Author's Note: Thank you a ton to the people who read this. I appreciate it. :D

I noticed there seems to be some puncuation that doesn't like.Question mark-exclaimation mark, in particular. Also, there's a math equasion in here somewhere, and since the site might not take my use of the equasion mark, I wrote it out in words instead. Hehe. Anyhow, please enjoy!

PART II:

Lan pushed open the frontdoor. "I'm baaack," he called dimly. His mother looked up from reading a magazine on the couch, somewhat surprised to see her son home so soon.

"Your father called. He thinks he should be home in afew days, anyhow. How did the netsaver mission go?"

"Bad," grumbled Lan, taking a seat at the kitchen table. "Stupid Chaud got there first, so they handed the mission over to him."

"That's too bad," Mrs. Hikari said, judging that this was likely the most appropriate thing to say. "At least you can get a good night's sleep tonight, then, and you can go back to school tommorrow, right? I'm sure your friends have missed you."

"Your homework needs to be done, too," MegaMan reminded.

"I know..."

"Awww, come on Lan! Don't be in such a sour mood." The netnavi smiled, trying to cheer him up. "Besides, when you get back to school, you can ask Dex if he wants to come down to the net arcade after school and have a net battle with us! It'll be fun."

Lan fidgetted in his chair and rested his cheek against the palm of his hand. "I guess so. I don't feel like finishing that stupid math homework right now, though."

"Go and get it," his mother urged. "MegaMan will help you, won't he?"

"I will," he assured.

In fifteen minutes' time, Lan was sitting as his desk in his bedroom, frustratedly trying to figure out a math problem. He erased the problem again and re-copied it out of the text book for what had to be the seven or eighth time. It was getting harder to erase each time, however. He could still see pencil marks from the previous tries. "I just don't get it! Ms. Mari didn't explain it well enough!"

"She did," MegaMan countered patiently, "but you were almost asleep by then and weren't listening."

Lan sighed and drummed the eraser end of his pencil on the desk. "I don't like this kind of math. It's too hard. There are too many ways to do it, so now they're all messed up in my head!"

From his place in the PC, MegaMan watched Lan stare distractedly out the glass door and onto the lawn. He looked over his homework, but it was difficult, since from his view, it was upside down. "What was the question again, Lan?"

"Four minus three'X'equals'X' minus twelve."

MegaMan wrote out a digital version of the equasion on the screen. "Look," he said. "Move all the variables onto one side like this, and-"

"What's a variable?"

"The x," MegaMan answered. "Anyway, move all the variables onto one side like this." He demonstrated. "When numbers cross over onto the other side, they inverse, though. Now that x is a -x, and--"

"Oh. Now I remember." Lan picked up his pencil and jotted down an answer for what was likely the ninth time. "Is this right..?"

"Yeah! Good job, Lan! See? It's easy!"

"If only I didn't have fourteen more questions left, though." He resumed trying to finish his math homework. Yai and Maylu could finish stuff like this in ten minutes. Why was it that whenever he tried, time seemed to pass very slowly? It felt like it took forever to finish one question, let alone fifteen of them. Stupid math. And stupid Chaud for taking his netsaver mission. If he was out netsaving, he wouldn't have to do his homework.

"Lan!"

He snapped back into reality. "Sorry," he said, flashing a somewhat guilty smile at MegaMan. "I'll work on it now, I promise." He picked up the PET. "MegaMan, jack out!" The navi's image dissapeared from the screen of the PC and back onto the PET screen. Setting the handheld terminal down again, he started on question number two. It was quiet. MegaMan had decided to sort Lan's email for something to do, so he wasn't saying anything, either. It was best to let Lan concentrate on his homework. Forty-five minutes passed. Lan only got stuck once or twice, but he figured it out after afew tries. At last, he finished his homework. "AHA!" he cried victoriously, causing MegaMan to jolt with surprise. "I FINISHED IT! I'm such a genius!"

"Hehe, good for you, Lan! I told you you'd get through it. Now you won't have to worry when Ms. Mari does a homework check tomorrow."

The brown haired boy relaxed in his chair with a grin. Ah, it was good to be done. He, the mighty Lan, had conquered the previously impassible Mount Algebra Homework. Truly, there was none mightier than him..! Well, except MegaMan, since he was the one who knew how to do it first. Oh well. That was overlookable right now.

The PET rang. Who would be calling right now, anyway?

BZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZT! BRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRTTTTTTTT!

Lan and MegaMan both flinched. "What the heck was that?" Lan squacked. "It sounded like one of those old things people used to send paper with!"

"A fax machine," MegaMan said, supplying Lan with the word he'd been looking for. "I guess it did sound like that. I wonder what it was for?"

"Prob'ly some stupid prankster going through the DenTech phone directory again."

"Wouldn't be the first time, heh." The blue net warrior yawned and stretched. "Now that your homework is out of the way, we can go and do something else without having to worry about it." He smiled in his regular manner. "So what would you like to do?"

His net-op stared at the ceiling and leaned back on his chair so that the front two legs lifted off the carpet. He yawned, too. "Ah, I dunno."

He let the chair's legs fall back onto the floor and stood up. "I guess there's not much we can do. It's evening now. None of my friends can come play outside, so I guess soccer isn't in. I probably won't see anybody until tommorrow." He sighed distractedly, pacing back across his room before seating himself on the edge of his bed and dropping the PET down next to him. MegaMan gave him a baffled look. "Are you still moping because of Chaud?" he asked. "We'll get other chances, Lan."

"I know. But..."

MegaMan tilted his head slightly, wondering if his facial expression at all reflected the bit of concern welling within him. "But...?"

Lan hung his head, unable to admitt -even to MegaMan- that he was getting worried about the state the net was in, and the thought of an unknown threat seemed sort of unrealistic, but frightening. He didn't say anything.

"Lan?"

His dark brown eyes fell upon the PET. MegaMan's green eyes watched him silently as he awaited a response. "You can tell me the truth, okay?" he offered. "You know I won't tell anyone."

"MegaMan..." The way Lan said it, it sounded like the world was about to crash down on his head, and this was one of the last things he'd ever say. "I know I'm not the smartest kid out there, but all of what's going on is kind of freaky. What if we don't figure this out? I don't want the whole net to get messed up..!"

MegaMan closed his eyes and smiled vaguely for a second before looking back up at Lan. "You know what makes us special, Lan? We aren't alike. ProtoMan is quiet like Chaud. SearchMan is quick-thinking and analytical like Raika. But you and I aren't alike; not as much as them. Sometimes we don't even get along, but our differences are what end up helping us to learn. We learn to get along. We learn each other's strong and weak points. That's what makes us a team, and that's why we win in netbattles, and beat the darkloids. We don't let uncertainty and worry get the better of us. Okay..?"

Lan had his head down, emitting only a small amount of noise. For a second, MegaMan thought he was crying. No such luck. The boy threw his head back, laughing. His navi blinked in surprise. "Uhm, are you okay?"

Lan grinned and held the PET up in front of his face at eye level. "I'm fine. You say some really corny stuff, y'know." The grin softened to a friendly smile. "But I appreciate it. You're right. Thanks." The little blue machine vibrated momentarily in his hand, indicating he'd recieved e-mail. "E-mail?" he said in surprise. "Who's it from?"

"You got two simultaneously," replied MegaMan. "One is from Chaud, and the other is from Maylu."

"Read 'em!"

"You got it. I'll read Chaud's first." He pulled up the text file. "'I apologise about earlier. See you.' That was brief... It doesn't seem within his character to be apologising, either. Doesn't that seem strange to you?"

His net-op shrugged. "Meh. Let him apologize, I guess. Maybe he's getting nicer? Read Maylu's e-mail."

"Alright." The navi pulled up a new text file. "'Lan, I hope you haven't forgotten about the science test on Thursday! You probably did, though, so I sent you this e-mail to remind you. Ms. Mari won't be too happy if you keep getting bad marks, you know. See you at school! -Maylu.'" He eyed Lan expectantly. "Science test?"

The boy's face went red. "I uh... forgot to tell you..?" he suggested.

"Where was I when she told the class about that?" MegaMan queried.

"She told us the morning I forgot my PET on the kitchen counter," Lan admitted, embarrassed. "Mom brought it to me at school in the afternoon, and that's why you didn't find out."

"Oh brother." MegaMan shook his head. "Another reason why you can't forget me at home! It's too late to study now, though. You still need to take a shower and get ready for bed. I'll get you up early tommorrow and you can study, okay?"

Lan groaned. "I hate it how you seem to know my schedule better than I do..." He went to retrieve his pyjamas. "I'll jack you into the net while I'm busy so that you can do something while you're waiting for me." Setting his folded night clothes on the bed, he pointed the PET at his PC. "Jack in! MegaMan, power-up!" The navi appeared on the PC screen, and he set the PET down on the desk next to it. "So, I'll be back in a bit. Maybe someone else is online for you to talk to."

"That's possible. I'll take a look. See you, Lan!"

"See ya." Lan picked up his pyjamas off the bed and headed out of the room. With Lan now gone, MegaMan decided to take his advice and head into the net. One of Lan's friends navis could be online, in which case, he could find some company. He'd have to head over to someone else's PC via the net, most likely. Roll was probably helping Maylu study for that science test. She liked to encourage her net-op to keep her marks up. MegaMan wished he could do the same for Lan, but the boy's lack of interest in school made it hard for him to pay attention. Wandering through the local area network, he didn't pass anybody he knew. Maybe they were offline. Oh well. Looking around was something to do, anyway, so he couldn't complain. Wait! He caught sight of a recognisable figure. "NumberMan!" he said pleasantly, heading over to the navi.

"Oh, hello, MegaMan! How have you been?" asked NumberMan. The lights on his head blinked on and off in several places.

"I'm well! How's Higsby's shop?"

"Good, good. Higsby's been doing a big inventory check, so there might be a sale soon. I thought Lan might be interested."

"He probably will be. I'll tell him as soon as I jack out. Say, have you seen anybody else around?"

"Glide bought a memory upgrade from me awhile ago, but I think he jacked out," NumberMan answered. "I think I saw GutsMan head back to Dex's PC, too. Maybe if you head over there, you might catch him. If Dex was in any sort of a hurry, he'd probably have jacked out from here!"

"That's true," MegaMan replied. "Thanks! It was good talking to you."

"And the same to you, MegaMan! Bye for now!"

"Bye." He gave a brief wave, and then headed off for Dex's PC. Dex and GutsMan were keen netbattlers, so GutsMan would probably be eager to tell him anything new he'd learned about the world of netbattling, or about any challengers he'd 'beaten to a pulp' recently. MegaMan chuckled a little at the thought. GutsMan hadn't beaten him in a netbattle yet, but he always put forth full efforts for Dex' sake. He just wanted to make Dex proud of him.

It wasn't much of a trip over to Dex's PC. There weren't any viruses this time. There was probably a clean-up recently, which would explain that. Taking the route in, MegaMan discovered that Dex' computer was looking something more tidy than usual. Maybe he got a new firewall or something? Something that permitted navis with passcodes to get through, anyway. At least he was verified and could get in. Wandering into the PC, it was quiet. Very quiet, especially for the home of a netnavi so large and clunky looking. "GutsMan?"

He was answered by a large wailing sound. His stomach would have turned if he had one. Glancing around, MegaMan caught sight of GutsMan. He was slumped in a sitting position over to the far side. What was going on? MegaMan ran over to him. "GutsMan! Are you alright?" He placed one blue gloved hand on Gutsman's broad trembling shoulder. One massive hand was covering his face, and his mass of a body was shaking. Was he... crying? It was certainly an awkward sight. "What the matter..?"

GutsMan sniffled loudly. "I don't know what to do, MegaMan..!" He proceeded to bawling. "You can help me, right? What should.. should I do? GutsMan don't know anymore..."

"Help you with what? What happened?"

"I want to make Roll like me..!" he sniffled. MegaMan wasn't expecting that sort of an answer. He blinked stupidly.

"Doesn't she like you already?"

"Like me more, I mean. Soon it will be the anniversary of when she met Maylu. I want to get her a present! Impress her! Make her happy with Gutsman!" He looked at MegaMan, his watery eyes still gushing digital tears. "So what should I do, MegaMan?"

MegaMan smiled. "Don't worry so much, first of all. Get her something you think that she would like. Well... of course, you might have to ask Dex for help, but that's not the point. Do the best you can! You know that Roll appreciates that sort of thing."

"O- okay." GutsMan sniffled again, and wiped at his eyes carefully with one of his oversized hands. "Thank you, MegaMan. GutsMan appreciates the help. Now I can tell Dex about what you said. You think Maylu likes the same?"

"I wouldn't doubt it."

The less than graceful navi got to his feet. "Thank you, MegaMan." He gave a hearty smile and patted MegaMan's shoulder with his heavy hand, almost forcing him to his knees from the pressure. MegaMan managed a friendly smile nonetheless."Glad to help, then."

Dex's pudgy face appeared from outside the PC. "GutsMan! What're you doin'? Are we gonna practise our netbattlin' or what? We gotta kick Lan's butt at school tommorrow!" His eyes widened as he realised MegaMan was standing right next to his own navi. "Err--- You heard me!" he said ferociously, trying to make himself sound threatening enough to make up for his lack of observational skills. "GutsMan's gonna kick your butt tommorrow, MegaMan! Be prepared!"

MegaMan chuckled. "Thanks for the warning. Lan always brings a pocket full of battle chips to school, anyway."

"Tell 'im to bring out the heavy artillery, 'cause we ain't holdin' back this time!"

"Alright."

Lan's navi's patience seemed to aggitate Dex. He didn't seem scared at all! Didn't he realise that Dex and GutsMan were planning to cream him? Dex tried not to let his short temper get the better of him. "--Don't you have to be jacking out soon?" he hinted, almost rudely.

MegaMan checked the time. "Oh! You're right. I probably do. I've gotta defragment Lan's computer before he has to go to bed, so I should head back to his PC. I almost forgot. Thank you." He gave a smile and nod toward Dex. "See you tommorrow."

"Bye, MegaMan!" said GutsMan cheerily as the navi headed out.

Dex grumbled as he watched him go. "Whaddarya doin', GutsMan? Rule number one: Hate your enemies!"

GutsMan scratched his head in confusion. "I thought it was 'Love your enemies'."

"Forget that!" Dex enforced. "Hate your enemies, especially MegaMan."

"But I like Mega---"

"I said HATE."

"Okay..." GutsMan was used to this. At least once a week, Dex would decide he hated Lan, and that Lan was his mortal enemy. And when Dex decided to hate Lan, GutsMan had to pretend to hate MegaMan... Just to please Dex. Peculiarly enough, once in a blue moon, Dex would come home from school beaming about how cool Lan was. What a strange and indecisisive boy.

Once MegaMan returned to Lan's PC, he began trying to defragment files. With the amount of junk Lan stored on his computer, it was always a wise idea to try and make a little more space. Getting rid of fragmented files and moving over what could be moved usually brought up at least an extra couple of megabytes of space. The thought of being jacked into a lagging computer made MegaMan slightly uneasy. It had hardly been ten minutes when a blue pyjama-wearing, soggy-haired Lan trudged back into the room, rubbing at his head with a towel in an attempt to absorb some of the water out of his hair. He glanced at the PC. "Whatcha up to, MegaMan?"

"Nothing much," MegaMan responded, compacting some files. "I went around the net for a bit, and then over to Dex's PC. He says he wants to netbattle us tommorrow."

"Haha! That's nothing new!" Lan grinned cheekily. "He should know by now that he's just gonna get his butt kicked!"

"I started defragmenting files on your computer," MegaMan added. "It might save you some space. Are you going to bed now?"

"Naw," Lan said easily, sitting down in his computer chair. "Chisow called and told me about this great website where you can download full versions of comics! They even have the first edition of Spiderman on there-- and that's pretty old!"

"So what would you like me to do?"

"You can finish what you're doing tommorrow," Lan decided. "Check out the site called 'Comics 'R' Us! We gotta download some comic pages!"

"'Comics 'R' Us'?" repeated MegaMan. "You got it..! That's a pretty bad name, though."

"Oh well. The content's good, anyway!"

"Well, okay." MegaMan brought up an internet browser window and started loading the said webpage. It only took a couple of seconds. The banner didn't look even a quarter as tacky as he had imagined, even with an unoriginal name like 'Comics 'R' Us'. The layout was well thought up, too; very organised and easy to navigate. It was easy to find what you wanted. There was a section for each comic, which brought up a seperate page listing the issues they'd put up so far. Choosing an issue, you could then choose the page or 'chapter', depending on how long of a comic book it was. "Alright, here we are."

"Spidernan!" Lan said enthusiastically.

MegaMan loaded the page.

"Lan Hikari!" Mrs. Hikari poked her head into the doorway. "You should be getting into bed right now! You can play on the internet tomorrow."

Lan groaned. "Aww, but I was gonna read some comics!"

"Bed, please. You have school tomorrow. Good night, sweetheart."

"...Night, mom."

"Good night, MegaMan," Mrs. Hikari said.

"Good night!" He looked at Lan as Mrs. Hikari wandered off. "Come on, Lan. We'll finish this tomorrow, okay?"

"I have a better idea," proposed Lan. "I have to go to bed, but that doesn't mean you do. So, that means you can stay online and download that stuff for me!"

"...how much 'stuff'?"

His net-op pondered momentarily. "As much as they've posted so far, I guess. Make a file in 'My Pictures' called 'Spiderman'. Then, you can organise the issues whatever way you want, as long as I can still figure it out."

"As much as they've posted?" MegaMan repeated incredulously. "That's... 117 issues! The pages are scanned at high resolution for better quality, so they're probably around a hundred kilobytes each. Lan, this'll take a ton of hard drive space!"

"Oh well. I've got enough space for it. I can delete it after I read it, anyway. This way, there won't be any loading time when I go to red 'em, too!"

"Alright..."

"G'night MegaMan!"

"Good night, Lan. I'll get you up early to study for that test, too."

Lan flinched. Why did MegaMan always have to remember that stuff? He closed the long shades that covered the glass door and window and flicked off the light. By the light of the computer screen, he fumbled his way through his bedroom over to his bed and crawled into it.

"You forgot to put your towel away," said MegaMan.

"Argh!" Lan got up, turned on his light again, picked up his damp towel from off the back of his computer chair and wandered into the bathroom to put it away. He returned in afew moments, flicking off the light again and jumping onto his bed. "Good night."

"Sleep well." And with a sigh, MegaMan proceeded to follow Lan's download request. It was going to be a long night...

Lan Hikari woke up due to the unpleasant sound of his father's retro music. He groaned, smushing his pillow over his head in an attempt to block out the sound. The music stopped, turning into an aggitating beep. He shifted stiffly and pressed the pillow over his head even harder. RIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIING! He jumped in surprise, nearly falling off the side of his bed. All of the blankets tumbled over the side. He pouted and rubbed at his eyes, turning over groggily to face the PC screen. "You seem tactical this morning..." he said aggitatedly to MegaMan.

"I tried calling you, but you didn't even move," MegaMan replied. "I thought maybe music you didn't like would do it, but I guess the louder and shriller the sound, the better."

"Thanks," Lan mumbled sarcastically. "What time is it..?"

"6:03:22AM. I said I would get you up early to study, remember?" He smiled. "Besides, it'll probably cheer you up to know that I downloaded all those comic pages that you wanted."

That seemed to be the right thing to say. "Yahoo! Really? Thanks, MegaMan!" Lan bolted off his bed and plopped down on his computer chair. "Bring up the folder!" His navi complied. "Awesome! This is great! I'm gonna be reading comics all day! Haha, I'll impress Dex with my vast knowledge!" He grinned, opening the file and the image file for the first page.

"You have school today," MegaMan reminded. "Also, I got you up early to study, remember?"

"Awww man, that's right..." He sighed, picking up his science book from off the floor next to his desk. It looked like those comics would have to wait until after school, and probably after he got back from the net arcade, too. Oh well. He flipped through the bright pages of the book until he found the fourth chapter. "See?" He held the open book up to the screen, flashing the two pages to MegaMan. "That's what I need to study."

"That's not very hard!" MegaMan encouraged. "You can remember all of that. Just take all the key points out of it and remember them. You did those experiments at school. Try to remember all of the observations you made in class, and you'll do fine!"

Lan put the open book onto his lap and scanned over the words. "You think that would be enough?"

"I think so. You can do it, Lan!"

"If that's all I need to know, then can I go back to sleep?" he asked hopefully. It would be nice to resume his dream about becoming the World Championship net battler, or to dream about getting good marks in school without actually doing anything. MegaMan shook his head.

"If you're up, you might as well try to be ahead of the game for once!" he suggested. "Maybe you'll be on time for school today. I'm sure Ms. Mari would be pleased."

"Prob'ly." Lan got up off his computer chair and wandered around his room, gathering various things he'd need to put into his backpack. At least netsaving had saved him from going to school for afew days. He picked up his math notebook and text book off of his desk and piled them on top of his science book. Behind him, he didn't notice MegaMan fidget slightly on the computer screen. Having the PC hard drive loaded with needless junk was causing it to lag a little, and his navi was beginning to notice it.

"Lan, you really should clean out some of the stuff on your PC. It's getting a little full," he said, his voice slightly edged in concern. "Your dad said not to put too much onto it. It's not good to have it lagging like this."

"It'll be okay until after I read those comics. I'll just delete everything off, like I said." Lan turned around to look at MegaMan. "I guess it's not the best place for you if it's lagging, though. Sorry." He picked up his PET and pointed it at the PC's jack-in port. "MegaMan, jack out!" He set the little machine on its stand on his desk. "There. Is that better?"

"Much better. Thanks." He watched as Lan wandered around his room, trying to find his pencil. The boy tossed all of his blankets back onto his bed, and then got on his hands and knees to look under it. Surprisingly, it was there. Reaching under the bed, he pulled out his pencil, which was still in dire need of sharpening. No wonder his writting was so messy! Adding that to his little pile of things for school, he turned his attention to his messy hair. It was messy, but at least it was clean. He straightened it out a little with his fingers, and then tied his blue bandana around his forehead in the usual manner. That felt alot better.

Lan got dressed and brought his PET into the kitchen with him. His mother wasn't up yet, and his father wasn't home, so it was quiet. "Wow!" he said enthusiastically. "I'm the first one up!" He paused. "Errr, other than you, MegaMan." He wandered over to the fridge. "I want toast," he decided aloud. "Do we have any jam?"

"I can't see from here," MegaMan replied, "so I have no idea."

Lan retrieved two slices of bread and toasted them, and then proceeded to spread on a thick layer of jam. "Perfection!" he said, sticking half of one toast slice into his mouth. There was nothing better than warm toast with a nice thick layer of strawberry jam. He munched on it for a moment. "If you could eat, I'd give you some," he told MegaMan. "Looks good, eh?"

MegaMan quirked an eyebrow at Lan's jam-spreading handiwork. "Uh... Doesn't look to appetizing to me, but I'm not the one eating it." He watched as Lan managed to get the rest of his breakfast down in under a minute. "You always act like you're starving!"

"I know." He proceeded to clean up the small mess he had made. "So," he said, going off topic. "Dex wants a netbattle today, huh? Feeling up to kicking GutsMan's butt again?" He grinned cheekily.

"Dex is overconfident. I think that's why he loses," MegaMan decided.

At that moment, Mrs. Hikari shuffled out of her bedroom wearing her pink bathrobe. She blinked in surprise as soon as she saw her son. "Up already, Lan?" she asked. "And cleaning up your own messes, too?"

"Yep!"

She smiled at him. "That's good of you! It looks like you're starting to get more responsible." She walked around him and headed for the coffee maker. What was it with adults and coffee? Was it some sort of morning ritual? Once she had her coffee maker going, she sat down at the kitchen table. "What got you up so early?" she asked Lan curiously.

"MegaMan," Lan said honestly. "I was gonna study, and then I discovered I didn't have to, so I just stayed up."

"Well, at least you'll be on time for school," Mrs. Hikari pointed out.

"Lan sleeps like a rock. I'm surprised I woke him up at all," MegaMan said with a smirk.

Lan scowled at the two of them. "Cut it out! I like my sleep, okay?"

"Go make up your bed, dear," Mrs. Hikari told him, disregarding what he had said. "Then you'll have it done, right?"

"Awww, okay..." Lan picked up his PET and trudged off to his bedroom again. Getting up early had its downsides. Sure he'd be on time for school today, but now he had to do chores! Where was the fun in that? At least the rest of the day would be more interesting, except for the school portion. Seeing his friends would be good, though. "Haha," he thought smugly. "Dex is gonna lose again! He's gonna have to give me another one of his good battle chips!"

Lan got to school on time for once. Entering his classroom, he was greeted by several of his peers, including Yai. She looked him over in an analytical manner, expecting to see something out of the ordinary. Flipping one of her blonde braids indignantly over her shoulder, she walked up to him. "You're here on time for once! It's about time that happened!" She put her hands on her hips, her expression expectant. "So what got you up in time to get to school early, anyhow?"

"Nevermind," Lan said, dismissing her indirect insult to his unenthusiastic outlook toward school. At least she hadn't mentioned anything about his absence. He didn't want the whole school to find out about his netsaver missions. "Is Dex here yet?"

"That incompetant lout? He's just as bad as you when it comes to punctuality." Yai wasn't always the world's most polite girl, although she was arguably the richest. Her friends were used to her by now, though. Sometimes she had 'bad' days. Nitpicky days, anyway. "He'll be here after the bell rings."

Maylu came up behind Lan, her backpack slung over one shoulder. "Lan! You're on time today! Wow!" She pulled her pink PET out of the pocket of her jacket.

"I wish you guys would stop rubbing it in." He too pulled out his PET. "Are we using the PETs in a lesson today?"

"Yes," responded Glide from in Yai's hand. Lan hadn't even noticed she had her navi with her today. "Ms. Mari informed the class on Monday that everyone was to bring their PETs to class with them on Wednesday."

"Oh! Really? Hehe, I always have mine with me, anyway." Lan smiled proudly at his blue terminal, containing DenTech's coolest hero-- MegaMan.EXE.

"I think most of us do," Maylu said. "PETs are important. Almost everybody owns one, and people who own them usually carry them around. They're convenient, y'know."

"Excuse me, children." Ms. Mari managed to make her way past Lan and his two friends. "Class will be starting in a moment." She didn't notice that Lan was at school on time. "Take your seats, please."

Lan shrugged and sat down in his usual place; the third row, two seats from the back. At least Ms. Mari had a lesser chance of noticing if he fell asleep from there. He plunked his backback onto the floor next to his chair. Yai took her place at the front of the classroom and folded her hands on top of her desk. Maylu looked back and forth undecidedly between her two friends for a moment, wondering where she should sit, before she decided to sit next to Yai. Their other classmates all took their usual spots, chatting to one another. Ms. Mari walked up to the head of the classroom. "Pay attention, please," she said calmly. The class settled down, becoming silent in afew moments. The school bell rang. "Class will now start. I see that--"

Dex appeared in the doorway, extremely short of breath. "I- I'm here," he panted.

Ms. Mari frowned. "And just in time, too. Have a seat, Dex."

The heavyset boy nodded, embarrased. He made his way to the back of the class and sat down behind Lan. "Bawled out again, eh Dex?" Lan whispered over his shoulder.

"Don't gimme a hard time, Hikari," Dex mumbled with a bit of a smirk, threatening him in the usually friendly manner.

"Dex! Lan! Please listen!" Ms. Mari shot looks at both of them, causing a portion of the class to turn and look, too. Lan felt his face go red. He wondered if Dex was as embarrassed as he was. Their teacher continued. "As I was saying," she went on, "I've noticed that you all remembered to bring your PETs to school today, like I asked. We're going to be doing a lesson with them. Everyone, please put your PET onto the desktop in front of you."

The class did as told.

"Now, we're going to try installing higher e-mail security levels into the PET. Can anyone remember the last security level they installed?"

"Four," said one boy.

"Two," said someone else.

"The newest version was 5.2," Ms. Mari informed. "It's suggested that everyone install this protection. Does anyone know why? Raise your hands, please."

A girl with dark hair put up her hand and was promptly chosen to answer. "Because there are new viruses going around, and some of them don't have cures yet, so we don't want them to infect the navis," she explained.

"Very good, Marlana."

Lan felt like he was going to fall asleep. He slid his PET back and forth between his hands on the wooden top of the desk to occupy himself. "Cut it out, Lan..!" MegaMan whispered. "Pay attention..! Or at least look like you're listening."

Lan looked at the ceiling and sighed in response.

"Everyone, please have your navis jack into the cyberworld via the nearest jack-in port." Ms. Mari gestured to the wall, where jack-in ports had been installed exclusively for the purpose of connecting school children's navis to the net from the convenience of their classroom. "There, they will find a warp over to the computer lab. Please jack-in and then head over to the computer lab."

The school children eagerly picked up their PETs and jacked in. Lan got up and wandered over to where Maylu and Yai were jacking in. Dex hurried after him.

"Glide, jack in!" said Yai.

"Jack in, Roll!" Maylu said a moment later.

"Aww, you guys don't make it sound very interesting," Lan told them. "Here. Do it like this!" He struck a dramatic pose, pointing the PET at the jack-in port. "JACK IN! MegaMan, power up!"

Several people turned and looked at him. Dex crossed his arms. "...show off."

Maylu chuckled. "Nevermind it. Let's get down to the computer lab!" The group of four went down the hall to where their teacher and some of their peers were waiting. Other classmates were following them down the hallway, too. Once the class had assembled and had been assigned to computers, their teacher continued instruction. Lan and Dex had been placed on opposite ends of the computer lab, although Ms. Mari had kept Yai and Maylu together.

"Now," she began. "have your navis log into the main net. Mr. Higsby's navi, NumberMan, will be providing you with the downloads you need. Have your navis retrieve them, and then head back to the 'SchoolComp' area that they're in now."

Of course, everyone followed instructions.

Lan couldn't hold back his yawn. "At least we're on the net," he said quietly to MegaMan. "But these update classes are boring. I already know all this stuff!"

"I know you do," MegaMan replied, "but not everyone else does. They have to learn how to do it from somewhere." He headed for the area that Ms. Mari had instructed to send the navis to, passing by several others that he assumed belonged to Lan's peers. NumberMan was waiting for them in the said spot. He noticed MegaMan right away.

"Ah! Hello, MegaMan. What are you doing here?"

"I'm with Lan at school," the blue netnavi replied. "I was sent here for updates for the PET."

"Oh yes, that's right! Lan's only in elementary school. I sometimes forget with all those netbattle tournaments you win and all." He gave MegaMan the closest thing to a smile that his rather geometric features could manage. "Here you go." He handed him the update he'd come for. "Version 5.2!"

"Thanks, NumberMan. I guess I'll wait for the others to show up."

Within another minute, more of Lan's peers' netnavis appeared. Glide, Roll and GutsMan were among them. It took them awhile to get past the others and get what was required from NumberMan, but as soon as they had gone about doing that, the trio headed for MegaMan.

"Hey, Mega!" Roll greeted. "Whatcha doing over here by yourself?"

"I was waiting for you three," he replied. "I guess we should get going before Ms. Mari wonders what's taking us so long." He started walking, gesturing for the others to follow. The other navis had began chatting amongst themselves as they headed back for the school computers, too.

"I suppose by now you've all heard about the mysterious internet 'bug' going around," Glide said. "Apparently, it's quite obscure, but I've heard it's infected some important navis. I wonder what it's about?"

"Prob'ly some Zero wannabe," GutsMan grunted in response. "Betcha it's gonna be infecting everyone soon."

"I bet there's some kind of reason as to why only important navis have been afflicted with it so far," Roll decided. "I bet whoever's doing this has a bigger plan, and doesn't want the authorities to figure them out. It would make sense!"

"That's true," Glide agreed. "It's probably some conspiracy."

"Something cooked up by some internet psycho," GutsMan added.

Roll tilted her head at MegaMan. He was walking in silence. "You okay, Mega?" she asked curiously. "You haven't said a thing yet..! Usually you like to contribute to conversations like this. Are you feeling okay?"

MegaMan offered a smile as consolation. "I'm fine, honest," he said. "I'm just feeling a little foggy because of all the downloading I had to do the other night. Lan's computer got loaded up with data, so it started lagging."

"That sounds awful. I'm sure he'll have it cleaned out soon if he knows it's causing a lag, though." Glide gave a reassuring smile. "Anyway, what have you been up to, MegaMan?"

"He's gonna netbattle with me after school," GutsMan proclaimed proudly. "And Dex and I are gonna win! We got some new chips from over at Higsby's. We ordered 'em in especially for tournament netbattles!"

"Shh! Guys, we're almost back to school!" Roll cautioned. "We don't want to interupt if the teacher is talking!"

"Roll's right. We ought to be quiet from here on out." Glide gave a nod. No one said anything else after that. Heading back into the computers at school, they discovered Roll had been right. Ms. Mari was explaining how to install security upgrades. They could also hear several children fiddling frustratedly with their PETs. MegaMan quietly made his way back to the PC that Lan was at. He was daydreaming again, obviously not taking in a single word that the teacher was saying. She had finished her explaination by now, and was trying to help a little girl who had been frustrated to tears when her PET froze up.

Lan yawned.

"I'm back, Lan."

"Awesome!" Lan cried. "I was bored to death sitting here. Didja get the download?"

"You bet. Want to jack me out so we can install it?"

Lan nodded and complied. "MegaMan, jack out!" His navi returned to the PET and immediately began to install the security program. It only took a minute.

"There's an informational page if you'd like to view it," MegaMan added, more out of habit than customary reasons.

"No thanks," Lan replied. "I can't wait until school's over. I have that dumb science test in the afternoon."

After awhile, everyone in the class managed to accomplish the 'gruelling' task of downloading and installing a better security program, and so they all headed back to the classroom. Ms. Mari had everyone hand in their math homework from Thursday and even began explaining something to do with geometry. At least, Lan thought it was geometry. He only caught afew words of it here and there, since for the most part, he wasn't exactly paying attention. The day did drag by with surprisingly few lectures from the teacher about 'not talking out of turn' because of his ocassional chats to Dex. Lunch was a good part of the school day. He talked with his friends for awhile, but no one said anything about the bug that the navis had discussed.

Once morning had melted into afternoon and lunch was over, they headed back to their classroom. Lan took the dreaded science test, and although Ms. Mari did begin to explain new topics they would be talking about in the next few days, she didn't assign any new homework, which was a large plus. Lan intended to go to the net arcade and then read this Spiderman comics after school anyway. At long last, the bell rang at 2:30PM.

"Whew! What a relief! I thought the day would never be over!" Lan picked up his backpack and walked toward the now busy school hallway. He waved good bye to Maylu and Yai, and the two girls headed out the door to Yai's limo. Apparently, Maylu planned to go play at Yai's house today. Dex hustled down the hall after Lan, yanking a handful of battle chips out of his pocket.

"Lan!" he called. The boy stopped to wait for him as he lumbered down the hall to join him near the front doors. "You ready to battle?"

"Ready as ever," Lan said, unable to match Dex's extreme air of overconfidence. "What battle chips did you bring this time?"

Dex grinned sneakily. "Oh, just some special ones I ordered from Higsby's. I guess you'll have to watch and see how powerful I can be with them." He gave Lan a casual punch in the shoulder. "I'll see you at the net arcade, Hikari." He headed for the sidewalk, taking the opposite of the route that Lan planned to take.

"Boy, what a show-off!" MegaMan remarked.

"That's just Dex for yah," Lan responded cooly. "Now let's get to the net arcade and kick his butt! I told mom before I left for school that I'd be back before dinner. That gives us plenty of time, right?"

"I think so!"

"Good." He made his way to the net arcade. Dex was silly to take an alternate route. The street Lan had taken provided a much direct path to it. Now he would probably be ten minutes late, just because he'd taken a different street to make himself look cool. At least that would mean Lan could go check out some other net battler's battle chips while he waited. The net arcade's glowing neon sign soon greeted him, flashing in its usual manner. Already the place looked packed. There was probably some well known net battler in there that everyone enjoyed watching. He made his way in and bought some tickets for use on the arcade machines.

Pushing through the crowd around the net battle arena, Lan saw that he had guessed right. The boy who was net battling now was fairly well known. He had a cool netnavi and alot of battle chips, so people liked to watch him participate to see what he had up his sleeve. Luckily, the boy was just finishing his last round, resulting in a win over the other player's navi. "You did a great job," he congratulated to the loser. "You almost won, too! Great match." He smiled. "I have to go run some errands, though, so I should go." Several people groaned. "I'll be back tommorrow, though!" He waved, jacking his navi out of the arena and dissapearing into the crowd.

"Dibs on the net battle arena!" Lan cried, making a dash for it. Thankfully, no one objected. This was his favorite one to use, for reasons unknown. Several people sounded pleased to see him, already giving words of encouragement and praise toward both him and his navi.

"Who's MegaMan up again today?" queried a little kid behind him.

"GutsMan," Lan answered. "Now to wait for Dex to show up."

He compared battle chips with an older girl for afew minutes before Dex finally appeared out of the crowd. He posed dramatically. How embarrassing. "I, the great Master Dex," he proclaimed loudly. "hearby plan to kick Lan Hikari and MegaMan's butts today!" He raised his arms in triumph, as though he had already won. Lan tried not to laugh.

"Alright, let's jack in," Lan said.

"Right! Enough standing around." Dex smirked. "Jack in, GutsMan!"

GutsMan's clunky form appeared in the arena. He posed in a manner eerily similar to the way Dex had done just moments before him. Some people cheered, obviously net battle fans. Or maybe 'fans' mislead by Dex's bragging. It was hard to tell.

"Jack in! MegaMan, power up!"

In a second, MegaMan also appeared in the arena. A bunch of people behind Lan got really excited. Clearly, they were already liking this. It was good to have enthusiasts watching. Lan pocketed some battle chips from out of his backpack, keeping afew in his hand. "Alright, MegaMan! Let's do this!"

The navi nodded. "For sure!"

"I'm gonna stomp you, MegaMan!" boomed GutsMan. Obviously Dex had told him to say that. Was he trying to make this look like the wrestling federation or something? "Let's go!"

"Cold Punch, battle chip in! Download!"

GutsMan recieved the said battle chip from Dex and threw a punch at MegaMan. Too slow. MegaMan leapt over it with extreme ease. In a second, his arm turned into the megabuster, and he fired several shots at GutsMan. He was already winning and the match had scarcely even begun. His opponent tried to smash him into the ground with his massive hands, which also failed. He attacks were strong, but far from fast enough to even put a scratch on MegaMan. Lan decided to load a battle chip, too. It would make things more interesting, anyway.

"Wide Sword, battle chip in! Download!"

MegaMan's lower arm transformed into a digital blade. Apparently, Lan didn't plan to take out the heavy artillery for a battle such as this one. He ran at GutsMan and delivered a quick stroke with the sword. GutsMan flinched. "Pretty sneaky," he said. "But not sneaky enough..!" As MegaMan paused for barely longer than a second, GutsMan threw a full-force punch at him, shaking the whole arena as he missed, crashing his huge fist into the floor. MegaMan resumed his position in front of him.

"Spreader, battle chip in! Download!"

The blue natnavi's right arm transformed from a sword to a gun. He fired it once, catching GutsMan unaware as he tried to yank his massive fist out of the ground. The shot spread out, hitting him in several spots.MegaMan felt somewhat remorseful, having to battle a friend like this, especially when GutsMan quite honestly didn't seem to have a chance. Dex pushed him too hard. GutsMan growled and pulled his fist up with a mighty tug, swinging back around at MegaMan. Again, he missed. MegaMan was too strong and fast an opponent.

"Here! This'll help yah out!" Dex cried, trying not to look anxious. "Yo-Yo, battle chip in! Download!"

The spinning weapon came none too soon. GutsMan launched it just as MegaMan fired several more shots at him with the spreader and took up using the megabuster again. The yo-yo was a good choice. It was fast, and had decent enough aim to hit a quick target. It spun furiously, but MegaMan leaned out of the way in time, and it was retracted harmlessly back to GutsMan's arm. By now, both Dex and GutsMan were getting frustrated. It was a battle of will for Lan to stop from grinning. He had known the outcome of this battle before it even began.

"Had enough, Dex?" he said with a playful smirk. "I have a pocket full of battle chips still, y'know, and I haven't taken out the 'big guns' yet."

Dex growled. "You watch, Lan. We're gonna pulverize you!" He withdrew another chip from his pocket and studied it for a moment. "Needle shot, battle chip in! Download!" Another fast-moving weapon. GutsMan launched a small arsenal of needles at MegaMan. They were fast. Maybe they'd take him by surprise and hit him..!

MegaMan did a simple backflip, easily evading that attack, too. "This battle's done, Dex," Lan said honestly. "I dunno how many more shots it'll take before GutsMan's down for the count, but it doesn't look like it'll take many. Go on, MegaMan!"

"Right..!" He ran back in GutsMan's direction, planning to jump up and get in several good shots with the megabuster. It had been awhile since he battled GutsMan, and although the navi had been recustomised and improved, he was still clumsy. GutsMan barrelled toward him, planning to give him a nice faceful of fist power. With relative ease, MegaMan leapt clear over him, landing on his feet just behind the opposing navi's large form. He began to head for the side. Maybe he could get those shots in from there. It would feel wrong hitting from behind.

A strange feeling came over him suddenly. It felt like something within him was seizing up... sort of like the feeling one would get from being in an overloaded computer for too long. Something inside froze up for not even a second, but it was long enough. He stumbled. And then Lan's net warrior, without a scratch on him, collapsed.