A happy-looking Fanficcer was randomly seated on the pink squirrel slide smack-dab in the middle of the battlefield – that is to say, ACDC Park. It was humming a tiny tune to itself when it was approached by what appeared to be its muse – Pikasqueaks the Pikachu.

"Hey, buddy. You've got some stuff to say." He cocked his head and grinned at Fanficcer.

"Well, all right." TCF paused, thinking. "OK, so as for the POV – think fate. Think –"

Unsurprisingly enough, it was stopped by Pikasqueaks, who was urgently pulling on its arm. "You have to tell 'em, you know," he told Fanficcer, though he was still grinning.

"Well, all right." It gave a docile shrug. "It was the Dark Rush's POV. When he's not driving bad guys like Ganondorf, Voldemort and Bass (Bad Forte! Bad!) insane, he's actually fairly serious and all." It paused thoughtfully. "Was that it?"

"No!" Pikasqueaks' voice came out strained; he shook his head to clear himself, then tried again: "Lloyd. Remember?"

"Oh yeah!" TCF brightened. "Lloyd Irving from the excellent Gamecube and PS2 game Tales of Symphonia, people. Did I say it's excellent? Anyway, let's face it. He LOOKS like Lan, he ACTS like Lan, and he's DUMB like Lan. What more couldja want?"

It looked so excited. Jeez – I never realised just how bad it is to be a muse. Pikasqueaks rolled his eyes before pulling once more on Fanficcer's shoulder. "Also, a reviewer just called you crazy."

"So?" Its tone indicated that it didn't really care. "I'm a fanficcer. We usually are."

Instantly, several thousand random (and not real) fanfic-writers who aren't crazy were glaring angrily at it.

"O-kaaaay…." Weirded out, Fanficcer started to back away slowly. "Well, I am. As for the POV," it went on, lifting its head up and turning to the readers, "Here we enter yet another unusual one. And I have to say, his mind is considerably…um…odd. Now, on with the fanfic!"

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"Why do I also miss this sort of thing?"

Those were the words that issued from my mouth as I sprinted onto the battlefield. At least, that's what I think it was; technically speaking, it was the park with the pink squirrel slide in the ACDC district. And me? Well, I, Hikawa Tohru -- I mean, Tory Froid -- was running. Running as fast as I could after having jumped down from the city bus, which had taken me from the SciLabs, all the way back to good old Densan -- uh, DenTech. And now, as I ran out, a resplendent turquoise-and-yellow dot among the splashes of colour, a million and one sentiments were running through my mind.

I charged, close to the ground and in my element; just as I skidded to a halt beside my Navi, Ice Man, I heard Ace Lightstreak say something about war. He grinned evilly; the next thing I knew, I – MINIBOOMER! DUCK, TORY, DUCK! The next thing I knew I was ducking wildly for the incoming of one of the blue-and-green bombs, which missed my chocolate-brown hair by mere inches and whizzed harmlessly past instead.

"Tory! T-Tory! A-Are...you all right?"

"I-I think so," I mumbled to Ice Man, ducking to avoid a blue boomerang-type BattleChip's projectile as it came winging our way. "W-what ...happened while I-I was gone?"

In reply, my chibi Inuit-type Navi slapped my shoulder with a cool, easygoing grin. "Tory, c-calm down!" he restrained and encouraged me at the same time, his mittened hand resting passively between my shoulder blades. "You've g-got nothing to worry...a-about."

I nodded, slightly cheered and understanding better in the presence of Ice Man. "OK, but what's happening?"

He looked back at me grimly and deeply, suddenly serious. "War." This answer may have composed of one word, but it told me all I needed to know; a quick glance confirmed my suspicions. Ace Lightstreak, a familiar bad buy with a wacky yellow hairstyle, was conferring quietly with the mad scientist Dr. Albert Wily. Also with them were Lightstreak's sleek silver Navi Comet Man and Wily's shady, mysterious Forte -- I mean, Bass.

"If I have to fight…" My hand clenched tightly on my PET; I surveyed the horizon, acknowledging a deep, powerful force within me -- the force of justice and righteousness. And here I quote the awesome Tales of Symphonia: justice and love will always win! "Then I will – for...D-DenTech, for the world…f-for Navis, for humans…f-for the water plant." I closed my eyes and my knuckles whitened as I gripped the blue personal terminal harder, tipping my head downward with the action. "I c-can't let my...dad down."

"That's…th-the spirit!" Ice encouraged me, a mischievous yet don't-come-near-me gleam in his eyes. "Let's do this thing."

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"N-need…a break…"

Coughing, I covered my head with my fists as I sprinted through the smoke. The air was sizzling with the stuff; the debris and detritus of MiniBoomers, CyberSword slashes, TimeBombs, Quakes, and some of what Comet Man called meteorites. In all reality, they resembled the said cosmic waste – hard, round, and packed a punch, all filled with explosives and gilded with a soft, delicate sheen of silver. It was because of these things that we were all stuttering and wheezing. I wove in between the masses of NetBattlers and Navis – official, normal, standard, custom – both hands on my PET, eyes to the ground, to my friends. Ice Man trailed along in my wake; I could hear his footsteps pounding the burnt and smouldered grass behind me.

"Almost there… T-Tory!" Ice cried out, to give me determination and courage. I suppose it went for him through – the hour and a half of battling had been gruelling, to say the least. "W-we can do it!"

"T-thanks, Ice… Man." My breathing was ragged; I panted along steadily, feeling his short body brush against my rib cage as we ran together, past the line of fire. "I-" My breath was cut from my throat – AAAAH! EVIL SWORD-WIELDING NETNAVI! MUST AVOID HIM! I dived between the standard's legs, quickly followed by Ice.

"Tory!" His voice came to my ears strained and resisting; I felt a pang of horror slap my heart as I whipped my head around. The sword-wielding Navi had caught Ice Man in a headlock, sword flung high above his shoulders. With another fresh bout of terror, I realised that his sword – which had begun to glow as brightly as a star at midnight – was about to slash downward, killing, deleting, destroying my poor NetNavi –

"N-no!… Y-you can't!"

With this cry, I dove down, smack-dab in between the two duellers, pushing out my hands as I did so. Ice was knocked to the side; the standard Navi went flying. I watched as his wildly flailing form fell to the ground about ten metres away from us, rolling uselessly on the green grass. My head quickly whipped around; after seeing that short spectacle, I had a Navi to attend to.

"Ice! A-are…you all… r-right?"

My coughing and stuttering got worse as I plunged forth through the gray haze of smoke and leftover rubbish from the BattleChip projectiles that had not once stopped flying through the air. Still, I ploughed onward; nothing mattered right now except saving my Navi. "I-Ice Man!" I cried again, hindered by a nearby salvo of AirShot bullets that peppered my legs and made me stumble, but never stopping in my rapid sprint to save my NetNavi.

"I-I think so." Panting, Ice Man stared hard at the ground. As I came near, he flung one hand out. "D-don't come near, Tory. I th-think...I-I found something."

"What… i-is it?" I managed to blurt out as a thick whiff of fireball smoke crept up my nostrils; at the last moment, I remembered to put my head down. "I s-stopped… now."

"I-I… don't know," Ice Man replied finally, springing onto his feet and ushering me away from the thing. I resisted slightly, wanting to get past without hurting him.

"Tory…" He shook his head, downcast. "D-don't… get past me… You c-can't… I don't know w-what it is."

"I-I won't… get past you. D-don't worry, Ice." I gave a small, sad smile as I patted him on the back. "I-I can… see it from here."

That said, I planted myself more firmly into the sweat-covered, thinly bloodied grass and strained my eyes to the thing that lay, innocently in the distance. I threw up one arm over my face as a shield when another cloud of smoke floated near, blocking my nasal airways until it passed. I bent my head down further, shielding my brow as I scrutinised the innocent – if a little large – dark blue object lying in the grass.

"H-hey! It's a… PET!" Surprised, I turned to Ice Man, who – to my shock, was slapping his mittens together, a crafty grin on his face. "S-should I… go get it?"

"I'll d-do… that, little Tory." Here he gave me a gigantic grin, which was stopped by a fresh bout of smoke-induced coughing. When he resurfaced, he grinned more hugely and the next thing I knew – he had disappeared.

I watched Ice's figure bounding and cartwheeling through the smoky haze; darting forward, disappearing, visible above the smoke, then flipping smoothly back down in front of the lost – or maybe abandoned – PET. In short, he was jumping like a fly – in the space of approximately three point five seconds on my black sports watch, Ice had returned to me, armed with the thing.

"C-confusing… It's one of th-the weirdest… PETs I've ever s-seen," Ice Man concluded, his shoulders rising and falling slightly as he struggled to breathe through the ashen smoke that filled the park. "Y-yours is… light blue, Ch-Chaud's is red… This one's d-dark blue."

"Hm…" I rubbed one hand over the PET's crest – oddly enough, it was like none I had ever seen before. As a matter of fact, the only normal thing about it was the yellow-orange ring that encircled it; the actual crest composed of a single silver star, splashed on a velvet-blue background delicately spangled with small multicoloured specks.

"W-weird." Ice examined the PET some more, and, with one smooth motion, nicked it from me. I suppose shock must have been registering on my face at that point, because he grinned evilly and tossed it once through the air, catching it in another smooth motion.

"I'll k-keep this where… it'll be safe." Seeing the worried expression on my face, Ice smiled reassuringly and patted me on my shoulder. "C-come on… You got th-this new BattleChip, right?"

I was confused. What did he mean – AAAAH! BIG GIANT FIREBALL-THING COMING MY WAY! MUST EVADE IT! I flattened wildly against the ground, a small green-and-yellow blot on the line of grass. I felt the fireball brush against my hair, singeing my bangs slightly as it passed. Relieved, I popped back up, puzzling about what Ice Man had meant.

"W-what… BattleChip? Oh!" Suddenly I remembered. "You… m-mean SkateScooter?"

"Esruoc f-fo, baby." Another humongous grin curled Ice's face as he threw a small white ball to the ground – the thing that apparently brought Chip projectiles into the Real World, like now. In this case, it was a kind of smooth, glowing skateboard thing; Ice Man hopped onto it and gestured.

And me? Grinning for once, I followed him.

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"Chaud, a-are… you all right? Oh, m-man, Chaud… Why won't y-you… answer me?"

Meiru's – I mean, Maylu's pink-clad Navi was unusually agitated as she bent over the forms of Enzan and Blues...uh, Chaud and Proto Man when the SkateScooter cut its way through the smoke to where the others were. Roll kept muttering to herself as she tended to the Operator and his Navi; even as we approached, she cried out exasperatedly. "P-Proto… Can you… hear me?" Nothing. Roll bit her lower lip until it bled and once more whipped her yellow healing antennae over the dynamic duo.

"Any… l-luck?" Maylu called desperately to her Navi; Roll shook her head, her vibrant green eyes full of tears. "Keep… on t-trying," she encouraged from her vantage point among the haze before turning to us. "Are.. y-you two all right? Y-you… look horrible."

"I think… s-so," I replied, picking up the SkateScooter easily under one arm. To my surprise, it disappeared in my grip as we made our way over to my friend.

But Ice apparently had other things on his mind. "W-we…do?" he asked Maylu, his expression confused.

"Y-yeah…" Her reply was duosyllabic owing to the smoke; even as we came closer I suddenly noticed her paper-white face covered with pale-red marks, dishevelled magenta hair, loose pink hair pin and torn, ripped clothes. "Your faces…a-are covered in b-blood."

I nodded numbly back, pressing one hand to my face. When I gently pulled my palm off, I noticed that she had been right – it was covered with a wet, sticky substance. "W-we…didn't realise."

"G-guys! Have… any of you seen Lan and Glide? We… f-found Mega and Yai, but…" Dekao's – sorry, Dex's, voice trailed off as he came charging through the smoke toward us, trailed by a nervous yet feverish-looking Yai Ayano – to say the least, looking as if she had been using her big brain to help save the world – and Rockm-- Mega Man.EXE. Mega, on his hand, was pale but tough-looking; unlike any of us gathered there and conscious, he was a NetBattling Navi and always would be. Suffice to say his armour and tightsuit were scored with blast marks and his face had gained an unhealthy-looking whitish hue, but he looked dangerous. Very dangerous. As in an I'm-a-good-guy-I'm-trying-to-save-the-world-I'm-serious-in-saying-I'm-about-to-delete-you-into-oblivion kind of way. Well, you get the picture.

"I'm… n-not sure Guts is with h-him, though," Mega Man said now, pushing Yaito – sorry, scratch that last syllable -- away from him as what appeared to be a giant airplane soared over us, smoking at the rounded nose and windows. Too soon had it aimed some sort of harpoon-shaped torpedo-like shot toward us; Mega whirled on his heel and blasted the thing by means of his Mega Buster. "I-I guess I'd… better g-go find them."

"No, M-Mega, don't!" Roll looked up from Chaud and Proto Man, the former of which having awoken and having heaved himself onto his feet. There was fear in her vivid green eyes this time, as well as a thick flush that was quickly spreading up her cheeks. "L-Lan…"

She let off abruptly, casting her gaze downward, onto Proto. "N-no, it's…okay," she mumbled under her breath. "H-he's your…twin. I-I…understand."

OK, now that was cryptic. Mega Man was a NetNavi. Netto – uh, I mean, Lan -- was a human being. How in the world was that even remotely possible?

I should have used my wonderful brain here, but I didn't. (rolls eyes) Now because of that, I wouldn't find out what the pink Navi had meant until I would be sixteen, in a Rockman.exe fanfic called 'Fiddling with Destiny.' Go figure.

Anyway, I noticed the blush on Roll's cheeks and was strangely reminded of Yai, who was tinkering with something next to me. I felt, I knew, the same way about Yai as Roll felt about Mega Man – the word was love.

"W-well… If you're s-sure, then, Roll…"

Within seconds, he had disappeared out of our line of sight, though he was soon replaced by two none-too-familiar figures -- a tousle-haired Lan Hikari dragging a briefly unconscious Glide.EXE in his wake.

"L-Lan, a-are… you all r-right?" I asked, rushing over when he collapsed a few inches away from Maylu, his golden burden falling harmlessly to the ground. "Y-you look bad."

"I-I do?"

"L-Lan, Lan, Lan. I'm… tutting for you, dear H-Hikari Netto." Maylu cocked her head mischievously to the side as she rummaged her pockets for a handheld mirror, which she then proceeded to toss to the said fellow crimefighting NetBattler.

She was right, too. Lan, of being of a darker skin colour than his Navi, didn't look half as pale as Mega Man did, but his face still had this kind of blanched, sickened look. A thin trickle of blood was slowly coursing down from under his sweat-drenched headband, which was hanging, lopsided, from his forehead. But, like Mega -- and the rest of us, I suppose -- he had that look that just screamed at you that he was -- well, is -- a good guy and was about to save the world.

"Eh heh., e-eh heh..." Lan grinned crazily and held up the peace sign after throwing the mirror back to his magenta-haired friend/crush (A/N: All right, I had to do that... Boo yah! XD)

"Anyway, I'd… b-better be going."

"L-Lan, no!" Maylu shouted, but he was already off and running.

"I-I'd better…be off, too."

"Ch-Chaud!" protested Roll when the white-haired Net Op sprang to his feet, soon followed by the newly awoken Proto Man. "Y-You guys've…j-just woken up!"

"We have t-to…do what w-we have to do. Y-you'd be better...o-off trying not to...s-stop us, R-Roll. W-we're...Official NetBattlers. W-we are who...we are, and that c-can never change." Proto looked down at us all as he rose with his master.

Roll nodded gravely. "I u-understand," she said in an undertone as both Chaud and Proto Man whipped out of sight.

Glide, meanwhile, had rolled over from where Lan had carelessly dropped him and was now crawling his way over to us. "I-I'm..staying here with Miss Y-Yai…to help arm ourselves," he announced, now falling to the ground beside his genius Operator. Yai, who had a state-of-the-art Windows 2022 laptop balanced on her uplifted knees, nodded without looking up and extended a helping hand to her NetNavi.

"W-wise…decision, Glide," she agreed, herblurred fingers never ceasing typing. "W-what… about y-you, Tory?"

"W-what… do you mean?" I asked through the thick haze of smoke, not entirely getting it.

"W-well, are you…and Ice Man going to f-fight, or…are you t-two going t-to stay and h-help the wounded?" Maylu asked as she bent down with Roll, running one smooth, pale hand down his golden armour.

"I-I--" This time I stuttered not because of the smoke, but because of hesitation. Ice, I was sure, would want to go fight with the others, but I wasn't sure about myself. It wasn't that I thought I couldn't fight; as a matter of fact, I had already proved good at avoiding any Chip projectiles that might come my way. As it was, I didn't exactly knew the others were doing, though I did know it had to do with arming humans with live BattleChips – a thing that I was good at. Still, though I was confused; at a loss, I turned to Ice for guidance.

" I-I can't…decide for y-you, Tory," he answered me with a somewhat hapless shrug when my dark eyes alighted on his swirly pink cheeks. Gritting his teeth, he held up two mittened fists. "If I-I was…you, though, I'd f-fight."

Next, I turned to Maylu and Yai. Maylu had this kind of tough yet somewhat wistful look in her brown eyes that said 'do what your heart tells you and help us save the world,' while Yai replied in an undertone, "I'd s-stock Chips..if I w-were you, Tory."

"I agree with Miss Yai." Glide got clumsily to his feet, straightening his golden helmet with one gloved hand (Amazingly enough, Mega Man was the only Navi who had come into the Real World with human clothes. Now that I think about it… how did that happen? Augh! (anguished groan) Stupid Fanficcer and its plot holes!). "I'm n-not saying you shouldn't...f-fight if you w-want to, Tory...b-but I think we already h-have...e-enough people o-out there." He gave a remorseful, lightly chastising look to the smoke that surrounded us; through the thick wafts of stuffy gray substance we actually saw Guts Man GutsPunching everyone in sight alongside the blue bomber. "So...that's w-where he went," Glide muttered, apparently to himself as he cleverly ducked Guts' overlarge golden fist as it came hurtling his way through the haze.

"I-I think…I'll a-agree with Yai," I said quietly. "I want to s-stock BattleChips… Not that I-I'd be a bad N-NetBattler or anything…but it's w-what I'm better at..."

Ice Man dipped his head. "A-all…right then. I-I'm not mad. J-just…don't forget to s-stock me some BattleChip….p-projectiles, Tory." And then, with a faint, pained smile, he had disappeared into the mist – I mean, smoke.

"You know h-how…t-to stock BattleChips, r-right?" Yai asked me; when I nodded, she went on. "G-great… Before – y-you guys d-didn't know…it b-but that s-special computer…y-you were using was c-configured…so that th-the humans c-can use…Chips t-too."

It was a lot for her to say. One thing was for sure: all that smoke definitely didn't help with her breathing. I tentatively patted her back as she attempted to take a great gulp of smoke-ridden air; reassured she winked deviously at me and slid her laptop over to me.

"S-so I'll be…h-helping humans, too. N-not just…Navis," I surmised, staring hard at the portable which was now lying innocently between my clenched fists, stuck steadfastly into the ground like two sturdy telephone poles. "Th-thanks, Yai… What about y-you?"

"Gl-Glide already has…one pr-programmed…into h-his system. H-he can t-take…it out if h-he…needs to." On that note, Yai gave a small smile and turned to her NetNavi, who – as it turned out – had already removed one of his golden shoulder guards and was tweaking around with it to prepare Yai for BattleChip stocking.

"T-then I'll…do it," I finished with a great shuddering sigh. I could feel the flush creeping up my cheeks as I nodded at my friends: Maylu, Yai, and Glyde. "I-I'll…help save the w-world."

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A/N: So, did you like poor Tory's strange tendency to mix up the Japanese names with the English ones? Or how about his other estranged habit to run away mentally screaming from oncoming BattleChip projectiles? OK, OK, I know – I'm being crazy. But I actually liked writing in his POV; according to me, he uses a lot of semicolons, while the Dark Rush relies mostly on dashes. I know, I know – I'm weird, too. Anyway… Froid means cold in French. See y'all!