Chapter 8
Blues and Searchman realised that Rockman had a way of tracking Hub that they didn't. Rockman walked across the sands, towards what looked like a dust covered brick path.
"Do you think that leads to an UraNet city?" Netto asked Enzan.
"The UraNet doesn't have cities but something more like infinite alleyways. I guess being built of stone might do that."
"There's no city that I can see," Laika commented. Although there were a couple of walls and what looked like destroyed buildings.
"You don't think Sol Titanion destroyed it, do you?" Netto asked.
Rockman answered, "no. These structures have been here a while." He ran his hand along one and then paused. Something pinged. He closed his eyes and could hear muttering in the distance.
Rockman walked towards a bump in the sand. Walking around revealed a small cave-like structure. And Hub, curled up inside it. His hand was pressed to his arm, data floating around it. One leg of his pants was in ashes and the leg underneath was pink with burns.
Hub's green eyes were wide with surprise and pain.
Before Rockman could do anything, Blues and Searchman were there.
"Why does he look like a beaten up Dr Hikari?" Enzan questioned.
Lan couldn't help laughing at that. "A 'beaten up Dr Hikari'? Yeah, he's something like that."
"Not a 'Dr Hikari'. Despite sitting through almost all the required courses, I don't have a doctorate," Hub grumbled. He tried to move but slid to the ground with a grunt of pain.
"How bad's the damage?" Lan asked.
"Left arm and leg are useless. My vision's blurred with sunspots. It's only because I can sense Rockman that I didn't attack."
"Uh-huh," Lan said in an unimpressed tone. "And how many hits did you take?"
"...one." Hub could probably sense the annoyed look Lan was giving him. "Okay, jumping onto the net like that was stupid. But, at least Sol Titanion's here now and not out there attacking the kids."
"Not a bad plan," Dr Hikari mused. Hub was correct. Sol Titanion wouldn't be able to attack the kids until she got out of the UraNet.
Lan typed away on the computer, trying to establish a connection to Hub. It only took a couple of moments and a program sent through Rockman's PET for the blue navi to give to Hub before the odd PET Lan had gave a happy beep and loaded up an image of the UraNet.
"Alright, let's get you fixed," he said.
"There's not much you can do from a distance," Hub sighed heavily.
Lan typed away as if to say 'just watch me'. After a couple of minutes, he saved his work with a couple of key-presses and then pulled out a chip. "This should help with some of the pain and superficial stuff."
Hub winced as data flowed through him, mending his arm and clothes. Since he didn't stand up, the other navis suspected that he was still burned.
"Is anyone else wondering what's going on here?" Laika asked. "Searchman."
Searchman pulled out his gun and pointed it at Hub. "How are you able to get on the net?"
Hub barely reacted to having a gun in his face while Rockman asked Searchman what he was doing.
"It's fine," Hub said to Rockman. "I'm guessing they have questions."
"He just asked you a question," Blues pointed out.
"True. I'm able to be on the net because I'm a netnavi," Hub responded. A data sphere appeared before him, code spiralling around it. Hub looked over at Lan on the screen. "Is that recovery data?"
"Programmed it myself," Lan responded. "Using some of the files I asked you to grab earlier. It should fix the rest of the damage."
His brother had indeed taken his words as a challenge and found a way to fix him from a distance. Hub took the data, eyes glowing for a moment as he patched it in. He then pulled himself to his feet.
"Lan's connected, I'm back in form so you're all free to go."
"Hub," Lan sighed. He didn't think anyone was going anywhere.
"No way," Rockman said. "I may not like seeing you but that doesn't mean I want you deleted."
Blues and Searchman shared a look. Rockman didn't like this guy?
"Why don't you like him?" Searchman asked.
Rockman looked away. "Don't ask."
"Don't worry about it," Hub added.
"Is it because he looks like Dr Hikari?" Blues questioned.
Lan thought about it for a moment. "I don't want Hub getting deleted because he's being stubborn." He turned to Netto. "Mind handing me your PET for a moment."
"What you going to do?" Netto asked as he passed it to the stranger.
Enzan barely got the first sound of Netto's name past his lips when Lan reached up and took off his hat. Enzan's lecture on not handing your PET to people you don't know stopped before it could even start.
"Never was a fan of hiding who you are," Lan said, his brown hair falling messily over his forehead.
"He also looks like Dr Hikari," Laika commented, pointing out the obvious. The hairstyle was different, making Lan look like a Dr Hikari who hadn't brushed his hair but the glasses and face still resembled the scientist they knew.
"Lan!" Hub called out.
Lan ignored his navi, tapping away at Netto's PET. A moment later, Rockman gave an undignified squeak as his helmet dissolved into data.
Blues and Searchman looked back and forth between Rockman and Hub. There was a resemblance there.
"Hi, I'm Netto Hikari from the future. You can call me Lan because otherwise it's going to get confusing."
"What did he do?" Rockman questioned in a slightly pitched up voice, running his hands through his hair.
"It's reversible," Hub said. He glared at his brother.
"It'll only last another couple of moments," Lan informed them. "Everyone, this is RockmanEXE, my navi."
"Didn't you say you were twins?" Enzan bellowed, face doing red and hands curling into fists. He was holding his PET in a tight grip.
"I am confused as well," Laika commented.
"This explains why you feel like Rockman," Blues commented.
"Don't worry about it," Hub said. A moment later, his body flashed with light and blue armour coated his body and head. Now he looked like a taller and broader Rockman. "We'll deal with Sol Titanion and then we'll be on our way."
"Told you Hub could handle it," Lan said with a grin. The others in the room wondered how they had missed the similarities between him and Netto.
"No way," Blues responded. He stared at Hub and then turned to Rockman. "You get weak in the future."
"Weak?" Hub spluttered, offended.
"Come on guys, don't fight," Lan tried to quell the coming argument. He knew that his twin was proud of his strength, mostly gained to protect and help his family. Although, some of his strength was gained from an enjoyment of fighting and finding good challenges.
Laika stared at Lan even more now that he knew Lan was a grown up Netto. It was nerve-wracking. The worst part was that Lan couldn't even point it out because he knew that Hub would tell him to deal with it as a consequence of revealing their identities.
"I'm going to say this once; no questions about the future unless it relates to Sol Titanion," he said. "Because I probably shouldn't answer such things."
"So we won't get to know how Netto ends up a researcher?" Enzan said.
"Considering he's here, it might not even happen," Netto pointed out. The last thing he needed was people pigeonholing him into a career he wasn't even sure he was interested in.
"It's an interesting point. Is the future fixed or fluid? Is it just multiple similar dimensions at different places along the timeline?"
"Can we not?" Hub interrupted Dr Hikari. "I already sat through the speech once."
Lan blushed and looked down. "It wasn't that bad."
"Twenty-five minutes before I could get a word in, Lan," Hub grumbled.
Lan huffed and crossed his arms. "I know plenty of people who would have loved those twenty-five minutes."
Hub muttered something under his breath about how those people weren't actually considering time travel in reality, only the theory of it.
"Can we focus on the target?" Laika said.
Dr Hikari and Lan sighed while everyone else nodded and agreed. Lan tapped away on his PET and then typed on the computer.
"Running a scan for the source of this heat in 3... 2... 1..."
Hub closed his eyes and the navis shivered as it felt like a quick breeze ghosting through them. The source of the heat pinged and Hub opened his eyes while the direction to go in lit up on Lan's screen.
"Onward!" Lan announced.
