Chapter 8: A Strategic Plan To Protect
'Tori and Lan have picked the battle chips for their strategy but still have the strategy it's self to plan out, the dark loids have advanced to phase 3 of their plan, and Maylu is planning a confession of her own for festival night. Everything is starting to come together.'
The Dark Cyber Lair
In the dark Cyber Lair, sits Shademan. He is sitting on his throne and is looking over the 6 dark chips in his right hand that was given to him by the mysterious man. Continuing to look the dark chips over, Shademan now releases a sigh.
"For once, I can sit here in peace without the mysterious man nagging at me for any reason or a dark loid returning to me with news of his failure." Shademan speaks as he now closes his right hand around the dark chips. "I better enjoy this while it lasts because it won't last much longer."
Seconds after saying those words, Bubbleman suddenly appears and begins calling out to Shademan as he is approaching his throne.
"Master Shademan sir." Bubbleman begins calling as he continues approaching Shademan's throne.
"I knew it wouldn't last." Shademan speaks as he releases a heavy sigh and Bubbleman now reaches his throne. "What is it Bubbleman?"
"Master Shademan, your room is clean sir." Bubbleman announces in a happy tone. "Is there anything else that I can do for you?"
"Yes, try not to annoy me." Shademan speaks as he slightly slouches in his throne. "I'm thinking."
"Alright." Bubbleman agrees. "But would it be ok if I asked you just one question?"
"What is it?" Shademan asks with irritation building in his voice.
"Who is the new Navi that's with Flashman?" Bubbleman inquires. "Am I being replaced by him?"
A low growl sounds in Shademan's throat.
"Bubbleman, do you remember how I asked for you not to annoy me?" Shademan inquires with slight irritation in his voice.
"Yes sir." Bubbleman answers.
"Guess what's happening now?" Shademan inquires with complete irritation to Bubbleman.
"I'm annoying you." Bubbleman answers in a low tone as he now turns his attention towards the ground.
"And here I thought you had no intelligence what so ever." Shademan speaks in an angry tone.
"I'm sorry master Shademan sir." Bubbleman speaks up as he now turns his attention back to Shademan. "I just want to know who the new navi is."
Just as Shademan opens his mouth to reply to Bubbleman, the cyber floor in front of his throne now turns transparent and the shadow of the mysterious man appears in the transparent background.
"Oh no, It's the mysterious man!" Bubble speaks in a frightened tone.
Shademan swiftly straightens his seating position on the throne.
"Shademan, progress report on the mission that I assigned." The mysterious man begins speaking.
"Everything is going exactly as you planned it, but even better." Shademan answers him.
"Just how much better are we talking?" The mysterious man inquires with curiosity.
"A navi by the name of MusicMan has joined forces with the dark loids and has accompanied my best dark loid, Flashman, on the mission you assigned." Shademan answers him.
"Very impressive Shademan." The mysterious man speaks with approval in his voice. "A navi that matches the mission was a brilliant idea and by him joining forces with the dark loids, must have taken a lot of persuasion on your part."
"Thank you sir, but I had no part in MusicMan joining forces with us." Shademan speaks up. "He was a human operated net navi who was tired of playing fetch for his net op, so he turned to us to be relieved of the leash he was on."
"From what I am hearing, it appears that you have everything under control." The Mysterious man speaks in delight.
"Yes sir, I do." Shademan speaks with a nod.
"I am so glad to hear that. Now, see to it that this mission is completed and if you succeed, I'll have the pleasure of sparing your life." The mysterious man replies with an evil grin.
"You won't be disappointed." Shademan says to him. "I promise you that."
"Good." The mysterious man answers. "I'll be checking back soon to get a report status on any further progress."
"Yes sir." Shademan speaks.
The cyber floor now goes back to normal as Shademan slouches on the throne with an annoyed expression on his face.
"Why do I bother putting up with him sometimes?" Shademan mumbles in irritation. "Or at all for that matter?"
"Um master Shademan sir." Bubbleman speaks up, now catching Shademan's attention. Shademan swiftly turns to him as Bubbleman notices the expression on Shademan's face. Bubbleman slightly shrinks away.
"What!" Shademan hisses.
"I know now may not be the best time to mention this, but I never got my answer about the new navi." Bubbleman speaks up with slight fear in his voice.
A fierce growl now sounds loudly from Shademan's throat as his fangs come into view. Bubbleman notices and begins to inch away from the throne very slowly.
"Oh, never mind who he is." Bubbleman speaks up with a nervous smile and laugh. "We'll talk about that later, much later."
Bubbleman now turns away from the throne and begins scuttling away very quickly.
Noticing that Bubbleman is now out of sight, Shademan turns his attention back to the dark chips in his right hand and begins pondering on them.
Hikari Residence
Tori and Lan have gotten dinner and is currently eating it in Lan's room as the two are continuing to work on the strategy. Just as Tori takes another bite of his curry, a thought suddenly pops into his mind.
"Lan, I have an idea of where Flashman is going to appear next." Tori speaks up.
"Where?" Lan inquires to Tori.
"Friday night at the Music festival." Tori answers Lan as he sets his plate of curry behind him on Lan's bed.
"How can you be so sure?" Lan inquires to Tori once more.
"Because Maylu will be there." Tori answers Lan. "He has made Maylu his target and with her being in the festival Friday night, then that is where he will make his next appearance."
Swiveling his desk chair to the desk and now facing it, Lan sets his plate down and sighs.
"I should have known." Lan speaks. "When Flashman told me that I will see what his words mean in time, I should have figured out that the next place he would appear would be at the music festival because of Maylu. I don't care, I refuse to let him get in the way of me telling Maylu how I feel."
"And I'm here to see to it that you get your moment with Maylu, despite Flashman." Tori says to Lan.
Turning to Tori, Lan smiles.
"Hey, thanks a lot Tori." Lan replies to Tori with a smile. "I appreciate your helping me out like this and now that I think about it, do add the Beta sword program advance to the strategy."
"No problem Lan and good choice with adding the program advance." Tori speaks as he now reaches down on the right side of Lan's bed and grabs the battle chip case. "That will be your finishing move."
Now having the case in his view, Tori opens it and begins looking through the battle chips once more.
"Now that we know where Flashman is going to appear next, planning out this strategy will be a breeze." Tori speaks as he continues to look through the battle chips. "Now before you use the program advance, you will be needing a few strong battle chips to weaken Flashman first before you finish him off."
"Good thinking." Lan replies. "I know I have a lot of strong battle chips in that case that can weaken any dark loid."
"Ok, let me see what I can find." Tori says as he continues looking through the pages of battle chips. Now turning to the 9th display page in the case, Tori's eyes are suddenly drawn to the 4th row of the page. In that row are the Charge shot, spreader, spread gun, gig-cannon, High cannon, Sword, and Laser blast battle chips.
"And these battle chips are exactly what you need." Tori speaks as he begins removing the chips from their sleeves. "The Charge shot, spreader, spread gun, Giga cannon, High cannon, sword, and the Laser blast battle chips. Now out of all those chips, the Laser blast is the most powerful and I know just where to place that chip in the plan."
"So in all, what chips do we have so far?" Lan inquires to Tori.
"Let me take a look." Tori answers as he now closes the battle chip case and places it back on the side of Lan's bed. After having done that, Tori, then, turns around and grabs the chips that were already chosen off the bed behind him. Now having all the battle chips together, Tori now begins looking them over.
"Ok, including the chips that were already picked, we have the Long sword, Wide sword, Electro Sword, Area steal, Volcano, Rapid fire, Charge shot, Spreader, spread gun, Giga cannon, High cannon, sword and the Laser blast." Tori explains.
"Now that we have all the chips we need, it's time to place them into the strategy." Lan speaks as he leans forwards towards Tori.
"I'm way ahead of you." Tori speaks. "Now this is how it's all going to play out. When Flashman appears, you and Megaman will cross-fuse and the first chip that you will load will be the Electro-sword battle chip. When Flashman attacks, you will use the Electro-sword to deflect his attack, which will leave him open for you to attack him. With his defenses down, you will quickly switch to the Rapid-fire battle chip and blast him, knocking him down and leaving him defenseless. That will give you another opportunity to attack him before he has a chance to retaliate."
"Are you taking note of all of this Megaman?" Lan inquires as he turns to his right, to Megaman on the PET screen.
"Yep Lan, I am." Megaman answers.
"Ok, continuing on." Tori continues explaining as Lan turns back to him. "If by chance that you miss your chance to attack him while he's down and he attacks you, you will switch the volcano battle chip after you recover from taking that blow. Not only will you fight back, but you will give Flashman a good third degree burn and that will put him back down and open for you to attack him."
"Wait a minute." Lan cuts in, interrupting Tori's explanation. "What about Maylu? Flashman has made her his target as well."
"Already got that covered." Tori answers Lan. "While you guys are in battle and his attention is switched to her at any time, you will use the Area steal battle chip to get her out of his way and into the hall. That's where I will escort everyone once the battle has started. Just make sure that you keep a close eye on his every move so he doesn't have a chance to attack Maylu before you get her to safety."
"Good plan." Lan says in agreement. "I wouldn't want her hurt."
"Neither do I." Tori replies. "Now once she's safe, you will return to the fight and advance on Flashman using the Spreader battle chip. If he has already released his attack and it hits you, the spreader's attack will bring him down, which will weaken him due to the many shots that are released at one time. Now, if you begin to feel weak during the battle, use a recovery chip of 50 to give get back on your feet."
"I usually never get worn down while battling a dark loid, but a recovery chip is a god idea." Lan comments.
"You always have to be prepared for anything." Tori replies. "Now to conclude this battle, the Spreader attack will have weakened Flashman enough to the point he can't fight back and you can finish him off easily. With that, you will switch to the Laser Blast battle chip and blast Flashman one good time. That attack is very powerful and his data should begin breaking up. When you see this happening, you will go to your finishing move, the Beta Sword Program advance."
"Wait a minute." Lan suddenly speaks up. "The Laser Blast battle chip has the power of over 1,000 and will be enough to delete Flashman on it's own, so there wouldn't be any point in me using the Beta Sword Program advance."
"Well that maybe true, but a lot of Dark loids are hard to delete because of the many dark chips they have consumed that has made them powerful." Tori speaks. "If Flashman's data breaks up just enough, then it will easily regroup, which will make it appear as if he was never in danger of being deleted. That's why you will use the Beta sword to attack him while his data is breaking up so he doesn't have a chance to bounce back."
"I see your point." Lan replies.
"So when you get to your finishing move, which will be the Beta Sword, you will drive it right through the middle of Flashman and while he's being deleted, remind him to never mess with a Net Savior." Tori finishes explaining. "That will finish the job and you will make that the best night of Maylu's life. Not only that, but she will definitely accept your confession because after all, you will be her hero."
Lan nods as a smile now crosses his face.
"I like the way you think Tori and that strategy will definitely work." Lan speaks. "I can't wait to put that plan into action, but what am I going to do with the battle chips that weren't apart of the plan?"
"Keep them." Tori answers Lan. "They may come in handy in case any of the other battle chips don't get the job done."
"Alright then." Lan agrees. "Now, with the strategy all planned out, the love of my life will be safe from all harm."
"Sorry to change the subject Lan, but I have to say that the curry isn't all that bad." Tori speaks as he now turns around and grabs his plate from behind him. "It's delicious actually."
"That's why I love eating it so much." Lan replies to Tori as he now reaches over on the desk and grabs his plate.
Both boys now continue eating their dinner and the strategy has finally been completed.
Mr. Edogawa's Residence
Mr. Edogawa is working on the last of the Trumpet students music programs as he now types in the last bit of information required. Now having done that, Mr. Edogawa begins looking the information over. Being satisfied with what he sees, Mr. Edogawa grabs the mouse and moves the pointer to the disk icon in the word program. Clicking on it, the program information now begins saving to the Hard drive.
"The Trumpet students are finally done." Mr. Edogawa speaks as the saving of the Trumpet music programs now completes. "The Oboe students are all that is left."
With the Trumpet program information saved, Mr. Edogawa now moves the mouse pointer to the printer icon and clicks on it. The programs are now starting to print out.
As the programs print out, Mr. Edogawa begins thinking about MusicMan and what he could be doing at that moment.
"I wonder what MusicMan is doing right now." Mr. Edogawa says to himself as the programs continue printing. "He has been gone for a while now, but I'm sure whatever he is doing, he's having fun and will return soon."
The last program now prints out as Mr. Edogawa gathers up the entire stack from the printer tray. Placing the stack of programs next to the computer monitor, Mr. Edogawa grabs the mouse and drags the pointer to the blank page icon in the word program. Clicking on it, a blank page appears and Mr. Edogawa begins working on the Oboe students programs.
Cyber World
On the Internet, MusicMan and Flashman are now discussing the last and final phase to their plan.
"Now once we upload ourselves to the channels I assigned, you are going to create a diversion by destroying the main network server that connects the two computer channels, while I search the music room's computer for the file I gave my net op." MusicMan continues explaining. "And once I find it, I'm going to download it to myself while every musical property is being downloaded with it. Once I'm done with that, I'm going to stream a message to you, informing you of our next move."
"That sounds like a plan to me." Flashman speaks in agreement. "But what are you going to do with the file once you've downloaded it to yourself?"
"Well, let's just say that my Net Op and his students won't be the only one using that file that night." MusicMan answers Flashman with a devious smirk. "With it being a music festival and all, then I have a special song of my own that I'm going to play."
"Clever, very clever." Flashman replies in agreement.
"So it's all set then." MusicMan speaks with his devious smirk. "We will invade 15 minutes after the festival has started. That way, everyone will be completely unaware of the danger they are all in."
"Perfect." Flashman speaks as he and MusicMan begins laughing. Their laughter soon erupts into maniacal laughter.
Sakurai Residence
Roll is continuing to give Maylu advice about her confession to Lan on the night of the festival.
"So when Lan confesses his feelings to you, act causal and say you know and you always have known." Roll continues explaining. "That's when you confess your feelings to him and after that, the moment in which you two share a kiss will happen."
"I can just imagine it now." Maylu speaks in a dreamy voice as she now develops a mental picture of the event happening. "Thanks so much for the advice Roll. Without your help, I wouldn't have even had the slightest idea as to how I was going to tell Lan how I truly felt."
"No problem Maylu. That's what I'm here for." Roll replies with a smile. "Now, while I was online the other day, I found something very special that I know you will like and will make your night even better."
"What's that?" Maylu inquires to Roll.
"I found the perfect dress for you to wear to the festival." Roll answers Maylu in excitement. "It even comes with matching shoes and glove set. Here's a visual."
Now opening Maylu's document folder on the desktop, Roll begins searching the file folder for the saved picture of the dress and it's accessories. Now finding it, Roll enlarges the picture so Maylu can see the what the dress set looks like. Now seeing the picture, Maylu's eyes widen with amazement as she begins looking the picture over.
The dress is an Ice pink color that flows completely down to the feet, but over lapses the toes a bit and has thin spaghetti straps. On the chest of the dress is a medium size pink rose that is sitting in the middle and from the waist of the dress down, is a thin glossy top coat that flows down the skirt. Underneath the dress are the matching glass slippers and on both sides of the dress are the matching gloves.
"Oh Roll, that dress is so beautiful!" Maylu speaks in excitement. "It'll be perfect for the festival."
"I knew you would love it." Roll replies with a smile. "It's scheduled to be picked up Friday morning from the Fashion Boutique so it can be here in time for you to wear it that night."
"That's fine by me." Maylu agrees with a smile. "Now how much is the dress?"
"1,135 Yen." Roll answers Maylu as she now notices her Net Op's eyes go wide at the price she gave.
"That dress is a lot of money." Maylu speaks in shock, not believing the price of the dress.
"That maybe so, but when I came across it, I saw that your mother already paid for it." Roll answers Maylu. "I found that out when I was online and saw that your computer's IP address had logged onto a web page a day ago that wasn't familiar to me. So I checked into it and found out that the web page is connected to the Fashion Boutique store that is just two blocks from your house."
"I wonder why she just didn't go to the store to pick it up, instead of ordering it online." Maylu speaks with slight confusion.
"Maybe the dress wasn't in the store when she began searching for an outfit for you to wear to the festival." Roll replies. "What's not in the store it's self is always in the online store. The dress is being delivered to the store, from the warehouse so she can pick it up right away."
"That's my mom for you." Maylu speaks up. "She always goes through a lot of trouble just for me. Her and my dad both."
"She just wants you to look glamorous for your big night and so do I." Roll says to Maylu with a warm smile. "When you perform at the festival, that will be your time and the dress will make that moment an unforgettable memory."
Returning the smile, Maylu nods.
"I know and I appreciate it very much." Maylu speaks. "Now, to make sure that my moment truly does count, I'm going to practice on my song once more to make sure that I am ready to perform."
"Go for it." Roll speaks with encouragement to Maylu.
Nodding, Maylu now turns back to the piano and closes the sheet music book that she was practicing from. With that done, Maylu now begins playing Beethoven's Moonlight Sonata as Roll opens the music monitor window and begins keeping track of her progress.
Hikari Residence
Tori and Lan have finished dinner and are now going over the plan once more to finalize everything.
"After the spreader attack has weakened Flashman enough, you will use the Laser blast attack to keep him down." Tori explains once more. "And while he's down, the program advance move will make sure he won't get up. The battle will be won and you'll be Maylu's hero."
"Got it." Lan speaks with a nod. "I can't wait to show Flashman who's boss."
"And I'll be right there helping you." Tori adds in as he now turns to the clock on Lan's desk and notices the time reads 6:45pm.
"Well Lan, I better get going. It's getting late." Tori speaks as he rises from sitting on the end of the bed. "But we'll run through everything once more tomorrow."
"Alright then." Lan replies as he now stands from sitting in his desk chair. "Let me see you to the door."
Both boys proceed to and now exits the room as they head for the stair case.
A/N: Ok end of chapter 8 and I hope you all like it. I do apologize that this chapter appears to be a repeat from chapter 7. Somethings weren't elaborated enough in the last chapter, but is made clear in this one. I want to apologize as well for this being posted late and if it is boring in any way. I just finished my final exams and am free for three straight weeks. No flames please and chapter 9 should be out before Christmas, and incase it's not, I want to wish everyone a Merry Christmas. If anything is confusing, please let me know and I'll modify it for you. If nothing else, please review.
Review Please and the next chapter will be the Big Night!