"C'mon, c'mon," Lan mutters, directing the claw over the plushie he wants.
The claw drops down, and closes around a plump plushie of Commander Beef. Lan grins as Maylu, Chisao, and Rush cheer. This is the one he'd wanted - he's been excited about the Net Agents' return for a few days now, and he wanted to get the Commander Beef plushie because it kinda reminds him of the adventure he'd had with them; when he'd worked together with Commander Beef and the others to save Ms. Mari, and take down Gauss.
He's pretty sure Chaud's a little bit sick of hearing him re-telling the story by now. So he's trying to burn off some of his excitement with this. Maylu had told him she'd spotted the claw machine with the Commander Beef plushies inside, and he'd been so excited he could hardly wait for her to show it to him.
Lan starts moving the claw toward the drop, grinning in anticipation of his win. Then, disaster strikes - just before he gets the plushie over the drop, the claw lets go, and the plushie falls back into the pile.
Lan and his friends groan at the loss. He's almost too disappointed to pay attention to the sudden ringing of his PET, at least until MegaMan calls out.
"Lan!" MegaMan sounds a little annoyed. "It's from SciLab!"
"Yeah, yeah," Lan sighs. He takes out his PET in time for MegaMan to answer the call for him.
His dad appears on the screen. Lan can see Chaud in the background, peering over Dad's shoulder, and after giving him a little wave, Chaud ducks out of sight.
Dad glances after him with an amused smile, and then turns back to Lan. "The prototype has been finished," he tells Lan. "We're going to be testing it out today - can you come to SciLab right now?"
"Sure!" Lan grins. "I'll head right over! Is it okay if I bring my friends, too?"
"If you want," Dad agrees. "Just hurry here, alright? See you soon."
"Bye, Dad!" Lan says, just as the screen goes blank and switches back to showing his home screen with MegaMan.
He puts his PET away just as Maylu speaks up.
"The prototype?" she asks curiously. "You mean that project you told us about?"
"Yep!" Lan exclaims happily. "The Battle Chip Gate should be finished today! Provided the test goes well, anyway . . ."
"Battle Chip . . . what?" Chisao looks puzzled. "What is it?"
"The Battle Chip Gate," Lan repeats. "It's a new weapon against the Darkloids! Dad said that SciLab has been collaborating with IPC to make it."
"IPC?" Maylu looks a little worried. She steps closer and lowers her voice so Chisao doesn't overhear. "That's Chaud's old company, right? With . . . with his dad? Is it safe for him to be at SciLab right now?"
"Don't worry," Lan murmurs back. "Chaud's been staying away from anyone from IPC."
Maylu still looks worried, but anything more she might say is cut off when Rush suddenly starts yapping. He seems pretty agitated, though Lan can't see any particular reason why, and he's looking directly at a discarded can across the road. Lan follows his gaze and frowns.
"Am I crazy," Lan says, "or is that can wobbling?"
"Um," Maylu says.
Lan sees visible waves of pressure a moment before the can suddenly flattens itself for no apparent reason.
"Lan!" MegaMan calls. "I can detect gravitational abnormalities!"
"Gravitational what-now?" Lan demands, whipping out his PET again.
Before MegaMan can answer, more visible waves of pressure appear, and the ground rumbles as pits are flattened into the road. A nearby car is crushed flat as well, the same way the can had been flattened.
Why does this seem familiar . . . ?
He feels pressure behind him, and turns around. The claw machine is flattened next, and Lan and his friends jump back. If they had been any closer to that, they might've been crushed. That thought is absolutely terrifying, especially when Lan has no idea what's going on - though it still feels familiar.
But he has to leave figuring that out for later, because more pits are being flattened on the road, on the pavement, everywhere. A van gets toppled over nearby, just barely catching the edge of another wave of pressure, and the contents of the back spill out onto the road.
Lan darts out onto the road and looks around, trying to find the source of the pressure. There has to be something, somewhere, that's doing this - and because it feels familiar, he can guess it's probably digital. So what does that mean? Find somewhere to jack MegaMan in and fix whatever's making these waves of pressure, of course!
"The traffic lights network!" MegaMan calls. "I can detect the source of this abnormality from there!"
Lan looks up and spots a traffic light going crazy above his head. He flinches back when another wave of pressure flattens a pit just a few feet away from the light, and then shakes his head and raises his PET to point it at the jack-in port.
"Jack in, Mega-" he begins. The last word becomes a startled yell when another wave of pressure creates the biggest pit yet, right next to him.
Lan can't keep his balance - he stumbles, falling into the pit, and only just manages to stop himself from sliding down when he catches his foot on a piece of stone sticking out of the dirt. He has to waste a moment getting his beating heart back under control.
"Go, MegaMan!" he snaps, raising his PET again and quickly pressing the jack-in button before anything else can happen.
Unfortunately, that action leaves him with just three limbs hanging onto the side of the pit, and he slides down a little bit more before he can stop himself.
Then he notices the car teetering over the edge. There's nothing Lan can do except watch in horror as it topples over and then comes crashing down into the pit - he ducks, hoping that he doesn't dislodge himself even more, and the car thankfully goes sailing overhead and crashes into the bottom of the pit. He coughs when the resulting dust cloud obscures his vision, trying to cover his head, and when the cloud finally clears, he glances down to check what happened to the car.
The pit's got a giant hole in the bottom of it now. The car had created it when it crashed down, and Lan can see a train going by on a some tracks - the subway system is directly underneath him, and if he falls any further, he'll end up on the tracks. He could get run over by a train before he even sees it coming!
He grits his teeth and looks up, trying to see if he can find some way out. From his PET in his hand, he can hear MegaMan challenging someone in the traffic lights network - and a familiar voice answers.
Lan recognises GravityMan's mechanical voice, and finally he figures out why these waves of pressure and the flattened pits are familiar. He's felt them before, when GravityMan had attacked that warehouse, and then when GravityMan had attacked SciLab just before ProtoMan had turned into Dark ProtoMan.
"Lan!"
He glances up at the voice. Maylu is leaning over the edge, with Chisao next to her. He feels a jolt of fear at the thought of his friends getting trapped down in this pit with him, but it looks like Maylu is being as careful as she can, and Chisao is standing well back even though he's still in sight.
"Come on!" Maylu calls again, reaching out. She can't quite reach him, and she won't be able to unless she comes down here, and Lan doesn't want that to happen.
He tries to crawl up, but he's not Chaud - though he wishes he was at this moment, or at least he wishes he had Chaud's abilities. Chaud barely weighs a thing and could probably climb up easily, even without his agility, whereas Lan weighs more and is nowhere near as agile, so he's stuck down here.
He slips again. No amount of scrabbling on the dirt will help this time, and there's no convenient stone for him to catch his foot on to stop himself.
Lan pulls his arm back. "Maylu!" he shouts. "Catch!"
He hurls his PET as high as he can. Just before he slips off entirely, he sees Maylu catching his PET, and has a moment to feel relieved that at least MegaMan has a better chance of getting out of this now before he tumbles down into the pit.
Maylu shouts after him, but he has nothing to grip anymore, so he can't stop himself even by skidding down the dirt. If he falls into the hole and onto the subway tracks, he's going to get hurt from the landing, and then he'll get run over by a train. That's . . . not a pleasant thought.
But just before he falls over the edge of the hole, something grabs his wrist. He jerks to a stop and gasps as he's jolted, but at least he's not falling anymore.
"Hang on!" an unfamiliar - but no less welcome - voice tells him.
Lan glances up at his rescuer. It's a man with light brown hair and a dirty orange jacket. Despite the unfamiliar voice, there's something about him that Lan feels like he should recognise, but he's too relieved at being saved to think about that for the moment.
"Start pulling on the rope!" the man shouts up to Maylu and Chisao. "I'll crawl up the side and pull him up. Grab him when he's over the edge!"
"Got it!" Maylu and Chisao call back.
The man starts to slowly crawl back up the side of the pit, with Maylu and Chisao pulling on the rope he'd tied around his waist to help. He seems to be using bits of stone and debris as footholds and handholds, his longer limbs managing the climb easier than Lan's smaller body could've done.
Lan feels himself sliding upwards, and considers trying to scramble up to try and help ease the burden of his rescuer, but he's not sure if wriggling around will just make it harder to pull him up. So he keeps as still as possible, to try and make it easier on his friends and his rescuer, and finally, after what feels like an eternity, he's over the edge.
Maylu and Chisao grab him and haul him over, and then turn back to help the man - but he's already standing up, brushing the dirt off his front and untying the rope from around his waist.
"Thanks," Lan gasps, as Maylu turns back to him and helps him stand up. She hands him back his PET and he takes it gratefully.
"No problem!" the man says cheerfully. He takes out a PET of his own, grey in colour, and looks at the screen.
Lan quickly checks his own PET, but it looks like the battle is already over - MegaMan is standing next to a Navi that Lan thinks seems familiar, the same way the man seems familiar, but once again he can't quite place them. Just beyond MegaMan and the Navi, there's a floating prism that seems to be reflecting light weirdly. It looks like it's made entirely from glass, or maybe mirrors.
"Mission accomplished," the Navi says, giving MegaMan a friendly wave before streaming out of the network.
"Nice work," the man says a moment later, confirming what Lan had already guessed - that the Navi belongs to him.
MegaMan comes back into Lan's PET after the Navi leaves. He looks like he's impressed - by the Navi's fighting ability, most likely, though Lan's sad to realise that he missed what was probably an epic battle. He's still wondering what that weird floating prism thing is, though.
"Um," Lan says. The man glances at him questioningly. "What happened to GravityMan?"
"PrisMan trapped him within the Labyrinth of Light," the man explains. PrisMan must be the name of his Navi, though the man hasn't offered his own name yet.
"The Labyrinth of Light?" Maylu repeats.
"It's sort of like an alternate dimension within the cyberworld," the man replies. "Completely inescapable - so GravityMan won't be getting out anytime soon, I can assure you of that!"
"Wow, that's so cool!" Lan exclaims. "You saved me, and your Navi saved MegaMan! Thanks!"
"Ah, it was nothing," the man dismisses good-naturedly. Then he suddenly jerks, and lets out a gasp. "I'm late! Sorry, I need to go!"
He grabs a bag off the ground and rushes off down the street before anyone can say anything else to him.
"See you, Lan!" the man calls over his shoulder, and then he's gone.
Lan blinks. "How did he know my name . . . ?"
"He was so cool!" Lan gushes later, when he's at SciLab.
He'd arrived not long after the incident with GravityMan, and had been directed to meet his dad in the main room. His friends followed him, and they'd found Dad already waiting for them, with Chaud sitting on the surface of a table nearby.
Lan knows that Dad doesn't like Chaud wandering out of his sight for very long. He gets a bit scared whenever he doesn't see Chaud for any period of time either - and he knows Mom is constantly worrying, too, because she's never baked this many cakes in ages, not since Lan broke his arm that one time when he was seven. She's a nervous baker.
But it looks like Chaud is doing just fine, or at least as fine as he can be considering . . . considering everything that's happened. The shadows under his eyes look like dark bruises, more so than usual, and he's clutching the white PET that houses Arcadia like someone's going to take it from him the moment he so much as loosens his grip on it. But he seems calm enough, at least to Lan.
"But he didn't give you his name?" Dad asks.
Lan shakes his head, distracted from his observation of Chaud. "He left before we could ask him," he replies.
"His Navi was really strong, though!" Chisao says excitedly. Rush yaps in agreement beside him.
"They beat GravityMan really easily," Maylu adds.
"He sounds like a good person, then," Dad comments, smiling good-naturedly. "And strong, too."
"Yeah, really strong, he-" Lan cuts himself off when he notices Chaud perking up and looking at the doors of the main room.
Dad notices too. "Oh, they must be here already," he says.
Lan's confusion only lasts a brief moment before the doors open, and Kifune and Manabe walk in, calling out a greeting to Dad. Lan feels a nudge on his arm from Maylu, and notices a third person coming in with Kifune and Manabe - a very familiar person.
"You're the guy who saved us earlier!" Lan exclaims, gaping at him. "Dad, that's him!"
Dad's grinning as he steps forward to greet the man. "It's been a while, Misaki," he says cheerfully. "Lan tells me you took down GravityMan with ease."
"Well, we didn't take him down," the man - Misaki, apparently - says sheepishly. "We just trapped him, that's all."
"Still, though. Lan and his friends were singing you praises a moment ago," Dad laughs. He glances at Lan. "I don't suppose you remember him?"
"Well, I met him earlier . . ." Lan offers. He can tell that's not what Dad means, though.
"Do you remember the first Cross Fusion test?" Dad prompts. "Before ShadeMan and BeastMan attacked the lab?"
Lan racks his brains, trying to remember - that had been a while ago, and most of what he remembers comes from his first taste of Cross Fusion, and the rush of protective anger he'd felt when Chaud had been attacked by BeastMan. But the original Cross Fusion test?
That had been before the attack. Lan remembers watching a test, and . . . it hadn't gone well, he doesn't think. He remembers something had gone wrong and the person who'd been trying to use the synchro chip had needed medical attention. The test had been a failure, until Lan had used Cross Fusion successfully.
Then it hits him - the reason why Misaki and PrisMan are so familiar is because Lan has seen them before. They were the ones doing the Cross Fusion test.
"You're the guy from back then!" Lan exclaims, eyes widening as he gapes at Misaki. Maybe it's a bit rude to stare like this, but he's too surprised to remember his manners at the moment.
Luckily, Misaki doesn't seem bothered by the staring. He gives Lan a good-natured grin over his shoulder as Kifune steps forward.
"Lan, meet Detective Goro Misaki," Kifune says. "He usually works with the northeastern branch, but from today, he's switching assignments to work at HQ. You'll likely see him quite a lot, so it's good you already know him."
"He was selected for Cross Fusion research many times," Dad adds. "Originally, he was going to be the first person to use it, and would've switched assignments back then - but, of course, there were complications, and he had to delay his switch until today."
"My synchro rate with PrisMan was low," Misaki explains, when Lan glances at him curiously. "I've wanted to perform Cross Fusion for so long, but I guess it wasn't meant to be." He chuckles. "To be honest, I'm a little jealous that you can manage it with MegaMan!"
"Chaud can do it, too!" Lan exclaims, before he can stop himself. "With Proto-"
He snaps his mouth shut, cutting off his words. Misaki is giving him an odd look, like he wants to ask what he's talking about, but Lan isn't paying attention to him anymore - he's looking at Chaud, who's gone completely rigid on the table he's sitting on.
He feels a rush of pity, mingled with sorrow. Chaud can't do Cross Fusion anymore; ProtoMan is gone.
"Sorry," Lan mumbles, so quietly that no one else can hear him - except for Chaud, who raises his head and gives Lan a look filled with sadness. Chaud dips his head a little to acknowledge the apology, but Lan still feels terrible for blurting that out so thoughtlessly.
Misaki seems to be the only person in the room who doesn't know what's going on. He keeps looking at Lan for a moment, then turns his head and sees Chaud sitting on the table. Lan doesn't know what the detective is thinking, but he can almost see the gears turning in his head. Maybe he's trying to work out what's going on - he's a detective, so he's probably good at investigating stuff, and anyone with half a brain could figure out that something bad happened just by reading the mood of the room.
He doesn't ask, though, because the sombre moment is broken when Famous's voice calls out from the intercom.
"Final checks are complete!" Famous tells them. "The prototype is ready for testing."
"Thank you," Dad calls back. He looks like he's struggling with the abrupt reminder of Chaud's loss as well, but his voice is steady as he speaks. "We'll head over to the lab right away."
Dad leads everyone out of the room. Lan drops back to walk with Chaud, and sees his dad glancing over his shoulder at them every so often. Probably making sure that Chaud's still here. Lan can understand his worry, especially after the thoughtless comment he'd made.
He quietly walks alongside Chaud for a minute, until the shame finally becomes too much to bear and he has to say something. He might explode otherwise.
"I'm really sorry," Lan says emphatically. "I didn't . . . I-I wasn't thinking . . . It just came out."
"S'alright," Chaud mumbles, not looking at him. Lan feels even worse at that - has he made Chaud so sad that he can't even look anyone in the eyes now? It's clearly not alright, no matter what Chaud says.
But before he can think of anything else to say, Misaki appears on his other side. Lan had been too focused on Chaud's low mood to notice him.
"I'd heard there were two kids who could use Cross Fusion," Misaki says carefully. "But I was told recently that something happened, and now only one kid can use it. And that kid's you, Lan. I'm guessing the other kid was him?" He nods to Chaud.
"I- um . . ." Lan bites his lip apprehensively. "I'm not . . . I don't know how much we can tell you, honestly."
Misaki raises an eyebrow at him.
"I don't know how much we're allowed to tell you," Lan amends. "I mean, if the Commissioner says we can tell you, then . . . well, we will, but . . ."
"Ah," Misaki says knowingly, "you got slapped with a gag order."
"Gag order?" Lan repeats curiously.
"Basically, you've been ordered to keep quiet about something," Misaki explains. "For the safety of the people involved, the safety of the general public, or for some other reason. Judging by the looks on your faces, I'm guessing it's the safety of the people involved." He peers at Chaud for a moment, and then nods like he's figured something out. "For the safety of him, I assume. You said his name's Chaud?"
"Yeah, but, um." Lan lowers his voice a little. "You gotta call him Mimic, though. It'd be bad if people found out his real name."
Misaki gives him a puzzled look. "Then why did you refer to him by his real name back there?"
Lan sighs. "It just slipped out," he admits, ashamed of himself. "Everyone here knows who he is, and I didn't think . . ."
"If you need to keep his name a secret," Misaki begins, "then why not just refer to him as Mimic all the time?"
"What if he forgets his real name, though?" Lan protests. He feels a sharp nudge on his shoulder and glances at Chaud, who looks mildly offended. "What? I'd forget my name if people called me something else all the time!"
"M'not you," Chaud reminds him, now giving him an amused smile. At least he seems to be recovering from his low mood.
"I dunno if you're implying anything, but if you are, then bleh." Lan sticks his tongue out.
Chaud reaches out and grabs it. Lan lets out a startled yelp and Chaud tugs on his tongue, forcing him to stumble, and then lets go and wipes his fingers on his cargo pants.
"Tha' wath meam," Lan mutters, pulling his tongue back in.
"Consider it revenge," Chaud tells him, looking thoroughly satisfied.
Famous wants to test the Battle Chip Gate in the dimensional area lab, so that's where they head. The others - Chaud included - go into the observation room up above, while Famous shows the Battle Chip Gate to Lan.
It's . . . not really what he was expecting. He doesn't know what he had been expecting, to be honest, but this isn't really it.
It's a little bit like the storage device Arcadia had to stay in for a while, except there's no screen. There's a download slot for battle chips, and a second device that the Gate can apparently attach to so it can connect to whatever the user needs it to. Lan doesn't really know how it's used or connected, but if it works, he won't need to worry about running out of battle chips in the middle of a Cross Fusion battle - because whoever uses this Battle Chip Gate can just send him more, kind of like how an operator works with a NetNavi.
"I'll be up in the observation room," Famous tells him. "Once Dr. Hikari has activated the dimensional area, I'll connect the Gate and start sending you battle chips. We just want to see if they transfer properly for now - we can do other tests later, if this works."
"Gotcha!" Lan agrees.
Famous nods to him and steps out of the experimental dimensional area. Lan watches him head up the stairs, and then he's in the observation room. He sees Chaud moving to stand beside him, peering curiously at the Battle Chip Gate, and Famous twists his hand to let Chaud get a better look at it.
Lan grins to himself. Maybe if this Battle Chip Gate works, Chaud won't have to worry about getting caught in dimensional areas - he has Arcadia, sure, but if he has something to fight back with as well, he won't be completely defenceless.
Of course Lan would never leave Chaud on his own like that, but what if he's busy trying to fight off something else? What if Arcadia's busy, too? Or maybe Lan won't be in the dimensional area at all, and Arcadia could get overwhelmed or something. Chaud'll need something to help him fight back, and knowing that he isn't completely helpless will make Lan feel a bit better, too.
But he's not entirely sure if Chaud will get to use the Battle Chip Gate. First of all, it's just a prototype at the moment, and no one knows if it'll work the way they want it to. But more importantly, Chaud might not be allowed to have one even if it does work - he's supposed to be avoiding danger, not actively seeking it out.
Still, though. Lan thinks everyone would be able to relax a little bit if Chaud could defend himself - he wouldn't be such an easy target for Nebula if he could, after all.
"Activate the dimensional area," Dad calls.
"Dimensional area, activate!" the scientist working at the computer consoles announces.
SciLab's experimental dimensional area fades into existence around him. Lan shakes off his thoughts and raises his PET, holding his synchro chip over the download slot.
"Synchro chip, download!" he says.
"Cross Fusion!" MegaMan calls, at the same as Lan.
The familiar bright light of Cross Fusion blinds him for a moment, and then it dies down. Lan clenches his fists and looks up at the observation room - he can see Misaki watching him, and hopes that he can impress the detective. Misaki was the first person to try Cross Fusion, and Lan can guess how much it means to him to see it working, even though it's someone else who's doing it.
"I've connected the Battle Chip Gate!" Famous calls through the intercom.
Dad nods. "Start the test."
"Long Sword, download!"
Lan raises his arm in anticipation of the download. It feels weird to be waiting for a battle chip rather than downloading it himself, but he should probably get used to this. It'll be happening a lot if this works, and he'll be able to fight much better with someone to back him up.
But the Long Sword doesn't appear. He waits for several moments, but nothing happens.
Just as Lan's about to lower his arm and ask if something went wrong, he feels the Long Sword materialising. He straightens his arm and gets ready for it, but it breaks and vanishes before it's even fully formed.
"Try again," Dad says.
"Vulcan, download!" Famous exclaims.
Again, the battle chip takes a long time to materialise, but the moment it starts to appear, it breaks and vanishes.
What's going on? Lan wonders.
Remember, it's just a prototype, MegaMan says. There's bound to be glitches.
Well, yeah, but this is ridiculous, Lan replies.
"Again!" Dad calls.
"Cannon, download!"
For a third time, the battle chip doesn't work. It appears faster than the other two had, but it still breaks, and Lan's even more confused than ever.
He can download battle chips easily when he's using Cross Fusion. And if using the Battle Chip Gate is anything like using a PET, it should work the same way, right? So why isn't it working like that?
Lan hears a faint commotion in the observation room, but he's too focused on his confused thoughts to notice what's going on.
"Wide Sword," a familiar voice says, "download."
Lan half-expects the Wide Sword to break like the other chips had, but it materialises on his arm like it would if he'd downloaded it himself. For a moment he's too stunned to react, gaping at the Wide Sword like he's never seen one before.
Then he remembers the voice - that hadn't been Famous talking.
Lan looks up at the observation room. Famous is no longer holding the Battle Chip Gate, and everyone's staring at Chaud like he's grown a second head. Lan can't figure out why, until he sees the Battle Chip Gate now in Chaud's hands, and then he too gapes at Chaud.
"It didn't work when Famous did it," MegaMan says, similarly stunned.
"So how come it worked for Chaud?" Lan finishes the thought.
"Chaud?" Dad calls, looking up at the observation room as well. "What happened? How did you do that?" He pauses for a moment. "Can you do it again?"
Chaud nods. He glances at Lan, then brings out another battle chip. He doesn't usually announce them like most operators, but he does now - maybe it's for Lan's benefit, so he won't be surprised when a battle chip just suddenly materialises.
"Long Sword, download," Chaud says.
The Long Sword replaces the Wide Sword smoothly. Lan moves it through the air, just to test whether or not it'll hold up if he moves it, and it does - the Long Sword is still materialised on his arm, still perfectly ready to use.
When Famous had been trying to give him battle chips, they'd all broken upon activating. But Chaud can download them just fine, and they work.
Why can Chaud use the Battle Chip Gate, and not Famous? What was the difference?
"Chaud can use Cross Fusion," MegaMan answers the unspoken question. "He understands how the timing works for downloading battle chips like this, and he can use that understanding to transfer battle chips through the Battle Chip Gate to you."
Lan sees Dad staring at him, wide-eyed. He'd clearly heard MegaMan's answer, and for a moment, Lan shares Dad's fear - if Chaud is the only person who can use the Battle Chip Gate, that means he'll be the only person who can back Lan up during a Cross Fusion battle.
He'd thought it'd be good for Chaud to be able to defend himself. But he'd also been thinking that Chaud could be given one after the prototype was completed and refined, not straight away - and he certainly hadn't considered the possibility that Chaud would be the only person who can use it. That's the exact opposite of staying out of danger; it means Chaud'll have to get involved in Lan's missions, no matter what Kifune's orders say.
This is not what he wanted.
Dad gets Chaud to download a few more battle chips, just to see whether or not it'll still work. Every single time, Chaud manages to transfer the chips to Lan - they even try giving it back to Famous, just to see whether or not it'll work for him now, but again the battle chip just breaks after a delayed download.
It's official. Chaud is the only person who can use the Battle Chip Gate. And no one knows what to do with that information.
They relocate to the main room once the test is over. Chaud's still got the Battle Chip Gate, but everyone's too focused on what to do about the test to notice - though Lan does, and he thinks that he can see some sort of anticipation in Chaud's expression, like he's expecting something to happen.
Maybe he is. Lan doesn't know for sure, and it's not like Chaud has an obligation to tell them everything - for all he knows, Chaud could've had a dream, and he's keeping a hold of the Battle Chip Gate for that reason alone. That might be why he took it from Famous during the test, actually. Lan's not sure if Chaud knew he'd be able to use it, but maybe he knew he'd have to use it, so he figured he should try.
So Lan keeps quiet and doesn't tell anyone that Chaud still has it. He doesn't know what's going to happen, and the thought of Chaud knowingly running into danger is almost enough to make him blurt it out anyway, but he might mess up whatever plan Chaud has if he does that.
"No," Dad says firmly, startling Lan out of his thoughts and jerking his attention back to the conversation at hand. "Absolutely not. I forbid it."
"He's the only one who can use it," Famous argues calmly. "It makes sense to let him keep it for now, doesn't it?"
"I don't care!" Dad exclaims. "There has to be someone else who can use it. We only tried it with two people, those aren't concrete results-"
"I built the thing, and I couldn't figure it out," Famous interrupts. "If Chaud can use it, then let him have it."
"This goes against my orders," Kifune says. "He's supposed to be staying safe, not throwing himself into danger at every opportunity."
"We all know that won't stop him," Famous says. "He's too much like Lan - if there's a crisis and he can do something to help, there's nothing anyone can do to stop him."
Lan doesn't know if he should be giving his own opinion in this discussion, or if anyone's even going to welcome it. He's not even sure if anyone wants to hear Chaud's opinion, even though they're talking about him. He's just listening quietly, expression giving away nothing about his inner thoughts.
I'm sick of listening! I always have to listen! Everyone's always talking about me as if I'm not right in front of them!
Lan can't hold back a wince as he remembers Chaud's frustrated rant during the VideoMan incident. He'd never thought he'd ever hear Chaud shouting, but he'd been in a bad mood for so long that anything could've set him off, and Famous telling him to stay at HQ just happened to be that thing. He wonders if Chaud is remembering that as well, because once again, people are talking about him while he's right in front of them - and no one's asking for his opinion.
"Look, he'll know to stay out of the way," Famous tries to argue. "And he has Arcadia to protect him, too. And with the Battle Chip Gate, he can use battle chips for himself, as well as transferring them to Lan. If their positions were reversed-"
"My answer would still be no," Dad snaps. "The only reason I let Lan fight is because he has Cross Fusion! Chaud no longer has that option!"
"What if Lan has to fight someone like GravityMan again?" Famous counters. "You know how difficult that particular Darkloid is to take down."
"GravityMan is trapped," Misaki speaks up. "He can't get out of the Labyrinth of Light. And from what I understand, no two Darkloids have the same abilities - so I doubt there'll be another GravityMan to fight."
"See?" Dad jerks his head toward Misaki, acknowledging his support while keeping his eyes fixed on Famous. "There's no need to give the Battle Chip Gate to Chaud if there won't be another GravityMan."
"But what if-"
"What's the Labyrinth of Light?" Chaud interrupts.
Everyone turns to look at him. Chaud twitches, looking vaguely uncomfortable at suddenly being the centre of attention, but he doesn't waver. Lan notices that the Battle Chip Gate isn't in his hands anymore, and guesses he probably put it in his pocket while the others were busy arguing about whether they should let him have it.
"It's what my Navi trapped GravityMan in," Misaki explains. "It's a prism made out of mirrors, completely impenetrable. He won't be able to escape, don't worry."
Chaud looks at him for a moment.
"He escaped," he says bluntly.
"What?" Misaki gapes at him. "But- how could you- no, that's not right. He can't escape from-"
"He got out a- a few minutes ago," Chaud informs him. "Broke it. With his gravity."
"Why didn't you say anything?" Kifune demands, looking shocked. Lan doesn't blame him - he's just as shocked, and more than a little confused as to why Chaud never said anything.
Chaud drops his gaze to the floor with a shame-faced look. "Didn't know what it w-was," he mumbles, just loud enough for everyone to still hear him. "Just that- that he'd get out of-ff a . . . thing. W-with mirrors. M's-sorry."
"It's okay," Lan tells him, because Chaud is starting to look like he's expecting someone to yell at him for not speaking up sooner. "You didn't know. Besides, you only just figured it out - we can't expect you to know every little detail."
Chaud just lowers his head. Lan's attempt at consoling him doesn't seem to be working, even though he's right - they really can't expect Chaud to know everything, even if his dreams tell him about the future. Maybe he only saw GravityMan breaking out of the Labyrinth of Light and nothing else, and he was just waiting for more clarity or for some bit of information like this to figure out what he dreamed.
"How could you know that GravityMan escaped?" Misaki asks, reminding Lan that he doesn't know about Chaud's power.
Maylu, Chisao, and Rush don't know about it, either, now that Lan thinks about it. They look just as surprised as Misaki, and seem to be expecting an explanation too - but Lan's not sure if it's safe to tell them the truth.
"When Chaud says something's gonna happen, it's gonna happen," Lan says, speaking to Misaki and hoping his friends don't get annoyed with him for being so mysterious. "And if he says GravityMan escaped, that means GravityMan is out there, probably about to start breaking stuff again." He looks at Kifune. "Is it okay if I go? MegaMan should be able to detect any gravity thingies-"
"Gravitational abnormalities," MegaMan corrects him quickly.
"Yeah, those," Lan says. "He can detect them and we can find GravityMan and take him down!"
"Hurry," Kifune tells him. "And be careful."
"Wait a moment," Misaki says, stepping forward. "I still don't understand what's going on, but if GravityMan really has escaped, I want to help."
"Both of you, then," Kifune agrees. "Go - find GravityMan and stop him before he can destroy any more of the city!"
"Yes, sir!" Lan and Misaki exclaim in unison.
Lan and Misaki rush out of the main room, and Mimic wonders if there's any way she can sneak out after them without anyone else noticing. She's good at stealth, but Dr. Hikari won't let her out of his sight, and there's too many people in the room for her to slip out unnoticed anyway.
She gives the room a quick glance, trying to figure out if there's any way she can get out of sight long enough to sneak out, and meets Famous's eyes for a split second.
Something passes between them in that second - some kind of unspoken understanding. Famous gives her the tiniest of nods, and then turns to Dr. Hikari.
"I still think we should let Chaud have the Battle Chip Gate," he says.
"What?" Dr. Hikari looks at him sharply. "Don't start this again. I am not letting Chaud have that thing."
"That thing could mean the difference between winning and losing," Famous says. "What if Lan gets injured because you wouldn't let Chaud help him?"
Dr. Hikari's eyes blaze. "What the hell are you implying, Famous?" he barks. "Are you saying I don't care about my son?"
"Dr. Hikari, you need to calm down," Kifune says, moving forward to put a hand on his shoulder.
While Mimic is startled at how quickly this argument seems to be spiralling out of control, she recognises what Famous is doing. He's creating a distraction for her, getting everyone else worked up enough that they won't notice if she slips out.
She glances around - Maylu is whispering to Chisao and Rush, Dr. Hikari is focused on Famous, Kifune is trying to calm Dr. Hikari down, and Manabe is watching the growing argument with an expression of deep concern. No one's paying any attention to her, except for Famous, who shoots her a quick glance over Dr. Hikari's shoulder.
She dips her head a little, a silent thank you, and slides off the table. With everyone in the room successfully distracted, it's easy to slip out, and Mimic takes off running the absolute second she's out of the room.
Keeping out of sight is easy, though she only avoids people. Avoiding security cameras is pointless, since they're pretty much everywhere, and Famous's distraction will hopefully work well enough that no one will think to look at the cameras just yet. Hopefully he'll be able to keep it up long enough for her to get out of SciLab - she's not sure how far Dr. Hikari will go to keep her out of danger, and she doesn't want him to lock down SciLab just to stop her from leaving.
She's relieved when she gets out of the building, and feels the open air hitting her skin as she darts across the concrete. As soon as she's through the front gate, she heads straight for the nearest building and scrambles up the side, hauling herself onto the roof.
It'll be easier to avoid getting spotted if she doesn't touch the ground. Running across rooftops and walls is the best way to do that - and besides, she can easily catch up with Lan and Misaki and follow them directly without letting them know she's there. Unless either of them happen to glance up, they won't know she's following them.
I thought you wanted to avoid danger, Chaud sighs.
Oh, come on, Mimic replies, as she sprints across the rooftop. We both know that wasn't going to last.
You know, there was once a time when you did everything you could to stay out of danger, Chaud comments. Mimic plants her foot on the edge of the roof and jumps between the gap between the next one as he continues. Now you're doing everything you can to put yourself into danger.
Guess I just got used to it, Mimic says.
He doesn't reply for a moment, not wanting to break her concentration as she jumps across another gap. The next building is taller than this one, so she has to scramble up the side, using her momentum to jump up. Then she's up and over the edge, racing across the roof.
Dr. Hikari's not gonna happy about this, Chaud says.
Yeah, Mimic can't help but laugh, Dad's gonna kill me when he finds out where I've gone.
Dad?
She fumbles her next jump. Luckily for her, the next gap isn't that wide, but she lands on the next roof with the grace of a drunk panda.
I mean, Dr. Hikari, she quickly corrects herself. Dr. Hikari's gonna . . . you know what, never mind.
She can feel Chaud's incredulous curiosity through their connection, but he drops the subject and lets her focus on finding Lan and Misaki.
Mimic quickly gets back to her feet, trying to ignore the embarrassment that's making her cheeks heat up like they're on fire, and darts across the roof. She comes to the edge and slows to a stop, because there's no other buildings for her to jump to; this is the end of this particular street, and down below there's a busy crossroads.
She scans the pavements. Lan and Misaki hadn't been that far ahead of her, and she'd run out pretty quickly after Famous's distraction, so they should be here. The street she was running along was the only street leading up to SciLab - unless they went the other way, in which case she just ran across half a dozen buildings for no reason.
Then she spots a flash of bright orange in the crowd. She can't see very well from this high up, but she'd recognise Lan anywhere - and she can see Misaki's dirty orange jacket as he runs alongside him.
They're just turning the corner, heading down the left-hand street. It seems like Mimic managed to get to the crossroads before they did, but luckily for her, there are more buildings on her left. She doesn't need to waste time getting down and then trying to figure out where they went - she can just follow them directly.
She makes sure to keep them in sight as much as possible. It gets easier as they continue through the city - the crowd is starting to thin out, and she doesn't need to concentrate as much to find them through all the people. She half-wishes that better eyesight was one of the abilities she got from Cross Fusing with ProtoMan, but Mimic is pretty sure that'd be greedy. Besides, night vision is extremely useful; there's no way she'd trade it for better eyesight just so she can pick out Lan and Misaki in a crowd.
After several minutes of keeping pace with them, Lan and Misaki finally arrive at an empty street. There are already some flattened pits here, a telltale sign that GravityMan has been on the attack - which means he must've started sometime during their mad dash through the streets to locate him.
Mimic remembers they'd defeated him in the cyberworld fairly easily, and then the dimensional area had appeared. They'd been right up near the barrier, but Mimic doesn't know exactly where the barrier will appear - so she has no way of knowing if she's inside or outside the circumference.
Get ahead of them, Chaud tells her. It'd be better to stay inside where you know the barrier will be, instead of gambling on staying outside where you think it might be.
Wouldn't that count as putting myself in danger? Mimic asks, even as she moves across the roof to get ahead of Lan and Misaki. You're singing a different tune than five minutes ago.
It'd be better to get caught inside the dimensional area rather than risk getting chopped in half by the barrier when it appears, Chaud explains.
Yeah, that's . . . that's a good point. Getting chopped in half sounds extremely painful and she does not want to die like that.
Mimic heads over to the edge of the building and debates climbing down. She can see easy footholds she can use, and worst comes to worst, she can always hop down off the opposite wall and land on that pile of rubbish bags she can just about make out in the shadows of the alley.
Then again . . . if she gets down, she risks putting herself in even more danger. It's bad enough that she snuck out and followed Lan and Misaki like this - maybe if she stays up here, she can just provide support from a distance. Lan can focus on battling GravityMan and she won't get in the way.
Oh, thank god, Chaud sighs, sounding relieved. I was worried you'd be stupid and jump down. You're actually using your head, congratulations!
Shut up, Sarcasm Boy, Mimic replies, only half-joking.
She settles down on the roof, making sure she has a good view of Lan and Misaki below her. The cyberworld fight with GravityMan won't last long, but she needs a bit of a rest after jumping across multiple rooftops like that - though she's barely out of breath, honestly. Thank god for enhanced agility.
Mimic takes out the white PET, intending to tell Arcadia to get ready to fight - or protect her, whichever. It might end up being the same thing if GravityMan decides to attack the building she's on, to be honest.
But when she looks at Arcadia, she sees him giving her a look she never thought he'd direct at her - Arcadia is glaring at her. She's seen him determined, she's seen him sad, but she's never seen him glaring. Not at her, anyway. It's not the same glare he'd given the Net Agent Navis when they tried to delete ProtoMan, though. This one's more disapproving than angry.
"I do not approve of this," is the first thing Arcadia says to her. Definitely a disapproving glare, then.
"Can't s-stay out of trouble," Mimic says, trying to go for a flippant tone.
It doesn't work. She gets the tone right, or she thinks she does, but it only makes Arcadia glare at her even more.
"You're supposed to stay safe," Arcadia says. "How is this staying safe? You literally snuck out and then followed Lan and that Misaki human, and now you'll be stuck inside a dimensional area with a raging Darkloid."
"Who will be focused on Lan," Mimic points out.
"That's not the point!" Arcadia exclaims. It's the closest he's ever come to yelling at her. "The point is that you're wilfully placing yourself in harm's way, again, and you didn't think it through, again!"
"I did," Mimic argues.
Arcadia puffs out his cheeks. "It doesn't seem like it," he mutters. He sighs, putting a hand to his face. After a moment, he lowers his arm. "Just . . . don't do anything stupid. Well, stupider."
"You know I can't promise that," Mimic says.
Arcadia looks at her pleadingly.
" . . . Okay," Mimic murmurs, unable to refuse that look. "I promise."
She's not planning on getting involved directly anyway, so this . . . should work out. She'll just stay up here, on this roof, where GravityMan will hopefully not notice her and focus on attacking Lan. It doesn't feel right, hoping that a Darkloid will focus on attacking her friend, but he'll be using Cross Fusion - meanwhile, she's just a human.
A human who can run across the entire city without touching the ground and has night vision in both eyes, but still a human.
Huh, Mimic thinks. I guess that means I do have some kind of power after all. Agility and night vision.
And technically Cross Fusion, Chaud reminds her. E-even though . . . even though you can't do it right now.
They share a moment of sadness between them, but Mimic has to shake it off quickly when she notices Lan and Misaki looking around. Has there been enough time for the battle in the cyberworld to be finished?
She gets her answer a moment later, when dimensional converters start to rise out of the ground. The dimensional area's barrier fades into existence, covering a wide area, though Lan and Misaki are still right up against it. It's just a few metres away, from what she can tell - and part of the roof she's hiding on is cut off on the other side, just where she'd been before Chaud had told her to move.
Good thing he did, then. Even if she didn't get cut in half, she would've been on the other side, and she's not sure how close she needs to be on the outside of the barrier for the Battle Chip Gate to work. Would she need to be right near Lan, or would staying up on the roof be good enough? But if she's inside the dimensional area itself, she won't need to worry about the distance.
Down below, GravityMan materialises and starts flinging out energy balls of Gravity Hold everywhere. One of them hits a part of the building on the opposite side of the street, sending debris tumbling down toward Lan and Misaki.
Arcadia materialises beside her, half-spreading his wings. He's clearly intending to go down and rescue them before the debris can bury Lan and Misaki.
Though Mimic feels an instinctive jolt of fear when she sees the debris falling, she puts out a hand to stop Arcadia. The debris collapse onto the ground and Arcadia gasps, whipping his head to give her a shocked look, but Mimic shakes her head and gestures for him to watch.
A light shines from within the pile of rubble, and Lan bursts out, fully Cross Fused. He's carrying Misaki easily, despite the detective being literally twice his size, and when they land, Lan lets go of him and turns to face GravityMan, shouting a challenge to the raging Darkloid.
GravityMan immediately throws out another Gravity Hold. Lan dodges to one side and it misses, creating a massive hole in the ground just where he'd been. Mimic can see Misaki backing away until he's right up against the barrier, and then an explosion brings her attention back to the battle.
Lan's trying to get behind GravityMan to shoot him, but GravityMan just keeps spinning around to face him no matter where he goes. Mimic can't see Lan's expression from here, but he's definitely getting frustrated.
"Stone Cube, download!" Lan shouts, gesturing toward GravityMan.
A Stone Cube appears overhead and smashes onto GravityMan's head. Seems he's finally decided to copy Mimic directly instead of hurling expensive machinery at GravityMan - though she suspects the only reason Lan isn't doing that now is because the only heavy things around are buildings, and he'd have to break them to get anything useful out of them. Which is kind of the exact opposite to what he needs to do.
With GravityMan's barrier gone, Lan downloads a Long Sword and rushes at the Darkloid, slashing in a wide arc. GravityMan beeps, sounding more offended than injured, and blasts Lan away with a hastily-created Gravity Hold.
While Lan struggles to get up, Mimic glances at Arcadia, who's leaning over the edge and keeping an eye on the battle. But he's not going down to help - he's staying next to her.
"I'm supposed to protect you," Arcadia reminds her, when he notices her looking at him. "Even if that wasn't my mission, I'd still stay here - there's no way I'm leaving you alone in the middle of a dimensional area."
Mimic can't really argue with that, so she just nods and turns her attention back to the battle.
Lan's . . . not doing very well. As she watches, he downloads another Stone Cube, which bounces off GravityMan's head and gets rid of his gravity barrier again. Then he downloads a Boomer and hurls it at the Darkloid. It clangs off GravityMan's armour, sending him drifting back a few feet with a high-pitched beep. But he isn't stunned by the attack, and just blasts out yet another Gravity Hold that Lan barely manages to dodge.
Just one chip left, now. She doesn't know what the fifth chip Lan downloaded will be, but she can bet it won't be enough to defeat GravityMan. The Long Sword and Boomer barely did anything, even with the barrier gone. If Lan has a third Stone Cube and is intending to use his Mega Buster to attack, he's not going to get anywhere.
She can see Lan looking around the street now. That must mean his fifth chip isn't a Stone Cube, otherwise he'd use it - he's looking for something heavy enough to throw at GravityMan, who's got his barrier back up and is advancing already.
But the only thing heavy enough is the rubble from the building GravityMan had made fall on Lan and Misaki near the start of the battle. The rubble is behind GravityMan, which Lan won't be able to get at without going past the Darkloid, and there's no way GravityMan will let him pass.
My turn, Mimic thinks, bringing out the Battle Chip Gate.
She'd watched Famous carefully during the test, wanting to see how he used the Gate so she'd know in advance. Chaud was able to figure out more from all that time she spent hanging around with Famous while he made the thing, and from that, she's able to work out how to connect the Battle Chip Gate to Lan.
Mimic downloads a Stone Cube, directing it to materialise above GravityMan. Lan's shocked yelp is audible from here - not just because Mimic has sensitive hearing - and GravityMan is even more startled, flailing around and beeping erratically.
It takes Lan a moment to get over his own shock, and he quickly uses his last chip - it turns out to be a Yo-Yo, which he hurls at GravityMan with such force that it's clear he wants this fight to end quickly. Maybe so he can figure out where the hell that random (in his eyes) Stone Cube had come from.
Or, Mimic thinks as Lan glances around, he's already figured it out. Lan looks up at the roof where she and Arcadia are hiding for a split second, and then does a double take when he sees them. Even though she can't see his expression from up here, she can tell he's shocked.
But there's no time for them to acknowledge this. Lan has a battle to fight, and Mimic is going to back him up whether he likes it or not.
GravityMan beeps angrily and rights himself, turning to face Lan again. He raises his arms and blasts out a Gravity Drive, the waves of pressure perfectly visible with how powerful they are.
Mimic quickly downloads her second Stone Cube, remembering that Chaud had broken the attack the same way in the anime - it works now, too, and GravityMan's Gravity Drive is cancelled by the battle chip.
Lan lifts his Buster and starts firing it rapidly, taking full advantage of GravityMan's vulnerability. The rapid-fire attack makes a dust cloud explode around GravityMan, and when it clears up, it reveals a very battered-looking Darkloid.
He's probably about to bail, Mimic realises. She can't let that happen - this is where GravityMan is supposed to be deleted. How did they do that in the anime?
A program advance, she remembers. Which one? And can she do it?
Well, Chaud had managed it with Lan in the anime, and they'd only just started to become friends at that point. She and Lan have been friends for far longer - hopefully that's more than enough to let her do this with him.
But the only problem is, even if she can do a program advance with Lan, she doesn't have the right chips for the same one from the anime. She remembers now - it had been three High Cannons, which combined to make the Giga Cannon. Mimic only has one High Cannon.
Two Cannons, one High Cannon, and one Mega Cannon, Chaud quickly recites.
There's a program advance for those. She remembers Lan blasting it out at ShadeMan - maybe it won't be as powerful as Giga Cannon, but Zeta Cannon should still do the trick. GravityMan doesn't look like he can take much more damage anyway.
She stands up, getting Lan's attention by waving the Battle Chip Gate in the air. Once she sees him looking at her, she holds up three fingers, hoping that he can see her from this distance.
Lan waves back. Does that mean he knows what she wants to do? She hopes it does, or else this might go spectacularly wrong.
Mimic quickly fishes out a Cannon, a High Cannon, and a Mega Cannon. Then she downloads them in succession, seeing Lan clasping his hands together - he's anticipating the program advance she's going to send him, so that means he did understand what she wants to do.
The Zeta Cannon materialises on his arms, and he brings it down to aim at GravityMan.
"Zeta Cannon!" Lan shouts, firing it at full power.
Mimic hears a high-pitched beep from GravityMan that makes her wince and cover her ears, but she also hears the sound of deletion - that means the Zeta Cannon was successful, even if they'd used a Giga Cannon in the anime. GravityMan must've been really low on hit points. Maybe using a program advance was overkill.
At least GravityMan has been deleted, though. And now the final Darkloid - not including ShadeMan - who can resist Arcadia's attacks is out of the picture. That should make any battles he takes part in a bit easier, at least.
She glances at Arcadia beside her, grinning, and is about to voice her thoughts when she notices that he's not looking at the now-finished battle anymore. He's turned around, and he's gone rigid - although Holy Fire sparks along his arms, and he's glaring, this time definitely angry. Though Mimic thinks she can see a faint trace of fear and sadness in his expression, too.
"Hello."
She feels her blood freezing, but she forces herself to turn around.
Dark ProtoMan grins at them from the other end of the rooftop, looking, for all intents and purposes, like he's just come here for a pleasant chat. But that grin isn't pleasant at all - it's the kind that promises pain and suffering, and he's going to enjoy every moment of it.
"You knew I'd be here, didn't you?" Dark ProtoMan asks, tilting his head. "And yet you still came."
Mimic had been hoping he wouldn't come, honestly. The only reason he'd shown up in the anime had been to show off his new status as a full Darkloid - basically, he'd just shown up purely so he could taunt Chaud. She'd been hoping that Dark ProtoMan wouldn't show up this time because they'd already seen him in his Darkloid form, they'd witnessed his transformation and he'd attacked them already.
Looks like that was too much to hope for, though.
Arcadia puts his arm across Mimic, pressing her back until she's against the low wall encircling the roof. She feels feathers brushing her back and sees the tip of his wing curling around her side, and realises he's keeping her from falling off - and maybe adding to the protection.
"Do you mind?" Dark ProtoMan asks, gesturing to Mimic, even though he's addressing Arcadia. "I just want to talk to her, that's all."
"No," Arcadia replies. He's trying to keep his voice steady, but Mimic can hear the faint tremble in his tone - and no doubt Dark ProtoMan can, too.
Dark ProtoMan's grin slips into a sadistic smirk. "Aw," he says, with mocking sadness. "That's a shame. I was hoping I could just talk to Mimic without a fight, but if that's what you want . . ."
He suddenly darts forward, crossing the roof in the blink of an eye. Arcadia tries to meet his attack, but Dark ProtoMan simply jumps up and slams into him, sending Arcadia hurtling off the roof.
Arcadia snaps out his wings and rises back up, wings beating rapidly, and he pulls back an arm as a Firebomb forms in his palm. Dark ProtoMan activates his Buster and blasts him out of the air before he can even throw the Firebomb, and Arcadia crashes to the ground.
Mimic whirls around and leans over the edge, choking on a gasp. She can see Arcadia struggling to get back up on the ground, and Lan a few feet away, frozen for a moment, and then he comes forward to help Arcadia stand.
Then Mimic can't pay attention to that anymore, because she feels rather than sees Dark ProtoMan looming up behind her. Clawed hands reach around her and grip the low wall, trapping her in, and Dark ProtoMan leans down.
"Let's go somewhere a little more private, shall we?" he whispers into her ear.
She feels sharp teeth against her neck and panics for a moment, but instead of biting into her bare skin, Dark ProtoMan clamps his teeth into the back of her shirt and lifts her up. She's too terrified to fight back - not like she'd be able to even if she wasn't, since Dark ProtoMan's too fast and too close for her to use the Battle Chip Gate - so she just goes limp and lets him carry her away to the other end of the roof.
He can manage it easily - he's bigger than she is, and her feet dangle in the air even before he climbs onto the low wall and prepares to jump down.
"Don't worry," Dark ProtoMan mumbles through the material of her shirt. "I won't drop you."
That tone would be reassuring, but it just makes her feel colder and more terrified. It just sounds even worse coming from someone like Dark ProtoMan.
He crouches, still keeping a firm grip on her, and then jumps. They sail through the air and Mimic can't help but flinch, instinctively trying to curl up and protect herself. They land on another roof easily and she yelps as she's jolted against the roof.
Dark ProtoMan mumbles an apology - it sounds almost sarcastic, and she wonders if he'd done that on purpose, just to keep her quiet and meek - and takes off running again. He's not going on all fours like he normally would; maybe it's so he'll have an easier time keeping a hold of her.
They sail across several rooftops, landing smoothly each time Dark ProtoMan jumps, and she doesn't get jolted against another roof - so maybe he had done that just to stop her from struggling, though she hadn't been struggling in the first place.
They reach a tall building and Dark ProtoMan bounds over the edge, then suddenly whirls in mid-air and slams his claws into the side of the building. He sticks there, then starts going down sideways, taking each step carefully - for her benefit, probably, so he doesn't drop her. She's dangling in the air, only held up by his teeth in the back of her shirt, and she's got her eyes squeezed shut so she doesn't have to look at the ground.
Mimic can run across the entire city without touching the ground, but she's never been up this high, not even during Cross Fusion. It's terrifying, and she suspects Dark ProtoMan knows that, which is probably why he's taking her down this way instead of finding an easier route.
They finally hit the ground, but Mimic is still too scared to open her eyes, so she's only aware of Dark ProtoMan taking off running. She's jolted and swung around as they move, telling her when they're turning and when they pause, and then finally they stop altogether.
Dark ProtoMan drops her onto the ground and she cracks open her eyes, still shaken from the adrenaline and fear running through her body. They're in an underpass - it's not that big, and there's crude graffiti on the walls, and moss growing along the edges and up through any cracks in the concrete.
"There," Dark ProtoMan says. "This should do nicely."
He steps forward and Mimic immediately scrambles away until her back hits the wall. Dark ProtoMan sighs and moves his head in the same way that ProtoMan does when he's rolling his eyes, and for a moment she feels angry at the thought of this monster copying anything that ProtoMan would do.
The anger quickly turns back to fear when Dark ProtoMan comes closer and crouches down, still looming over her because of his greater height, and digs his claws into the wall on either side of her.
"I just want to talk," he tells her, dropping the nice act and letting a growl seep into his tone. "I haven't been ordered to kidnap you. Now are you going to listen, or am I going to have to hurt you? How would you like having one eye again, hm?"
He takes one hand away from the wall and puts his claws so close to her face that she can see the sharp points without needing to glance at them.
Mimic's still terrified, but she manages to nod. Thankfully, that seems to be enough - Dark ProtoMan leans back, taking his claws away from her, and simply crouches in front of her.
"I'm sure you've been wondering what I've told Nebula," he says. "About you, that is. Well, you'll be relieved to know I haven't told them anything - or not enough of anything to be useful, anyway."
"What?" Mimic croaks out.
Dark ProtoMan grins at her, showing off his sharp teeth. "I told them you know more than you should, but I haven't told them why," he tells her. "I'm pretending I have partial amnesia due to the transformation. It's easy enough to lie about, since I'm the first NetNavi to be transformed into a Darkloid. No one knows how what side-effects there might be."
Mimic wants to ask why he's lying to Nebula, but she's too focused on his teeth. She's never been bothered by ProtoMan's teeth before - but seeing Dark ProtoMan's teeth gives her the chills and locks her tongue in her mouth.
"You want to know why, right?" Dark ProtoMan guesses. He smirks when she blinks in confusion. "I may be a Darkloid now, but I was still your NetNavi. I know you the same way ProtoMan knew you." He settles back on his hunches. "To put it simply, the reason why I'm lying . . . well, let's just say you're not the only one who's mildly sadistic. In my case, it's less mild and more extreme, I suppose."
Mimic stares at him.
Dark ProtoMan lets out a harsh, glitchy laugh. "I'm tormenting you, stupid human!" he exclaims. "Don't you get that? I'm going to be holding this over your head, enjoying every second of worry and anxiety it brings you, knowing that I could easily change my mind at any second and tell Nebula everything I know about you. Of course . . . what I tell them might not necessarily be the truth."
What the hell is that supposed to mean? Chaud demands weakly, for all that Dark ProtoMan can't hear him.
"I could tell them the actual truth," Dark ProtoMan says, tilting his head this way and that like he's considering his options. "Or I could tell them the 'truth' you told Dr. Hikari."
Oh. So that's what he means.
Dark ProtoMan's debating whether it'll hurt her more if he tells Nebula the actual truth, or if he feeds them the lie she told Dr. Hikari and everyone else, the lie that she has the power to see the future in her dreams.
She's not sure which would be worse, honestly. Either way, Nebula would still come after her, and they'd probably torture her for information no matter what they believe. She shudders at the thought of being forced to endure the sound-torture that Ms. Yuri had put her through on Dr. Regal's tanker. If Nebula take her again, it won't just be for a few hours - the torture won't end, it'll go on for days, weeks, maybe even months. She'd go insane if she didn't find some way to kill herself first.
"I can see you understand what I'm saying," Dark ProtoMan comments. "So, what will it be? Do you want to be the boy who sees the future in his dreams, or the girl who lied about everything?"
His smirk turns back into a full grin again.
"Of course," he says, "there's no guarantee that the latter is the actual truth anyway."
. . . What?
"You haven't considered the possibility that you're not Mimic, have you?" Dark ProtoMan sighs, like he's disappointed in her. "You never once questioned if you actually exist, or if you were just made up by Chaud so he can deal with the trauma forced on him by his psychopathic monster of a father."
Is . . . is he implying I'm some sort of split personality? Mimic can barely finish the sentence, for all that her mind's racing.
No, Chaud says frantically. No, he's lying, he's just trying to stir up doubt! You're not a split personality, I'd know if I made you up!
But . . . what if he's right?
The thought echoes through their connection. Chaud doesn't have a response.
"You didn't." Dark ProtoMan sounds delighted. "You've never once thought about it, have you? This is rich! You honestly just believed the lies you told yourself? Oh, you poor little human." He reaches out and pats her on the head, and she's too numb with shock to react. "Maybe I should ask Nebula if I can have you as my pet when they're done with you. You'd be so entertaining - you're ridiculously easy to scare, and it's so much fun to make you question your own existence."
He laughs again, sounding truly entertained. The scariest part of his laugh is how evil it doesn't sound - if it weren't for the glitched undertone and the cruel twist to his smirk, Mimic would almost think he was just laughing at someone's silly joke.
"Unfortunately," Dark ProtoMan says, "I think our time is up now. I just wanted to talk, and give you a few things to think about. And who knows what will happen next time we meet? I might kidnap you, I might talk to you, or I might just rip you apart. I think it'll depend on my mood at the time. Goodbye for now, you two. Have fun figuring out whether or not you exist."
The dimensional area starts to fade, and Dark ProtoMan gives her one last sharp-toothed grin before vanishing.
Lan finds her almost twenty minutes later, following Arcadia's directions - because Arcadia can't just stream himself back into the white PET, since he's independent and doesn't have a connection to follow like a personal NetNavi would. But he has his Empath Program, which allows him to find traces of familiar minds and follow those instead.
Mimic is honestly surprised there was anything to follow. She feels numb, shocked to her core, so much that she's not sure she can feel anything right now. It's not the same as the numb fog which had overwhelmed her mind after she'd given the Dark Chip to ProtoMan, because she can still hear Chaud and their connection isn't muffled or blocked, but she still can't feel a thing.
"Chaud!" Lan exclaims, when he rounds the corner and spots her sitting in the underpass.
Mimic raises her head to watch him stumble down the slope, and then he drops to his knees beside her, reaching out and gripping her shoulders.
"Are you okay?" Lan demands, looking her over. "Did he hurt you?"
Mimic somehow manages to summon enough energy to shake her head. Technically that's true - Dark ProtoMan only threatened to hurt her, physically at least. The emotional hurt . . . that's something else entirely.
"Chaud?" Arcadia's voice calls out of the white PET, and she realises he must have gone back into it the moment Lan found her. She doesn't take it out, though - she's not sure if she wants to see whatever expression Arcadia has, since he can sense her numb emotions. "Did . . . did Dark ProtoMan say something to you?"
He said plenty, Mimic thinks.
She grunts, because Arcadia can't see her if she just nods. This is about all she can manage right now.
Lan's grip on her shoulders tightens a little, and then loosens like he's afraid of hurting her.
"We should get back to SciLab," Lan says.
Through the numb shock, Mimic feels a jolt of fear.
She'd joked about Dr. Hikari wanting to kill her when he finds out where she'd gone, but now that she actually has to go back and face him, she's terrified. He'd been angry enough when Famous was just suggesting letting her keep the Battle Chip Gate - how angry will he be when she goes back after this? Angry enough to yell at her? To hurt her?
To throw her out?
Her breath hitches and she reaches up to grab Lan's sleeve before he can stand. She looks up at him pleadingly, hoping her expression will be enough, because she can't get the words out right now.
"We can stay here a little longer if you want," Lan says gently, settling down beside her.
He does understand. She's not ready to face Dr. Hikari's wrath, not yet - she probably won't ever be ready - but she doesn't want to do it right this second, when she's still in shock from Dark ProtoMan's words.
Mimic curls up and huddles into Lan's side, feeling him wrap an arm around her as she trembles. He probably thinks she's scared because of whatever Dark ProtoMan said to her. He's only partially right.
She's scared because she might not be a real person. She's scared because she doesn't want to find out how Dr. Hikari will punish her for disobeying him.
She's scared because she doesn't want to live on the streets again.