Chapter 5: Chaos Unfolds
'Tori gives Lan advice on how he can express himself to Maylu and MusicMan has officially become a Dark Loid. Things are starting to get interesting.'
After walking Maylu home, Tori has begun giving Lan advice on how he can express himself to Maylu. The conversation continues as the two are now heading home from the Dentech Ice cream Shoppe.
"So basically, all you do is approach Maylu in a sincere manner and speak." Tori continues. "But first, make sure you two are alone and you know exactly what you're going to say."
"That's what my dad said." Lan replies as he takes another sip of his milk shake. "But there is only one problem with that."
"And that is?" Tori Inquires.
"I don't know how I can put my words in order so that they come out right." Lan answers Tori. "I'm afraid I'm going screw up."
"And there lies your problem." Tori speaks, releasing a sigh. "You're too worried about screwing up. Lan, you shouldn't worry about that because if you really like Maylu, then you will find a way to express yourself to her no matter what it takes, even if it does means screwing up your words. The important thing is that she knows."
"You're right." Lan admits as he and Tori turn the corner and are now heading towards the residential area. "I really want to tell her, but the time never seems right."
"Then it's time for some careful planning." Tori speaks. "The time is never right because you haven't taken the time to plan the correct time and place, but that problem will soon be remedied."
Now remembering that Maylu will be calling him that night, Lan gets hit with an idea.
"Wait, she'll be calling me tonight to go over our homework lesson." Lan speaks up. "I can tell her then."
"Nope, bad idea." Tori says as he finishes the last of his milkshake. "Over the phone won't do. You have to tell her face to face so that way she can see how sincere you're being."
"Since you are so full of ideas, then when do you think will be the right time might I ask?" Lan inquires to Tori.
"I say tell Maylu at the festival." Tori suggests. "You can either wait until after her performance or after the festival is over."
"Yeah. I guess that would work." Lan says as he begins thinking on Tori's suggestion. "That's a pretty good idea Tori."
"Now, I also suggest bringing 12 long stemmed red roses with you." Tori suggests once more. "You know, so you won't go to the festival empty handed and so you can surprise her."
"Wait, roses?" Lan inquires in surprise as he quickly stops dead in his tracks. "If I bring roses, then she will definitely suspect that something is up."
"Not true." Tori replies as he stops next to Lan. "The roses will be a gift for her performance and after you give her the roses, then you express yourself to her. That will be the perfect time to do it."
"Well, I guess you're right." Lan agrees as he and Tori continue down the street. "I just hope when I tell her, she doesn't reject me."
"You're such a pessimistic person Lan." Tori speaks as he shakes his head. "You're not giving Maylu enough credit. You say you two have been friends since childhood, which means she knows all of your ups, downs and you inside out. Now if she knows everything about you then I don't see her rejecting you."
"I do." Lan speaks up as they enter the residential area. "Think about it. She plays the piano, is very smart in every subject and always gets good grades. Me, on the other hand, have no special talent outside of net battling, my grades are horrible and I find school to be the gridlock of boredom. There is no way she will ever want to have a relationship with me."
"Lan, it's not about the qualities you both share or don't share, it's about who you are to her in person." Tori says as he releases a sigh. "If Maylu has been there for you when you needed her the most, despite how many times you have screwed up, then I would say her rejecting you isn't going to happen. So do yourself a favor and eject that thought before you give yourself a mental breakdown."
"Alright, I'll do that." Lan says as he and Tori enter Lan's block. "But if it turns out that none of your advice works and she does reject me, then you will never hear the end of it from me."
"Ok, to try and calm your fears, let's do a demonstration." Tori suggests as the two stop a few houses down from Lan's. "I want you to pretend that I am Maylu and it's after the festival or her performance. You've already given her the roses and it's just the two of you. Now, tell me how you feel as if Maylu was standing here."
Turning to Tori, Lan begins trying to imagine Maylu standing in Tori's place. Continuing to try to place the image, Lan begins scrambling his mind for words to say as if Maylu were standing in front of him. Now placing the image and having a slight idea of what he is going to say in mind, Lan begins sweating a little.
"Oh, these roses are so beautiful Lan." Tori speaks in a high pitch tone, as if Maylu were speaking. "Thank you so much."
"You…You're…welcome." Lan replies as he begins stammering. "Maylu, there…there is..something that I want..to..tell you."
"Yes Lan?" Tori, as Maylu, speaks.
"Maylu…I…I.." Lan continues stammering. "I…I have been..thinking.. a lot about our friendship and…."
"And what Lan?" Tori, as Maylu, speaks once more.
"And…I." Lan stammers as he begins shivering a bit and the sweating begins increasing.
Now feeling his words chunk up in his throat and the sweating becoming heavier, Lan releases a sigh and drops his head.
"I can't do this." Lan mumbles.
"What do you mean? You were doing great." Tori says to Lan. "The way you were tripping over your words was helping some what, but you were on the right track."
"Yeah, on the right track to being let down." Lan says as he raises his head. "I can see it now. I tell Maylu how I feel about her and I can hear her saying 'sorry Lan, I don't feel the same way, but we can stay friends.' That would mean I went through all of this for nothing."
"Lan, you have to learn to start seeing the lighter side to life." Tori replies as he reaches in his shirt pocket and grabs his PET. Now bringing it into view, Tori glances at the time next to Iceman and the time is 5:52pm.
"Well Lan, I have to head home now so I can practice for the festival." Tori says to Lan as he places his PET back in his pocket. "But we'll continue this conversation tomorrow, but remember everything I told you."
"I'll remember." Lan replies to Tori. "Later Tori."
"Later Lan." Tori says as he begins heading towards the exit of Lan's block and Lan heads to his house. Now reaching his house, Lan enters and closes the door behind him. Lan, then, heads upstairs to his room and once he reaches his room, he walks over to his desk. Taking the PET and the battle chips out of the PET carrying case, Lan places them on the desk.
"You know Lan, Tori made some excellent points." Megaman begins speaking. "Even though it does mean taking a risk, you have to tell Maylu how you really feel."
"I know." Lan replies to Megaman as he looks towards his window and to next door, into Maylu's room. Lan notices she is playing the piano. Sighing, Lan turns away from his window and takes a seat at his desk and opens his notebook.
"I'm going to look over my homework before Maylu calls." Lan speaks to Megaman.
"Alright." Megaman replies. "Just let me know if need anything."
"Sure thing." Lan answers Megaman as he begins looking over his homework.
Sakurai Residence
Maylu has begun playing the song she is going to perform at the festival and is well into it as Roll keeps track of the notes on the computer. Continuing to play, Maylu misplays a few notes, but continues playing anyway. Now being on the last verse of the song, Maylu plays the final notes and brings the song to an end.
"Good Job Maylu." Roll says to her net op.
"Thanks Roll." Maylu thanks her navi as she turns to the computer. "So how'd I do?"
"You did a great job, but you misplayed a few notes." Roll informs Maylu as she displays the song and the misplayed notes in red on the computer screen. "In the second verse, you played an A flat when the note was C sharp and in the last verse you played a C sharp when the note was B sharp. Outside of that, you did a wonderful job."
"I'll correct those notes in my next lesson, but for now I'm going to take a break and look over my homework." Maylu says with a smile as she stands from sitting at the piano. "I have a couple more days to perfect the entire song, so I have plenty of time."
"Of course." Roll replies with a smile. "You'll have that song perfected in no time."
"I'm going to call Lan to go over the homework." Maylu informs her navi. "I'll be back shortly."
Roll nods as Maylu grabs her notebook from her desk and heads out of the room, now heading downstairs to the living room.
Cyber World
After a visit with Shademan and officially being confirmed as a Dark Loid, MusicMan is now heading towards Mr. Edogawa's computer channel with Flashman in tow as the new dark loid has a special message for his Net Op.
"So how does it feel to be one of the Dark Loids?" Flashman inquires to MusicMan as the two continue approaching the computer channel.
"It feels great." MusicMan answers him. "I've never felt better."
"Great." Flashman speaks. "The more dark power you obtain, the more powerful you'll become."
The two Dark Loids now arrive at the computer channel as MusicMan takes out the file he was asked to retrieve by his Net Op. Now bringing it into view, MusicMan smiles evilly.
"What's that?" Flashman inquires to MusicMan.
"The file that my Net Op asked me to retrieve for him." MusicMan answers Flashman. "This is what he asked for so this is what he'll get."
Placing his right hand on top of the file, MusicMan begins transferring dark energy from himself and is transferring it to the file. Continuing to transfer the energy, MusicMan can see the file is being consumed by the dark energy. Now having transferred enough dark energy, MusicMan removes his hand as the dark energy completely consumes the file.
"He's going to be happy to see this." MusicMan says to Flashman with an evil smile. "I'll be right back. I wouldn't want to keep him waiting any longer."
Flashman nods as MusicMan uploads himself to Mr. Edogawa's computer channel through the computer's IP address. (Flashman would grin, but he doesn't have a mouth.)
Mr. Edogawa's Residence
Mr. Edogawa has just finished with the Clarinet students' music programs and are now printing them out.
"Ok, the clarinet students' programs are completed." Mr. Edogawa says to himself as he retrieves the last printed program from the printer's tray. "Now to start on the Guitar students."
Now taking a seat back at his computer, Mr. Edogawa saves the file he just finished to the hard drive and clicks on the blank page icon in the word program he's using, as a blank document appears on the screen. Before Mr. Edogawa can begin typing, MusicMan suddenly appears on the screen, surprising his Net Op.
"MusicMan, you're back." Mr. Edogawa speaks in excitement, happy to see his navi. "I was wondering what happened to you."
"The net was a bit slow today." MusicMan replies. "Sorry to have kept you waiting."
"That's quite alright." Mr. Edogawa speaks. "So did you get the sheet music I requested for my piano students?"
"Yes I did." MusicMan replies. "I'll begin uploading that to you now."
MusicMan begins uploading the file to the computer as Mr. Edogawa grabs his jump drive from the desk. Now placing the jump drive in the USB slot on the front of his computer, the file's percentage bar reaches 100 as the file's question prompt appears on the screen, asking where the file will be saved. Mr. Edogawa grabs his mouse and clicks on the drop down box, searching for his jump drive's program. Now finding it, Mr. Edogawa clicks on the program and then clicks 'OK.' The file has now been saved to the jump drive.
"Thanks so much MusicMan." Mr. Edogawa thanks his navi. "You're a life saver."
"You're welcome sir." MusicMan answers his Net Op. "I'm going to go surf the net for a little bit while you finish your work."
"That'll be fine." Mr. Edogawa replies to his navi with a smile. "Have a blast."
"I sure will." MusicMan says with a normal smile as he teleports himself off of the computer's channel and downloads himself back to the internet. Now being back in the Cyber World, MusicMan cracks an evil smirk.
"And I know you'll have a blast as well." MusicMan says to himself as he begins walking towards where Flashman is standing.
Turning around from looking out towards the net avenue, Flashman notices MusicMan approaching him. Now being within reaching range of Flashman, MusicMan stops and grins evilly.
"Did he get the file?" Flashman inquires.
"He got it." MusicMan speaks to Flashman, keeping his evil grin. "And he didn't even suspect a thing."
"Good." Flashman speaks. "I can't wait to see the expression on that mindless human's face when he finds out that you are no longer his lap dog."
"Me neither." MusicMan replies to Flashman. "From this point on, I work for no one."
"You are speaking like a true Dark Loid." Flashman says to MusicMan. "I am so proud of you. Now let's devise a plan on how we are going to bring the humans down come trash day."
The two Dark Loids walk away from the computer channel section of the net and into the Cyber World as Flashman begins sharing his plan with MusicMan.
Hikari Residence
Lan is in the living room, on the phone with Maylu as she goes over the homework with him.
"Now use the number outside of the parenthesis to factor out the numbers inside." Maylu continues explaining.
Lan follows Maylu's instructions and factors out the numbers.
"Ok, that's done." Lan answers Maylu.
"Ok, now add the number ahead of the plus sign to the new number you just got and that will give your answer for X." Maylu finishes explaining as Lan finishes the problem.
"Ok, the problem is complete." Lan says to Maylu.
"What answer did you get?" Maylu inquires.
"36x." Lan answers as Maylu looks into her notebook to see if she has the same answer that Lan came up with. Now looking at the problem she helped Lan with, she notices that his answer is the same as her answer.
"That answer is correct." Maylu says to Lan with happiness in her voice.
"Thanks so much for helping me out with this Maylu." Lan thanks her. "I don't care how old I get, I will never understand math." (That is what I alway say)
"No problem Lan." Maylu speaks to Lan with slight laughter in her voice. "I'll always be here for you when you need me, you know that. You're my best friend."
"I am so glad you mentioned that." Lan says as he releases a heavy sigh and closes his notebook on the coffee table. "Maylu, there is something that I want to tell you."
"Yes Lan?" Maylu inquires as she closes her notebook.
Taking a deep breath, Lan begins speaking.
"Maylu, I have been thinking a lot about our friendship and…"Lan speaks as he quickly begins trying to put his words together. "And I…"
"And what Lan?" Maylu inquires in confusion.
"And I…"Lan continues as he begins tripping over his words. Continuing to try to put his words together, the advice Tori gave Lan begins playing in his mind.
:You have to tell her face to face so she can see how sincere you're being.: Tori's words echo through Lan's mind.
"And what Lan?" Maylu inquires anxiously. "What is it that you want to tell me?"
Sighing once more, Lan decides to drop his current decision.
"What I want to tell you is, I want to thank you for being such a great best friend to me." Lan speaks in a sincere tone.
Maylu smiles.
"No problem Lan." Maylu says to him. "The same goes to you."
"Thanks once again for helping me with my homework and I'll see you at school tomorrow." Lan says to Maylu with a smile.
"No problem and see you there." Maylu replies with a smile. "See ya."
"See ya." Lan responds as he hangs up and places the phone receiver on the base.
Now having the phone hung up on his end, Lan releases a sigh and leans back against the couch as he closes his eyes.
"Why is it so hard for me to tell her how I feel?" Lan inquires to himself as he opens his eyes. Turning to the left of him, Lan spots the picture he and Maylu took at the Dentech City carnival when they 10, resting on the table by the couch. Maylu is smiling and Lan is eating an ice cream cone.Sighing, Lan turns away and grabs his notebook from the coffee table. Lan, then, heads upstairs to his room.
The next day at Dentech Middle School
Dentech middle school is in session and teaching is in full swing for yet another school day. Mr. Edogawa's class is in full swing as he is going over his music students' selections.
"Ok class, I have only managed to get the clarinet and the guitar students programs done last night, but I will finish the other programs this evening." Mr. Edogawa begins announcing. "Now today, I would like to go over the selections you all have picked for the festival. Who would like to go first?"
"I would sir." Tori speaks up.
"Alright Mr. Froid." Mr. Edogawa speaks. "You picked to play 'Dreams' by Van Halen, so let's hear it."
Grabbing his guitar from beside his seat, Tori positions it in front of him. Now having it positioned, Tori begins playing the song he picked. Continuing to play the song, Mr. Edogawa nods in approval as to how Tori's progress is going. Being on the last verse of the song, Tori plays the last verse and brings the song to an end.
"Very impressive Tori." Mr. Edogawa says in approval to Tori. "Good Job."
Tori nods and takes a bow.
"Now, who else would like to impress me with their marvelous selections?" Mr. Edogawa inquires among his class.
"I would like to go next." Maylu speaks up.
"Ok, what selection did you pick?" Mr. Edogawa inquires to Maylu.
"Beethoven's Moonlight Sonata." Maylu answers him.
"Ok, go for it." Mr. Edogawa permits with a smile.
Maylu rises from her seat and walks over to the piano. Now reaching the piano, Maylu takes a seat at the bench and positions herself. Maylu, then, begins playing the song she picked. Now being one verse into the song, a heavy crash suddenly sounds outside as the school building vibrates from the earthquake from the crash, interrupting the music class and every class in the building.
"What was that? Tori inquires as he quickly rises from his seat and runs over to the window. Now getting a good look at the cause of the commotion, Tori's eyes become wide.
"It can't be." Tori dryly speaks.
In Ms. Mari's class, Lan is also getting an eyeful of what caused the earthquake outside of the school.
"Dimensional area generators?" Lan shouts as he turns away from the window and runs towards the exit of the class. Now reaching the exit, Lan enters the hallway and notices the dimensional area has covered the school.
"What is a dimensional area doing here?" Megaman inquires as his voice sounds from the PET on Lan's waist.
Before Lan can answer Megaman's inquiry, Flashman teleports in front of Lan. Tori and Maylu exit the music room to see Flashman in the hallway in front of Lan.
"Flashman?" Tori and Maylu inquire in unison.
"Well, that answers your question." Lan says to Megaman as he keeps his eyes on Flashman.
A/N: Ok, here is chapter 5 and I hope you all like it. Sorry it took me so long to getthis out and if this chapter is a bit boring. There was a recent passing in my family and I was very busy behind that. Here is the chapterso the wait is over. No flames please and if anything is confusing, please let me know and I'll modify that for you. Chapter 6 will be out when I have a moment. If nothing else, please review.
Review Please!