New Megaman Battle Network

A complete reimagining of the universe and stories of Megaman Battle Network.

Story 3: The Rise And Fall Of Forte

Chapter 9: The Other Hikari

"Megaman, in part, is a Navi that I've been working on for an extremely long time," Yuichiro began, as Lan and Megaman listened in; Megaman knew this story back to front, but Lan listened closely, never having heard it before, or having really thought much about Megaman's origins.

"When I was in grad school, I was doing a lot of work with Navis, as I've probably told you. Everyone was, really. Navi research was exploding right at that time. A man named Mikhail Cossack was at the head of it, and I was lucky enough to be studying under him. So was Lucius."

"Did something happen to make it explode like that?" Lan asked.

Yuichiro nodded. "Forte happened, actually."

"What?!" Lan goggled. "You knew about... what? Forte was why research was so big?"

"They didn't teach you that in school?" Yuichiro raised an eyebrow. "Forte was absolutely instrumental in making modern Navis, back many years ago when he still called himself Bass. He was far stronger and smarter than any Navi we could make, so we did our best to study his construction. That's what I was doing under Dr. Cossack, I was analyzing Bass."

"Anyway." He pushed his glasses up and continued. "I spent a long time trying to figure his composition, around a year and a half when all was said and done. I kept trying to find a pattern to it. Then one day, an old college friend of mine took a look at it, and he said it reminded him of a strand of human DNA.

"Now of course human DNA is way too complex to replicate, let alone mass-produce, so I didn't think much about it. Once we were done researching Bass, however, I spent some time looking into it; I wondered what would happen if I made a Navi whose systems operated based on human DNA."

"So... is that Megaman? Is he part human or something?" Lan interrupted.

"Lan, for Pete's sake, let me finish," Yuichiro answered. "There's a reason I'm dragging this out. Kids today, so impatient..." Lan nodded and let his father continue.

"Anyway, with Lucius's help, I developed a way to construct Navis based on human DNA. Then I borrowed a number of DNA sources and tried it out; I would nick some from friends, professors, even tried some from your mother at one point. None of them worked out the way I thought they would, though. They worked fine, but no better than your typical Navi, you know? I felt like I was on the wrong track.

"Then, one day, I decided to try it out using DNA from my sister, your aunt Fusae. For some reason, the Navi I created then was immensely strong; not as strong as Bass, but far greater than any stock model Navi, to be certain. I didn't have any idea why that happened, so I showed it to Dr. Regal so I could get his opinion. When he tried the Navi out, though, all its strength was just... gone. It was just like any other Navi I made."

"Weird..." Lan wondered aloud. "Did it lose all its strength overnight or something?"

Yuichiro shook his head. "No, that wasn't it. When I tried to operate the Navi again, it worked spectacularly. Accidentally destroyed a part of something he was working on. Set him back like three days." He smirked at the memory.

"You mean, you made a Navi that was only stronger when you operated it?" Lan blinked; this was a concept he had never heard of before.

"Yes, that's exactly what was going on, actually." His father stood up and headed to a nearby chalkboard, grabbing a piece of chalk. "As it turns out, if an operator and a Navi have a close DNA match, there's going to be an amazing power increase from the Navi." He quickly sketched a picture of an exponential curve to illustrate the point.

"So I figured, if I made a Navi based on my own DNA, it should be ridiculously strong, right? So I tried it out... boy, was that a mistake."

"How come?" Lan inquired; he wasn't quite sure how this was relevant, but was curious anyway.

"Well, I was right, it was incredibly powerful. It was easily the most powerful Navi I'd ever seen; it completely left Bass in the dust. When I operated it, too, I entered a very strange state of synchronization with the Navi. It was as if I barely had to think and it could execute what I wanted it to. Being in that state very quickly drained my body of its energy, though, and I ended up passing out about ten minutes in. Had to go to the emergency room and everything."

"Eesh... doesn't sound that great anymore," Lan commented.

His father chuckled. "Yea, that's what I said. The experience put me off, and I stopped looking into it for quite some time. I wouldn't pick it up again until about a year later, when your mother came to me with a rather big surprise."

In a distant, rather lonely part of the Net, a lone Navi stood, waiting. His oversized, bat-like ears stood atop his purple frame, taking in his surroundings. Suddenly they tensed and shifted, sensing a change in the environment; someone was coming. The Navi didn't move as another approached from behind.

"I understand you had some information to offer us," Protoman spoke.

The other Navi snorted. "I thought we were going to arrange a deal. I don't just give things out for free, you know."

"That depends on what you want." Chaud's Navi stepped forward. "And who you are, for that matter."

"I am known as Shademan," the bat Navi replied. "Currently the unwilling servant of Forte..."

Protoman raised his eyebrow. "Unwilling?"

"I exist to serve a darkness far greater than you can comprehend." Shademan folded his arms. "An evil that pervades the land and corrupts those with weak hearts... one that has taken root on this Earth, and is spreading slowly as we speak."

"Hmph." The Official Navi brandished a sword cautiously. "What is this grand evil, exactly?"

"I think you will encounter it before too long." Shademan's arms unfolded. "In any case, Forte has come across this evil himself. He's learned how to extract pieces of it, and use it for his purposes."

"Dark Chips, I imagine."

The purple Navi nodded slowly. "Not just any Dark Chips, either. Pure Dark Chips, ones that do not destroy the Navi with prolonged use. These chips are evil in its purest form, and they've fallen into the hands of a very dangerous Navi."

"How did he get his hands on this evil, anyhow?" Protoman demanded. "It doesn't seem to me like something so powerful would be easily defeated."

Shademan snickered. "On the contrary, Mr. Official Navi. Immensely powerful, yet completely defenseless. It is not sentient, this darkness. That is why it needs me to protect it... and I failed in my task. Forte managed to exceed even my strength, fueled by the darkness though I am. And now I am forced to work as his servant..." He shuddered at the horrible thought, as Protoman watched curiously.

"And now you want to help us defeat him, so you can be free again?"

The purple Navi held up his fist, still facing away from Chaud's Navi. "This item here, I think you will find it quite useful. A small sample of what I have to offer..."

Still somewhat skeptical, Protoman stepped forward to receive the item. As his hand reached out for the clenched fist, Shademan quickly whirled around, his arm transforming into a Dark Cannon, which he fired directly into his enemy's face. The dark energy blast engulfed Protoman's body completely with its massive power; as the darkness faded, however, Protoman remained unscathed, protected by a large, red-and-white shield.

"That was pathetic." The shield disappeared, and Protoman pointed his Long Sword at Shademan's throat. "Did you really think we wouldn't be prepared for such a trap? You don't think much of Officials, clearly."

Shademan smirked, long claws extending from his hands. "I thought I could get a quick upper hand, but it seems this battle won't be quite so easy." He swiped away at Protoman, who dodged quickly. "Nonetheless, you will meet your demise here!"

"We'll just see who falls today!" Protoman retorted, as their impromptu battle began.

"As it turns out," Lan's father continued, "she found out that she was pregnant. Came as quite a bit of a surprise to us..."

"Huh?" Lan uttered, a bit confused. "How can a baby be a surprise? Don't you know when you're going to have one? How does that even work?"

"Well... that's... look, I'll tell you when you're older." Yuichiro rubbed his forehead with her thumb and forefinger. "That's not important right now. Anyway, we went to the doctor and she was right, she was pregnant. And twelve years ago, on your birthday, she gave birth to two identical twins."

"What...?" Lan stared, surprised; he had never in his life heard this information. "Twins? But... I'm not a twin, am I?"

Yuichiro sighed. "No, Lan, you are... you are the younger of two identical twins. Your older brother, Hub, was born about an hour before you were."

"What..." Lan sat back, dumbstruck by this information. "I have a brother...? But... why didn't I ever hear about this?"

"Your mother and I have always been rather hesitant to tell you..." Yuichiro began to explain. "You see, you came out just fine, strong and healthy and crying up a storm. Hub... he wasn't doing so well. His lungs hadn't formed correctly, and he needed to be put on life support, right away."

Lan looked up, eyes wide with intrigue, as his father continued. "Weeks went by, and little Hub showed some signs of improvement, but not many. The doctor told us that there was a 60% chance that he would live, and that we should prepare ourselves for the worst."

Yuichiro sighed. "Your mother and I were both completely distraught. Even with the odds in our favor, we couldn't bear the thought of losing either of you. The worst part was feeling completely helpless, like there wasn't anything I could do for my son... and then, about a month after you two were born, I remembered my experiments with Navis and human DNA."

"Huh, I get it... you wanted to sort of make a Navi out of..." Lan's voice trailed off, and his mind came to the astounding truth, all the pieces of the story falling into place. "No... you didn't... you're not serious..." He looked down at his PET, his mind blown.

Yuichiro nodded. "I did... I used your brother's DNA, his mind, his personality, and I assembled all of it into a Navi. Megaman is, in effect, your twin brother, Hub."

"But... how can..." Lan didn't even know what to ask first; he could barely process this new information he had received. All these months, he thought that Megaman was just another custom Navi; all these years, he had always thought he was an only child. His world had been turned upside down, in one instant of epiphany.

The room sat in silence for a moment, before Lan picked up his PET and looked in. "Mega... did you know all this?"

Megaman nodded in response. "I've always known, yea. Mom and Dad told me what happened a long time ago. They asked me not to tell you, though..."

"We thought if you knew the truth, you'd be reluctant to use him," Yuichiro added. "Lord knows your mother had no problems with that. But she eventually agreed that we couldn't keep him cooped up in the SciLab computers any longer. It's like not letting your child go outside to play."

"You're not kidding," Megaman contributed. "After eleven years in SciLab, I was going completely batty. I had to go out and do stuff! Bust some viruses, whatever!"

Yuichiro laughed. "You two are twins, alright. So yea, after improving his strength and defenses, just in case, we finally brought him home and put him into your PET. We just tried to make sure you were careful with him from that point on."

"Which I wasn't..." Lan sighed. "Constantly having him battle, going up against criminal organizations... sorry about that, Mega. Now I feel like a complete selfish jerk... geez..."

Megaman smiled. "Don't worry about it, Lan. I'm a NetNavi, that's the only thing I've ever known. Virus busting is just something I do." He stretched his arm. "Besides, I actually enjoy it. And I'm good at it, too."

Lan smiled a bit. "You're not wrong there..." He looked up at his father again. "So, Hub... the human one... he died? His health got worse?"

His father nodded soberly in response. "Yes and no." He sat down again. "When I created Megaman, I had to bring Hub here, to SciLab, and his life-support equipment as well. You were actually there, too, with your mother, though no doubt you don't remember it. You were only a month old, after all.

"I hooked Hub up to the right machinery and began inputting everything about him into the Navi that would become Megaman. That worked perfectly, as you can tell, but once it was done... for some reason, Hub's life support machines all malfunctioned, pretty much at the same time. We called an ambulance, and they got there as fast as they could, but it was too late... there was no saving Hub by then."

He sighed, slumping in his chair. "The only explanation for it is that the two processes conflicted dangerously... I hadn't even thought of something like that happening. I was careless... and this is what happened because of it..." He wiped his eyes reflexively.

"It's not your fault, Dad..." Megaman offered.

"Thanks..." Yuichiro responded. "I'm fine, I'm fine..."

"No, really," Megaman said, a little more sternly, which surprised Lan. "It's not your fault..."

The room sat in awkward silence for a second, not sure where exactly to go from here. After a few seconds, a rather distinct, feminine sneeze issued forth from the hallway, causing Lan and Yuichiro to look toward the door in surprise. A second later, a rather red-faced Mayl emerged from behind the door.

"Er... hi..." she said, looking down.

"Hey..." Lan blinked, rather surprised.

"I'm sorry, I didn't mean to eavesdrop..." she continued, walking into the room. "I just heard you two talking, so I wanted to see what it was about, and then... I couldn't really stop listening... sorry..."

"So you heard pretty much everything, then?" Lan's father prompted; Mayl nodded meekly, and Yuichiro sighed. "Well, have a seat, I guess... no reason to shoo you away now, after you've heard as much as you have. Just remember, you can't tell anyone else what you're about to hear. This doesn't leave this room."

Mayl nodded again, taking a seat next to Lan, as Lan looked up. "So, all this... how does this relate to... whatever you and Megaman were talking about?"

"Yes, right." Yuichiro sat up straight. "So after that, I spent some years watching over Megaman with your mother; she would stop by every single day and talk with him. She wanted to homeschool him, sort of, but I convinced her that it wouldn't be necessary. After a couple years, once we had gotten him situated, my mind went back to his construction."

Yuichiro gestured toward the curve he had drawn on the chalkboard. "Remember, you two are identical twins. It's hard to find two people with DNA naturally closer than that. When I realized this, I realized what sort of power we could be dealing with if you were going to be operating him."

"So is that why Megaman's so strong?" Mayl wondered aloud. Yuichiro chuckled in response.

"If you think he's strong now... you two don't have any idea," he replied. "And I didn't either. I wasn't sure what kind of strength Megaman would exhibit, so one day, when you were about four years old, I decided to find out..."

Yuichiro Hikari stood at a mainframe, making some last-minute preparations for the experiment ahead. Beside him, a couple of aides, graduate students as usual, continued their business of making sure everything was ready to go. He grinned as he entered the final few figures into the machine; he was looking forward to this experiment, excited to see the results.

He turned to a nearby computer screen, where a medium-sized blue Navi could be seen. "Are you ready, Megaman?"

"Uh huh!" Megaman nodded. "I can't wait!"

Yuichiro grinned and turned back to the control panel, ensuring everything was set up properly. After a couple weeks of preparation, he would finally be able to see Megaman's true power. With the help of his colleagues, he had managed to set up a system of Navi operation that would simulate the DNA of a different operator; in this case, it was that of his other son, Lan.

"Alright, I'm turning the system on." Dr. Hikari gave the signal to his assistants, and the team began to send power to the system. The room began to hum to life; inside the computer system, Megaman took a deep breath, feeling the effects of the connection.

"I can feel it, Dad!" he exclaimed. "It feels... weird. Like I'm light as a feather." He looked down and jumped into the air, but only rose up moderately high before peaking. He fell back to the ground, a bit disappointed.

"We've got it set up so you receive the strength bit by bit," his father noted. "In a couple minutes, you'll be at full power. I'm going to dispatch some Navis now, alright?"

Megaman nodded, and Dr. Hikari pressed another button. A short distance in front of Megaman, several orange Official Navis appeared; they quickly got into defensive stances, as Megaman formed his Mega Buster on his right arm. He pointed it toward the nearest Navi, aiming carefully, and fired; the blast struck the Navi square in the chest, exploding in a massive energy blast that knocked the others back.

"Dear God..." Yuichiro commented. "He's not even at full power yet." He spoke into a nearby microphone. "Keep going, Megaman! Give it all you've got!"

Megaman grinned and nodded, dashing forward with amazing speed. He ran up to the closest Navi and thrust his fist into the Navi's chest; his fist ran itself right through the Navi and came out the other side.

"Whoa!" Megaman quickly withdrew his hand, and the Navi dissolved into deletion. "That was... sorry..."

Yuichiro laughed. "You're doing great! Keep it up!" He pressed another button and more Navis appeared, encircling Megaman, who grinned and drew his buster again, a little drunk with power.

"I feel really strong!" Megaman exclaimed, firing off blast after blast; he continued on destroying Navis, not noticing the energy buildup crackling dangerously at the end of his buster. Yuichiro watched, highly pleased, as he kept an eye on Megaman's stats.

"His strength is extraordinary," he commented to himself. "I didn't even think his frame was equipped to handle this..." He continued to watch Megaman plow through opponent after opponent. "How are you holding up, Megaman?"

"I'm doing fine..." Megaman replied, his breathing slightly labored. The crackling energy was beginning to progress up his arm, and the other Navis were beginning to take notice, though their aggressor had not. As he continued blasting, he continued to feel more and more fatigued, until he eventually collapsed to his knees.

"Unh... what's happening..." He held his body, in pain, as the rest of his body started to crackle as well, overloading with power.

"Megaman!" Dr. Hikari took another look at the Navi's stats to find one of his fears confirmed; Megaman's frame was proving insufficient to contain the incredible strength surging through him. He turned his eyes back to the screen, where Megaman was now starting to cry out in excessive pain, as his entire body was racked with excess energy. His body was slowly lifted off the ground, the energy repelling him from the Net.

"Shut it down!" Yuichiro turned to his assistants. "We have to get this turned off!" He started typing furiously into his console, one eye watching Megaman's screen; a second later, he did a double take and looked again. Megaman's energy was spreading to the ground below, which began to splinter and fall away; his raw strength was tearing the Cyberworld apart.

"Dammit!" Yuichiro slammed his fist against the console and stood up, running over to Megaman's PET, where the operator simulation had been set up. He grabbed the apparatus forcefully and ripped out the connecting wires, bringing the experiment to a very abrupt end.

His assistants stopped what they were doing, as all their computers brought up error screens at once. Yuichiro sighed and walked back over to his main console, where Megaman had returned to normal. He was kneeling down, his body completely worn, and tears streamed down his cheeks.

"Dad... it was horrible..." he muttered. "Please, I don't want to do that ever again..."

His father sighed, never having dreamed it would go this bad. "No, you won't ever do that again, I promise." He walked over to the PET to start disassembling the experiment, his mind reeling with what had just happened. A Navi with this kind of power could actually exist... the possibilities were unimaginable. For now, though, the research would have to wait. He was never going to put his son through that again.

Lan was wide-eyed as his father finished the story. "Holy... that's Megaman's true power?"

Yuichiro nodded. "Megaman, truthfully, is the strongest Navi in existence. If he were at his true power, Forte would be nothing next to him, even as he is now. But you know how the story goes... I carefully removed that part of him, so that he wouldn't overload with power when you used him, and I hid it away in the SciLab servers. HubBatch… the file that contains the key bits of DNA that link you and him."

"Just in case, huh..." Lan looked down at Megaman, now more easily to see the physical resemblances between them, as his father nodded again, rather sleepy.

"I thought there may come a day where we could use it. But as I saw, Megaman's frame just can't handle that kind of power, so I had to do what I did."

"You mean it couldn't," Megaman interjected. "But that was eight years ago. Navi technology's come a long way since then... you could upgrade my frame, couldn't you?"

"It's still incredibly dangerous," Dr. Hikari replied, sighing. "But you may be right... we don't have many options right now. I guess I could give it a try, see if I can properly upgrade your frame. If I can't, then we're going to forget the whole thing and figure out another plan. Alright?"

Megaman and Lan both nodded, and Lan turned his PET over to his father, but Dr. Hikari handed it back, laughing. "What, you think I'm going to start working now? Do you have any idea how long it's been since I slept?"

Lan yawned, exceptionally tired himself, as Mayl smiled. "It's been nearly a day and a half, hasn't it?"

"Probably." Yuichiro stood up. "I'm too tired to think on it at this point. Let's all get home, both your mothers are going to be worried. Haruka's going to flay me alive for keeping you here as long as I have." The two youngsters stood up as well, and the three of them began walking to the bus stop, ready for something resembling normality after this long nightmare.

Back in the Net, Protoman was standing victoriously over his opponent, who was kneeling before him, holding his injured arm.

"Grr... looks like my time is up. Forte won't be too pleased..." Shademan bowed his head. "Go on, finish it. Relieve me of my humiliating servitude..."

"I had other ideas." The purple Navi looked up, eyebrow raised, as Protoman continued. "SciLab is currently conducting research on Forte's special Dark Chips. Instead of deleting you, I intend to take you there to aid them in their research."

"You jest!" Shademan retorted. "So you intend for me to change my servitude from Forte to the humans? I'd rather be deleted!"

"That can be arranged. Watch your mouth." Protoman put his sword to his opponent's neck. "Either way, you lose. My way, at least, you get to help us defeat Forte, so he stops infringing upon your territory or whatever it is he's doing."

"Grr..." Shademan weighed his options, as Protoman pressed his blade into the bat Navi's neck a little harder, bit by bit.

"Time's running out," Protoman prompted. "What's it going to be?"

"Fine!" his enemy barked. "I'll go along with you, you piece of scum. Just don't expect me to be happy about it."

Chaud's Navi smirked. "Of course not. Master Chaud doesn't believe in miracles, after all." Protoman put his hand on Shademan's shoulder, and the two disappeared in a flash of light.

The three Hikari boys finally stumbled through their front door at 10 a.m., much to the relief of Haruka, who hugged Lan and Yuichiro tight, before beginning to chew out the latter, while Lan walked, zombie-like, to his room.

The back of his mind was still reeling from everything that had just happened. Forte, and his father, were able to bring Navis into the real world. He had just risked life and limb defending SciLab and protecting Mayl from danger. And his Navi, Megaman, was not only the most powerful Navi in the world, but the transferred soul of his twin brother that he never knew he had.

The front of his mind, however, was practically dead. After over 24 hours without sleep, which had been fueled almost entirely by adrenaline, his reserves had been completely drained, and the one thing he wanted more than anything in the world, more than the defeat of Forte or the safety of his friends, was to crawl into his bed and sleep for two days straight.

Entering his room, he put his PET onto his bedside table and climbed into bed, not bothering to change out of his clothes. Within one minute of lying down, he was finally asleep and at peace.