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Lan and Maylu had been shopping for half an hour when Lan got an email from Mega.

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Lan

WHERE ARE YOU? The Blue Jay's feather, although it was a nice gift, doesn't tell me where you are. Roll's getting tired, and we're ready to meet you at our house. So high-tail it back home this instant!

Mega

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Once Lan was finished reading the email, he almost fell over laughing. "What?" asked Maylu, walking over to her friend.

"Read this," said Lan as he handed her the PET. When she was done, she just shook her head.

"That crazy boy. Well Lan, I guess that we should be getting home now. I don't want your brother mad at me," said Maylu, starting towards Lan's house.

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Chaud and Mary were walking back to Lan's house to get Chaud's clothes and other items when they ran into Yai, Tory, and Dex.

"Hey Yai," said Mary. Dex and Tory gave each other the "let's back off slowly" look. They then took a step back, and gave Chaud a look that told him that he might want to step back too. Mary and Yai kept chatting, oblivious to the boys and their strange action. Chaud walked over to the other boys.

"What's going on?" whispered Chaud.

"Uh, why don't we talk away from the girls?" asked Tory. "Hey Yai, would you mind if Dex, Chaud and I go on to Lan's?"

"No, I wouldn't mind. I'll meet you there," she said as she reverted her attention back to Mary. Chaud, Dex and Tory walked off towards Lan's, and they were at least five blocks away before Dex and Tory answered any of Chaud's questions.

"Well, Yai is acting kinda strange today," said Tory.

"Yeah," said Dex, "I think that she's jealous of Mary when she's with you." Chaud stopped dead in his tracks.

"Wai-wai-wai-wai-wait. Backup. Yai's jealous of Mary and me? Is her crush on me really that bad?" Chaud asked, looking from Tory to Dex.

"Possibly," said Tory. "But I don't think that she'd do anything to Mary."

"Why don't you think that she wouldn't? She can get pretty mean," said Chaud, getting nervous for Mary's safety.

"Well, Tory and I have decided that if Yai really wanted to hurt Mary, then she would have had plenty of opportunities at her house. I think that she is just waiting for May to go back to Netopia," said Dex. Chaud just shook his head and started walking again.

"You had better be right," said Chaud as he rounded the corner and entered the park behind Lan's house. Dex was about to comment on that when Tory elbowed him in the gut. They walked in silence until they reached Lan's.

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Mega and Roll were walking through the park towards the exit when Mega heard something. He stopped and started to look around the area. "I swear that his super hearing is a curse," thought Roll. "I might as well ask him what he heard." "Mega, what's going on?"

"I don't know. I could have sworn that I heard a blaster charging near by," he said, "I guess I'm hearing things." Just then, a charged shot hit a bush right beside Mega.

"Or you could be hearing what's really going on," said a dark Navi that was approaching the couple. But the darkness didn't last long. Burnerman was approaching them.

"What do you want this time?" asked Mega, pushing Roll behind him.

"You burned to a crisp. I mean, what else would I want?" he asked with a sneer. "And I decided to attack now when you are most vulnerable."

"How'd you figure that one out?" Mega asked back, getting angrier by the minute.

"Well, mainly because your snot-nosed Op isn't here, and because you're here with your girlfriend."

"Roll," Mega whispered out of the corner of his mouth. "Log out and go get help. I'll deal with candle-boy here. Go." Roll gave him a hug and logged out.

"Awwww," teased Burnerman, "the widdle girwy wan away. Ha ha. Oh well, I guess that I'll just hunt her down after I'm done with you."

"What makes you think that you can take me on?" asked Mega. "No one insults Roll and gets away with it. He's going down the hard way."

"Because you don't have you're Op here. But what are we doing standing around and talking? Let's fight!" screamed Burnerman as he began his attack on Mega.

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Roll ran into Lan's house's system, looking for anyone that could help her. She entered Lan's personal laptop just in time to see Lan and Maylu enter the room. "Roll, what's wrong?" asked Maylu, looking at her navi's scared face.

"Mega is being attacked by Burnerman in the park! He's near the exit!" she exclaimed. Lan, not wasting a second, ran out the door to help his brother.

"Just when things start to become normal again. Why does this always happen to me?" he thought as he entered the park. He soon found Mega's signal and jacked in his PET. "MEGA!" he yelled as his brother's image appeared on the screen. Mega had many burn marks all over his body, and Burnerman wasn't relinquishing his attack. When Mega heard his brother's voice, his cocky smile came back.

"You're in for it now," he thought as Lan slotted in a full recover chip. "Thanks Lan, why don't you send me Aqua Soul?"

"Sure thing bro," said Lan. During this time, Burnerman was starting to get nervous.

"I'm in for it now. I guess that I shouldn't have insulted his brother. Kuso," he thought. Mega shot him with an aqua shot. "Was that your best shot?"

"No, it wasn't," said Lan as he pulled out an aqua blade. When Mega got it, he ran at Burnerman and slashed out at him.

"Fine, you want to play like that, HEAT BLAST!" Burnerman yelled as he sent the massive attack at Mega.

"Mega, are you ok?" Lan asked worriedly as he saw his brother on the ground.

"I will be. Just send me another water chip," said Mega, standing up.

"Can do," said Lan as he sent Mega an aqua tower. Mega used it, and the effect was so strong that it logged out Burnerman. "Way to go Mega!"

"Ok, can we go home now? I'm beat," said Mega, logging out.

"Sure, I'm sure that Roll is worried sick about you."

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Roll wasn't the only one worried about Mega. Chaud, Tory, and Dex had arrived at Lan's right after Lan had left, and Mary and Yai arrived a few minutes after them. By the time that Lan got back, everyone in the household was worried. Lan and Mega were all but tackled by Maylu and Roll when they entered. "Don't ever do that again," said Roll as she released her death grip on Mega.

"Yeah Lan, you should at least tell us when you expect to be back," teased Chaud.

"I know," said Dex, "I had a bet that you'd be back in twenty minutes. So Chaud, how much do I owe you?" Lan just started laughing.

"Well," said Mary, "at least you're both ok."

"Yeah," Yai commented. "Tory, why didn't you get in on the bet?"

"Mainly because the time it takes Lan and Mega to beat an enemy and the amount of time it takes them to get back to where they're supposed to be is totally different. Remember that he skips class by taking the long way back to school," Tory commented.

"I don't do that all the time!" Lan exclaimed. "I only do that when I didn't do my homework the night before!" Maylu and Yai just shook their heads.

"I just don't get it," said Yai, "You have proven time and time again that you are very intelligent, yet you don't try to succeed at everything."

"I guess that that's just the way that some boys are," said Mary. "Oh Chaud, shouldn't you be upstairs packing?" (insert record screeching to a stop).

"You're leaving?" asked Lan.

"Yeah, my dad apologized to me today, and I'm going to go back for a while. I didn't tell him where I was, so if incase I need to come and hide again, I can," said Chaud, making his way to the stairs.

"Ok, well, I need to get home," said Dex.

"Me too. See you at school tomorrow," said Tory as he and Dex left Lan's house. Yai and Mary also had to go back to Yai's, and so they left.

"Well, it's going to be weird not having Mega wake me up every morning. In person that is," said Lan as he looked at his PET.

"I'm sure that I can find someone else to let me out," said Mega, smiling.

"Whatever," said Lan as he and Maylu walked up the stairs.

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"Well Chaud, it's going to be lonely here without you," said Mrs. Hikari as she and Dr. Hikari opened the front door for Chaud.

"Yeah," said Lan, "and they would say that it would be quieter, but my parents have a thing against lying." Lan got a look from his dad that said "we'll talk later". "Hey, do you want a ride to your house? I haven't driven my car in a long time."

"Umm, is it ok with your parents?" asked Chaud.

"Sure. I have a feeling that if I can trust him to fly cross-country, I can trust him to drive cross-town. Lan, be careful, and no street racing," said Dr. Hikari. Lan ran around the house to the back garage, and pulled his car around.

"Come on!" said Lan. Chaud threw his bag in the back seat, was about to get in the car when Maylu stuck her head out the window.

"Hey Lan, where are you going?" she asked.

"I'm taking Chaud home, wanna come?"

"Sure!" she said as she closed her window and ran downstairs. She climbed in the backseat since Chaud was in the front. "So you're going home now?"

"Yes," said Chaud as Lan drove off.

"Ok, we're taking the freeway," said Lan as he made his way there.

"Why? The freeway is out of the way," said Chaud as Lan accelerated as they entered the freeway. "You do have your license, right?"

"Yeah, I got it in Houston, remember," said Lan as he changed lanes.

"You aren't planning on taking this thing into the air, are you?" asked Maylu.

"Nah, I haven't had time to check the wings, and I might need to get Daniel to send Gig over to help Mega and me," he said as he took the exit for Chaud's house, and changed lanes. "And dad also thinks that I'm going to stay on the road, so I will."

"Ok," said Chaud, "but could you please just pick a lane and stay in it." Lan responded by changing lanes.

"I don't see what your problem is. It's not like I'm an erotic driver. Wow, I didn't even know that I knew that word," said Lan as he approached Chaud's house. Lan pulled up a minute, and a few quick turns later, they were in front of Chaud's home.

"Thanks for the lift," said Chaud as he got out of the car. Maylu handed him his bag as she moved to the front seat.

"Take care of yourself. Oh, are you going to continue going to school?" asked Maylu.

"Nah, I think that I'll go back to work. No offense, but all that school is is busy work. Bye," said Chaud as he started up the front path.

"Hey Chaud," Lan yelled as Chaud opened the front door. Chaud turned around to look at the car. "Good luck!" Chaud just smiled and shook his head as he entered the house. "Man, it's going to be different with Mega not pushing me out of bed every morning."

"Hey, don't think that you're off the hook just because Chaud isn't there to put the chip in. I'm sure that mom would love to get you up like that whenever she wants," said Mega from the car's CPU. Maylu jacked Roll in as Lan started back towards his house.

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Chaud walked into his room and set his stuff on the bed. "This is going to be weird going back to the pampered lifestyle. I wonder if I'll ever get used to it again," he thought. "Hey, Proto, do you think that I'll ever get used to living here again?"

"I'm sure you will. It might take a while, but I'm 99 positive that you will. Hey, why don't you get unpacked, and then you can just take a nap or something," said Proto. Chaud took the PET and PET charger and put them on his desk, and then went to change into sleeping clothes.

"Yeah, I guess that you're right. I'm tired. I bet the old- I mean Dad went back to work," said Chaud as he crawled into his bed. "Night."

"Goodnight Chaud."

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