"Higsby, don't take this personally." Lan grumbled as he rubbed his sore shoulder, "But I don't think I'll ever ride with you again."
"I agree with Lan." Sean muttered. "No meal is worth what we just went through… Except for maybe Mrs. Hikari's spaghetti."
As near as they could figure out, Higsby had slammed on the brakes as soon as FlameMan had been defeated. Miraculously the cars on the intersecting street had been spaced out just right for them to slip through the red light without causing a wreck and then fishtail to a stop. As a result, they were bruised, battered, weary, but alive; and that was much better than the alternative.
Lan breathed another sigh of relief, he felt like he had exhausted a year's supply of luck in this little adventure.
And then he remembered- Maylu, she'd been thrown from the car when all this chaos had started. He had to get back there and make sure that she was wasn't hurt… or even worse…
"Higsby!" The brunette threw his door open and tumbled out of his seat and onto the pavement. "I'm going back for Maylu, stay here until the Police arrive."
"Err, right…." Higsby nodded uncertainly.
Not wasting another second, Lan leapt into the air and snatched his roller-blade accessories off of his backpack. Snapping his arms down, he clipped the blades onto his shoes and hit the ground skating. "See ya in a few!"
"Whoa." The gray-haired kid's eyes went wide. "I've got to learn how to do that!"
The brunette Net battler took off at a fast clip, sailing over the ground and leaving Sean behind.
It was hard for Lan to believe that they had covered so much ground in such a short time. Their little adventure had taken them much farther into Den Tech than he'd realized, and it was making the trip back up to Maylu feel like it was taking forever.
But the brunette kept racing on, sooner or later he'd get back to her. He just had to keep going.
Minutes stretched on, turning into a half-hour.
Finally, the brunette spotted the alleyway next to Higsby's shop, where this entire mess had originated. As he whizzed around the corner, Lan went into a small hop to remove his roller-blades. The Net Saver's feet hit the ground, as his eyes spotted Maylu.
The redhead was still lying on the ground and although he couldn't be sure, Lan didn't think that she had moved in his absence.
The back of Lan's mind noted Maylu's PET laying on the ground a short distance away- the screen was blank, indicating that it had been damaged in the fall. And explaining why Roll hadn't called an ambulance.
"MegaMan, call an-" The Net Op's request died in his throat, as his ears detected a slight moan coming from his friend. Forgetting about getting any trained help, the brunette rushed over to the unconscious Maylu and knelt down beside her.
"Maylu?"
"Lan…" The word came haltingly from the redhead's lips, as her eyes started to flick open. "What happened?"
"In short, the car went haywire and you were on the wrong side of the situation." The brunette replied, "But that's not important, we need to get you to a doctor or something and-"
"I'm fine." Maylu brushed off the suggestion and began getting to her feet. "I'm just a little woozy, but that's nothing to be worried about."
"I'm not worried about the wooziness, I'm worried about the fact that you hit your head like you did."
"I'll be fine." The girl stated with determination. "And I had the strangest dream while I was out of it. I went blind and Roll mastered the Double Soul ability. It was strange…"
"That does… sound like one crazy dream." More than a little bewildered, Lan tried to figure out where this conversation was going and why.
At that moment, Maylu spotted her lifeless PET lying on the ground. "Oh no! Roll!"
The girl rushed past Lan and scooped up the pink Terminal. Maylu desperately tried to get the device restarted, knowing that a damaged PET could mean the end of Roll.
"If you're sure you're all right, we'd better get that to SciLab." The brunette commented.
"I'm all right, it's Roll we need to worry about. Let's go."
"MegaMan, get a hold of Zero and let them know where we're going."
"I'm on it." The Bomber locked onto the signal coming from their friend's PET and hastily dispatched a message to the gray-haired kid and his Net Op.
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"Going somewhere, Sean?"
For a fleeting second, Sean wished that he hadn't left Higsby and struck out on his own.
The gray-haired kid shuddered as he felt a hand clamp down on his shoulder, forcing him to pause in mid-step. Slowly the hands on his back forced him to turn around to face his captor.
To no surprise, Sean found himself staring up into Gregory's not-so-handsome face.
"We got into a lot of trouble because of you." The stocky teen seethed. "So now I'm going to take you back to Scratch to get him off of my back, and you in a position to where you can't tell your precious hero a thing about us."
"I haven't told Lan or Chaud a thing!" Sean snapped back, not bothering to hide his annoyance at being manhandled like he was. "They don't know anything about the house or Scratch or you. And you know what? I'm actually happy living with him, so leave me alone!"
"Sure, you can say that and appear to mean it." Gregory tightened his grip on his captive. "But deep down, we both know that Lan's just using you to learn about us. Once you open up to him, he'll turn around and dump you back into that foster home… and we both know what that's like-"
"Don't go there!"
"Face it, Sean. You don't have a choice. You've got to come back with me."
"I don't have to do anything you want me to!" The boy glared at the teen. A small plan was forming in his mind, he just needed the right opportunity to put it into action. "Scratch said that I could stay and leave as I wanted. So I'm leaving!"
"That was before you became a threat to us." The stocky teen made his grip even tighter, causing Sean to wince in discomfort. "Things are different now."
"They sure are!" Tired of this pointlessness, Sean snapped his foot back and then let it fly forward- straight into his captor's shin.
As expected, Gregory yelped and released his hold on his captive in pained surprise.
Released from the teen's hold, Sean slipped away and dashed off as fast as he could down the street. A quick glance over his shoulder confirmed the suspicion that Gregory was giving chase, the guy wouldn't give up at the first obstacle.
Sean bit his lip in thought as he desperately tried to pump more speed out of his short legs. If he could just get to the Hikari's house, then he's be safe. Surely Gregory wouldn't draw that much attention to himself by tried to force his way inside a house in broad daylight.
Would he?
He'd have to worry about that later, right now all he could do was try.
The gray-haired kid rushed onward, his footsteps rising and falling at a fast tempo. His assailant was just a short distance behind him, and it would take everything Sean had to lose his pursuer.
Skidding around a tight corner, Sean changed direction so abruptly that he almost sent himself tumbling over. Regaining his footing, the boy shot up the side street, putting more distance between him and his pursuer.
Gregory was a stocky teen, who prided himself on his stocky build and formidable strength. He'd never been a track star and trying to keep up with the speedy little Sean was proving to be more of a challenge than he'd like it to be.
The boy gathered his bearings, realizing that he was almost to Lan's house. All he had to do was evade his pursuer for a few more seconds and he'd be safe- he hoped. With Gregory you never knew, he might just break down the door and come charging into the house.
Glancing over his shoulder, Sean realized that the stocky teen had managed to close the gap between them slightly.
Sean sighed slightly as he realized what he had to do- it was risky, but it just might work. He rushed onward for a few more seconds. Then he made his move. Sean's feet snapped out, bringing his dash to a skidding stop. Instantly Sean was spinning around and rushing back the way he had come- towards Gregory.
The move took the stocky teen completely by surprise, and in his surprise he completely missed his chance to grab his prey.
As Gregory struggled to bring his forward run to a halt, he looked over his shoulder to see Sean flying up another side street. The kid was annoyingly clever, the stocky teen was forced to concede that much.
The boy continued to run. He was close, he just had to reach the end of this street and he'd be safe.
Summoning the last amount of strength he had, Sean put on a burst of speed and flew up the street. He hear the stocky teen's footsteps behind him, and his back tingled as if expecting his pursuers hands to latch onto him at any moment.
They never did.
The boy ran up the steps to the Hikari's house and leapt up the steps to the door. A quick glance over his shoulder confirmed that Gregory was barreling up the sidewalk. As fast as he could, Sean pushed the door open and slipped inside. Quickly he spun around, his foot struck out to kick into the door, forcing it closed. Sean turned the lock… bringing him to safety.
A thud broke through the room. Sean's eyes widened as he realized that Gregory was pounding on the door in an frustrated effort to get inside.
Outside, the stocky teen sent his fist slamming into the door one last time for good measure. He longed to break down the door and charge into the house after that brat- but he knew that that would attract too much unwanted attention. Breaking into any house, even if it weren't the house of a Net Saver, was just plain stupid at this point.
As Gregory turned and stormed down the steps, a familiar figure appeared at the end of the sidewalk. Slim had found him somehow.
"So this is the kid's house," Slim studied the neighborhood and nodded his approval. "Nice place."
"I don't want to hear it." Gregory snapped at his companion.
"I wouldn't be too upset." The thin teen replied, "Now that we've found out where the kid's staying at, we can make him want to come to us instead of forcing him to come with us."
"You want to explain that?"
"I'll explain later," Slim glanced up and down the street. "Right now, we need to get a move on. And we found our other target, when she's not expecting anything, we'll strike and put the plan in motion."
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Sean held his breath as he risked a peak out the window. From his vantage-point the could see Slim and Gregory heading off down the street, he was safe- for the moment.
As soon as he realized that, a flood of fear and anger broke free and coursed through Sean's body. He hadn't had time to actually feel his fear during the chase, and now that he was safe, it was running rampant through his mind.
His limbs quivered as the boy realized just how close he had come to capture. He'd never known anything put a miserable life before the Hikari's had taken him in, and the last thing that he wanted was to go back to that miserable existence.
But was Gregory right? Was Lan just using him to find out about Scratch? The brunette had just taken off and left him there in the car with Higsby. Maybe he really didn't care as much as Lan said he did.
"Lan? Sean?" Haruka's voice preceded her arrival. "Is that you?"
Sean tried to answer, but his voice came out as nothing more than a choked sob.
Mrs. Hikari walked into the room, and stopped short as she spotted the boy. Sean was wreck, he was bruised, maybe hurt, and on the verge of tears.
"Shawn… what happened?" Haruka took another step towards the boy, all of her motherly instincts were kicking in.
"I- he-" The boy's words refused to come out, as he struggled to gain control of himself.
"It's all right, I'm here." The woman stepped forward, and knelt down before the boy. "I'm here for you."
Haruka blinked in surprise as Sean wrapped his arms around her waist, and then the boy dissolved into frightened tiny child who couldn't contain his tears