Chapter 3

Foxes in the Henhouse

"I can not believe he just did that!" Terra exclaimed home once more, this time with her head in the face bowl washing her hair, Chaud had smeared the candy corn in it and all over her clothes. "I mean where did that come from!"

"Well isn't this what you wanted? Your grand master plan?" Whisper asked as she leaned with her elbow against the sink.

"My plan was to have Chaud normal, not turn into Lan jr." Terra said as she wrung out her hair getting out her hair drier beginning to comb it through. "And to be honest I gave up on that about a month ago."

"And now he surprises you."

"Maybe," Terra replied, "I want to know why he invited us out of the country, I mean why LA? There's New York, Chicago, Houston, New Orleans, all of those great cities why pick LA?"

"Maybe he just chose LA," Whisper replied, "Do you always have to read agendas into everything?"

"Everything no, Chaud yes," Terra said, "I don't think he's evolved to the point where he can do things on a whim."

We switch to a darkened place, little light and full of shadows. It's a dark corridor in a warehouse somewhere.

"Its started," a voice stated, it was Dark Protoman, Dark Megaman and Whisper were with him too.

"He sure didn't wait very long." Dark Whisper commented.

"HE found a window if opportunity," Dark Protoman replied, "the teams leaving tomorrow for the US, they're going to be gone at least three days maybe more."

"That's plenty of time for Regal to execute his plan, what are we going to do?" Dark Megaman asked.

"I don't know," Dark Protoman replied, "I'm sure they'll be a window somewhere and when it opens one of us will take it, but we need to be careful, Regal's becoming suspicious, until then we do what he tells us starting now."

"Yes sir." Dark Whisper and Megaman replied together.

"Good," "Let's get down to work," Dark Protoman said as he walked away with Dark Megaman and Whisper following him. A few seconds later an unrecognizable darkloid steps out of the shadows looking in the direction of the other three.

"I sill can not believe that Chaud actually helped me out with that prank." Lan said still stuffing clothes and other stuff into his duffel bag. "I almost passed out when he suggested using coke instead of water."

"Yeah it really is out of character, " Mega added as he watched Lan pack, "It's almost just as out of character as me helping you execute the prank."

"Hub that's not out of your character." Lan stated.

"It is now," Mega replied.

"Oh, come on," Lan replied, "You're not going to tell me that those five years you spent alone with Dad corrupted you?"

"Well I don't know about 'corrupted'," Mega replied, "I think matured would be a better suited word after all, I had to be mature enough to make sure you stayed out of trouble."

"Well if that was your primary mission you failed…horribly," Lan replied thinking of all the trouble he had gotten himself in or tangled up in, World Three, Grave, Nebula and now just Regal himself. "Besides I don't need you to be my keeper anymore especially since I know who you are, nagging didn't work then and it's defiantly not going to work now."

"So I just ought to be myself?" Mega asked.

"Yeah," Lan replied, "You can't deny that you loved pulling that prank, I could see it in your eyes, I still can," Lan said as he looked into his brothers eyes observing that that spark was slowly starting to intensify. He knew that Mega would never go all the way back, but a quarter or half way would be fine with hi. "So what do you say?" Lan said as he extended his hand, "Partners?"

Mega stared at the open palm, "Let me think about it," he replied, "I'm not sure I want to go back to a life of crime." But both boys knew sooner of later the answer would be yes, it was just a matter of time. "By the way thanks for pushing me earlier."

"What?" Lan asked in all innocence but knowing what Mega was referring to.

"The prank," Mega replied, "That wasn't just a random hit, you planned that all out, you knew what would happen if you pulled a prank on Maylu with me involved, that it might spark a memory, and in all that confusion she might say something without thinking, mainly my name. You're not as dumb as you would have people or even our parents believe."

"Thanks… I think," Lan replied, "and speaking of Maylu, when are you going to tell Roll who you really are?"

"What did you find?" Regal asked, the unidentified darkloid we saw before was standing at attention behind his thrown.

"We have traitors in the organization," the darkloid replied, "Want me to take care of them?" he asked as he looked down at his hands which were glowing with power.

"No," Regal answered, "Leave them to me. I want them to have their glimmer of hope for now. I want to see how far gone they really are."

"BEEP, BEEP, BEEP, BEEP, BEEP!" the annoying repetitive sound of the alarm clock cut through the morning air. It was 7:30.

"UUUGGHH," Terra groaned as she slammed her hand against the clock and pulled the covers over her head.

"Rise and shine!" Whispers said as her melodious voice filled the air thought at the time it sounded just as annoying as the alarm clock.

"Go away," Terra growled as she pulled the covers tighter.

"Come on get up," Whisper said as she walked closer to the bed, "You're going to a foreign country today you should be excited, you don't want to miss the plane."

"I'm not going to miss the plane," Terra replied as she continued to stay under the sheets. "I have everything ready, packed last night laid out my clothes, jewelry, make-up the whole shebang, I'm not going to be late."

"I know you're not," Whisper said as she walked over to the bed lacing her fingers around the mattress and tilted it causing Terra to fall off the other side, "Not now."

"I resent that," Terra said as she picked herself off the floor, that next thing she heard was her mother calling her."

"Terra you up yet?" she asked as her voice drifted up the stairs.

"Yes ma'am," Terra replied answering her mom before turning her attention back to her sister. "You ought to be ashamed of yourself working for the forces of evil."

Whisper smiled as she walked out of the room. Once she was gone Terra looked around her room and her eyes fell on her luggage case, quickly remembering something she forgot to pack she went into her closet and fished around for a minute. Finding what she was looking for on the top shelf she picked up the object by it's laces and walking back over to her bag she added a pair of ice skates to the mix.

"I told you I wasn't going to be late," Terra said proudly as she walked out of the house with her luggage slung over her shoulder. "8:15 gives me plenty of time to get to the airport and get through security."

"Not for a lack of trying you mean," Whisper said as she and Terra turned onto Lan and Maylu's street, "If I hadn't gotten you up you'd probably would still be in bed."

"And whose fault is that?" Terra asked, "I'm not the one who stayed up past midnight day dreaming about a certain azure eyed, dual haired boy, if you forgot out minds are linked, your active imagination kept me awake, but don't worry your secret is safe with me." Terra replied.

"I don't-," Whisper started.

"Oh give it up!" Terra interjected cutting her sister off, "You have a crush on Proto end of story."

"Identity problems?" a voice asked behind them, when the two girls looked behind them they say Maylu and Mega, "We called you guys but you were in your own little word." Mega said, "We couldn't help but over hear."

"Great," Whisper replied.

"Oh, so you actually admit it?" Terra asked smiling, Whisper remained silent.

"It's not that horrible Whisper," Maylu commented, "Everyone pretty much figured you had a crush on him, I think even Proto knows."

"I was that obvious?" Whisper asked actually admitted for the first time that she actually had a crush out loud.

"Not really," Maylu replied, "You never made it shockingly apparent, it was more in the way you would look at him, or not look at him.

"Well that's just peachy," Whisper said a little begrudgingly.

"Where's Lan and Roll?" Terra asked slightly laughing at hat sisters predicament noticing that the two weren't there.

"Lan's sleeping as usual." Mega replied.

"And you left him at home?" Terra asked.

"Well he said he didn't want me to be his keeper anymore, and he said he'd rather have a brother than a navi, and as far as brothers go they leave each other high and dry once on a while."

"You're still trying to teach him?" Terra commented.

"Yeah, I thought I'd introduce another teaching method." Mega replied.

"And as for me I'm here." Roll stated as she appeared by Mega grabbing his hand, "I had to take care of something in Net City," Terra looked back at Roll as she spoke and noticed that Mega was carrying Maylu's luggage for her. Holding Roll's hand and carrying Maylu's luggage, that was interesting…

The gang caught a bus at the next block and rode the international airport, once they got there they noticed that the airport was uncommonly empty. Obviously all the businessmen who came through were either already here or out of the country. Once inside they saw Proto and Chaud waiting for them. Whisper kept her eye's averted.

"You're actually here on time, I'm impressed," Chaud said as he walked up.

"Well the majority of us are usually punctual, but were still missing a party of one." Maylu replied referring to Lan's absence.

"Were is Lan?" Proto asked.

"At home," Mega replied, "He has to learn how to use an alarm clock, he said he didn't want me to be his anymore."

"So I'm guessing he's still asleep?" Proto asked.

"No actually he's awake, and not very happy," Mega replied with a far off look in his eyes, he could hear Lan's grumbling in the back of his mind.

"Heh," Proto said in reply.

"Well come on and let's go head and get everything on the plane," Chaud said as he lead everyone from the lobby past security and past the ticket booths.

"Private jet I should have known." Terra said to herself as they stepped out of the airport and onto the tarmac reveling a sleek snow-white plane sporting the Blaze Quest logo.

"Mater Blaze are we all set?" a young man asked who was around the age of 20 or 22 as he came out of the plane.

"Sorry Jackson not yet," Chaud replied, "We're still short one person."

"Let me guess Master Hikari?" the man asked with a smile, obviously Lan's reputation preceded him. Chaud nodded in reply, "Well we still have time left in out window, I actually scheduled us an hour behind. I'm Jackson Jahanas by the way and I'll be your pilot," the young man barely out of his teens replied with a wink and a tip of his cap addressing mainly Terra, Whisper, Roll and Maylu, but Mega too. The girls couldn't help but smile, after all he was cute, about 6'2" with indigo hair that fell from underneath his cap slightly coming into a pair of pale icy blue eyes. "I'll go ahead and take your luggage and we'll be ready for lift off when your friend gets here," Jackson said as he took Terra's bag and Maylu's from Mega taking them to the plane.

"Well he sure is nice," Terra commented once he was gone, there was something familiar about him.

"Yeah he is," Chaud replied, "he's been with our family forever, his father is my dad's pilot, he was kind of a big brother figure for me. Once Chaud said that Terra instantly remembered him from when she and Chaud lived in Metro City; Jackson was 20 going on 21 only six years older than them and he was still cute. Incidentally he had been Terra's first crush, not that anyone knew about that last detail, when it came to emotion Terra was a chameleon when she wanted to be.

"How old is he?" Maylu asked.

"20, his birthday was last month," Proto replied as he turned and started walking toward the plane.

"Wow," Whisper mouthed as she and the gang entered the plane, it looked more like a high tech living room than anything else. Sofas lined the walls along with a few huge recliners up toward the front and a 64" plasma screen was mounted on the wall. Terra ran her hand along one of the sofas finding that is was covered with swade. Since everyone was preoccupied in one way or another Terra slipped past them into the cockpit, the door had been left open and she had always wanted to know what one actually looked like. It was funny so many things like computers and the Internet had progressed where as things like cars and plans had remained pretty much the same. Terra was spooked when Jackson spoke.

"Interested in an aeronautics career?" he asked as he walked in.

Terra whirled around at the sound of his voice, "Oh, no," she replied, "I was just curious."

"Well you know curiosity killed the cat," Jackson replied with a smile, "Old saying," he said again when Terra made a face, "I'm guessing you're Terra Javedson?"

"Yeah," Terra replied, "Did my reputation precede me of did you get that off my luggage?" she asked, she wasn't sure the boy would remember her.

"Neither," Jackson replied, "I remember you back from when the Blazes lived in Metro City, before the misses passed away, you and Chaud were pretty close."

"I guess," Terra replied modesty she didn't know where he was going with this conversation and thought t best to say on guard.

"Believe me you were," Jackson replied, "and whatever you've been doing to help the young Master keep it up."

"What? what have I been doing?" Terra asked.

"I don't know," Jackson replied, "But I know Chaud well enough to know when something or someone's making a difference, he's been more relaxed lately and he hasn't been like that in a while. And there are only a few people around who can have that effect on him yourself included."

Terra remained silent.

"Checking out the cockpit?" a voice asked, looking up Terra saw Chaud leaning against the door frame.

"Yeah, you got a problem with that?" Terra asked as she walked by brushing his shoulder jokingly on the way out.

"No," Chaud replied as he followed her, Jackson watched them leave with a smile, the two had chemistry.

It was ½ and hour later and Lan still wasn't there, and everyone was sitting around waiting on him, Mega was even standing on his head he was so board. And lets just say that this was just causing Roll to stare at him like he was an alien; and also leaving her to wonder why no one else was doing the same. Terra was sitting inside the door with her feet resting on the top step if the stairs leading into the plane, she wasn't really looking at anything but a quick orange blur soon caught her eye. Taking a closer look she saw Lan running across the tarmac, duffel bag slung across his shoulder.

"Lan's here!" Terra said as she came back inside the plane and walked over to the sofa and sat down. Mega flipped over and got back on his feet just in time to catch a blue and orange duffel that came flying through the door.

"Why in the heck did you leave me?" Lan exclaimed in demand once he stepped inside the plane.

Mega remained calm, the devious and trouble making spark growing and getting brighter all the time as he faced his younger sibling, "You said that you didn't need me to be your alarm clock anymore so I quit."

"I've been telling you that for years!" Lan exclaimed once again, "and you just decided to quit now!"

"Yeah," Mega replied feigning that he thought about it for a while before answering. Lan just stood there speechless, but all could see a fire blazing in the back of his eyes.

"From the sound of things it seems like out last passenger has arrived." Jackson said as he came into the room. "Are we ready for lift off Master Blaze?"

"Might as well," Chaud replied, "the timings not going to get any better."

Regal watched his computer screen intently and a slow crooked smile spread across his face as he saw the notation that a Blaze Quest plane had just left Japanese air space. It was time….

Dr. Hikari smiled as he looked at the same information but for a different reason, those kids were finally getting the break and time off they deserved, he had to admit that he was a little jealous he couldn't do the same. "They finally managed to get out of the airport." He commented as Famous walked into the room.

"Its' funny, you're acting like they've just escaped the Nazis." Famous commented.

"You don't think the chief's become that controlling? He's been working them to death."

"No, he's not the Nazis he's Hitler," Famous replied, "Even if it is understandable, but we're the ones who's going to have to stay behind and feel his wrath." With both of the scientists talking and neither one of them watching their monitors they didn't notice when four of those all too familiar devices silently implanted themselves into the ground. They only noticed anything when then the almost melodious sound of the dimensional area's energy spiking could be heard.

"Famous isn't it a little early for the testing of the dimensional areas?" Dr. Hikari asked.

"I didn't do that," Famous replied as he looked concerningly at the older scientist.

"Of course you didn't," a voice also all to familiar stated as Regal pixelated into the room, "I did."

TBC