Higsby

Higsby, known as Yamitaro Higure (日暮闇太郎) in Japan, is a recurring character from the MegaMan Battle Network series. He is found in every Battle Network game except for MegaMan Battle Network 6, although for the most part of the story his role is selling Battle Chips in his chip shop. His NetNavi is NumberMan.EXE. He also often says "huh!" while speaking, making it clear it was him with the e-mail about chip traders in Mega Man Battle Network 2.

Personality
Higsby's personality is defined by his love of Battle Chips and travels the world looking for them. He is willing to work for the WWW in order to get them. However, he learns the error of his ways and decides to sell chips for a living. Higsby also has a crush on Ms. Mari in both the games and the anime. In the anime, he is known to be excitable and freaks out often but becomes a father figure to Shuko.

Games
Higsby first appears in MegaMan Battle Network. He is introduced as a substitute teacher by Ms. Mari lecturing on Battle Chips in Lan's class 5-A although he acts oddly and asks the students to trade chips with him. It is revealed that this is a ruse; Higsby is actually a World Three agent that instigates the WWW's Re-education Program after class. He locks down the school to prevent escape and projects Lord Wily's image on the blackboards which spouts WWW propaganda to brainwash the students and staff. Then he ties up Ms. Mari in a storage room to prevent anyone from opening up the doors with an ID. After doing so, he bumps into Lan, who was going toward the storage room. His motivation for doing this was the promise of rare battle chips. After being defeated by Lan and MegaMan.EXE, he opens a shop and promises to be good from then on, leaving the WWW. Higsby reveals he used to work at Scilab with a colleague before he joined the WWW.

In MegaMan Battle Network 2, he goes on a trip to Netopia collecting rare chips and installing Chip Traders in other countries; he helps Lan and MegaMan.EXE reconcile after their fight in Netopia. During the latter half of the game he returns to Electopia and reopens his shop.

In MegaMan Battle Network 3, he goes on vacation to Yumland and returns later to Electopia. Mayl promises to help him with chores but on the same day she got the BubbleWash. She convinces Lan to do it for her and he has to accomplish several tasks.

In MegaMan Battle Chip Challenge, Higsby is one of the participants in the Battle Chip GP tournament.

In MegaMan Battle Network 4, he is a contestant at the Den City Tournament. In the events that follow, a guy is planning to close down his shop and replace it with a shop that sells brushes, though Lan manages to help out by gathering posters for his assistant. After that he and Lan battle each other at the Den City Tournament, where Lan and MegaMan beat him.

In MegaMan Battle Network 5, he joins Team Colonel and allows them to use the back of his shop as a base. However, If Lan joins Team ProtoMan, it is not until later in the game when Chaud needs a secret base that Higsby's shop is used. In the latter case Higsby is a bit more reluctant to lend this room.

In MegaMan Battle Network 6, he doesn't appear because he is once again travelling, but he does send his congratulations to ACDC School for graduation.

MegaMan NT Warrior
Higsby shows up to teach the students of Lan's school about Virus busting, but is mostly concerned about rare chips. After class, he locks Lan's classroom and attempts to steal Yai's chips in a battle against Glide.EXE. Lan, MegaMan and Roll.EXE manage to unlock the door and rescue Glide, and they discover Higsby was behind it. After his defeat, Ms. Mari convinces Higsby to stop stealing rare chips, reminding him of how he would feel if chips were stolen from him. After this event, he quits teaching and opens up a chip shop like in the games. In the anime, he is Maysa's rival for Ms. Mari's affection, and the two are seen fighting on many occasions.

Later, he runs out of money for his Battle Chip shop. NumberMan thinks it is because he won't sell his rare chips. Gauss Magnus offers him a job at his company where he makes lots of money and buys several rare chips, but it turns out the money was being stolen from the company of Yai's father. After Lan and Chaud foil Gauss's plan, he returns to his chip shop.

In MegaMan NT Warrior Axess, he becomes a role model for Shuko Kido because of his upbeat attitude despite his misfortunes. She and SpoutMan enter a promotional tournament for the rice cooker and wins. Then SpoutMan goes out of control and Shuko falls into despair. However Higsby cheers her up and they stop SpoutMan. Shuko admires his attitude and decided to work for his Chip Shop ever since.

Higsby continues to appear through out Stream, Beast and Beast+.

Trivia

 * Although Higsby knows how dangerous Dark Chips are and even freaks out at seeing one, in MegaMan Battle Network 5 the player can obtain a Dark Chip from the Number Lotto.
 * Higsby, unlike his MegaMan Battle Network and Star Force successors, has several ways of selling Battle Chips. (normal vendor and via a Premium service order list) You might be able to buy some rare chips you can't ordinarily get from his shop or other places if you look through Higsby's display shelves. Additionally, his "bargain bin" may also contain some chips you can buy.


 * Higsby's hairstyle and squeaky voice are similar to Tai Kamiya From the anime Digimon Adventure and Digimon Adventure 02.