MegaMan watched the battle between HeatMan and Angel from afar, in an area he'd added just for that purpose. He saw Angel's near-defeat at the hands of HeatMan, upgraded with advice that MegaMan had given Match specifically for giving more of a challenge. He saw Chaud and ProtoMan intervene with a skill that he'd seen in their counterparts from his own reality.
And he'd watched as Angel spotted him before jacking out. Just as he'd wanted.
It took mere moments for him to transfer that avatar back to Hub's PET. Since Hub hadn't jacked into anything, no one had noticed his being missing in the first place. A quick cursory glance through everyone present confirmed this theory.
Lan and Chaud re-entered, with Chaud looking uncharacteristically happy. Lan explained that he'd helped, then let Chaud take his share of the glory while he came to Hub.
"That was some nice work," he told Lan.
"Angel wants you," Lan replied.
"Again?" Hub asked, sardonically continued, "I'm touched I warrant all this attention."
"Stop that." Angel's suspicion shone through still. "What were you doing?"
"Just now? Sweating, until you and Chaud handled it."
"What about you?" he asked MegaMan. Quickly he shifted the most of his attention to that avatar. Keeping two active was easier when he only focused on one of the two.
"I was here with him," the MegaMan avatar replied.
"I saw you in the air-con computer before I jacked out."
"That's impossible," Hub said, shifting back again. "I haven't jacked into anything at all."
"Really?"
"You can ask anyone here, they'll confirm it."
"Let's go ask about Lan," Angel told him shortly. Evidently he wasn't off Angel's hook yet.
Then he realized that continued suspicion was probably useful. It would make him notice things that Lan wouldn't. Sometimes he admitted even he missed things until too late.
He decided now was the time to advance the 'construction' of Castle Area, and added the basics. The connection to ACDC was made, and the first area – the outside – was created, half built with a few thoughts. He was starting to get better at this.
Next of course was the call to Ito.
"Prosecutor Ito speaking," he answered.
"Ito. My name is MegaMan. You've been expecting me, I understand."
"I was wondering when. Your operator's requests have been carried out."
"Not entirely. The link to ACDC just became active."
"I'll have the security on site shortly."
"Good work. I'll be sending a mail with some additional instructions before long. You're welcome to back out when you get them, but at least let me know."
"I'll remember. You're a lot more liberal than Wily was," Ito noted.
"I like to give people the choice. Or at least the illusion of them."
"Because of course if I back out, the moment I act against your interests, you'll act against mine."
"Exactly. Keep up the good work, Prosecutor. I'll be in touch."
His next stop was the Undernet, to make preparations for a delivery. A delivery that wouldn't take place until the third and final part of Castle area was finished, but that wasn't important. The preparations were key at this stage, before anyone else found out that the first of his plans had apparently gone awry. No doubt the moment HeatMan and Match's defeat were tied to him, it'd become considerably more difficult to recruit people.
In this case, it was for someone he hadn't seen since he was in 5th grade, about two years ago now.
The Undernet, as usual, wound and twisted, having no apparent logic or sense to it's design. He didn't bother with it, skimming through until he found both the Navi he was looking for, and a quiet place that was perfect for him to transfer his MegaMan avatar to. After that, it was a simple matter to retrace the route on foot to find the Navi.
The Navi looked at him blankly for a few moments, holding up a finger.
"I know you, I'm sure of it," it said. "Give me a moment."
"Want a hint?" MegaMan offered.
"Go on. Nothing too obvious."
"How about a bus hijacking?"
It thought for a moment. "MegaMan? Yes, I'm sure, you're MegaMan. What are you doing here?"
"Looking for you, ColourMan. I'm surprised you recognised me."
"Why wouldn't I? You're the one that stopped me from doing my job, then brought down World 3."
"Technically, that's not true any more. Lan has a different Navi, and reality got altered so he's responsible."
"His name's Angel, isn't it?"
"How did you know?"
"Something tried to alter me a while back. I examined what it was up to, and analysed the data. All it tried to do was make me forget ProtoMan, and change all instances of you to this Angel. I suspect it's the reason for a friend I made not too long ago."
"Oh?"
"Human. Or at least he seems to be. Come on, I'll show you."
ColourMan led him through a few more twisting routes to another larger area. This one had been made to resemble a house slightly. There was a boy cooking something there.
"I found him wandering around not long after the alterations took place. He doesn't remember anything at all, not his name, where he's from, nothing. Poor boy."
"He looks like Chaud..."
"That's what I thought too, but there's differences." He gave a laugh, "Wily wanted us to make sure we'd recognise ProtoMan and Chaud coming from the next city over. I guess it explains why I know he's not Chaud. I could say ProtoMan, but he looks completely human."
"So I see. Would you mind if I had a look?"
"Aren't you already?"
"Oh, I forgot to mention. When those alterations took place, I got gifted a few additional abilities, apparently to help me get reality back to normal. I'm thinking I might be able to tell something about him using them."
ColourMan nodded. "Just give me a moment." He joined the boy. "Let me take care of that for you," he said in an oddly gentle tone. "You can see my friend there for a moment. You can trust him."
He nodded and joined MegaMan, looking at him for a few moments, then eyes widening.
"You hold the World in your hand," he said.
"How did you know?" MegaMan asked, surprised.
"I don't know."
"ColourMan says you don't know who you are either."
He shook his head. "I don't know who I am, or how I got here. He makes sure I'm safe from viruses. They hurt me a lot, and I can't do anything to them."
"That's nice of him. Would you mind if I had a look, and see if I can find anything? It won't hurt."
He nodded again. MegaMan laid a hand on his shoulder and concentrated. This reality had nothing on him – he wasn't even meant to be here. But there was a fragment of a memory from the original reality. It showed Chaud, and Chaud's room.
This was ProtoMan. There could be no doubt about it, this was the original ProtoMan.
He withdrew his hand again.
"Did you find anything?"
"I'm sorry," he said.
"That's okay. As long as I've someone to protect me from the viruses, I'm content."
"Maybe I can do something to help with that, but I need to talk to ColourMan again."
He nodded once more, returning to his cooking while ColourMan returned this time.
"Well?"
"You won't believe this."
"I might."
"That's ProtoMan. In this reality, ProtoMan didn't exist. At least, not until I manipulated things so Lan encountered Chaud, and he took up programming of his own accord. This is the ProtoMan from our reality – the original one."
"So that's why he doesn't remember. He shouldn't exist at all, let alone here."
"Don't tell him ColourMan. I don't know what it'd do to him. In the meantime, I've a favour to ask of you."
"I suppose I do owe you one for being such an annoyance back then."
"It's a little odd, I warn you."
"Go ahead, I'll hear you out."
MegaMan outlined his situation, and his need to have Lan make the realization needed that would let reality revert back to the original one, then the delivery he needed.
"Let me get this straight," he said finally with an amused grin. "You're forming a criminal organization, so you can set reality straight."
"That's right."
"Do you have any idea how ironic it is that this is the sort of thing you'd fight against?"
"Yes, and I'm still not entirely happy about it."
"Guilty conscious?"
"How did you know?"
"I used to be a World 3 Navi, remember. I had the same thing when I first became a part of it."
"What did you do to get over it?"
"I knew, or thought, that we couldn't be stopped. World 3 just kept having success after success... until you showed up, that is. Did you know that you irritated Wily even more than we sometimes did? We honestly thought he was mad."
"You mean he wasn't really?" he grinned.
"Oh, it's hard to tell. He was so deranged at times that it was easy to mistake it for madness."
"He's reformed now, you know."
"I heard. News is slow to reach here, but I get it eventually."
"So you'll help me out?"
"Why not?" he decided. "A chance to be a part of another criminal organization, being run by the same guy who took down three of them. I'm sure you know what you're doing."
"Thanks ColourMan."
"Hey, don't worry about it. Got to keep busy. I'll need someone to watch ProtoMan here though."
"I've got a solution for that. I think I can protect this small part of the area from viruses entirely – the same kind of protection that's normally reserved for homepages. As long as he stays inside, he'll be fine."
"That would be very useful, and not just for this. Do you have any idea how hard it is to grow cyber-vegetables at all, let alone in the middle of the Undernet?"
"I'm guessing not easy."
"No, it isn't... and I'm feeding him as well. Speaking of that, can you stay for dinner? It's only vegetable soup, I'm afraid, but it's not half bad."
"That'd be nice."