"Are you done showing off?" Dr. Hikari looks up at Mimic with an amused smile.
Mimic thinks about it for a moment. "No," she replies, deciding to be cheeky - just because.
She swings her legs from where she sits on the beam, ten feet from the floor of the dimensional area lab. The obstacle course this time is more similar to the one the scientists had set up for the Cross Fusion tests, but built for a human body rather than a half-Navi body, of course. Using Cross Fusion, Mimic had managed to clear a leap of ten feet easily. In her fully-human body, she'd needed to parkour her way up onto the beam.
"So I guess that means ProtoMan's agility has been transferred, too," Famous says, sounding just as amused as Dr. Hikari - and more than a little impressed. "Though you still don't feel comfortable with running on all fours, like you do in Cross Fusion?"
"No," Mimic says again, shaking her head. "Not- not as . . . doesn't f-feel natural. Like this."
"If you could run around on all fours as a human, you'd be a terrifying sight to see in darkness," Dr. Hikari comments. "With your eyes, and all that."
"Pranks," Mimic says, grinning. Even if running around on all fours doesn't feel natural as a human, she can still crawl. Scaring the shit out of people is hilarious.
"You and Lan have already given the neighbours a heart attack, let's not go any further with this," Dr. Hikari laughs.
"They did?" Famous perks up, looking very interested. "Ohh, do tell, this sounds like it'll be a great story!"
"It really wasn't, our neighbours almost called the police-"
A scientist bounds into the lab suddenly, cutting off Dr. Hikari's words. He's unfamiliar to Mimic because she's mostly interacted with the team who've been working on her Cross Fusion tests, and Dr. Amano - who's at the General Hospital today because that's where she works, not SciLab. She's been around so much lately that Mimic had almost forgotten she's not actually affiliated with SciLab.
"Dr. Hikari!" the newly-arrived scientist calls. He doesn't look panicked or out of breath, just a little harassed, so Mimic guesses there's not a terrible emergency or something. "We need your input in the Chip Lab!"
"Ah, sorry about this," Dr. Hikari says sheepishly, glancing at Mimic and then Famous. "Could you finish up here for me? I'll be back as soon as I can."
"Not much to finish up anyway," Famous says, as Dr. Hikari follows the scientist out of the lab.
Famous waits until the doors have closed before turning to Mimic with a playful grin.
"Wanna go again?" he asks her.
Mimic nods eagerly.
She vaults over the beam easily, landing on the padded mat underneath and rolling with the impact. Barely pausing for a breath, Mimic smoothly gets back up and heads straight for the next obstacle, a solid wall about eight feet high - she only knows the height because Famous has been increasing it by half a foot each time she runs this obstacle course, both of them eager to see if she can make it over every time.
She's already got a pretty good run-up speed, so Mimic doesn't slow down, planting her foot on the wall and using that as a boost so she can grab at the top with one hand, and then haul herself up.
Mimic sits on the wall, panting. She's managed each increase in height, but it seems to be taking more energy to jump up every time.
You only put your foot on the wall once, Chaud tells her. So every time the wall increases in height, you need to put more energy into your jump to make it to the top.
Any suggestions? Mimic asks. He seems to have a much better understanding of physics and parkour than she does, so she's been asking for his advice whenever she gets stuck on a particular obstacle.
Do what you normally do, Chaud says, but instead of switching to the jump immediately, use your other foot as well. Two steps, not one. Jump after the second step, and you should be able to manage it easier.
Mimic nods to herself, and looks over at Famous to ask him if she can go again.
She pauses when she sees that he's talking to someone. She's out of breath and her mind's a bit frazzled from the adrenaline, so it takes her a moment to recognise Commissioner Kifune and Superintendent Manabe. There's a third person with them, someone else it takes a moment for her to recognise, and when she does, she nearly falls off the wall.
Raika seems to sense that she's staring at him, and he turns his head to look at her. She can't see his expression from here.
You know him? Chaud asks, picking up the shock of emotion that pulses through Mimic.
Oh, yeah, Mimic mutters. His name's Raika. He's a cool guy, a little bit uptight from what I remember, but oh my god he was an asshole at first.
You mean like me?
Worse, which is saying something, Mimic replies. Though Lan does kind of antagonise him a little, so maybe it's not entirely him. Still an asshole, though.
Lan, antagonising someone? He'd never do that.
Could you be any more sarcastic? Mimic scoffs, sending amusement through their connection. Chaud replies with a mental raspberry.
While she was talking to Chaud, Raika had apparently decided to come over and investigate her. He's standing a few feet away from the wall, looking up at her with narrow, thoughtful eyes. Mimic looks back at him, wondering what's going through his head - he probably recognises her as one of the two Cross Fusion-capable Net Savers, but she's hoping that the first words he says to her won't be some rude comment.
"That was rather impressive," Raika says.
What the fuck, Mimic thinks, blinking.
I thought you said he's an asshole? Chaud sounds just as surprised as she is.
He is, Mimic says. But maybe he was watching me run the course? A thought strikes her, suddenly. Hey, maybe this means he won't be an asshole! Well, to me, at least. I'm pretty sure he's still gonna be an ass to Lan.
"I didn't think anyone with such an unhealthy physique would be capable of managing such a complicated obstacle course," Raika tells Mimic.
Okay, that was an insult, Chaud says, now sounding annoyed.
"You're one of the Net Savers who uses Cross Fusion, aren't you?" Raika continues, either oblivious or just ignoring the flat look that Mimic is giving him. He looks her up and down, and it's very, very difficult not to feel judged by his unimpressed stare. "You don't look like you could lift an empty cardboard box, never mind fight against Darkloids in the real world."
Are you just gonna let him walk all over you? Chaud demands.
No, watch this, Mimic replies.
"Behold, the field in which I grow my fucks," Mimic says dramatically, gesturing to the empty space in the middle of the lab. "Lay thine eyes upon it." She waits until Raika is actually looking at it before continuing. "Thou shalt see that it is barren."
Chaud is practically pissing himself right now. Mimic doesn't bother keeping the grin off her face as Raika turns back to her, looking in equal parts annoyed and confused.
"I was told you were practically mute," Raika says, giving her a glare that's as flat as his tone of voice. "And that you were also polite."
Mimic shrugs. "You- you insulted me f-first," she points out. Now that she's not dramatically quoting one of her favourite memes on the internet, she's back to stammering and being generally inarticulate.
Maybe she should just speak in memes all the time. But she'd probably just run out of memes to quote very quickly, if she did that. Besides, it's not like she can remember every single meme, let alone figure out which ones would even make sense or apply in whatever situation she happens to be in.
It'd be funny if you could do that, though, Chaud says, still giggling.
So funny, Mimic agrees.
" . . . I suppose you have a point," Raika admits reluctantly. He sighs and closes his eyes for a moment, and when he re-opens them, he looks considerably more composed. "My name is Raika. I'm a Net Saver from Sharo, currently visiting Japan for special training. I'm to shadow one of the Cross Fusion-capable Net Savers while I'm here."
That would be Lan, then. Mimic is currently off active duty while she's doing these tests at SciLab, unless Kifune and Manabe have come to ask Famous if she can be spared a day or two for Raika's training.
If she can, Mimic will refuse. It's meant to be Lan that Raika's shadowing, not her - how else will MegaMan get Search Soul, if they're not working together on that bank robbery case? And she has no idea if Raika will get the dimensional converter if he's not arguing with Lan in the middle of the fight with VideoMan.
"Commissioner Kifune informed me that I would be shadowing a boy called Lan Hikari," Raika, much to Mimic's relief. Looks like she won't have to come up with an excuse to get out of being Raika's temporary partner. "But he thought that it would be a good learning opportunity for me to talk to you, as well. Your name's . . . Mimic? Mimic Lostie?"
Mimic nods.
"Odd name," Raika comments, narrowing his eyes further until he's almost squinting at her. "It almost sounds made up."
A jolt of panic rips through Mimic, but she doesn't let it show on her expression. "Your opinion," she says. "S'my name, n-not- not yours."
" . . . Fair enough," Raika eventually says.
He's gonna give me a fucking heart attack before this day is over, Mimic sighs.
At least you don't need to spend much time with him, Chaud consoles her. That'll be Lan's job. Oh, I pity him so much . . .
Mimic does too. Lan has more patience with people like Mimic, but he's not that great when dealing with assholes like Raika. Then again, Lan's surprised her before, so you never know.
"Mimic!" Famous calls suddenly, almost startling her into falling off the wall. Maybe she should get down before she bashes her head off the floor or something. "We're heading to the main room to meet Lan!"
Mimic waves to show that she's heard him, and then slides forward until her legs are dangling off the wall. Raika moves back to give her some space to land, which she does as easily as she'd managed to vault over the beam. Running this course so much has given her a lot of chances to practise falling.
She and Raika head over to Famous, Kifune, and Manabe. Mimic quickly collects Ragdoll, slipping his lead over her wrist as usual - she catches Raika watching her, his eyes flicking between her and her cat, and again she wonders what he's thinking. He doesn't have much of an opinion of Cross Fusion-capable Net Savers, so what will he think about Ragdoll?
But he says nothing as Kifune leads them out of the lab, staying with the commissioner and Manabe. Famous, on the other hand, drops back and walks with Mimic.
"I don't think Dr. Hikari will be happy to hear what you said to Raika," Famous says casually.
Mimic jolts, and looks up at him worriedly. "Don't- don't tell him," she begs.
Famous laughs. "Don't worry, I won't say a word," he promises. "Besides, that was the funniest thing I've ever heard! Did you come up with that on the spot, or . . .?"
"Um, I- um. I-it was a quote," Mimic mumbles, fiddling with Ragdoll's lead. His fur brushes against her leg as he pads alongside her. "From- f-from the . . . internet."
"Maybe you could show me where you found it," Famous suggests, grinning at her. "Sounds like it'd be a pretty hilarious part of the internet to explore."
Mimic gives him a small, slightly nervous smile in return. She's not sure if the 'behold the field in which I grow my fucks' meme exists in this reality - she knows it has memes, she's looked them up out of curiosity and boredom, but she has yet to come across this specific one.
Lan comes into the main room not long after they arrive themselves, interrupting a conversation about him - Kifune, Manabe, and Famous are telling Raika about Lan, and the kind of person and Net Saver he is. Raika doesn't seem too impressed, but he's listening politely anyway. At least he's respectful to his superiors.
Mimic's sitting off to the side, on the surface of the long table that curves around the main room. Ragdoll's crouching next to her, watching Raika with round, curious eyes, but as Lan walks in, he swings his head around and purrs at the sight of him.
"Ah, speak of the devil!" Kifune exclaims, turning to face Lan. "We were just talking about you."
Lan looks like he's about to ask something, but then he catches sight of Raika.
"You were at the crossing," Lan says to Raika, stepping into the room with a look of wary puzzlement on his face. Raika looks back at him steadily, betraying absolutely nothing. "Weren't you?"
"I don't like showing off," Raika says.
Lan blinks, and then his eyes wander over to Mimic. His expression brightens immediately.
"Hey, Ch-" he begins.
Mimic waves her hand to interrupt. [mimic now] she quickly signs, with an equally-swift glance at Raika.
"Hey, Mimic," Lan says, without missing a beat.
"Lan," Kifune calls, bringing his attention back to the topic at hand, "this is Raika. He's the Net Saver from Sharo who'll be shadowing you. He'll be your partner for the duration of his training, so the two of you will work together on cases."
"But I already have a partner," Lan points out, nodding to Mimic.
"Mimic is still off active duty," Manabe reminds him. "He won't be working any cases with you until the experiments are finished, remember."
"Oh, right."
She knows it's not her fault - not anyone's fault, really - but Mimic still feels a flicker of guilt, seeing how disappointed Lan looks right now. Maybe he'd hoped that she'd be put back onto active duty so he could show Raika how well the two of them worked together - though they haven't actually worked a case as partners since the battle with DesertMan, which had been . . . a mild disaster.
They're not arguing anymore, so that should help, at least.
Mimic glances at Raika, curious to check out his reaction - had he already known that she and Lan were partners? But, once again, his expression gives away nothing; aside from a faint look of disapproval, anyway. That's basically the only thing that Mimic can see from him. Maybe she should ask Arcadia if he feels anything from Raika, since his Empath Program would allow him to sense whatever Raika's feeling or thinking.
"Well, if there's anything you don't know, you can just ask me!" Lan says, grinning at Raika. "I'm happy to help, since we'll be working together for the next few days."
"Hm," Raika says noncommittally. Instead of replying to Lan, he brushes past him, speaking to Kifune. "Commissioner, I would like a tour of SciLab's facilities, if it's not too much trouble."
"Eager to start your training, I see," Kifune says cheerfully. "I like seeing that kind of hard-working attitude."
"I can do that!" Lan exclaims, perking up. "Just one second, I wanna talk to Mimic."
Raika turns around and folds his arms, looking mildly impatient, but he waits as Lan bounds over to Mimic.
"I'm guessing he doesn't know your real name?" Lan murmurs to her, casting a furtive glance at Raika.
[no he doesn't] Mimic signs. It's unlikely that Raika will know sign language, and hopefully Lan'll pick up on that.
He does, thankfully. [already met him then] Lan asks.
[didn't get on] Mimic replies. [watch out he's mean]
[you okay] Lan asks, immediately concerned. [was he mean to you]
[don't worry gave as good as I got] Mimic tells him. [go he's waiting]
Lan glances over his shoulder at Raika, who's watching them with guarded curiosity. Mimic really hopes he doesn't know sign language, otherwise this might get awkward very quickly.
"Yeah, okay," Lan replies, out loud this time. He steps back and gives Mimic a parting grin before rushing over to Raika, eagerly leading him out of the main room.
Mimic watches them go, still wondering if Raika knew more than he was letting on. Famous comes over to stand next to her while she's half-occupied, but she drags herself out of her thoughts when she sees the concerned look on his face.
"What's wrong?" Mimic asks him.
"I . . . well, I'm just wondering if Lan was the best choice," Famous says. "He's a bit of a hothead, and Raika seems like the type to ruffle a person's feathers easily."
"That does not seem like a good combination," ProtoMan comments, from where Mimic's PET is resting in its holder.
"Raika doesn't think much of Cross Fusion, either," Arcadia speaks up next.
Mimic exchanges a glance with Famous, and then takes out her PET. Arcadia looks concerned and a little hesitant.
"What do you mean?" Famous asks him.
"I could sense it," Arcadia says, tapping his clawed fingertips together. "I think . . . it's something about intelligence? He thinks that all you need to win any fight is good brainpower. Since Cross Fusion uses pure strength, he looks down on it, thinks that it's something only an empty-headed person would rely on, since there'd be no way for them to fight otherwise."
"Does he think we're empty-headed?" ProtoMan bristles at the suggestion.
"I don't know," Arcadia replies, looking uncomfortable. "He's not exactly fond of us, at least."
"Now I'm even more convinced that Lan was a bad choice," Famous says, wincing. "He's almost exclusively focused on Cross Fusion - if Raika really doesn't think much of it, then this is like putting oil on a fire." He looks at the door through which Lan and Raika had vanished, and then glances at Mimic. "Maybe we should've had Raika shadowing you, instead. You may not be on active duty at the moment, but I think you'd be a better fit for Raika's . . . let's say ideals."
Mimic is pretty sure that Raika dislikes her as much as he's going to dislike Lan, especially after the 'behold the field in which I grow my fucks' thing. Though she may have at least earned a little bit of his respect by pointing out his mildly-flawed logic when he got prickly over it.
Famous sighs. "Oh, well," he says. "Too late now, anyway. C'mon, let's head back to the dimensional area lab - I have a feeling Lan'll probably take Raika there last, and we should probably clear away the obstacle course for when he inevitably shows off Cross Fusion."
Mimic's disappointment must show on her face. Famous laughs and gives her a gentle pat on the shoulder.
"Don't worry, we can fix it back up later," he tells her. "Maybe Dr. Hikari'll be done with whatever's going on in the Chip Lab by then, and you can show off again."
Mimic grins at him. That sounds awesome.
They're just finishing clearing away the last parts of the obstacle course when Lan comes in with Raika trailing behind. Mimic glances at Raika, trying to judge what he's thinking, but he just looks thoroughly unimpressed.
He's . . . a little difficult, Chaud comments, as Famous turns to greet the duo.
It's hard to read someone like him, Mimic agrees. When he's being an asshole, he seems easy enough to figure out, but any other time, he's just . . .
A blank wall, Chaud suggests.
Pretty much, Mimic says.
"This is the best place in the whole of SciLab!" Lan is telling Raika, as Mimic comes over. "It's where me and MegaMan can perform Cross Fusion!"
Mimic sees Raika's eyes narrow a fraction, and silently questions how much Lan has talked about Cross Fusion during the tour. And how much of it sounded like bragging.
Famous coughs pointedly, nodding to Mimic.
"And Mimic can do it with one of his Navis, too," Lan quickly adds.
At least he's not so far into his . . . not-bragging that he forgets to use Mimic's 'fake' name. And he doesn't mention ProtoMan's name at all, which might seem like an oversight, but it's actually pretty smart - SearchMan's already met ProtoMan and Arcadia, but Raika might not be able to guess Mimic's 'true identity' from that alone. No sense in taking chances, though.
"We're the only people in the whole world who can use Cross Fusion," Lan goes on. He's apparently unaware of how utterly bored Raika is by the mere mention of Cross Fusion. "We use the synchro chips to fight Darkloids in dimensional areas, like the one that SciLab has here! It's amazing!"
"You're acting like you invented the whole concept yourself," Raika comments scathingly.
Lan freezes for a split second.
Mimic exchanges a look with Famous as Lan tries to come up with a reply to that. In the end, he decides to just ignore the comment entirely.
"So, how about a demonstration?" Lan asks eagerly. "That's why I saved this lab 'til last! It's the best part, and everyone knows you gotta save the best for last, right?"
Raika doesn't look like he cares either way.
Lan heads into the experimental dimensional area, while Famous leads Raika up to the observation room. Mimic goes with them, trailing behind and shooting a quick glance at Lan over her shoulder, but he's too busy with his PET to notice her look. She shakes her head and follows Famous and Raika up the stairs.
Famous is making a few quick system checks when she gets into the room. She takes Ragdoll over to one of the nearby chairs and gets him to hop up on it, then carefully ties his lead around the back of the chair. Once she's sure he's secure, Mimic steps over to Famous, keeping him between her and Raika. She's still uncertain as to what Raika's opinion of her is, so she's not going to give him the opportunity to verbally disapprove of her.
"We're good to go here!" Famous calls to Lan.
"Same for us!" Lan's agreement comes through the speakers in the observation room.
Famous nods and activates the dimensional area. Lan pauses for a moment as the barrier builds up around him, and then, after a quick glance at Raika to check that he's watching, he downloads his synchro chip.
Mimic keeps an eye on Raika as the light of Cross Fusion fades from the dimensional area, but there's little to no change in his expression. Not that she'd honestly expected any, but still. Doesn't hurt to check.
"Dimensional areas allow an operator and their Navi to fight together using Cross Fusion," Famous explains to Raika, as two ball-like drones appear in the dimensional area for Lan to attack. "The synchro chip fuses them together in the same body. That's the unique property of a dimensional area - it allows data to materialise in the real world, by merging the two worlds together in an enclosed area."
"Unique property?" Raika repeats incredulously. "Are you saying that the Japanese Net Savers are incapable of fighting without Cross Fusion?"
"Well . . ." Famous looks faintly bewildered, despite what Arcadia had told him. Mimic doesn't blame him, though; it's one thing to be told something, and another thing entirely to hear it for real. "Humans can't really fight materialised Darkloids or viruses. We do have a NetNavi who's capable of materialising on his own, but otherwise, Lan and Mimic are the only ones who-"
"I think I've heard enough," Raika interrupts coldly. "Excuse me."
He turns and walks out, leaving Famous looking stunned by his abrupt and dismissive attitude.
" . . . I know Arcadia said he didn't think much of it," Famous mutters, glancing at Mimic, "but that was . . ."
"Mean," Mimic suggests quietly.
"Well, in simple terms, yeah," Famous sighs.
In the dimensional area, a wall of solid steel rises in front of Lan, and he easily cuts it in half with a Long Sword. Satisfied, he turns to face the observational room, only to pause when he sees that Raika's not there anymore.
"Where's Raika?" Lan asks.
"He left a moment ago," Famous replies.
"I think it's because you kept showing off with Cross Fusion," MegaMan says. "You probably annoyed him."
Lan looks crestfallen. "O-oh," he says. "Well . . . I guess we better go and find him, then."
Mimic suppresses a wince. That's a conversation that won't end well.
But there's not much she can do about it. If they don't argue, Raika and SearchMan might not get the opportunity to destroy the dimensional converter and bring it in for SciLab to study. She doesn't need to interfere for that to happen - and besides, she might end up changing something that's vital to future events if she meddles too much with this.
"You sure you want two walls, instead of one?" Famous asks, after they finish setting up the eight-foot wall. The rest of the obstacle course isn't back up yet, but this is the part that Mimic's been wanting to try again, so they've set this up first. "You seemed like you were struggling to get up this one. I thought you'd try and get it right before moving on to more than one."
"Wall jump," Mimic says.
"Ohh, like in video games?" Famous looks interested. "That sounds cool. I still think you should try getting the jump right on this wall first, though."
Mimic considers that for a moment, and then nods. It's what she'd been intending to do anyway, before Raika had shown up - and Chaud's told her how she can manage the jump better anyway.
"Alright then," Famous says, clapping his hands together, "I'll just go and get the mat so you can-"
His PET suddenly goes off, interrupting him. Famous gives her an apologetic smile as he fishes it out of his pocket, but the smile turns to a grim line when he sees whatever message is on the screen.
"Bad thing?" Mimic asks, leaning forward. She has a feeling she knows what this is, but until famous confirms it, she's not going to assume anything.
"There's a Darkloid attacking the local cinema," Famous tells her. "People're trapped in there, and the emergency system is starting to flood." He narrows his eyes and presses a few buttons on his PET. "Good thing Lan's already here."
I don't know if I want to insist on tagging along or not, Mimic says, as Famous contacts Lan and Raika to tell them the situation.
You're not on active duty, Chaud points out, so you can't do anything without Commissioner Kifune's permission anyway.
Famous is the commander of the Net Savers, she reminds him.
Yeah, but I don't think he has the authority to put you back on duty, Chaud replies. Besides, you still need to finish the last of these tests, remember?
I'm literally just doing a parkour course for fun right now.
It's still technically counted as a test, since they're recording and examining what you do every time you run the course, he says.
That's . . . technically true, she supposes. And she reminds herself of what she'd thought after Raika had left during Lan's demonstration - she may end up changing something vital if she meddles too much. Maybe she should be grateful that she got taken off active duty for a while. It gives her less of a chance to fuck things up.
"Well, they're heading there now," Famous says, putting his PET away. "But I think I interrupted an argument . . ."
"Not getting along well," Mimic comments.
"No, they're not," Famous agrees with a sigh. "I may end up regretting putting them together." He shakes his head. "Anyway. Shall we get back to the obstacle course?"
Mimic perks up immediately and nods.
Dr. Hikari comes back after they finish setting up the obstacle course again, and watches Mimic run through it. This time, when she gets to the eight-foot wall, she uses two steps instead of one, and manages the jump easily.
"Well done!" Dr. Hikari calls, while Mimic rests on top of the wall. "I think we've almost gotten all the data we can from this, so we'll move on to other tests soon, alright?"
Mimic slumps. She knew the obstacle course tests wouldn't last forever, but she'd been hoping to have at least another day going at it. She loves running through it, almost as much as she loves playing Skyrim or any of her games.
"We can always set it up in an empty lab," Dr. Hikari says, seeing her disappointment. "There's one nearby, though the room's a little smaller. But I think we could fit this in, if you still want to run through it sometimes."
Mimic grins and bounces a little.
Dr. Hikari laughs. "Well, I suppose we've discovered something else you enjoy," he says cheerfully. "Right then - I think a couple more runs should do, and then I'll see about setting this all up for you in that other lab. After that, we're done for the day. Dr. Amano sent me a message earlier, by the way; she can come in to SciLab tomorrow, for the last batch of tests."
"Tom-morrow?" Mimic repeats. "Last batch?"
"We're almost finished," Dr. Hikari informs her. "Just a few more physical tests, and then you'll be able to go back to active duty with Lan."
"Woohoo!" Famous cheers from the side. "Hey, maybe you can put your parkour to use while you're fighting!"
Mimic shoots him a grin and a thumbs-up. She's not sure if she'll be able to use these skills in a battle, but she can definitely try. All these tests and experiments have made her eager to find out how she'll be able to perform in the field, now that she has a better understanding of her abilities - both her own and those she's gained from ProtoMan.
She runs the obstacle course a couple more times, as Dr. Hikari suggested, and makes the most of it while she can. She doesn't know how long it'll take to find a suitable place to set this all up again, so she wants to continue enjoying it while it lasts.
Famous helps set up the second wall she'd talked about earlier, and she does that as a separate test, just to see if she can do it. And she can - it's easier than she'd thought it would be. All she has to do is jump halfway up one wall, push off that, and grip the top of the second wall to haul herself up and over. Mimic wonders if she'll be able to manage more than one wall jump if she ever needs to get up on top of a wall that's higher than these ones. It might be useful to know if she can.
She's just climbing down from the second wall when Dr. Hikari's PET lets out an alert sound, and he takes it out to look at it. Famous helps steady Mimic when she stumbles a little on the landing - she's kind of tired by now, having run the course so many times, but she's extremely satisfied - and she catches Dr. Hikari's expression turn from curious to completely dumbfounded.
"Dr. Hikari?" Famous calls, sounding concerned.
"Raika just sent me a message," Dr. Hikari says, looking up from his PET. "He's bringing us a dimensional converter to study."
" . . . What?" Famous's hands still on Mimic's shoulders. She's pretty good at reading the expressions of people wearing things that cover their eyes, mainly because of ProtoMan, so it's easy to see his shock reflecting Dr. Hikari's. "How did he manage that?"
"Apparently he took advantage of the dimensional area and had SearchMan use something called a Warp Gun to shoot the converter," Dr. Hikari replies. "I can't believe it . . . we actually have a chance to study one of the enemy's converters."
"If we can figure out how they work," Famous says excitedly, "we might even be able to make our own!"
Mimic looks between them, keeping her expression carefully blank. Nebula's dimensional converters run on the energy of the NetNavis who were kidnapped in Internet City - but Dr. Hikari and Famous don't know that yet. They'll find out eventually, and they won't be pleased of course, but at the moment they're blissfully unaware of the horrifying truth behind the power source of the dimensional converters used by their enemies.
She's not really looking forward to seeing how they react to that.
When Lan and Raika come back, they're greeted by the excitement of the SciLab scientists, who quickly bring the damaged dimensional converter into an out-of-the-way lab for safekeeping. Raika is intensely smug, like he's proven a point, and Lan hangs back looking like he's rather be anywhere but here.
He also keeps rubbing his neck. Mimic knows why - VideoMan nearly strangled him to death while Raika was outsmarting a bunch of viruses. It's not that impressive, when you think about it. It's a little bit like how Lan was bragging about beating up literally four Mettaurs.
"Don't- don't d-do that," Mimic tells Lan, tugging his hand away from his neck. "You'll m-make it worse."
"It's sore, though," Lan mutters. His voice is a little hoarse, but otherwise, he seems fine. Just irritated. "I guess you heard about what Raika did?" He sounds bitter about it, like he expects Mimic to be singing Raika praises.
But Mimic just shrugs. "More worried about you," she says. "Your . . . n-neck. You okay?"
Lan looks a little relieved to hear that she apparently doesn't care about Raika - and she really doesn't at the moment, because seriously, that bruise on Lan's neck looks terrible. And she can see faint red marks all over his skin where VideoMan's tape had been constricting him. Though the marks on his neck are the worst, hence why he keeps rubbing at them.
But rubbing at the bruises will only make them worse in the end. Mimic knows that far too well - and Chaud, too. He'd been the one to talk her through proper bruise care.
"I'm good," Lan replies. "Just sore, is all. There was this Darkloid called VideoMan, with some sort of . . . videotape, I guess? He used it as an attack. And, near the end of the fight, he caught me in his tape and tried to squeeze me to death."
It probably would've been his death if SearchMan hadn't been able to shoot his rifle into the real world. At least they can be thankful to Raika for that, if nothing else.
She glances over at Raika. He's with Dr. Hikari and Famous, still with that smug look on his face, and Mimic wonders whether she should go over and tell Dr. Hikari that Lan had almost been strangled to death while Raika was outsmarting a bunch of mooks.
She decides not to. It'd be petty, and there's no sense in worrying Dr. Hikari right now - he looks extremely excited at the thought of getting to study the dimensional converter, and she doesn't want to dampen that by telling him about his son's near-death experience.
You gotta do something about Raika, though, Chaud says. You said he gets better, but he's way too smug right now. Maybe you should put him in his place.
Trouble is, I can't think of any way to do that, Mimic replies.
He'll be here for a few days at least, so you've got some time. Maybe you could prank him or something? Or do that trickster thing and talk him in circles until you make him admit something embarrassing.
There's an idea. Though she doesn't know if Raika even has anything embarrassing to admit. Or how well her usual tricks will work on him.
She could just quote memes at him until he gets sick of her. That'd be funny, at least.
Outside the hotel room, a car flashes by, briefly illuminating the room through the curtains. Raika sits at a desk, his laptop set on the surface next to the PET charger, typing up his report of the day's mission.
"Sir."
Raika looks to his PET as SearchMan appears on the screen. He leans back in his chair, leaving the report for now and turning his full attention to his NetNavi. He says nothing, simply waiting for SearchMan to continue.
"I've searched every database I could access," SearchMan reports. "There is no record of any child by the name of Mimic Lostie. As far as I can tell, Mimic does not exist at all."
Raika's eyes narrow as he considers that information.
"Furthermore," SearchMan continues, "I've looked up ProtoMan and Arcadia in the NetNavi database. ProtoMan is the Navi of Chaud Blaze, who's been missing since October, and Arcadia was reported as stolen last year by his operator, Hatsuko Amano."
For several moments, Raika continues to be silent.
"Call the commissioner," he eventually says. "Tell him I need to speak with him tomorrow morning. Don't tell him why. This is something better discussed in person."