"Yahoo!"
Lan laughed as he flew through the air, doing a spin before landing back on the ground, gliding across the smooth walkway of the park on his skates.
"Haha! That was definitely higher than the last one!" Lan grinned, looking to his friends. "What do you guys think?"
"For sure. Not a bad jump there." Tori grinned. "Bet you can go higher though."
"You wanna bet on that-"
"NO!" Megaman interrupted him from the PET. "You lost 20 zenny last time!"
"And that's why." Tori snickered a little. "Right guys?"
Everyone nodded in agreement.
"Oh, thank you so much for the vote of confidence."
Lan shook his head, rolling over to the table they were all sitting at. He frowned, noting Mayl still wasn't present yet.
"Hey, Mega, what time is it?" he asked, pulling out his PET.
Megaman pulled up a clock, showing the time to Lan.
"It is currently 4:05 PM."
"And she's still not here…" Lan sighed.
"It's only 5 minutes, Lan." Yai reasoned. "Besides, she said any time after 4 so that could mean anything."
"Still…"
"Awww, do you wanna sweep her off her feet Lan?" Tori teased. "Like a knight navi in shining armor?"
"Protecting the fair lady?" Dex joined in, elbowing Lan.
The boy turned bright red, stammering like crazy.
"T-That's not-I-I… We-We're not-"
"How long have you two been friends? Since pre-school?"
"Earlier. Since they were like 2-"
"Megaman you are NOT helping! And stop listening to Zero's old stories anyways!"
"Ooooo!"
"ANYWAYS!" Lan gave a mad huff. "I just don't want her to miss out on the fun."
"She'll get here when she gets here." Yai winked. "In the meantime, you could do a net battle with Dex to get your mind off it. I brought the prototype portable holo rings my dad is working on at his company."
All the boys' eyes grew wide.
"No way!" Tori beamed.
"For real!?" Dex stood up straight. "The immersive ones!?"
Yai smirked, leaning over, bringing up a rectangular bag onto the table.
"Yep. The ones that allow you step right into the cyberworld and experience the battle right before you. It's supposed to help netops be better insync with their net navis during battle, thus enhancing battle capabilities. Long as you brought your visor headsets, it should be able to work perfectly."
Lan grinned, pulling out his set from his backpack, a green tinted visor with a microphone attached to it.
"Megaman and I are always prepared."
"Gutsman and I are always ready to kick Lan's butt." Dex smirked, pulling out a red tinted visor.
"Suuure." Lan grinned, putting it on. "Man this is gonna be cool."
Yai set up the holo rings before stepping aside.
"The usual rules apply of course. May the best netbattler win!"
Lan and Dex stood on opposite ends of the ring, both grinning as they readied their PETs.
"Alright, let's do this!" Lan aimed his PET at the port that was put at the center of the ring. "Jack in, Megaman, power up!"
"Let's show 'em who's boss!" Dex grinned, doing the same as Lan. "Jack in, Gutsman, power up!"
Within moments, the ring activated, a cybernetic duplicate of the park appearing around not only Dex and Lan, but also around the spectators. Yai grinned at Tori's reaction.
"How far does this thing reach?" he asked.
"To the corners of the rings. I made sure to include us as well so we could watch." Yai put on a fancy visor that was tinted gold. "One of the other things Father is trying to do is make sure there is more audience interaction. You know, more fun for everyone. On top of that."
Glyde appeared next to her.
"More time with your navis."
Iceman appeared on the table, next to Tori.
"See?"
"Whoa! Cool!" Tori grinned, looking to his navi. "Nice to see you in person, Iceman."
"Same to you."
They tried to share a fist bump, though sighed as their hands went right through each other.
"Unfortunately, don't forget these are not solid holograms. Not quite there yet."
"Soon though, right?"
"Hopefully." Her eyes narrowed. "And hopefully before Blaze Tech Games figures it out first."
Glyde shook his head.
"There, there, Young Miss. You'll get them eventually."
Tori shook his head.
"Glad to see the rivalry still presses on, I guess." Tori turned his attention to the battle that was about to begin.
Gutsman and Megaman were in the position to start, both having eager looks on their faces.
"Ready?" Megaman asked.
"Born ready, guts!" Gustman answered.
Lan and Dex grinned at each other, their battle chips ready.
Soon as the signal sounded for them to start, the battle began.
"Get'em, Gutsman!"
Gustman beat on his chest before charging at Megaman, trying to punch him in the face. Megaman jumped away quickly, flying high in the air.
"Hey, Lan. Sword?"
"You got it." Lan grinned. "Cyber sword, battle chip in, download!"
Megaman's right forearm morphed into a glowing blue sword as he came back down, aiming it right at Gutsman.
Gutsman ran for it, only barely making it out with just a slight slash on his back, knocking him to the ground.
"Ow! Guts!"
"Nice!" Lan cheered. "Get him again, Mega!"
"Not so fast!" Dex put a chip in. "Barrier, battle chip in, download!"
"Oh, bits-"
Megaman didn't have a chance to back down from his attack as he was sent flying from the barrier that formed around Gutsman that he hit with his sword instead of the navi.
"UWAH!"
"Mega!"
Thud!
"Ow…" Megaman was flat on his back, an unamused look on his face. "Not… my best move."
"Get up, get up!"
Megaman stood up, dusting himself off before getting back into position.
"Ha! Rookie mistake!"
"Last I checked you did that too!" Lan scoffed. "Try this! Blaster Battle Chip in, download!"
Megaman's arm morphed into a blaster, taking aim before firing directly at Gutsman.
"YAH!"
"Oh, guts."
Gutsman was sent flying, landing right in front Dex with a loud resounding thud, a cloud of dust forming around him.
"NO! GUTSMAN!"
"Ha! Alright Mega! Let's finish him off!" Lan went to put in one last battle chip. "Neo varia sword battle chip in-"
"SOMEONE HELP!"
Everyone froze up as Roll appeared in the center of the arena, panic in the net navi's green eyes.
"Roll!?" everyone exclaimed.
Megaman and Gutsman hurried over to her, dissipating their weapons.
"What's going on?" Megaman asked.
Roll made a screen appear, showing a scene that was completely engulfed in smoke and flames… and Mayl was right in the middle of it, coughing into her hand.
"Mayl!" everyone cried out.
"It was the oven at her home." Roll explained, trying to keep a calm composure, despite the tears in her eyes. "It burst into flames and the whole house filled with smoke within seconds. Mayl is having a hard time getting out and I'm not sure when the fire department will arrive."
"Then we're on our way." Lan narrowed his eyes. "Megaman, go to the server and clear out the viruses. If it's what happened with ours yesterday than you know what to do."
"Right."
"Iceman you go too!"
"You too Glyde! We'll be there as fast as we can!"
Just hang in there Mayl.
Lan took off with the others, close behind him.
We're on our way!
ooooo
The viruses were running amuck all over the mainframe, causing damage to it and feeding the cyber flames that were growing rapidly.
"You know… I never thought I'd hate seeing mettaurs so much." Megaman remarked, firing a blast at two of them. "Hey, get outta here, you free loaders!"
"Metto!"
"GUTSPUNCH!"
"ICE BREATH!"
Gutsman and Iceman were working around the area to contain the flames with their abilities, while Glyde, Megaman and Roll focused on deleting viruses.
"Take this!" Roll fired arrows at the viruses around her. "Roll Arrow!"
"The virus numbers are dropping fast." Glyde reported, the navi currently flying over the system with his wings. "We should be able to put out the fire soon."
"Good." Megaman looked to Roll. "Any report on Mayl?"
Roll pulled up her monitor again, panic coming to her eyes at seeing the young girl on the floor, trying her best not to breathe in smoke.
"Still trapped. I hope the others get their soon. I'm not sure how much longer she's going to hold out."
"I'm sure they'll get there soon. The most we can do right now is just get this fire out." Megaman narrowed his eyes. "Which with a few more blasts we should be done-"
Megaman and Roll were sent flying in different directions in a matter of seconds as a ball of fire hit the ground next to them, blowing the area into bits. They landed hard, rolling for a moment before stopping.
They both let out groans, rubbing their heads.
"What was that?" Megaman asked.
"Over there!" Glyde pointed.
They followed his finger, seeing a net navi standing on top of a digital structure. The navi had red and tan armor on, with blue and yellow accents. It had flames coming out of the top of its head and shoulders.
Their amber eyes gleamed with amusement at seeing the downed navis, a smirk to match.
"Good to see you again, Megaman." They crossed their arms. "This means I can get two missions done with one flame."
Megaman growled.
"You… Who the heck are you? And why this?" He gestured to the area around them. "You're gonna kill a girl if this keeps up!"
"Doesn't matter to me. I just do what my boss tells me… and that includes deleting you."
"That's not an answer." He growled, charging.
That's it!
He tried to burn my house down and now he's gonna kill Mayl if this keeps up.
The navi chuckled, jumping down from the structure.
"I'll make this quick."
As soon as they landed, fire burst around them, trapping Megaman and the navi in a barrier of fire, barring others from reaching them.
"Megaman!" Everyone shouted.
Megaman looked around him, startled.
"W-What?"
"I'm not dumb, blue boy." the navi narrowed his eyes. "I wouldn't have a chance if I had to deal with five of you at once. So, best to narrow it down to one with my flame dome. Neither of us leaves till this battle is over."
Megaman growled, transforming his right arm into a Mega Buster.
"Data scum."
"Actually."
The navi turned one of his arms turned into a large fire blaster, pointing it at Megaman.
"The name is Torchman."