Author's Notes: I haven't played any of the Mega Man Battle Network games in a LONG time (Though Star Force has kinda renewed my interest, ALMOST finished BN3), so I apologize for any inconsistencies that may occur.

Edited for a particular reason I forgot to rectify

Chapter 2: The NetNavi, Hub

"And why are we going shopping, again?"

X scanned the shopping mall, as he, Mega Man and Roll were walking through the local shopping mall. X was, for once, wearing casual clothing, a nice blue shirt and a pair of jeans. The wind licked at his black hair. Roll giggled, as she lead the pack, "Well, how often do you go out into public just for the heck of it?"

"Good point."

Before they could go on a shopping spree, however, Roll immediately noticed a boy with brown hair, wearing a blue headband with a rather unique symbol on it. He also sported an orange top and black pants with yellow stripes on the sides. Roll joked, "He's pretty cute, isn't he?"

Naturally, neither Mega Man took notice. As the boy walked past, he spoke something that Mega Man overheard. "Are you SURE you can't figure out where we are, MegaMan?"

Mega Man turned around. "Uh... Did that kid just say my name?"

Roll and X turned around as well. X noticed a strange blue device that the kid was holding, with a grip for the right hand. He couldn't quite identify what was on the screen, though. "I think we should follow him. I don't think he was talking to any of us... But I have NEVER seen that device before."

And so, they followed the youth, in a rather sneaky fashion... Right until they reached a street corner, and a mysterious voice pointed out, "Lan, those three have been following you for the last five minutes."

Lan looked behind him, immediately catching the three bots in the stalking act. "Okay, who are you guys, and why are you stalking me?!"

Mega Man sighed. "Look, sorry about that, but... Did you say 'Mega Man' before? That, and we have never seen that device before..."

Lan chuckled, as he showed them the device he carried. "Oh, this? This is my PET, short for 'Personal Terminal', which I'm pretty sure everyone has... I think. Also, I was talking to my NetNavi, MegaMan.EXE!"

The three bots stared in disbelief, as a rather stylish version of Mega Man was displayed on the screen. "Heya! I'm MegaMan.EXE, Lan Hikari's NetNavi!"

The bots looked at each other... Before pushing Lan straight into a nearby alleyway. X asked, "How did you get here?"

Lan replied, "Look, something freakish happened at Sci-Labs, and we ended up here in a flash... We don't know where we are, either!"

Mega Man nodded. "Yep, definitely an alternate universe version."

"What are you talking about?!"

Suddenly, Mega Man and X changed their attires to their armors, much to the shock of both Lan and MegaMan.EXE. Lan blinked. "You're... Both... Mega Man?"

Roll giggled, "Mega Man and Mega Man X. We're robot siblings. I'm Roll, by the way."

"ROLL?! Mayl is going to SO freak out when she hears about this!"

"Huh?"

"Oh, sorry, let me explain. Mayl is a friend of mine, and her NetNavi is Roll.EXE! She looks a lot like you, too!"

"Wow, really?!"

Mega Man noted, "I think we should get back to Dr. Light, before we continue this conversation."

--

"I'm actually surprised you came at the conclusion you did. You must be watching too many Sci-Fi shows..."

Dr. Light sighed, as he looked at Lan, who was sitting near him at the table. Lan remarked, "Funny, you look a lot like my grandfather!"

"Oh, that's interesting. Maybe your version of me was an expert on the internet and communications, not robotics..."

"Actually, he was! Wily, on the other hand..."

The name perked Light's interest. "Oh? So your version of Wily tried to work with robots as well?"

"Yeah... Let's just say he didn't get far. He went for a life of crime, wanting revenge on my family for something he blamed my grandfather for, but I eventually managed to show him the error of his ways."

"AH-HEM!"

MegaMan.EXE wasn't looking too happy about that. Lan laughed sheepishly, "Yeah, MegaMan kinda did half of the work."

Mega Man was sitting next to Lan, and nudged him on the shoulder. "You're lucky. Our Wily is still going at it!"

Dr. Light noted, "Quite remarkable, these 'NetNavis'... I assume your father made MegaMan for you?"

"Yeah... Well, MegaMan.EXE is special. He's my twin brother."

Everyone was taken by surprise by this revelation. Lan explained, "My twin brother was called Hub. He got an extremely rare heart condition that would have killed him... At the time, my dad was working on the 'perfect navi'. He theorised that combining human DNA with modern technology would create one that could fully sync with its creator, though he hadn't succeeded yet. When Hub was about to die, dad used his DNA, converted into data, to create the first perfect Custom Navi. That's when MegaMan.EXE..."

Roll grinned, "You two must share an incredible bond! Still... Why don't you call him 'Hub' around us, now, since there's already two other Mega Men right here?"

Hub laughed, "Sounds good to me!"

Lan raised an eyebrow. "By the way, what exactly is the story with you guys, anyway?"

Dr. Light took a sip of his coffee. "I'll explain. To summarise... Dr. Wily was my former partner, we worked on creating robots to help humanity. Our first creation, Proto Man, or Blues, as we called him, ran away. After some heated arguments, Wily and I managed to create Rock and Roll."

MegaMan.HUB chuckled. "Rock, Roll, Blues... You love naming things after musical terms, huh?"

Lan sighed. "It's not so different from dad calling me "Lan" and you "Hub", right? See the connection?"

"Oh, right... Go on."

Dr. Light continued. "Somewhere along the line, Wily went insane. He believed I was taking the credit for all our hard work. Eventually, he snapped. He stole the eight robot masters that we created, but left Rock and Roll behind. Big mistake. Rock volunteered to be modified into a fighting robot to combat Wily. I was initially against his decision, but he insisted, and I gave in. Rock, now Mega Man, would go on to defeat Wily countless times..."

X then explained his origins and the state of his time. Lan sat back, amazed. "I can't believe it... All this is amazing! Incredible how such a small difference can make between alternate realities..."

Light then noted, "Yes, but now a dimensional transporter is on the agenda as well. Maybe a two-in-one device might help things. Goodness knows who else may appear..."

Suddenly, an alarm blared, and Dr. Light rushed over to a nearby computer. "Oh, dear! Something is causing havoc in the city!"

Mega Man and X both said, at the same time, "We'll stop it!"

Hub groaned, "Good luck. Like we'll be of any help at this rate..."

Dr. Light grabbed Lan's arm, as the two robots teleported out. "Actually, there is something that you might be able to use..."

--

Mega Man and X appeared in the wrecked street, where they saw a figure, obviously their target. This character had green armor all over, with a t-visor on, and a shoulder cannon. X armed his buster. "VILE! How'd he get here?"

Vile turned around, noting the two that had come to stop him. "Hello, X. I knew you were around here somewhere, but I needed to draw you out, and here you are!"

"Stop fooling around, and fight us!"

Vile fired an energy shot which both Mega Men dodged, but Vile had clearly used this as a decoy shot, as he hit X with a series of rapid-fire shots. Mega Man fired a charged shot, but the damage to Vile was limited at best. Vile followed up by hitting X with a stun shot, and blasted Mega Man into the pavement, before shooting X as well. "I've caught on to your tactics, X! This time, a little strategy will best you!"

X hit a wall, damaged, but he dashed over at Vile, firing a charged shot. Vile jumped into the air, firing at X again with a few homing ice shots, but also dropping an explosive, where he predicted X would dodge. He was lucky, X was caught in the explosion, and was damaged a bit more, right as Vile came down and kicked him in the face, as X was hit by the homing shots. "Heh heh... Zero ain't here to save you this time!"

"But I am! M-CANNON!"

Vile was hit in the back by a powerful projectile. He turned around, looking for his attacker. Hub was standing there, having used one of his battle chips. X didn't bother asking why, he simply took advantage of Vile's distraction and blasted him in the back. Vile roared in pain, as he dashed away, and fired off a charged shot at Hub, who activated a barrier chip. The shot slammed into the barrier, nullifying both. Hub wasted no time arming his Hero Sword chip, and dashing at Vile, striking at him. Vile was heavily damaged by that last attack, and he barely rolled to avoid X and Mega Man's next shots. "Darn it, this wasn't what I was expecting. X, I swear it, I'll tear you apart someday!"

As Vile teleported out, X remarked, "And the day that happens, Satan will be skiing to work."

Hub walked up to them, laughing. "That went well. Vile is a tough customer."

Mega Man noted, "Why are you... Well, like that?"

"It's simple. Let's just say he's my guinea pig for a "hard-hologram" device I've been working on."

Dr. Light walked over, with Lan right behind him. "At his center, Hub's hologram is controlled by a special core. What you see now is a mix of energies that make themselves in a physical object. Hub can move around in the physical world like us, but his strength and durability is retained."

Lan noted, "Like a CopyBot in our world, except different!"

Dr. Light nodded. "Yes... Though, I could make a body that's more 'physical', without having to rely on the hologram device. Regardless, let's go home."

--

"You see, Rock? If Lan and Hub could stop their Wily's ambitions for good, I'm sure our world can have a bright future as well!"

X put his hand on his brother's shoulder, as the group had dinner together. Lan was starving, and got right into it. Hub couldn't eat, but he was laughing at his brother's gluttony. The mood was then killed by a mysterious whistle that came out of nowhere. Mega Man smiled. "Blues!"

Indeed, the red robot, Proto Man teleported into the doorway. "Hey. I thought I might drop in, and-"

He looked around, and he could barely believe his eyes, as he saw three Mega Men in the room. He turned around. "Okay, that's it, I'm outta here."

"Wait, you're this world's Proto Man? You're way cooler than Chaud's navi!"

Proto Man stopped in his tracks from hearing Lan's comment, and turned around. "Okay, maybe this'll be interesting, but can someone tell me WHAT IS GOING ON HERE?!"

After Proto Man was updated on the whole thing, he crossed his arms. "Wonderful. We have a super-advanced robot from the future and a kid with an internet version of Rock from another dimension. How can this NOT get any weirder?"

Lan sighed. "Not much different from Protoman.EXE besides the cool intro, I see..."

"That's not our problem. The problem is getting you guys back where you belong?"

"Then why don't you help us?"

Proto Man froze. "Well... I guess you put up a good point. Alright, I'll help, but only until you're back where you belong, and then I'm outta here!"

Lan whispered to Mega Man, "Stubborn, much?"

"That's just how Blues is."

X interrupted, "But it's late. Let's spend our time working on a solution tomorrow."

Light agreed. "Considering we have two humans here now, that's more of a necessity. I just hope we can uncover a solution..."

--

"UNBELIEVEABLE! Two more Mega Men have appeared?!"

Dr. Wily paced around the main room of his new fortress. Bass was off in the corner, looking equally pissed off. "A future guy and a digital freak! What could be worse..."

"In any case, they need to be eliminated! ELIMINATED, I SAY!"

"And I could help you with this dilemma of yours..."

Dr. Wily looked to the shadows, where a voice boomed. "Who's there?"

Bass remarked, "Your defences must be really terrible this time around."

"Oh, shut up, Bass!"

A figure emerged from the shadows, floating in midair. He looked rather regal in his life-support suit. He had no legs. The most imposing of his figure was the cone that surrounded his head, filled with an unknown liquid. The figure's head showed that of a very old man. "I too, hail from a distant future. But I am not your enemy. The enemy of my enemy is my friend, and that is you. My name is Dr. Weil."

Bass groaned, "Another nutjob with the W insignia..."

Wily snapped, "Bass, this is no way to treat a guest! Anyways, Weil... It seems we are both apples from the same tree. What do you have in mind?"

"I can provide you with much technology... And I can help you with your little pet project, 'Zero'."

Both doctors laughed at the prospect happily, as Bass silently left the room. "I don't like this at all..."

To Be Continued

Next Chapter: Out of nowhere, the reploid Zero and his companion, Ciel, appear seemingly out of nowhere. X discovers this is not the same Zero he knows. How will the Maverick Hunter be able to come to terms with his inevitable fate, and his friend's almost cold personality?