BATTLE NETWORK CYBERSYSTEM: The Manic Saga

Vol. 1: The Darkness of Our Pasts

Chapter 5: The Second Incident

I woke up with a start in the middle of the night. I had that same dream again.

I found it no use at all to try to get back to sleep, so I went to get something hot to drink. I made some cocoa and looked out my single-pane window down at the city. It wasn't as bright as Marine Harbor was at night, but it was still quite a sight. The park was well-lit due to the lamp posts and every now and then there were some passers-by who would walk the sidewalks towards either the park or the metroline. It was beautiful.

I finished the cup of cocoa and laid back on the couch. The weather had changed drastically over the past week. At first, you had to go outside wearing only a t-shirt to actually try to stay cool, then it went so that you needed at least three long-sleeved shirts just to stay warm. The weather was weird like that, anyways.

I still couldn't go back to sleep, so I went to do some push-ups as something to do. Regular ones were a bit easy, so I put my ankles up on a chair and did push-ups that way. I didn't keep track of how many I did, I just wanted to tire myself out so I would sleep better. Finally, in a cold sweat by then, I felt tired, so I stopped the push-ups and went to bed, still trying to think of what that dream meant and why it kept reoccurring. I was starting to get tired of it.

Morning came to wake me up around ten in the morning, so I got up and choked down some dry cereal quickly so I could leave and get to the Challenge Hall for some fighting for the weekend. Kinzoku had some things to take care of at ONBA and I didn't know where Ryuu was, so I decided I'd take a walk through the town before I went to the Challenge Hall. *Maybe I'll see Joseph or GC again,* I thought to myself as I pushed the ground floor button on the elevator. I hadn't seen either of them for a while, although I had only met GC and it had only been a week since I'd seen Joseph. *Oh well, I'll see them when I see them, I guess...* I thought to myself again as I yawned and stepped out of the elevator doors. I thought I'd try to make this a good day, so I said hi to the person who walked into the apartment lobby as I just left and walked down the sidewalk towards the Challenge Hall.

It didn't take me long to arrive there on foot, but I was still a bit tired from waking up, so I walked in, hoping this would be a good wake-up call for me.

"Hey, Manic, you decided on who you'd face today?" Nell asked me. Nell was the receptionist at the Challenge Hall. Nice lady, she had been a challenger herself back in the day of the Navi Era, but she figured that age got the best of her and now she worked as the receptionist, earning a well-paid salary.

"Who's still left on the Rogue list?" I asked her. The Rogues were some of the toughest challengers to date. They all specialized in one area of combat, there being six of them. Five had their own specializations, but their leader, Hawk, combined all of theirs into his own. He was the baddest of the bad. Duran was the swordsman of the group, he would only use swords in combat and nothing else. No one matched his skill. Kevin was a lot like Duran, except he didn't use swords or guns at all. He used his fists and fighting techniques to defeat his opponents one by one. He was ferocious.

Carlie was the shield of the group, seeing as how she preferred defense over offense. However, if the going went tough, then she would resort to actually dishing out a few attacks herself. Angela was a fire user, just like me. She loved using her own element against her opponent, and she did, and she would even resort to low tactics on guys such as hitting on them before the fight began. Riesz was Hawk's fiancee and the second toughest of them. Her cyberform had wings installed into them, so she could fly everywhere and anywhere to get her opponent off guard.

"Hmm..." I said to myself as I chose from the list. I had beaten Duran yesterday with my burner special as a final resort from one of his deadliest attacks, so I wouldn't be able to face him until tomorrow. Carlie seemed too easy for me, as did Angela. "I think I'll take Kevin on today," I told Nell.

"Ok, I'll tell him you're waiting then," Nell said with a smile. She really loved her job because she had a personal camera installed in the arenas so she could watch the fighting from her desk. Even though age kept her from fighting, she still had the heart of a netbattler.

I walked into the arena and put on my cyberband. There stood Kevin, ready to tear me apart.

"Peh, ONBA..." Kevin merely said.

"Yeah, not looking too bad yourself there, Kev," I said with a smirk. I had to play as fierce as he would if I wanted to win this one.

*Begin!* the intercom blared as both Kevin and I ran for each other. Both Kevin's fists became covered in iron as mine did the same. Then, as he ran towards me, I remembered a little trick I picked up from Angela. While I ran towards Kevin, I snapped my fingers and another datasilver of mine activated. The entire arena floor became magma. Kevin's element wasn't fire, so he couldn't take the heat and he would be worn down eventually. As we ran towards each other, we exchanged blows, each of us taking the same number of hits as the other. However, Kevin had a lucky hit and I was sent to the ground and on my knees.

"Think you can still beat me with this lava around!?" Kevin yelled as he jumped onto my back to keep his feet away from the magma. He showed no mercy to me as he pummelled my back with more blows, each one increasing my pain even more. Finally, after a few more hits, I didn't take any more and threw Kevin off my back and got up from the magma. He was now crouched down and waiting to see an opening in my attack. I could also see that he was starting to wear down from the magma around.

Finally, Kevin rushed at me.

*That's it,* I thought. I uploaded my fire sword and waited until he would jump at me. As I predicted, he jumped straight towards me. I quickly put the sword up in front of me horizontally and jumped backwards into a roll. Once Kevin was on top of the blade, I kicked him off me and back into the lava, forcing Kevin's cyberband to log him out of the internet.

I did the same after a while of panting and went back to the desk.

"Well," I asked Nell, "What did you think?"

"Very good fight," Nell said with a smile. She then put a paper in front of me to sign, along with a datasilver on the counter.

"Here're your rewards," Nell said to me. The datasilver was Kevin's Impact Punch. It almost doubled my big punch datasilver's attack. A few more of these and I'd be set. I thanked Nell for my rewards and walked out into the afternoon sun. I had to let my cyberband recharge for a while, so I thought about taking a nap in the park. *Why not,* I thought to myself as I walked to the park. I found a shady place in the grass under a tree to lay down and I almost immediately fell asleep. The warmth of the sun felt good on my skin as I lay there.

For some reason, I had that dream again. Except this time, I could barely make out an image. It was fuzzy, but I could tell that it was daylight and outside. There was a person covered in shadows in front of me, and much taller than I was.

T'hen, the scene changed. I was running towards a house. I could feel that I was happy about something, but coming closer to that door only made me feel worse. Behind that door was something I didn't know about, but I already knew that my heart would be shattered if I opened it. I turned the knob, the tension increasing constantly as I wondered what was behind that door.

I woke up with a start. I looked around me and saw lamp posts glowing. It was night already.

"Dammit," I said under my breath as I picked myself up from the grass and walked home. I had never seen that part of my dream before, but I thought about it more. Maybe that person saying that was me and maybe I was a little kid when I said it. But who was that person, and why was I afraid of what was behind that door?

I walked into the apartment lobby to see the landlord's door closed and the shutters closed along with it. I walked past and towards the elevator. Time to get some real sleep. I pushed the button and waited for it to open up. Nothing. The button didn't even light up.

"Strange..." I said under my breath as I tried the button over and over again. Maybe someone was running maintenance on it. I turned around to walk over to the stairwell until I saw three people in ski masks behind me. They all looked alike, even their brute builds were somewhat alike. However, they immediately turned hostile as I heard the loud thunk of a metallic baseball bat or pipe hit me over the head. I was sent to the ground quickly, but I put up a good fight until I was hit a few more times. Darkness surrounded me as I almost fell unconscious. I could feel the guys pick me up and walk out the complex with me, then I felt the cold floor of a van parked outside. That's when I went unconscious.

*...and in other news, one of ONBA's very own has gone missing. The ONBA has issued a country-wide manhunt for their officer, named Manic Grave. Currently, the ONBA suspects that Grave was kidnapped. If you have any information on the whereabouts of Manic Grave, please contact the ONBA headquarters immediately.*

Chapter 5 done, please review! I live off them like a vampire! ^_^