Chapter 7

Someone's Watching us, Someone's Listening

When the limo arrived the three netsavers, navi's included, climbed in taking seats by one another.

Chaud, Terra, Whisper, Protoman and Mega all eyed Lan with great interest. For someone who had just learned that his dead brother was alive and was his netnavi he seamed fine, not freaked out or even slightly disturbed.

Chaud and Terra couldn't help but think that if they were in Lan's shoes that they wouldn't be this calm so soon. They weren't sure how they would be acting but it would be something other than Lan's happy-go-lucky disposition, but hey, that was Lan for you. The silence that was building was only broken when Mega spoke.

"So, how'd dad take it?" he asked.

"He made excuses as always. He's happy that I know but he still stands by what he did. But, what's done is done and we might as well move on and make the best of what we have. Dwelling on the past isn't going to make it any better." Lan replied. After Lan finished everyone in the car just stared.

"Wow." Protoman stated at Lan's sudden show of maturity.

"Wow is right," Terra said, "we need to mark this day on our calendars, this is about as rare as the planets aligning." Everyone laughed.

"Ha, ha, ha, very funny." Lan said as the tension that was in the air lifted.

"So you guy's aren't freaked out by this?" Mega asked.

"What?" Terra asked. "That you're Lan's brother? No, not really, it makes sense actually, explains a lot of things."

"Yeah, I always thought that there was something special about you two; something other than your strong friendship. Like Terra said it makes sense." Chaud added.

"So with the whole Hub thing we're good?" Mega asked.

"We're good." Chaud and Terra replied together.

Terra's attention then diverted to Proto. She didn't know why but his long hair bothered her. She had to admit that it worked for him as a navi in the net; he had the whole lone samurai vibe, but out in the real world? It just didn't work. After a while Proto caught her gaze.

"Problem?" He asked.

"Yeah...the long hair; why? I mean I get it from a navi point of view, but in the human world? It doesn't work. In all honesty it makes you look like a girl." Terra replied fearlessly. Lan, Hub and Whisper all looked on with a shocked expression. They couldn't beleive that she had just said that, not that they hadn't all thought it.

The statement caught Proto off guard and he found himself glancing in Chaud's direction. What he found on his operator's face he wasn't expecting. Chaud looked like he was ready to crack up.

"I didn't want to say anthing." Chaud said, "But she's right."

After a few seconds of stillness and scilence Proto reached out his hand. "Fine. Give me your PET." Chaud raised his right eyebrow slightly as he did what he ws told; Proto going into the materialzation program's settings. After he keyed in a few commands his long hair along with the knit cap pixilated out being replaced with average short upturned locks of hair that were peppered with black streaks. "Better?" The navi asked.

"Much." Terra replied. But the girl was still curious. Proto still wore those shades, it was like he was hiding something, but what? And why with the long hair gone did she feel as if she had seen him somewhere?

"You know one thing we should address is where those dark doppelgangers came from." Proto stated. Terra was still staring at him and he wanted her attention elsewhere.

"Really?" Terra asked. "You want to talk about them now? I had just managed not to think about them."

"Why not we have the time." Proto replied. "They're all awfully alike but they didn't come from us."

"Odds are they did." Mega said. "They may not have been created by a dark chip but odds are they're still a part of us. Videoman most likely used his powers to create copies; explains their duplication powers. Regal then just filled in the blanks, programed them so that they'd be real navis. He's seen enough of us to write a similar personality program and twist it so that they'd be enough like us to get under our skin.

"Happy day." Terra said darkly, she had never been happier to be going to a place where she would be fully distracted.

"Wow." Whisper breathed as she looked around, they had arrived at the warehouse and there were a ton of people there.

"It looks a lot different from the outside doesn't it?" Terra asked.

"Sure does." She replied.

"I remember our dad taking us to a netbattling tournament before I got sick, it was a lot like this one." Mega said.

"That must be a great memory." Terra said.

"It was." Lan and Mega replied together.

"Hey, if we're going to sign up before the deadline we better hurry. Come on." Chaud said as he led the group into an ally.

"Why are we going way back here?" Lan asked.

"I'm guessing that so when the materialization program is terminated peopled won't be left wondering why three kids just vanished in thin air." Mega replied discontinuing the program himself. "Sometimes I worry about you Lan." He said when he was back into the PET.

When the group got back to the desk most of the people had already signed up so it was clear.

"You got your I.D.?" the girl asked. When they handed her their cards she quickly glanced them over but stopped when she reached Chaud's. "You're the real Chaud Blaze?" she asked looking over his card. He nodded in reply. "Well, welcome to our tournament I hope it proves to be a challenge." She replied handing him back his card. "Next!"

"This is going to be so cool, I've never been to a tournament like this before." Lan said as they walked away.

"Yeah, I haven't either, but a lot of experienced netbattlers are here." Terra said checking out the crowd.

"I know, I've already seen some people from the N1 Grand Pri, you better watch your back Lan, this isn't going to be easy." Chaud added.

"Please," Lan replied, "I got 2nd place at the N1 Grand Pri remember? This will be a piece of cake. Besides I think I'd be more worried about you, you're the one who's up in the first round." He said looking at the score board that was running the battle schedule. "But don't worry Chaud I'm sure you'll do great."

Lan and Terra went to their seats with the rest of the net batters of the edge of the arena while Chaud made his way to the floor to wait for the tournament to start. And unknown to all of them someone was shadowing them.

"This ought to be interesting, I've never seen Chaud netbattle like this before." Terra said taking her seat.

"Ok," the announcer stated from the press box, "we thank you for the great turnout, we're sure to be in for some great battles so lets get star-r-r-r-r-ted! First we have Jackson Price and his navi Static, and they will be facing the one, the only, Chaud Blaze and Protoman! You're in for a real treat tonight people! So let's get ready to battle!" The crowd started to go wild when they heard the well-known duos names.

Chaud stood confidently facing his contender who eyed him nervously waiting for the count down to begin.

"3, 2, 1," the computer counted down, "battle." Everyone intently watched the screen waiting for a navi to make a move.

"Ok, Protoman," Chaud called, "keep your cool let him make the first move, we need to know what we're up against."

"Right." Protoman replied.

Back in the stands Terra felt an uneasy feeling creeping up her spine like someone was watching her; she shook it off and turned her attention back to the battle.

In the mean time Jackson had grown impatient with Chaud not making a move.

"Ok, Static, I guess it's up to us to make the first move." He said. "Go!"

"Static Ray" the navi called as he shot rays of electricity out of his gloves.

"Shield, battlechip in, download!" Chaud called, Protoman received the shield just in time to block the attack and caused it to repel back to Static who barely missed getting hit by his own energy blast.

"Now it' time for us to make a move," Chaud said, "boomerang, bamboo sword battlechip in, download."

"AARRRRRHHHHH" Protoman roared as charged the navi and released the boomerang. Static easily dodged the boomerang the first time and when it came back around.

"Oh, please," Jackson said laughing along with his navi, "that move is so old, did you really expect that to work?" he asked.

"No, but I knew it would cause a good enough distraction." Chaud said, "Protoman now!" he called.

"AARRHHHH," he called out again as he caught the other navi off guard and struck him with the bamboo sword. Since Static was an electric based navi the bamboo sword caused a lot of damage.

"Side bamboo." Chaud called again.

As Protoman threw his hands down, bamboo lances shot up from the ground. The already injured navi tried to dodge and weave but wasn't fast enough and three lances shit up from under him.

"Static logging out." The computer voice called out, "Winner Protoman."

"Hey, you were great." Terra said when Chaud came back to the seat that Lan and she had saved for him.

"Yeah, good job." Lan also congratulated.

"They're right," Jackson said as he walked over and shook Chaud's hand, "that was a good battle, congratulations."

"Thanks, you too. " Chaud commented, then Jackson left.

The group sat back down to watch the next couple of battles, some were short and some lagged on, soon it was Terra's turn. Once on the floor she was faced with her challenger, an 18-year-old boy by the name of Zim Warren, who Terra could tell right off was conceded.

"This ought to be easy." Zim said as he and his navi snickered.

"We'll just see about that." Terra replied as she looked into the stands and saw Chaud and Lan giving her a thumbs up.

"3,2,1, battle." The computer counted down.

"Come on Knightman, let's get this over with, we have better things so do with than to tango with these children."

"What ever you say." the navi replied, "Lance!" he called out as he sprinted toward Whisper.

"Phaser!" Whisper called when he reached her and his lance passed right through her body.

"Huh?" Knightman asked confused when his lance didn't do any damage.

"No one calls me a child, program advance, aqua, fire, bamboo, and elect swords download." Terra called.

"Element sword!" Whisper exclaimed as she struck Knightman four times using each of the swords.

"Knightman logging out."

Zim looked on in disbelief, he couldn't believe that he had been beaten so easily.

"You should really watch that smug attitude of yours, it's going to get you in trouble." Terra said walking off leaving the boy dumbfounded.

"That was great you sure showed him," Lan said as he and Chaud came up to meet her, "Hey, I have to go, I'm up next." He said as he checked the board.

When Lan left Terra started to feel that creepy feeling again. When she had been battling the feeling had dissipated some but now it was gaining strength again.

"Terra are you ok?" Chaud asked when he noticed that she seemed uneasy.

"You don't feel that? Someone's watching us." Terra said. When Chaud began to pay attention he felt it too. Someone defiantly had their eye on them. They turned back to Lan's battle to try to shake to feeling.

"Megacannon, battlechip in!" Lan said as he entered to chip.

"Megacannon!" Mega called as he fired at his opponent whose name was Gammaman, he was a navi about the same height and size as Mega, his blond hair fell over his state eyes on the left side. He wore a gold and scarlet jumpsuit, and he was a worthy opponent as was his operator Ryan Gray. Gammaman dodged the blast.

"Gamma ray," he yelled as he shot his default weapon; Mega barley got out of the way in time.

"Ok, Hub," Lan whispered "it's time to find his weak spot. Cyber sword, battlechip, in." Lan called out

"Custom sword, battlechip in." Ryan said counteracting Lan's move.

"AAARRRRRRHHHH," both navis roared as their swords clashed up against one another. Soon both of the navis were in deadlock.

"He's really good." Terra commented as she watched the battle still trying to shake the creeping feeling that she still had.

"Yeah, and we might be seeing more of him too. The chief wants to recruit a couple more netsavers." Chaud added.

"Wait," Terra said as she came to a sudden realization. "Is that why you suggested that we come here? To spy out new recruits?"

Chaud hesitated before he replied. "Would that be so bad?" He asked.

"Yes!" Terra replied. "That means that this is still work."

All the while Terra and Chaud were talking Mega and Gammaman's battle still continued. Then the computer voice uttered something that wasn't said very often.

"Time expired, draw match, Megaman, Gammaman, proceeded to next round."

By this time Terra's sixth sense was going haywire. Whoever was watching her seemed to be baring into her back. She couldn't take it anymore. When she turned she was shocked at who she saw. He was deep in the crowd but he was there. Dr. Regal.

"Chaud," she asked with a shaky voice.

"Terra-" Chaud started but was cut short when he followed Terra's gaze and saw who she was staring at.

"Dr. Regal." He said gazing at the scientist.

When Dr. Regal saw that he had been spotted he drew back into the shadows, heading out of the arena.

"Hey, stop!" Chaud exclaimed as he ran after Regal, with Terra following.

"Hey, guys, " Lan said turning around to see them out of their seats running after someone, when he saw the familiar white and purple tunic round the corner he decided to follow.

"It'll be better if we split up, if you head down that corridor we should be able to cut him off." Chaud said pointing to a hallway.

"I'm on it." Terra replied as she splitted off.

"There's nowhere to run Regal," Chaud said as he cornered him.

"You seem to have forgotten this way out." Regal replied, pointing to the open hallway ahead of him.

"Think again." Terra said as she stepped out of the shadows.

"Heh, you two actually think you can bring me down alone?" Regal asked starting to chuckle.

"That's why there's three of us." Lan said coming up behind Chaud.

"Well I'd love to stick around but I just came by to congratulate you on the way you held your own against my darkloids, obviously I still have a lot of work to do, I'll be in touch." He said as he seemed to melt in thin air and an object fell to the ground.

"A holographic generator?" Terra asked as she picked up the object from the ground.

Then Regal's voice filled the air.

"I'll give you this much, you three are determined, I love a worthy opponent. And you are posing to be quite a challenge."

Back at home Terra sat in her room thinking.

She couldn't help but wonder what was Regal was up to. After he had disappeared Lan, Chaud and she had left the tournament, they had thought about telling the chief what happened but had decided against it. After his explosion earlier that day they didn't think that it would be safe to tell him, that, and they didn't think he would take the news that they went to a rogue netbattling tournament that well. Even if Chaud had wanted to use it as a scouting mission.

But now she was thinking that maybe they should have, they were getting in way over their heads. Regal was playing games with them and she wasn't enjoying it. However, the main thing that made her uneasy was about the guy was his mind. He was frighteningly smart and he knew it, that's what made him so dangerous. He had already managed to somehow copy and warp their navis data, she could only wonder what else he had up his sleeve.

"Terra are you ok?" Whisper asked as she came up behind her op and put her hand on her shoulder, Terra flinched.

"I'm going to have to get use to that."

"Wasn't it your idea?" Whisper asked.

"I know, but having an idea and it becoming a reality are two very different things."

"What were you thinking about?" she asked sitting on the bed across from Terra.

"Dr. Regal, I can't stand not knowing what he's planning."

"Well I'm sure that we'll know soon enough."

"I'm sure we will." Terra replied as she continued to allow her mind to drift. But that wasn't all she was thinking about; Mega was Lan's brother. Did that mean there was hope for her?

Back at the Hikari residence Lan was having a conversation of his own.

"What was it like?" He asked. "Being trapped in the net?"

Hub sighed, he knew that he needed to talk about this but he didn't like it. "I know that there's no such thing as a ghost, but with the movies that they make, that's what it felt like. Like I was a ghost. I could see the life that I use to have but I couldn't interact."

"I hate that you had to go through that."

"Me too."

And so the conversation went on like that for hours, the two brothers making up for lost time. Soon though both of them drifted off to sleep.

Dr. Hikari listened in on the boys conversation using the intercom system that was installed in their house from his new bed on the couch in the living room.

His wife had put out of their bedroom when he had come home. She had never agreed with him that they should keep the fact that Hub was alive from Lan, and when Lan had come home with the materialization program open and the way he and Mega were acting she could tell that he knew.

They were acting just like they had when they were children, and there was no other explanation for that. The two had been in Lan's room ever since. So when her husband came home all she had to do was give him the look and he knew that he would be on the couch that night.

Now he knew for sure that having his son keep the fact that he was alive from his closest family had been a mistake. Hearing what Lan and Mega said told him how much unneeded pain he had caused. Eight years of loneliness for his sons. And with these thoughts and feelings of guilt he slowly drifted to sleep.

TBC