Chaud gritted his teeth in frustration, but pointed his PET at the port as Maylu did, and they jacked out their navis. Then they both turned and sprinted away from the port.

Hearing a warning noise issued by the computer, Chaud suddenly pushed Maylu to the ground and covered her body with his own. Just then, there was a resounding crash from behind them as the port exploded, along with other bits of machinery that had been attached to it.

Chaud felt pieces of flying debris hit his back and legs, and was glad for the protection his clothing provided him with, though he suspected he might have a few small bruises tomorrow.

As soon as he was sure that the chaos had settled, he pushed himself to his knees and gently touched Maylu's arm.

"You alright?"

Maylu laughed a little as she rolled onto her back and then struggled into a sitting position. "I've been better," she said, brushing dirt off of her vest, "but then again, I've also been worse." She winced slightly as one hand brushed her abdomen. "I don't think I'll be wearing any tops that show my stomach for the next few days," she told him. "Black and blue skin isn't exactly fashionable…"

Chaud chuckled slightly. "Well, I'm sure you must not be hurt too badly, if you're attempting humor."

He got to his feet and offered her a hand, which she accepted, allowing him to pull her up. However, just as Chaud was about to re-figure out where the stairs were, the lights flickered and died. The two were left in absolute blackness.

"…Well, that throws a wrench in things," Chaud said finally.

"Not really," Protoman commented, smirking at his net op's lapse in memory.

"What do you--...oh…" Chaud said, feeling rather foolish. "Lan's stupidity must be getting to me," he muttered darkly, fumbling in his vest pocket.

Maylu giggled. "It was going to happen sooner or later," she added teasingly. "All of Lan's close friends and family have experienced it at some point in time. You just managed to hold out longer than most." Then, unable to see Chaud in the dark, she asked, "What are you doing?"

"Pulling out a pair of night-vision glasses," he told her as he unfolded them and slid them over his eyes. "It's a recent addition to the Net Saver 'tool set,' so to speak."

"Lucky for us."

"No kidding. Guess Famous really does have a knack for providing things when they're needed."

Chaud fingered the glasses just to this side of his left eye and turned on the power. Instantly, the room became visible, though it all looked green because of the way the glasses worked. The boy turned to Maylu.

"Reach towards my voice," he said. "I'm going to grab your hand so I can lead you out of here."

Obediently, Maylu extended her arm in his direction, and he grasped her hand in his own. Then, turning his gaze left and right, he located the stairs and took a step forward, gently tugging at Maylu. She followed him with a step of her own, and soon the two were making careful progress towards the exit.

"Watch it, there's a few pieces of pretty big debris in the path," he said. "We're about to step over them." He cleared the obstacle and then turned to make sure she could get over it.

Maylu found that her face was growing hotter by the minute. Her hand, she had noticed, fit perfectly into Chaud's, much more than it ever had in Lan's. It felt so comfortable, to let him guide her along this way. She was guiltily surprised to find that she almost wanted them to get lost on the way to the stairs, just so he wouldn't let go of her yet.

As the minutes passed, Chaud seemed to be having a similar dilemma. For the first time in years, his ears were beginning to burn in an embarrassed fashion. Unlike Yai or Anetta, who were each annoying in their own ways—though he considered Anetta a friend, she did still manage to get on his nerves sometimes—it seemed natural to have Maylu at his side. She didn't rub him the wrong way at all. She was intelligent, and humorous, and didn't seem at all frightened by what had just happened. After all, she'd been through worse plenty of times. He should know; he'd been with her for a few of those times.

Which was probably why he hadn't noticed her to this degree before now. All the previous situations they'd been involved in had been much more complicated and stressful, such as when they'd been working together to stop the local net navis from being kidnapped, back when Protoman had become a darkloid. Or the time they, along with Lan, Raika, and Dingo, had been sucked into the world of Beyondard. They'd all become separated during the travel to Beyondard, and Chaud and Maylu had ended up together. Then, their focus had been on finding the others and getting home.

In other words, they'd had little time to consider each other.

Though now that he thought about it, Chaud realized, there were few things he could remember enjoying as much as he had enjoyed traveling alongside the cherry-haired girl. She might not be as skilled as Raika or Lan, but she made an excellent teammate nonetheless, and a friendly one at that. The thought made him more embarrassed than he was already, and he was glad for the darkness that hid his red ears.

Maylu was wondering what on earth could possibly be wrong with her. After all, she liked Lan…didn't she? Hadn't it been one of her main goals, for the past year or two, to get him to ask her out? And yet here she was, butterflies taking over her stomach as though she were some fourth grader, having a crush on a boy for this first time. Maybe it was just the aftershock of the explosion that was wreaking havoc with her mind…? But even as the thought formed, she found that she knew that wasn't the reason at all.

"Ah…well, here are the stairs," said Chaud, not sure whether he was relieved or disappointed that they would soon be outside.

He put his foot on the first step and tightened his grip on Maylu's hand, not wanting to accidentally let go if she were to begin to fall. Moments later, they were at the top. Chaud pushed open the door, and the two of them squinted as their eyes readjusted to the lights.

"Well, this day has turned out to be a lot more interesting than I thought it'd be when I bumped into you this morning," said Maylu, reluctantly removing her hand from Chaud's and busying herself by brushing any remnants of dirt or dust off of her clothing.

Chaud gave her a lopsided smile. "Yeah, well, what did you expect? Excitement seems to have a knack for finding our group." The palm of his hand felt cold where Maylu's warmth was now absent, and he shoved both hands into the pockets of his pants—not an unusual thing for him to do—in order to ignore that thought.

"Or we all have a knack for finding excitement," the girl added. Then she yawned and stretched. "Some ice cream sure would hit the spot right now," she said, glancing at Chaud. "I think I'm gonna go get myself some." She hesitated; then added, "Would you like to come?"

Chaud blinked in surprise at the offer. But then, realizing he had never been invited to do anything with her before—not to mention the fact that Lan kept telling him he needed to get out more—he decided to accept.

"Sure," he said. "I could go for a little ice cream myself."

XOXOXOX

"Those two…" said a voice, the owner of which had been watching the whole incident with a hidden set of cameras, "…will be perfect."

XOXOXOX