"I think there's been some kind of misunderstanding," Famous says. "You . . . seem to be under the impression that not being allowed to Cross Fuse is a punishment for destroying the dimensional converter and attacking Dr. Regal."
Mimic keeps her head down and doesn't respond. Her silence is telling enough.
Famous sighs and shifts so he's more comfortable on his chair. There's a slice of Haruka's cake on a plate in front of him on the dining table, but so far it's gone untouched. Mimic has another plate and she hasn't touched her slice either, though she's strongly tempted to start nibbling on it just for something to do other than stare at the surface of the table. She can't bring herself to meet Famous's eyes after what she said to him in the command centre.
"It was never meant as a punishment." Famous's voice is gentle as he speaks, like he's explaining that two-plus-two equals four to an overemotional toddler. Well, Mimic may as well be one. "It's true we were worried about you losing control, but we were also concerned about your well-being - specifically, your mental well-being. The Commissioner thought that you should take a break from using Cross Fusion for a while, since yours is more . . . unstable . . . than Lan's, and that battle in the facility was extremely taxing."
Mimic draws her hands closer to herself at that, feeling hot with shame and embarrassment.
I wish you would've told me that before, she thinks.
But a prickle of doubt overtakes that thought quickly. Would she have even listened if Famous had told her this? Or would it have just fuelled the fires of her rage even more?
"I'm sorry we didn't say anything," Famous says. She glances up at him, confusion briefly overriding her shame. "We thought you already knew, that you understood it wasn't a punishment . . ." He sighs, and puts a hand to his forehead. "That's our fault, for assuming you would understand even though we didn't say anything. So, I'm sorry."
Mimic opens her mouth, but her shame stops the words from coming out. She tries anyway, and only get a few weak croaks out, making Famous give her a worried look.
"Here," he says, sliding his PET toward her. "The text program is already up."
She takes his PET gratefully and quickly types out what she wants to say, then slides it back across the table. Famous reads the message and his expression softens.
"Apology accepted," he says, which is a lot better to hear than you don't need to say sorry. She suspects he knows that. "I . . . think it's best that you try and stay away from Net Saver missions for a while. Not as a punishment, but to help you clear your head. You understand?"
Mimic nods.
The thing is, she does understand. If Famous had told her this before she'd stormed off and tried to take on VideoMan alone (aside from Arcadia), she wouldn't have believed a damn word he was saying. Maybe she would've gotten even angrier after hearing it.
It took VideoMan almost killing her and then being scolded by the Commissioner of the Net Police for her to see how stupid she was being. Her anger seems pointless now, a childish temper tantrum that pushed away everyone who cares about her and scared those that were brave enough to stay.
All that's left is shame and embarrassment. That's not going to go away as easily as the anger.
Dr. Hikari takes her and Lan to SciLab the next day. Apparently they want to do a physical examination of both of them, just to make sure there aren't any negative side effects of using Cross Fusion - though it's mostly just a formality in Mimic's case, since there are definitely problems with her Cross Fusion.
The one thing she's dreading is Dr. Regal. She knows he'll be helping with the examination - he did in the anime, after all - and she's not sure she can deal with being anywhere near him. She's not so angry that she's bad-tempered all the time anymore, but she still hates Dr. Regal and has the strong urge to tear his throat out with her teeth whenever she thinks about him.
And everyone's fully aware of that. Dr. Hikari leaves her and Lan in the examination room - a new part of the medical facilities that SciLab had installed when she and Lan started using Cross Fusion regularly - and goes to fetch the other scientists who'll be helping with the examination. Before he leaves, Mimic catches him giving her a worried glance, and guesses he's trying to think of a way to keep her and Dr. Regal apart.
Of course, the one thing that's different about all this - aside from her hatred of Dr. Regal - is that Anetta is nowhere to be seen. She'll be seeing her later, since they made plans to hang out in the city after Mimic's examination is done, but Anetta was never found at a staged Dark Chip bust and was never a 'witness' to a deal that didn't take place.
Mimic hopes this means she's averted the Dark ProtoMan arc. Anetta doesn't hate her or ProtoMan, and she has no desire to get revenge for the deletion of Silk, which means she never went to Dr. Regal to get the Dark Chip that would turn ProtoMan into Dark ProtoMan.
"Chaud?" Lan calls. "Are you okay? You . . . you look like you're gonna throw up."
Mimic wasn't even aware that she felt sick, but as soon as Lan says that, she feels her stomach doing backflips. She curls up on the examination table she's sitting on, resting her chin on her knees and staring at the wall opposite. There's a huge window showing her the other room attached to the examination room, and after a few moments, she sees Dr. Hikari coming in with a couple of other scientists.
One of them is Dr. Regal. Mimic feels a surge of anger the moment she sees him, but she forces herself to stop it from showing - she probably doesn't do a good job of it, considering how obvious her hatred is - and notices that he seems to be reading something.
Those are the documents for the Cross Fusion research, Chaud murmurs. He's been quiet lately, because he'd been scared of how angry she'd gotten during the VideoMan thing, but now that she's calmed down (as much as she can with the object of her hatred perfectly visible in the other room) he's starting to talk again.
Mimic peers at the papers that Dr. Regal is holding, and just about makes out the words CROSS FUSION in bold ink stamped across the top. She slumps, feeling cold despair washing over her.
They'd worked so hard to protect that research, and now the leader of Nebula has gotten his hands on it almost effortlessly.
All because Mimic is the only person who knows the truth.
She glances at Lan, and then looks away again. If only she'd managed to convince him that Dr. Regal is their enemy, instead of making Lan think that she's just making up an excuse to hate the bastard. If only she hadn't made her hatred so obvious that no one will believe a word she says against Dr. Regal.
There's one downside to Anetta not trying to get revenge on her, she supposes. In the anime, it had been Anetta who had revealed Dr. Regal as the leader of Nebula, and Dr. Regal had been a full enemy from there on. Now, though, he's free to continue pretending to be their ally for as long as he wants, and get all the free information everyone else can offer him, purely because they think he's a good guy.
But Mimic wouldn't wish for Anetta to hate her, even if it would mean revealing Dr. Regal as an enemy. Not just for the sake of not having to deal with Dark ProtoMan, but also because she likes Anetta - they're really close after spending so much time together, at the hospital (both of them) and at Anetta's house. And Anetta gets on pretty well with Mimic's Navis, even if ProtoMan spends half his time freaking out whenever they almost burn down Anetta's house trying to make food that isn't noodles or weird-looking sandwiches.
Yeah, you guys are terrible cooks, Chaud jokes. There's a hint of caution in his tone, like he's not sure if it's okay to make a joke like this, but he's trying anyway and that speaks volumes about his courage after the way Mimic has been acting.
You're no better, Mimic retorts, amusement briefly overriding her dark thoughts. Maybe that's what Chaud intended by making that joke. It makes her feel a bit better, for a moment at least, before she glances at Dr. Regal and immediately feels her hatred rising again.
She's distracted when Dr. Hikari's voice comes through the intercom in the examination room.
"Alright, we're beginning the examination now," Dr. Hikari tells her and Lan. "Lie down, and don't move. We'll be scanning brain activity first."
First? Mimic repeats, as she lies down on the examination table. Great. I gotta go through more of these, and Dr. Regal will be there for all of it.
There's nothing you can do about that, Chaud says carefully. At least this'll only take up half of the morning. Then you'll be hanging out with Anetta, remember? And you can put Dr. Regal to the back of your mind, for a while at least.
. . . Yeah, Mimic murmurs. Alright.
It'd be nice to not have to worry about Dr. Regal for a while.
She'll have to figure out some way to expose him at some point, but that can come later. Right now, she just has to get through these examinations and satisfy herself with imagining ripping Dr. Regal's throat out. It's dark and not at all healthy to be thinking like this, but it helps to cool her anger a little bit, at least.
"That sounds tough," Anetta says later, when she and Mimic are wandering around the city.
Coming from anyone else, Mimic might've felt patronised and may have gotten angry at hearing something like that. But since it's coming from Anetta, she knows there's nothing but pure sympathy in her words - Anetta's had her fair share of troubles and understands Mimic's confusing emotions more than anyone else. Maybe that's why it's easier to talk to her about this kind of stuff.
"At least you found out that not being allowed to Cross Fuse wasn't a punishment after all," Anetta offers lightly. "Though I guess being suspended is definitely a punishment . . ."
Mimic shrugs. "Deserved it," she mumbles.
"Can't always be perfect," Anetta says wisely. "You've just gotta do your best."
Anetta looks around for a moment, and then perks up when she spots an ice cream van nearby. She nudges Mimic and points toward it.
"You know what always helps?" Anetta asks brightly. "Ice cream! Especially in warmer weather like this. C'mon, my treat."
As Anetta leads her over to the van, Mimic can't help but smile a little.
"Lan s-said something like . . . that," she says faintly.
Anetta gives her a cheeky grin. "What, the part about buying you ice cream?"
Mimic nudges her, rolling her eyes as Anetta giggles. "No," she says, somehow feeling lighter than she has in days. "The bit- the bit ab- about- about ice cream helping."
"Well, he's right," Anetta agrees, nodding. "Guy's got a good head on his shoulders. I'm glad you've got someone with a bit of sense hanging around you, at least!"
Mimic's shoulders jerk as she huffs out a surprised laugh. Anetta's easy banter is incredibly refreshing to hear, especially after being treated like a ticking time bomb by everyone else. She doesn't blame them for being cautious around her - she's been in a bad mood for days and no one wants to send her spiralling back into that - but it hurts to know that everyone's so wary of her.
Not everyone, Mimic quickly corrects herself, glancing up at Anetta as she cheerfully orders a couple of ice creams for them. Anetta's own personal experiences haven't just given her the ability to understand Mimic's confusing emotions - she also knows how Mimic wants to be treated, and isn't afraid to be boisterous even after how Mimic has been acting.
After they get their ice cream, Mimic and Anetta wander around some more. They're not really going anywhere in particular, just walking and hanging out. Anetta doesn't usually go out that often and Mimic usually explores the city at night, so it's a bit like they're discovering the daylight city together. The people and the noise still make Mimic uncomfortable, but at least she's not liable to snap at someone if they accidentally brush against her or something. It helps that Anetta seems to understand her aversion to being touched and acts as a shield between Mimic and the crowds when she can.
"Hey, check it out," Anetta says, a few minutes after they've finished their ice creams. "That's the arcade, right?"
Mimic glances across the street, and picks out the bright neon sign of the Game Soul arcade. She doesn't really go there anymore - she used to go there a lot when she was still living as Chaud Blaze rather than just Chaud, but she hasn't been in months. Not since she started living with the Hikaris, at least.
"I don't think I've ever been in there," Anetta comments. She grins at Mimic. "Wanna go in? I bet they've got some cool games we could play!"
"Do you- do you even know ho-how to play games?" Mimic teases, nudging her playfully.
Anetta gasps with a look of mock offence on her face. "How dare you!" she exclaims, though now there's a grin tugging at the corners of her lips. "I'll have you know I was a god at Navi Fighters."
Mimic has absolutely no idea what that is.
It's kind of like an arena-style arcade game where you fight against your opponent with a randomly-generated NetNavi, Chaud explains. Like Pokken Tournament.
Ohh, Mimic says slowly. She smirks. If it actually is anything like Pokken Tournament, I'm about to dethrone Anetta.
"That look makes me think you're gonna challenge me," Anetta says, crossing her arms and raising an eyebrow at her. "And I accept. Just don't cry when you lose!"
Mimic grins and opens her mouth to say a friendly retort, but then someone knocks into her from behind. Anetta lets out a little squeak and catches her as she stumbles forward.
"Hey!" Anetta exclaims, looking over Mimic's head. "What's up with you? That was rude, you know!"
"Like I care," a familiar voice snaps.
Mimic feels her good mood vanishing like someone flipped a switch on it.
She turns around, ready with a flat glare. Hatsuko Amano, Arcadia's former operator, stares back at her, looking like she's just found something icky stuck to the bottom of her shoe and can't get it off.
"Yeah, it's me again," Amano says, narrowing her eyes at Mimic. "Glad to see you still remember me, Navi-thief."
I am absolutely sick of having my mood rise and fall like a goddamn yo-yo, Mimic thinks, thoroughly annoyed.
"Wait, you know this girl?" Anetta steps up beside Mimic and glances at her questioningly.
"Of course he does," Amano snaps, before Mimic can respond. "He stole my NetNavi!"
Anetta looks startled. Mimic taps her arm to get her attention and decides to explain before Amano can give her bullshit one-sided version of the story.
"She means Arcadia," Mimic says. "This- this is his old operator. And I didn't s-steal him, she abandoned him."
Anetta's expression hardens. She turns back to Amano.
"Get lost," Anetta tells her sternly. "I don't like talking to people who abandon their Navis, especially when that Navi happens to be a total sweetheart."
Amano scoffs. "You really believe him?" she asks incredulously, nodding to Mimic. "He lies so much that he doesn't even know how to tell the truth anymore."
"I've known him for months, and I've only just met you," Anetta retorts, not even twitching at the accusation. "I also know Arcadia, too, and he's never once tried to escape from Lostie."
"Lostie?" Amano laughs derisively. "You don't even know his real name!"
If Amano meant to use that statement to shock Anetta, it doesn't work. "I do, actually," she replies. "But I'm not gonna blurt it out like an idiot."
Amano's eyes narrow. Apparently she decides that trying to get Anetta to doubt Mimic isn't going to work, because next she turns to Mimic, ready with a sneer.
"You're just letting her do all the talking for you?" she taunts. "What, was that other bodyguard of yours not good enough or something?"
I can defend myself just fine, Mimic thinks, glaring back at her. I was just enjoying the show, watching Anetta make a total fool out of you.
When she doesn't respond verbally, Amano's glare intensifies. She pushes past Anetta and grabs Mimic's arm in a surprising display of physical anger. Mimic's honestly startled - sure, the last time she met Amano she did actually punch her in the face, but aside from chasing her down, Amano had never actually tried to grab her or anything.
"Let go of him!" Anetta exclaims, whirling around and trying to pull Amano away from Mimic.
"Shut up," Amano barks, shoving her back.
Anetta stumbles and trips, landing on her backside with a yelp, and Mimic sees red.
She lashes out with her fingers curled into claws and smacks Amano on the side of her head. The claws had been instinctive, even though she doesn't actually have any, but the blow was enough to stagger Amano and force her to let go of Mimic.
She launches herself at Amano and they both go down. The people around them let out startled cries as they part to avoid the two of them, but Mimic is too focused on trying to keep her attacks limited to punches, and actively has to restrain herself from biting Amano and ripping her skin open like paper.
At one point, Amano grabs her leg and doesn't let go for a solid ten seconds, even when Mimic repeatedly bashes her with her fists. She finally manages to split apart from Amano, half-crouching and letting out an explosive hiss, while Amano scrambles to her feet, glaring at her as she pants, and wipes her mouth to get rid of a faint trickle of blood.
"That's enough!" Anetta cries, stepping between them. "Stop trying to beat each other up, already."
"That brat tried to bite me!" Amano snaps, angrily gesturing at Mimic.
Mimic frowns and tries to think back to the scuffle - she can hardly call it a fight, after all the Cross Fusion battles she's been through - and honestly can't remember whether or not she actually managed to stop herself from biting Amano. If she did bite her, then whatever, Amano deserved it anyway.
"I don't care," Anetta says sternly, as Mimic straightens up from her half-crouch. "However much you two hate each other, that's no excuse for brawling in the middle of the city!"
She glances at Mimic as well when she speaks. Even though the lingering traces of battle-fuelled anger, Mimic is still aware enough to feel ashamed of herself. This is probably another example of why she's not ready to use Cross Fusion again just yet.
Amano glares at Mimic. "The arcade's just over there," she says, jerking her head toward it. "How about we NetBattle instead? Maybe that'd make your bodyguard happy." She spits out those last words toward Anetta, who looks unmoved by her scorn.
"We'll meet you in there," Anetta tells her.
Amano snorts and makes her way across the street. Anetta watches her go, and then turns to Mimic with a worried expression.
"What was that?" Anetta demands. "You were fighting like . . . like some kind of animal!"
"Cat," Mimic mumbles. She licks her lips, both because they feel kind of dry and because she wants to check if there's any blood on them. There isn't, which means she didn't bite Amano, but she kind of wishes she did.
" . . . Oh," Anetta says, after a moment. "Right, the Cross Fusion thing . . . But just because ProtoMan's a cat, doesn't mean you've gotta act like one, too!"
"How many more times do I have to say this!?" ProtoMan shouts, before Mimic can respond. "I am not a cat!"
Despite the tension, Anetta still huffs out a surprised laugh. "Y'know," she says, "one day, we're gonna call ProtoMan a cat, and he won't bother correcting us. We'll probably just be standing around, waiting for him to say that he's not a cat-"
"Because I'm not," ProtoMan breaks in testily.
"-and we'll all be surprised when he doesn't," Anetta finishes, ignoring ProtoMan.
Mimic laughs a little, then glances toward the arcade. "Should . . . should probably go in there," she says quietly. "She's- she's waiting."
"And that's another thing," Anetta adds, as she and Mimic head into the arcade. "How did you manage to get her to hate you so much?"
"Tried to force Arcadia to go back," Mimic mumbles. "Punched her in the face."
Anetta winces. "Yikes," she says. "Maybe try not to beat up everyone you don't like? I mean, don't get me wrong, she's a piece of work and she definitely deserves it, but I'd rather not see you getting arrested for attacking someone like that."
"I make no promises," Mimic jokes lightly, and then she spots Amano and immediately the brief moment of light-hearted joking is gone.
Amano's waiting for them by the NetBattle machine. If there was anyone else around it or even using it, she's scared them off - there's not a single person nearby, though there's kids playing the other games, and there's more than a few huddled around the edges casting the occasional glance at Amano and the NetBattle machine.
"She must be very charming," Anetta mutters to Mimic, as she steps up to the other side of the machine.
"We'll do this one-on-one," Amano calls across the glass dome of the NetBattle machine. "Your stupid red Navi against mine. Don't use Arcadia." She glares at Mimic. "Got it?"
What, does she think I'm gonna cheat or something? Mimic thinks incredulously, as she takes out her PET.
More than likely she thinks you don't understand the concept of one-on-one, Chaud says. Anetta's right, this girl's a total piece of work.
"Here," Anetta says, bring out her own PET. "Arcadia can stay in mine while you and ProtoMan are battling."
Mimic blinks at her, surprised. She'd been about to ask Arcadia if he was okay to stay in the security camera system, like he used to when Mimic and ProtoMan were NetBattling in the arcade. But if Anetta's okay with letting Arcadia stay in her PET for a while, Mimic has no objections.
She glances at Arcadia questioningly, and he gives her a quick thumbs-up before streaming out of her PET. She sees him appear in Anetta's PET a moment later, and Anetta turns the PET around so the screen faces the NetBattle machine, allowing Arcadia to see the battle.
Does Amano even have another Navi? Mimic suddenly wonders, as she and Amano prepare to jack in.
It's been nearly a full year, Chaud replies. Most people who lose their Navis tend to get a new one after a few weeks.
Anetta hasn't, Mimic points out. She feels a slight pang of sadness when she thinks that - Anetta still misses Silk a lot, though she seems to be relatively cheerful and more or less back to her old self.
Anetta's . . . an exception, Chaud says hesitantly. I think. Well, I did say 'most people', anyway. Besides, Amano's definitely the kind of person who'd get a new Navi.
Good point, Mimic concedes.
"Jack in!" Amano says, pointing her PET at her side of the NetBattle machine. She doesn't say a name, which puzzles Mimic, but then she finds out why when she looks at the Navi that appears on Amano's side of the battlefield.
It's a standard Navi. Totally black in colour, with blank eyes, and absolutely no expression. Mimic's met a few standard Navis before - those two from way back at that electronics company who were making the Molecular Chip come to mind - and they've all had personalities despite only being standard Navis. But this one doesn't give any indication of what its personality is like, or if it even has one.
It's . . . kinda creepy, to be honest. Mimic is used to things that don't have expressions because of Dark Shadow, but even Dark Shadow has a personality. This standard Navi is just totally blank.
"Are you battling or not?" Amano snaps.
Mimic restrains herself from rolling her eyes - can't she study her opponent before battling anymore? Is that a fucking crime? - and points her own PET at the NetBattle machine. Unlike Amano, she doesn't announce that she's jacking in ProtoMan, she just does it.
She might be starting to activate her own attacks during Cross Fusion battles instead of relying on Chaud all the time, but that doesn't mean she's about to start doing the same thing for a regular NetBattle. That includes saying 'jack in, ProtoMan' whenever she jacks him into literally anything.
Only when necessary, Mimic thinks, as ProtoMan appears inside the battlefield and her PET's screen changes to show her the battlefield from his point of view. Or when I want to be dramatic.
Which isn't often, so it's not stupid to mention that. Probably.
"What, can your stupid Navi not comb his hair or something?" Amano scoffs, looking at ProtoMan derisively. "It's a mess. And what are those fangs for? Is he cosplaying as a vampire?"
ProtoMan opens his mouth, bares his teeth, and hisses at her. Amano jerks back, looking startled.
"He's a cat," Mimic explains, and can't help but grin when ProtoMan whips his head around to stare at her in betrayal.
"Cats are stupid," Amano says.
ProtoMan turns to stare at her now, looking deeply offended - despite denying the fact that he's a cat. Mimic is half-tempted to tell him to make up his mind; he can't say he's not a cat and then get offended when someone says cats are stupid, after all.
No one says anything else, because at that moment, the BATTLE START logo flashes across the floor beneath ProtoMan and the standard Navi's feet.
Before Amano can bring out any battle chips, ProtoMan launches himself across the battlefield. He runs on all fours, again startling Amano - the first and only time they've ever battled was way back when Amano was still Arcadia's operator, and he'd been a full human-Navi back then. This battle's going to be so different.
The shadows trailing after ProtoMan ripple and form Dark Shadow, and then the two of them split up and come at the standard Navi from different sides. The standard Navi turns its head from side to side, trying to work out who to attack.
"Cannon, download!" Amano snaps. "Hit that shadow thing!"
Mimic can probably be forgiven for thinking this battle is going to be easy as hell.
The Cannon shot goes straight through Dark Shadow and does nothing. It reaches the standard Navi first and shoves it back, forcing it into ProtoMan's path, and he slashes at the Navi's feet as he darts past, unbalancing it.
The Navi staggers, and Dark Shadow lashes out again, making it stumble and then trip so it lands on its backside. Dark Shadow bursts into tendrils and follows ProtoMan, curling around him, and then re-forms beside him to tap its claws on the floor in what looks like a triumphant gesture.
Do I even need to use battle chips for this? Mimic has to wonder. It honestly seems like it'd be overkill . . .
Never underestimate your opponent, Chaud tells her.
Even when my opponent is that? Mimic glances at the standard Navi again.
. . . Maybe just put it out of its misery, Chaud eventually sighs.
Mimic thinks maybe they've gotten too used to high-stakes battles against the Darkloids. Though the battles they get into at the Colosseum are pretty fun, so it might just be that Amano hasn't gotten any better since the N1 - or her Navi is just ridiculously weak for some reason.
Is Mimic low-key bragging? It feels like bragging. She should probably stop.
She unzips one of her pockets and feels around for the battle chip she wants. Chaud had taught her how to memorise what each chip feels like so she can download it without having to check what it is first, and honestly, it works pretty well. It's kinda similar to what he did in the anime - apparently he memorised every chip in his folder, which let him know if a strange chip got mixed in, and now she can do the same thing.
Which is pretty cool.
Mimic downloads a Flame Sword, and it materialises on ProtoMan's arm. Dark Shadow flicks its hand and a few of the remaining shadows trailing around ProtoMan coil around the Flame Sword, adding in a bit of extra power - plus, the fire-and-shadow effect looks pretty cool.
ProtoMan brandishes the Flame-Shadow Sword and dashes straight for the standard Navi, which has just gotten to its feet. It has no time to react before ProtoMan slashes at it with the Flame-Shadow Sword, and then Dark Shadow jumps over ProtoMan's head and lashes out, adding its own attack to the mix.
"That's not fair!" Amano complains. "Using that shadow thing is cheating!"
"No, it's not," ProtoMan tells her. "Dark Shadow is a part of me."
"I don't care! This is supposed to be one-on-one!"
ProtoMan looks at her like she's just said the sky is bright green. "It is one-on-one," he points out.
"Like hell it is," Amano spits out. "Wide Sword, download!"
ProtoMan easily dodges the attack, jumping into the air. Dark Shadow just lets the Wide Sword pass through it, frustrating Amano even more. ProtoMan lands behind the standard Navi and lashes out with his Flame-Shadow Sword eagerly, like he's showing the Navi what a real Sword attack should look like.
The Navi staggers forward, the Wide Sword vanishing from its arm. ProtoMan banishes his own Sword - which Mimic thinks is a total shame, because damn that Flame-Shadow Sword had looked cool, though after checking the screen of her PET she finds that it's durability was almost up anyway - and shoves the Navi toward Dark Shadow, who slashes at it with its claws and sends it staggering back to ProtoMan.
Mimic unzips another pocket and quickly rifles through it to find the chip she wants.
Wait, Mimic!
She pauses. In the battlefield, ProtoMan uses his rapidly-formed shadow-claws to slash at the standard Navi, and then gives her a puzzled glance during the brief moment he has to do so. He'd clearly been expecting her to give him a battle chip, and she'd wanted to, but . . .
What is it? Mimic asks. Chaud had sounded frantic, which is odd because they're winning this NetBattle by a landslide.
How many battle chips do you have in that pocket? he asks her.
Six, why?
I felt seven when you put your hand in, Chaud says.
Mimic immediately takes her hand out of that pocket and zips it back up.
Don't use any battle chips from that pocket, Chaud warns her. Take a look at it later, but for now, finish this battle.
Got it, Mimic replies.
She ignores that specific pocket and goes for another one. Mimic takes out a Magma Cannon chip - Lan had about four of them and said she could take one since she didn't have one of her own, and she'd been grateful to have it since she'd thought he'd never let her touch any of his battle chips again after she'd stolen his Bamboo Sword that one time.
She downloads the Magma Cannon, and watches ProtoMan fire it at the standard Navi. Dark Shadow ducks out of the way of the fiery attack as the Navi goes sailing overhead, and then follows up ProtoMan's blast by flicking its wrist and sending a sharp tendril of shadow after the Navi, impaling its stomach.
The standard Navi jerks, and then logs out. Amano slams her fists down on the glass dome of the NetBattle machine as the WINNER logo appears beneath ProtoMan and Dark Shadow's feet.
"That wasn't fair!" Amano shouts, looking like she wants to strangle Mimic. "You cheated with that- that shadow thing!"
"They won fair and square," Anetta tells her, her tone brooking no argument. "You lost, so stop being a sore loser about it."
Amano's probably the sorest loser on the planet, Mimic mutters, as she jacks out ProtoMan and Dark Shadow.
Dark Shadow melts back into tendrils of shadows and curls around ProtoMan cheerfully, obviously celebrating the easy win, as Arcadia streams back into Mimic's PET. He bounces around ProtoMan for a moment and then huddles into his side happily. ProtoMan just grins and wraps an arm around him.
"Aw," Anetta coos, "that's adorable!"
"This isn't over," Amano hisses, bringing their attention back to her.
"S'what you said last time," Mimic points out. "Didn't go so well f-for you. Right?"
Amano gives her a look of sheer hatred before storming off out of the arcade.
After a few moments of staring after her, Mimic and Anetta decide to move away from the NetBattle machine. There's a small crowd that had gathered to watch the battle - at a distance, because Amano had scared everyone away from the machine - and they're looking way too interested in Mimic. She doesn't want anyone to challenge her to another NetBattle.
Not while she's got a much bigger problem to deal with.
"Well, that was . . ." Anetta looks almost at a loss for words. "That was something," she finishes lamely.
"I hope she doesn't show up again," ProtoMan mutters, looking annoyed. "I am thoroughly sick of dealing with that human."
"Mm," Arcadia says quietly, huddling a bit closer to him. He doesn't look as terrified as he'd been the last time they'd seen Amano, but he's definitely shaken up from her sudden reappearance.
Anetta sighs, and turns to Mimic with a forced smile. "So, anyway," she says. "Wanna get back to exploring the city? We can put this whole . . . thing . . . behind us."
Mimic sees an opportunity and decides to take it.
"Need toilet," she says, gesturing to where she knows the bathrooms are in the arcade. "Few minutes?"
"Yeah, sure!" Anetta agrees brightly. "I'll wait out here for you, 'kay?"
Mimic nods and heads for the bathroom. When she gets in there, she checks that there's no one else inside. There doesn't seem to be, though one of the stalls is closed and the door is locked. That shouldn't be too bad; whoever's in there is unlikely to understand anything she or her Navis might say. If there was more than one person in the bathroom, she might bail and find somewhere else to figure this out.
She spots a jack-in port just underneath the lock on the stall door and is distracted for a moment.
Is everything connected to the cyberworld? she wonders incredulously.
Bathrooms like this have electronic locks on the stall doors, Chaud tells her. So, yeah.
I pity the poor bastard who gets stuck in there during a power outage, Mimic mutters.
Whatever, this isn't what she came in here to do.
She heads over to the row of sinks, opposite the stalls. The mirrors here should let her see if whoever's in that stall comes out, so she can just run a tap and talk quietly. ProtoMan and Arcadia will be able to hear her - she talks quietly enough most of the time anyway, so there's basically no difference - and the tap is just extra insurance that they don't get overheard.
She places her PET next to one of the sinks, leaning it against the wall so ProtoMan and Arcadia can see what she's doing. They look puzzled but don't question her as she unzips the pocket Chaud had warned her about, and then takes out all the battle chips inside and places them onto the surface in front of her.
Two of them are Recovery chips. Three are gun-type chips. One is an area-effect chip that she likes because it turns the entire field into magma, and while so far she's only used it to let her Navis play The Floor is Lava, it might be useful in an actual battle one day.
The one that stands out is the Long Sword, which she definitely does not remember putting in there. She has two Long Swords, and both of them are in a different pocket.
Mimic has a feeling that she already knows what this thing is, but she picks up the Long Sword anyway, and holds it up to the light.
It flashes, becoming oddly darker and tinted purple. Mimic immediately drops it and hisses, scooping her other chips away and putting them back into her pocket.
"What is it?" ProtoMan asks, looking at the evil Long Sword. "That . . . that thing doesn't look right, somehow."
"It's a Dark Chip," Mimic mutters, reaching out to pick it up again. She bares her teeth and can almost feel the taint as she touches it.
"What!?" Arcadia's eyes stretch wide in shock. "But- what-" He stops, and glances at his feathers, which are completely still. "My feathers aren't . . . But why? My feathers should've reacted to that thing!"
"Maybe you can only detect darkness that's nearby and active," ProtoMan muses. "That Dark Chip hasn't been used."
Arcadia gapes at him. "But then that means I'm useless for tracking down Dark Chips!"
"Doesn't matter, s'fine," Mimic says, tightening her fingers around the evil Long Sword. She feels something shifting and unclenches her fingers, then scratches at the paint of the chip until she's gotten a fingernail under it.
Then she rips it off, revealing the Dark Chip in all its terrible glory. Arcadia tenses up immediately and ProtoMan hisses, his shadows spiking around him.
"How did you even get it?" Arcadia wonders.
"Not sure," Mimic replies. She opens the folder attached to her PET's holder and puts the Dark Chip inside. She never uses that folder because the zipped pockets on her cargo pants are better for keeping her chips organised, at least in her opinion, so there's no other chips in her folder to confuse the Dark Chip with.
Then she tries to work out how the hell she could've gotten the Dark Chip.
In the anime, Anetta had slipped it into Chaud's folder during the examination at SciLab. But Anetta hadn't been there this time, and besides, she doesn't hate Mimic - so she couldn't have slipped the Dark Chip into Mimic's pocket anyway. Where could it have come from, then?
Anetta doesn't hate you, Chaud says, but you just had a NetBattle with someone who does.
Mimic's eyes widen.
"My leg," she realises.
"Your what?" ProtoMan repeats, tilting his head.
"That scuffle, outside," Mimic says quickly. "Amano grabbed my leg. Didn't- I didn't pay much attention to what she was doing. Was trying to get her off. But she must've slipped it into my pocket then."
"And you could've used that during the NetBattle," Arcadia says, looking horrified. "She tried to trick you into giving a Dark Chip to ProtoMan!"
ProtoMan looks outraged. "You should report her to the Commissioner immediately!" he exclaims. "Dark Chips are supposed to be contraband! It's illegal to have one!"
"It's worse than that," Mimic mutters, gritting her teeth.
"What could be worse than trying to trick you into giving me a Dark Chip?" ProtoMan demands incredulously.
"This one's different," Mimic tells him. "If I'd used it on you, you would've gone insane immediately, and it would've turned you into a Darkloid."
ProtoMan and Arcadia stare at her in shock.
"I . . . what?" ProtoMan croaks.
Arcadia seems utterly speechless, until he glances over Mimic's shoulder and his eyes widen.
"Mimic!" he warns her.
Mimic sees a shape moving in the mirror and jerks to the side, just in time to avoid a heavy wooden bat crashing down onto the counter just where she'd been. The bat breaks in two and the person holding it throws away the splintered bits as Mimic backs away.
"Hello there," Ms. Yuri greets her, as if she's only here for a pleasant chat and hadn't just tried to smash Mimic's head in with a bat. "Would you mind telling me how you knew what that particular Dark Chip does?"
Mimic stares at her for a single frozen moment, and then she lunges for her PET. Ms. Yuri tries to grab her at the same time, but Mimic ducks under her arms and whirls around, aiming her PET at one of the bathroom stall jack-in ports.
She quickly jacks ProtoMan and Arcadia into the stall door, ignoring their protests. Then she puts her PET away and is about to try and make her own escape when Ms. Yuri grabs her from behind, and then puts a cloth over Mimic's face.
It smells weird. Sweet. Mimic's never come across a scent like this before, but somehow, she just instinctively knows it's bad. It's not that difficult to figure out, when Ms. Yuri is trying to press a cloth filled with the scent into her face.
It's chloroform! Chaud tells her. She's trying to chloroform you!
Fuck.
Mimic starts struggling, but Ms. Yuri's bigger than she is - and she remembers that the lady is pretty much a superhuman, effectively immortal, and also a full-grown adult wrestling with a skinny twig of a twelve-year-old. This is not going to go in Mimic's favour.
She needs something, one little thing, anything, that might give her the advantage long enough so she can get the hell away from Ms. Yuri.
Chloroform doesn't work like it does in movies, Chaud says quickly. It's not instantaneous!
That? Mimic can work with that.
She reaches up, grabs Ms. Yuri's wrist, and twists.
Ms. Yuri doesn't let her go, but she grunts and her grip loosens just enough for Mimic to grab her hand and pull it away from her face. Then she opens her mouth and bites down hard on the hand holding the cloth, and is rewarded with a sharp cry of pain, blood in her mouth, and Ms. Yuri finally letting her go.
She kicks out and forces Ms. Yuri back a step, then runs out of the bathroom. She nearly crashes into a few people in her panic, and has to actually jump over a small knot of teenagers who probably won't move even if they see the blood on her lips - the teenagers let out appreciative oohs when she sails overhead, but Mimic doesn't stop to acknowledge their praise.
Mimic bolts out of the arcade. She's not sure how fast Ms. Yuri is, but the lady's pretty much a superhuman, so for all she knows, Ms. Yuri is right on her tail.
She dodges around a crowd of startled people, racing down the street. She glances over her shoulder to check if she's still being chased-
And runs straight into Dr. Regal.
Mimic staggers back, gasping, and tries to turn back the way she'd come. But Ms. Yuri is right behind her, giving Mimic a darkly satisfied smirk even as she gingerly holds her bleeding hand against her side. Mimic backs away a step and jolts when she feels a heavy hand dropping onto her shoulder, shivering when Dr. Regal's voice murmurs into her ear.
"Don't try any of your tricks," he says.
Mimic looks up at him over her shoulder. The cold dread she feels upon seeing his expressionless face makes her wonder how the hell no one else ever realised what a monster this man is.
She jerks her head around and stares at the ground, too terrified to look at him anymore. Then she sees Dr. Regal's other hand reaching into her vision, and despite her terror, she looks up.
He's got some sort of remote in his hand.
"I could activate a dimensional area with just a push of this button," Dr. Regal breathes into her ear. "Look at all of these people. Go on, look - all these clueless bystanders, happily going about their day, oblivious to danger. How many do you think would be injured, even killed, if a virus attack were to happen right now?"
Mimic slumps. The only saving grace she has is that she at least managed to get ProtoMan and Arcadia away.
"Good boy," Dr. Regal tells her, patting her shoulder before straightening and nodding to Ms. Yuri.
Anetta bursts out of the arcade, frantically looking around for Chaud. She'd seen him run out of the bathroom like there was a fire or something, and then she'd seen a lady in a long black coat running after him. She has no idea what's going on, but it's not good, whatever it is.
She casts about for a few moments, not sure where she should go - she hadn't seen which way Chaud went, so she doesn't know if she needs to go one way or the other, or if Chaud even went down the street at all. He'd told her about the agility he got from Cross Fusing with ProtoMan, how he can run across the entire city without touching the ground once.
It'd been so cool when he'd told her about that, but now she has to wonder if that'll just make him harder to find.
Anetta shakes her head and looks around again. Thinking like that isn't going to help her.
Then she finally spots him through a crowd of people. Anetta immediately heads toward him, but when she gets close enough, she sees the lady with the long black coat standing in front of him. There's a man wearing a light grey coat with purple trimmings just behind Chaud, and Anetta can see his hand gripping her friend's shoulder as he leans down and whispers something to him.
She can plainly see how terrified Chaud is, even from this distance. When the man in the light grey coat stops whispering, Chaud slumps, looking utterly defeated. The man says something else and pats Chaud's shoulder, then straightens up, nodding to the lady in the long black coat.
As the lady moves forward, Chaud glances up - and Anetta somehow manages to catch his eye. His eyes widen and he subtly raises a hand.
Anetta's not totally fluent in sign language yet, but she definitely recognises the signs for get help.
The lady notices Chaud's hand moving and grabs it, leaning down to him. Judging by the flinch from Chaud, she must be threatening him.
Meanwhile, the man's eye narrows - he only has one, and has some sort of cybernetic implant in place of his other eye - and he looks around. Anetta quickly ducks into the crowd to hide, not daring to breathe, and hopes that she wasn't seen.
By the time she thinks it's okay to come back out, all three of them are gone.
Anetta feels cold when she realises what she's just seen. She's just witnessed her best friend being kidnapped.
Chaud's a Net Saver, she suddenly remembers. And he'd signed for her to get help.
Anetta takes out her PET and calls the Net Police.