Activation!

By StarWulf.EXE

Chapter 11: Fragment Arena (Part 1)

"I can't believe you forgot us!" the blue Navi shouted from Chris's laptop.

"We already said we're sorry! What more do you guys want?"

"How 'bout you two get more responsible?"

"Fine! Are you guys happy now?"

"No." the two Navis said in unison.

Chris and Lan sighed. They where on the subway heading for Dentech Expo Center, listening to their Navis complain. MegaMan and Wulf where still mad that their operators left them behind by accident. The two teens hoped that jacking their Navis into Chris's laptop so they could surf the Internet would calm them down. To their dismay, it didn't work.

"Then what will make you two happy?" Chris asked.

The two Navis looked at each other, briefly nodding before turning back to their operators.

"We want weapon repairs and armor upgrades." they said together.

Wulf morphed his hands into claws. "My claws are so dull I can't even delete simple viruses with them anymore."

"And my buster is so busted, it won't fire charged shots!" MegaMan complained.

Lan and Chris nodded in agreement. Their Navis where due for upgrades and the electronic expo would be a perfect place to buy them.

"Fine. We'll buy you upgrades if you two stop complaining." Lan said, pressing MegaMan's icon on his PET.

MegaMan returned back to Lan's PET just as the train arrived. Chris jacked Wulf out and put his laptop away. The two left the subway station, being careful to avoid the security guard they annoyed before.

Chris brought his arm over his eyes. "Wow, I never knew an area like this existed in Dentech!" he exclaimed, blinded by the sudden rush of sunlight.

The paved street in front of them was lined with towering beech trees. In between the trees where small shops and stalls that where selling a large assortment of items. At the end of the road was a large exhibition hall. A huge crowd was gathered in front of the building. Lan and Chris ran down the street to the horde of people. As they got closer, they could see that everyone was gathered around an elevated podium. A Dentech Expo employee was giving a speech.

"Hey, what's going on?" Lan asked, hoping to get involved one way or another.

An overweight teen about 16 years old turned around, his yellow PET in hand.

"Lan?"

Lan almost fell over in surprise. However, his PET was not so lucky.

"Dex, is that you?"

"Watch it!" MegaMan yelled, crashing to the ground. "That's it! I'm not coming back until you learn to be careful!"

MegaMan jacked himself into Chris's laptop, leaving Lan to pick up the empty PET.

"Looks like you're still the same as before."

Lan dusted of his hands and faced Dex. He was wearing his usual dark green T-shirt and a pair of dark blue shorts. The small amount of hair he had was combed up into a single point that stuck out on the top of his head.

"Hey, long time no see!" Lan said, grinning. "What brings you back to Dentech? I thought you where still away training."

"When I heard that the Dentech Expo Center was having a battle competition, I just had to come." said Dex. "Who's this?"

Lan looked back at Chris. He was trying to convince MegaMan to go back to Lan's PET.

"Oh, that's my cousin. He's visiting from Star City."

Chris closed his laptop and joined in on the conversation.

"Hi, I'm Chris." he said, holding out his arm.

Dex shook his hand. "I'm Dex, the world's number one Net Battler!"

"Hold on! MegaMan and I beat you and GutsMan plenty of times!" Lan shouted.

Dex didn't seem to hear him. "Anyway, we'll get to see who the best is once this tournament is over."

"Wait, what tournament?" Chris asked.

Dex pointed at the Dentech Expo employee. He was still giving his speech. "Today is the start of the Fragment tournament. Don't tell me you guys don't know about Fragment."

Both Lan and Chris jumped back. "W-What about Fragment?"

Dex sighed. "This morning all of the world's top leaders came together and had a meeting about Fragment. They came up with a set of rules restricting the use of the program. Since it is believed that everyone in the world has the virus, the leaders decided they need to make sure it doesn't get out of hand. You can now only use the program when in an official tournament battle or if you're in extreme danger."

Lan clasped his hands behind his head. "So this tournament is all about Fragment, eh?"

"Yup!" Dex exclaimed. "The battles are broken up into two parts. The first half of the battle takes place in the Cyberworld and the other takes place in the real world. Whoever has the most HP left when the buzzer goes off is the winner."

"And that will be Dex and I, guts!" shouted the teen's Navi from his PET.

"We'll see about that!" Chris and Lan said together.

Wulf spoke up. "The upgrades, remember?"

"Oh, I forgot…"

"Will you two ever learn?"

- - -

2 hours later…

"We're installing the updates now."

Weapon and armor upgrades completed

MegaMan morphed his right hand into his MegaBuster. "Finally!"

"So, is everything ok now?" Lan asked, ejecting the upgrade BattleChip from his PET.

Chris did the same. "How 'bout you, Wulf?"

Both Navis tested out their weapons on a stray Swordy virus that was heading for the exposition center's climate control mainframe.

"They work like a charm!" they exclaimed.

Dex walked over to Lan and Chris. He was carrying a handful of BattleChips.

"GutsMan and I are all set. You guys ready, too?"

"You bet 'cha!" the two shouted.

"Good. I already found the registration desk. Let's go."

The three headed past the display cases and vendors towards a large counter covered with computers. They where all displaying the battle registration forms. There was already a line of people waiting.

They all sighed. "Oh come on! It'll take forever to get us all signed up!"

"Lan?"

Chris, Dex, and Lan quickly turned around. A girl in her early teens was running up to them. Her forehead gleamed in the center's artificial lighting.

Everyone covered their eyes as the girl came closer. "Yai, is that really you?" Lan called out, his arm covering his pupils. Her shiny brow blinded everyone around her.

"Lan Hakari and Dex, nice to see you again!" Yai said as she reached them. Her forehead finally stopped shimmering.

"Looks like this tournament is turning into little reunion!" Dex said jokingly.

"Speaking of reunions, where are Maylu and Tory?" Yai asked, looking for her old companions.

Lan shrugged. "Maylu is at a piano competition at Beach Street and I have no clue where Tory is."

Yai shook her head. "Oh well, their loss." She glanced at the long line in front of them. "You guys are actually waiting in line?"

The three sadly nodded.

"I can fix that!" she said as she pointed her tan-colored PET at one of the computers. "Jack in, Glyde! Power up!"

The familiar infra-red light fired out of her PET and hit the computer's jack-in sensor.

"Don't worry." Yai said, snapping her fingers. "Glyde will take care of this."

Within a few moments Glyde returned to the PET and reported that he got everyone registered.

"My daddy is one of the tournament's biggest sponsors." Yai explained. "I can bypass all these long lines. And according to Glyde, the first round begins in fifteen minutes."

"So, what are we going to do till then?" Chris asked.

The group thought for a moment, looking around for anything interesting.

Dex gasped. "Is that…?"

"It is!"

The four teens smiled at each other. "#1 Curry!"

- - -

"Sparrow, check to see who has registered so far."

"I'm checking the computers now. No one suspicious has signed up yet."

"Good, I don't need anymore interruptions right now."

"Interruptions from what?"

"…I was going to get some curry."

"Axel, what am I ever going to do with you?"

"How about buying me some food?"

"Not a chance."

"Well, it was worth a shot."