"That should do it," Kifune says, turning the monitor of the computer around to show Mimic the screen. "Arcadia's status is now listed as 'independent' rather than 'stolen'."
"We probably should have done this sooner, to be honest," Manabe says apologetically. "But we didn't realise it would cause so much trouble."
"S'alright," Mimic says. "Worked out f-fine in- in the e-end."
Only after Raika had realised what an idiot he was being. At least that had knocked him off his high horse far better than anything Mimic could've done - her and Chaud's only idea had been to quote memes at Raika until she pissed him off, but ProtoMan nearly dropping a light on his head and then threatening to bring down the entire building was more than enough to make Raika stop.
I'm still not sure it was a good idea to tell him about your father, though, Mimic says to Chaud.
He would've just done it all over again if you hadn't, Chaud replies. That's why I suggested telling him.
True, but still. She sighs mentally. At least I managed to convince him not to go to the police. That'd cause an entirely different kind of problem.
Chaud hums in agreement.
"You're sure you don't want us to change ProtoMan's status as well?" Manabe asks, bringing Mimic out of her mental conversation with Chaud.
Mimic shakes her head. Beside her, Dr. Hikari puts a hand on her shoulder and squeezes it lightly.
"We can figure out ProtoMan's status some other time," Dr. Hikari says. "It's not as urgent as Arcadia's was, after all."
"Good point," Manabe admits.
"Well, if that's everything for now, I think you can go back home," Kifune says, turning the monitor around again and giving them a jovial smile. "I'm sorry for keeping you here so late."
"I'm used to late nights anyway," Dr. Hikari laughs. "And Chaud is . . . somewhat of a night owl, I think."
Mimic glances up at him, and he gives her a knowing smile. He's talking about that little midnight adventure she'd had the day before Raika left - she honestly hadn't intended to stay out so long that the Hikaris would notice she was gone, but at least they're not forbidding her from going out at night because of the panic she'd caused. As long as she tells them she's going out, and as long as she stays close to home, she can stay out for as long as she wants. Unless it's a school night, in which case she needs to be back by midnight.
"Thank you for doing this for us," Dr. Hikari says to Kifune and Manabe, bowing respectfully. Mimic quickly copies him.
"It's no problem at all," Kifune replies, waving them out. "Now, go home and get some sleep. You both look like you need it."
Mimic barely sleeps anyway, and she's pretty sure that Dr. Hikari would just drink all the coffee on the planet if it meant he could stay awake and do science. He's a little bit like Chaud in that regard, though as far as Mimic knows, Dr. Hikari doesn't have a ridiculous amount of suger in his coffee like Chaud does.
Dr. Hikari takes her through the Net Police's HQ, jokingly saying that they should be quiet when getting back into the house, or else Haruka might think they're thieves. They're just walking across the lobby when an alarm suddenly starts blaring above their heads, causing them and the night shift Net Police to freeze in place.
"What the-" Dr. Hikari begins, but he's interrupted when a voice rings out on the speaker system.
"Warning: intruder in the contraband computer!" the voice calls. "Intruder in the-"
Mimic whips around and rushes back the way they'd come.
"Wait!" Dr. Hikari shouts after her, but she ignores him - there's bigger problems to worry about right now.
Famous had given her and Lan a proper tour of the Net Police HQ when they'd officially become partners, so she knows where the control room for the contraband computer is. That specific computer is where the Net Police are currently storing the Dark Chips.
You know what this is? Chaud asks, as she skids around a couple of startled Net Police detectives.
DesertMan, Mimic replies shortly, focusing on getting to the control room. Wants Dark Chips.
So he's come here to steal them, Chaud mutters. How stupid is he? This is the headquarters of the Net Police!
Mimic doesn't bother replying. Normally he'd be right, and DesertMan wouldn't be dumb enough to break into the Net Police HQ like this. But he's desperate for Dark Chips, and the Net Police have confiscated a shitton of them, so he's coming after them the same way a dog would go for meat if it was starving.
The control room is on the floor above her, so she heads for the stairs and jumps up the railing. It's faster than using the lift or just running up the stairs, and saves her a few precious seconds.
She bursts into the control room and dashes for the console, ignoring the startled exclamations of the two people working at it. She remembers Chaud had hit a red button to force the computer to stop so DesertMan wouldn't be able to download anymore Dark Chips - it's protected by a glass casing, so she smashes it and hits the button. She hopes Kifune will forgive her for breaking this; she doesn't know if the glass casing would've been removable and time's not really on her side at the moment.
"Capture, don't delete," she tells ProtoMan and Arcadia, before jacking them into the contraband computer.
They have enough time nod, just to confirm that they heard her, before they both vanish and her PET's screen changes to show the network of the computer.
DesertMan roars upon seeing them, and ProtoMan and Arcadia stiffen when they get a good look at him. Mimic doesn't blame them - DesertMan looks horrible. Bits of his sand is purple and sickly-looking, and data disintergrates off his body like he can't even keep himself together anymore. His red, glowing eyes - the eyes that had scared Mimic so much when she'd first seen him - are no longer there, just leaving black pits where his eyes should be.
It's not a pleasant sight to see.
Do we have anything that can be used to capture him? Mimic asks. Chaud keeps better track of battle chips than she does, especially in a crisis like this.
Ice Ball would be best, but we don't have one of those, Chaud replies. Use Arcadia's Holy Fire instead - DesertMan should be wary of it, even when he's like this.
"Arcadia," Mimic says quickly. Arcadia looks over his shoulder at her. "Can you m-make a- um-" She makes a circling motion with her finger.
Luckily, Arcadia understands. He nods, exchanges a quick glance with ProtoMan, and then the two of them split off and rush at DesertMan separately, wedging the decaying Darkloid between them.
DesertMan lets out a hoarse, frustrated sound as he looks between them, unsure as to who to attack first. ProtoMan reaches him before Arcadia, slashing at him with his shadow-claws and then darting away before DesertMan can grab him.
Meanwhile, Arcadia gets into the air and spreads his arms, Holy Fire flaring in his hands. He throws it down and then moves it, making it spread until it circles DesertMan. The Darkloid tries to smash the fire away, but he yells when he touches it, and Mimic sees his hands burning. He stays in the middle of the Holy Fire ring, yelling insults and wordless screams of rage, while ProtoMan drops back and actives his Proto Buster, just in case it's needed.
Mimic hears footsteps behind her and turns to face Kifune, Manabe, and Dr. Hikari as they come into the room. Dr. Hikari is out of breath, but he still looks incredibly impressed when he sees the screen on the console, showing DesertMan trapped by ProtoMan and Arcadia.
"Good work," Kifune says, grinning at Mimic. "That was quite a fast reaction!"
"And well done for capturing DesertMan," Manabe adds.
Mimic grins back at them. Dr. Hikari doesn't say anything, but the proud look he's giving her is more than enough to make her feel warm inside.
The next day, Mimic is waiting in SciLab's main room with Lan, Maylu, Chisao, and Rush. She doesn't feel like standing up, so she's sitting on the surface of one of the half-circle tables with the others surrounding her. She'd normally be uncomfortable surrounded like this, but Chisao and Rush are tiny, and Lan and Maylu don't crowd her.
Kifune and Manabe are also in the room, but they're further away, talking to each other in hushed tones. Mimic can just about make out what they're saying - they're discussing the break-in last night, and worrying about what it could mean for the other Darkloids. That's an understandable worry; if one Darkloid could get that far, how much more damage could the whole lot of them do?
"Wow," Maylu says in awe. "You really captured a Darkloid on your own?"
"Wi-with ProtoM-Man and Arcadia," Mimic corrects her.
"It's really cool that your Navis can work together like that!" Chisao exclaims. He looks immensely excited, and he can't stand still, so he's just bouncing in place. "And you didn't even need to use any battle chips!"
"ProtoMan and Arcadia were the perfect Navis to capture DesertMan," Dr. Hikari says, coming into the room with Famous following him. "ProtoMan's fast enough to provide a suitable distraction, and Arcadia's immunity to darkness is highly effective in keeping Darkloids contained."
"Aw, Dad, stop!" Lan laughs, as Mimic ducks her head. "You're making him blush."
Dr. Hikari chuckles, and heads to the front of the room. Kifune and Manabe break off their conversation to pay attention, while Famous comes over to Mimic and the others, giving them a quick nod.
"We've finished our analysis of DesertMan," Dr. Hikari announces to the room at large. "We've determined that his data is decaying, at a very rapid pace, likely due to a reaction to the Dark Chips." He pauses for a moment, eyes narrowing as something like sadness flickers across his gaze. More than likely he's thinking of the NetNavis who've also been affected by the Dark Chips. "Dark Chips present a danger of addiction, in exchange for abnormal strength. DesertMan has been exposed to the Dark Chips so much that he can't hold his data together without using them constantly, hence why his data is decaying in such a way."
Everyone's silent for a moment as they digest that information. Mimic had already known, of course, but that doesn't make hearing it for herself any less horrible. To think that a Navi - even a Darkloid - would feel their own data decaying is almost sickening. For a human equivalent, it'd probably be something like rotting while you're still alive and conscious to feel it.
"Lan!" MegaMan suddenly calls, prompting Lan to bring out his PET. "BeastMan was like this when we fought him at the Sea Tower, remember?"
"Yeah," Lan says, eyes widening as he remembers. "So he'd been taken over by the Dark Chips too, then . . ."
"I thought it was an advantage to the Darkloids," Manabe comments.
"The Darkloids are powerful enough on their own," Famous says. "The Dark Chips give them an added boost in power, so it must be something like a reassurance to them. But I didn't think they'd be affected either. It's likely they don't yet know about the Dark Chip's effects."
There's a pained roar from the huge monitor on the wall at the back of the room. DesertMan, caged inside a digital prison that's both powerful and big enough to hold him, jerks back from the energy bars and screams for them to let him go. He's pretty clearly out of his mind, but not so much that he doesn't know what's going on.
"The Darkloids are still somewhat of a mystery," Dr. Hikari says, watching DesertMan. "Their data is unlike anything I've ever seen. I'll need more time if I'm to have a full analysis." He turns back to face them. "However, there's one thing that I've noticed. The Darkloids seem to refer to NetNavis as human puppets - isn't that right, MegaMan?"
"Yeah!" MegaMan confirms. "That's what BeastMan called me when we first battled him. And I think the rest of the Darkloids share the same opinion."
Dr. Hikari nods. "I have a hypothesis on what the Darkloids could be," he says, "but it's not concrete at the moment, just an idea."
"It doesn't matter," Kifune says. "The Net Police is holding a meeting after this, to discuss the Darkloids, so any information - even just a hypothesis - would be extremely useful."
Mimic jerks her head up. Beside her, Lan gives her an odd look, but turns back to the conversation at hand when she doesn't react beyond that.
"NetNavis are programs created by humans," Dr. Hikari begins. "Like MegaMan or ProtoMan, or even independent Navis like Arcadia or Bass. But the Darkloids are different. I believe they may have been created without the assistance of humans, a spontaneous event in the cyberworld. Beings of data, in other words."
"Beings of data . . .?" Lan repeats, looking stunned. "Is that even possible?"
"Bass was created from the leftover data of PharaohMan," Famous reminds him. "But then again, even PharaohMan was created by humans."
"That's right," Manabe adds. "But for Darkloids to be made entirely from data . . . it's a little hard to believe."
"Like I said, this is just my hypothesis," Dr. Hikari says. "There's no definite proof at the moment."
"So, Darkloids weren't made by humans," Arcadia murmurs.
"Mimic already told us this," ProtoMan reminds him quietly. "But to have it confirmed by Dr. Hikari is something else entirely . . ."
"I wonder why they hate humans so much, though?" Arcadia asks, tilting his head. "If they were made by humans and mistreated somehow, I might be able to understand, but if Mimic and Dr. Hikari are right, then there's no actual reason for the Darkloids to hate humans."
"There are those who hate for no reason," ProtoMan says. He thinks of Master Blaze, who hurt Chaud, and later Mimic, who will forever bear the physical and emotional scars of her experiences. He thinks of Amano, Arcadia's original operator, who was spiteful and mean just for the sake of it.
And he thinks of Proxy, who bullied and tormented him just because Master Blaze had given him permission.
There will always be those who hate for no reason, ProtoMan thinks, suppressing a shudder as the memories of his encounters with Proxy rise to the surface. It is our job as Net Savers to stop them from using that hate to harm others.
Arcadia looks up at him, eyes shining with pride. It is likely he sensed ProtoMan's thoughts with his Empath Program, and clearly he agrees with such sentiments. It is also likely he sensed the memories of Proxy, and seems glad that ProtoMan is not distracted by them, but is instead using them to fuel his dedication to the Net Savers.
An alarm blares suddenly, startling ProtoMan and Arcadia. He hears one of the human scientists in the main room speaking of a virus intruder, and readies himself to be sent into battle alongside Arcadia and MegaMan, since all three of them are here and more than ready to fight together to defend SciLab - but Mimic does not jack them into the main network.
Instead, the place she sends them is the area in which DesertMan is being imprisoned. The Darkloid roars upon seeing them and makes another attempt to break the energy bars, lashing out blindly and screaming when the energy forces him back.
"Chaud?" ProtoMan asks, turning to face the screen showing him their operator in the real world. "Why are we here, and not fighting the viruses?"
[enemy trying to get desert back] Mimic signs. It is easier for her to explain using sign language rather than stammering and mumbling through an explanation, it seems. [virus are distraction MEGA fighting virus you defend desert]
"Understood!" ProtoMan says, nodding sharply. He crouches onto all fours, activating his scanners and tracking systems.
Arcadia takes to the air and closes his eyes, wings beating soundlessly to keep him in the air. ProtoMan can tell he is spreading his Empath Program out, trying to feel for the intruder as he can with normal NetNavis. It has not worked with Darkloids so far - they think maybe the Darkloids cannot be detected by his Empath Program, due to his immunity to darkness cancelling them out - but if there is even the slightest chance that he can sense the intruder, they must take it.
Suddenly, ProtoMan detects an intruder attempting to stream into the area, and readies himself.
A Darkloid materialises in front of him - he recognises this one as FlashMan, the Darkloid MegaMan had defeated using Roll Soul. FlashMan freezes upon seeing him, and ProtoMan hisses a threat, hair bristling. Behind him, his shadows whirl and form Dark Shadow, who splits its head open into its mockery of a mouth and adds to ProtoMan's threat.
"Just let me take DesertMan and this won't have to get ugly," FlashMan snaps.
"Too late for that!" Arcadia calls down.
FlashMan looks up and his eyes widen, a split second before Arcadia's Flashfire blasts down at him from above. The Darkloid staggers back when Flashfire fades, skin burning and sizzling and in some parts still coated in white fire.
ProtoMan gives him no chance to recover. He launches himself at FlashMan, kicking him back a few paces with a quick spring, and then drops back to allow Dark Shadow to claw at their opponent.
He plants himself firmly between FlashMan and the prison containing DesertMan. Dark Shadow comes back to his side, moving as smoothly as ever, and Arcadia drops through the air until he's hovering on ProtoMan's other side, the feathers around his elbows and knees rippling and glowing like his Holy Fire.
ProtoMan gathers his remaining shadows into shadow-claws and Arcadia readies another Flashfire in his hands. Dark Shadow crouches lower to the ground, ready to spring the moment FlashMan makes a move.
"Screw it," FlashMan mutters, stepping back. "We can't get him back this way."
He leaves without further prompting, though ProtoMan, Dark Shadow, and Arcadia do not relax until they are certain he has vanished from the network.
" . . . What'd he mean by 'can't get him back this way'?" Arcadia asks, as he touches down and folds his wings against his back.
ProtoMan exchanges a glance with Dark Shadow. Neither of them know, but ProtoMan is willing to bet his hit points that this is not the last they have seen of FlashMan.
. . . Perhaps he could ask Mimic. She had told them what the Darkloids are based on what Dr. Hikari had said in the anime, and he has just explained his theory on what the Darkloids could be. Which means Mimic will know what is going to happen next.
"Well done, both of you," Kifune says, nodding to Lan and Chaud. He looks at Dad with a more serious expression. "Dr. Hikari, please, finish performing your analysis as quickly as you can. We need all the information we can get."
"Of course," Dad agrees. "I'll get started right away."
Kifune nods, and he and Manabe give everyone a quick goodbye before leaving. Lan notices Chaud looking after them with an odd expression, and then suddenly he jerks, whipping his head around to stare at Dad with wide eyes.
Before Lan can ask what's wrong, Chaud scrambles over to Dad and tugs on his arm, murmuring something that Lan can't hear because he's too far away and Chaud's way too quiet anyway. Dad leans down to listen, and after a few moments, he murmurs something back, and Chaud speaks again.
Dad nods and straightens, then hurries out the door without a word to anyone else. Chaud watches him go, looking conflicted.
Lan heads over to Chaud. "What was that about?" he asks, nodding toward where Dad had vanished. "Dad looked pretty serious, there."
"Um," Chaud mumbles. "I-I just . . . there's s-someth-thing . . ." He ducks his head and wrings his hands together nervously. "I'm . . . th-there was . . ."
"Is something wrong?" Lan asks, trying to press as gently as possible. Chaud looks like he's about three seconds from a panic attack, and he doesn't want to accidentally cause him to freak out.
"K-kind of . . .?" Chaud's voice goes a little fainter than normal. "I just- I c-can't . . . s-s-say."
It must be pretty serious, whatever it is, Lan decides. But he's not going to press Chaud any further - he's pretty sure if he did that, Chaud actually would freak out.
Whatever. It seems like he can tell Dad about it, and Dad's doing something about it - whatever it is - so unless something really bad happens, Lan's not going to pry.
A few moments later, Dad comes back in with a worried expression on his face. He heads over to them, shooting a quick glance at Lan, before turning his attention to Chaud.
"I couldn't stop them," Dad says. "Sorry - they left before I could catch up. Do you at least know what'll happen?"
"Truck," Chaud replies. "They- they'll be taken in a tr- in a-a truck."
"The whole car?"
Chaud nods.
Lan looks between him and Dad, and he's never been more confused in his entire life. This conversation is going entirely over his head, and he has a feeling that it's supposed to mean something, but he can't figure out what. It's likely he won't figure it out on his own, not unless Chaud and Dad decide to let him in on whatever the heck's going on.
"Maybe we could contact them and warn them," Dad murmurs, putting a hand on his chin as his eyes narrow thoughtfully. "I'd have to find some way to explain what's going on, though."
Chaud glances at Lan, and then replies to Dad. "Detected b-by- by scanners," he suggests.
Dad's eyes widen. "Of course! I could say SciLab detected something in their car, but they left before we could get a good look at what it was."
"M-might not work," Chaud warns him.
"We have to try," Dad says, bringing out his PET.
"What the heck is going on?" Lan demands, deciding he's had enough of Chaud and Dad speaking in riddles.
Dad pauses and stares at him for a moment, then exchanges a glance with Chaud.
"It's . . . a little complicated," Dad says hesitantly. His tone makes Lan think he's definitely not going to answer, however much Lan asks.
Before Lan can think of anything to say, Famous glances up from his PET, looking alarmed.
"The Commissioner's car has gone missing!" he announces. "It went haywire suddenly, and then it just vanished!"
Dad freezes in place and Chaud flinches. Lan looks at them, shocked at the news, and wonders if they had somehow known about this - or, he thinks, if Chaud had somehow known. This has to have been what Chaud was telling Dad about, right? Otherwise Dad wouldn't have freaked out like that.
The next few minutes are full of panicked energy as Famous tries to conduct the Net Police to find the Commissioner and Superintendent. Chaud still has a look on his face like he's done something terrible and is just waiting for someone to start shouting at him for it, but neither he nor Lan can do anything, since they might be needed to defend DesertMan if the Darkloids make another attempt to take him back.
Finally, they get some news - but it's not the kind they want.
The monitor above them flickers, and NeedleMan appears on the screen, with the same lopsided smirk he'd had back when Lan and MegaMan had first met him. Everyone in the main room freezes, looking up at him as he greets them with a cruel laugh.
"Take a look at this," NeedleMan says, before the screen changes to show a familiar car, hemmed in by other cars on some sort of track.
"That's the Commissioner's car!" Lan exclaims, stiffening. "What've you done to them?"
"Nothing, yet," NeedleMan replies. "But if you want it to stay that way, you'll bring DesertMan to the location we've just sent to your commander over there."
Famous's PET beeps, and he grits his teeth as he checks the message. Lan can just about see the screen from here - it seems to be a map, with a glowing dot that's most likely the location NeedleMan wants them to take DesertMan to.
"Coward!" Lan shouts at NeedleMan, glaring at him. "You're taking them hostage?"
"You did the same with DesertMan," NeedleMan reminds him, clearly enjoying tormenting them far too much. "We just want our poor, sick friend back, that's all."
On the screen, one of the cars in front of the Commissioner's car is crushed by compactors on the sides and above the track.
"So, what're you going to do?" NeedleMan crows gleefully. "You don't have much time to decide. That car will be scrap pretty soon."
"Okay, fine!" Lan snaps. Famous glances at him, but doesn't protest Lan speaking for the Net Police. "We'll bring DesertMan to you!"
NeedleMan laughs and the screen goes blank.
"Come on," Famous says, gesturing for Lan to follow him. "I'll take you there on my motorbike."
Lan nods and follows him. But he glances over his shoulder at Chaud and Dad just before he leaves the main room, and even though he's worried about Kifune and Manabe being hurt - maybe even killed - he still wonders. Chaud had somehow known that Kifune and Manabe would be kidnapped, that much is obvious from the way he's acting.
How did Chaud know this would happen?
Mimic watches Lan leave with Famous. She's worried about what Lan's thinking - it had been impossible to hide the conversation between her and Dr. Hikari with him standing right there, after all - but she's also worried about what she's going to do now. She doesn't have any way to get to wherever Kifune and Manabe are, and she's pretty sure that Famous's motorbike won't fit one full-grown adult and two kids on it.
"You want to go too, don't you?" Dr. Hikari asks, making her glance up at him.
Mimic hesitates for a moment, and then nods.
Dr. Hikari nods back. "Go on," he says. "You'd probably figure out some way to go anyway, and I'd rather give you permission than panic about where you are only to find out you've followed Lan and gotten into trouble again."
Do I now officially have a reputation as a trickster and a troublemaker? Mimic wonders.
You always did, Chaud informs her.
Mimic slides off the table and dashes out of the main room. The scientists at SciLab are used to her by now, since she's been coming here nearly every day lately, so they simply move out of the way or pause while she sprints past them. She kicks off a wall to shave off some time, and a small group of passing scientists don't even bat an eyelid. She'd probably have more of a reaction to this knowledge if she wasn't currently trying to catch up to Lan and Famous before they leave.
Do you have a plan for the motorbike issue? Chaud asks.
I'm skinny enough to share, Mimic replies, more hopefully than she feels.
She darts out of the front doors of SciLab's lobby, and stumbles to a halt just as Famous's motorbike roars to life and takes off. Mimic's faster than she was before she started using Cross Fusion, but even she can't keep up with a motorbike - not unless she could somehow use Cross Fusion without a dimensional area. And if she could do that, she wouldn't even need to catch up to Lan and Famous.
ProtoMan can track them, Chaud reminds her.
Mimic's eyes widen, and she scrambles to pull out her PET. Before she can even say anything, she sees a map between ProtoMan and Arcadia, with a blinking light moving across it rapidly. ProtoMan and Arcadia give her identical grins, and Arcadia even gives her a thumbs-up. Looks like they thought of using ProtoMan's tracking ability at the same time as Chaud.
"If you try to follow their exact path, you'll never make it in time," ProtoMan says, as she starts off after Lan and Famous. "I suggest taking a more direct route."
Well, it's a damn good thing she recently learnt how to do parkour.
She stuffs her PET back into its holder, relying on ProtoMan's verbal directions. It'll be much easier to run and jump if she uses all of her limbs, and she also won't need to worry about accidentally dropping her PET.
Mimic runs at the wall full-tilt, hops up it two steps, then jumps and clutches at the top to haul herself up. She doesn't pause, running along the edge without even stumbling - apparently excellent balance was also transferred to her from ProtoMan, which is actually pretty helpful with stunts like this.
She's startled more than one person while running after Lan and Famous, and while she hasn't seen them since she'd watched them leave, ProtoMan tells her that she's not too far behind them. Cutting across a residential area, scrambling up walls and running across the rooftops of random people's houses, is one of the better ways to shave off more time. If she gets a few odd looks or startled shouts, she doesn't care - first of all because she has bigger things to worry about, and second of all because she's never felt more alive than right now, pulling death-defying stunts just because it's faster than running on the ground.
She's enjoying this. So much that she's not even scared when she thinks about the impending Darkloid fight - all she cares about right now is getting to her destination, and how she's getting to her destination.
The wall runs out abruptly, but up ahead there's a second wall, taller than this one, and she launches herself off the edge of the wall she's running along. She hits the second wall feet-first, scrambles up, then drags herself onto the top of the second wall and keeps going.
This wall's close to a building with a relatively flat roof, so Mimic hops onto the roof instead, seeing that it's easier to go across. The next building has a more slanted roof, but it's pretty near to this one, so she just hops across, rolling with the landing, and bounces back up onto her feet smoothly so she can keep running.
"They've turned!" ProtoMan calls. "I think they're slowing down - they must have reached their destination!"
Mimic puts on a burst of speed, sprinting up the slanted roof. The other side is too steep for her to run down, so she just slides, and then jumps down and kicks off the wall below to get down to ground-level again.
She's in an alley fenced off on both sides, but that means absolutely nothing to her. Climbing up one of the fences is far easier than jumping up a wall, and she vaults over the top, bending her knees to absorb the impact of landing, and takes off running once again down the street. There's more people here, seeing as it's a busy main road, but Mimic slips through the crowd easily - occasionally darting out onto the road when there's too many people to get through, dodging cars as easily as she does people, and sometimes cheating by climbing over parked cars.
She turns onto a wider street, less packed with people and cars, which is a breather compared to what she's done to get across the city so far. ProtoMan tells her she's not far from where Lan and Famous have stopped, just a couple of streets over, so she decides to cut through a wall of buildings just to avoid getting lost or something equally stupid.
One building has a bunch of pipes built into it, attached to the bricks like ivy, so she hops up onto a window sill, jumps to grab at one of the pipes, then climbs up them like a monkey - or a cat, since that's why she even has this ability. She gets up onto the roof and vaults over the side, landing on the roof of a smaller building, then jumps over the edge of the smaller building and slides down on another pipe.
Mimic hits the ground running and head straight for the second lot of buildings, getting over those as easily as she did the previous ones - there aren't any pipes this time, but the window sills provide easy handholds and footholds, and the building she's scaling is set deeper inward than the one next to it, so she bounces off the wall of the other building when the window sills aren't enough. The roof of this building doesn't lead down to a smaller building below, but she can see the factory where Kifune's car had been taken just over the edge - she remembers what it looks like from the anime, though she hadn't known where it was.
She reaches the edge of the building, wondering how she'll get down from here, and spots a convenient fire escape nearby. Climbing down it is child's play - ironic, since she is a child (no, wait, she's just in the body of one, she's not actually a kid).
As soon as her feet touch the ground once again, Mimic sees dimensional converters rising from the ground around the factory and the building itself. She takes off running, feet pounding on the concrete, but she won't make it unless she somehow goes faster.
Dammit. If she doesn't make it into the dimensional area before it forms, there's no way she'll be able to break in afterwards - there's nothing around that she can use to get the break-in speed right, and she's pretty sure she does not have time to go back to SciLab and ask if she can borrow those rollerblades from Dr. Hikari again.
Without even noticing what she's doing, Mimic switches to all fours. She barely even notices the concrete scratching the bare skin on her hands, and the factory looms up in front of her far faster than she could've managed on two legs.
She skids to a halt and tumbles over into a heap, nearly slamming into a wall, and lays there for a few moments, gasping for breath. Only when she's actually got air back into her lungs does she notice that she actually made it, and the dimensional area barrier is now shining several metres away, while every surface has a multi-coloured sheen to it.
"Sshh . . . sh-shii . . . sh-shit . . ." Mimic gasps, flopping onto her back.
You realise you just ran on all fours, like you do in Cross Fusion? Chaud asks.
Mimic pauses, though she's still gasping for breath.
I did? she wonders. She thinks back to the mad dash she'd just made, and blinks. Huh. So I did.
Data swirls nearby, and she panics for a moment, thinking that FlashMan has decided to come out and attack her directly instead of being nice and attacking Lan and the others instead. But then she sees Arcadia forming out of the swirling pixels, and when he's finished materialising in the dimensional area, he crouches next to her and tilts his head.
"Are you okay?" Arcadia asks, looking concerned. "That was, um . . ."
"Very impressive," ProtoMan says from her PET. "Also fast. You should run on all fours more often!"
"Hands," Mimic breathes, holding up her hands for Arcadia to inspect.
Arcadia winces sympathetically when he sees how raw the skin is. "Yeah, I wouldn't recommend doing that again," he says, both to Mimic and to ProtoMan. "During Cross Fusion is okay, since you've got gloves, but as a normal human, running on all fours like that is . . . obviously painful." He peers at her for a moment, then carefully reaches out and helps her stand up, gripping her arms rather than her hands. "Do you want me to download the battle chips for you? You'll still have to do the synchro chip on your own, of course, but I don't think you'd be able to download five chips at once with your hands like that . . ."
Mimic's hands are shaking, stinging, and she's pretty sure she can feel blood trickling from a few cuts she'd gotten when running like that, but she still has the presence of mind to look at Arcadia properly.
Sure, she's seen him in dimensional areas before, but she'd been in Cross Fusion at the same time, and she hadn't really thought about it. He's the same size as she is - though maybe a little taller, she thinks, but only because his feathered hood gives him a bit of extra height. His wings give him a bit of extra size, too.
It's pretty cool, getting to see one of her Navis like this. Cross Fusion is pretty cool, now that she actually knows more about it, but she won't get to see ProtoMan in the real world until the events of Beast. Meanwhile, thanks to Arcadia being independent, she can see him in the real world right now.
She lets Arcadia take her PET out, and then relays the battle chips that Chaud lists off for Arcadia to download. It's a little odd, seeing a NetNavi download battle chips to another NetNavi - even holding a PET - but at least it means she doesn't need to hurt her hands anymore than she has to.
Mimic takes her PET back as soon as the battle chips have been loaded, then winces when the sting of her raw skin increases as soon as she's holding it. She quickly downloads the synchro chip, and feels relief flooding her body when Cross Fusion makes the stinging go away. It'll be back when she gets out of Cross Fusion, sure, but at least for now she's okay.
"Wow," ProtoMan comments, "I can see why you don't want to do that again . . . Just the memory of it hurts. Is that what it's like to run on all fours without gloves to protect your hands?"
"We were moving so fast," Chaud says. Not as fast as they can in Cross Fusion, but still a hell of a lot faster than she could normally manage.
"Alright, c'mon," Arcadia says, turning to go into the factory. "We'd better go and find Lan and the others, they'll definitely need our help."
"Wait," Mimic says, quickly grabbing his arm. Arcadia turns back to face her, eyes puzzled. "You wanna make an entrance?" She's talking easier than she does as a full human - no stammering, though she's still quiet, and the Fusion has helped her recover a bit faster from her mad dash.
Arcadia blinks, tilting his head curiously. "What do you have in mind?" he asks.
Mimic tells him.
Arcadia looks at her for a moment, and then a slow smile spreads across his face. "Sure, let's go for it!" he exclaims.
Mimic nods, and steps back to give him some space to open his wings. He takes off into the air, heading for an alternate route inside the factory, and as soon as he's gone, Mimic crouches onto all fours - it still feels more natural doing this in Cross Fusion, though that mad dash had been purely instinctive and she hadn't even realised she'd done it until Chaud pointed it out.
She creeps around to the main entrance, wide open and casting the interior into shadows, though she doesn't her night vision to see inside. It's easy enough to see FlashMan, already materialised, gloating over an easy victory while Lan, Famous, Kifune, and Manabe back away from him.
For a moment, Mimic wonders why Lan hasn't Cross Fused yet. Then she remembers why he couldn't, and glances down at FlashMan's feet - sure enough, Lan's PET is on the floor, and FlashMan is about one step away from crushing it to dust.
In that case, ProtoMan says, we need to stop him.
Surprise attack? Chaud suggests.
That's practically our speciality at this point, Mimic jokes, slipping into the factory.
The shadows trailing around her help her to hide, and she crawls closer to FlashMan, unnoticed even by her own allies. They're too focused on FlashMan, Lan especially, since he's alternating between demanding and begging that FlashMan leave MegaMan alone.
Mimic glances up, toward the rafters keeping the roof together. She can make out a white shape moving down them silently. Even if Arcadia's feathers didn't glow whenever darkness like the Darkloids was nearby, he'd still have a hard time hiding, because his white colouring makes him stand out in stark contrast to the shadows. She hopes that no one else notices - FlashMan probably won't, given that he's too busy gloating, but Arcadia's making sure to stay in his blind spot even that high up, and he might get spotted by the humans in the factory. Hopefully they don't give him away if they do.
She speeds up a little, still creeping along on all fours, completely silent. This honestly reminds her of when she's playing Skyrim or Breath of the Wild, and she sneaks into a bandit camp or a monster camp, then lays waste to them by staying hidden and picking off all the enemies one-by-one. That thought makes her more excited, so much that she hardly even feels the instinctive fear that comes with facing Darkloids - at least, it's instinctive for her, anyway.
"And why should I bother sparing him?" FlashMan is asking, as Mimic gets close enough to see the sword-like attachments on his wrists in detail. "You and this Navi have been a thorn in the Darkloids' side for weeks, now. Not to mention that other brat and his two Navis. Shame they're not here, or I'd delete them, too."
He lifts up his foot.
"No!" Lan cries, starting forward, but Famous grabs him and stops him from going any further, though he looks like he doesn't want to watch this anymore than Lan wants it to happen.
Mimic taps the floor twice in quick succession, and Dark Shadow forms itself out of the shadows keeping her hidden. It lets out a static-screech, immediately launching itself at FlashMan, who has about a split second to look comically dumbfounded before Dark Shadow crashes into him and drives him back.
Mimic lopes after them, pauses next to Lan's PET, and then knocks it back over to Lan before continuing. Dark Shadow static-hisses and slams FlashMan to the ground, and Mimic uses what's left of the shadows around her to create her shadow-claws. She lashes out, but FlashMan rolls out of the way annoyingly quickly, and springs back to his feet. Mimic straightens up as well, just so she can make full use of her shadow-claws, while Dark Shadow static-hisses beside her.
FlashMan looks down, and his shoulder shake in a derisive huff. "Is that a skirt?" he sneers. "I thought you were ProtoMan, not ProtoWoman."
Mimic pauses. "You got a problem with women?"
"Oh, no, of course not," FlashMan says, in the most mocking tone she's ever heard. "I'm just wondering if that silly skirt means you're just some wimpy little girl."
Delete him, ProtoMan instantly says, sending waves of righteous fury through their shared mind.
Oh, she'd love nothing more than to do as ProtoMan says, but unfortunately, they actually need FlashMan to survive this battle. How else will ShadeMan begin to mistrust his so-called 'partner'?
Annoy him, then, Chaud suggests.
Now that, I can do.
"I happen to like this skirt, actually," Mimic says, shrugging. She can almost feel the incredulous stares she's getting from the four humans behind her. "Don't think it's wimpy at all."
Dark Shadow static-hisses, cutting off whatever derisive comment FlashMan would've made in response.
"At least I have a face," Mimic adds, giving FlashMan a sharp-toothed grin.
One of FlashMan's eyes twitch. "What."
"I said you're a whiny little bitch," Mimic says, louder.
FlashMan clenches his fists, glowering at her. Mimic has no idea how she isn't immediately terrified by that, but it might have something to do with the adrenaline she still feels from parkouring across the city, and ProtoMan and Chaud helping to ground her.
Maybe one day you'll walk away from a battle and realise that you weren't afraid at all.
Mizuki's words come back to her in a flash. She's still afraid, of course she is, but . . . it's less intense than it used to be. Maybe it's because she's more confident with Cross Fusion, after all those tests and experiments. Or it might just be because of the adrenaline, like she'd just mentioned, but either way, she might be getting closer to the point where she really can just walk away from a battle with a Darkloid and not be afraid.
"You're all high and mighty, skirt-boy," FlashMan calls, "but I've got some news for you - that fancy Cross Fusion crap isn't going to save your pathetic human hide this time. Wanna know why?" He doesn't wait for her to answer. "I downloaded a Dark Chip before I materialised. And you know exactly what that means."
Mimic nods. "He's a lot more powerful than he usually is," she says.
FlashMan peers at her, momentarily thrown off. "What?"
"He gets a massive boost in power whenever something like you is nearby," Mimic explains. "But if you've downloaded a Dark Chip on top of that, he's gonna be a hell of a lot more powerful now."
"Who is?" FlashMan demands, stepping forward threateningly.
Arcadia answers by throwing a Firebomb in his face.
Mimic hears the humans yelp behind her when Arcadia drops down out of nowhere in their eyes, but she'd already seen him getting into position, so it had only been a matter of goading FlashMan into bragging about the Dark Chip he'd downloaded. All so Arcadia could make a cool entrance like this.
FlashMan is yelling, clutching at his face, and when the Holy Fire dies down and he lowers his hands, Mimic sees that the smooth plate of the Darkloid's face is burnt and warped, like steel when it's been heated and broken. His eyes are still visible, though, and they're practically burning with rage - pun totally intended.
Mimic holds out one shadow-clawed hand, feels a cold, clawed hand clutching hers in turn, and then hurls Dark Shadow at FlashMan with as much strength as she can muster. Dark Shadow hits FlashMan head-on and they both collide with the wall, caving it in, and Mimic hears Dark Shadow's static-screeching and sees its staring white eyes gleaming through the dust.
She darts over, easily scampering over the rubble, and clamps her teeth down on one of FlashMan's legs. He howls as she starts dragging him, his leg shredding where her teeth are ripping into him - it tastes a little weird, almost fuzzy, like the bubbles of a fizzy drink, but she keeps her teeth firmly on FlashMan's leg while Dark Shadow claws at his top half.
Arcadia appears above them, hovering on silent wings, and throws a smaller Firebomb at FlashMan's chest. Dark Shadow darts away for a moment while the Holy Fire explodes and burns, and then its back as soon as the fire has faded, and all the while, FlashMan yells and screams and thrashes.
Mimic eventually decides to let go of FlashMan's leg, because the odd fuzzy taste is making her mouth go kind of weird, and she backs off, hissing at him with her hair bushing out like a cat's tail. Dark Shadow breaks off as well, melting into tendrils of shadows and flowing over to her, then re-forming itself.
FlashMan gets up, keeping most of his weight on his uninjured leg, and glares at her. He tries to create a Neon Light in one hand, but Arcadia hurls a Bound Sword at him, cutting through his arm and making the Neon Light fizzle out.
Can I do it now? Chaud asks eagerly.
Sure, why not? Let's finish on a high note, Mimic says.
"Flame, Elec, Aqua, Bamboo Sword, download!" Chaud calls. "Program advance, Elemental Sword!"
It materialises on Mimic's arm, and she gives FlashMan one last grin before launching herself forward and delivering a series of sword-slashes. With each hit, FlashMan looks more and more panicked, until finally his anger is completely gone, replaced with pain and terror.
He vanishes with one last scream, and Mimic banishes the Elemental Sword. She's still grinning as the dimensional area fades around her and she's automatically forced to Cross Out, while Dark Shadow just vanishes and Arcadia is forced back into the cyberworld.
Mimic catches her PET before she remembers the raw skin on her hands, and then promptly drops it with a pained hiss, baring her teeth, forgetting for a moment that she's not in Cross Fusion anymore and there's no actual reason for her to be doing that.
"That was awesome!" Lan says, suddenly right next to her, and she jumps. "Oops, sorry, didn't mean to scare- holy crap, what happened to your hands?"
"Hurts," Mimic mumbles, wincing.
Lan makes a sympathetic noise as he bends to retrieve her PET for her. "Yeah, I can imagine," he says. "What'd you even do?"
Famous comes over with Kifune and Manabe as Mimic replies.
"Ran, a-a lot," she says. "On, um, all f-f-fours? Had t-to- to get into . . . into th-the barrier . . ."
Why was it so much easier to talk when she was in Cross Fusion? Now that she's fully human again, she can barely get her words out. She's in equal parts ashamed of it, and frustrated by it.
"You should probably get those hands looked at when you get back home," Famous suggests.
"Before you go," Kifune says, stepping forward with Manabe, "we'd like to thank you." He glances at Lan. "Both of you. Lan, you and MegaMan saved us from being crushed by that machine, and Chaud, you and your Navis arrived just in time to save us all from that Darkloid."
"You're both exceptional Net Savers, and we're glad to have you on our team," Manabe adds.
Mimic feels like she could almost glow with pride and sheer joy at hearing that praise. Beside her, Lan looks ready to burst, he seems that excited.
"Now go home, before your heads get too big to fit through the door," Famous jokes.
"Aw, c'mon!" Lan protest, slumping. "I do that once and no one ever lets me forget it . . . And besides," he adds, with a glance at Mimic, "I think Chaud could do with a boost in confidence every now and then. He's the last person who'd let power go to his head."
Maybe not power, Mimic thinks, but I'd definitely like to be able to talk properly.
You will, eventually, Chaud tells her. You're not the only one either - Cross Fusion lets me talk, as well.
. . . Ah. Right. How could she have forgotten? No one else can hear Chaud except for her, unless they're in Cross Fusion, in which case, he's somehow able to speak and everyone can hear him, the same way everyone can hear ProtoMan during Cross Fusion.
Cross Fusion may have transferred some of ProtoMan's abilities to her, but she doesn't think there's any way she can give Chaud the ability to speak without being in Cross Fusion. If there was, she'd do it in a heartbeat, even if she'd need to come up with some bullshit story as to why there's suddenly a disembodied voice making random comments every now and then.
"Well, your skin wasn't scraped clean off, at least," Dr. Amano says later that day, when Mimic is back home with Lan and Dr. Hikari. "Give them a thorough wash every day, and keep the plasters on the worst of the cuts until they heal." She gives Mimic an amused smile. "And maybe next time you'll remember not to scrape your hands on concrete."
Mimic responds with a sheepish grin. This'll definitely teach her to at least be more careful. Maybe she should take to carrying around a pair of gloves, though she's not sure how long the gloves would last if her hands got scraped up this badly.
Dr. Amano is suddenly peering at her with furrowed brows, and she leans in, narrowing her eyes. Mimic is fairly used to Dr. Amano doing this by now, due to all the tests and experiments at SciLab, so she simply keeps still and lets the doctor inspect her.
"That's new," Dr. Amano says, pulling back. She hums, then glances at Mimic's PET, set up on the table in front of the sofa.
Only ProtoMan is in there, since Dr. Amano - who also happens to be Hatsuko Amano's aunt - is under the impression that Arcadia was stolen, and she'd be able to recognise him if she saw him. At the moment, Arcadia's inside Lan's PET, where he can still listen to what's going on but stay out of Dr. Amano's sight.
"Could you show me your teeth, ProtoMan?" Dr. Amano asks.
ProtoMan looks at her blankly, then shoots a questioning glance at Mimic. She shrugs and nods for him to do as the doctor says.
Dr. Amano peers at ProtoMan for a few moments, then turns back to Mimic. "Would you mind showing me your teeth, too?"
No, don't tell me . . . Mimic thinks, even as she obediently opens her mouth for Dr. Amano.
"What's wrong?" Dr. Hikari asks, looking concerned. "Were his teeth broken or something?"
"He did nearly bite FlashMan's leg off during the battle," Lan comments. "But he seemed fine afterwards, aside from his hands . . ."
"Oh, no, his teeth are fine," Dr. Amano says, looking over at them. "It's just . . . they're sharper than they used to be."
Fucking hell, Mimic sighs, how much more is gonna be transferred from Cross Fusion?
You'll probably get retractable claws at this rate, Chaud jokingly suggests.
Oh, god, please no, Mimic groans. The parkour and night vision are cool, but this is just getting ridiculous.
That's what happens when the Navi you Cross Fuse with is half-cat, Chaud smugly replies.
"His teeth aren't as sharp as ProtoMan's," Dr. Amano says. "But they're definitely sharp enough that he'll need to be careful when biting things." She gives Mimic a quick smile. "So no biting people, alright? Otherwise you might get the entire city wondering if there's some sort of animal-human hybrid running around."
Mimic lifts up her scarred hand and studies it, then glances at Dr. Amano.
"You already had unusual jaw strength before," Dr. Amano agrees. "I'm not sure if that'll change too, but your bite will certainly be more deadly now. So, in all seriousness, be careful if you do bite someone, because you could do some real damage."
Mimic nods, taking that in for future reference. However ridiculous this is, it might prove useful at some point - you never know when someone could attack her, not a Darkloid but just some random human off the street or even one of their human enemies at some point, and being able to do serious damage with her teeth would be pretty useful.
She still hopes she doesn't get claws, though. Even if she can think of a use for surprisingly-sharp teeth, she's pretty sure retractable claws would be stretching it way too far.