Ch.1

Lan, Tory, Maylu, Yai, and Dex laughed and were overjoyed that Megaman was back in action.

~flashback~

"Thanks Protoman. I owe you one," Megaman smiled.

"You don't owe me anything Megaman. I was just following orders," Protoman told him.

"Then it was Chaud," Lan thought.

~end flashback~

Lan stopped laughing thinking, "Chaud."

Outside the building of Sci-lab, Chaud smiled while he looked at it. He looked at his P.E.T. saying, "Protoman, let's go home."

"I'm with you," Protoman said. Chaud turned around and got in his van. It started pulling away just as Lan came to a stop to see the van leaving. "Hey wait!" he shouted but the van was already gone. He smiled saying, "thank you."

In the van with Chaud… he lend against the chair he was in as he moved his black hair to reveal a jack-in port or something.

"I hate having this, Protoman. Every night I have to recharge the motherboard and the chips in my brain," Chaud sighed.

"I know, Chaud. But if it wasn't for those chips, you wouldn't even be here right now and we wouldn't have met," Protoman told him. "You know, Chaud, you could tell Lan and the others about it."

"No way, Protoman. You know what'll happen if I told anyone about this. The motherboard would overheat and explode my brain this time around," he sighed. "Even if I did tell them… who would want to be friends with someone that has circuits in his head? And dad would do what he threatened to do if I told anyone."

Protoman talked with his NetOp for a while longer before they pulled into the BlazeQuest parking lot.

Chaud went straight to his room to charge the motherboard in his brain. He slept with the charger in, thinking, "I don't deserve friends at all. Especially Lan and his friends."

Over the next few days… Lan tried understanding Chaud more. He was able to have a talk with Protoman but he didn't tell them much of anything about Chaud at first.

"Okay, so what do you mean by that Protoman?" Lan asked.

"What I mean is… Chaud's only friend is me," Protoman told him. "And he thinks that he doesn't deserve friends like you and your friends for a few reasons. To top it all off Lan… Chaud's father won't let him smile, cry, or make friends. I was the first and last thing that man ever gave Chaud."

"That's cold," Megaman said with a hint of hate.

"There's something else you should know as well, Lan," Protoman told him.

"What is it?" Lan asked.

"Chaud gave me permission to tell you this. It's the other reason that convinces him that no one would even want to be his friend so he's somewhat cold towards them so they don't find out and stay away from him," Protoman told him. "When Chaud was born, he was dying because of something not right in his brain. It was thanks to his father that he's even here at all. There's a Motherboard and some chips in his brain to keep it working like normal. He has to recharge the motherboard every night and he hates it but he is glad to be alive.

If Chaud moves his black hair you can see a jack-in port." Protoman brought up a diagram of his NetOp to show him what he meant. "There's a reason why Chaud can't tell you himself. If he does than the motherboard would overheat and explode his brain. That happened once… Chaud's father replaced the motherboard – his brain didn't explode but if he tells a second person then it will. I had to jack-in to the motherboard once because viruses were destroying it. I was able to repair it before Chaud's father came into his room and nearly killed him because I was jacked-in. Please Lan, keep this quiet around Chaud's father if you happen to bump into him. Oh, and Chaud's going to get a wireless jack-in point installed next week. The wireless P.E.T. is almost complete."

"I-I understand now," Lan shivered. "I don't care if he has circuits in his head. He needs friends and not just you – no offence Protoman."

"None taken. I got to get back to Chaud now. Catch you two later," Protoman said as he logged out of Lan's P.E.T.

"Megaman, should we tell the others?" Lan asked.

"We can, I mean we just have to stay quiet about it if we run into Chaud's father," Megaman told him with a shrug.

"Alright. Let's tell the others face to face at school," Lan said seriously.

"And you're late. Again," Megaman groaned. Lan gasped as he skated to school in a rush.

Back with Chaud – after the school day ended – Protoman told Chaud what Lan had said.

"H… he really said that?" Chaud asked a bit surprised.

"Yes, he really said that," Protoman told him. Chaud walked off towards the elevator. It opened as he entered. He saw his father not getting out so he stayed on one side of the elevator as he placed his P.E.T. in the case.

"So, you told someone else about your condition," Mr. Blaze said angrily, looking at his son out of the corner of his eye.

"No. Why would I? It's a waste of breath," Chaud told him.

"So you had your NetNavi tell someone. You should know by now that nothing slips passed me, brat!" Mr. Blaze yelled as he pinned Chaud to the wall of the elevator after he stopped the moving machine.

"Dad, please stop!" Chaud shouted in fear. Mr. Blaze slammed his hand into the wall and tore out some wires and cable. He shoved Chaud on the floor hard. He then proceeded to binding Chaud's hands behind his back with the wires.

"Ah! Dad, please! Stop!" Chaud begged.

"That mouth is really annoying right now," Mr. Blaze snarled as he dug around in his pockets for something. He pulled out a handkerchief, a black ball with straps, and duct tape. "These will do just fine," he snickered as he inched closer to Chaud's face.

"Protoman, get to his P.E.T! Hur- aaarrfff!" Chaud shouted as his dad stuffed the handkerchief into his mouth. Mr. Blaze then jammed the ball into Chaud's mouth and tightly buckled the straps behind his head. Mr. Blaze took the duct tape; he wrapped it all the way around Chaud's head to fully cover the ball gag. He took the wires on the floor and proceeded to tying Chaud's ankles together as well as above and below his knees. He tied the cable around Chaud's chest, tightly.

"Mmph!" Chaud shouted once Mr. Blaze wrapped some more wire in between the wires on his knees. Mr. Blaze took the duct tape again and bound the wires that bound Chaud's wrists.

Chaud's eyes grew even more fearful as he struggled to get free but it was futile.

"Megaman! Lan!" Protoman shouted desperately.

"What's wrong, Protoman?" Megaman asked appearing in front of him.

"Chaud's… father found out," Protoman huffed out fast.

"Calm down, Protoman," Roll told him softly.

"Chaud's father found out that I told Megaman and Lan about Chaud's condition," Protoman told them once he caught his breath. "He's either going to kill Chaud now or severally injure him and there's nothing I can do to stop him! Nothing gets passed Chaud's dad and we should've known that by now!"

"What?!" Lan shouted, taking out his P.E.T. to see Protoman almost in tears. "Just for telling us that, Chaud's dad is doing - WHAT?!"

"That's not right," Maylu said angrily, clenching her hands into fists.

"We have to do something," Dex told his friends.

"Yeah. I mean it's understandable about Chaud's attitude now," Yai told them, standing up from her seat at the restaurant.

"Protoman, where exactly is Chaud?" Lan asked.

"He's at BlazeQuest in the elevator. Chaud's father stopped the elevator from moving," Protoman told him. Lan and his friends ran off towards BlazeQuest.

Back with Chaud in the elevator… his dad had stabbed a knife into Chaud's shoulder and into his leg. Mr. Blaze stabbed the blade into the helpless boy's gut, making him scream out again but it was barely heard.

Mr. Blaze had destroyed Chaud's P.E.T. to keep Protoman out so he couldn't interfere. Mr. Blaze cut open the wound in Chaud's leg completely exposing muscles and bones.

"Mmph! Mm-mm-mmph! Mmph!" Chaud yelled. "Mmm-mmph!" His eyes grew wider with fear as his father reached into his open wound and tore out his entire leg bone.

Chaud was forcing his tears to stay in as his father did the same thing to his other leg.

Mr. Blaze clutched Chaud's throat tightly as he lifted him off the metal floor and glared into Chaud's eyes.

"Now you listen closely you brat," he snarled. "If you're still alive after this, I better not see you up and walking with new bones. These… are going to the pound to feed some hungry dogs." He held up Chaud's leg bones. "If I see you walking around… I'll personally fry that Motherboard."

"Mmph. Mm-mmph," Chaud choked out weakly as his dad let him drop to the floor.

He started up the elevator as it opened to the top floor. Mr. Blaze left Chaud in the elevator as he got out. He got on the P.A. telling his employees to not take the elevator for any reason. They had to take the stairs.

Lan and the others entered BlazeQuest in time to hear that.

"Are we too late?" Dex asked in a huff.

"I sure hope not, Dex," Lan huffed as he jacked-in Megaman and Protoman to the elevator.

They got it working as the others waited for the doors to open up.

Chaud felt the elevator moving, but just barely. He struggled to get his hands free but there was no way he could. His vision was going black as he tried to stay conscious.

"Why is… the elevator… moving?" he thought. "Doesn't… matter… why."

The doors opened after a few minutes. Lan and his friends gasped in horror upon seeing Chaud bound, gagged, bloody, and broken on the floor not moving. His P.E.T. in little tiny pieces in a pool of blood.

"Chaud!" Protoman yelled. "Chaud, please wake up!"

"Chaud!" Lan shouted, snapping out of his terrified trance. He ran in and unbound Chaud's mouth. Yai kept the door open while the others cut the wires and forced the cable off of Chaud.

"Oh, no way," Tory gasped as he trembled in fear.

"What?" Yai asked.

"Chaud's leg bones have been… torn out," Tory stuttered. "Both… of them."

"Come on, guys," Dex declared as he picked Chaud up carefully. "We have to get Chaud to a hospital fast!"

"Right," nodded the others as they ran out of BlazeQuest and to the nearest hospital.

Once there, the doctors took Chaud into the operating room saying, "this kid has ten minutes at best. We have to hurry!" They knew about the Motherboard and scanned the data. Also knowing Mr. Blaze, they didn't want to make it so he'd really kill his only son.

The doctors let Lan and the others hear what Mr. Blaze senior snarled from the Motherboard memory.

"What is wrong with that man?" Roll asked.

"He's cold, strict, and completely uncaring," Protoman told her. "He wants Chaud to someday take over BlazeQuest and basically forced him into being the Vice President."

After hours of waiting… a doctor came up to the kids. He stood in front of Lan saying, "Chaud lives."

"That's great news," Lan smiled.

"But thanks to Mr. Blaze senior, we can't give Chaud new bones. He'll be wheelchair bound for the rest of his life," the doctor said sadly.

Lan groaned sadly, wondering why a father would do this to his own son.

...

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