Chapter 6: A Net Savior's Challenge
'Dark Loid MusicMan decides to be a solo net navi and a dimensional area has formed around the school, bringing Flashman with it. This doesn't look good.'
The school's teaching process has been interrupted as a dimensional area has covered the school building. Flashman has appeared in front of Lan as the two continue exchanging glares at this moment.
"What do you want Flashman?" Lan sternly inquires to the dark loid in front of him.
"Calm down human." Flashman demands, seeing the fierce expression on Lan's face. "I am only here with a mere warning for you."
Suddenly getting hit with the feeling of a possible fight occurring between him and Flashman, Lan begins trying to think of a way to avoid the fight so no one in the building is put in harm's way.
:Great. Thanks to Flashman's sudden invasion, everyone here maybe in danger, especially if his warning is a base for a fight.: Lan says to himself, with no ideas coming to mind. :But if it's a battle he wants, then I'll do my job as a Net savior and protect everyone here.:
"Speak your peace, keep it short and leave everyone else in this building out of it." Lan firmly demands as he continues glaring at Flashman.
"If you insist, then here is your warning." Flashman begins. "There is something very important to you that I know you would hate to loose so if I were you, I would keep a close eye on it because without it, you are nothing."
"And just how would you know what is important to me?" Lan inquires firmly to Flashman.
"I have my ways." Flashman answers Lan. "But do heed my warning Net savior, because by not doing so could have dire results."
"That's not answering my question!" Lan speaks with frustration building in his voice.
"I've already spoken and by request, I kept it short." Flashman answers Lan.
"Stop talking in circles and give me a straight answer now!" Lan speaks in anger.
"As much as I would like to stay and play tongue twister riddles with you, unfortunately, I must be going." Flashman speaks. "But you will see the manifestation of what my words mean in time. See you around."
Flashman teleports out as the dimensional area begins unraveling from around the school.
"Wait!" Lan yells. "Get back here! I'm not through with you yet!"
The dimensional area completely unravels from around the school as the dimensional area generators disintegrate from the school grounds, leaving potholes behind and the hallway of the school returns to normal.
"I hate it when dark loids do this!" Lan practically yells. "They show up, talk in circles, expecting you to understand their riddles, and then take off. It bugs me to no end."
"What do you think Flashman is getting at by what he said?" Megaman inquires to Lan from the PET.
Now reaching for the PET case on his waist, Lan opens the pocket the PET is in and grabs it. Now bringing it into view, Lan sees a curious Megaman on the screen.
"I don't know, but whatever it is, you know it's linked to a soon-to-be battle." Lan answers Megaman. "And I'll be ready for him."
Before Megaman can add to Lan's statement, Ms. Mari's voice suddenly sounds from behind Lan.
"Lan." Ms. Mari calls out to him. "Lan, please come back to class."
Turning around, Lan spots Ms. Mari standing in the doorway of the classroom with a serious, yet worried expression on her face. Nodding, Lan turns back to his PET, back to Megaman.
"We'll continue this later." Lan says to Megaman.
Now placing the PET back in the carry case, Lan makes his way back to the class. Upon reaching the classroom, Lan enters and returns to his desk as Ms. Mari picks up with the lesson. As Ms. Mari begins teaching, Flashman's words begins playing back in Lan's mind.
:There is something very important to me that he knows I would hate to loose because without it, I'm nothing.: Lan mentally says to himself. :There is a lot that is important to me so whatever plan Flashman has in mind that involves any of it, he's not going to carry it out and I'm going to see to that personally.:
The Music Room
Tori and Maylu have returned to the music class and to their places in the class as Mr. Edogawa is in the process of getting the students back on track with their work.
"Mr. Froid, what was that ruckus outside?" Mr. Edogawa inquires to Tori as he arranges the papers on his desk that were knocked off due to the generator's earthquake vibrations.
"Oh, two semi's collided." Tori answers him, covering up what really happened as he positions his guitar on his lap. "One carrying Pepsi and the other carrying explosives, but the explosives didn't go off because the Pepsi's soaked the fuses."
"Thank goodness the Pepsi's laid waste to those explosives or it would have been a bigger mess to clean up then just the collision." Mr. Edogawa speaks, releasing a sigh of relief and grabbing his grade book off his desk. "Ok class, back to work. Ms. Sakurai, you were playing your selection. You may continue."
"Yes sir." Maylu says as she now faces the piano and begins playing her song. While playing, the warning Flashman gave Lan begins playing in her mind.
:There is something very important to you that I know you would hate to loose so if I were you, I would keep a close eye on it because without it, you are nothing.: Flashman's words echo's in her mind.
:I wonder what Flashman is referring to by what he said to Lan.: Maylu mentally says to herself. :Next to his friends and family, Megaman is important to Lan. If Flashman is referring to Megaman, then that would be what Lan has to keep close watch on because Flashman knows without Megaman, Lan couldn't continue being a Net Savior. I know Lan and he won't let anything happen to Megaman.:
As Maylu continues playing her selection, Tori begins thinking about Flashman's warning himself, trying to think of what Lan holds of importance that he couldn't stand to loose.
:Something very important to Lan.: Tori begins pondering. :Flashman knows what Lan would hate to loose because without it, he's nothing.:
Tori continues mentally repeating the riddle to himself while trying hard to think of what Lan cares the most about.
:Something very important.: Tori mentally repeats to himself once more as he continues searching his mind for the answer. :There is his family, Megaman, and his friends. I already know Lan would hate to loose all of that, but there has got to be one thing that is top priority to him.:
Now remembering the conversation that he had with Lan the other day, along with the actions he witnessed Lan display after walking Maylu home that same day, Tori's mind clicks, now figuring out what Flashman was warning Lan about.
:I got it: Tori mentally yells. :If I'm correct then Flashman is warning Lan to keep an eye on Maylu because she is what's important to him and what he would hate to loose. I hope Lan is ready for what I am about to tell him, but I have to tell him somewhere away from Maylu so she can't hear us and I know just the place.:
Lunch
Recess has arrived and the school halls are filled with students preparing for the lunch hour and the recent earthquake is the conversation that is being spoken among them. Tori, who has just walked out of the music room, looks down the hall and spots Lan at his locker.
"There he is." Tori speaks as he begins running in Lan's direction through the crowd of students. "Good thing I spotted him before he left for lunch. Hey Lan!"
Lan closes his locker and is about to walk away when suddenly, he begins hearing Tori's voice calling out to him. Turning around, Lan spots Tori running in his direction at break neck speed. Now being within reaching range of Lan, Tori stops an inch from him.
"Hey Tori." Lan greets to Tori.
"I'm glad I caught you." Tori greets back as he begins trying to catch his breath. "Listen, I figured out what Flashman was warning you about earlier."
"Really?" Lan inquires to Tori curiously. "What is it?"
"I can't tell you here." Tori answers Lan.
"Why not and where's Maylu?" Lan inquires to Tori.
"She's in the music room talking to Mr. Edogawa." Tori answers Lan, now having caught his breath. "Which is a good thing, because I don't want her to hear what I'm about to tell you."
"Why not?" Lan inquires to Tori.
"Just come with me to the computer lab and I'll explain everything." Tori says to Lan.
Dropping his protest, Lan begins following Tori down the hall as both boys are now heading for the computer lab. Now reaching the end of the hall they are in, the two make a right into the hall leading to cafeteria and now arrive at the computer Lab to the left of them. Upon arriving at the computer lab, they enter with Tori closing the door behind them.
"Now what did you figure out and why can't Maylu hear this?" Lan inquires to Tori.
"Before I answer that, I have a few questions for you." Tori answers Lan. "First, what is important to you?"
"My family, friends, and Megaman." Lan answers Tori. "You know this already, but what would any of that have to do with what you figured out?"
"Next question, what has been the most important thing to you lately?" Tori inquires to Lan once more.
"How I'm going to express my feelings to Maylu." Lan answers Tori. "You know that as well, but I still don't see how any of this would have anything to do…..
Lan's words come to a crawl as he now figures out what Tori is getting at.
"Are you saying that Flashman's warning has to do with Maylu?" Lan nervously inquires to Tori.
"I'm afraid so." Tori answers Lan in a low tone.
"I can't believe I missed that." Lan says in shock as he takes a seat at the computer next to him. "But why would Flashman be after Maylu?"
"I don't know, but it's definitely linked to you being a Net Savior." Tori answers Lan.
"How so?" Lan inquires to Tori.
"Lan, think about it." Tori begins explaining. "You and Megaman have outwitted every dark loid that have crossed paths with you two and now to ensure that he gets the upper hand, he is putting someone you care about in danger."
"Tori is right Lan." Megaman speaks from the PET. "I shortly figured out what Flashman was telling you after Ms. Mari called you back to class. If he's after Maylu, then he is surely after Roll as well."
Grabbing his PET from the carry case and bringing into view, Lan sighs.
"And here I was beginning to think he was talking about you, Megaman." Lan says to his Navi. "You are important to me as well."
"I know Lan." Megaman replies with a small smile. "But I knew all along Flashman wasn't talking about me."
"Well, if Flashman wants to get to Maylu and Roll, then he has to get through me first." Lan speaks with determination in his voice. "No one or nothing messes with my friends."
"I'm behind you 100 percent Lan." Tori says to Lan with a smile.
Turning to Tori, Lan smiles.
"Thanks." Lan thanks Tori.
"No problem buddy." Tori replies to Lan.
"Out of everything and everybody, Flashman had to pick Maylu as a target." Lan speaks as he leans forward on the computer desk and rests his hands under his chin. "I just don't get it."
"Neither do I, but instead of trying to find the impossible answer, let's start thinking of a strategy so Maylu and Roll can be removed from Flashman's radar." Megaman speaks up.
"You're right Megaman." Lan speaks to his navi as he begins thinking. "Now, what would be considered an effective strategy?"
Music Room
Maylu is discussing the selection she chose for the festival with Mr. Edogawa.
"So do you approve of my playing Beethoven's Moonlight Sonata at the festival Friday?" Maylu inquires to Mr. Edogawa.
"Absolutely." Mr. Edogawa replies with approval. "You played that song very well in class today with no mistakes. Out of all of my piano students in this class, I must say you are the most outstanding."
"Thank you Mr. Edogawa." Maylu thanks her teacher.
"I'll begin working on the programs during my lunch period." Mr. Edogawa says to Maylu with a smile. "So I'll see you tomorrow morning in class."
"Ok, see you then." Maylu says with a smile as she begins heading for the exit of the class. Now reaching the exit, Maylu exits and enters the hallway and is now on her way to the cafeteria.
"Playing the piano is hungry work." Maylu says to herself as she begins down the hall.
Continuing for the cafeteria, Maylu suddenly begins hearing her name being called by a familiar voice behind her. Stopping, Maylu turns around and spots Yai running in her direction.
"Maylu!" Yai shouts. "Maylu, wait up!"
Now being within reaching range of Maylu, Yai stops.
"Hey Yai." Maylu greets to her friend.
"Hey Maylu." Yai greets back. "You weren't in the cafeteria when lunch started. What happened?"
"I was in the music room talking to Mr. Edogawa about the Music festival." Maylu answers Yai. "What's up?"
"I'm still shaken by the earthquake that occurred earlier." Yai says to Maylu as the two begin heading for the cafeteria together.
"That was no earthquake." Maylu replies as her happy expression suddenly changes to slight sadness. "A dimensional area, along with Flashman, appeared."
"Really?" Yai inquires curiously. "That would explain why Lan disappeared when Ms. Mari told us get under our desks. What happened?"
"Nothing happened." Maylu answers Yai as the two make a right and enters the hall that leads to the cafeteria. "Flashman gave Lan a warning and then left."
"I wish I could have seen it." Yai speaks as the two continues down the hall, now passing the computer lab.
As they pass the room, Maylu catches an ear shot of the voices speaking inside and stops. Walking back to the door, Maylu begins listening to the voices and now recognizes them to be Lan's and Tori's. Yai, who now notices Maylu isn't walking with her, turns around and spots Maylu at the computer Lab door. Maylu continues listening as Yai now joins her at the door.
"What are you doing?" Yai inquires to Maylu.
Maylu turns to Yai and places a finger to her lips, indicating for Yai to keep quiet.
"But Flashman can appear anywhere and without warning." The girls hear Tori say. "Which will make it hard for us to plan this exactly right."
"I don't care when or where he shows up." Lan replies with determination. "I've been waiting a long time for a chance to tell Maylu how I really feel about her and I'm not going to let him or any dark loid ruin this for me because I may not get another chance."
Now having heard that sentence, Maylu slightly steps away from the door and leans against the wall.
"Express how he feels towards me?" Maylu speaks going into shock from what she just heard.
"Then, my Net savior friend, you know what it's time for." Yai hears Tori say to Lan.
"Lan's a Net Savior?" Yai inquires to Maylu in a whisper. Maylu, who is still in shock, doesn't hear Yai's question.
"Maylu." Yai whispers to her friend as she waves her hand in front of Maylu's face. "Earth to Maylu."
Maylu snaps out of her zone and turns to Yai.
"You says something?" Maylu inquires to Yai.
"Yeah. Did you know Lan was a Net savior?" Yai inquires, whispering to Maylu.
"Yes, but you have to keep what you heard a secret." Maylu whispers to Yai. "No one really knows except Tori and me, and now you."
"Don't worry, my lips are sealed." Yai whispers to Maylu. "So what are you going to do now that Lan likes you?"
"I don't know, but I won't let him know that I know and neither will you." Maylu speaks to Yai. "That would explain why he has been acting so strange lately. Especially when we were doing our homework the other day, when he asked me if I were interested in anyone, but covered it up."
"Are you interested in anyone?" Yai inquires curiously.
"Well, not really, but that might change soon." Maylu answers Yai. "Come on, let's go grab something to eat. I've got some thinking to do."
Yai nods as the two begins towards the cafeteria.
Computer Lab
Tori and Lan are still discussing an effective strategy to intercept Flashman's next attack.
"I don't see how this will work." Tori says to Lan. "Dimensional areas appear without a warning every time, especially since we never know where the next one will be. That is surely going to throw our whole plan off."
"Which is why we have to look for anything suspicious." Lan replies to Tori. "If we keep a sharp eye out, we can't miss anything."
"You guys should take a break for now and get something to eat." Megaman suggests. "You're thinking too hard and won't come up with anything on an empty stomach."
"You're right Megaman." Tori agrees with the cobalt blue navi. "Let's grab some food first and then we can finish this discussion later."
"Fine by me." Lan agrees with Tori as he now places his PET back in the carrying case and stands from sitting at the computer. "I hope they are serving curry with meatballs."
"Lan, your taste in food is weird." Tori comments as both boys now head for the door. Now reaching the door, Tori opens it as they both exit the lab and heads to the cafeteria.
Music Room
Mr. Edogawa has begun working on the Piano students music programs. Grabbing his jump drive off of the desk, Mr. Edogawa places it in the USB slot on the front of the computer and once the program for the jump drive appears, Mr. Edogawa, then, opens the program.
"Now where is that file?" Mr. Edogawa says as he begins searching for the file on the drive. Continuing to search, he now spots the file.
"Here it is." Mr. Edogawa says as he clicks on the file and opens it. Upon opening the file, the data from the file begins streaming, now alerting MusicMan.
With MusicMan being alerted that Mr. Edogawa has opened the file, data sentences begins scrolling downward on his eyes. The sentences, then, stops scrolling.
"He has opened the file and is working with it at this very moment." MusicMan speaks to Flashman as he evilly smirks.
"Perfect, just perfect." Flashman speaks in an evil tone. "He has helped us complete phase one of our plan without realizing it."
"Humans are such idiots." MusicMan speaks. "He's making our plan fall right into place as we anticipated."
"So true." Flashman agrees with MusicMan. "Shademan will be so proud of us once we have completed this mission."
"Well, don't celebrate just yet." MusicMan speaks to Flashman. "There is still phase two to plan out."
"Well then, let's get started." Flashman speaks as he and MusicMan begins laughing hysterically.
Ms. Mari's class at 3:20 pm
The lunch period is over and classes are back in session as the end of the school day is near. Ms. Mari's class is in session as she discusses the earth's axis at the change of each season.
"So you see class, when the earth enters the spring equinox, it rotates at a 23 degree angle." Ms. Mari continues explaining. "When this happens, the earth will begin getting more sunlight in this change of season from the winter."
As Ms. Mari continues discussing the earth's axis in the spring equinox, Lan's mind wanders back to what he and Tori talked about in the computer lab earlier.
:Flashman is only after Maylu to spite me huh: Lan mentally speaks to himself. "Well to spite me or not, he's not laying a hand on her if I have anything to say about it.:
Lan in still in deep thought for when the dismissal bell sounds, knocking him out of his thought.
"Ok class, read chapter 2, pages 19-30 for home work." Ms. Mari instructs with a smile. "Class dismissed and I'll see you all tomorrow."
Lan grabs his back pack from the side of his desk as he rises from his seat. Tori arrives at Lan's desk.
"I came up with an idea as to how we can prepare for when Flashman appears again." Tori speaks to Lan as the two begins walking towards the exit of the class.
"What's your idea?" Lan inquires to Tori.
"I say we round up some of the most powerful battle chips and put them into our strategy once we have one worked out." Tori suggests to Lan. "That way when Flashman shows up again, we'll be ready for sure."
"That's a great idea Tori." Lan says to Tori as the two now exit the class and enters the hallway. "Come by my house around 6 and we'll work on it."
"Actually, I was thinking more along the lines of coming over right away." Tori speaks.
"But don't you have to practice for the festival?" Lan inquires as he and Tori head for the exit of the school building.
"Not really. I practically have the song perfected." Tori answers Lan. "And besides, protecting a friend is a lot more important. Maylu is like a sister to me and I'll do whatever I can to protect her."
"Alright then." Lan says as he and Tori now exit the school building. "By the way, have you seen Maylu?"
Before Tori can answer Lan, Maylu suddenly pops up to the right of Lan.
"Hey guys." Maylu greets, startling both boys.
"Hey Maylu." Lan greets to Maylu as he begins calming himself.
"After Ms. Mari's class let out, I didn't see you two." Maylu speaks as the three now leave the school yard.
"Sorry about that." Lan replies. "Me and Tori were taking care of some business."
"Oh, was it serious?" Maylu inquires with concern.
"It was, but it's solved now." Lan answers Maylu with a warm smile as the three begin heading home.
Watching from deep within the shadows, the mysterious man watches as the three walk home.
"You are about to see just how wrong you are, Lan Hikari." The mysterious man says with an evil grin forming across his face.
A/N: Ok, end of chapter 6. I apologize that this chapter is very late. I have been very busy and am now getting around to it, but the wait is over. I want to also apologize if this chapter is long and boring. This is all I could come up with for this chapter, but don't worry, the action hasn't ended. No flames please and if anything is confusing, please let me know and I'll modify it for you. Chapter 7 will be posted when I get a moment.Also, I am writing another fic called "Dark loids Unleashed". It's also an Axess fic, so when you all get the chance, check it out. If nothing else, please review.
Review Please!