A woman stepped out of the gates of the Electopian airport. She wore beige, high-heeled fur boots, black leggings, a red fur coat with a dark belt that wrapped her waist, and a black, cylindrical hat. Her goldenrod hair brushed against her cheeks in the face of the wind, and her large, orb-shaped sapphire earrings glistened in the sunlight. In one arm, she was holding a white lab coat. In her hand, she was holding several old sheets that had a jargon of musical notes and symbols written on them. Her sharp, emerald eyes were focused onto the musical notes that were in her hand. She muttered out what she was reading with a hint of a soft, Russian accent.
"Marcatto, sotto voce... Bass clef, Forte... Decrescendo ...E, E, C, A... D, E, E, C... Marcatto, A, C, D, C, Marcatto... C, A, B... Pianissimo... Subito, sforzando piano... Perdendo, smorzando, morendo... Dal niente... Crescendo, pianoforte... In relievo... A colon... Wait, it must be the repeat sign... Project Trichotomy... Mikhail Cossak... Well, I've figured out bits and pieces of this. Project Trichotomy..."
The woman walked toward the Metroline station and ordered a ticket for a ride to SciLabs. She carefully put the musical sheets into her laptop bag as she headed toward the train.
"Project Trichotomy must have been a top-secret project for Father to leave a cryptic message for me to go all the way to SciLabs in Electopia... I wonder..." The woman thought as she boarded the Metroline train, sat in her seat, and looked at the window. She stared at some Navis outside who, with the help of the Copybot technology, were traveling with their Net Ops' as companions. Other Navis worked at the ticket booths or were helping passengers carry their luggage.
The woman's thoughts were interrupted when the train conductor announced that the Metroline would be leaving in a few minutes.
"I should probably get my passport and lab ID out in advance as I head to SciLab..." The woman said to herself as she dug through her bag and took both of her items out. On her black passport, the words "The Union of Sharo Republics" were embroidered in gold. On the lab ID, her name was labeled "Kalinka Cossak".
Meanwhile, Protoman and Searchman's group were chasing after NeoForte in the cyberworld. The group leaped from building to building NeoForte giggled as he looked back at the group and taunted them.
"So, you've managed to find me already in this game of hide and seek? Then let's have some more fun through this game of tag! Catch me if you can! Wahahahahahahahaha!" NeoForte shrieked like a maniac.
"Not on my watch!" Searchman growled as he signaled the 3 Greek Colonel units to dash ahead and surround NeoForte. The bugged Navi retaliated by tossed a couple of orbs of bugs at the Colonel units. The 3 units successfully dodged the bugs.
"Good, good! Let's see if you can play dodge ball with these!" NeoForte threw a flurry of bugged orbs at the team. Searchman shot at the orbs with his sniper, and they exploded into several sludge-like pieces at the impact. The bugged sludge then rained down toward the group.
"Don't let the bugs touch you!" Searchman warned as he jumped backwards to avoid the raining bugs.
"Protoman, I'm sending in a Variable Sword!" A hologram screen blinked next to Protoman and Chaud was depicted in the screen.
"Recieved!" Protoman confirmed. His left arm morphed into a hammerhead-pointed blade.
Protoman swung his blade at NeoForte and unleashed a wave of Sonic Boom in an attempt to redirect the flying bug particles and bombs that were coming towards him and his companions. While some of the particles were pushed away by the Sonic Boom attacks, clumps of bugs continued to rain down mercilessly upon Protoman, Searchman and the 3 Colonel units.
"Argh! The more we try to stop NeoForte's bombs, the more bug particles rain down on us!" Protoman noted as he dashed in a zigzag pattern to avoid getting infected by the sprinkling bugs. He was too focused on trying to dodge the incoming bugs.
"Protoman! Watch out in fro-!" Chaud warned Protoman a tad too late. The next thing Protoman saw before him was NeoForte's face that was plastered with a wide-eyed, insane expression. In that quick moment, Protoman saw NeoForte's bug-infested face that seemed to eat away NeoForte's left cheek, exposing his teeth. NeoForte's left eye was also slightly bulging out and blood-shot as the bugs had completely infected his eye. Protoman winced in disgust.
"Hello..." NeoForte hissed eerily. "Are you enjoying my game...?"
"Shoot!" Protoman uttered as he quickly backed away from NeoForte. The crimson Navi held his sword defensively against the manic copy of the Black Shadow. Protoman was about to go in for the kill before he stopped dead in his tracks as he heard Searchman's agonizing yell behind him. He whipped his head around to see Searchman being attacked by the 3 Colonel units, who were infected by bugs.
"No! How could the Colonel units have been infected?" Protoman cried out frustration. He then noticed that most of the bugs were concentrated on each of the Colonel unit's capes.
iOf course! The bugs must've got caught on their capes and then spread onto the Colonel units' bodies!/i Protoman thought.
"Yes! And now you and your green friend will be next!" NeoForte shouted as he made a mad dash at the red Navi with a bugged Dark Arm Blade in his hand...
"You feeling OK, Baritone?" Lan asked as he examined Baritone. The young white Navi was back to being a human – and wearing nothing but a lab coat over himself.
"We'll need to get you some actual clothes for you to wear." Lan commented as he scratched his head. He then heard the double doors slide open as Mr. Famous entered the room.
Even after 20 years, Mr. Famous was persistent in wearing cool, hipster wardrobes and spiked accessories, albeit to a lesser extent. However, his face was beginning to show crow's feet on his eyes and wrinkles on his forehead that were carved by time.
"Mr. Famous!" Lan greeted warmly.
"It's just Famous, for crying out loud! You still hold onto the formalities even after when you got married and had Patch!" Mr. Famous replied in a slightly mocking tone. Famous still knew Lan was just teasing around, so he smirked as he scolded Lan.
"I still find it fun to poke you about that." Lan laughed. "So, what's new?"
"There's a person who wants to meet Yuichiro. She's coming in about a minute or so." Mr. Famous answered. "But, I do wonder why a pretty young lady would want to meet with grumpy, old Yuichiro. Hahaha!"
"Famous, don't jump into farfetched conclusions." Yuichiro dismissed Famous' remark. Yuichiro then heard the double entrance doors slide open, and the blonde woman with emerald eyes walked into the room calmly. She gasped lightly when she glanced at Baritone. Her eyes examined Baritone's face thoroughly before she quickly refocused her attention at the scientists.
Patch noticed Kalinka's gesture and nudged Baritone in the arm.
"Hey, that lady was staring at you like she knew you or something... Do you know her...?" Patch whispered.
"I don't know her... But, her last name was Cossak, right...? Cossak was the last name of my parents' father..." Baritone whispered back.
"What? You mean your parents are basically siblings...?"
"Well, my mother told me that she and my father are not related by blood. Besides, my father is a pure NetNavi while my mother used to be human and was adopted. But, well..." Baritone's voice trailed off as he watched the blonde woman talked with the other 3 scientists.
"Hello. My name is Doctor Kalinka Cossak." Kalinka introduced herself as she pulled out her passport and lab ID.
"Cossak? You mean your the daughter of Dr. Mikhail Cossak? And your a scientist, too?" Yuichiro asked in surprise.
"Yes, I am." Kalinka replied. "Is Dr. Yuichiro Hikari available?"
"That would be me." Yuichiro answered.
Kalinka smiled then took a step toward Yuichiro to shake his hand as she talked about how her father knew Yuichiro many years ago.
"Yes, my father knew Dr. Cossack many years back since the Alpha Project." Yuichiro explained.
"I see... I'm here to try to figure out what my father was trying to tell me through these musical sheets." Kalinka said as she pulled out the music sheets.
"Musical sheets?" Famous inquired.
"Yes, I used to play the piano and perform ballet when I was a young girl." Kalinka explained as she walked to the nearest table and laid out the music sheets. She told the 3 scientists of Project Trichotomy and how she found out that the notes corresponded to the names of locations.
"E, E, C, A... is Electopia, the country. D, E, E, C... is DenTech City, the main city borough. A, C, D, C... stands for ACDC Town. And finally, C, A, B stands for SciLabs, which is near ACDC Town," Kalinka explained. "Although, I don't know what Project Trichotomy is, I would assume I would be able to discover more in SciLabs. Do you know which office my father used to work in, Dr. Hikari?"
"I'm impressed with your deciphering skills, Dr. Cossak. Well, from what I've heard, the office that Mikhail used to work in has been renovated repeatedly since his leave. All of the old computers in Mikhail's office were disposed of and replaced with newer ones." Yuichiro answered.
"Perhaps my father might have stored the information archives somewhere in SciLab's computers?"
"Unfortunately, SciLab's archives are off-limits to non-personnel. Nobody other than SciLab scientists can access it." Yuichiro explained.
"Then, would it be alright if you may search for my father's archives for me? Or, can I access them under your supervision?" Kalinka asked.
"We can try to search the files for you, but I don't know if anything will come up, considering that the computers are programmed to erase old and unused files every 10 years. Once they're deleted, the files are almost impossible to recover."
"Oh, you won't have to worry about that, Dr. Hikari. I may be a scientist, but I also specialize in data recovery and retrieval." Kalinka spoke confidently.
"Well... If that's the case, I can take you to the lab that stores the old archives later in the evening. Currently, we have a dilemma to solve..." Yuichiro said.
"And, what would that be...?" Kalinka inquired.
Kalinka's question was answered by Chaud's incoming call. A window popped open in the giant computer screen and showed Chaud's tense expression.
"Lan, I'm sending Protoman and Searchman into SciLabs." Chaud announced.
"Why? What's wrong?" Lan asked.
Chaud sighed as he closed his eyes and squeezed the bridge of his nose before he answered Lan's question.
"They've been infected? What about the 3 remaining Colonel Units?"
"Went berserk and attacked Protoman and Searchman before NeoForte finally finished them off." Chaud answered briefly.
"Oh, no..." Lan groaned.
"Raika and I had no choice but to jack out Searchman and Protoman... and to call off the search. Both Navis are barely functioning right now."
"I'll switch the computer into safe mode so that it can start up the recovery program for both of them as soon as they arrive." Lan said as he typed away the desired protocols.
"Alright." Chaud said as he pressed a few buttons to signal Protoman and Searchman's arrival.
"Oh, no..." Lan gaped in shock when he saw Protoman and Searchman. Their bodies were torn with bug data. Both Navis twitched and moaned as the recovery program began to operate on them.
"My goodness..." Kalinka grimaced and shook her head.
"With some rest and time, Protoman and Searchman's data should be restored completely." Lan deducted.
"A word of warning, Lan. If Megaman or any Navi encounters NeoForte, make sure they don't touch him or get hit by his bugs. From what I've seen, NeoForte's bugs have become very potent." Chaud cautioned gravely.
"Got it." Lan replied.
"I'll be coming later tonight and tell you more about the incident later. I've got a company meeting in about an hour or so."
"I still wonder how you can handle being the Net Official leader and president of Blaze Tech." Lan remarked.
"Save the idle chat later. I'm leaving." Chaud said abruptly as he turned off his phone.
"...Looks like Chaud's in a sour mood." Lan shrugged.
"...So, what's all this search for some Navi named NeoForte?" Kalinka asked.
"Oh, I thought you would've known. NeoForte's come back – again after all these years for whatever reason." Lan answered with a slight tinge of sarcasm.
"But, who is NeoForte exactly...?"
"He's basically a clone of Bass." Lan answered. He noticed Kalinka cringing and frowning at his answer.
"What's wrong?" He asked.
"...I apologize. Hearing that name just..." Kalinka answered as she shook her head. "Anyway, it's really nothing to be concerned about."
"Oh..."
"I'm be interested in touring SciLabs, if you don't mind. The labs here are quite different from the ones back in Sharo." Kalinka remarked. "And, I hear that the Colonel Attack and Iris Healing Unit systems are headquartered here in SciLabs. Would you mind if you could show me the systems? It's a rare treat to be able to see the 2 greatest systems that monitor and protect the entire global network."
"I doubt that the systems should be considered the greatest if most of the copies are getting infected and deleted as of now..." Mr. Famous muttered in Lan's ear. Lan, however, ignored Mr. Famous' comment and answered Kalinka's request with a yes.
"My dad helped Dr. Wily in developing the 2 systems as well." Lan boasted as he pointed at Yuichiro.
"No, really. The credit should go to Dr. Wily for creating the systems," the flattered Yuichiro said.
"This is getting boring..." Patch commented as he and Baritone were overhearing the conversation between the adults.
In the midst of the conversations, the double doors then slid open again as a young, 12-year-old girl entered the lab. She bore much resemblance to Chaud, only she had dark chocolate eyes and her long hair was braided into a ponytail. Her shoes made light tapping sounds as she walked in.
"Hi, Cherry!" Patch chirped excitedly as he went towards the girl.
"I-It's not 'Cherry", Patch! It's 'Charity'!" Charity corrected, albeit in an embarrassed tone.
"Yeah, but your mom calls you 'Cherry' and I like the nickname better." Patch teased. Charity could only huff in response, for she wasn't sure of how to deal with Patch's occasional teasing.
"So, what are you doing here?" Patch asked.
"I've finished my homework, so that means I can hang out." Charity said proudly. Patch grimaced. Apparently, he had yet to start on his homework.
"...Yeah... I haven't exactly finished... But, oh well. Hehehe..."
"Patch, you're so bad with time management. And you come from a family line of scientists, for crying out loud." Charity scolded. Patch pretended to not hear Charity's statement.
"Well, anyway... You wanna go hang out at the arcade, Charity? I just got my Navi today!"
"Sure." Charity agreed until she saw Baritone a few feet away, which sparked her curiosity. "Who's that guy in the white lab coat?"
"Oh, him? That's Baritone. He's actually a Navi... Well, part Navi. Pretty cool, huh?" Patch answered.
"No way! You're kidding! Navis can't look like humans! And how can they be 'part' Navis?" Charity exclaimed.
"No, really! He is!"
Charity rushed over towards Baritone. Baritone was startled at Charity's action and stood still as Charity stared at him in awe.
"Wooow... You have sapphire-blue eyes and silvery hair, Baritone. You look every bit human to me. Are you really a Navi?"
"Um... Yes... Well, I guess so..." Baritone stammered.
"Did I mention that Baritone's naked under that lab coat?" Patch randomly asked. Charity's face turned red in response.
"W-Well... A g-guy shouldn't be w-walking naked in public! ...Oh! The mall! L-Let's go to the mall, and b-buy him some clothes!" Charity said as she grabbed Patch and Baritone's wrists and dragged them along with her out of the lab. The 2 boys had no choice but to comply to Charity's demands. The adults were so busy in their own conversation that only Lan bothered to call out to the 3 kids who were rushing out the doors.
"Hey there, Charity! Nice to see you around! And Patch, I better see your homework completely finished by tonight!"