"Behind you!" Lan exclaims.
MegaMan whirls around and fires his Shotgun at the Dominerd trying to sneak up on him. Nearby, ProtoMan jumps onto the face of another Dominerd, and then uses it as a springboard to get at the Shadow virus above them. Arcadia blasts past through the air, spinning and trailing Holy Fire like a speeding comet, burning and deleting viruses that get caught in the whirling stream.
"How many more of these things are there?" Lan asks, exasperated, as MegaMan switches to the Mega Buster and starts firing at every virus nearby.
"Army," Chaud reminds him.
"Yeah, but there's been so many," Lan complains.
Chaud looks at him silently. Lan starts to feel judged within seconds.
"I know we're protecting the converter," Lan says, glancing at the dimensional converter set up in the lab. "And I know it's really important for Dad's research." He sighs. "But why do we have to protect this every single day?"
Chaud just shrugs.
"We're supposed to be in school right now," Lan grumbles. He'd be happier if their shifts didn't clash with school so much - Ms. Mari's already getting on their case about unfinished schoolwork, and even though she hasn't asked, Lan can tell she wants to know why Lan and Chaud are only coming in during the afternoon.
Plus, there are so many viruses. They started coming nearly every single day after Chaud stopped Nebula from stealing the Cross Fusion research, apparently deciding they didn't want humans to have the ability to Cross Fuse whenever they wanted. If their enemies can't steal their research, they'll stop them from going any further with it.
Of course Lan knows how important the dimensional converter is. He's just sick of protecting it.
They head to school in the afternoon, and Lan somehow manages to get through whatever's left of the school day. When the bell rings, he sighs and slumps down in his seat, burying his face in his arms. Chaud gives him a half-sarcastic pat on the head as Lan complains.
"S'not fair," Lan mutters. "Today it was Dominerds and Shadows. Yesterday it was Spikeys and Mettaurs. I haven't had the lunch special in days . . ."
He can almost hear Chaud rolling his eyes.
"Hey, guys."
Lan glances up at the sound of Maylu's voice, and sees her standing nearby with Tory and Chisao.
"What's up with you?" Maylu asks curiously, glancing at Lan.
"You look really tired," Chisao adds.
Lan lets out an explosive sigh and slumps down again. This time, he actually sees Chaud rolling his eyes, but he's too worn out to bother reacting.
"I don't wanna protect the dimensional converter anymore," Lan grumbles.
"Dimensional converter?" Maylu repeats curiously. "That's what the Darkloids use, right?"
"I heard one was being studied at SciLab," Tory says.
Chaud waves to get everyone's attention, and then makes a shushing motion with his hands.
"Oh, right, we shouldn't talk so loudly about it," Maylu says, lowering her voice. "Sorry, guys."
"Eh, s'fine," Lan sighs. "Besides, it's not like it matters anyway. Every single day, viruses attack SciLab and try to destroy the converter, so our enemy already knows where it is."
He spots an uncomfortable look crossing Chaud's expression briefly, but before Lan can ask what that's about, Maylu speaks again.
"That sounds kinda weird," she comments. "Viruses shouldn't be able to break into SciLab's network so easily."
"Yeah," Tory agrees. "I'm pretty sure SciLab has one of the most advanced firewalls there is, so how do all those viruses get through it so easily?"
Lan straightens up, his tired mood suddenly vanishing. "I . . . don't know, actually," he admits. He glances at Chaud. "Do you think that guy who tried to steal the Cross Fusion research weakened the firewall somehow?"
Chaud shakes his head and raises his hands. [only sent virus to shut down systems] he tells Lan. [didn't touch firewall]
Lan hums curiously. "Then how do all those viruses get in every day . . .?"
[don't know] Chaud signs.
Maylu, Tory, and Chisao are trying to follow Chaud's signing, but they haven't learnt it like Lan did. They only know a few signs because they've seen Chaud using specific ones a lot and have figured out their meaning either because Lan told them when they asked, or they worked it out for themselves by listening to how Lan responded. But despite only understanding half the conversation, they can easily work out what's going on.
"I guess it must be pretty troublesome for you guys," Chisao says, looking between Lan and Chaud. He lowers his voice to an almost excited whisper. "Since you've gotta be Net Savers in secret, and all that."
Lan's about to reply to that, but then he sees Chaud's flat expression, and raises an eyebrow at him curiously.
"What's up with that look?" he asks.
[why is it secret] Chaud asks him. If he was using his voice, his tone would probably be as flat as his expression.
"Well, I mean . . . that's how this kinda stuff usually works, right?" Lan shrugs. "In movies or TV shows, the heroes have to keep their identities a secret to protect their loved ones or something."
[your parents already know] Chaud points out. He nods to Maylu, Tory, and Chisao. [so do they]
"Yeah, but still. It'd be a lot of trouble if word got out that the only people who can fight Darkloids are a couple of schoolkids."
Chaud throws his hands up in exasperation.
"Lan!" MegaMan calls, before he can even think of a way to respond to Chaud. "You've got an email!"
"So do you, Mimic," ProtoMan adds, at much lower volume. Probably because he doesn't need to interrupt a conversation.
Lan takes out his PET at the same time as Chaud. They both read through the email quickly, and Lan sighs, already foreseeing more tedious tasks ahead of them.
"Now we've gotta be bodyguards?" Lan complains. "Net Savers really do all kinds of stuff, huh, Mimic?"
But when he looks at Chaud, he sees that his friend's gone rigid, staring at the screen of his PET like he's facing down ShadeMan again. Lan has to call his name - his fake name, that is - a couple of times before Chaud jerks and comes back into awareness, blinking at Lan owlishly.
"What's wrong?" Lan asks, concerned. "You look like you saw the same ghosts that MegaMan and Arcadia saw in the converter."
[nothing I'm fine] Chaud signs with one hand, even though the look on his face is the exact opposite of fine. His other hand clutches at his PET like it's a lifeline.
"You sure?" Lan presses gently. "If you feel sick or something, I'm sure Famous wouldn't mind you sitting this one out. It's just bodyguard duty, after all."
For a moment, Chaud looks seriously tempted. But then he slumps a little, and sighs inaudibly.
[I'm fine let's go] he signs.
He gets up from his seat, tugging on Ragdoll's lead. Lan watches him gather his stuff together, and exchanges a worried glance with Maylu, Tory, and Chisao. Chaud is very clearly not fine, and whatever's wrong with him, it's got something to do with their new assignment of bodyguard duty.
Kifune and Manabe take them to the airport, where they're supposed to wait for the person they've been assigned to protect. Famous hadn't said who's coming in his email, but they must be pretty important if Lan and Chaud were assigned to protect them.
He's tempted to ask Chaud if he knows who's coming - Chaud always seems to know things that most people don't - but one look at his friend makes him decide not to try. Chaud still looks oddly on edge, and he keeps looking around like he's expecting a Darkloid to attack the airport at any moment. They'd had enough time to drop Ragdoll off at home, but Lan thinks maybe that was a mistake, because Chaud looks like he really needs Ragdoll right now.
He keeps an eye on Chaud even as he decides to try asking Kifune instead. "So, um, who's coming?"
"A scientist from Kingland," Kifune replies. "Your father asked him to come in to help us study the dimensional converter."
Lan perks up at that. The guy who's coming is a scientist, and he knows Dad? Maybe this won't be so tedious after all.
"His name is Dr. Regal," Manabe adds.
Lan doesn't miss Chaud's slight flinch when he hears that name. That's . . . worrying.
Does Chaud know Dr. Regal somehow? Lan doesn't see how, unless this Dr. Regal person ever worked with IPC.
Lan blinks as realisation sets in.
Maybe that's it. Dr. Regal probably worked with IPC when Chaud was still vice president, and having Dr. Regal here is reminding him of when he was still Chaud Blaze, rather than just Chaud.
However, a little voice of doubt speaks up in the back of his mind - Chaud had started acting weird about this before he knew who was coming. Then again, Lan doesn't know exactly what his email had said. For all he knows, Famous could've sent Chaud a more detailed email for whatever reason, and Chaud had known who was coming since then.
Maybe I can ask this Dr. Regal guy if he ever worked with IPC, Lan thinks.
If he did, Lan hopes he doesn't recognise Chaud and ask any awkward questions. Chaud looks different enough to how he used to that most people don't recognise him, sure, but most people don't look at him closely enough anyway. All they see is a skinny kid with long dual-coloured hair and odd eyes. If Dr. Regal met him before he had long hair and odd eyes, he might not realise who Chaud is, and will hopefully only know him as Mimic Lostie.
"Here he is now," Manabe says, nodding toward a man walking through the crowd toward them.
He certainly looks the part of a scientist, Lan thinks as he looks at the man. He's wearing a lab coat, though it's decorated with some sort of odd purple design on the front and edges, and there's a red device around his neck that Lan doesn't recognise. He's got what seems to be some kind of monocle over his right eye - Lan can't tell if he's just wearing it in place of glasses, or if it's some sort of cybernetic implant, like Chaud's cybernetic black eye.
Speaking of Chaud, Lan glances at him to see what his reaction to Dr. Regal is like.
Lan blinks, eyes widening a little, when he sees that Chaud's pulled back his lips a little and seems to be baring his teeth at Dr. Regal. He can just about hear a faint growl coming from Chaud, though it's difficult to hear because of the general noise of the airport around them.
But the growl increases in volume as Dr. Regal comes closer, until finally he's standing just a few feet away, giving Chaud a politely puzzled look.
Lan reaches out and brushes a hand against Chaud's arm, trying to get his attention and maybe stop him from growling, but Chaud just ignores him and keeps his eyes fixed on Dr. Regal. He'd been almost scared this entire time, so Lan's surprised to see such a display of obvious anger - it's almost like when he'd hissed at Lan after their Cross Fusion battle with DesertMan.
Kifune shoots Lan and Chaud a quick glance, but evidently decides to try and ignore the odd growling. "Welcome, Dr. Regal," he says, turning to the scientist. "We're glad to have you here."
"Thank you," Dr. Regal replies. His voice is deeper than Lan had expected, and there's an almost monotonous quality to his tone, though his words are friendly. "I'm glad to be here as well."
Chaud's growling rises in pitch. Lan tugs him back a couple of paces, stepping in front of him to block his view of Dr. Regal, though it doesn't work because Chaud shifts just enough to keep Dr. Regal in his sight.
"What's the matter?" Lan whispers. He's more worried than annoyed, because he's never seen Chaud react like this to anyone. Except maybe Hatsuko Amano, Arcadia's original operator. "Why're you growling at him? Do you know him or something?"
Chaud takes his eyes off Dr. Regal long enough to look at Lan. The growling stops for a moment as he replies.
"No," Chaud says. Somehow, his voice is even quieter than it usually is, and even just from that one word, Lan can hear his anger seeping through.
"If you don't know him, how come you're growling at him?" Lan asks. This is putting a hole in his theory that Dr. Regal has worked with IPC before - if Chaud really doesn't know him, there's no reason for him to have been so on edge, nor is there any reason for him to be so obviously angry that he's actually growling at Dr. Regal, baring his teeth like ProtoMan does when he's about to bite someone's arm off or something.
Instead of replying to Lan's question, Chaud turns his attention back to Dr. Regal, and again a low growl rumbles in his throat. If he's so angry at Dr. Regal that he starts growling every time he so much as look at him, Lan's really worried about what that means for their assignment - they're supposed to be Dr. Regal's bodyguards for the moment, but how can they guard him if Chaud looks like he wants to kill him?
"We will be escorting you for now," Kifune says, briefly distracting Lan from the dilemma of Chaud's growling. "These two Net Savers have been assigned to be your bodyguards until we arrive at the designated location."
Designated location? Lan repeats, as Dr. Regal turns to look at them. Maybe Kifune's trying to avoid having someone overhear where we're taking Dr. Regal.
"Oh," Dr. Regal says, now looking faintly surprised, "I was unaware that children could be Net Savers. How cute."
Chaud spits out a startlingly-loud hiss. Dr. Regal's eye widens - maybe the one under that odd monocle does too, but Lan can't see it, and he's still not sure if Dr. Regal even has a right eye.
"Mimic!" Kifune gives Chaud a stern look. "Control yourself. Be polite to Dr. Regal."
Chaud flashes a glance at him and stops baring his teeth. But Lan can still hear a faint growl coming from him. Seriously, why is Chaud so angry at Dr. Regal?
Kifune and Manabe exchange a quick glance, and Kifune turns to Dr. Regal while Manabe takes Lan and Chaud a few feet away, where they won't be overheard by their guest.
"What is going on?" Manabe asks in a low voice.
Chaud shakes his head and keeps staring at Dr. Regal. Manabe's eyebrows furrow slightly and she steps in front of him, blocking his view of the scientist more effectively than Lan did because she's taller than Chaud, not the same height like he is. Chaud stops growling when Dr. Regal is out of sight, but he seems to be staring through Manabe, as if he's trying to keep an eye on the object of his anger even though his view is blocked.
"Why are you growling at Dr. Regal?" Manabe presses.
Chaud hisses faintly at the mention of his name. Manabe's patience apparently runs out.
"If you won't tell me, fine," she says sternly. "But if you can't be professional about this - whatever it is - I'll take you off this assignment." Chaud jerks his head up to stare at her. "Do you want me to do that?"
" . . . No," Chaud eventually mumbles, looking down again.
"Then stop growling. I know your Cross Fusion has made you more like a cat, but that's no excuse to growl at people for no reason." Manabe looks at Chaud for a long moment, and then evidently decides his silence counts as agreement. "I was going to ask you and Lan to keep Dr. Regal between you in the car, as we usually do with these bodyguard assignments, but given how much you seem to hate him, it may be better to have Lan between you and Dr. Regal instead."
She glances at Lan questioningly.
"That'll be fine," Lan replies to her unanswered question. "I don't mind."
"Good," Manabe says, nodding. She turns around after giving Chaud one last searching look, and then heads over to Kifune and Dr. Regal.
Chaud's eyes immediately go back to Dr. Regal as soon as he's back in sight. Lan braces himself for another bout of growling, but Chaud seems to make an effort to control himself, and although Lan can see anger burning in his eyes, he doesn't growl or hiss.
He does tense up when Dr. Regal comes over with Kifune and Manabe, so Lan quickly plants himself between Chaud and Dr. Regal, as Manabe had told him to. Sure, she'd only said that Lan would have to keep them apart in the car, but he doesn't know if Chaud'll do anything to Dr. Regal if he has to walk any closer than he already is.
Lan feels a little hollow inside when he realises that he's actually afraid of what Chaud might do. He'd thought he knew Chaud better than anyone else - aside from ProtoMan and Arcadia, of course - but looking at him now, Lan hardly recognises him. It's like he's looking at a wild animal, caged and angry and lashing out at everything that comes too close. And wild animals are so often extremely unpredictable.
"So, you know my dad?" Lan asks Dr. Regal, when they're finally in the car and driving to SciLab.
He has Chaud on his right, and Dr. Regal on his left. Lan's determinedly trying to ignore Chaud's anger - he's still obviously making a huge effort to not start growling again, but his anger is almost tangible, and Lan could probably cut the tension in the car with a knife. So he's trying to lighten the mood by asking Dr. Regal some friendly questions; maybe if he shows Chaud that Dr. Regal is a nice person, he'll stop being so angry, or at least won't be angry enough to be so hateful.
"Yes," Dr. Regal replies, in his odd monotonous voice. He doesn't seem bothered by Chaud's anger - rather, he actually seems curious about it. Though Lan doesn't want to find out what would happen if Dr. Regal tries to talk to Chaud directly, so he's also trying to keep Chaud out of the conversation to avoid that. "He and I are quite well-acquainted with each other. I hold a great deal of respect for your father."
Lan hears a faint snort from Chaud. He can't be sure if he's imagining it, but did that sound like disbelief?
Great. First Chaud's angry at Dr. Regal for no reason, and now he's acting like every word coming out of the man's mouth is a lie.
Kifune gives Chaud a warning glance from the passenger seat, but when he talks, he addresses Lan. "Dr. Hikari studied the dimensional converter as much as he could, but he was unable to make any more progress. So he asked Dr. Regal to come, in order to study the energy system."
"Can it even be studied?" Lan wonders. "Seems like it's totally broken to me . . ."
The car turns down a street that Lan doesn't recognise. Lan blinks, glancing back at the way they'd come, and then looks at where they were supposed to go. He turns to Manabe, in the driver's seat.
"Um, Miss Manabe?" Lan leans forward in his seat. "SciLab is the other way . . ."
"This way is fine," Manabe says, perfectly calm.
"But . . ." Lan can be forgiven for being totally confused. "We're going to the place where the dimensional converter is, right?"
It's Kifune who answers. "The converter at SciLab is a decoy," he tells Lan. "Dr. Hikari had his team build it to divert the attention of our enemies. The real converter is in a hidden facility."
"What!?" Lan exclaims. He stares at Kifune and Manabe for a moment, and then glances at Chaud, expecting him to be just as surprised.
But Chaud doesn't look at all surprised. He seems to be giving his anger at Dr. Regal a rest for the moment, in favour of giving Lan an apologetic look.
"You knew about this?" Lan asks him. His first reaction would've been offended anger at the thought that Chaud had kept something this important from him, but one look at his shame-faced expression makes that anger melt away pretty quickly. "How come you didn't tell me?"
Chaud glances at Dr. Regal for a moment, then lifts his hands to reply. [your dad said not to] he signs.
"Dad did?" Lan blinks at him. "Why would-"
Chaud waves for him to stop talking. [said you might tell friends]
" . . . Oh," Lan says. "Yeah, that . . . I can see why it was kept from me, then."
Chaud gives him a curious look, like Lan's said something he hadn't expected, but before Lan can ask about it, Chaud glances past him and catches sight of Dr. Regal. He promptly turns away and starts ignoring everyone again.
Lan slumps back into his seat, mildly offended at the thought that no one - not even his dad - had trusted him enough to tell him something this important, but also struggling with the knowledge that he probably would've told his friends immediately. Lan might not mean anything by it, but he can't be sure what his friends would do with that kind of information.
Oh, they'd never sell him out or anything. He knows that. But they might have talked about it while he wasn't there, and someone who wasn't meant to overhear might have been listening in on their conversation.
So, yeah, he can understand why Dad, Chaud, and everyone else kept this from him. He's a little annoyed that he and Chaud have been working so hard to protect a fake converter this entire time, but he understands.
The car suddenly lurches, abruptly breaking him out of his thoughts.
"There are viruses in the onboard computer!" Manabe exclaims, trying to get the car back under control. "It's not responding. They're trying to cause an accident!"
"I thought something like this would happen," Kifune says. He turns in his seat to look at Lan and Chaud. "I'm counting on you two!"
"Right!" Lan exclaims, nodding determinedly and taking out his PET. "Mimic, let's go-"
Chaud puts a hand on his wrist and stops him.
Lan stares at him incredulously. "What're you-" he begins.
Before he can finish his sentence, Manabe grunts in surprise, and suddenly the car is back under her control. Lan stares in astonishment, and then turns to Chaud, wide-eyed, wordlessly asking for an explanation.
Chaud holds up his PET just in time to let Lan see Arcadia streaming back into it.
"All the viruses have been deleted," Arcadia reports.
Beside him, ProtoMan shifts, looking a little disappointed. He'd already been in Chaud's PET when Arcadia was streaming back into it, so that means Arcadia must've been in the onboard computer on his own, and he'd deleted every single virus before they could even become a problem. No wonder ProtoMan looks disappointed - he'd probably wanted to fight.
"Wow," Lan says, sharing a glance with MegaMan. "That was . . . fast."
"I was already in there," Arcadia explains. "Mimic thought someone might try to attack the car like this, so he sent me to defend it."
"You have amazing intuition," Kifune comments, giving Chaud an impressed look.
On Lan's other side, Dr. Regal leans forward and peers at Chaud's PET. "You have two NetNavis?" he asks curiously.
Chaud freezes for a split second, and then quickly puts his PET away, giving Dr. Regal a blank look. Lan can tell he's struggling to keep a hostile expression off his face, and once again he wonders why Chaud is so angry at Dr. Regal.
"He does," Lan replies for Chaud, since he doesn't want Chaud to start growling again. "Arcadia's actually an independent Navi, but he's always with ProtoMan and Mimic anyway, so he's pretty much Mimic's second Navi."
"Why is he still independent?" Dr. Regal asks, leaning back in his seat and focusing on Lan. He seems to understand that talking to Chaud won't get him any answers aside from irrational anger.
"He can materialise himself in dimensional areas because he's independent," Lan explains. "It's really useful, especially since Arcadia's immune to darkness like the Dark Aura - he gets a massive power-boost when he's near it, so he's really good at fighting Darkloids."
"Fascinating," Dr. Regal says slowly. "I was unaware that there was a Navi immune to the Dark Aura."
A hint of something like dark interest flashes across Dr. Regal's expression, but it's so brief that Lan wonders if he even saw it in the first place. He decides to put it down to his imagination - Dr. Regal's here to help them, and anyway, he's a scientist, so of course he'd be interested in Arcadia's immunity. He'd probably also be interested in MegaMan and ProtoMan, too, because they're both unique as well.
They finally arrive at the secret facility, thankfully without further incident. The only problem that remains is why Chaud's still so angry at Dr. Regal, but he keeps a lid on his anger as they climb out of the car and meet up with Dad.
"Dr. Regal, hello," Dad says, shaking hands with Dr. Regal. "Glad to see you! I hope you didn't come across any trouble on the way over here?"
"Nothing these two Net Savers couldn't deal with," Dr. Regal replies, glancing at Lan and Chaud.
Lan purses his lips and doesn't say anything. He hadn't actually done a thing, aside from stopping Chaud from growling at Dr. Regal. It had been Chaud who'd sorted out the virus attack, so quickly that Lan didn't even had time to jack in MegaMan, almost as if he'd known ahead of time that the viruses would attack the car like that. Kifune had thought something like that would happen, but the fact that Chaud had already sent Arcadia into the network and had him take out the viruses so quickly tells Lan that there's something more to this than Chaud's 'amazing intuition'.
Now's not the time to wonder about that, though. There's bigger things to think about aside from Chaud's . . . whatever-it-is.
"Shall we begin?" Dr. Regal asks, indicating that they should head inside.
"Aren't you tired?" Dad looks faintly puzzled. "You've had a long journey, after all."
"As a fellow scientist," Dr. Regal replies, "you must understand that I am more interested in research than rest."
Dad laughs a little. "That's true," he admits. "Alright then. Follow me."
Dad leads them all into the building. Lan would be more interested in his surroundings, but he's too busy keeping an eye on Chaud, who keeps his eyes fixed on Dr. Regal. He's still obviously keeping himself from growling, so Lan just wants to make sure he doesn't slip up by accident, in case Kifune and Manabe decide he can't handle this assignment and pull him out.
They're supposed to be partners. That means they're meant to work together. How can they work together if Chaud gets pulled off an assignment because he can't stop growling at someone?
Dad takes them through the building until they come to a heavy metal door. There's a palm scanner next to it; Dad puts his hand onto it, allowing it to scan his handprint, and then the door slowly rises upward and shows them a large, darkened room inside.
Dim lights flash on as they walk inside, revealing the real dimensional converter near the back of the room. There's a heavy-duty computer console set up next to it - probably what Dad's using to study the converter - and Dad leads them straight over to it.
"The Darkloid's dimensional converter," Dad announces, looking up at the converter with a solemn light in his eyes. "We took it here in order to keep it safe from any potential Darkloid attacks." Dad's expression darkens a little. "From what we can tell, it's a man-made device."
"Yes," Dr. Regal says, "perhaps."
Dad glances at him. "We've been trying to complete our collection and analysis of the existing data," he says. "We were hoping you could help us further that, Dr. Regal."
Dr. Regal doesn't respond immediately. He's studying the dimensional converter with a calculating look on his face - Lan's not sure why, but he shivers a little when he sees that expression. It's almost cold, detached, and it makes his skin crawl in a way he doesn't like.
Why? Lan wonders silently. Why does Dr. Regal unsettle me so much?
Is this why Chaud doesn't like Dr. Regal? Because he's so cold and detached? But that still doesn't account for Chaud's reaction when he found out about their bodyguard assignment. Lan wishes he could understand what's going on in Chaud's head right now.
"What is that?" Dr. Regal asks, gesturing to the wires attached to the converter.
"That's where SearchMan shot it," Lan tells him.
Dr. Regal barely reacts. "This converter would be nothing but scrap if the energy system had been destroyed," he comments.
Dad nods his agreement. "I think the Darkloid's secrets may be hidden within the energy system," he says. "We may also be able to use this to somehow track them to their hideout, wherever it may be. But that can come later."
"Indeed," Dr. Regal agrees.
"I thought if you could work on this," Dad says, "we might stand a better chance of figuring it out."
Dr. Regal looks down for a moment. "I have to wonder how useful I will be," he says quietly.
Lan hears a faint hiss from Chaud, and shoots him a quick warning glance. He sees Dad looking puzzled, and remembers that he doesn't know about Chaud's near-hatred of Dr. Regal. He'll have to explain what's going on later, though he hardly understands himself.
"Lan," Dr. Regal says, turning to him, "I apologise for asking this of you, but could you investigate the dimensional converter's network?"
"Well . . ." Lan hesitates for a moment. "I mean, sure, but . . . we've already tried a couple of times before." He glances at Chaud again, and then turns back to Dr. Regal. "We sent in MegaMan, and then Arcadia, and we didn't find much of anything."
Aside from those ghosts, he adds silently. But Dr. Regal doesn't seem like the kind of person who'd believe in ghosts, especially not digital ones, so he probably shouldn't mention them.
"Please," Dr. Regal says. "There may be vital information in there."
"Lan," Dad says quietly. "Go on."
Lan thinks about it for a moment - what more can Dr. Regal do that Dad and his team haven't already done? But then again, that's why Dad had brought in Dr. Regal in the first place, right? To help with this?
So showing him the network of the converter might be a good idea, even if the results are no different than last time.
"Okay," Lan agrees.
Within minutes, Dad's got the converter up and running - as much as they can with it being so damaged. Dr. Regal sits at the computer console, and when he gives the go-ahead, Lan jacks MegaMan into the converter's network.
"Is that a firewall?" Dr. Regal asks, eye narrowing slightly.
"MegaMan has a password downloaded into his systems," Dad explains. "We created this firewall as an extra precaution, just in case the enemy somehow learns of it's location."
Lan hears another faint hiss from Chaud, and barely restrains an exasperated sigh. Is Chaud gonna be like this the entire time that Dr. Regal's here? It's a good thing their bodyguard assignment will be over after this - they won't be going near Dr. Regal unless they need to, and Chaud won't have to be so angry all the time.
Lan checks his PET, and watches MegaMan jump at the firewall. A hole opens up, scanning him as he passes through, and then MegaMan lands on the other side, in the dimensional converter's network.
"Double Soul, Number Soul," Lan announces, "download!"
MegaMan is engulfed in the now-familiar light of a Double Soul transformation. After a few moments, he breaks through it, and now stands in the pale green-armoured form of Number Soul. They'd used this Double Soul when MegaMan had gone into the converter's network before, but hadn't really found anything useful. Maybe things will be different this time, and they'll have something to show Dr. Regal.
"Alright, MegaMan," Lan says, "begin the investigation!"
So he's playing it up a little, showing off a bit for their guest. So what? He wants to look professional. Besides, Dr. Regal might get the wrong impression of what a Net Saver is because of Chaud, so Lan wants to show him that not every Net Saver is like that.
MegaMan utters an affirmative, and begins to scan the network with Number Soul's analytical abilities. Lan sees the data being scanned and logged into his PET, and knows that it's being transferred to the computer console that Dr. Regal's sitting at.
After several moments of scanning, MegaMan speaks up.
"There's no new data," he reports. "Everything seems to be the same as the last time we tried to-"
He pauses.
MegaMan's scanners have just gone over the stairs that lead up to the giant hole in the network's sky, which is where the energy system is located. Lan checks the data, and frowns - the last time they'd scanned it with Number Soul, it hadn't shown anything that was useful. It doesn't seem to be showing anything useful now, but there's something different about it this time, though Lan can't quite figure out what that difference is.
"What is that?" Dr. Regal asks.
"That's the energy system," Dad explains. "It's been badly damaged, almost destroyed, and we haven't found anything useful in there yet."
Dr. Regal's expression shifts. "I want to have a look at that," he says, almost eagerly.
Beside Lan, Chaud mutters something that sounds like yeah, I bet you do. Again, Lan restrains his reaction. Why does Chaud have to be so suspicious and angry at Dr. Regal? The guy's done nothing to justify all this anger being directed at him.
Luckily, it seems that Dr. Regal is too intent on the energy system to notice Chaud's muttered comment. On the other hand, MegaMan seems more reluctant.
"I . . . I have a bad feeling about that place," MegaMan says. Lan can see how uneasy he already is, and he's not even anywhere near the stairs yet.
"Is something wrong?" Dr. Regal asks him.
MegaMan jolts like he's been shocked. "N-no," he quickly says. "I'm going now."
As MegaMan starts to make his way up the stairs, Lan begins to feel the same sense of uneasiness that's plaguing his Navi. The first time around had been bad enough for MegaMan, and even worse for poor Arcadia - have those two previous incursions into the dimensional converter's energy system made the ghostly visions worse, somehow?
"Be careful," Lan warns his Navi.
"Yeah," MegaMan replies faintly.
Even Chaud stops being angry at Dr. Regal, in favour of shuffling closer to Lan and watching the screen of his PET. He and Lan exchange a quick glance, knowing what's coming. How will Dr. Regal react to the ghostly Navis inside the converter's network?
MegaMan finally steps into the energy system, looking even more nervous than he had before. Almost immediately, the odd balls of light appear out of the darkness, and MegaMan flinches back with a gasp.
"MegaMan!" Lan exclaims.
The balls of light float toward MegaMan, shifting and forming into the same ghostly Navis that had appeared during the last two attempts to explore the network. The creepy moaning is exactly how Lan remembers it, and those black pit eyes and gaping mouths are no less unsettling to look at than they were before. Even Chaud seems affected, for all that he's probably the scariest person Lan knows, in a good way of course.
One of the ghosts goes straight through MegaMan's torso. MegaMan chokes on a yelp and covers his head with his hands, collapsing to his knees and shivering as the ghosts drift around him.
Lan's about to pull MegaMan out when he notices something shining near the middle of the energy system. In the last two explorations, it had been completely dark - but now, some sort of system appears out of the darkness, and more balls of light form and float around it, as if they're reacting to it somehow.
One of the ghosts moans and drifts closer, its form shifting to an even more terrifying visage. MegaMan looks up, catches sight of it, and screams.
"Log out!" Lan exclaims, quickly jacking MegaMan back into his PET before anything else can happen to him.
MegaMan appears back inside his PET, looking immensely relieved even as he trembles. He immediately shuffles to the side, half-hiding behind the side of the screen.
"Are you okay?" Lan asks him, tightening his grip on his PET. "Did- did the ghosts do anything to you . . .?"
"I'm- I'm f- I'm fine," MegaMan stammers.
Lan exchanges a glance with Chaud. Then Dr. Regal speaks up.
"Ghosts?" he repeats, sounding incredulous. Lan winces - he'd thought that Dr. Regal would be too practical to believe in something like this, but hearing it after witnessing the ghostly Navis terrorising his Navi is just plain hurtful. "Don't be ridiculous. There's no such thing."
"But . . ." MegaMan's voice cracks. He swallows and tries again. "But the last time I went in there . . . I saw the same thing, and heard the same mysterious sounds . . . A-Arcadia saw the ghosts too, and he felt the same things I did!"
Dr. Regal looks a little troubled at hearing that. He looks at Chaud, who meets his gaze with the slightest baring of his teeth, but Dr. Regal doesn't blink. He looks away and turns to Dad.
"What about that other Navi?" he asks. "The red-armoured one. I don't recall anyone saying that he went in there."
"ProtoMan can't go into the converter," Dad explains. He looks a little uncomfortable at being put on the spot like this, but there's no hesitation in his tone. "He has an odd program in him that causes things around him to glitch sometimes. It's nothing too serious, just the odd flickering of lights or computer screens, or sometimes electronic devices that stop working when he's in a network connected to them. But we didn't want to risk sending him into the converter, just in case his program did something to it."
"I've never heard of a NetNavi program that causes things to glitch like that," Dr. Regal comments, glancing at Chaud again. "Viruses, perhaps, but not NetNavi programs."
"Yes, well . . ." Dad coughs awkwardly. "In any case, ProtoMan can't go in. I'm sorry if you wanted a more in-depth look at the energy system, Dr. Regal."
"That's fine," Dr. Regal dismisses. "But MegaMan mentioned feeling something." He turns to Lan. "Would you mind explaining that?"
It's MegaMan who speaks up, and Lan doesn't protest, since he's the one who can describe it more accurately anyway. Lan's never been inside the converter - he can't, since he's a human and not a NetNavi - so he's never felt whatever it is that MegaMan and Arcadia had felt when they went in there.
"It was . . . it was like endless suffering," MegaMan says softly, gripping the edge of the screen like he's trying to ground himself. "The only think I felt in there was heartbreak and sadness . . . like I'm surrounded by the cries of a thousand NetNavis . . ."
Lan feels a mixture of unease and sympathy upon hearing that. He can't imagine what it'd be like to feel that every time you go into a specific place - and Arcadia felt it even more than MegaMan did. Just the thought of either of them having to feel that and being so affected by it is almost horrifying.
It's probably a good thing ProtoMan can't go in there, Lan thinks, glancing at Chaud. If he freaks out while he's in the converter, he might accidentally blow it up or something.
It's not entirely implausible - ProtoMan had broken a light and nearly dropped it on Raika's head a while ago, and had threatened to bring down the entire building afterwards. If he can do that kind of damage just from inside the network of a building, Lan's not really sure he wants to find out what'll happen if ProtoMan freaks out inside of the network of a dimensional converter.
Meanwhile, Dr. Regal has a thoughtful look on his face. "The cries of NetNavis . . .?" he murmurs, almost to himself. Then his eyes widen. "It can't be . . . The energy source of this dimensional converter . . . "
Before anyone can make sense of his muttering, Dr. Regal springs out of his seat and goes straight over to the dimensional converter. On the way, he brushes a little too close to Lan, and although Chaud's on his other side and far enough away that Dr. Regal doesn't even touch him, he still hisses and glares at Dr. Regal.
"I may be able to repair this . . ." Dr. Regal says. "If I am indeed correct, that is."
Lan feels a jolt of excitement at that. He glances at Chaud, expecting him to be similarly excited despite all the hostility that he's been showing so far, and is disappointed to see that Chaud's still glaring at Dr. Regal's back.
Dr. Regal asks them to leave the room so he can study the converter. Apparently he works better on his own, without people looking over his shoulder - something which Lan can sympathise with, because he hates it when people are watching him do schoolwork. It's almost like he can feel their judgement at how slow he's going or how badly he's doing the work.
Dad leads everyone out. Kifune and Manabe head outside the facility, to help with organising the Net Police on guard outside, but before Lan can even think of following them, Dad stops him with a hand on his shoulder.
Lan turns around and sees that Dad's also stopped Chaud, and judging by the look on Chaud's face, he knows what Dad wants to talk about. Lan can guess too.
"You don't seem to like Dr. Regal very much," Dad says to Chaud. "And Lan seems to have been keeping you away from him deliberately."
"Manabe asked me to," Lan puts in, before Chaud can reply. "She wanted to keep Chaud and Dr. Regal apart, 'cus Chaud doesn't like him."
"Is there any particular reason?" Dad asks.
"If there is," Lan replies, "Chaud's not telling us."
Dad looks at Chaud again, raising an eyebrow. The silent prompt is clear, but Chaud stares back at him sullenly, keeping his mouth firmly shut.
"Chaud, c'mon," Lan says, nearing desperation. "It's just the three of us now. How come you don't like Dr. Regal?"
" . . . lightly," Chaud mutters.
"What?"
"I said that's putting it lightly," Chaud says, a little louder. He's still just as quiet as he always is, but Lan's surprised to hear such a steady tone from him, and he doesn't stammer at all. Seems like anger gives Chaud the ability to speak properly, like Cross Fusion does.
"It's more than just dislike?" Dad looks puzzled. "Chaud, what's going on? Do you know Dr. Regal personally?"
Chaud bares his teeth a little. "No," he replies.
"Then how come you're so angry at him?" Lan breaks in, because he's too impatient to wait for Dad to dance around the subject like he seems to be doing. "Sure, Dr. Regal's a little creepy, but he hasn't even done anything to you!"
"Oh, hasn't he," Chaud mutters.
Lan's patience snaps. "What is wrong with you!?" he demands, stalking up to Chaud. "He's here to help us, and you seem to be doing your best to make him feel as unwelcome as possible! You're lucky I'm here as well, or Dr. Regal might think every Net Saver is as terrible as you are!"
He regrets those words as soon as they're out of his mouth, but he can't take them back now.
Chaud looks torn between anger and hurt, making Lan feel even more guilty. On the other hand, Dad looks downright furious, and he steps between them and pushes them apart with a gentleness that doesn't match his expression.
"That's enough, both of you," Dad says sharply. "Lan, go outside and cool down. And while you're at it, call your mother and let her know that we'll be late coming home. Alright?"
" . . . Alright," Lan mutters, backing away a few paces.
As he turns on his heel and walks away, he hears Dad murmuring to Chaud, but if Chaud responds, Lan doesn't hear it. He turns a corner and keeps going, pushing down the swelling mixture of frustration and guilt battling within him.
Lan stays outside for a while, patrolling the perimeter of the facility just for something to do. Manabe had caught him after he'd called Mom, and upon seeing his frustrated energy, had suggested that he do something useful with it - so, he's patrolling.
The repetitive walking helps him burn off some of his energy, at least. But there's nowhere for his feelings of frustration and guilt to go - though as more time passes, the frustration starts to die down, and the guilt gets more intense.
He's still angry at Chaud for being so unfair to Dr. Regal. But he really regrets saying something like that to Chaud - he's not a terrible Net Saver, Lan actually thinks he's great and he loves it when Chaud does something awesome, mainly because Chaud's so nervous and timid most of the time that Lan can't help but be impressed and want to cheer him on when he fights or does something cool. But in the heat of the moment, he'd said something he didn't mean, and he really, really wants to apologise.
But he can't. Not yet, anyway. He's still got a bunch of energy to burn off, and besides, he's not sure if Dad's done talking to Chaud yet. Dad seems to be able to get Chaud to open up more easily than anyone else these days, and although Lan's happy that Chaud seems to be connecting with more people, he can't help but feel a pang of jealousy. He knows it's stupid and unfair - he can't expect Chaud to only be close to three or four people forever, after all.
Lan sighs, pausing in his patrolling. His thoughts are a jumbled mess right now, and he probably won't be able to make sense of them until he's gotten rid of the guilt that's eating at him.
"Lan?"
He tenses a little upon hearing MegaMan's voice. But he doesn't get his PET out - if MegaMan's angry at him for being so mean to Chaud, he's not sure he wants to see it.
But MegaMan doesn't sound angry. "Dad sent us a message," MegaMan tells him, in a subdued tone. "He wants you to come back now."
" . . . What about the patrol?" Lan asks, trying to stall.
"He's already cleared it with Manabe."
Ah. There goes his only excuse.
Lan sighs again, and turns back to head inside. He's almost dreading this, despite how much he wants to apologise to Chaud. If Chaud's still angry, he could easily lash out, and Lan's not sure he can defend himself against Chaud. He's perfectly capable, of course, but he doesn't want to hurt Chaud, even if it means he has to endure Chaud biting him or something.
He thinks of Chaud's sharp teeth - not as sharp as ProtoMan's, but still sharp enough to cause damage - and shudders. Those teeth could probably rip through his skin as easily as paper.
When he gets back to the hallway leading to the room with the dimensional converter inside, Lan is a little surprised to discover that the door is still closed. Whatever Dr. Regal's doing in there, he's clearly not finished, and Lan wonders how long he's going to be.
Then all thoughts of Dr. Regal are chased out of mind when he catches sight of Chaud, sitting on a box and staring at the floor with an unreadable expression. Dad's pacing nearby, but Lan can't read his expression any more than he can Chaud's.
He knows Chaud's hearing is a lot more sensitive now, and Chaud definitely heard his footsteps approaching, but he doesn't look up even when Lan stops a few feet away. It's Dad who looks over at him first, and he stops pacing almost immediately.
"I still don't know why Chaud hates Dr. Regal so much," Dad says. On the box, Chaud twitches, but doesn't look up. "He won't tell me. But he's agreed to try and control himself, at least until we're done here."
Lan blinks slowly, looking at Chaud. How long will that control last, he wonders, when Chaud is faced with Dr. Regal once again? He's calm now, or at least Lan thinks he's calm, but what about when he sees Dr. Regal? If Chaud starts growling again, he might get taken off this assignment, however long it's going to last.
. . . He probably didn't help by insulting Chaud.
"I'll try to help," Lan says to Dad. "But I don't know how much I can do . . ."
"It's a little difficult when we're not sure how Chaud will react to things," Dad agrees. "Cross Fusing with ProtoMan has changed his behaviour in ways we may not even realise until he comes across a specific situation, like this one."
Lan feels a jolt of something like fear stab through him. "Does that mean Chaud'll have to stop using Cross Fusion?"
Dad blinks, looking surprised. "Of course not," he replies, much to Lan's relief. "However much Cross Fusion changes him, the only real danger is when he goes into battle."
Lan murmurs agreement, and glances at Chaud. Dad seems to understand that he wants to talk to Chaud now, as he steps back and leans against the opposite wall, giving Lan and Chaud some sort of privacy.
"Chaud?" Lan says hesitantly. Chaud twitches again, but all he does is lower his head a little. Lan can't see his expression anymore because his face is hidden by his hair. "I'm sorry about what I said earlier. I didn't mean it . . ."
" . . . I know," Chaud mumbles. "M's-sorry too . . ."
Lan's not sure exactly what Chaud is apologising about. It can't be about how unfair he's being toward Dr. Regal - even Dad couldn't get any answers out of Chaud, and he seems to be hanging on to whatever reason he has for hating Dr. Regal so much. Maybe he's saying sorry for being so argumentative, though Lan was just as bad.
He leans against the wall beside Chaud. He'd thought that apologising would fix things, since that's what had helped last time they'd fought like this, but he still feels guilty. He doesn't like arguing with Chaud - it feels . . . wrong, to argue with someone who's been hurt so much. And he guesses Chaud doesn't like arguing either, though Lan's not about to try guessing his reasons for not liking it; whatever the reasons are, he doesn't want to assume anything.
The next few hours are . . . kind of awkward. But Lan and Chaud try to talk - not about their argument, just about NetBattles, or school, or anything that isn't why they argued - and though it takes a bit of forced effort, they're finally starting to be sort of okay again.
Then the door slides open, Dr. Regal steps out, and Chaud promptly turns hostile again. Lan tries not to think of this as wasted progress, since Chaud never said anything about being nice to Dr. Regal - Dad had said that he'd only agreed to keep himself under control, which means he'll probably just be trying not to growl and hiss at Dr. Regal so much.
"I'm done," Dr. Regal says. "Would you like to inspect my work, Dr. Hikari?"
"Of course!" Dad exclaims eagerly.
Dr. Regal takes them inside the room. There's a wide table near the front, with part of the dimensional converter set up on it - Lan quickly identifies it as the energy system, taken from the dimensional converter so Dr. Regal could fix it.
And from the looks of it, he has.
"You were able to repair it?" Dad's eyes are about as wide as they can go, and he looks extremely excited.
"Yes," Dr. Regal says. If the proof wasn't right in front of them, Lan would think that Dr. Regal hadn't fixed the system at all - he doesn't seem as excited as Dad is. "We may be able to activate the dimensional converter with these repairs."
"This is so cool!" Lan exclaims, turning to Chaud excitedly. "We'll be able to use Cross Fusion anytime we want!"
Chaud glances at him, but quickly goes back to staring at Dr. Regal with barely-disguised hatred. He's keeping his expression mostly blank, but Lan knows him pretty well, so he can see the rage flickering in his eyes.
Lan slumps a little. Chaud can't even let go of this strange hostility long enough to be excited about being able to Cross Fuse whenever they want.
"Thank you, Dr. Regal," Dad says, almost breathlessly. "We can set up the converter again and test it out immediately, if that's alright?"
"Of course," Dr. Regal replies. "However, these are only temporary repairs. Previous dangers may still remain, so we must be on guard and be careful."
"Yes, of course," Dad quickly agrees.
They bring in a team of SciLab scientists to help with setting up the dimensional converter once again. Lan's good with technology, but he doesn't think he'd be able to help with this, and he knows Chaud's smart but not that kind of smart, so they step back and stay out of the way to let the team work.
"How did he fix it?" Chaud wonders quietly, after a few minutes.
Lan blinks, giving him a puzzled glance.
Chaud looks back at him with an oddly intense light in his eyes, though his expression remains more or less blank. "Dr. Hikari studied it for days," Chaud says. "But he couldn't do anything. Yet this guy-" He glances at Dr. Regal briefly. "-comes in, and he fixes it within hours. How?"
"Well, that's what he was brought in for, right?" Lan shrugs. "To help with the energy system. And he's a scientist, so of course he'd be able to fix it."
"Everyone in this room, aside from us, is a scientist," Chaud points out. "None of them could do it. Why could he?"
Lan sighs. "Are you just asking 'cus you're trying to find a reason to justify how much you hate him?"
He doesn't want to fight with Chaud again, but he has to ask that. First Chaud was openly hostile toward Dr. Regal, and now he's trying to stir up rumours about him? Dr. Regal fixed the energy system, and that's good news, so they should be grateful to him, not suspicious. He's a genius, and this is exactly why Dad wanted him to help them out in the first place.
Chaud leans in close enough that Lan can clearly see his eyes reflecting the dim light in the room. "Think, Lan," he hisses. "Who else would be able to fix this thing so easily but the person who built it in the first place?"
Lan stares at Chaud in dismay. "Seriously?" he asks incredulously. "Now you're doing conspiracy theories? Whoever built this thing is our enemy. If Dr. Regal built it, why would he fix it for us?"
"Maybe he's tricking us," Chaud say insistently.
Lan shakes his head. "Just because you're a scary trickster doesn't mean everyone who's remotely creepy is the same."
Chaud's eyes widen. "Wh- no! That's not- that's not what- what's ha-happening, I-"
"I'm sorry, Chaud, but it honestly sounds like you're just trying to find an excuse to hate him," Lan interrupts. He doesn't like saying these things, but what Chaud is saying is absolutely ridiculous, and if the only way to get through his head is to be wicked blunt, then he has no choice.
"I'm . . . I'm not . . ." Chaud's starting to look like he's losing hope.
While it makes Lan feel guilty all over again, he can't help but think that this is a good thing. Maybe, if he can get Chaud to give up on this conspiracy theory, he'll see how ridiculous this all is. And then he'll see Dr. Regal for who he really is - a slightly-creepy dude who's just as passionate about science as Dad is, and just as committed to helping them take down the Darkloids and Nebula.
Chaud doesn't try to convince him that Dr. Regal is their enemy again. He doesn't even glare at Dr. Regal anymore - he just stares at the floor with an expression like someone's shot Ragdoll in front of him. Lan doesn't think there's anything he can say to make this better, so he keeps quiet and watches the team of scientists work.
Finally, the scientists helping Dad and Dr. Regal report that the dimensional converter has been set up. Dad gives the go-ahead to activate it, and the team eagerly rushes to comply.
Lan can barely contain his excitement. If this goes well, he and Chaud might be able to Cross Fuse on their own terms for once!
But his excitement is abruptly squashed when an alert pops up on the main console, and the scientist working at it turns around in his seat.
"A Darkloid had passed through the firewall!" he reports. "The network has been breached!"
"What!?" Lan exclaims.
He rushes over. Chaud comes with him, looking oddly resigned. He doesn't like making Chaud feel bad for any reason, but right now, Lan has to focus on this.
"That's impossible," Dad argues. "How could a Darkloid have infiltrated the converter? It would need the password to get through the firewall!"
Chaud is now very obviously staring at Dr. Regal. Lan ignores him, hoping that Dr. Regal doesn't notice, as the Darkloid's voice - not one that he recognises, so this must be a new Darkloid - calls out from the console.
"Foolish human trash!" the Darkloid crows. "You gave me the firewall password not long ago!"
What does he mean by that? Lan wonders.
He shakes his head and decides to try and puzzle it out later. There's no time right now - they have to stop this Darkloid.
"You won't destroy the converter!" Lan exclaims, bringing out his PET. "Jack in, MegaMan!"
Beside him, Chaud hesitates. Lan almost wonders why, until he remembers that ProtoMan can't go inside the converter, and Arcadia probably doesn't want to go back in there after what he'd experienced the first time. Does that mean MegaMan will have to face this new Darkloid on his own?
"Here," Dad says, holding out his hand to Chaud. "Give me your PET - I'll download the password to ProtoMan."
"But Dad-" Lan starts to protest.
"We can get data back," Dad says, "but we can't recover the converter if it's completely destroyed. I'd rather deal with a few of ProtoMan's glitches than lose everything."
That's a good point.
Chaud hands his PET to Dad, and he downloads the password in record time. Then Chaud quickly jacks ProtoMan into the converter's network.
Lan's surprised to see Arcadia streaming in alongside ProtoMan, feathers already rippling and glowing like his Holy Fire. He looks thoroughly nervous, even more so than MegaMan. Maybe he wouldn't have had the confidence to go into the dimensional converter's network on his own, but it looks like he can do it if ProtoMan goes with him.
"Let's go," ProtoMan says, starting for the stairs leading up to the energy system. Arcadia follows him, feathers trembling.
"I'm not afraid of ghosts," MegaMan mutters to himself, before running after them. Lan wonders who he's trying to convince - everyone else, or himself?
As they're making their way up the stairs, the Darkloid - orange-coloured and mechanical-looking - puts his spike-arms together and starts blasting out lightning. The attack scorches the energy system around him, destroying a couple of pathways that appear to lead absolutely nowhere.
The trio of Navis dash through the hole. Lan half-expects the balls of light to appear once again, but the only thing that's there is the odd system that had appeared previously, and the Darkloid that's perched on one of the floating discs in front of it.
ProtoMan and Arcadia pull ahead of MegaMan - ProtoMan's streaking along on all fours like usual, and Arcadia's spread his wings and is now gliding through the air, so they're both a lot faster than MegaMan is at a flat-out run. But MegaMan follows as quickly as his legs can take him, and when they get close enough, the three Navis come to a halt in front of the orange Darkloid.
"Hold it right there!" MegaMan shouts, brandishing his Mega Buster at the Darkloid.
ProtoMan adds an explosive hiss to his words, and Arcadia readies an Avenger's Arrow, aiming directly at the Darkloid.
"So you came after all," the Darkloid gleefully taunts them. "I thought you'd be too scared, little crybaby Navis!"
Lan's about to tell him exactly where he can put his stupid insults, but then he notices that the dimensional converter seems to be pulsing with light. He furrows his brows, and looks back at the screen of his PET - the system behind the Darkloid is also pulsing, in time with the converter itself. What's going on?
He gets his answer less than a second later, when MegaMan and ProtoMan's NaviMarks begin to flash their respective colours. They both look down at them, puzzled, and then suddenly they stagger, almost like they can't keep themselves upright anymore.
MegaMan drops to his knees. ProtoMan only stays upright because he's already on all fours, and he simply shivers, gritting his teeth as his hair bristles. Arcadia, on the other hand, seems completely fine - aside from the feathers around his elbows and knees beginning to burn more brightly than ever before, he doesn't seem to have any kind of physical reaction to whatever's happening, and he stares at MegaMan and ProtoMan with wide eyes.
"Wh-what's going on?" he exclaims, his fiery bow vanishing as he drops out of the air beside MegaMan and ProtoMan, reaching out as if he wants to help them, but he doesn't know how.
"Our . . . strength . . ." ProtoMan forces out. "It's- it's f-fading . . ."
Arcadia's eyes widen even more, and he whirls around to look at the energy system. The Darkloid looks positively delighted, but Lan can't figure out why - until an odd three-eyed shadow with a terrible fanged mouth materialises in front of the system.
"That's the Dark Aura!" Lan gasps. That explains why Arcadia's not being affected by whatever's happening to MegaMan and ProtoMan, but it still doesn't explain what's happening in the first place.
The dimensional converter begins to glow, the same way that the converters do whenever they're being used to create a dimensional area. At the same time, the main console's screen explodes, making the scientist sitting at it flinch back.
"Their hit points are being drained," Dr. Regal suddenly announces.
Dad jerks his head around to stare at him. "Drained!?" he repeats, shocked. "What-"
The glow of the dimensional area becomes almost unbearable to look at. A moment later, a familiar multi-coloured sheen covers every surface, and Lan can almost feel his heart vibrating in his chest as he realises that this single converter has somehow managed to create an entire dimensional area.
But why? And how?
Nearby, on a tall stack of metal boxes that Lan knows are full of scientific equipment to help with studying the converter, the Darkloid materialises.
"I am SparkMan!" he shouts, still sounding just as gleeful as he had in the network. "I'm here to clean up the trash!"
He's abruptly cut off as Arcadia materialises in front of him, hovering in the air with barely any movement from his wings. He throws a Firebomb directly at SparkMan's face, blasting him back, and then beats his wings and goes after him.
"I guess trying to destroy the converter from the network wasn't good enough," Lan says, scowling. He glances at Chaud. "Come on, we gotta protect the dimensional converter!"
Any trace of Chaud's earlier resignation or hopelessness is gone, and he nods, just as determined as Lan. He hopes that means they can put whatever's going on with Chaud behind them - they're going to need to work together, along with Arcadia, if they're going to stop this Darkloid from destroying the converter.
While Arcadia keeps SparkMan busy, Lan and Chaud download their battle chips. Lan doesn't see what Chaud downloads, but he hopes they'll be useful for this battle - he'd used two Stone Cube chips against GravityMan during the last battle, and they had worked against GravityMan's gravity barrier so well that Lan had wondered if Chaud somehow knew about GravityMan's weakness ahead of time.
"Synchro chip, download!" Lan exclaims. Beside him, Chaud downloads his synchro with his usual silence - he doesn't usually announce what battle chips he's using, like most operators.
"Cross Fusion!" MegaMan cries, and Lan speaks with him.
The glow of Cross Fusion overtakes his vision for a few moments, and when it dies down, he's Fused with MegaMan, ready to fight.
"Let's go!" Lan exclaims, activating his Mega Buster.
But his limbs suddenly feel like water, and he almost falls to his knees.
"Our hit points are still being drained," MegaMan says weakly.
Beside Lan, Chaud is swaying on his feet, and his shadows seem to be sparking around him. Their NaviMarks are flashing just like how MegaMan and ProtoMan's NaviMarks had flashed in the dimensional converter's network.
Lan takes a moment to clear his head, and then looks up at the stack of metal boxes. He sees a blast of lightning flashing from over the top, and his expression sets.
Even if he's being drained of strength, he can't let Arcadia fight on his own.
"Um, Lan," MegaMan speaks up hesitantly. Lan can feel his worry in their shared mind like it's his own, and he knows MegaMan feels his puzzlement.
"What is it?" Lan asks.
"You remember that time when Dark Shadow attacked us because you were annoying Chaud?"
"Yeah?" Lan has no idea why MegaMan is bringing this up. Is now really the time to be talking about this?
"If . . . if Dark Shadow attacked us just because you annoyed Chaud, what will it do to someone that Chaud actually hates?"
Lan freezes.
At that exact moment, a loud static-screech echoes through the room, and Lan whirls around just in time to see Dark Shadow forming itself and streaking across the room, heading straight for Dr. Regal. Dark Shadow's entire form flickers spastically, like it did when Chaud was freaking out about ShadeMan, and there's a painful, high-pitched white noise underneath the static-screeching that grates on Lan's hearing.
He sees Chaud rushing to intercept, shadow-claws already formed, and somehow he makes it before Dark Shadow reaches Dr. Regal. He slams into Dark Shadow's side, forcing it to skid along the ground, but it scrambles back to its feet and tries to attack Dr. Regal again. Chaud meets it claws-first, but Dark Shadow just bursts into tendrils of shadows and then re-forms itself behind Chaud, going for Dr. Regal again.
Lan's heart goes to his throat when Dad steps in front of Dr. Regal, arms thrown out to try and protect him, but Dark Shadow completely ignores him and simply comes apart again and re-forms itself behind Dr. Regal.
Chaud skids around Dad and Dr. Regal, slashing at Dark Shadow and forcing it back again. This time, he keeps his shadow-claws on Dark Shadow, physically wrestling it to the ground.
"We need to do something!" MegaMan exclaims. "Chaud can't stop Dark Shadow on his own, not when it's like this!"
"But what about SparkMan!?" Lan cries. He wants to help stop Dark Shadow, but he also needs to protect the dimensional converter.
Luckily, they have another ally - one who doesn't have a shadow-double that'll attack anything he gets angry at. Arcadia gets flung over the metal boxes, corrects himself mid-tumble, and hovers in the air near Lan. Bits of Holy Fire ripple off him like sparks, and white fire curls around the palm of his hand.
As soon as SparkMan appears at the top of the boxes, Arcadia hurls a stream of Flashfire at him, forcing the Darkloid back again. Once SparkMan is out of sight, Arcadia glances down at Lan.
"I've got this, go!" he shouts, nodding to where Chaud and Dark Shadow are grappling on the ground.
"Are you sure?" Lan asks, as SparkMan comes back, looking burnt and singed where Arcadia's fire had hit him.
"Chaud needs help more than I do right now!"
That's all the convincing Lan needs.
He whirls around, trusting Arcadia to take care of SparkMan, and rushes over to the other side of the room. The other scientists have already escaped, but Chaud and Dark Shadow's fighting has stopped Dad and Dr. Regal from escaping as well, since they're blocking the only exit from the room.
Chaud lets out an ear-splitting screech that Dark Shadow matches, and the two of them slash and claw at each other, rolling over and over. Lan's completely shocked - is Dark Shadow really that affected by Chaud's hatred of Dr. Regal that it'll even fight Chaud himself? It hadn't even wanted to attack Chaud when Lan had been annoying him.
Lan lifts his Mega Buster and tries to aim, but the fight is so fast-paced and they don't stop moving long enough for him to shoot. The best he can do is plant himself in front of Dad and Dr. Regal, hoping that, if he has to shoot, he won't accidentally hit Chaud.
Dark Shadow kicks out at Chaud, hitting him in the stomach and winding him. Chaud chokes on a pained cry and stumbles back, his shadow-claws breaking apart along with his concentration.
Lan panics when Dark Shadow lunges at him - he can't hit Dark Shadow, but he knows Dark Shadow can hit him, and Chaud's the only one who can stop it.
Despite his panic, Lan raises his Mega Buster and fires at Dark Shadow as rapidly as the weapon's programming will allow him. Dark Shadow doesn't even bother dodging, just letting the purple blaster shots go straight through its body.
It gets in his face, and Lan has about half a second to take in harsh, staring white eyes and a massive, jagged, split mockery of a mouth before Dark Shadow is on him. His entire body goes cold and he feels claws tearing into his bodysuit - someone's screaming, and it takes him a moment to realise that it's him, but he can hear someone else as well.
It's his dad. He's shouting, trying to stop Dark Shadow while keeping as far away from it as possible, but if Dark Shadow didn't listen to Chaud, it definitely won't listen to Dad.
Dark Shadow rears back just enough to open its mockery of a mouth even wider - mouths have no business being that wide, Lan thinks, even if it is a shadow - and then it static-screeches in his face.
Lan's vision flickers and then goes black, and everything is silent. The only thing he's aware of is the cold claws of Dark Shadow tearing into him, and the pain and terror sparking throughout his body, doubled because of his shared mind with MegaMan.
Then suddenly the cold claws vanish, and he curls on his side, clutching at his wounds. Hands grip him and he flinches away, but then he registers that the hands are warm, not cold, and he goes limp and lets the warm hands drag him away.
He can feel something like vibrations on the ground where he lies, and is barely aware of someone crouching over him. If they're saying anything, Lan doesn't hear - he can't hear anything, he realises with a jolt of panic. But the vibrations on the ground are rapid and seem to be mainly one-sided, so he guesses that what he's feeling is Chaud attacking Dark Shadow; Arcadia's busy with SparkMan, and there's no one else who would've been able to pull Dark Shadow off him.
His vision starts to flicker again, and his hearing comes back in short bursts, like bad reception on a radio. He just barely makes out a rapid-moving red blur wrestling with a black mass of rippling shadows, and hears ear-splitting screeching in every short burst of hearing.
Gradually, his vision stops flickering, and he can finally see properly. Then his hearing comes back, giving him audio along with visuals, and he flinches when he hears the high-pitched screeching at full volume, and sees the violent battle going on just a few metres away.
He can see short bursts of yellow lightning and white fire from somewhere beyond that, but his focus is on Chaud and Dark Shadow, who look like they're trying to kill each other. Chaud actually manages to rip Dark Shadow apart, but it comes back together faster than Lan had thought was possible, and static-screeches in Chaud's face. Chaud staggers but keeps attacking, driving Dark Shadow back.
"Lan!" someone shouts, and he recognises his dad leaning over him, looking terrified. When Lan focuses on him, Dad looks so intensely relieved that Lan's almost surprised he doesn't faint. "Oh, thank god."
"Da-ad . . . ?" Lan croaks out, wincing as his voice scratches in his throat. His entire body is completely sore, and some parts are so cold that it burns.
"Hold still," Dad tells him. "You've been clawed up pretty badly."
Lan manages to move his head enough that he can see some of his body. On his side, he sees a jagged claw-mark, and an odd mixture of blood and data seep out of the wound. That's one of the parts that's so cold. All the parts that're cold on his body must be claw-wounds from Dark Shadow, then.
He hears a loud crash, and jerks his head up - regretting it instantly, because it hurts - and then gasps.
Chaud has thrown Dark Shadow against the dimensional converter. They're now fighting far too close to it, and as Lan watches in mute horror, one of Chaud's attacks misses Dark Shadow - his claws hit the glass case of the converter and get stuck there. Chaud hisses and yanks his claws out, immediately going back to Dark Shadow, and keeps slashing at it. Dark Shadow responds in kind, flashing out rapid attacks that force Chaud up against the converter, and its attacks are so wild that it starts to crack the glass even more than Chaud's accidental miss.
"No!" Dad shouts, scrambling to his feet. "Chaud, get away from there!"
His shout distracts Chaud just long enough for Dark Shadow to rear back, winding up the biggest attack yet, and then it brings down its claws. Chaud jerks out of the way, and the attack smashes through the glass of the converter, and hits the machine inside.
The dimensional converter sparks, and then it explodes.
"Barrier," Lan quickly shouts, bringing up his hands, "download!"
The Barrier shimmers into existence in front of him, shielding himself, Dad, and Dr. Regal from the explosion. He only hopes that Chaud wasn't too badly hurt - the same goes for Arcadia, though he has no idea what was happening with the Darkloid battle.
Suddenly he feels himself Crossing Out, and the pain in his body is briefly alleviated before it comes back full-forced, making him gasp. His PET clatters to the ground beside him, and Lan reaches out to grab it, quickly checking to make sure that MegaMan wasn't too badly hurt.
MegaMan seems fine, if completely shocked and horrified. Relieved that his Navi seems to be okay, Lan looks up.
There's smoke obscuring his vision, but it starts to clear quickly, and when it finally vanishes, Lan sees Chaud - also Crossed Out and human once again - lying near the broken dimensional converter with his PET beside him. The multi-coloured sheen of the dimensional area has vanished, along with SparkMan and Arcadia.
Lan pushes himself to his feet, ignoring his dad's worried protest, and stumbles over to Chaud. He drops to his knees beside him and carefully reaches out.
Chaud shifts and looks up before Lan can touch him. He looks so confused for a moment that Lan's scared he's forgotten where he is, and then Chaud's eyes widen, and he scrambles into a sitting position to look at the dimensional converter behind him.
Lan can see the moment that realisation and horror dawn on Chaud.
"No . . ." Chaud whispers hoarsely. "No, no . . . I- I didn't . . . didn't m-m-mean to . . ."
"Chaud . . ." Lan reaches out again, intending to comfort him - or at least try - but Chaud flinches away like he thinks Lan is going to hit him.
He hears footsteps coming up behind them, and glances over his shoulder to see Dad walking over with Dr. Regal close behind. Dad looks horrified at the destruction, but Dr. Regal's expression hasn't changed much from it's odd blankness. Maybe he's so shocked at what happened that he can't react.
He hears a choked sound and turns back to Chaud, just in time to see him curl up, trembling. He can hear gasping sobs coming from him, and barely-audible whispered apologies, spoken so rapidly and in such a panicked manner that the words just sound more like complete gibberish.
Dad sits down next to him, carefully reaching out. Chaud goes completely still and silent when Dad lays his hand on his back, like he's so terrified that he can't move or speak or do anything.
After a moment, Dad apparently deems it safe to reach out and slowly pull Chaud onto his lap. Chaud doesn't try to fight - maybe he's so terrified that he can't - and simply allows Dad to wrap him in the most tender hug that Lan has ever seen. But even such a gentle gesture doesn't seem to help, because Chaud doesn't relax at all.
Lan swallows, and then glances up at Dr. Regal. He's surprised when he sees an odd gleam in his eye, almost like dark satisfaction, but it's gone as soon Dr. Regal spots Lan looking at him.
Rapid footsteps distract him from the moment, and he looks over at the door. Kifune and Manabe slow to a stop when they see the destruction with their own eyes. They both look dismayed.
"What happened?" Kifune asks, his voice startlingly loud in the silence.
Chaud flinches upon hearing his voice, somehow curling up even more. Dad doesn't let go of him or even stand up as he replies.
"A Darkloid infiltrated the converter's network," Dad says. "It was trying to destroy the energy system. Then the converter started up, and created a dimensional area."
"So the Darkloid materialised and destroyed the converter," Manabe guesses solemnly.
She and Kifune look surprised when Dad shakes his head.
"Arcadia took on the Darkloid," he tells them. "He stopped it from doing any further damage."
"Then how did-" Kifune begins.
"Lan and Chaud had to stop Dark Shadow from killing Dr. Regal."
Kifune and Manabe freeze.
"That's how the converter was destroyed," Dad explains quietly. "Chaud and Dark Shadow's fight got too close to it, and Dark Shadow broke it."
"I broke it."
Lan jumps at the quiet voice, turning to look at Chaud. He's sat up properly now, still being held in Dad's arms, but he's looking directly at Kifune and Manabe.
"I think it would've been destroyed anyway," Chaud says, almost expressionlessly. "But it was my fault. I'm sorry."
There's a few moments of shocked silence, and Lan fearfully waits for a response from Kifune or Manabe. Eventually, it's Manabe who speaks.
"Maybe we should have pulled you off this case after all," she says. Lan flinches at that, thinking that she's going to punish Chaud for this, but she doesn't sound angry - just resigned. "We knew Dark Shadow reacts to your emotions, but we didn't even consider what would happen if you needed to Cross Fuse while in Dr. Regal's presence."
"That's our oversight," Kifune adds. "And our mistake."
"I still broke it," Chaud says. Lan winces, thinking maybe Chaud believes he deserves some sort of punishment and is trying to make them give him one, even though it seems like Kifune and Manabe aren't going to blame him for this.
"Perhaps it was for the best," Dr. Regal unexpectedly speaks up. Everyone turns to stare at him. "The dimensional converter used a very cruel source of power."
"What do you mean?" Dad asks him.
"It used the lives of NetNavis to function," Dr. Regal says.
Even though he's on the floor, Lan still feels the ground lurch beneath his feet.
"That is why it began to drain MegaMan and ProtoMan's hit points," Dr. Regal tells them. "It was trying to use their lives to power itself. I would assume the ghosts that MegaMan and Arcadia saw were the fragments left behind from NetNavis who were consumed previously."
"Then . . . this thing was an evil device," Dad says, sounding appalled. "It had no place in this world!"
"This may be the answer to all those Navis being taken from Internet City," Manabe says. Her voice shakes like she's barely containing her horror. "They were all sacrificed to be used as fuel for the dimensional converter . . ."
"NetNavis all over the world have been vanishing," Kifune adds grimly. "Perhaps they're also being used as a power source."
"Forgive me," Dr. Regal says, bowing his head. "To think I helped to repair such a cruel device . . ."
"No way!" Lan exclaims. "You should blame the sick person who built this thing!"
"He's right," Dad says. "This isn't your fault, Dr. Regal."
Dr. Regal at least looks a little relieved to hear that, but his expression is still mostly blank.
Lan glances at the destroyed converter, and then catches sight of Chaud out of the corner of his eye. Chaud's staring at Dr. Regal again, and Lan remembers with a jolt of shock that Chaud believes Dr. Regal is the one who built the dimensional converter.
Even after everything that's happened, Chaud still seems to believe it.
Lan sees anger sparking in Chaud's eyes, and wonders, with a pang of mixed fear and worry, just how far Chaud will go to prove it.