Chapter 2 – Omens
A few minutes later, as the group stepped out of an elevator, Lan spotted a very familiar trio. The sight made him stop in his tracks with a surprised look on his face.
"Lan? What's wrong?" Mayl asked.
Lan simply raised his hand and pointed. The others then noticed a tired looking old man dressed in gray, his hair almost completely gone except for a few gray strands on the sides. He was sitting on a bench and clutching a cane ornamented with a sculpture in the shape of the skull. Next to him were two much younger men. The first had short black hair and a small goatee, and was wearing a white lab coat. The second had slightly longer hair, also black, and was wearing jeans and a leather jacket.
"Well well… Look who's here." Lan thought out loud, quirking his head.
"Ah yes… The three blind mice." Chaud said behind him. "Wily, Regal and Baryl. They've been standing around all day."
Lan remembered the final confrontation against the Cybeasts, and how Wily had seemed to be willing to throw everything away for the sake of revenge once again. Seeing him in this state, he could only pity the old man who had lost his way.
Regal, on the other hand, seemed to have changed completely since Wily had erased ten years of his memory. Lan had kept an eye on the two on a regular basis, and he'd even gone as far as visiting the old man in hospital. He had to admit that it felt odd to see father and son together after so much time, but that gave him a slight hope that Wily had truly reformed and could still salvage what was left of his family.
He also noticed that Baryl still looked shaken and lost in thoughts, probably still recovering from the loss of Colonel, which had been much more than a simple Navi to him.
"What's on your mind, Lan?" Mayl asked, noticing that he was spacing out, likely reminiscing.
"Well… look at those three. Just look at them…" Lan replied. "Regal looks fine and happy with his new role, now that he's free from ten years of dark memories. But Wily and Baryl just look… I don't know… worn out… broken. After all this, I just can't stay mad at them. I saw how they were at the end of that whole mess."
"You're feeling guilty, aren't you?" she asked.
"I can't help feel that I helped break them, though they had to be stopped."
"They seem to be better off than they were back then, though." Mayl said with a warm smile. "And all because of you."
"A lot has changed… I think Wily might be on the right track this time. But he looks so old and tired… Was he always like this?"
"I'm glad that some things changed… But I'm also glad that others returned to the way they were." he confessed. "It was awful when you moved away."
Lan couldn't help noticing the look on her face as she said those words.
"I get the feeling I won't be moving again anytime soon." he said, squeezing her hand reassuringly.
With a sigh, he finally stepped forward, with Mayl and the others following him closely. Pushing his misgivings aside, he didn't stop until he was right in front of the trio. To his surprise, Wily raised his eyes, and his face lit up in a genuine smile at the sight of him despite the clear fatigue bearing down on him.
"Lan Hikari..." the old man said. "It is... good to see you in such good shape."
"Uh... How's it going?" Lan asked, unsure of what to say.
"Not a dull moment around here. Regal and I have so many ideas to improve things in the labs... I have to admit I'm a bit under the weather though, so I have to take it easy for a while."
The old man coughed slightly, which caused Regal to step closer.
"Father, are you all right?" he asked.
"I'll live, I'll live." Wily replied, firm but clearly appreciating his son's display of concern. "You worry too much about me."
"You've probably had a lot of catching up to do, huh?" Lan said.
"Yes..." Wily replied with a look of regret on his face. "I can't believe I missed out on so much..."
Lan noticed that Baryl was still in his corner, watching him silently.
"What's with him?" Lan asked.
"He's still feeling a bit down because of what happened to Colonel." Wily said. "Come on Baryl, say hi. Don't be rude to the boy."
Baryl waved and muttered a greeting.
"How's it going Baryl?" Lan asked.
"For me, lousy, but I'm glad things turned out all right in the end." he replied. "I just need some time to pick myself up. It was like losing a brother."
"I know how you feel. It's horrible. I went through the same thing when I thought MegaMan was gone. But talk to your friends. Let them help."
"I'm working on a little something that should help cheer him up." Wily whispered to Lan, giving him a conspiratorial grin. "Let's keep it a surprise though."
Lan was a bit surprised, but just nodded, wondering what Wily was up to.
Suddenly, two people walked past them. The first was an energetic young woman with brown hair and eyes, wearing a red training suit, a white headband and white running shoes with black stripes. Next to her was a taller, muscled older man with brown hair and eyes, wearing a white gi with the sleeves torn at the shoulders, a black belt, a red headband, and some running shoes like the woman's. He seemed out of place and slightly uncomfortable in the building, basically letting the woman lead the way holding his wrist.
"Are you sure we're in the right place?" he nervously asked, looking a little lost.
"We should be..." she replied. "Let's see…"
"All this just because of a silly little gadget I hardly have the time to use..." he said with a sigh.
"It's never too late to learn, Ryu." she said with a smile. "And you're going to hurt your Navi's feelings if you talk like that."
"Fine... But I still think we could just have asked Ken for help instead of coming all the way here because of a little glitch."
"Oh no you don't! You two would just have run off sparring again, and then I'd have to look all over the city for you." she said, playfully hitting his arm.
Lan watched them for a while in amusement.
"Now there's somethin' you don't see every day." Dex said, looking excited.
"Huh?" Lan asked.
"You don't know who those two are, do ya?" Dex replied. "Martial arts champs, both of them. The guy used to travel all over the world just looking for stronger opponents. Someday I'm gonna be just like him!"
Lan turned to Wily and gave him a long look.
"I'm glad I didn't end up doing something irreparable." the old man said with a weary sigh. "After all the stupid things I did, you and your family have been very kind to us."
"We all do crazy things sometimes." Lan replied. "I'm glad we're not enemies anymore. My grandfather would have been glad to see you reformed. But there's something I need to know. Do you remember that time Match started a fire at SciLab?"
"I hear your father almost died back then..." Wily said, looking haunted by the memory. "I'm sorry... Even madness has its limits. My vendetta was against the state of things and network society. I never wanted to physically hurt anyone, only to show there was another way."
"Well, there's something only my family knows..." Lan said, looking downcast. "You see, Match didn't do it all by himself."
"What do you mean?" Wily asked, quirking an eyebrow.
"I helped him." Lan said, his face curling up in disgust.
Baryl raised an eyebrow and Regal gave him a quizzical look as they watched the conversation.
"At the time, I thought he'd truly reformed. He tricked me into uploading some program into a few machines, claiming it was something important... I don't remember exactly what he made up, but I fell for it like an idiot and my father was almost killed because of my stupidity. So I need to know... Wily, did you...? Did you order him to do that?"
Wily paused, staring somewhere in the distance. Finally, after a moment, he sighed and looked at Lan's face.
"I remember it vaguely." the old main said. "The list of my crimes is long, and anyone other than you and your father would have made sure I was thrown in a cell for the rest of my life. But no, I didn't. I just told Match to set up a suitable distraction. That blasted simpleminded pyromaniac was always a loose cannon, even by WWW standards, just like that other pest who tried to blow up a bus a few years before. Again, I'm terribly sorry. I did a lot of stupid things, and even temporary insanity is a weak excuse. If you hadn't foiled all those plots, the blood of many people would be on my hands."
"What's the most disturbing thing?" Yai mused, directing her gaze at Wily. "That a man could do such things in the grip of insanity, or that seemingly sane people would gladly carry out such acts? You surrounded yourself with disturbed individuals."
Wily looked at her and sighed again.
"You're a smart girl. Quite eloquent for your age too... The truth is, Society always has outcasts." the old man said. "People who feel they have no place in it, and resent everyone else for it. Sometimes it takes something like the nearing of the end of the world to make people realize that we're all human."
"Match has been unpredictable." Lan said, never fully able to understand what was going through the man's head at any given time. "He's both helped and opposed me, but regardless of what he does next, I'll never forget how he tricked me, or what almost happened because of that." He punctuated that statement by clenching his fists.
"Lan..." Mayl said, placing a hand on his shoulder. "I've said this before and I'll say it again. It wasn't your fault. You're a good person. You're my... our good friend. We've known you long enough to know that heart of yours. We know you just wanted to give him another chance. You wanted to believe he'd changed."
"I'll be fine, don't worry." he reassured her. "But I'll never forgive him. Wily might have been insane, but Match is just..."
"We'll punch his lights out when we find the rat!" Dex said, patting Lan on the back. "Now what do ya say we go enjoy the exhibit? Today you relax. Tomorrow's another day!"
"You're right Dex." Lan replied, sounding like he was feeling a little better. "And I do want to find out how the old internet turned into a giant amoeba that devoured everything in its path."
"Must have been the porn sites, if you ask me." Dex said with a chuckle.
Just as they were about to leave, Lan turned to Baryl.
"Baryl." he said.
Baryl glanced at him, still looking tired and depressed.
"I didn't know you'd been through such a traumatic experience." Baryl managed to say. "But you always did have that look about you. Not quite a kid anymore."
"I know how you feel too Baryl." Lan replied. "By now, you probably know about Hub. But Colonel and Iris... Their spirits will live on. Their memory will live on with us. You should be proud of them. They went down like heroes and I'll never forget them."
"I never thought that day would come… when something like that would happen." Baryl muttered. "I don't think I'll ever be able to look at another Navi."
"We'll see what happens." Lan said. "For now, stay strong. They wouldn't have wanted to see you like this."
Neither Lan nor Baryl noticed the glance Wily and Regal exchanged as they talked about Colonel and Iris.
"Well, you're young." Wily said to break the somber mood, managing to smile. "You've probably got better things to do than hang out with geezers like us. Go on, have fun."
Lan smiled and nodded, and the group moved on towards the exhibit. Just as they vanished from sight, Dr. Yuichiro Hikari walked in, accompanied by a young man none of them had seen before. He was wearing all white, with a long synthetic fiber coat and large rectangular glasses, and had deep blue eyes and short, slightly unruly light brown hair.
"Well well... New blood!" Regal said with a smile, suddenly sounding eerily similar to Wily. "Who's your friend, Dr. Hikari?"
"This is Professor Cadmus from Neo Atlantis." Dr. Hikari replied.
"Neo Atlantis... That Professor Cadmus?" Regal asked. "The one who wrote that article on AI and cybernetic sentience? A.I. Rights and the Future of Society?"
"The same." the young man replied with a smile. "It's an honor to finally meet such distinguished scientists."
"What brings you to Electopia?" Wily asked.
"Dr. Hikari mentioned some of his work on a certain blue Navi and I was intrigued. I'm cross-referencing current data with the files on Dr. Cossack's Pulse Transmission system in search of a more permanent link between this reality and the Cyberworld. We can shape it, craft it, but during the Gospel incident, they blurred together. Fascinating, despite the extreme danger of that radiation. I also have an academic interest in Net Battling and am writing a thesis on the formation of Navis' souls."
"Well, the Pulse Transmission system is extremely dangerous as it is, but there might be a way to safeguard the user." Wily said. "Perhaps through the creation of an avatar shell for protection."
"Indeed, that's what I had in mind." Cadmus replied. "But I'd really like to have a word with Dr. Cossack if he can be found, since he designed the original system. I feel society owes him a debt that must be repaid. If he were to join this project, it could provide him a lot of opportunities to rebuild his reputation."
After a full day, Lan and the others made their way back to ACDC Town and went their separate ways, except for Mayl, who stayed behind with Lan.
"What's the matter Lan?" she asked. "You look sad about something."
"Well, talking about Colonel and Iris... She was the first Navi I mistook for a human being, with the Copy Bot and all. The same copy bot she passed down to Hub. I wish I'd had more time to know her. She would have liked to become one of the bunch."
Mayl would have been bothered if he had been talking this way about any other girl, but given Lan's history with his twin brother, she knew how the line between worlds could blur. She secretly wondered how it would be if one day Navis were able to inhabit organic bodies and walk among humans as true equals. Roll was like a sister to her, her friend and confidant. She suddenly pictured herself on a double date with Lan and their Navis, and the thought made her smile.
"I understand." she finally said. "But like you said, she lives on in your memory."
"I just hope nobody else I care about..." he muttered hesitantly.
"We're not going anywhere, Lan. I'm not going anywhere. We'll always be here."
"But what if there's some disaster I can't avert? What if I can't protect you?"
"Listen to me, Lan Hikari." she said, gripping his face and staring right into his eyes. "You're not getting rid of us that easily. We'll never be apart, even if we have to return as Navis like your brother. Now promise me you'll stop thinking those dark thoughts and enjoy life like you're meant to."
The sudden proximity and the conviction in her voice made him blush and he stared at her for the longest time, at a loss for words. Finally he wrapped his arms around her and smiled.
"What would I do without you?" he finally said.
MegaMan and Roll overheard the entire exchange and smiled quietly inside their PETs.
"Will they or won't they?" Roll whispered.
"And where would that leave us?" MegaMan thought.
The twins and the girls were inseparable, and even though Lan could seem quite dense at times, MegaMan had the feeling he was playing dumb to avoid admitting what everyone else had already realized. As he hovered across the PET's cyberspace, he wondered how it would feel to have a human body. The copy bot was a decent replacement for the time being, but there were times when he longed to live the life of a normal boy by his brother's side. Still, the Cyberworld was as real to him as the world outside, and though Roll's body and his own were made of data, they still had souls, emotions and dreams.