~Chapter 8: Awakening
Lan, Maylu, and Chaud all three stood in the office of Lan's father, who was also present. Upon the collapse of Megaman, Roll and Protoman helped the blue navi to the SciLabs network. The navis at Star Hill did nothing to stop them, as they were actually glad to be rid of Megaman.
The cannon blasts had indeed worked, as there was not a single virus on the Net all the way to SciLabs. At least something had worked, if not without a punishment. Dr. Hikari sat in his chair, glued to the screen, he and a group of scientists where running tests on Megaman, who was still unconscious.
The blue navi was strapped to an examination table with special rings, to ensure that a repeat of the Star Hill incident didn't happen again. Roll stood next to Megaman, her hand firmly grasping his own. Protoman was standing a fair ways away, propped against a large machine.
"…How did this happen?" Dr. Hikari asked, the first words anyone had spoken in a long time.
"It happened during the cannon firing, Megaman was fine one second then he was screaming the next. He passed out, and when we tried to wake him up…this happened." Roll said, not looking away from her friend.
"You were with him, correct?"
"Yes, I stood next to him. We were standing in a safe zone…at least that's what Tec told us."
Dr. Hikari turned toward the children, who stood just behind him. "Who is Tec?"
"Tec is the navi that found Roll passed out in the Square. He led Megaman to Star Hill…" Lan said, staring past his father at the screen.
The doctor leaned back in his chair. "…The test results keep showing the same thing, an unusual amount of strange mystery energy. The energy is more powerful than anything I've ever seen before…it seemed to have charged his abilities, making him stronger…but in the process, crazy."
"Can he be fixed?" Roll asked, looking at the doctor. Her face was that of a scared child, and she was shaking slightly.
Protoman stepped away from the machine and walked up behind Roll. He placed a hand on her shoulder, which seemed to calm her somewhat.
"As I said, I've never seen anything like this…" the doctor said with a sigh.
"Wait…if Roll was standing near Mega, than wouldn't she be exposed too?" Maylu asked, looking between her friends and the doctor.
Dr. Hikari smirked. "You're smart Maylu…I thought of that as well, but the tests showed nothing."
"So this strange energy takes hold of Megaman at the same time the spiders are destroyed. He goes nuts and attacks everyone, and quite possibly the navi responsible, Tec, is gone." Chaud said with a sigh.
"Yeah…just another wonderful day with people trying to kill us." Lan said, slowly sitting down on the couch.
Maylu eased into the seat next to him and smiled. "Don't worry Lan, your Dad will fix it…"
Lan turned toward her quickly, anger building up inside him. "How do you know! He said he's never seen anything like this! What if Megaman…what if…"
Dr. Hikari stood from his chair. "That's just it Lan. Right now we are doing nothing but asking questions. What we need to do is find answers, and to do that we need to study Megaman. There are traces of the energy still in his system, if we let him go he may become violent again."
"Dr. Hikari is right," Chaud said, turning toward the sadden young man, "All we can do is wait…and hope."
"In the mean time, I suggest you kids go home and get some rest. It's been a long day."
Lan stood up, with Maylu at his side. "…I don't want to leave Megaman."
Dr. Hikari sighed. "Lan, please…go home."
Maylu grabbed onto Lan's hand. "We're no help here Lan, we'll only get in the way. Let's do as your Dad says and go home, he can take care of the hard part."
Lan walked forward, up to the computer screen. He put his hand on the glass and sighed.
Megaman…what's happening?
Maylu picked up her PET and started to jack Roll out when the pink navi squeaked.
"H-He's waking up!" she yelled, looking franticly between Megaman and the doctor.
The whole group rushed forward to the screen to see their friend. Megaman groaned slightly, slowly opening his eyes. As his eyes slid open the first sight they saw was Roll, smiling down at him.
"Hey…" Megaman said, his voice a whisper.
"Hey…" Roll said, smiling at him.
"Megaman! Are you alright?" Lan asked, leaning across the computer panels.
Megaman turned his head toward the screen above him. "Y-Yeah…I just feel funny…what happened?"
"You don't remember?" Protoman asked, stepping up to the blue navi.
"No…I remember Tec saying that the cannon was about to fire…and then this horrible pain came over me, like I was being cut from the inside out. The last thing I remember was fainting, with Roll running over to me."
Dr. Hikari smiled. "Well at least your conscious, that's good."
Megaman looked down at his feet, noticing for the first time the restraints. "Uh Dad…why am I tied up?"
"For your own good."
"W-What's going on around here?" Megaman asked, looking around to see that Lan, Maylu, and Chaud where all staring at him.
Dr. Hikari turned to a man at his right, who pressed a large red button on the control panel. A screen flashed into life above the navis, who all looked on to see a recording of Megaman during his maddened attack at Star Hill.
Megaman watched as he pulled his hand back to hit Roll. He watched as he was about to hit her, when he suddenly started screaming.
"TURN IT OFF!"
The entire room of people jumped, and the man did as he was told.
"T-There is no way that was me…" Megaman said.
"I'm afraid it was Mega…" Roll said, tears rolling down her face.
Suddenly a siren began to blare, as Megaman jerked away from Roll. His body began to glow with the same dark mist as before, and it took a matter of seconds to wash over him completely. Roll cried out, trying to back away, but Megaman grabbed hold of her arm tightly, so tight that it began to bruise.
The darkness spread over Megaman, and continued off his body and down the table. The violet mist floated into the floor, and spread all over the area. As it did large sections of it began to collect, and form their own shapes.
Protoman grabbed hold of Roll, tearing her out of Megaman's grasp, as the blue navi began to laugh madly. Everyone watched in terror as he tore off the table, breaking the so called indestructible rings holding him down.
The mist that formed around the room collected around Megaman. The shadows that had formed shapes suddenly leapt out, revealing their form.
The spider-like viruses had returned…
