Disclaimer: I don't own Mega Man. All characters and concepts that aren't my own belong to their respective owners.

"Patch! Patch get up!" yelled the voice of my NetNavi from the PET stand.

"Five more minutes..." I moaned as I tried to savor the last few minutes I had to spend sleeping.

"It's Monday! You can't sleep in on the first day of school!"

"That's exactly why I want to sleep in..."

"If I had a Copy Bot right now I'd throw you out of bed!"

"But you don't..."

"Fine! I'll just call your Mom!"

"You wouldn't dare!"

He ignored me, "Aunt Mayl, Patch is keeping his lazy butt in bed. Could you help me out here?"

I'm screwed.

"PATCH S. HIKARI! YOU BETTER GET OUT OF BED AND GET READY FOR SCHOOL RIGHT NOW OR YOU WON'T BE GETTING BREAKFAST!" Mom yelled from downstairs.

"Alright! I'm getting up! You guys are slave drivers!" I grumbled as I slowly got out of bed and put on my favorite blue windbreaker over a white t-shirt with the family crest on it. I also decided to wear a pair of black pants with yellow stripes running down the sides before going to the bathroom to brush my teeth and comb my hair.

My name is Patch Hikari. I'm eleven years old and a student at ACDC Elementary. My dad is Dr. Lan Hikari, a famous world-class Net Scientist who is always busy so it's just my Mom and I most of the time.

"Aren't you forgetting someone?"

Oh right. This is my NetNavi, MegaMan Jr. EXE. I call him Junior for short. He looks like someone my age, with light blue and black lightweight bodysuit-type armor with matching gloves and boots a lot like his Dad's. His helmet is a lot like his Dad's too, but with two yellow pieces on the front that have four ribbon-like antennae attached to each like the pair his Mom, , has on her helmet. He also has yellow shoulder pads and black, spiky hair with yellow streaks. Like all customized Navis in the house he has our family crest on his chest and both sides of his helmet.

He's also my cousin, Bit Hikari.

It's complicated, but my Dad's Navi, is my Uncle Hub who died at an early age, but my Grandpa Yuichiro saved him by turning him into a NetNavi based on an old project Great Grandpa Tadashi started a long time ago. Since Bit/Junior is Uncle Hub's son, that makes me his cousin. Because of that we look kind of alike. It's supposed to be a big secret that only my family and my parents' friends know about, so don't tell anyone, okay?

Anyway, after I finished I grabbed my PET and went downstairs my Mom was putting the plates on the table.

"Took you long enough, Sleepyhead. Did you wash your face?"

"Ack!" I ran back up the stairs before cleaning my face and running back down.

"You have to remember personal hygiene, Patch. I won't be there to remind you when you get older."

I rubbed my eyes and yawned, "I'm not a morning person, Mom."

"Neither is your father, but he still has to head to work early."

"I know... I wish he'd come home more often though."

Mom giggled a little, "Your father said the same thing about your grandpa. Like father like son as they always say. It's amazing how alike you two are." Another thing I wish everyone would do is to stop comparing me to Dad.

She handed me a plate of piping hot scrambled eggs, pork sausages, and a slice of toast along with a glass of milk.

"Now hurry up and eat, young man! I won't have my son late to the first day of school again."

She didn't need to tell me twice. For me Mom's cooking is like Dad and coffee, we need it to function in the morning. I ate as quickly as I could before putting down my fork and looking over at Bit. He was finishing his plate of cyber toast and cyber hash browns prepared by his mom.

Come to think of it, why do they have cyber everything?

I didn't have time to think about it when Mom began shooing me out the door while rattling off a checklist of the things I needed.

"Do you have all of your textbooks?"

"I downloaded all of them last night."

"What about your handout folder?"

"It's in my bag Mom."

"Did you do your homework?"

"Yeah, and I had Bit double check it."

"Do you have your homework?"

"Uh..." I flipped through the files of my PET, hoping that I didn't leave it on my desktop. "Here it is!"

She smiled, "Then you're set. Put your shoes on."

I reached down to grab my shoes when I noticed a box with a white index card taped to it next to them. I picked it up and quickly read what was written on it.

Dear Patch,

I'm sorry about the fact that I haven't been home lately. Things have been really crazy over here at SciLabs since we started trying to find a way to keep the Internet and thus the Cyber World running smoothly now that it has gotten so big. I promise to come home as soon as I can. Until then, I expect you to do your best in school.

See you soon,

Dad

P.S. Your mom told me about how you've been having problems getting to school on time. So I decided to give you a little extra something to add to your shoes that I used to have when I was your age. Take out what's inside, attach them to your shoes and have fun!

P.S.S. Try not to drive your mother crazy.

"Attach them to my shoes?" I asked as I wondered what could be inside.

I shook it a bit, listening to the thudding it made as it bounced around the walls of the box. It was definitely too small to be a skateboard, but it was definitely big enough for a pair of...

"Roller blades!"

My mom was beaming, "Consider it an early birthday present. Your dad used to have inline skates just like those when we were younger. He'd just throw them on his shoes and zip away. Now you don't have an excuse to be late to school. So get going, you've got ten minutes!"

"Are you serious?"

"That's why I was telling you to get up earlier, Patch!" complained my NetNavi.

"You should have told me that first! See you later Mom!"

I quickly put them on before skating out the door at full speed, making a beeline for school. These roller blades might actually make going to school fun!

Junior appeared on my shoulder as a hologram, a standard feature of all PETs since the Link PET_EX, "I know your skates are fun and all, but shouldn't you be a bit more careful when you're skating at this speed?"

"I don't exactly have time to be careful right now!"

"I'm just saying, you should- Look out, there's a truck coming!"

"What!" Sure enough, the honking of a horn made it painfully clear that I was going to get hit unless I hit the brakes!

There was just one problem with that. I was going way too fast to stop in time!

"Patch, the light pole!"

"R-Right!" Just as I was about to slide onto the road I grabbed the pole, going around in circles until finally I came to a stop.

I breathed a sigh of relief, "Phew... That was too close. Thanks Junior."

"Don't mention it. We're family aren't we? Though... what would you do without me?" he teased.

As much as I'd hate to admit it, I'd have screwed up a lot of times without Junior as my Navi, "I get it. I get it. Lay off, will you?"

"I will once you get us to school. You have three minutes."

"Darn it!" I took off again.

This time I made sure that I wouldn't run into any cars as I raced to get to school on time.

"Hurry! There's only thirty seconds until the late bell!"

"Come on! Come on!"

"Ten seconds left!" Why the heck does time always seemed to speed up when I need to get to class?

"Three..."

"Two..."

"One..."

I slid open the door to the classroom and stepped inside just as the bell went off.

"I'm here... and I'm... not late!" I yelled between breaths to make sure the teacher heard me.

The teacher looked up from her papers. She didn't really look like a teacher since she was wearing a black trench coat on top of a red shirt and tight fitting black pants and dark sunglasses that you couldn't see through. If anything she looked like a secret agent.

"Just barely, kid. What's your name?"

"Patch, Patch Hikari."

She lowered her shades, "Hikari? You wouldn't happen to be Lan Hikari's son, would you?"

"Uh, yeah. Everyone around here knows that though."

She smirked, lowering her shades a little, "This takes me back. The family resemblance is uncanny, though it's nice to see that your hair isn't a total mess.

"Um.. thanks?"

She put her sunglasses back on, "Get to your seat, Hikari. Class is about to begin."

I was almost late so I didn't really have any chance to ask anything else. So I sat down in one of the only two empty desks as she began writing her name on the board, turning back to us as she finished.

"My name is Ms. Yuri. I'll be your homeroom teacher this year. I've dealt with thieves, mobsters, and Cyber Criminals since your parents were your age. This is my first year teaching at this school, so don't give me any trouble or you'll pay the price."

"Scary isn't she?" whispered Junior from my PET.

"That's for sure..." She was working since Dad was my age? How old is she?

Unfortunately, Ms. Yuri heard me, "You're as cheeky as your father was too. If I hear you whispering in my class again you're getting detention. That goes for your NetNavi too. Are we clear?"

"Crystal..." Well, this day has gotten off to a great start, hasn't it?

"Good." A Navi in a Copy Bot walked in, delivering a little to Ms. Yuri before walking out. She stopped for a moment to read it before announcing, "It seems that we have an exchange student coming in today."

"An exchange student? Is it a boy or a girl?" we all asked.

She glanced at the paper again, "According to this it's a girl."

The usual questions and ramblings floated around the room as the news hit us.

"Do you think she's rich?"

"Who do you think she'll like?"

"I hope she's good looking!"

Ms. Yuri slammed her hand on the teacher's desk, "Quiet!" Of course, we all went silent. This lady is beyond scary!

She gestured towards the door, "Come in and introduce yourself."

The girl who walked in had long white hair tied up in a ponytail with black streaks at the ends. Her side-swept bangs covered most of her forehead and sort of framed her eyes. She wore a bright red sleeveless jacket over a black t-shirt and jeans. Her expression remained disinterested as she glanced around the classroom.

"My name is Angelica Chaud. Just call me Chaud." she said in an annoyingly snobby monotone.

A girl in the back raised her hand, "But isn't Chaud a boy's name?"

"It's my last name. Just do it." The girl in the back put her hand down.

Ms. Yuri decided to pipe in, "That's enough for introductions. You'll be sitting next to Hikari, the boy with the blue coat and brown hair."

"I hope you all did your summer homework because I'll be checking it right now." she continued as Chaud began walking to her seat.

I began flipping through my files before realizing that I couldn't find them, "Junior, help me out here!"

"I'm on it." He began pulling through the files left and right, "Geez, these files are a mess! Didn't I ask you to organize them last night?"

"Sorry, I thought you'd do it."

"I need time to sleep too!"

Ms. Yuri approached and loomed over us, "Did you do your homework, Hikari?"

"Uh, yeah! Just a sec!" Hurry up, Junior!

Her brow furrowed, "Do you have it or not?"

"I did it! I just can't find it!"

"Got it!" called my NetNavi as he put it on display.

"I did do it! See!" I told her, hoping that she wouldn't mark me down for it.

She straightened her shades, "I'll let it slide today. Be more organized the next time around."

I breathed a sigh of relief for the second time this morning, "Thanks again, Junior."

He crossed his arms angrily, "You've really got to start taking school seriously, Patch! I can't bail you out of everything!" Now he's starting to sound like Mom!

Still, it was my fault... "Sorry... I'll make it up to you somehow."

"You better! My ears are still ringing from that stunt we had to pull today."

"Alright, alright... you're some tax collector."

"Hey, when you have debts you've gotta pay them back right?"

I sighed as I looked over at the new girl. She seemed a little cold, but she can't be that bad of a person right?

She noticed that I was looking at her and said, "What are you looking at?"

"Uh, I just wanted to say hi. I'm Patch and-"

"Save it. I don't need a greeting from the likes of you." What the heck is her problem?

"I was just saying-"

She turned her head away all snootily, "Just. Be. Quiet."

I take that back, she's a horrible person.

"Geez, Angelica!" I heard a girl's voice say, "You can't be like this all the time! What will your Mom think if she knew you were acting like your Dad!"

"It's none of their business, Rhythm! I do and say what I want to, nothing more!"

Her Navi appeared on her shoulder, a girl in lightweight armor like Junior's, with her signature color being a deep red that made her stick out from the average female Navi model. Her left eye was covered by her swept purple bangs. Her helmet had a large violet visor that probably is probably supposed to slide over her eyes along with headset pieces shaped like eighth notes on both sides of it.

She had shoulder pads and bracers that left her hands free unlike Junior's gloves. The extra armor on the front ran down to her legs but also split at the bottom to look like a dress. Her boots were also looked like high heels, but her movement didn't appear to be hindered by them like a person would be in real life. Whoever programmed her knew what they were doing to have her so heavily customized like this.

"I apologize for my Operator's cold exterior. I'm Rhythm. It's nice to meet you Patch. Where's your Navi?"

Junior appeared on my shoulder to greet her, but what happened next was... interesting to say the least.

"Hi, I'm uh... um..."

"Are you telling me that you don't know your own name?"

"W-What? No, of course I do! It's uh... Mega Man Junior., but most people call me Mega or Junior for short. Um.. you could also call me Bit if you want..."

Wait, did he just blurt his human name out loud?!

"Bit? That doesn't sound anything like your name at all."

Junior realized what he said in a hurry, "W-Well, it's just a nickname I got at home, is all. You know, because I'm made of bits and data and-"

"In that case, I like it. It's nice to meet you Bit." Phew... she didn't notice.

"I-It's nice to meet you too Rhythm." At least our Navis are friendly... but what's up with Bit? He's acting kind of weird.

"I'm really sorry about Angelica, it's just that she-"

Chaud slammed her fist on the table, "Quiet, Rhythm!"

This made Ms. Yuri turn around, "Is there a problem, Chaud?"

"No... none at all." she growled through gritted teeth.

When Ms. Yuri turned her back to us again Chaud was glaring daggers at me. "Don't ever talk to me again."

Rhythm sighed before mouthing, "We'll talk again later." She returned to her PET right afterward, with Junior doing the same to avoid Chaud's and Ms. Yuri's wrath.

After that, the rest of the day seemed to fly by comparison, mostly because all of us except maybe Chaud were too scared to even think about doing anything stupid. Why did I have to get the scariest homeroom teacher?

When the bell finally rang I was more than ready to leave. Putting the skates back on my shoes I slid out the doors of the classroom and then the school itself. I know Mom wants me to do well in school, but sometimes it's just a drag.

I can't say I'm doing well in school (except for my straight As in Virus Busting and Networking, it's the family business after all), but at least I'm passing all of my classes.

All I wanted to do was go home and hop on the Net so I could put all of this behind me.

Unfortunately, my plans were cut short when someone tugged on the back of my hood as I left through the front door. This time I actually remembered to use the brakes, so I managed to barely avoid crashing into whoever had the bright idea of tugging on a person wearing skates. Naturally, I turned to see who wanted me to stop so badly.

It was Miss Fussy Britches in all of her glory, still giving me the same glare she did in class.

"What do you want?" I asked as the white-haired girl's blue eyes stared directly into my own.

"Net Battle me." she growled, making the everyday phrase sound like a death threat.

"Whoa, hold it. What would I get out of Net Battling you here and now?"

"If I win, you can't come within thirty feet of me for as long as I say so."

"That's fine. It's not like I want to go near-" Did she say thirty feet?

"Hold on, I have to go to school too you know!"

She flicked a stray hair out of her face. "That's alright, I'll have you transferred to another school."

Wait, what?

"You can't just do that!"

She huffed, "As a matter of fact, I can."

"But I live here! You can't just send me away when I have friends and family here!"

"Are we doing this or not? Just be grateful that I'm even giving you a chance to overturn this."

This little... "Fine, but if I win you have to do whatever I say for a year!"

Our Navis tried to butt in right around now:

"Hey Angelica, don't you think we should-"

"Maybe we ought to ought to think this through a bit more-"

But we both cut them off:

"Not now, Bit!/Rhythm!"

They both sighed as we pulled out our PETs, activating the holographic coliseum function. It took seconds for the scanners to build an arena large enough for our Navis to battle in.

I looked down at my cousin and asked, "Are you ready to show her who's boss Bit?"

He only looked back at me and shrugged, "Do I have a choice?" I'll pretend that was a yes.

"Alright then, here we go! Jack in! MegaMan Jr., Execute!"

My first shot at a Battle Network Next Gen story! I know I haven't updated my other Mega Man story in a while, but I hope that this will serve as a sort of consolation for the time being.

The two things that irked me in regards to many of the Battle Network Next Gen stories I've seen so far are:

1. They always make Jr. into some variation of X even though that makes absolutely no sense in regards to the context of the series.

2. They never finished.

I avoided the first one by basing my description for Junior/Bit on pictures I've found on Deviant Art, which can be most simply described as a light blue Roll Soul with blond streaks in his slightly longer hair. With enough luck and inspiration I'll be able to avoid the second pitfall as well.

It doesn't take a genius to figure out who Chaud's dad was and where she got her personality from. In regards to her (pardon my language) Alpha Bitchiness, it is a case of "Like Father like daughter" as Chaud himself was just as callous, smug, and bossy in the first game in his interactions with Lan.

He mellowed out after a while due to gaining respect for Lan, but a degree of condescension remained present throughout both the games and the anime (to a lesser extent). She does have somewhat of an excuse for it, but that will be seen in the next chapter I guess.

As for Patch's description I was inspired by another picture on Deviant Art by a guy whose username is Crazed-Artist. Apparently it was for some fan game back in 2011, but I've been unable to find any trace of the game since. Anyway, it was by far my favorite depiction of Patch so I decided to incorporate it into this story.

Then there's the topic of Ms. Yuri. I really liked the anime's portrayal of her as a cool-headed secret agent with Needle Man for a Navi. In addition, they gave her an accelerated healing factor that could save her from lethal injuries. In fiction, this usually translates to retarded aging, which I'm using as an excuse to include her since I like the lady that much.

Rhythm isn't really all that original, for she came out of an omake page in the Battle Network manga as a girlfriend for Proto Man. I decided to give her purple hair in reference to Layer of the X series. Of course, that's also a dead giveaway to what her fighting style will be like.

The virtual coliseum idea was ripped straight out of Custom Robo, as I always wondered why you were always able to NetBattle in the middle of nowhere. In the Custom Robo series an arena would always manifest whenever you begin to fight, thus isolating the battle and allowing you to fight anywhere (i.e. smack dab in Africa), so I just added this idea to explain away the concept of fighting a NetBattle anywhere.

The biggest problem I have with writing this story is that it is a Next Gen fic with no source material to back it with... meaning that the entire storyline will be completely original. Since it's the first time I've ever attempted such a thing, I'm a bit worried in regards to how I will approach this.

This issue can be ameliorated with your reviews and input so please tell me what you think!