fire virus.

"Fin cutter!" A new voice yelled. The bright attack sliced through the virus over Iceman and for good measure it went through ten more.

Yaito, Dekao and Tohru looked in surprise at the man standing next to them. He gave them a victory sign and said, "Beeeeef!"

"Commander Beef!" they said in mild surprise.

"I thought you might need a little help," he said. "Sharkman!"

"I'm on it!" Sharkman said and ran through the other viruses like they were metool.

"Wow…" the kids said in apparent awe.

"Don't forget to eat your calcium!" Commander Beef said as he ran off.

Everyone sweatdropped, including Sharkman.

The sun roof slowly pulled its self back. A cool breeze filled the now sweltering dome and brushed against Saito's cheeks.

Fireman gave Lan another kick that sent him into the ground. He didn't yell out but he was disgusted to find that he couldn't move.

"Time to end this!" Hinoken yelled out and pushed three fire towers into his PET.

"Triple Fire Tower!" Fireman said and slammed his arms into the ground with as much force as he could muster.

Three jets of flame arced into the sky and started to close in on Lan. Just then Yaito, Dekao and Tohru ran into the room.

"Oy! Saito you jerk! Get up or your stupid navi is gonna get deleted!" Dekao yelled at the top of his lungs.

"Wha?" Saito opened his eyes. His head a still swimming with the heat.

"Saito-kun!" Lan yelled.

Saito stood up and looked in horror at his navi's predicament. Then he slotted in three chips.

Three mini bombs appeared and destroyed the towers. Lan stood up and became visible through the smoke.

Fireman's armor lost its glow and Hinoken looked horrified. "My power!" he yelled.

"Aqua sword, slot in!" Saito said.

Lan ran at Fireman and stabbed him right through the middle. "For your sake, I hope that really hurt," Lan said.

Fireman disappeared in a Logout message before he could reply.

"Thanks for helping me," Saito said blushing.

Meiru jumped on him and smiled. "I'm just glad you're okay."

Yaito elbowed Dekao. "Ow, oh yeah, glad you and your stupid navi are okay," he muttered.

"Well, you helped by yelling at me," Saito smiled at Dekao.

"Don't get used to the help, pipsqueak," he muttered. "I just want to be the one to defeat you."

"Oh riiight," Lan said from his PET.

"You watch your mouth!" Dekao yelled. "I just helped to save you!"

"I could have defeated him on my own," Lan scoffed.

"Why you!" Dekao yelled.

"Lan," Saito said in a warning tone.

Lan sighed and didn't retaliate.

Roll smiled and hugged him. "You did a good job," she whispered. "Everyone is glad you're safe."

Lan blushed and didn't say anything.

"Get away from my Roll-degasu!" Gutsman yelled.

Everyone laughed and waited with anticipation for the next battle.

OOOOOOOOOOOOOO

New chappie. Enjoy :D