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Chapter 16: The Night Before
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Terry rolled restlessly in his bed. He just couldn't fall asleep. He got up and paced his room for a second, then picked up his coat and put it on. His PET, which was lying in a charger next to his bed, flickered to life. '' Is something wrong Terry?'' Dash asked.

'' I'll be back in a little bit, I'm just going to take a walk to clear my head.'' Terry answered.

The night air was pleasantly cool against his face, and the sight of the night sky was soothing. In the distance, he could see a few lights from Kyotoro. Still, that uneasiness would not leave his head. Ever since Slate had dismissed them, a small feeling of foreboding had popped up in the back of his head, and it had been growing ever since.

'' What are you doing out here?''

Terry turned to see Karla approaching him. '' Just getting some air, that's all. What are you doing out here so late?'' he asked.

'' It's my turn to lock everything up for the night.'' she answered. '' I was going to go to bed now.''

'' Hmm.''

Karla noticed that Terry looked a little uneasy, even though he was trying to hide it. '' Terry, what's wrong? Please be honest with me.''

Terry sighed. '' I just have a bad feeling about this, like something terrible is going to happen.''

'' Well, that doesn't mean that anything will happen. It's just pre-mission jitters, that's all.'' Karla reassured. '' I am worried about Saito though...'' she added. '' He can't be older than 10, yet he'll be doing the work of adults. It may be too much for him.''

Terry smiled. '' First you try to say my feeling is nothing, but now you're worried too? Don't worry about Saito. He has Rockman with him, and if he's inherited his father's netbattling skills, there's nothing to worry about!''

'' Poor kid.'' Karla sighed, '' His father dying before he was even born, living during the Outbreak, and now this.''

'' Ah, a good night's sleep will do you good, you'll forget all about this.'' Terry told her. '' In fact, I'm going back to bed too. Night.''

'' Sleep well.'' Karla called after him, as she headed of in another direction, presumably to lock up something that she had forgotten.

When Terry got back to his bed, he fell fast asleep.

He was having a netbattle with Slate. Instead of plugging in however, Slate slotted in a Dimensional Chip. Zero appeared before Terry, a malevolent look in his eyes.

Terry protested that Dash couldn't fight a real world Zero, but Zero said, ''Then we'll fight you instead!'' and charged forward to attack...

He was standing in front of the dead and bloodied bodies of Netto, Meiru, and Saito. Slate and Vick, Beta, Tyria, Crushman, Butch and Karla stood off to one side.

Karla stepped forward and said, '' The jury finds the defendant guilty of the premeditated murder of the Hikari family.'' Then Slate solemnly spoke: '' You have been found guilty of the murders of Hikari Netto, Hikari Meiru, and Hikari Saito. There is only one punishment for a crime so heinous: Death!''

Rockman then appeared on Terry's left and fired a shot from his buster into Terry's side, sending him to the ground in fearsome pain. He looked and saw the bottoms of Rockman's boots heading towards him.

BAM BAM BAM

A ghostly voice began to wail his name. Terrrrryyyy... BAM BAM... Terrrrryyyy... BAM BAM... TERRRRRYYYY!

'' Terry! Wake up!''

Terry awoke to find that it was morning and that he had fallen out of bed. Dash was calling his name in an effort to wake him up, while Vick was pounding on his door, shouting at him to get his rear in gear and get down.

'' Alright already! I'm comin' I'm comin' !'' Terry shouted and the pounding ceased.

'' Are you okay? You look pale.'' a concerned Dash asked.

'' I just had a nightmare, that's all.''

'' A 'nightmare'?''

'' It's like a dream, except it's a bad one.'' Terry explained.

'' A 'dream' ?''

'' I guess your sleep mode is quite different from natural sleep.'' Terry said. '' Well, I'll explain later, I need to get dressed and head down.''

Terry expected Slate to be giving some sort of breakfast pep talk, but he wasn't. He was sitting at the table, fingers steepled, deep in thought. Butch and Karla didn't look worried at all, while Vick's expression was impossible to read through his glasses. Saito, however, looked positively green. He thought about what Karla had said the previous night, then shook his head.

He plugged Dash in and went to get some food. In the cyberworld, the only one who looked nervous was Rockman. Crushman was the first to notice this and tried to reassure him. '' Don't worry kid, all of us were nervous on our first missions.''

'' Yeah! Cheer up. We've all got your back!'' Tyria said cheerfully.

'' Although I'm afraid that I won't be of much use though...'' Beta sighed.

'' Thank you... Everyone...'' Rockman said quietly.

Dash held out his hand. '' We're going to do this!''

Crushman placed his large hand on top of Dash's, then Tyria, Beta, and finally Rockman added theirs to the pile.

'' Right!'' Rockman said more assertively. '' We WILL!''

'' Hmph.'' Zero muttered as he watched them. '' Kids.''

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