Netto looked around at the New Orleans Netbattling stadium.

"Wow, impressive, isn't it Rockman?" He smiled as he looked around. It was easily as large as the Mega-float, although not as exotic in appearance. There were big screens on the outside, so people could see the matches going on inside… a very interesting advertisement for Netbattling.

Netto watched, entranced. Right now, the screens were showing the first stage of the Navi Olympics… each Navi was running through an obstacle course, filled with virii and other obstacles. Any Navi that couldn't get through with at least half his or her hitpoints was being eliminated. That wasn't many… but it was some. As Netto watched, a female Navi was forced to logout by a combined virus attack.

"Netto, look, there's Steel Magnolia!" Rockman pointed out the screen that showed their new friend. Steel appeared to be having a wonderful time, dancing through the obstacle course.

"This won't be hard." Netto said confidently. "Let's go show them what we can do, Rockman!"

"Right!" Just as they went inside, one of the screens changed its scene. It began showing a handsome, black and red Navi, who move with blinding speed and struck with pitiless strength. It might have been a warning for the future, if they had seen it.

But they didn't, and life went on.

hr

"You're certain this simulation is accurate?" Enzan glared at the screen. He'd already gone through his qualifying round at the stadium, and would go back tomorrow for his first individual match. So, for the rest of the day, he was at Infini Net, sometimes in the Labyrinth, sometimes practicing.

Right now, he was practicing. And it wasn't going well.

"Yes, Enzan-sama." Blues replied quietly, but with a hint of tension. "He always practices here, so there were many records."

At the N-1 Grand Prix, they had practiced against a simulation of Rockman, before the final round. They might still have to face Rockman in this competition, but Enzan and Blues had defeated him before. So they were using simulations of the other competitors.

Steel Magnolia's simulation had been challenging, but no more than Rockmans. His failure rating with her was about three percent, which might have irritated him more under other circumstances. With the other Navis that he had managed simulations for, his failure ratings had been under 1 percent. Mostly zero.

Except for one.

"We can't get it over fifty percent!" Enzan rubbed his head, feeling sick and annoyed. "He knows three program advances?"

"Yes." Blues confirmed, stretching one arm out. The simulation had jerked it painfully in the last round. "That we know of." There might be more. Enzan frowned, looking down, as he had a thought.

"Replay the two new program advances, slowly." One was Beta Sword, which he already knew. The other two…

Enzan's eyes narrowed as he watched Plague, Xoom's Navi, summon up a mini-bomb. Then… another bomb, but a different color. Slowed down, he could recognize it as a l'il bomb. Then the last bomb that fused the three together, into a large orb…

"I think that was a big bomb." It was logical. "Hmm." He had a few mini-bombs, but he'd always preferred swords, and hadn't bothered to collect more bombs. But the explosion Plague had created was impressive. "The other one?"

Enzan tilted his head to one side as he watched this program advance. A light aura of red surrounded Plague. Then purple. Then… a pure, brilliant white that made him put a hand up to shield his eyes. He didn't know what this program advance was, but it had protected Plague from a direct hit with a Beta Sword.

"It's called Pure Aura." Blues supplied the information. "But no one knows what chips are used for it." The colors really gave no clue. Enzan had seen Dream Aura, but nothing that created a red aura or a purple aura around a Navi.

Enzan finally shook his head, plugging Blues out. "Let's go back into the Labyrinth." It had been getting very challenging lately, and perhaps he would find the chips he needed there.

"The Labyrinth is becoming more challenging." Blues noted. "I may be wrong, but it feels like there is a pattern to it."

"Yes." Enzan murmured. He'd noticed that as well. It was as if something or someone was carefully testing all of their skills. Last time, the challenges had required a great deal of cunning… and the setting was often changing drastically between levels. At the early settings, it had been almost generic… basically, medieval style dungeon corridors. By now, they had run through a forest, a post-apocalyptic city, even an Arabian palace. But it was certainly more interesting and challenging this way. "Hmm… I think some food first would be best." He had a few restaurants in mind. Infini Net was quite good, especially since the food was just a sideline… but other places were better. He left the trailer, leaving the simulation of Plague frozen in place behind him…

hr

Kenzan gritted his teeth, holding his portable phone slightly away from his ear. Not many things grated on his nerves, but this woman's voice could flay him to the bone. Even when she was happy, the high pitch and strident tone grated on him. When she wasn't happy… like now… the whine made him wish for mercy.

"But Kenny, I NEED your help. I have to go!" She pleaded. She'd been pleading for the past fifteen minutes, and he'd been too polite to hang up. Although that politeness was being stretched to it's utter limits.

"I feel sorry for you, Rose. That's a tough break." Xoom said with enough indifference to let her know he didn't in the least mean it. "And don't call me that. It's Kenzan or Xoom, but not Kenny. He's a character on Southpark." That had been part of the reason he'd adopted Xoom as his name. Too many people found "Kenzan" exotic and preferred to turn it into Kenny, which made him gag.

"But it's my sister's wedding! Please, Ken- Xoom, please take my shift?" She wheedled. "You're not doing anything, really. Please?" Kenzan's eyes narrowed, his temper smoldering.

"Not doing anything? Are you forgetting that I'm in an individual round tomorrow, right in the middle of that shift? I don't think so, Rose. Find someone else."

"But there is no one else! They're all busy!" More likely, Kenzan brooded, they don't want to give up any free time for you. Or you haven't tried anyone else yet and want to guilt trip me. He'd always taken her shifts in the past, for the money, and she was obviously failing to grasp that he wasn't going to do it this time. "And that's just that silly Netbattling competition. This is family!"

"Silly?" That more amused him than angered him. She had no idea what she was talking about. "That 'silly' competition has a prize of a half a million for the winner. Not to mention a quarter each for second and third! And possibly commercial deals, and other crap, too. Are you out of your mind?"

"Oh… well, you don't really have a chance at that, do you?" She said inanely, and Xoom gritted his teeth, closing his eyes.

"I'm the champion of the USA. I have an excellent chance, provided I show up for my part of the competition. So I'm not taking your shift. Deal with it, Rose." Kenzan finally hung up on her, taking immense pleasure in hearing the dial tone. A voice laughed from behind him, and he jumped slightly, startled.

"Finally got rid of her?" Xoom relaxed, turning around. It was one of the pizza chefs, grinning and holding two boxes. "Good timing. It's the same old thing, up to the University. Hop to." Xoom grinned back, as he pushed a bit of his white hair underneath his red cap, embossed with the cute little logo of Luigi's pizza parlor and sushi bar. It was a somewhat sickening, but oddly popular combination among the University students.

Kenzan carefully hoisted the boxes, smiling, as he walked over to his car. It was time to get down to work.