Lan Hikari groggily opened his eyes and slowly got to his feet. From a slight observation of his surroundings, Lan immediately understood he was in desert territory; partly because of the huge sand dunes and partly because of the sandy plateaus. What interested him, however, was the fact that large cables were wrapped around these dunes, giving the impression of being attached to the ground and rising from there. That sight alone seemed to indicate that Lan was in a virtual world. But. . .that was impossible, wasn't it?

Those thoughts lazily danced around Lan's fuzzy brain as he tried to regain his Barings. The next thought that entered his head was a simple question; where am I? A question commonly used in so many storylines that made all the difference. In most clichéd plots, that question usually a) has no answer to it or b) has a farfetched reply from another individual. However, in this instance, a choice "c" occurs as Lan suddenly hears a voice in his own head answer I'm not sure.

Any other person would have been startled or assumed himself mad when hearing a voice echo in his own mind; but Lan Hikari knew that voice and had to grow accustomed to hearing it in his head. It was the voice of MegaMan, his netnavi and best friend. Now, if you're going to ask if it's normal for operators to hear the voices of their netnavis in their head, the honest answer is no. That is, until the possibility of cross-fusion is added into the equation. Cross-fusion, described without all the scientific explanations, basically allows an operator and his netnavi to combine into one entity, thus sharing the same mind and consciousness. It sounded cool, but experiencing it was, as Lan often put it, even cooler.

MegaMan, Lan thought, knowing his netnavi would hear it. When did we cross-fuse? I don't know, Lan, MegaMan sent back. I don't remember you using the Synchro Chip. "I didn't," Lan said aloud. He knew it was unnecessary to speak as MegaMan could hear his thoughts as Lan broadcasted them through his brain, but it felt more like a conversation if some verbal speech was added in. "Do you have any idea where we are?," Lan asked. Well. . .maybe some foreign network from the looks of things. Maybe we should go look around a bit, replied MegaMan. "Good idea," said Lan, taking a few cautious steps into the new territory before changing his pace into a dash. It wasn't long before Lan realized he was not alone in this unknown network. Several kind visitors arrived to greet him before pelting him with lasers. The fact that they had the appearance of overgrown cockroaches with strange eye-symbols didn't increase Lan's affection for them either.

Lan let out a battle-cry as his right hand converted into the MegaBuster. Firing several shots from the convenient arm-cannon, he took down the viruses with ease, killing each with one hit. The difficulty level of the battle began to rise as reinforcements appeared; the new combatants that arrived were wasp-like viruses, who, as Lan immediately realized, had the same insignia as the cockroaches. That strange eye-symbol was displayed on their heads. However, Lan didn't have time to dwell on that as the wasps glided towards him with great speed, spewing green poison from their stingers. Lan retaliated with shots from his MegaBuster, which were easily dodged by his new airborne opponents. The only effect the attack had was enraging the wasp viruses, who responded with firing lasers. If a desperate attempt to evade the attack, Lan flung himself into the air with a graceful leap. "Long Sword!," he shouted, as his arm-cannon reassembled himself into that weapon.

In the manner of a ballerina, Lan, while in mid-jump, began to spin, gaining speed with each swerve. He gained the appearance of a spinning top as his movements soon became a blur. Using this speed along with the reach of his sword, Lan slashed all the wasp viruses in reach of him, which was every single one as they foolishly tried to surround him. "I'd like to see ProtoMan top that!," Lan gloated as he reached the ground when the wasps disintegrated into raw data. Didn't you take that technique from him?, said MegaMan's voice in his head."Well. . .um . . .," Lan said, trying to find a suitable reply. Deciding that changing the subject was his best chance, Lan said, "I'm surprised the BattleChip worked. I mean, we're in a foreign network, so I thought maybe it wouldn't." Good point, responded MegaMan. Well, since we have out PET, (I mean we're cross-fused, so we obviously still have it. . .) I guess that gives us access to BattleChips. "That's good to know," noted Lan as he began to leave the former battlefield. He resumed his dash around the foreign network before the peace was interrupted once again by the appearance of a black haze. Murky smoke swirled and spiraled in a dark tornado before Lan's very eyes. Expecting the worst, Lan went into a defensive stance. How surprised he was that when the smoke cleared, a human figure was standing in front of him.

However, Lan was far from reassured when he looked at the human. His armor was a dark, soulless black and sported the same eye-symbol that the other viruses had. That emblem was either a popular fad or symbolized that the human was in the same league as those other viruses. The latter possibility had a greater probability of being true, which meant that the human was his enemy. Lan's suspicions were proven correct as the human summoned a black zweihander from thin air before charging at Lan like a rhino. "Hero's Sword!," Lan shouted as his arm converted itself into that weapon. He barely had enough time to parry the zweihander blade as the black-clad human was agile despite the immense weight of his sword. Seeing the weapon up close, Lan saw that it, too, displayed the eye-symbol. However, Lan had no time to pay attention to the details of the weapon his opponent was using in order to kill him. The time for weapon-gawking was after the opposing side was down for the count.

The black warrior violently thrust his zweihander at Lan multiple times; however, each strike landed without success. Lan always made a swift dodge at the last moment, a time -span that neither combatant could spare. His last-minute evasions seemed to enrage the black warrior, whose every thrust was done with more force and more power than the one proceeding it. Lan had no time to retaliate with an attack of his own as he was too busy dodging strikes from his adversary. However, nothing lasts forever and this fight was one of those things.

"Go!," cried the black warrior, whose raspy voice sounded like a fusion of different voices. "Strike for XANA!" His outcry at first seemed like a gesture of a madman, pointless and futile; but in the next second, his shout was answered. A barrage of lasers rained down on Lan, who soon became overwhelmed by the immense damage he was suddenly receiving and succumbed to his only option; commencing his journey to the floor. He fell on his back, rather than dishonorably hiding his face from his attacker. Or, in this case, attackers, when including the newly-arrived airborne viruses. These viruses were not wasp-shaped like the other ones Lan encountered; instead, they had the appearance of flying mantas. However, they, too, sported the eye-like symbol Lan had seen so frequently, and the sight of it sent his warrior-instincts into terror. Multiple enemies on the same side. Not good. Not good at all.

Thank you all for reading! Chapter 2 is on the way!