Author's Note: Another .EXE story. This story takes place under the circumstance that Lan's brother had not perished. Thus, MegaMan in his wonderfully blue program form isn't in this, really. Well, he sort of is, since he's Saito and all. Anyhow, I'm using the English names, all except for Saito, because every time I say "Hub" I start laughing. It's hard to write when that happens, heh. Also, there are intentional mistakes in Lan and Dex' notes. This is a bit short, but there'll be more soon. Thank you for looking. Reviews are very muchly appreciated. Take care!
EDIT: I am aware of the inconsistancy. I thank you all for pointing it out and all anyway, but please don't just review to tell me anymore. I've already been told several times. I really appreciate your help, and I thank those who took the time to review, or even just read, heh. Take care now!
Somewhere in a relatively quiet neighborhood in DenTech City stood a blue and white house. This was the home of Dr. Hikari and his family. Dr. Hikari spent a great deal of time away from home due to work, however, which left his wife Haruka at home with their two eleven year old boys, Lan and Saito. They were twins, and identical ones, at that. Both had the same brown hair and brown eyes as their parents did. They were both the same height, and had all the same features... except for one. The single distinguishing trait between the two boys' appearances was that Saito's hair right at the back of his neck stuck up somewhat. But that was all. As well as this, the two didn't dress the same way, much to the relief of everyone else who had trouble differentiating between the two. In any case, Haruka was left at home by herself to take care of her two boys, and thus, they were virtually the center of her life.
Aside from the small but notable difference in the boys' appearances, they had other differences: personality ones. Lan was more energetic. He was enthusiastic about playing outside, but less than keen about going to school. He had a small group of friends he hung around with most of the time, too. He liked to play soccer. Saito, on the other hand, was almost the inverse. He enjoyed school. He was also quieter, and thus didn't mind being by himself as much. He liked to be organised. Although he did get along with all of those in his brother's group of friends, his best friend was Tory. Unlike his brother, he wasn't much of a sports enthusiast, but many people had come to believe that this was because of one of the biggest differences between the boys. One that wasn't external or emotional.
Saito had a bad heart.
He had been born with it. However, the doctors had deemed it stable enough to let it wait until he was older. There would be less risks associated with any kind of surgery in that case. Because of this, Haruka took extra care to ensure that Saito was careful with himself. She was more than relieved when he'd grown up to be so quiet. At least this way, she wouldn't have to worry constantly whenever he left the house. Nothing could happen to her little boy as long as he was within sight, besides. Saito was aware of his mother's concerns, and so he tried to ensure he did nothing to displease her. After all, with their father gone so often, what did she really have besides him and Lan..?
Morning erupted in the Hikari household. This day, of all days, had an extremely unpleasant beginning. Lan was going to bring something to school to show Dex, but had completely misplaced the thing. As a result, he was now frantically tearing apart their bedroom looking for it. At least he was actually almost up on time. Shoving past his brother, Lan began digging through a drawer in the computer desk.
"Lan... what on earth are you looking for?" Saito quirked a brow as he stood watching Lan's franticness change to frustration.
"Arrrggggh!" The other boy ignored him, proceeding to look in every place he was sure it could be in, as well as some places it couldn't. "I know I put the stupid thing on the desk last night!"
"Your Gameboy?" guessed Saito, fully dressed and ready to leave for school... unlike his brother.
"Yes, my Gameboy," grumbled Lan in response as he opened the closet and looked in.
"It's on the kitchen table. You left it there so you wouldn't forget it."
Lan's eyes got wide. "What? ...That was a stupid place to leave it!" He immediatly raced out of the room, returning with a small cobalt device. This was actually one of the stupider things they owned, because they both had one. What made it stupid was that they both had gotten the same color, which resulted in confusion. Lan set the small console on the desk and tried to get dressed in a hurry. He straightened his messy brown hair and threw on his clothes. He'd have put on his bandana, too, if he hasn't lost it in the process of tearing their room apart. Saito sighed and headed out of the room.
"Come on, Lan," he said. "You said you didn't want to be late again today."
"Yeah," Lan replied, pocketing the device as he followed his brother out into the hall. He picked up his backpack off a chair in the kitchen and swung it over his shoulder. "You should have gotten me up earlier."
"I tried to. I didn't know you were going to tear the whole room apart looking for something, though."
"I didn't tear all of it apart," Lan insisted in his own defense as they walked to the door. Their mother stopped them before they had a chance to leave.
"Saito, thank you for trying to get Lan to school on time. You boys be good, alright? I'll see you when you get home from school. I love you both! Have a good day!" Mrs. Hikari smiled pleasantly. Her smiles were nice; they were full of kindness and love. Saito smiled slightly and nodded.
"Bye," the twins said almost in synch, even though one lacked enthusiasm in his tone. School, in his mind, was something he could do without.
Lan and Saito arrived at school at exactly 8:37am... just over five minutes late. Despite being late along with his brother, Ms. Mari took almost no notice to Saito as he quietly joined the class. Lan, on the other hand, attracted something of a stare. The young teacher looked him up and down, almost expectantly. Even without his bandana, Ms. Mari could obviously still tell the twins apart. "Lan!" she said, her tone edged with what appeared to be surprise. "You're almost on time this morning!" The boy's face reddened and he silently slunk to the back of his class, sitting in the desk directly diagonal from Dex's. At least he didn't get yelled at, anyway.
"Pssst!" Dex reached over inconspicuously, and jabbed Lan with a folded piece of paper. He took it curiously, not paying attention as Ms. Mari began explaining what their schedule was for the day. Unfolding the paper, he was greeted by the familiarity of Dex's somewhat messy writing. He pressed so hard on the pencil that sometimes he left dark smudges. Despite this, it was legible.
did you bring the GBA like I told you too? did you talk to you're dad about getting a navi?
Lan looked around quickly. Good. Yai wasn't close enough to see and rat on him. Perfect. He carefully took a pencil out of his desk and scrawled a reply beneath Dex's writing in what space remained.
yea I broght it. I havn't talked to my dad yet so maybe he'll let me have a navi if I ask him next time
Refolding the paper, he gave it a light toss. It landed on the other boy's desk, sliding a short distance over the smooth surface. Dex smushed a large hand over it and dragged it onto his lap to read it. Having done so, he gave his friend a nod. However, Ms. Mari wasn't born yesterday and was starting to catch on. She halted in mid sentence and looked in their direction. Both boys froze. The teacher proceeded. Whew. Thankfully, she didn't nail them for anything. They were done anyway. Lan sunk back in his chair. He had been there less than five minutes and was already bored. From his place about four desks up, Saito took a glance back over his shoulder at his brother. Lan needed to learn to like school. Ms. Mari went to her desk and picked up a stack of papers.
"These are your spelling tests from yesterday," she stated. "Some of you did very well! Maylu even got a perfect score! I'm very pleased to see that." She smiled and began handing tests back to the students who had written them. Lan assumed that Yai would probably get perfect on hers once she did it. The young heiress had been away from school the previous day because she had gone on a day trip with her father. Ms. Mari handed Dex his test. The large boy flinched like he'd been jabbed with the hot end of a fireplace poker. He'd gotten an amazing 10 out of 40. Maylu was sitting in front of him. She turned in her chair. "What did you get, Dex?" she asked sweetly.
Dex's face turned a peculiar shade of magenta. "Uh.. uhm... t-ten."
The red haired girl smiled. "That's pretty good! I know you have trouble with spelling. If you want, I can help you practise next time."
"R-really?" The heavyset boy cracked an embarrassed smile. "I'd appreciate it. Thanks, Maylu..."
Lan snickered. Just then, Ms. Mari's shadow loomed over the front of his desk. He looked up at the teacher nervously, and she handed the white piece of paper down to him. He was afraid to look at it. Slowly, he turned it around so that the numbered side faced him. The side with his spelling on it, and his score, too. 17 out of 40. He grimaced. At least this was better than the last one he'd done. Thankfully, he recieved no lecture. The auburn-haired teacher just proceeded to hand out the last of the marked tests. Afterward, she resumed her place at the front of the classroom.
"Today," she announced, "we will begin working with basic fractions."
Oh no. Not fractions...
She picked up a piece of chalk and started writing on the blackboard, explaining as she went. After a good ten minutes of talking, she took in afew questions from students, and then wrote out their assignment on the board. "I'd like you all to do page 26 in your text books. Only do the even questions up to number 50. We will be going over this tommorrow. If you have any more questions once you've gotten started, you can come and ask me. Work quietly, please!" The students took out their notebooks and math textbooks and began working. Lan scanned over the work to be done. The first few were really easy-- proper fractions. The rest, on the other hand, involved multiplying mixed fractions. How the heck was he supposed to do that? He did what he could, anyway. Ms. Mari, who was now seated at her desk looking over her lesson plan, decided to be kind. "You may work in partners as long as you're quiet," she decided. Immediatly, the level of chatter was kicked up a notch or two.
"Dex, do you get this?" Lan asked. "I don't get the mixed fractions stuff."
"I don't get any of it," Dex mumbled. Unfortunately, Yai and Maylu had already decided to work together. Well, there went their main source of brains. Dex rested his face in his hand. "Whaddaya got so far?" They traded answers. That, however, still left them with other answers to be found. Now what were they supposed to do? Pay attention next time? Not likely. Lan drummed his fingers on his desk. Due to the moving of desks as his peers went to sit with their friends, he was in perfect view of Saito. He and Tory were already sitting next to each other in the rows, so they apparently felt no need to move and were working separately anyway. Bingo!
"Hah! I just got us the rest of the answers," Lan declared quietly to Dex as he pushed himself back from his desk and got up. He wandered over to his brother. "Hey Saito."
The other brown-haired boy looked up at him for only a second, immediatly thereafter resuming his work. "Hello, Lan."
"You understand all this stuff, right?" He gave a hopeful grin.
Saito froze for a moment, his sharpened pencil poised over the next math equasion he was to answer. He sighed, knowing what question was to follow his reply. "Yes..."
"Can you... y'know, 'help' me?"
"If what you mean by 'help' is do it for you, then no." He shifted slightly in his chair and kept working. He was onto the last few questions now. "This isn't due until tommorrow. I can help you when we get home, if you like."
Lan was dissapointed. Saito was being less submissive than he'd expected he would be. This was hardly going to help him avoid getting homework. If anything, it had ensured he would have homework tonight, even if it was only a little. "Uh, so I guess that means you're not going to do anything now."
Saito silently corrected an error in his work. "Lan, you won't learn anything if I do it for you..." He looked up at him. "I'm almost finished. I can come and show you and Dex how to do it properly. It will only take me a minute."
"Eh, it's okay." He would rather not have his brother teach him how to do math. How embarrassing. They were the same age. He didn't want to look like the inferior twin. "I'll, uhm... figure it out."
"If you're sure. Good luck. You can always ask Ms. Mari if you don't want to ask me." Saito gave something of an encouraging smile, and Lan turned around and headed back to Dex.
"Well?" Dex urged.
"He wouldn't tell me anything!" Lan told him. "He's not big on cheating." He plunked himself down into his chair. Rather than at least trying to figure it out, the two plotted about how they could get their work done without doing any actual work. Mooching off Maylu and Yai was out, and so was copying Saito. Rats. They wasted the next ten minutes pondering this until Ms. Mari had resumed her place in front of the class once again.
"Please put away your work," she said. "The rest is homework. We're going to start on a novel study today!"
Ah, reading comprehension. Another of Lan's "strong" points. Why was Ms. Mari making today her new activity day? Hopefully it couldn't get much more homework laden than this, anyway. The teacher held up a novel.
"We'll be doing a novel study on this book. It's called 'Island of the Blue Dolphins'. I'll give you some question work to do, and you'll also be expected to make a two-page summary of the plot. Don't worry, though. You'll have time in class over the next few weeks to get through it." She went further into an explaination, talking about various criteria; full sentence answers and stuff like that. Just as she finished her in-depth description, the recess bell rang. Hah! Freedom. Everyone starting getting up. If you can't beat them, join them, and so Ms. Mari went to get herself a cup of coffee. Lan pulled the Gameboy Advance out of his pocket.
"Awesome! You got an SP, too?" Dex took it from Lan's hands and studied. "Whatcha playin'?"
"PokeMon FireRed," Lan answered.
Meanwhile, Saito had taken his GBA to school with him, too. He gestured to Tory. "I caught that Kangaskhan," he said. "I'll show you! Tommorrow, if you bring your Gameboy, we could trade, and it'll help you to complete your Pokedex. I finished mine!"
"Did you?" Tory queried. "That's great! Can I see?"
"Sure!" He smiled and turned it on. Ah, his save file. He frowned slightly as the game scrolled through the last few things he'd done. That... didn't sound right. He checked his menu. "LAN"? They must have gotten their Gameboys mixed up again. "Whoops. Looks like I have my brother's game," he said. "Hold on." Saito got up and headed over to Lan and Dex, who were entertaining themselves by killing a Pokemon of the same type with much ease due to the strength gap. Saito stood behind his brother for several seconds before he noticed him.
Lan paused. "What's up?"
"Uhm, Lan, you've got my Gameboy."
"No I don't."
Saito bit his lip. "Yeah. I finished my Pokedex."
"Nuh-uh. This is my cartridge."
"It isn't."
"Is, too."
"No. I've got yours."
"No you don't."
Why did Lan have to be this way? Saito crossed him arms lightly over his chest. "If it's yours, then show me your user file."
"Don't need to, since it's mine."
Saito stuck the other screen right in front of his face. "'My' menu says 'LAN' on it, which means it's yours. Besides, your starter was a charmander. Mine was squirtle."
Lan sighed aggitatedly and switched handhelds with him. "There. Better?"
"Thank you."
"Meh." He resumed chattering animatedly to his friend. With his proper game in hand, Saito moved back to the front of the class and handed it off to Tory, who curiously began flicking through the Pokedex. Saito sighed. "Lan's kind of a pain sometimes. He takes my stuff, and then when I ask for it back he insists it's his until I shove evidence in his face. If I accidentally take something of his, he just yanks it from me. We try to avoid it by 'color coding' everything, but not everything we buy comes in distinctive enough colors. And relatives never remember to do it. That's why our Gameboys are the same color."
Tory looked up for a moment. "Maybe try to put it to him nicely? If you don't seem mad, maybe he won't be as... annoying."
"I try," Saito sighed honestly. "I try to be patient with him, but he's around almost all the time. We live in the same house. Maybe I'm just being a little on edge. I mean, we do get along sometimes."
"That's true. I guess you're bound to fight if you're around each other almost all the time."
"Yeah, you're right. I won't pay any mind to it. I love my brother, even when he's a doofus."