RANMA VS CAPCOM 2: The Tale of Ran & R

by THE MCD

Hey, everybody! Sorry for the long delay, but as promised, new episodes are here! FIVE NEW CHAPTERS! Please read & review!

40. Demitri VS Bison, Round 2!

CHAPTER 40

-"DEMITRI VS. BISON, ROUND 2! THE SEARCH FOR DR. LIGHT BEGINS!"-

ABOUT 30 MILES AWAY FROM SHADOWLOO'S BASE…

The Vampire Lord Demitri was heading toward M. Bison's secret base to confront him once again. Along with him were the sexy Succubus Morrigan, the ghostly samurai Bishamon (who, as we all know, is actually the cursed armor Hannya impersonating Bishamon), the Darkstalker Hunter B.B. Hood, and seven Huitzils:

Demitri alerts the others. "Get ready. We're very close to him," he says, referring to M. Bison. "I can feel and smell his hideous blood."

Morrigan taunts, "Oh I'm ready, Demitri; the question is, are "you" ready? Remember what happened last time?"

Demitri harshly scolds, "DON'T YOU EVER REMIND ME OF THAT INCIDENT MORRIGAN!" Cooling down, he sneers confidently, "Now I'm prepared for anything. He will die by my hands!"

"I am ready for the challenge," Bishamon says, ready to do battle.

"I'm locked and loaded!" B.B. Hood says as she releases the safety pin on her Uzi. "Bring 'em on, I'll waste them all!"

When they were walking over a hill, Demitri begins to feel a presence near them. Then, in the middle of the road stands M. Bison himself! "YOU!"

M. Bison chuckles, "Well hello there, Mr. Vampire. What do I have the honor of your visit here?"

Demitri snarls, "You know why I'm here. I've come here to do one thing only…TO KILL YOU AND DRINK YOUR BLOOD!!"

"Ha! Is that so? And here I thought you'd came for tea and cookies."

Morrigan comments, "He sure likes to be sarcastic."

Demitri declares, "This time Bison, I've come with a army of robots that will crush you and all your followers…behold my robots…THE HUITZILS!"

Then the Huitzils appear behind Dimitri. M. Bison sees them and comes up with a response:

He laughs, "Hahahahaaa… !! THAT's your army of robots? HAHAHAHAHA!! Look at them! They look very old; no surprise there…you are old too."

"Laugh all you want Bison…but my robots and my team of Darkstalkers will destroy you!"

"Well, sorry to disappoint you Demitri…But I have also brought some robots of my own…and my team of fighters…behold!"

Then Sodom and Vega jump down and stand behind M. Bison. Sodom is armed with two swords, while Vega has on his favorite claw.

Demitri ridicules, "You think that those worthless mortals can stand against my dark warriors? Ha, they look weak!"

M. Bison warns, "Don't judge your opponents just by their looks…Remember what happened the last time."

"YOU ONLY WON THAT TIME OUT OF PURE LUCK! BUT NOW, YOUR TIME IS UP, SO PREPARE TO DIE!"

"Is that so…WELL, COME ON! I CRAVE A WORTHY MATCH!"

"Say good bye Bison…!" Demitri then commands the robots, "HUITZILS! DESTROY THIS MISERABLE MORTAL!!"

The Huitzils begin to point their hand cannons toward M. Bison and began to charge up:

Demitri laughs, "My robots will destroy you Bison, so get ready!"

M. Bison is unimpressed. "Ha! Give me your best shot bat boy."

"Ready…Aim…"

"FIRE!!" a girl's voice shouts.

Then many blasts came from behind M. Bison and destroy all the Huitzils. Dimitri and company are shocked.

Demitri can't believe how things just shifted in Bison's favor! "WHAT THE!? WHAT HAPPENED!? WHO DESTROYED MY ROBOTS!?"

"That would be moi!" Then, Tron Bonne appears in her –"New and Improved"- battle robot (Similar to the one she rode in MARVEL VS. CAPCOM 2, but bigger and more powerful). Behind her are her newest creations, Shadowloo's new mecha. They appear to be identical in design to the Gundam Heavyarms from Gundam Wing. The only difference with these that…they were black and white, and in their chest is the Shadowloo insignia, a skull with wings. They stand in front of Demitri and company:

Demitri gasps, "What the!? What are those creatures?"

M. Bison answers, "Those would be "MY" robots Demitri. As you can see, they've already destroyed yours. And the girl's name is Tron Bonne, my personal assistant."

Tron Bonne waves at her foe. "Pleasure to meet you Bat-Boy!"

Demitri and crew are shocked to see such powerful machines, and worse, they destroyed the Huitzils:

Demitri growls, "Your robots may have destroyed mine…BUT I WILL STILL DESTROY YOU BISON! GET READY!"

M. Bison answers in kind, an aura of Psycho Power surrounding him. "WELL, COME ON!"

Demitri orders, "Bishamon, Morrigan and B.B. Hood…dispose of these miserable mortals!"

And so the fight begins…

Demitri's duking it out with Bison, while Bishamon's fighting against the Mad Gear Samurai Sodom, Vega's against Morrigan, and last, B.B. Hood was fighting Tron Bonne with her machine.

Demitri's launching Chaos Flares toward Bison; Bison evades them and launches some of his Psycho Shots against Demitri. Then Demitri disappears and appears above Bison delivering his Bat Spin. Bison blocks it and counters with a punch in Demitri's gut:

M. Bison chuckles derisively, "Ha ha haaa…you didn't think that I would fall for that attack of yours, did you?"

Irritated, Demitri spits, "You may have blocked that attack…but I'm just getting warmed up!"

"So am I!"

Then they resume the battle…next Bison and Demitri begin to trade punches…

It was a battle of Dark Energy vs. Psycho Power. Demitri lands a couple of punches on Bison, but Bison delivers a powerful hook kick to Demitri's stomach that lifts him up and slams him into the ground hard. Demitri's panting a little; so is Bison, but Demitri had a confused look on his face:

What's this mortal made of? Never have I seen a mortal who could actually give ME trouble! I don't believe this…a MORTAL who's giving me trouble! That's impossible!"

M. Bison thinks to himself, Demitri is a worthy opponent for me. It's been a long time that I've had a great battle. Perhaps once I destroy him, I'll take away his powers and add them to my Psycho Power!"

Bishamon and Sodom are duking it out with their Samurai skills. Their blades clash, making sparks whenever they hit each other's.

Bishamon regards his opponent's skill. "You're very good with your swords. I haven't seen anyone who could match me."

Sodom responds back, "Same with you, but enough flattery…let's get it on!"

Morrigan is facing Vega. Vega (of course, no surprise there!) is delighted; facing a beauty like her excites him:

"Hello, my pretty. Allow me to introduce myself…I am Vega." He bows. "Pleased to meet you."

Morrigan snorts, "Whatever…don't tell me that you want to fight me, do you?"

"Why, yes…I want to have the honor of having a match with you…and your heart."

Morrigan laughs, "Oh, please! What could a worm like you do to a gal like me? That's a joke!"

Vega gently warns, "I wouldn't gloat like that, my dear Morrigan…it is not wise to underestimate your opponent. It could be fatal."

"HAHAHAHA…please, I am a Darkstalker…one of the best of Makai! What can YOU do against my Dark Powers?"

Vega's turned on now. "Confident aren't we my pretty? Tell you what. If I win against you, you'll have a date with me. What do you say?"

Morrigan's response to that, "I say you're a nut ball! But whatever, IF you can survive against me."

"So be it…" Vega assumes his fighting posture. "En garde my pretty!"

"Ha! You're dead meat!"

And so Morrigan launches a Soul Fist at Vega, but Vega, with his Spanish Ninjitsu Skills, jumps up and evades the attack. Morrigan launches two more Soul Fists, but Vega manages to block them with his Claw…

Morrigan's impressed. "Well, I'm impressed that you managed to block my attack."

Vega blushes under his mask. "I am flattered that you say that, my lady."

Morrigan smirks, "Don't get too cocky slim…I've only begun to warm up, now get ready!"

Then Morrigan's wings extend, and like spears they launch to strike Vega, but Vega jumps and moves away fast, and none of the wings hit him…Morrigan's shocked! This mortal moves very fast…how can it be? She starts to get mad. But I won't let him make fun of me!

Then Morrigan launches more Soul Fists and uses her wings as Spears to hit Vega, but Vega's too fast and evades all her attacks. Morrigan's losing her temper. "DAMN IT! STAND STILL, WOULD YOU!"

Vega says while dodging, "I can't…that wouldn't be so gentlemanly of me…now allow me to show you my skills, my lady."

"HA HA! I'd like to see that!"

"As you wish my pretty…get ready."

Then Vega starts to run toward Morrigan with skill that impresses Morrigan herself…but she begins to launch many Soul Fists…but Vega keeps evading them all…when he gets close, Morrigan takes to the sky with her wings:

Now airborne, Morrigan taunts, "Let's see if you can hit me from up here. Unless you can fly pretty boy, you won't touch me!"

Oooh, she's playing hard to get. That just makes Vega want her even more. "Oh, how I love a challenge…very well, watch me!"

Vega then uses the rocks to jump up and reach Morrigan. Morrigan gasps when she sees Vega come near her. Vega thrusts his claw forward while in air, attempting to strike the succubus with his Sky High Claw, but Morrigan moves away…Vega then landss on the ground once again:

Morrigan laughs, "Ha…you missed me!"

Vega smirks, "I think not my lady."

Morrigan is confused by Vega's statement, until she looks at her dress and gasps…she had a slash on the bottom of her breast! What the…he managed to hit me, but how? "ALL RIGHT BUSTER, YOU'VE JUST MADE YOUR LAST MISTAKE! NOW I'LL RIP YOU TO PIECES!"

Vega, stung by his prey's reaction, says, "Don't get mad my pretty…it makes you look ugly!"

"GRYAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!!"

Morrigan then unleashes many punches at Vega, but Vega's dodging them one by one… he's waiting for the right moment to put Morrigan out…Then…it happens…

When Morrigan misseswith a punch, Vega ducks over and…

Vega:" Now allow me to show you this…RED IMPACT!!"

Then Vega strikes Morrigan with a punch on her chin…then when she was up…he nails her with his claw on her body –(the image of a Rose appeared in the attack)-. Morrigan spins in the air and lands hard on the ground…when she gets up, she's in pain:

Morrigan, weakened and hurt, pants, "You…miserable…slime! I'm…not beaten yet…"

Vega says with a bit of sorrow in his voice, "I know…forgive me for this… Now I'll finish it…this will hurt me more than it will hurt you…HYOOOOOOOH!!"

Then Vega jumps to the air and lands on top of Morrigan…then he grabs her from behind and applies to her his Rolling Izuna Drop super attack. On the final Izuna Drop he jumps high in the air, carrying Morrigan with him…and slams her hard into the ground…Morrigan's down for the count:

Vega bows. "I am so sorry my lovely lady…but I promise to treat your wounds right away."

B.B. Hood's facing Tron Bonne:

B.B. Hood laughs, "Well, well, what do we have here…a silly girl with a funny dress!"

Tron counters with a snappy comeback of her own, "Ha, look who's talking, a little girl who's dressed as a fairy tale character!"-

B.B. Hood gets serious. "I'd watch my mouth if I were you brat! Now surrender before me, or I'll fill that sweet body of yours with lead!" she threatens, pointing her gun at Tron.

Tron pretends to be scared. "OOOOOH…! Please girly, don't hurt me with your silly toy guns!"

B.B. Hood's hopping mad! She rages cutely, "TOY GUNS!? HOW DARE YOU! THESE ARE MY SUPREME GUNS, AND YOU'LL NOT MAKE FUN OF THEM!"

Tron laughs, "Supreme Guns? HAHAHAHAHA…girl, you are waaaaaaaaaaaaaaay outta date, and those Guns are waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaay old!"

"I'LL SHOW YOU OLD…TAKE THIS!"

B.B. Hood fires her Uzi at Tron, but the mecha Tron's riding blocks the attack; it's armor is made of quadruple-reinforced Titanium, so the bullets didn't even make a scratch …B.B. Hood gasps, "WHAT THE…!? What happened? Why didn't my bullets make any damage to it?"

Tron, bored, yawns. "Oh please girl, this is Titanium! Your bullets are useless against it, like I said before, you are waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaay outta date, now give it up!"

B.B. Hood's enraged. "YOU HUSSY! I WONT LET ANYBODY INSULT ME, NOW BEHOLD THIS!!"

She uses the "Smile & Missile" technique, raising her Picnic Basket on her shoulder and launches a missile. The missile connects with Tron's machine and explodes…

B.B. Hood lets out an evil giggle, "How do you like that, eh? Who's laughing now? Hahahahaha…?"

B.B. Hood's laugh disappears; for when the smoke clears, she sees Tron and her mecha…are unharmed!

B.B. Hood's left eye twitches, now afraid, she's exclaims, "NO, NO…HOW!? THAT WAS MY POWERFUL MISSILE! HOW COULD YOU AND THAT THING STILL BE STANDING!? IT'S IMPOSSIBLE!!"

Tron Bonne says to her opponent, "You got a lot to learn Little Red Riding Hood…it'll take more then a miserable missile to take down MY machine!"

B.B. Hood snarls, "Is that so? Well…this time I'll kill you! Nobody, I mean NOBODY MAKES FUN OF MEEE!!"

"As much as I like fairy tales, I have to finish this story, so say good night!"

Tron Bonne presses a button on her mecha and the antenna on the machine's back releases a sonic wave that strikes B.B. Hood hard and sends her flying:

B.B. Hood screams in pain, "GAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!" She lands on the floor and passes out.

Tron dusts off her hands. "That took care of her…I wonder how Bison and the other guys are doing? I'd better go and check on them and see if they need my help."

Bishamon and Sodom are getting tired, but they continue the fight; both of them respect each other as Samurai Warriors:

Bishamon respectfully says, "I must say that you are very good for a mortal, it has been a long time since I had a good match."

Sodom accepts the cursed swordsman's compliment, "Thanks…same to you…but now let us end this fight!"

Then both warriors stand with their swords drawn…ready to charge against each other…then it happens…

They run toward each other, and when close, clash their swords…a white light explodes…then…they were on opposite sides…

Bishamon and Sodom stood there without moving…suddenly…they both fall to the ground. A double KO!

Meanwhile, the fight between Bison and Demitri is now reaching its climax…

Both Demitri and Bison are covered in bruises and small cuts, and panting a lot…but neither of them were gonna quit:

Demitri grins at Bison. "For being only a mortal, you've really given me a lot of trouble, but I will win this match!"

M. Bison replies, "Same to you Demitri…it's been so long that I have a fight that I really worked so well…but like you said, I won't lose!"

"So be it…time to end this match…BE PREPARED!"

"YES…LET'S END IT!"

So both fighters rush toward each other, and began to fight with all their might. Trading punches and fire blasts…Demitri nails Bison with a punch on his chin, but Bison counters with a hard kick in Demitri's stomach, then later connects with an elbow on Demitri's jaw…they separate to rest a little:

Demitri, mad, pants, "Curse this! This mortal is really hard to beat…but I am the Supreme Vampire! I refuse to lose to a mortal!" To Bison, he says, "You have fought well for a mortal…BUT THIS IS THE END! I WILL VANQUISH YOU!"

M. Bison replies, "IS THAT SO? WELL COME ON BAT-BOY!"

Then they try to finish the battle…in the middle of the combat, Demitri hits Bison's head with his hands, forcing Bison to kneel on the ground. "I have you now worm…prepared to be killed! GRYAAAAAAAAAA!"

Preparing to use his Demon Billion, Demitri then transforms into a flaming human bat and ready to release his attack on M. Bison…

However…Bison just chuckles, "Mwa ha ha ha ha…that's what you think!" Then Bison teleports away…!

"WHAT THE…!? HE DISAPPEARED!" Demitri then laughs, "PERHAPS HE WAS FRIGHTENED BY MY POWERS!"

A voice from behind says, "Guess again Bat-Boy!"

Bison appears behind Demitri… covered in blue flame!

Demitri is shocked by THIS display of power! "WHAT THE…"

"Now allow me to show you this power…PSYCHO DRAIN!!"

Then Bison hits Demitri back with a flaming punch…once it connects, he grabs Demitri and begins to suck away all of his energy…-(similar to Heidern's Final Bringer SDM –"Go to Hell"- from KOF)-

"NO! LET ME GOOO! I'M LOSING ENERGY…RELEASE ME AT ONCE!" Dimitri cries out in pain, "GRYAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!!"

But Bison doesn't let him go…he drains him so much that Demitri's getting weaker by the second…until he collapses to the ground:

A triumphant M. Bison snorts, "Well now…it's over. I've won."

Dimitri weakly whispers, "Curse…you…you mi…miserable…mortal…!" He gathers all his remaining energy and crawls away from there. "You may have won this battle…but I will return…until next time!"

Then he changes into a bat and flies away.

B.B. Hood's on the ground, weak and hurt. She sees Demitri flying away and weakly calls out to him, "Demitri…don't leave me here…come back!"

But alas…he didn't hear her…and even if he did, he wouldn't have helped her. She saw that her boss abandoned her and left her to die in that place… Then, she loses consciousness and passes out.

Tron Bonne comes and congratulates her boss. "Way to go boss, you did it!"

M. Bison accepts, "Thanks…now let's get away and head to the base…I need to rest, I'm so tired."

Tron smartly salutes, "Yes sir!"

Then Bison and Tron hear someone clapping. When they turn around they see ERICK (!) walking toward them:

Tron's the first to say, "Hey, Boss…it's that High Priest Erick!"

Bison grimly notices, "I see."

Erick smiles at the High Lord of Shadowloo. "Congratulations, Bison…you've managed to defeat yet again the Vampire Lord Demitri. Well done."

Something just occurs to Bison. "Thanks… but…just how long have you been here?"

Erick casually says, "Quite some time I'd say…long enough to see all the matches that happened here."

Bison hmph's, "So I see!"

Vega approaches them; carrying Morrigan in his arms… in a scene like something off the cover of one of those sappy romance novels. Sodom too came also, a little weak:

Erick notices the mad matador. "Ah Vega, I see that you won against Morrigan."

Vega nods, "Yes…she put up quite a fight. She is as fierce as a tiger."

"Yes, she is Vega…but don't get too cocky, for when she wakes up, she'll be in a VERY bad mood."

"I'm not worried."

Erick turns to Sodom. "And you, Sodom, you fought against that Demonic Samurai Bishamon and came out okay?"

Sodom responds, "Hai…that Samurai is truly a warrior."

Erick then smiles at Tron. "And you Tron Bonne, you sure put that Little Red Riding Hood in her place."

Tron boasts, "Quite right! She sure was one spunky girl…and kinda old fashioned, especially those guns of hers…" She looks over to Bison. "Bison sir, what shall we do with her?"

Bison immediately says, "Dispose of her and…"

Erick interrupts, "No wait…I have a better idea. An idea that you'll love, Bison."

M. Bison raises an eyebrow. "Oh! And what is that?"

Erick, with his Evil Smile (tm), reminds him, "Remember the "Ryoga Project" Bison?"

"I do…why?"

"Well…let's just say that this girl will be the next subject for my babies…my DVL Cells!"

"But…I thought that Ryoga boy failed because of those Cells of yours."

Erick admits, "Yes…but that was only a test…with this girl, it will be different."

Bison asks, having a feeling he knows what Erick will say next, "And why will it be different?"

Erick says, imitating Xelloss, "That, Bison…is a secret…but you'll see…and you'll love it, I guarantee it."

"If you say so."

---

Lan, alongside his NetNavi Megaman-exe, is eating some burgers from a Restaurant. With the money Kaiba gave him, Lan could buy some stuff he needed for the road, on his quest to find Dr. Thomas Light. Once finished, Lan starts his journey…

Lan, satisfied from the meal he'd just ate, says, "Mm-mm…that sure was one goooood burger!"

Megaman-exe snorts, "I'll bet. You ate about FIVE of them! Hope you don't get sick, Lan."

Lan protests, "Hey, I was hungry, okay!"

"Okay, okay. It's a good thing that Seto gave you that money, 'cause it would have been a lot harder to buy stuff without it."

"You're right Mega…now, Seto gave us this address in order to find Dr. Light, which will make our journey a lot easier."

"That's right…but, how are we gonna find it? Even with the address, we still don't know how to get there."

"We'll think of something, bro."

And so they walk and walk, until nightfall arrived:

6:45 Pm

Lan's getting very tired. "Man, we've being walking for five hours! I'm thinking we should find a hotel or something to spend the night, what do you say Mega?"

Megaman-exe snickers, teasing, "Wow… That's about the smartest thing you've said all day Lan."

Lan, accepting the compliment, says, "Thanks," Now hurt, he realizes, "…HEEEEEEEY!"

Megaman-exe laughs, "Just kidding, Lan! Just kidding!"

"OK! Then let's go find one!"

But a problem occurs for Lan and Megaman-exe … All the hotels were full…Signs marked -"No Vacancy"- were at every one Lan went to. So he continues trying to find a place to stay, but with no luck…

8:55 PM

Lan's getting desperate, and also tired of not finding a hotel. It's getting very dark and they were the only ones on the street…until…

Lan and Mega see some Apartments… Both brighten up on seeing them:

Lan points, overjoyed, "Mega, look! Apartments…maybe we can spend the night there."

Megaman-exe's unsure. "Are you sure about that Lan?"

"Yeah…besides, I'm getting tired of all that walking, and we DO need a place to sleep."

And so Lan heads toward that place. Once he arrives, he presses the button for the bell… About 20 minutes later the door opens, and a beautiful woman greets them, it's the Landlady named Hibiya Chitose. She cheerfully says, "Good evening, how can I help you?"

Lan politely introduces himself. "Hi, my name's Lan Hikari, and I was wondering if you had anyplace where I can crash for the night?"

Hibiya sadly apologizes, "I'm so sorry, but I'm afraid that I don't have any rooms, they're all occupied."

"WHAT!? Are you sure? Please…" Lan pleads, "I'm…new in town, and I don't want to sleep on the street, can't you help me? Please..."

"Oh my…I don't know."

"Look, I'll pay."

Hibiya considers it. "Hmmm…there MIGHT be a way…perhaps you want to bunk with Hideki? Come with me, we'll see if he'll let you stay with him."

Lan bows. "Thank you very much Miss. Hibiya-San."

Hibiya giggles, "Call me just Hibiya, okay Lan? I'm not THAT old."

Lan tries not to look embarrassed. "Err…Yeah you're right, you are cute.." He then blushes, quickly adding, "But…but I…I meant it as a compliment, hehehe!"

"Why thank you Lan, you're cute too."

They go inside to look for Hideki, when they find him coming from the store:

"Hideki!" Hibiya calls out toi him.

Hideki waves back at her. "Oh, Landlady Hibiya! Hi, what can I do for you?"

Hibiya introduces Lan to her tenant. "Hideki, this boy is Lan Hikari. He needs a place to spend the night, but since I don't have any rooms to spare, I was wondering if he could spend the night in your room, if you don't mind of course."

"Please, mister?" Lan asks

Hideki thinks for a moment. " Hmmm…sure, why not?"

Lan lets out a whoop of joy. "OH THANKS A LOT MISTER! YOU JUST SAVED MY LIFE!"

"Oh, don't sweat it kid…Well, c'mon in with me. I was about to prepare dinner."

So Lan follows Hideki to his room. Once they arrive, the door opens and a cute, blonde girl receives him, for that girl is Chii:

Chii, of course, is happy to see him. "Okairi Nasai Hideki" –(Welcome home)-

"Hello Chii." Hideki responds to her.

Wow…that's a cute girl, Lan thinks.

Hideki introduces them to each other. "Chii, say hello to Lan, Lan say hello to Chii."

Chii bows. "Hello Lan, I'm Chii, Chii glad to meet you"

"Um…" Lan returns the bow. "I'm Lan. Pleased to meet you."

From inside Lan's PET, Megaman-exe ahem's, "Lan, aren't you forgetting something…or someone?"

Lan sweatdrops, apologizing, "Oops… sorry Mega! And this is my Digital Friend Megaman."

Chii looks at the PET. "Chii sees a little blue man inside machine."

"Glad to meet you Chii." Megaman-exe says.

Chii giggles, "Chii also glad to meet Blue Man."

"Chii, Lan will spend the night with us, okay?" Hideki says.

Chii happily nods, "Okay."

20 minutes later, Lan was in the table eating a dish of chicken and noodles Hideki made. He's seated next to Chii…

As they eat, Hideki asks his guest, "So Lan, tell me, where you're from?"

Having been though this situation twice before, Lan mentally groans, Ah man, not again! Oh well, guess I'll have to tell him. "I'm from…from…Kasagi, yeah that's right, I'm from Kasagi Town."

"Kasagi? Never heard of that place before. What country is it located?"

Lan with a nervous laugh, says, "Heh heh heh…it's a…small country, very few people know of it."

"Hmph… well, guess you got a point. I'm from a small town myself. So, tell me about yourself."

"Well, I'm 11 years old, I like to Net-Battle and…"

"Net-Battle…what's that?" Then, he sees Lan's PET. "And what's that thing you're holding?"

As before with Seto Kaiba, Lan explains all about what Net-Battle is, what Net-Navis are…except that he was from another world…in the end Hideki and Chii were impressed:

Hideki's response to Lan's story is, " Wow, those Net-Battles sound awesome, as well as that PET you have."

Chii agrees, "Chii likes it very much."

Lan's noticed something unusual about Chii even since he first saw her. He decides to ask Hideki, "Say, that girl Chii sure is cute, but tell me, why does she have those weird antenna on her head?"

Hideki says, "Oh, that's because she's a Persocom."

Lan blinks, "A Persocom? What's that?"

"Yes, a Persocom is a Special Android that acts and look almost like a real human being."

"Really?"

"Really, but Chii is the most important Persocom of them all, for she's a Chobit…"

Now it was Hideki's turn to tell Lan all about the Persocoms and about Chii. How he found her in the garbage, the adventures he and Chii had, her past and all…Lan was listening to it all, taking it all in.

"Those Persocoms sure are extraordinary, so Chii is a Chobit? She sure acts like a human being."

Chiii accepts Lan's compliment. "Chii thank you."

"It makes me wish we had those back home. By the way, the food was delicious Hideki."

"Thanks, Lan…oh it's getting late, we should get to bed so that we can rise tomorrow"

Lan agrees, "Good idea, I'm tired."

"Since I don't have another bed, you'll be sleeping with Chii, Lan."

Lan gulps, now worried. "W-with Chii? Err…okay, if you don't mind, Chii?"

Chii simply says, "Chii doesn't mind. Chii likes company with Chii."

Everyone goes to bed. Poor Lan, having to sleep next to a cute girl -(even though she's a robot)- makes him kinda nervous…

Wow…an Android who acts like a real human, almost as humans, that's so cool. Maybe this world isn't as low-tech as I first thought. When I get home, I'm definitely telling Dad about desinging these Persocoms, that'd be an awesome idea. They could really help many people… Lan then yawns. Oh well, better get some sleep.

His last thoughts before going to sleep were…-" I bet everyone back home is waiting for me."-

---

BACK IN THE YEAR 20XX – AT LAN'S HOUSE:

Everyone who attended Lan's funeral was now at Lan's house, still grieving. They were serving some drinks and meals for the guests. It was a rather sad environment; they were still sad and mourning over the loss of Lan. Likewise, in the Cyber-world at the loss of .

Dr. Yuuichiro Hikari was with his wife, trying to console her. The poor woman couldn't stop sobbing and crying. Lan's friends were also sad and not in a good mood, even Chaud(!) was sad. Raul, like Chaud, tries to act tough, but it was just too hard to do so.

Suddenly, the phone rings, Dr. Hikari picks it up. "Hello, Dr. Hikari speaking."

A collegue of his, Dr. Senkyo, is on the other end. "Dr. Hikari, please! You must come to SciLab immediately!"

Right now Yuuichiro's in no mood to discuss work. He politely says, "Look, I don't think I'm in the mood right now, so if you'll…"

"Please, sir. It's about your son's accident!"

THIS gets Dr. Hikari's attention. "What about it?"
"Sir, you must come and see something interesting. Lan's accident was not as it seems!"

"What do you mean?"

"Come to the Lab and we'll explain. Trust me sir, you won't regret it. In fact, bring everyone!"

"Very well, we'll be right there." Then he hangs up…

His wife Haruka, her eyes red from crying earlier, asks, "Honey, who was it?"

"It was from Sci-Lab. They told me to bring everyone to the Lab; they said that they have something very interesting to see about Lan's accident."

"What is it?" Commander Beef wanted to know.

"They didn't tell me…but, they said that they'll show it to us once we are there."

Raul pretty much says what everyone's thinking at this point, "So we should go right?"

And so they heads toward Sci-Lab.

When they arrived they were directed right to the testing area for the failed X-36 project. Some of them didn't feel comfortable being there, especially Lan's mother and Maylu, since it was the place where Lan died:

Dr. Senkyo gets things going, "I'm glad that you all could make it."

Dr. Hikari, in a serious tone of voice, says, "Now tell me what this thing that you wanted to tell me is. It'd better be important or else you'll be fired, got that?"

Dr. Senkyo gulps nervously, "Y-yes, sir. Now, I have some good news and bad news regarding the accident involving your son Lan."

This news took the guests' interest:

Dr. Senkyo continues, "Before I can tell you …I want you all to look at this video and look closely." He then speaks into a microphone, instructing a techinician, "Play the video."

Then they watch the monitor as a video recording shows up. It was the video recorded during the accident with the machine. The part of the video that they saw was the part where Lan runs and pushes Maylu and Yai to safety and is zapped by the laser… Haruka, Maylu, Yai and Princess Pride began to cry and turn away. Furious at this, Dr. Hikari grabs Dr. Senkyo by the throat and picks him up. Dropping his professionalism, his restraint, at this point he's no longer Dr Yuuichiro Hikari the famous researcher at Sci-Lab, but just Yuuicho Hikari, a father grieving over the loss of his child. Seeing that footage just reopened the wounds that would have healed.

With pure rage, Yuuichro roars, "IS THIS SOME KIND OF A JOKE? HOW DARE YOU SHOW US THAT VIDEO OF LAN'S DEATH! WE JUST CAME FROM MY SON'S FUNERAL AND YOU HAVE THE NERVE TO SHOW THAT!?"

Commander Beef harshly scolds the poor fellow, "HAVE YOU NO SHAME!?"

Dr. Senkyo's suffocating, as his superior's almost about to choke him to death. "Please…it's not…what you think! If you let me go I'll explain!"

Releasing Dr. Senkyo, Yuichiro glares hard at him. "Explain!"

Dr. Senkyo massages his throat as he says, "First of all, I'm very sorry, I knew I shouldn't have done that, but the reason I wanted you all to see this is because of THIS part… look closely now …Crew, repeat the video in slow motion now"

Then the video was shown again, now moving very slowly, when it reaches the part where Lan is zapped by the laser:

"STOP IT RIGHT THERE!" Dr. Senkyo orders. Then, to everyone else, he says, "People, look at this scene."

Then everyone sees that Lan is covered in a white light…then…Lan's body transforming into a ball of light and shooting straight into the sky, then the explosion occured:

Dr. Hikari blinks. "What was that?"

Dr. Senkyo explains, "That what I wanted to show you…according to our theories, Lan was hit by the laser and was somehow able to transport somewhere else, milliseconds before the impact."

"You mean…Lan was…sent to another place?"

Dr. Senkyo steps away (afraid that Dr Hikari might flip out and actually kill him) before answering, "Yes."

Haruka, her hopes getting raised, dares asking, "You mean…that my son…is alive?"

Dr. Senkyo nods, "We believe so, ma'am."

Maylu gasps, realizing, "He's alive…!" She's crying happily, "Lan's alive!

Princess Pride, happy, rejoices, "Thank God!"

After hearing this, everyone began to feel happy as hope shines on them:

"Please tell me. Where is my son?" Haruka wanted to know.

Dr. Senkyo frowns when he tells her, "Unfortunately, the bad news is that we don't know."

Commander Beef blinks from behind his visor-ed helmet. "You don't know?"

"I'm afraid so. You see, before blowing up, the X36 sent your son to another place, a place in which we do not have the location."

Dr. Hikari puts a reassuring arm around the visibly shaken Dr. Senkyo. He tries not to laugh out loud as his colleague breaths an audible sigh of relief over not being killed – or at least, not being fired. But he realizes how he acted earlier, and makes a mental note to apologize to Senkyo later for well… almost killing him.

Finally, Dr. Yuuichiro Hikari, says, "But he's alive, that was important…" He then takes command. "All right people, listen up! I want you all to try to find my son. Use any and all means necessary! Use the satellite to track him down, understand?"

All the Sci-Lab employee salute, "YES SIR!!"

Commander Beef orders his two suboridfantes, "Misteriyu, Black Rose, contact all Net-Agents from around the world and form a search party to find Lan Hikari A.S.A.P!"

Misteriyu & Black Rose both salute, "YES SIR!"

Princess Pride lends her support. "I will also help. I'll order all my subjects of Creamland and we'll search for him."

So does Raul. "So will I. My people will spread the word to find Lan."

"I'll use all my power to find Lan. Ayano Corp has the best Investigators and Trackers in the world!" Yai says.

And it's Chaud, Lan's rival / friend, who says, "Me too. Our company has many connections around the world and contacts in the Pentagon."

Genuinely touched by their offers of assistance, Haruka says, "Thank you all for your help!"

And so, the search for Lan Hikari is about to start.

---

MEANWHILE, BACK IN THE RANMAVERSE:

7:59 am.

Lan Hikari is still asleep; he was nice and comfortable under the covers, when suddenly… somebody somewhere blew a whistle!

PRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRR!!

Hearing this, Lan wakes up like lightning out of his bed…

"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH…!!" he's looking everywhere like crazy. "WHAT!?…WHO!?…WHERE!?"

"Hey, rise and shine sleepy head!" a little girl's voice says.

Lan turns around and sees no one there…

"Hey down here!"

…it was the voice of a little girl. Lan looks down and sees something that shocks him. It's a little girl wearing Pink Arabian-Style clothes, a funny hat and some earrings –(Sumomo)-…Lan did what anyone else might have done:

His eyes bug out at the sight and he screams.

"KYAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!!"

Sumomo, equally scared, does likewise, "KYAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!!"

All that noise woke up Hideki and Chii:

Hideki mumblies, "Hey, what's going on?"

A frightened Sumomo climbs on his shoulder. "Hideki, help me!"

"Hey Hideki, what in the world is that thing?" Lan says, pointing at Sumomo.

Hideki realizes, "Oh this…this is Sumomo."

"Why is she so small?"

"I guess I didn't introduce her…You see Lan, there are many types of Persocoms, gender and size."

"Size!?"

"Yes…Sumomo here is a Pocket Persocom."

"Pocket Persocom!"

"That's right…Sumomo, meet Lan Hikari."

Sumomo bows, introducing herself, "Hello, my name is Sumomo."

Just when Lan thought he'd seen everything in this world so far, he encounters something new yet again. "How do you do? I'm Lan Hikari, sorry for the outburst back there. I was just taken by surprise, that's all."

"Okay, I'm sorry too."

Chii's just now waking up. "Good morning Hideki, Good morning Lan-Kun."

Lan notices the girl Persocom. "Hey, good morning Chii, sleep well?"

"Chii sleep well, did Lan sleep well?"

Megaman-exe is surprised that Chii would ask something like that. HE knows Lan (and his ways) better than anybody. "Are you kidding Chii? Lan slept so well, a TRUCK couldn't wake him up!"

Lan objects, "Hey, nobody asked for your opinion!"

"Alright people, its time for the morning exercise." Sumomo says.

Lan blinks, "The… what?"

20 minutes later, Lan's doing pushups and sit-ups along with Hideki and Chii. Sumomo acts like the coach. "Good! More…One two, one two, one two, one two…!"

Lan's sweating as he works out. "Hey Hideki…pant pant…what's the big idea of this?"

Hideki says, also working up a sweat, "Sumomo forces us to…pant pant…do a little workout in the…pant pant...morning, says it's good for the body and to…start a new day."

Sumomo's cheering, "Come on, a little more…" She blows her whistle again.

PRRRRRRRRRRRRRR!!

Lan's PET is next to Sumomo, so Megaman-exe was watching the morning exercise routine. "You know, that's not a bad idea at all. Hmmmm, maybe I should do that with Lan when we return."

Lan's crying out, "OH NO, MEGAMAN! PLEASE, YOU'RE NOT SERIOUS ARE YOU!?"

"And why not Lan? You could really use the exercise."

Lan groans, "THAT'S NOT FAIR!"

Megaman-exe flatly says, "Yeah I know, Life's not fair at all…but deal with it."

Over the course of the day, Lan is having a good time with Chii and Hideki. Likewise, was having a great time with Sumomo, joking around and all, and Lan and Mega both like Sumomo's special dances a lot. Lan is beginning to understand Chii more and more. Chii's beginning to like Lan (As a friend of course). Later, when Lan goes with Hideki to go shopping, he takes the opportunity to do some shopping of his own for the road.

When they came back to Hideki's place, they see a frightened and desperate Sumomo. "HIDEKIIIIIIIIIIIIIII!!"

"Hey Sumomo, what's going on, why are you acting like that?"

"ITS CHII! THERE'S SOMETHING VERY WRONG WITH HER! SHE'S SICK!!"

Hideki gasps, "WHAT!? CHII! NOOO…!!"

Then they rush to his room and see Chii in bed, with a very high fever and moaning in pain. "OH NO! CHII, ARE YOU ALRIGHT? TALK TO ME!"

In pain, Chii weakly says, "Hideki, Chii not feeling good. Chii body hurts a lot."

"SUMOMO, WHAT'S WRONG WITH HER? WHY IS SHE LIKE THIS!?"

"SHE HAS, LIKE, A BIG PROBLEM INSIDE HER! I DON'T KNOW WHAT COULD IT BE, MAYBE SHE HAS A VIRUS, OR AN INFECTION!"

Hideki curses unders his breath, "Damn, and Hiroshi and Minuro aren't here."

Lan overhears Hideki and asks, "Who?"

"Hiroshi Shinbo and Minoru Kokubuji. Shinbo was Sumomo's owner and a friend of mine. He was my next-door neighbor and knew things about Chii, and Minoru was a creator of Persocoms. They're the only ones who can help with Chii…" He starts to cry. "…without them, Chii is doomed!"

Lan brightens up. " Hey, Mega and I can help!"

"Sniff…how?"
"I can plug Megaman into Chii and he'll go inside her and fix the problem."

Hideki remembers what Lan told him about the works of Net-Navis of going inside the Cyber-World. "Yeah…YOU'RE RIGHT! LET'S DO IT!"

"OKAY!"

Then Lan took out the extension cord from his PET. "ALL RIGHT, LET'S DO THIS! JACK IN! MEGAMAN…Um…say…where can I plug this guys? Where does Chii have her terminal?"

Then Sumomo points at Chii's …crotch!

Lan's face turns three shades of red as he blushes. Scared, he gulps, "WHAT!? THERE? NO WAY! ISN'T THERE ANOTHER WAY!?"

Sumomo sadly admits, "No, I'm afraid there isn't."

"BUT, BUT, BUT…THERE!? I'M NOT A PERVERT, I CAN' T TOUCH…gulp… THERE!"

Hideki pleads, "PLEASE LAN! YOU HAVE TO!"

"BUT…!!"

Chii moans in pain, "Chiiiii!!"

Lan sighs, "All right…Sumomo, can you help with this please? Just take this cord and say "Jack in! Megaman, Execute!", and plug it in."

"Okay!" Sumomo grabs the cord and yells…-"JACK IN! MEGAMAN, EXECUTE!!"-…and she plugs it in.

Megaman lands inside Chii's mainframe. He looks around for the problem, and then he spots something. He sees some computer bugs eating some of Chii's data. "There you are!"

Meanwhile, outside:

"Hey Mega, found anything?"
From inside, reports back to Lan, "Yeah. There appear to be some electronic bugs damaging Chii's data."

Sumomo panics, "OH NO! WHAT ARE WE GONNA DO? WHAT ARE WE GONNA DO?"

"No problem! Lan, send me a battle chip and I'll fix it!"

"You got it Megaman…get this…-"SPREADER! BATTLE CHIP IN, DOWNLOAD!"

Lan slips the chip into the PET and Megaman's buster fires a shot that covers the entire area deleting all the bugs. Then he fixes the damaged data.

Hideki and Sumomo see Chii's fever die down and Chii begins to feel better:

Hideki breathes a silent prayer of thanks, then checks on Chii. "Chii…thank goodness, how are you feeling?"

Chii replies, "Chii feeling all right. Chii is happy."

Lan smiles. "That's good."

Hideki bows to Lan. "Thank you so much Lan, you saved Chii! I don't know how to pay you."

"Hey,don't worry about it. It was nothing, happy to do it!"

Sumomo jumps on Lan's head happily. "THANK YOU LAN! THANK YOU, THANK YOU, THANK YOU!"

Lan laughs, "You're welcome Sumomo."

The rest of the day Lan and Hideki take care of Chii. When Chii felt good enough, she fixes a delicious meal for Lan as her way of thanking him for helping her. Lan has a good time with Chii and Sumomo.

The next morning Lan is ready to go. The landlady Hibiya, Hideki, Chii and Sumomo are there to say good bye to Lan at the doorway:

"Thanks for allowing me to stay with you guys."

Hibiya smiles. "It was our pleasure Lan."

"I want to also thank you again Lan, for if it weren't for you, Chii wouldn't have been able to survive." Hideki says.

Chii shyly says, "Chii wants to thank you, Chii owes her life to Lan."

Lan grins at the girl Persocom. "No problem Chii. Happy to do it."

"So Lan, where are you going from here?" Hideki asks.

Lan explains, "I'm heading for Tokyo, to try to find Dr. Thomas Light."

"And do you know how to get there Lan?" Hibiya asks him.

"Well…I have the address, but it's gonna be hard to find it, since I don't know much about this city," Lan admits.

Hideki then gets an idea. "I know! Sumomo can go with you."

"Sumomo?"

"Yes, she's an excellent navigator. Take her along, and you'll be able to find your way all around Tokyo."

"Oh no, I couldn't ask for that!"

"I insist. It's the least I can do for you saving Chii. Sumomo will be your traveling companion, and once you finish your mission, just send her back by mail!"

Then Sumomo jumps onto Lan shoulder. "Sumomo is ready for your journey Lan-Kun!"

Lan's glad for their help. "Gee, thanks guys…thanks Sumomo."

Sumomo's happy. "Hai!"

Lan turns to go. "Well, good bye everyone."

"Goodbye Lan. Chii wishes you good luck."

"Yeah, you too Chii."

"Don't be a stranger Lan, and do come back to visit us sometime." Hibiya says.

"I will…okay, let's go Megaman and Sumomo!"

Sumomo cheerfully says, "OKAY!"

And so, with a new traveling companion, Lan travels to Tokyo, hoping to find Dr. Light. He has high hopes ahead of him. What new challenges and friends will Lan encounter? Nobody knows.

TO BE CONTINUED…