Chapter 1

The New Girl

Lan Hikari skated swiftly down the long winding halls of SciLab carrying his father's flash-drive in his pocket. Once again his dad had left his stuff in the dirty laundry, he chucked to himself, his mom always said that his dad would lose his head if it wasn't attached to his body. When he reached his father's lab he was surprised, it was always busy but this was unlike anything he had ever seen.

"Dad what's going on?" Lan asked. There were many scientists rushing around Sci Lab, the warning lights were flashing and a constant "BONG, BONG, BONG," could be heard.

Dr. Hikari turned around at the sound of his son's voice walking over to meet him. "Well ever since you and Chaud intercepted that shipment of darkchips we've tried to see how the chips operate, see what makes them tick, But so far we've had little progress, and even worse the power of the darkchips, wherever it's coming from is taxing our systems." Dr. Hikari replied. To coincide with his statement the main computer that was trying to decipher the chips constantly flashed 'Error' over and over again, and ever so often another computer monitor would spark. "But thankfully help is on the way, Chief Keifer is bring in one of Metro City's top scientist, Dr. Javedson, to help us."

Lan recognized the name.

"Hey, isn't he the guy you were best friends with when you were in high school?"

"Yes he is, he's also the one who actually one got me seriously interested in science. We went our separate ways after college but we've remained in pretty good touch. He has a daughter your age, her name's Terra. I think she's starting school today so you'll probably meet her. And speaking of school, shouldn't you be there, you're going to late." He replied looking at his watch.

"Yeah, I going to get there dad, but mom sent me over with this." Lan said taking the flash-drive out of his pocket. "Seems like you left this at home."

"I was wondering where that was." Dr. Hikari, taking the drive, then he looked at his watch again. "Lan you really need to get to school."

"Don't worry dad I'm on it!" Lan replied already half way down the hall. Since he was looking behind him he didn't see where he was going and almost ran in to Famous. Thankfully he turned around at the last second.

"Oh Mr. Famous I'm so sorry I didn't see you!" Lan said instantly apologizing.

"How many times do I have to tell you its Famous, no mister! Anyway I'm glad I ran into you. Since things with Nebula are escalating faster than we thought they would SciLab is bringing in another doctor to help decipher the mystery that the darkchips have created."

"Dr. Javedson? Yeah, I know, my dad just told me." Lan replied.

"Well that's not everything. I as well as Chief Keifer know how powerful you and Chaud are with and without crossfusion. And we don't mean to put down your net battling skills down by any means; but the darkloid threat is growing, and with their power being increased with the darkchips they're becoming more of a problem. The chief thought it would best if another netsaver was paired with you and Chaud, just to be on the safe side. She's coming in today for her syncrochip chip fitting and training. I've already spoken with Chaud, he's going to be here to meet her."

"What I minute," Lan asked, "her?"

"Yes, you new partner is a girl but don't let that fool you, she's a pretty good netbattler." Famous replied.

"No problem, I'll be here." Lan replied skating off. "Having a girl on the team will definitely be different." Lan wasn't sure if he'd like it though, he had just gotten use to Chaud.

"What do you think she'll be like?" Megaman asked.

"I don't know," Lan replied taking out his P.E.T., "Hopefully she'll be nothing like Raika."

"That's for sure." Megaman replied with a chuckle.

"Maylu?" Ms. Mari asked.

"Present." She replied.

"Tory?"

"Present."

"Lan?"

"Present!" Lan exclaimed as he ran in the door.

Miss Mari's sweet deposition turned into a sterner one.

"You're late Lan." She said.

"Sorry, Mrs. Mari, my mom had me give something to my dad that he forgot this morning."

"Well, I guess I can forgive you then." Miss Mari replied as Lan took his seat. "After all with all that's going on I can understand how scatter-brained you father must me, just don't make a habit out of being late please? Darkloids or not you still have to get your education."

"Don't worry Miss Mari, I'll try not to." Lan replied with his famous grin.

Miss Mari shook her head in amusement, Lan was a good kid but she highly doubted that he would keep his promise, after all he had been chronically late to her class for three years. Out of the corner of her eye she noticed the principal motioning for her to the door. "Excuse me class." Miss Mari said before leaving the room.

Lan and the rest of the class looked intently at the door and watched Miss Mari talk to the principal, soon she reappeared.

"Class looks like we have a new student." She said gesturing for the child to come in.

"This is Terra Javedson." The whole class had focused their attention on the girl as she walked in the room.

Terra was an attractive African-American girl with expressive bright green eyes and long raven hair with purple highlights, which was pulled back in a e-z comb and hung down in a fountain effect. Her current outfit consisted of a cropped black cardigan, a purple, white, gray and black argyle sweater tee, a pair of dark washed blue jeans, and black sneakers; a purple PET was in her right hand and a gray and black messenger bag hung on her left shoulder. She gave a short wave to the class and Lan could tell right off that Terra was in no way a shy person.

"Terra's moved here from Metro City, her father works at SciLab," Miss Mari said further introducing the new student to the class. "Terra there's an empty desk next to Lan and Maylu. They're those two there."

When Terra took her seat next to him, Lan was fixing to introduce himself when he realized something. He knew when his dad had mentioned her name that morning that he had remembered it from some place other than in connection with this father's friend but he couldn't place it; when he saw her face it all came back. She had been at the N1 Grand Prix three years before. If he could remember correctly the girl had made it to the quarter finals before she had been taken out of the running. He smiled, he wondered if she would be up for a netbattle after school.

"I'm Maylu." The red-haired girl said introducing herself first.

"Maylu? That's a pretty name." Terra replied. "I'm Terra, but of course you already know that."

After waiting for a few seconds for Lan to introduce himself Maylu elbowed him prompting him to speak.

"Oh! and um, I'm Lan." He said finally introducing himself, "So your Dr. Javedson's daughter? Somehow I pictured you differently." He finally said.

"It's nice to meet you too." Terra replied a little off. What had Lan pictured her as? A nerd? "You must be Dr. Hikari's son. I remember you from the N1 Grand Prix three years ago, you're really good. I guess the brilliance is inherited."

"Yeah, I guess it is." Lan said basking in the attention.

"What brilliance?" Maylu asked. "The only thing you're brilliant at is net battling."

Lan's face faulted.

"Anyway," Maylu said slightly snickering at Lan's crushed ego, "How do you two know about each other?" Maylu asked.

"Our dads went to school together." Terra replied. "They met in junior high and were best friends right through college. They went their own ways after that."

"Hey! Have you forgotten about me?" a voice spoke up.

"And this loud mouth," Terra said picking up her PET off her desk, "is my netnavi Whisper."

In the cyberworld Megaman and Roll introduced themselves.

"Hi, I'm Megaman."

"And I'm Roll."

"Nice to meet you, I'm Whisper." The netnavi replied.

Megaman and Roll gave the new navi a look over. She was a human netnavi like them, and about the same height and size. Like Megaman she was practically identical to her net op, only difference being her eye color and the way she wore her hair. Her eyes were blue, while Terra's were green, and instead of her hair being pulled up it was down with a ribbon tying it together at the center.

Her jump suit was jet black with wide sliver stripes down the sides that extended into long-sleeves that covered all but the tips of her thin blue-violet gloves and down into a pair of thin-soled boots; the jump suit was topped with a purple cropped v'd necked piece, that had a darker purple vertical stripe running down the center of her top that lined up with the color-blocked pattern that was on her jump-suit, and a skirt piece of the same pattern that was held up with three crisscrossed thin silver belts. Her symbol that was on her chest as well as her helmet consisted of a swirl pattern with one side light purple and the other being silver. She also had a pair of shades that were propped up on her helmet.

"So how do you like Den Tech City so far?" Megaman asked.

"Well it's a lot like Metro City, not many differences." Whisper replied.

Back in the real word Lan Maylu and Terra were starting to hit it off.

"I still can't believe that our dad's ended up being scientist after high school." Terra stated with a shake of her head.

"Why can't you believe that?" Lan asked.

"Has your dad ever told you any stories back from when he was in school?"

"No, not really, he doesn't talk about it much." Lan replied.

"Ok, our dads may have been the smartest guys on campus; but they were the class clowns. There was more of a chance that they'd use their knowledge to pull a prank on someone than to use it to benefit humanity."

"You're kidding!" Lan exclaimed at this bit of information.

"No, I'm not. They were in the principal's office at least once a month if not twice." Terra replied. "It's amazing that they never managed to get expelled."

"So your telling me that Lan may be his father's son after all?" Maylu asked. "Scary."

Lan was just about to object when Miss Mari popped up from nowhere behind the trio.

"Ahem." Miss Mari said. "I know you want to get to know Terra a bit better but we do have work to do."

"Yes, Miss. Mari." The three replied.

By the end of the school day Lan and Maylu pretty much had put in a claim on Terra.

"So do you miss your friends yet?" Maylu asked as she, Terra, and Lan left the campus.

"Not too much." Terra replied. "But it's only been one weekend. Things were kinda crazy, one second I'm starting another school year, then a month later my dad gets the offer to work for Sci-Lab to help out with this darkchip mystery. But it's not suppose to be forever; we're going back after just as soon as it's over. Plus Metro City is only an hour away by train; it's not like I can't go back and visit."

"Where are you and your folks staying?" Lan asked.

"Um, Cherry Blossom Lane?" Terra said as she tried to remember the address. "We're renting the house, it's a nice place."

"You're kidding!" Maylu exclaimed when she recognized the street name. "That's only one street over from where Lan and I live."

"Cool! Do you walk to school?" Terra asked. "If you tell me when you and Lan leave I can go with you."

"Yeah we do and I'd like that." Maylu replied. "But most of the time it will probably be just you and me. Lan has a problem with punctuality."

"Hey, that's enough Lan bashing for one day." Lan said as he cut his eyes at his friend. "So, are you going straight home or do you think you have some time to see the town and hang out?" Lan asked as he turned his attention back to the other girl.

"Well, I have to be some where later but I have about an hour." Terra replied.

"Well then let me take you to the most exciting place in the whole city, my arcade!" Lan exclaimed leading the way.

"His arcade?" Terra asked Maylu.

"Yeah, if you haven't noticed already Lan has a big ego. Something you'll just have to get use to if you choose to be his friend. He's won most of his net battles here."

When Lan entered the arcade at least three boy came up to him demanding a net battle. Since Lan and Megaman were almost legendary everyone wanted their shot taking them down, as well as Lan's ego. But soon all of them had been defeated sill leaving Lan and Megaman with the most netbattle wins on record in the arcade's history. Most of the kids wanted someone to bring Lan off his high horse but they didn't want to suffer the humiliation of loosing. Soon they noticed Terra watching Lan intently. They had found their scapegoat.

"Why don't you battle him?" A boy asked.

"Oh, no thanks." Terra replied turning around. But the boys weren't going to give up so easily. Soon they had gained up in enough numbers to literally push her onto the platform.

"Battle, Battle, Battle." They chanted.

Terra saw that it was a lost cause to try and get down so she turned to face her challenger.

"Well, I don't know if this is a good way to start our friendship." She said.

"Don't worry I'll make it quick." Lan replied a little full of himself.

"Oh, we'll see about that, Jack in Whisper power up!"

Once she was jacked in Whisper turned to face Mega.

"Looks like this will be a friendly battle among friends." Megaman said.

"Seams so." Whisper replied.

"Ok, enough chit-chat Megaman." Lan said.

"Right, megabuster!" Megaman said as his hand transformed and fired.

Whisper easily dodged his attack.

"Ok, Whisper lets bring down Lan's ego a couple of rungs." Terra said.

"I'm on it, whispershock!" Whisper exclaimed as she twirled around in a manner similar to Roll and brought up her right index finger to her lips causing a stream of light purple energy to be directed toward and suround Megaman but it soon disipated into thin air.

"Looks like Whisper's default is faulty." Lan said thinking that this would be another easy victory. Unknown to him Terra was just as determined as he was minus the ego.

"You would think that wouldn't you?" Terra replied. Unknown to Lan and Megaman Whispers's default weapon's plasma was invisible once it was activated. Yet her shades that she had flipped down over her eyes enabled her to see where her attack was directed. Soon Megaman felt as if he had been hit by an electric attack but, he felt it from the inside out.

"Aahh!" he yelled as he went down with sparks coming out from within him.

"That's amazing." Lan said under his breath, but he wasn't prepared to lose.

"Fire sword battlechip in download." he exclaimed.

"Aqua sword battlechip in download!" Terra counteracted.

Soon Megaman and Whisper were at each other trying to find an advantage but they were pretty evenly matched.

"Not bad." Megaman commended.

"Right back at ya." Whisper replied smiling. But looks can be deceiving. There were two reasons that she was smiling. One was because of the situation that she and Megaman were in; and the second was because she had found what she was looking for. With a quick spin kick she ducked down and knocked Megaman's feet right from under him, and delivered an attack with her sword."

Lan couldn't believe this, Megaman hadn't touched Whisper once and she had already delivered two attacks on him. No wonder she and her op had made it to the N1 Grand Prix's quarter finials.

"Ok, that's it, no more kids stuff." Lan said. "Longsword battlechip in, download."

Right when Megaman was going to strike Whisper vanished.

"Where'd she go?" Lan and Megaman asked simultaneously.

"Right here." Whisper replied, but she remained unseen.

"Geyser, battlechip in download!" Terra exclaimed.

Suddenly Megaman was lifted into the air by the water. When he landed Whisper reappeared right before his eyes, only problem was she hadn't used an aerasteal battlechip. Terra saw the look of disbelief on Lan's face and answered the question that she was sure he was gonna ask.

"Whisper has three default weaponry skills you've already seen two. Want to guess what her third charm is?" Terra said knowing that she was getting under Lan's skin.

Lan couldn't believe this! He had wanted to show off his net battling skills to impress Terra. Now he was the one getting educated. His ego was getting shot and his pride bowed over, but this just made him fight harder.

"Boomerang battlechip in download!" he exclaimed.

Megaman aimed and fired but Whisper didn't even try to get out of its path. When the boomerang came to her it didn't make contact, it passed through her like she wasn't even there.

"You can phase?" Megaman asked, almost in awe.

"Don't look so surprised," Whisper replied, "it's not like you don't have a couple of tricks up you glove."

"And you're about to see them." Lan replied. "Aerasteal, air shoes, and wide sword battlechips in download."

Megaman once again made an attack and this time almost tripped when Whisper disappeared for good.

"Whisper logging out."

"Hey, what'd you do that for?" he asked when he noticed that the battle had been terminated.

"Message." Terra said reading an e-mail on her PET, it was from Chief Keifer telling her that it was time to come to Sci-Lab; but she couldn't tell Lan and Maylu that, being a netsaver was sopose to be a secret. "My mom wants me home, apparently she doesn't like the cardboard box look in my room. I'll see you guys tomorrow. Bye Maylu." She said as she passed.

"Well don't think this is over, you still owe me a netbattle!" Lan exclaimed.

"Trust me I won't forget!" Terra said as she ran off.

When Lan looked at his watch he noticed that it was time for him to be a Sci Lab.

When he arrived Chaud was already there.

"Has the recruit shown up yet?" Lan asked when he walked up to him.

"No, not yet." Chaud replied.

"So how do you feel about someone else being on the team?" Lan asked.

"You mean how do I feel that the new recruit is a girl?" Chaud asked. When he saw that that was what Lan had meant he continued. "I doesn't bother me really. With Nebula and the darkliods getting more and more powerful we need all the help we can get."

"Yeah I guess you're right." Lan said. But to himself he was thinking something different. When he and Megaman were the only ones who could crossfuse the ability had felt special. When Chaud and Protoman had been promoted and they received their syncrochip it had taken some of the spark away. Especially since they had been rivals at the time. But over the last few months they had become pretty good friends which when he thought about it surprised him. When had that happened anyway? One day they couldn't stand one another and the next they were friends. His train of thought was broken when Chaud spoke.

"Here comes Famous, Chief Keifer, and Manuela, they have someone with them."

When the group came into view Lan recognized the person they had with them right away.

"Terra, what are you doing here?" he asked.

"You know one another?" the chief asked.

"Yeah, she's in my class." Lan replied.

"She's your new partner." Famous and Manuela both said answering Lan's question.

"Terra is this true?" Lan asked dumbfounded.

But Terra hadn't even seen him, she was only paying attention to Chaud.

"Chaud?" she asked, surprised to see the boy there.

"Terra?" Chaud asked returning the question with an equal amount of shock.

"Oh my goodness!" Terra exclaimed giving Chaud a hug and surprisingly he returned it.

All Lan could think was:

"What's going on here!"

TBC