(A/N:Sorry for neglecting this fic. I've been putting my weight behind other fics, & recently, my fic has been deleted, so this chapter might be shorter than I originally intended(or not). But after an extremely LONG hiatus, I'm back.)
About a day since Littlefoot & co. came to Lan's world. In a part of the cyberworld, 2 net navis were battling. The net nevi on the right was green & had a dollar sign on his chest. The net navi on the right had a blue torso with a large fan in the middle. His legs were black from the crotch down to the knees. His shins were blue tubes with silver rims. His feet were blue semi-ovals with silver souls. His arms were orange from the shoulder to the elbow, with another blue tube with silver rims as lower arms. They also had a green fin on each tube. He also had orange hands. There were also 4 silver fins on his torso. 1 between each arm & the head, & 1 between each arm & leg. A lump was his head & had 2 rectangular eyeholes with green eyes on them. On his forehead was a silver ring jutting out with a black field inside. Inside the field was a green tornado.
"Don't think you can win, you blowhard." The green net navi said, it charged up a buster & fired at the other net navi multiple times. All the shots seemed to hit him & enveloped him in a cloud of cyber dust. "Ha ha." The green net navi said in triumph. He then looked & saw the other net navi was unharmed.
"Ho ho!" The net navi said. "That was a breeze to evade, now prepare to be blown away." The net navi raised its hands & opened them towards the green net navi, a tornado formed around the green net navi & spun him in the air.
"WAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHH!" The green net navi shouted in mid-air, then turned into a pillar that said "LOGOUT" going down.
"Moneyman, logging out." A voice said, & the pillar disintegrated. In the real world, a man in the shadows is staring at the net navi who won.
"Nice work, Airman." The man said, congratulating the net navi, apparently Airman. The screen then changed to show the words "Your account now reaches…" with rapidly climbing numbers underneath the words. "With your help, all those greedy companies who bankrupt me will pay, & I'll get all their money. Who do we strike next, Airman?"
"I believe I may have an idea." Airman said. He shifted off to the side & a screen appeared next to him. Inside the screen was a picture of Yai Ayano.
"Ah, the Ayano family." The offscreen man said. "Good choice, Airman."
That morning, Lan was rollerblading down the street at a great speed. Littlefoot was nestled in his backpack with his head sticking out & looking over his shoulder.
"Aw man, I'm gonna be late." Lan said.
"Yeah, again." Mega Man said. Littlefoot looked down Lan's P.E.T..
"Huh, so Lan's been late before?" Littlefoot asked. Mega Man crossed his arms in front of his chest.
"Oh yeah." He said, nodding.
"Mega man!" Lan shouted. Soon, they were at Mr. Higsby's chip shop. Also there were Maylu, Chaud, Tory, Yai, Cera, Ducky, Petrie, Spike, Ali, & Chomper. Lan was exhausted, & holding himself up by his knees. Everybody was looking at Lan & at Littlefoot.
"Wow, Lan." Maylu said. "You're actually on time for once."
"Hey!" Lan shouted. Everybody laughed. Ali just walked up to Littlefoot, wondering about what Maylu had said.
"Wow, so he was late before?" She asked, looking up at Lan.
"Apparently so." Littlefoot replied. Mr. Higsby spoke up.
"Yes, well, now that we're all here, I can now show you something I have just made." He said. "Follow me." He said. He lead everybody to the backroom & opened the door. Everybody looked at the door & what they saw truly amazed them. It was a huge clear dome, about the size of a baseball diamond with a jack-in terminal on opposite sides. In front of the left terminal was a girl in a bright teal dress with a blue apron & purple hair with 2 pigtails. She held a P.E.T. in her right hand.
"Hello, Mr. Higsby." She said. Then waved at Chomper. "Hi, Chomper." Chomper waved back at the girl.
"Hi, Shuko!" He called. Littlefoot looked at him.
"You know her, Chomper?" He asked. Chomper looked at Littlefoot.
"Yep, that's Shuko Kido." Chomper replied. "She works here at Higsby's shop to support her brothers."
"What about her mom?" Littlefoot asked. Chomper looked sullened at this question.
"She has no mom, or dad." Chomper said. "They died in something called a car crash. She's been providing for her brothers ever since." Littlefoot looked saddened by this information as well.
"Gee." He said. "That does sound pretty said."
"I know." Chomper said. His mood then once again lightened. "But Mr. Higsby said that she could work for him."
"Yes, well." Higsby said. "This is my new net battle arena." Everybody stared at it in awe.
"Woah, look at the size of that thing." Lan said.
"Yeah." Littlefoot said. "It's really big."
"Yes, it is." Higsby said. "With this, it actually makes you feel like you're right next to the net battle." He turned to Shuko & pointed at her. "Show 'em, Shuko."
"I will, Mr. Higsby." She said. She then turned to the terminal & aimed her P.E.T. at it.
"Jack in, Spoutman. Power up!" She shouted. A beam shot out of her P.E.T. & hit the jack-in terminal. A small net navi appeared inside. The net navi had a white torso & a red ring around its waist. Everything below his red ring was bright blue, except for 2 white rings, 1 around each of his ankles. He also had red rings where his arms connected to his torso, & his arms & hands were also blue, & he had a white ring around each wrist. He had a bright blue head concealed in a bowl filled up with water, with the only facial feature being a cute noseless face. On top of his head were 2 small white pucks. Everybody was amazed at how big the net navi appeared, except Higsby.
"Wow, he looks huge." Lan said.
"Yes, well you can just imagine how big Mega Man would look in this." Higsby replied. "This way, I could attract a lot more customers who would want to net battle me, each other, or Shuko. I even hired a referee for the dome." Everybody looked at him. The dinos were confused.
"What is a ref-ree?" Ducky asked. Yai looked at her.
"A referee is somebody who watches the game & makes sure everybody's playing fair." Yai explained.
"Who's your ref, Higsby?" Lan asked.
"I'm glad you asked that, Lan." Higsby said. He then called somebody in the back of the room. "Hey, Arashi!" He shouted. "Come meet my friends!" The humans went stiff from fright upon hearing Higsby's new referee's name. Just then, a man approached them. The man was dressed head to toe in a blue business suit. He had a red tie on, & where his sleeves ended, looked like cones. He also had black shoes & his hair was blonde & was combed downward, except for 2 bits that stuck out at the sides. He looked at the kids with a smile, but the kids didn't return it.
"Hi, kids." Arashi said.
"Zip it, Arashi!" Lan shouted. "What do you want now?" Arashi was shocked by this reaction. Mr. Higsby was offended.
"Lan Hikari!" He shouted. "How dare you yell at my new employee like that!" Lan looked at Higsby.
"But, Mr. Higsby." Lan said, he pointed at Arashi. "This man tried to kill Yai once." Mr. Higsby was surprised by this. He turned to Arashi.
"Is that true Arashi?" He asked. Arashi hung his head.
"Unfortunately, yes." He said. "I used to work for Grave. I didn't want to tell you because I really wanted this job." Higsby looked at Arashi with a little remorse, then smiled & put his arm around him.
"Ah, forget about it." He said. "That doesn't matter anymore. "What matters now is you're working for me." Arashi looked at him with a little smile.
"Thanks, Higsby." He said. Meanwhile, in the arena, a small hole was present, & a silhouette was shown of Airman. His yellow eyes glowed.
"Heh heh heh heh heh heh." He chuckled, before the hole closed up again. Spoutman felt a chill go up his body. Everybody noticed this & looked at the small net navi.
"Are you alright, Spoutman?" Shuko asked.
"I thought I felt somebody here." He replied.
"That's impossible." Higsby said. "I designed this thing's security system myself with the best security systems on the market. It's virtually impenetrable." Nobody noticed Arashi smirk.
"Not impenetrable enough, fool." He thought to himself.
"Well, that aside." Higsby said. "This won't officially be released until tomorrow, so I can't let you netbattle on it now."
"Okay, Higsby." Maylu said. "We'll all meet back here tomorrow to try it out."
"Okay." They all said. Then they walked out.
"& tomorrow, your bank account will be mine, Yai Ayano." Arashi said.
"What was that, Arashi?" Higsby asked. Arashi felt a chill go up his body. He turned to face Higsby & put his hand on his back.
"Um uhh, nothing, sir." He said, laughing nervously. Higsby just stared at him, cluelessly.
"Uuh, alright." He said. "Well, see you tomorrow." He then walked off. Arashi let out a small sigh of relief.
"That was too close." He thought to himself. He then smiled evilly. "But tomorrow when I show up for work, I'll show them how I net battle."
"Oh, man." Lan said as he roller bladed down the street the next morning. "How could this happen?"
"Well, Lan." Mega Man said from his P.E.T. "Perhaps if you didn't stay up all night net battling, you might be there by now."
"Not now, Mega Man!" Lan shouted. Littlefoot poked his head out of Lan's knapsack.
"He's got a point there, Lan." Littlefoot said.
"Aw man." Lan said. "Not you too, Littlefoot." He continued skating towards Higsby's shop. Meanwhile, at Higsby's shop, everybody was in a long line-up, still waiting for Lan.
"Well, looks like Lan's late, again." Maylu said.
"Don't bet on it." They heard Lan's voice say in the distance. They saw him rollerblade up to him & take the spot that was saved for him. Everybody looked at him.
"What kept you, Lan?" Maylu said. Littlefoot poked his head out of the backpack.
"Lan was up all night netbattling." Littlefoot said.
"Aw, Littlefoot." Lan said.
"Well, it doesn't matter now, guys." Yai said. "We're here, so let's get netbattling."
"Yeah!" Everybody shouted. & with that, they all ran into Higsby's chip shop. A camera showed the kids entering to the mystery man on a tv screen.
"Ah, so she's here." He said. "Now's my chance to get my riches back." He chuckled to himself. Littlefoot, Lan, Cera, Chaud, Maylu, Ali, Tory, Petri, Yai, Ducky, Spike were entering the room with the battle dome.
"Man, this will rock!" Lan said, really excited. Just then, as Mr. Higsby & Chomper stepped into the room, the door automatically slammed shut behind him.
"What the?" Higsby asked as he jumped, surprised by the slamming door. He turned around & tried to open it, but it was locked.
"Oh no!" Higsby said. "The door's locked! We're stuck in this room!"
"WHAT?" Everybody shouted.
"He said you're all locked in this room." Said a voice from inside the dome. Everybody looked to see Airman in the dome.
"You!" Higsby said, pointing at Airman. "You're doing this!"
"You better believe it." Airman said. "My name is Airman, & you have something I want." Everybody looked at him.
"What do I have that you could possibly want, Airman?" Higsby asked.
"Not just you, Higsby." Airman said. He pointed to Yai. "She has it too."
"Who, me?" Yai asked.
"Yes, you." Airman said. "I propose we have a netbattle. If you win, you can go. But if I win, then I get your bank account." Everybody jumped at this.
"You get all my money?" Yai asked. "But then I'll be poor." Airman closed his eyes & shrugged.
"Not my problem." He said. He then looked at them. "But if you refuse, I'll remotely beam viruses onto Higsby's chips & erase the data on them. Even his rarest chips in his private collection." Mr. Higsby freaked out at this.
"NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!" Higsby shouted. "Not my chips! Not my rare chips!" Yai, however, remained defiant.
"You don't scare me, fan face." Yai said. "My father is a rich man. It doesn't matter if you erase his chips, I'll just ask daddy to buy Higsby some replacement chips."
"But Yai." Higsby said. "These chips are collectables. Some of them you can't even find anymore."
"Well I'm sorry, Mr. Higsby, but I'm not about to net battle this creep if it means becoming destitute." She then felt somebody push her towards the dome, it was Higsby.
"Yai, I urge you to net battle Airman." Higsby said. "Besides, you'll be the first kid to use my dome." Yai hung her head in defeat.
"sigh, alright." She said. She aimed her P.E.T. at the Jack-in terminal. "Jack in, Glyde. Power up." A beam of light shot from her P.E.T. & hit the terminal & Glyde appeared inside the dome.
"Prepare to be blown, away, Airman." Glyde said. Yai held up a cannon battlechip.
"Cannon, battlechip in!" She shouted. She then inserted the battlechip into her P.E.T.. "Download!" a green cannon popped out of the ground in front of Glyde. It fired a blast at Airman. Airman laughed.
"Ha ha! Never send a small gust of win to do the work of a hurricane." Airman said. He sent a huge gust of wind straight at Glyde. It redirected the blast & sent it back at Glyde.
"Oh my!" Glyde said. The blast hit Glyde right in the chest, sending him flying back a ways.
"NO! GLYDE!" Yai shouted, worried for her net navi's safety. Glyde slowly stood up & charged at Airman, ready to throw a punch.
"You'll have to do better than that, buddy." Airman said. He leapt back to avoid Glyde's punch & threw a tornado at him. Glyde spun around in the tornado & was flown back against the wall.
"OH NO!" Yai shouted.
"This isn't looking good." Maylu said.
"But how did he get in?" Higsby asked. Lan got a stern look on his face.
"It has to be somebody who has access to the battle dome." Lan said. Then it hit him. "It's Arashi!" Airman jumped at this.
"Uh oh." He said "Looks like he blew our cover."
"Does it matter?" Arashi's voice said. A screen with his face on it then appeared. "It's not like it's gonna help them." Higsby glared at Arashi.
"ARASHI!" Higsby shouted. "HOW COULD YOU DO THIS TO ME? I TURSTED YOU ENOUGH TO LET YOU WORK FOR ME, & THIS IS HOW YOU REPAY ME?" Arashi chuckled at this.
"Oh please." He said. "You think I actually wanted to work in this small-time corner store?" Higsby's face turned red at this, an anime throbbing vein appeared on his forehead, & he grew black demon horns out of his forehead.
"SMALL-TIME CORNER STORE?" Higsby roared, frightening everybody, except Arashi & Airman. "ALRIGHT BUDDY, YOU'RE GONNA RUE THE DAY YOU MESSED WITH ARCHIBALD CORNELIUS HIGSBY!" Arashi smiled evilly at this outburst.
"We'll see about that, 4 eyes." Arashi said. "Blow Glyde away, Airman."
"Whatever you say, Arashi." Airman said. Arashi held up a battle chip with a picture of a hollow blue tube on it.
"Air shot, battle chip in!" Arashi shouted, then inserted the battle chip into his P.E.T.. "Download!" Airman's arm turned into a hollow blue tube. He pointed his arm at Glyde.
"Air shot!" Airman shouted. He fired a large blast of air at Glyde, slamming into his chest.
"NO! GLYDE!" Yai shouted. Lan watched the netbattle with a hardened face.
"This is not good." Lan thought to himself. "If Arashi wins, Yai will lose all her money. There's got to be a way to stop this." Lan then caught something out of the corner of his eye. He saw an air duct. A thought then occurred to him. "Hey, perhaps I could use that." He thought. He ran over to the vent & knelt down in front of it. He grabbed the grate & pulled it off of the hole. Everybody looked over at him. He looked over at Littlefoot.
"Littlefoot, get over here." Lan said. Littlefoot, confused, did as Lan said. "Littlefoot, go into this vent & see if you can find Arashi." Littlefoot looked into the vent.
"Ummm, okay." Littlefoot said. He climbed into the vent & disappeared inside.
"Hey, wait!" Cera shouted. "I want a piece of this Arashi guy too, Littlefoot!" She ran into the vent after him.
"Wait for us, guys." Ducky shouted. Spike ran into the vent with Ducky on her back. She was soon followed by Petrie & Chomper. Arashi chuckled at this.
"If you think those dino punks are gonna find me, then you've got another thing coming." Arashi said. Everybody glared at him.
"They'll find you, Arashi." Lan said. "& they'll make you pay for all this."
"We'll see about that." Arashi said. "Now if you don't mind, I've got a net battle to win. Airman, attack!"
"Whatever you say, Arashi." Airman said. He spun the fan in his torso & created a huge tornado. Glyde stared at the tornado nervously.
"Oh my!" He said. Yai held up a battle chip with a picture of a silhouette holding a glowing sword with a glowing arrow shaped blade.
"Hero sword, battle chip in!" Yai said, she then inserted the battle chip into the P.E.T. "Download!" Glyde's arm then turned into a big sword with a glowing arrow shaped blade. Glyde charged at the tornado & leapt at it. He sliced the tornado & cut it in half, destroying it. Everybody cheered.
"Way to go, Glyde!" Yai shouted. Arashi growled.
"Rrrrrrrgh!" Arashi said. "Lucky shot, you won't pull that again." Yai smirked at this.
"We'll see about that." she said. Meanwhile, in the vents, the gang was crawling through a cramped vent, when Littlefoot heard something.
"Hey, I hear something." Littlefoot said.
"What, Littlefoot?" Cera asked. Littlefoot put his hear up to a side of the vent & heard something.
"I think it's Arashi." He said. "This way." He continued down the vent & the others followed him. Meanwhile, the others were still watching Glyde & Airman netbattle.
"When I'm through with you, Glyde." Airman said. "Your data is gonna be used to stuff cyber pillows."
"I wouldn't count on it, windy." Glyde said. He charged at Airman, Hero Sword held high.
"I would." Airman said. Glyde got within striking distance of Airman & brought the sword down to strike him, but Airman grabbed his arm with lightening quick refrences. "See?" Airman then punched him in the stomach & threw him back to the floor. He then looked down at Glyde, who was clutching his stomach in severe pain. "Pathetic."
"Oh no!" Yai shouted. Lan grit his teeth at this.
"C'mon, guys, hurry up." Lan thought to himself. Meanwhile, Littlefoot had reach an opening. He crawled up to it & peered through the holes. He smiled at what he saw.
"Hey guys." He said. "Come look at this."
"We can't." Cera said. "You're in the way." Littlefoot looked back & saw everybody frowning at him, he sweatdropped upon realizing this.
"Oh yeah." He said. He moved aside to allow Cera to see. Cera squeezed in between him & a wall & peered through the holes in the grate, where she saw Arashi.
"Hey, there he is!" Cera said. "Let's go get him." Cera then took several steps back.
"Cera, wait." Littlefoot said. However, Cera charged at the grate & banged into it. She collapsed to the metal vent floor with a lump on her head & swirly eyes. Everybody sweatdropped at this. "Never mind." He said, they then heard the grate fall, & unfortunately, Arashi did as well. He turned around & saw them.
"Hey, you're those kids who were with those kids who foiled my last plan back when I was with Grave." Arashi said. "Well, I'm not about to let you little dinos ruin THIS plan." Littlefoot looked at him with determination.
"We'll see about that." Littlefoot said. He leapt out of the vent & charged at Arashi. Arashi smirked & stepped aside, making Littlefoot miss his target.
"Ha, pathetic." Arashi said. The others looked on, frightened of what happened.
"Oh no." Dusky said. "This is not good. Nope, nope, nope."
"Me know." Petrie said. "Arashi very strong." Arashi smiled at this.
"You got that right." He said. He then pointed to his chest. "I even found out about this translator thing. Pretty handy little gadget. Now if you'll excuse me, I got money to win." He then turned back to the window & stared at the netbattle. He looked at Glyde, who was really hurt, & held up 3 battlechips with a tornado on each. "Time to unleash the ultimate weapon." He held the chips up high. "Tornado, battlechips in!" He shouted, & then inserted the 3 into the P.E.T., 1 after the other. "Download! Download! Download!" Then, 3 tornados appeared around Airman, & moved towards him. They all fused together with him inside them, forming a huge tornado with Airman in control. Everybody looked on hopelessly at this.
"Oh no." Littlefoot said.
"Oh yes!" Arashi said. Just the, Cera started to stir & opened her eyes. She focused them & saw Arashi with his back turned to her. She then smiled evilly.
"This'll be too easy." Cera said to herself. She then stood up & scraped her feet against the vent floor a couple of times. She then charged head-on at Arashi. Arashi failed to notice this & Cera hit him in his legs, causing Arashi to fall & drop his P.E.T.. He hit the floor & saw his P.E.T. hit the ground right next to his head. He saw this & got frightened.
"Oh no!" He shouted. "My P.E.T.!" At that point, Airman's tornado started getting discombobulated.
"Systems error." Airman said, reacting to the shock of the P.E.T. hitting the ground. His tornado then exploded & he fell to the ground. Everybody pointed this & Yai got Glyde's attention.
"Glyde, he's down!" Yai shouted. "Quick, attack him!" Glyde stood up & trudged over to Glyde. He raised the sword & brought it down upon Airman. However, before it got near airman, he put his hands over his head & started begging.
"No! Stop!" Airman shouted in panic. "Please don't delete me!"
"Very well." Glyde said. "But only if you restore the security system to its former state."
"Anything, just let me keep functioning." Airman said. The door then opened. Later everybody was in the room that Arashi was in, all looming over him.
'Oh, I'm so sorry!" Arashi bauled.
"You should be, Arashi!" Higsby shouted. "You hacked into my security system & threatened to destroy my chips."
"I know." Arashi blubbered. "It was a selfish thing that I did, & I'm really sorry. I just wanted to get my riches back & start my air conditioning company over again."
"Well that's no excuse for what you did to us." Lan said.
"Yeah, you should be ashamed of yourself, Arashi." Maylu scolded.
"I am." Arashi sniffled.
"Arashi, do you realize what you did was a crime?" Higsby asked.
"Yes, Higsby." Arashi said.
"& do you realize that with 1 phone call I could put you away for a longer time than before?" Higsby asked.
"Yes." Arashi said.
"Well, I'm not gonna." Higsby said. Arashi looked at him.
"Huh?" He asked. "You won't?" Shuko looked at Higsby.
"But, Mr. Higsby." Shuko said. "You said so yourself, what he did today was a crime."
"Yeah, Higsby." Chomper said.
"I know." Higsby said. "But I won't call the police, because I was in Arashi's situation once before." The dinos & Shuko looked at Higsby, confused.
"You were?" Ducky asked. Higsby nodded his head.
"Yep." Higsby said. "I once tried to steal Yai's rare battle chips, & to do that I hacked into the school's mainframe & sealed Yai, Dex, Maylu, & Ms. Mari all in 1 room. I even threatened to have Numberman destroy all the computers. When Lan stopped me, I got this kind of treatment, & Ms. Mari turned me around." He then knelt down & put a hand on Arashi's shoulder. "& now, I'm gonna do the same for you, Arashi." He said.
"You are?" Arashi asked.
"You bet." Higsby replied. Arashi smiled.
"Oh, thank you, sir." He said. "Thank you."
"Wait." Yai said. "Air conditioning company?"
"Well, yeah." Arashi said. "You know AACC?"
"Arashi's Air Conditioning Company?" Yai asked. Then it hit her. "Oh yeah, that company was bought out by an even bigger company & sold off piece by piece." She then looked down at Arashi. "But how do you know it?" Arashi hung his head.
"Because I was the president once." Arashi replied. Everybody looked at him.
"What's an air conditioner?" Littlefoot asked Lan. Lan looked down at him.
"It's something that blows cold air at you to cool you off if you get hot." Lan explained.
"Oh, okay." Littlefoot said.
"Anyway." Arashi continued. "After my company was gone, I became very scornful for those who had more money than me. So I joined Grave to get back at rich people for ruining my company."
"Oh my." Yai said. Higsby smiled.
"I think I may have an idea, Arashi." Higsby said. Arashi looked at him.
"Really? What?" He asked. Later that day, Numberman & Glyde were in a netbattle.
"Doom Dice!" Numberman shouted. The dice landed in front of Glyde on 4, & it exploded 4 times. A cloud of smoke covered Glyde.
"Ha ha!" Numberman shouted. "Victory is assuredly mine."
"Don't bet on it." Came Glyde's voice from the smoke.
"Huh?" Numberman said, totally confused. "What? This doesn't add up." Just then, Glyde charged at Numberman with the Hero Sword. Numberman got really frightened.
"OH NO!" Numberman hollered. Glyde then struck him with the Hero sword, slicing him in half. A bright blue square appeared around both halves of Numberman.
"Numberman, logging out." Came a voice, the box disintegrated. Airman then approached Glyde, grabbed his hand, & lifted it up in the air.
"& the winner, Glyde!" He shouted, everybody outside the dome cheered as Higsby whimpered. Littlefoot popped out of Lan's backpack.
"It was really nice of Mr. Higsby to let Arashi stay on as the dome's referee." He said. Littlefoot looked at him.
"Yeah." He said, they looked at Arashi, & saw him wearing a blue apron over his clothes. Chomper was snuggling against his leg. "& it looks like Chomper's taking a liking to Arashi too."
"Sure does." Littlefoot said. They then continued to cheer as Arashi looked down at Chomper, & smiled softly.