"Your new orders have now been issued," Kifune says. "You're allowed to assist Lan during Net Saver missions as backup only - any further involvement will be considered a violation of your orders, though of course we will allow exceptions."
"What kind?" Mimic asks.
Are you asking because you need to know the guidelines or because you want to find out if there's any way you can do the 'exact words' thing again? Chaud asks her.
. . . The second one, Mimic replies, with only a little bit of reluctance.
As Chaud's half-amused exasperation flows through their connection, Kifune answers her question. He doesn't seem to think there's any underlying motive in Mimic asking for clarification - which is odd, considering she literally has a reputation for doing the exact opposite of what she's told to do. But whatever, it works for her.
"Considering Nebula has already kidnapped you once," Kifune says, "we're fully aware they may try again - as we've already said. Darkloids or agents of Nebula may attempt to take you during a Net Saver mission, in which case you'll end up getting directly involved despite your orders. And there may be times during cases where Lan is unavailable for any reason, and you may end up being the only person capable of handling things. In the event of that happening, Famous will accompany you as a guardian."
Doesn't seem like there's any way for you to get directly involved without disobeying orders, Chaud comments, somewhat smugly.
At least I'll be allowed to actually get involved in cases even without Lan, Mimic replies. I'm pretty sure there was an episode or two that involved just you, and Lan wasn't around to handle the dimensional area stuff.
She feels Chaud's interest through their connection, but she doesn't give him any details. She can deal with that stuff when it happens - for now, she just needs to work through whatever's going to happen next, and try not have another panic attack if something particularly terrifying happens.
"Outside of Net Saver missions, you're to stay at SciLab with Dr. Hikari," Kifune goes on. "Arcadia will continue to act as your bodyguard. On that note, during Net Saver missions, Lan is to prioritise your safety over the mission if it becomes necessary."
"Don't worry, Commissioner!" Lan exclaims, before Mimic can even ask about the moral implications of what Kifune just said. "Nebula won't even have a chance to get anywhere near him." He straightens, grins, and thumps the side of his fist against his chest. "Thanks to my new PET, taking down the enemy will be easy!"
Is that normal confidence, Chaud wonders, or overconfidence?
"Me and MegaMan have more than enough power to take on anyone," Lan continues. "And with the Dark Immunity Program, we'll have Nebula on the run before you know it!"
Overconfidence, Mimic thinks. She'd hoped this wouldn't happen, but it looks like Lan's arrogance is starting to rear its ugly head once again.
She hopes he doesn't get overexcited and slap her like he did Chaud in the anime. For one thing, she doesn't want him to hit her, even if he's just being overexcited and stupid. And for another, she'd probably hit right back - with her teeth. Mimic doesn't really want to rip open Lan's arm like she did with Misaki, but she hardly has any control over herself when she gets angry, and Lan might be forced to bear the brunt of it if he's dumb enough to hit her.
"It's good to see you have confidence in your abilities, but don't let it go to your head," Kifune warns Lan. "Even one little mistake could have dire consequences."
"It'll be fine," Lan dismisses. "My new PET's got a lot of firepower! We're unbeatable!"
This is gonna get annoying very quickly, Mimic mutters.
I just remembered something, Chaud says. A twinge of worry pierces through his half-amused, half-exasperated feelings. What happened to your suspension? I don't think I remember anyone saying it was ever lifted, and yet Kifune's giving you permission to help Lan with Net Saver missions. Which is the exact opposite of being suspended.
That's . . . a good point, Mimic admits.
She raises her hand a little to get Kifune's attention. "Um, wh-what about- a-about my s-s-suspens-sion?"
Kifune blinks at her, then exchanges a swift, mildly surprised glance with Manabe. He turns back to Mimic, crossing his arms on the surface of his desk.
"It's already been lifted," he informs her. "Your original orders counteracted your suspension; as do your current orders."
Is this another one of those things I should've known but didn't? Mimic wonders, feeling faintly embarrassed.
How're you supposed to know if no one bothered to tell you? Chaud points out.
That's a fair point, but still. Mimic should be able to figure out these kind of things without needing to be told all the time. Kifune's tone suggested that he thought she already knew, and it's making her feel like an idiot to have to ask questions with such obvious answers.
"That means you can help me out whenever you need to!" Lan grins at her. "And since school ends this week, we'll be able to spend more time battling Nebula - so we'll be able to take them down that much quicker!"
Mimic had almost forgotten that school was nearly over. She can't go to school anymore - at least not until this mess with Nebula is over - so she's been doing her schoolwork via emails that Ms. Mari sends her, after those emails have been thoroughly checked by Manabe of course. That's the one part of her original orders that still stands, which makes sense, so Mimic has no objections to it.
And these new orders give her a bit more freedom. She guesses she still won't be allowed out at night - which is fair, for the same reason that she can't go to school, but she's less happy about this part of her orders because she misses being able to wander around when it's dark, where no one will bother her and the noise of the city is practically non-existent. But aside from that, she's actually allowed to help Lan now, which is pretty much the only thing she can do at the moment.
She's not the same kind of smart as Chaud - she can't help build complicated machines or code stuff or anything like that. But she can help Lan battle the Darkloids. She can help him take down Nebula.
But before that, Mimic thinks, glancing at Lan, who's too busy preening himself to notice, I think I need to sort this guy out.
"So, you want to get Arcadia used to using battle chips again?"
Mimic nods.
"And . . ." Raika trails off for a moment as a mildly puzzled look flashes across his face. "And you want SearchMan and I to help you with that?"
Again, Mimic nods.
Putting aside the issue with Lan's growing arrogance for a while, she does need to get this sorted out. During the battle with Misaki and Dark ProtoMan, Mimic had somehow managed to connect the Battle Chip Gate to Arcadia, and had sent him a battle chip by accident. She guesses it's similar to how she connects the Gate to Lan during a Cross Fusion battle - though it was still surprising when it happened with Arcadia.
He hadn't exactly been able to make full use of the battle chip she'd accidentally sent him, which is fair, because he hasn't used any since last year. He hasn't needed to - his Holy Fire is powerful and he can use it to create so many different attacks. But considering who they're up against - not just Dark ProtoMan, but Nebula itself - his Holy Fire might not be enough. Mimic and Arcadia need to figure out a way to fight together using the Battle Chip Gate.
And since Raika's still around, Mimic thought that he and SearchMan would be the perfect training buddies. She had considered asking Lan, but she doesn't want to endure any more of his overconfident bragging than she has to. Raika's the least likely person who'd get a big head, and he's actually a pretty nice guy, especially since he's not an asshole anymore.
Mimic leads Raika to SciLab's training room. He knows his way around the main areas of SciLab, and she's pretty sure he's been to this specific room once before, but that doesn't mean he knows where everything is. It took her a while to figure out SciLab's layout, though that didn't help much when Dark ProtoMan was chasing her so he could destroy Lan's new PET.
Don't think about that, Chaud quickly tells her, when she inevitably feels a jolt of fear at the memory of the terrifying chase.
She pushes away the memories with a little bit of effort and heads into the training room. It's empty of people, so all of the NetBattle machines - which SciLab refers to as training machines, at least in this room - are free.
"Alright," Raika says, after Arcadia and SearchMan have been jacked into the nearest NetBattle machine. "I need to know what we're dealing with. What battle chips do you have on you at the moment?"
Mimic exchanges a glance with Arcadia, and then a subtler one with Chaud. He's little more than a faint image in the glass of the training machine, but she still sees him clearly. It's hard not to, considering he's her reflection.
"Is there a problem?" Raika looks between Mimic and Arcadia, seeming a little concerned.
"N-no, just . . ." Mimic taps her fingers together and focuses on them instead of looking at Raika. "I, um . . . I ha-have . . . all of them?"
" . . . All of them?" Raika repeats, looking utterly bemused.
"He keeps all of his battle chips in his pockets," Arcadia explains. "It's easier than you think. He . . . doesn't really have that many."
"Really?" Raika blinks in surprise and turns back to Mimic. "I would've thought you'd have a bunch, since you're- since you were . . . you know."
Since you were Chaud Blaze, he's trying to say. But now she's just plain Chaud - and not even that, honestly, because she's Mimic, not Chaud at all. Raika doesn't know that, though.
"Only h-have the ones th-that Lan- Lan got me f-f-from- from . . ." Mimic lets out a growl of frustration. "F-from the B-Blaze- Blaze m-m-man-sion," she forces herself to finish.
Even saying the words out loud leaves a bad taste in her mouth. She feels an awkward hand on her shoulder and glances up, then gives Raika a tiny smile when she sees his mildly-uncomfortable expression. So, he's not good with comfort stuff. At least he's trying.
"And s-some from- from the Bargain Bin," Mimic goes on, trying to move past that little verbal blunder. "From Higsby's Chip Shop."
"I think I remember Lan telling me about that place the last time I was in Japan," Raika says thoughtfully.
Mimic nods eagerly. "And- and some that L-Lan gave me." She pauses and starts fiddling with her fingers again. "Still . . . don't h-have many."
"But they're more than enough to fight with," Arcadia speaks up defensively, as if he expects Raika or SearchMan to start being condescending to Mimic for having a bare minimum amount of battle chips.
"I never said they weren't," Raika replies calmly. "Ch- Mimic? Could you put all of your battle chips on top of the glass display? We can go through them and see which ones we can work with for now."
Mimic nods again and starts unzipping her pockets. She places all the battle chips she finds on top of the glass as Raika had indicated.
She can tell he's a little bit disappointed by how few there are. There's not even enough to fill a folder from the games. But she's been fine with this little bunch ever since Lan got their classmates to get together some empty chips to give to her, and she still has quite a few empty chips left over. Not that she has money to buy any battle chip data.
"You've got a good variety," Raika comments. Apparently he's keeping his disappointment quiet, which she's thankful for. "A heavy focus on sword-type chips, though. I'm . . . I'm guessing that's because of ProtoMan?" He sounds a little hesitant to mention ProtoMan, like he thinks she'll break down crying at the mere mention of her former Navi.
Mimic nods, and lets Arcadia explain. She'd probably butcher the explanation anyway; even if Raika is fluent in sign language, she'd rather not have to rely on that every time she can't make her voice work. She doesn't want to go completely mute again. But that doesn't mean she'll force herself to talk if she knows she won't be able to get the words out.
"After ProtoMan got infected with the cat virus," Arcadia says, "he basically decided to focus on close-range attacks. He was fast enough that he could make it work. He didn't abandon long-range entirely, but like I said, he just focused on close-range. And, well . . . most of these chips came from the Blaze mansion, like Mimic told you. The data from his old computer mostly consisted of sword-types and other close-range chips. Most of the newer ones that we've gotten from the Chip Shop and Lan have been long-range chips, to try and balance it out."
"You've got the basic ones, at least," Raika notes, picking up one of Mimic's Cannons. "We can focus on the gun-type chips for now, since Arcadia's primarily a long-range fighter. Do you have any Vulcans?"
Mimic blinks as she quickly runs through all the gun-type chips she has. Chaud gives her memory a helpful nudge, and she sends back a faint wave of gratitude before answering Raika.
"No," she says.
"Alright then," Raika murmurs, putting down Mimic's Cannon. He reaches into his folder and takes out a couple of battle chips, then hands them to Mimic. "Here - you can have these. Don't worry, I have twelve more of them."
Mimic looks at the two Vulcans in her hand, and wonders who in their right mind would have so many that they can just hand them out without a second thought. Apparently Raika does - but whatever, at least she's got a couple of different chips now. And good ones, too; she remembers using Vulcans in the games and they were among some of her favourite chips to use. She'd been looking into how much the data for one would cost, even if she can't actually afford it.
Now it looks like she won't have to buy the data. Thank god for Raika.
"Vulcans fire multiple, continuous shots," Raika explains, "so I thought this might be a good place to start. You don't need to aim and shoot with a Vulcan - as long as you keep blasting, you can just move it around and adjust your aim as you need to. Plus, Arcadia has that . . . what was it again? The flamethrower attack."
"Flashfire," SearchMan supplies.
"Yes, that." Raika acknowledges SearchMan's response with a nod. "It's not the exact same thing, but the method of attack is similar enough that he shouldn't have much trouble translating his skill with Flashfire to the Vulcan."
And this is another reason why Mimic thought Raika would be a good training buddy. His analytical skills give him the ability to asses a situation and act accordingly. In Arcadia's case, Raika knows what skills the white owl-Navi already has, and is figuring out ways to translate those skills into battle chips. They should be able to work their way from Vulcans to other gun-type chips, and then other types of battle chips, very quickly.
Their training session starts in earnest, with SearchMan demonstrating how to use the Vulcan for Arcadia. Then Raika has Mimic download one of the two Vulcans he'd given her - she has to figure out how to connect the Battle Chip Gate to Arcadia again, because it had been an accident the first time, but she gets it connected relatively quickly and transfers one of the Vulcans to Arcadia.
Raika was right - Arcadia's skills are easily transferable from Flashfire to the Vulcan. There are digital targets which SearchMan materialises using the training program, and while Arcadia isn't entirely accurate, he can adjust his aim while still firing.
Arcadia hasn't exactly forgotten how to use battle chips - he's just out of practise. So he gets the Vulcans down within a couple of tries, and it only takes two or three attempts with other gun-types chips, like the Cannons, for him to figure those out as well. All in all, they have a pretty damn productive training session, and Raika and SearchMan help out a lot.
They give both Mimic and Arcadia pointers - after all, it's not like it's just Arcadia who needs to get used to this. Mimic's used to operating ProtoMan, and while he and Arcadia have always worked together whenever possible, she's never actually operated Arcadia, and isn't used to operating a Navi with his battle style. Even if this technically isn't operating him, more like just giving him battle chips. Which is . . . pretty much what she did with ProtoMan, so maybe it is similar.
So, this is productive, like she said.
The next day, Mimic contacts Raika again and asks if he's available for another training session. With Lan back in action, he's basically on standby, so he tells Mimic that he's free - which is awesome, because they'd made some good progress in yesterday's session, and both Mimic and Arcadia are eager to keep going.
She manages to avoid Lan by dawdling in the bathroom until he leaves. It puzzles the adult Hikaris, because it's kind of obvious that Mimic's avoiding Lan, and on the way to SciLab, Dr. Hikari even asks if they've had another fight. Technically they have, but Lan has yet to realise he's doing anything wrong, and Mimic's not entirely sure that just simply telling him how stupid he's being will work.
No, she'll have to sort this out some other way - maybe she can get Raoul's help, like Chaud did in the anime. That had been one of the funniest episodes, though she won't be able to pull off that weird Disco Chaud thing. But that episode had also been how MegaMan got Thunder Soul, so maybe Lan being stupid and arrogant again is actually a good thing. Kind of.
But leaving that aside for now, Mimic has a training session with Raika. Apparently he's got some reports to write up, so he's coming to SciLab in the afternoon, which is fine by her. A little disappointing that he can't come now, but Famous is more than enough to help keep her entertained throughout the morning until Raika shows up later on.
When Raika does come to SciLab, they head straight over to the training room. It's empty once again, and Mimic briefly wonders if anyone aside from her and Lan - and Raika, obviously - even uses this place. Or maybe Dr. Hikari's just telling the other scientists to keep the room clear while Mimic and Arcadia are training with Raika and SearchMan.
"He's pretty good with the gun-type chips, after yesterday," Raika says. "Did you practise at home, or . . . ?"
"We don't have a training program at home," Arcadia replies, shuffling his taloned feet a little awkwardly. "We, um . . . They cost money, and we don't have any money. Lan has a training program on his computer, but he's . . ."
Raika exchanges a glance with SearchMan while Arcadia hesitates. Mimic has no such trouble.
"He's being a- a dick right now," she explains. "Don't w-wanna talk to him m- m-more than I h-have to."
Raika blinks, looking slightly awkward. "Ah," he says. "Right. Is . . . is he being a dick for any particular reason?"
I think he's trying to do that awkward comfort thing again, Chaud comments. Kinda nice, actually.
He's not that good at it, but at least he's trying, Mimic agrees.
Chaud hums his own agreement.
"His new PET," Mimic replies to Raika. "It- i-it's powerful, and he's . . . letting- he's letting it go to h-h-his head."
"I can see why you'd avoid him, then," Raika says, wincing. "I . . . can't imagine you enjoy being around people who act like that."
"You mean like how you acted before ProtoMan tried to drop a light on your head?" Arcadia asks innocently.
Mimic half-expects Raika to get defensive, and indeed he does purse his lips for a moment and looks like he wants to give out a sharp retort. But he seems to force himself to calm down and doesn't rise to the bait. Apparently Arcadia's still a little salty about how Raika treated Mimic back when they first met, even if he's fine with letting him and SearchMan help with the battle chip training. Mimic . . . honestly doesn't blame Arcadia for feeling that way, though she herself is fine with Raika now.
"Yes, kind of like that," Raika says, with the barest amount of awkwardness. He coughs and clears his throat. "So, uh, anyway. Training." It's a poor attempt to change the subject, but Mimic and Arcadia allow it - they're tortured the poor bastard enough. "You can't practise when you're at home, but honestly, given how well Arcadia was doing yesterday, you may not need to. In light of that, I think we can move on to close-range attacks - not just battle chips, but hand-to-hand combat as well."
"You have claws," SearchMan says to Arcadia, "so hand-to-hand combat would be a useful skill to develop, even if you're primarily a long-range fighter. I have a few hand-to-hand fighting styles downloaded into my battle programming that you can learn and adapt however you see fit."
"How do you do hand-to-hand combat with a gun?" Arcadia wonders, giving SearchMan's rifle a puzzled glance.
In response, SearchMan raises the arm his rifle is attached to, and the rifle vanishes. Mimic is a little embarrassed to admit that she's totally stunned at seeing SearchMan with two arms and two hands, rather than one arm, one hand, and half an arm with a rifle attached to it. Arcadia looks similarly shocked.
"Did . . . did you think I only have one hand?" SearchMan looks pretty nonplussed to discover that.
"Honestly," Arcadia begins, exchanging a quick glance with Mimic, "yeah, we kinda did."
"Never seen you without the rifle," Mimic says, when SearchMan's nonplussed look turns slightly hurt.
"You've only ever seen him in combat situations," Raika points out.
"False," Arcadia says, raising a hand. "Remember when I visited you guys and told you, um . . . everything? That wasn't a combat situation, and SearchMan still had his rifle."
"I usually deactivate it after a mission," SearchMan replies. "But so much happened that day, I . . . I honestly wasn't thinking about it. I basically just forgot to deactivate my Scope Gun."
Well, that's a simple enough explanation. And now Mimic gets to see SearchMan with both hands, rather than one hand and a big rifle. It might not seem like much of a thing, but it's kind of cool, really.
They start training again, this time using dummy Navis rather than targets. It's better to train with dummy Navis since SearchMan can demonstrate moves on them more easily than some random target or just thin air, and he can program the dummy Navis to move around and show Arcadia how to use the moves against a moving opponent.
It's pretty useful, considering Dark ProtoMan is a physical fighter, and he's the one Darkloid they're definitely going to be fighting in the future. And if Arcadia gets grounded or trapped in a space too small for him to fly, he'll still be able to fight. They even figure out how to turn a few of the moves that SearchMan shows him to flying combat - once Arcadia has a move down on the ground, he'll try it in the air, and then the four of them work together to figure out the best way to use a move while he's flying.
"This next move is relatively simple, but very effective," SearchMan says, a couple of hours into the training session. "Watch closely, both of you."
Technically SearchMan is also teaching Mimic hand-to-hand combat too - she hasn't tried these moves herself, but Chaud's pretty much committing them to memory, and it looks interesting enough that Mimic wants to have a go. Raika and SearchMan have picked up on her interest and are happy to show her this stuff as well, though Raika's already said he's not going to let her start brawling in the middle of SciLab. For one thing, he'd said, that would be dangerous. And for another, Dr. Hikari would probably kill him if he hurts her.
Which is . . . kind of true. Mimic finds it a little funny how obviously terrified Raika is of Dr. Hikari's overprotective wrath.
"First, you need to grab your opponent's arm," SearchMan begins, stepping toward the dummy Navi.
He takes hold of the dummy Navi's arm, and then, quick as lightning, strikes out with his foot so the dummy Navi trips. While the dummy Navi stumbles, SearchMan yanks on its arm and hurls it high into the air, still keeping a hold of its arm, then he twists and slams the dummy Navi onto the ground. He steps back and leaves the dummy Navi to lie on its back for a moment before dismissing it, and then another dummy Navi materialises in front of Arcadia.
"It's a good throw for smaller Navis like yourself," SearchMan explains, as Arcadia steps up to the dummy Navi. "You can catch your opponent off-guard and stun them for a moment, which gives you a chance to get in a second hit, or you can back off to give yourself some breathing room. I'll talk you through it."
The dummy Navi stands there as SearchMan talks Arcadia through the move. It's slower than SearchMan's demonstration had been, and Arcadia kind of fumbles with the actual throw, dropping the dummy Navi halfway through. He ends up getting half-squished by it until SearchMan pulls it off him.
Arcadia tries again, going a bit faster as per SearchMan instructions, and almost gets it this time. He doesn't quite manage to trip up the dummy Navi, but Raika says the throw was perfect. Since he wasn't squished this time, Mimic considers it a win. And within a couple more attempts, Arcadia gets it right - SearchMan looks so damn proud, and has him run through the throw move a few more times, just to make sure he can do it properly and quickly enough that a moving opponent won't be able to react in time.
Mimic watches Arcadia grabbing the dummy Navi's arm and tripping it up, then throwing it to the ground like SearchMan did. It makes her think of something, but she doesn't remember what until Arcadia does it again.
"Wait," Mimic quickly says, before SearchMan can generate another dummy Navi for Arcadia to throw.
The two Navis - and Raika - give her a puzzled glance as they pause. They're probably expecting some sort of question, or a serious reason for interrupting, but . . . well, Mimic is going to have to disappoint them.
"Can I just . . . do something? S-say something, I mean," she says. "While you throw."
"Um . . ." Arcadia still looks puzzled, but he shrugs. "Sure? What do you want to say?"
"Surprise," Mimic tells him, giving him a little grin.
Arcadia stares at her for a moment, and then sighs. "I recognise that look," he says. "You're gonna do something weird again, aren't you?"
"Weird how?" Raika asks suspiciously.
"No, no, no," Mimic quickly says, waving her hands at him. "Not telling. Surprise!"
Raika looks at her for a moment, and then apparently decides he's not going to ask. He nods to SearchMan, signalling him to continue the training, and SearchMan generates another dummy Navi for Arcadia.
The dummy Navi runs at Arcadia. He reaches out and grabs its arm, then strikes out with his talons to trip it up.
"Begone-" Mimic begins.
Arcadia hurls the dummy Navi into the air and then slams it onto the ground.
"-thot!" Mimic finishes.
There's a beat of silence.
Then Mimic bursts out laughing, and claps her hands together eagerly. She's aware of Arcadia facepalming, Chaud sending a stream of total bewilderment through their connection, and Raika and SearchMan exchanging glances before turning to stare at her blankly.
Mimic doesn't give a shit - this is fucking gold, she can't believe she just got an opportunity to say that out loud. If she ever does that throw herself, she's going to see if she has enough energy or breath to say it for herself. It'll be hilarious, and even if she can't stun her opponent (or whoever it is that she's throwing) she can baffle them. Or maybe she'll just lose the battle immediately because she'll be too busy laughing her ass off to fight anymore.
"You know, I'm kind of glad that we're leaving tomorrow," Raika half-jokes. "I won't have to deal with this insanity when I'm back home."
Mimic stops laughing abruptly and stares at him. Arcadia stares too, both of them equally shocked.
"Y-you're leaving?" Mimic asks. "Tomorrow?"
Raika rubs the back of his head awkwardly. "Er, yes," he replies. "I'm . . . sorry we didn't tell you."
"Aw . . ." Arcadia says, slumping sadly. "But what about training?"
"Sharo needs us back as soon as possible," SearchMan explains apologetically. "We only came because Lan and MegaMan were out of action, and our skills allow us to deal with Darkloid threats more easily than most Sharo Net Savers. But don't worry about training," he adds. "You learnt the basics very quickly, and with this training room, you can come here and practise whenever you want."
"And SearchMan has a country pass," Raika tells them. "So if you need any advice or extra training, all you need to do is ask, and I can send him over."
Mimic's still a little sad to hear that Raika and SearchMan will be leaving tomorrow, but it's good to hear they're still happy to help them with battle chip and hand-to-hand combat training, even if they're in a different country.
The training session continues, and Mimic and Arcadia try to make the most of it since this is the last one before Raika and SearchMan leave. Sure, SearchMan can visit whenever he wants, but they still want to enjoy this while it lasts - Raika and SearchMan have become good friends and allies now, and Mimic likes that. She knows Arcadia does too; he doesn't spend much time with other Navis now, since he hardly ever leaves the white PET unless it's to fight in a dimensional area. He's more or less cut off from his Navi friends, and the only one who he sees regularly is MegaMan, since they live with the Hikaris.
But even though they're trying to make the most of the training session, they get interrupted. Famous walks in a few minutes later, and Mimic can already tell by the look on his face that something's going on - a Net Saver mission, she guesses, and it turns out her guess is right.
"I know you're training," Famous says apologetically, "but there's an emergency at a research facility on the outskirts of the city. A Darkloid is attempting to breach the firewall. Lan's already on his way - I can drive you there on my motorbike so you can meet him there."
Mimic almost wishes she could skip this - even though she'd wanted to help with fighting Nebula, she'd rather hang out with someone who isn't currently being a dick, and she wants to spend as much time with Raika as possible since he's leaving so soon. She likes being with her friends, sue her.
"Go on," Raika says, nudging her forward. "Remember what I said - all you need to do is ask, and we'll help with your training, even if we're in Sharo. Okay?"
"'kay," Mimic mumbles. She rocks on her feet for a moment. "Um . . . c-can I come to the airport tomorrow? To- to say bye?"
Raika's expression softens into a small smile. "Sure," he agrees. "I'll let you know when my plane is leaving after your mission is over. See you tomorrow."
"Bye," Mimic says, giving him a quick wave. She's almost tempted to hug him, but he was so awkward with just putting his hand on her shoulder that she's pretty sure he'd have a meltdown if she does anything more than that.
Maybe she can spring one on him before he leaves. She certainly won't be getting any hugs from Lan anytime soon - not with him being an arrogant tool right now.
After waiting a moment for Arcadia to stream himself back into the white PET, she heads off with Famous. She's not really happy to think that she'll have to work with Lan, but at least she and Arcadia have worked on battle chips and stuff. And she had a nice time with Raika and SearchMan, so that's okay too.
She can't wear her noise-cancelling earmuffs and the helmet that Famous hands her at the same time, so Mimic has to deal with the loud noise of the motorbike's engine screaming the entire way to the research facility. She's pretty sure she's half-suffocating poor Famous with how tightly she's gripping him, but to his credit, he doesn't complain. This guy deserves a gold medal for all the shit he puts up with from both her and Lan, honestly.
Speaking of Lan, he's already at the research facility when they arrive. He's waiting outside, looking a little bit impatient, but his expression brightens when he sees Mimic riding in on the back of Famous's motorbike.
"C'mon!" Lan exclaims eagerly. "The guys I talked to said the Darkloid's still trying to break in, so we can still stop them!"
"Give him a moment," Famous tells him, waving Lan back. "You know he's not good with loud sounds."
Lan bounces impatiently while Mimic slides off Famous's motorbike. She takes off the helmet and hands it to Famous, then rubs her ears and tries to get the noise of the motorbike out of her head. It's not the same kind of torturous sounds that Ms. Yuri had forced on her when she was kidnapped, but it's loud and she had to endure it for an extended period of time.
She recovers quickly, much to Lan's delight - though she's not sure if he's happy because she's okay again, or if he's happy because they can finally go inside and stop the Darkloid. Given how impatient he's acting, it's probably the latter.
Lan takes her straight inside, and leads the way to the room where the console the Darkloid who's attacking is attempting to break into. Famous had already given Mimic a quick briefing on the situation when they'd been getting ready to leave - if the Darkloid manages to get into the research facility's firewall, it could easily cause an explosion, since the facility holds quite a few dangerous chemicals that're only contained because the facility's systems keeps them under lock and key.
Despite her already knowing, Lan tells her all that anyway. Apparently he's under the impression that Famous didn't bother to let her know what's going on, which is obviously false. He didn't even ask if Famous told her, he just assumed she didn't know.
Mimic really hates it when Lan gets arrogant. He stops caring about anything but himself, and apparently thinks it's okay to treat her like an idiot who needs to be ordered around and patronised.
"Here we go!" Lan exclaims, when they arrive in the room.
It's underground, and the hallways that led down here have been full of steam pipes, which kind of reminds Mimic of that power plant by the hot springs, with the magma and stuff. She also recognises this place - of course, it had been in the anime, but she's not going to do the 'I saw this in a dream' thing again. Lan probably wouldn't bother listening to her when he's like this. He certainly didn't last time.
"Alright," Lan says to her, "me and MegaMan should be able to handle whichever Darkloid is attacking this place, but just in case, you and Arcadia need to be ready. Got it?"
Mimic gives him a flat glare, but he either misses the anger or just wilfully ignores it. She's not sure which would be worse.
Lan turns back to the console and quickly jacks MegaMan in. His PET makes an odd sound as soon as MegaMan's in the network - like a muted beep - and Mimic only recognises it as the sound Lan's PET is supposed to make if the Dark Immunity Program detects darkness because Dr. Hikari had made sure that she and Lan knew what it would sound like so they wouldn't be surprised.
Mimic looks over Lan's shoulder. On the screen of Lan's PET, MegaMan materialises inside the research facility's network, just in time for the Darkloid SwordMan to bust through the firewall.
"I recognise him," Lan says, as MegaMan steps forward to confront SwordMan. "That's one of the Darkloids Raoul and Raika fought off - SwordMan, I think his name is."
"That's right!" SwordMan exclaims, brandishing his sword - the non-sentient one - at Lan through the screen. "And we're not letting you get in our way!"
"Our way?" Lan repeats incredulously. "Does this guy have a split personality or something?"
The swords have different minds and personalities, Mimic remembers.
Wait, really? Chaud sounds surprised. How does that work?
How do we work? Mimic retorts.
. . . Fair point, he admits.
On the screen, SwordMan backs off into the air, and then dives at MegaMan with his non-sentient sword raised for an attack. MegaMan activates his Mega Buster and levels it at SwordMan.
Mimic's interest in the battle grows when she notices white sparks dancing across the Mega Buster. Her memories of the battle at SciLab are a little hazy, given that she'd been panicking at the time, but she remembers seeing white sparks on Lan's body sometimes - not all the time, just when he was performing some sort of action. When he ran, the white sparks danced across his legs. When he attacked, the white sparks danced across whatever weapon he was using.
Looks like the same is true for MegaMan. It's the Dark Immunity Program at work - since it's based on Arcadia's own Dark Immunity ability, it gives MegaMan a boost in power whenever he's near active darkness. That boost has a visual effect for Arcadia; it makes the feathers on his elbows and knees ripple and glow like his Holy Fire. For MegaMan and Lan, the visual effect apparently shows up as white sparks.
Maybe the Dark Immunity Program only gives them short boosts of power in whatever they're using to fight. So MegaMan's using his Mega Buster to fight at the moment, and the Dark Immunity Program is giving his weapon a boost - hence the white sparks on it.
Dr. Hikari did say they couldn't replicate Arcadia's ability exactly, Chaud says. Maybe this was the only way they could make the program similar. It's still useful, even if it's . . .
Even if it's kind of an inferior version of Arcadia's ability? Mimic suggests.
Yeah, Chaud agrees sheepishly.
Mimic turns her attention back to the battle when she hears a pained bellow from SwordMan. The Darkloid has just been hit by MegaMan's continuous blasts, and is blown back into the firewall. Mimic winces automatically upon seeing that - they're supposed to be preventing further damage, not causing more of it. But the firewall stays steady, despite the damage, and she realises that MegaMan was careful to only hit SwordMan.
That's good. He's got a boost in power, and he's being careful with how he uses it. MegaMan's never been one to let this kind of power go to his head - it's a shame none of his humility has ever rubbed off on Lan. Mimic would wonder how the hell they work together, considering they're total opposites, but she and ProtoMan managed to work together just fine; and Arcadia seems fine with her too, for all that she's technically not his operator. If Mimic can work with ProtoMan and Arcadia, Lan and MegaMan can work with each other.
"Bubble Shot, download!" Lan announces, sending MegaMan the battle chip. Mimic has to wonder if it's even necessary, considering how powerful the Mega Buster attack had been, but whatever - she's not here to criticise Lan's operating, she's here to provide backup if needed.
And it will be needed. She knows that. Even if she didn't have knowledge of the future, she'd probably still know it.
The white sparks dance across the Bubble Shot as MegaMan aims it at SwordMan, and then he fires. Apparently the attack is strong enough that when all the bubbles squish together against SwordMan, they explode violently, and Mimic has to wonder if that attack did any damage to the firewall. Considering she hasn't heard any alarms - any more alarms, that is - she guesses the firewall is probably fine. But it'd probably be best if they could keep damage to a minimum.
She hears a frustrated snarl from SwordMan, and then, in the distance, the faint and familiar rumbling of dimensional converters rising from the ground. Moments later, the dimensional area covers the entire facility, and SwordMan materialises a few metres away from them.
Arcadia materialises a moment later, and carefully pulls Mimic away from the Darkloid, backing up until they're against the wall. Meanwhile, Lan downloads his synchro chip - the light of Cross Fusion is a little blinding in the dim light of the room, but Mimic covers her eyes and waits until it dies down before she looks again.
"Take this!" SwordMan bellows, charging at Lan and swinging his non-sentient sword.
Lan backflips over the attack, white sparks trailing after him from his arms and legs, then does the same when SwordMan tries to strike again, and backflips away until he jumps high enough to land on the balcony floor above them. He wastes a moment marvelling at how light his body feels - Mimic thinks he's just showing off, because that backflipping had been completely unnecessary, and he could've easily just dodged the first attack and then jumped out of the way of the second.
"Mega Buster!" Lan announces, brandishing his arm at SwordMan while his Buster materialises. It sparks as he fires, and SwordMan is pushed away by the force of the blast.
The Darkloid makes an annoyed sound and turns his body slightly. He's looking at her, Mimic realises with a jolt - is he going to try and attack her?
But Arcadia stretches out a wing in front of her, glaring at SwordMan. It's a clear warning; don't touch my operator. SwordMan seems to be debating whether or not to try and attack her anyway when Lan decides to remind him that he's still there by shooting another Dark Immunity Program-boosted blast at him. With SwordMan's attention successfully diverted from Mimic to Lan, Arcadia relaxes a little, but doesn't fold his wing away. Instead, he pulls it back and then wraps it around Mimic's shoulders, keeping her by his side.
Mimic watches the battle to try and figure out if there's any openings for her to use the Battle Chip Gate. With Arcadia staying next to her, there's no point in sending him battle chips - so she'll be acting as Lan's operator instead, which will be . . . fun. The only time she's actually 'operated' Lan had been during the last battle with GravityMan, and it had worked out pretty well, but she's not sure if Lan'll react the same way to her silent operating while he's being a dick. He might get annoyed with her for not telling him what she's sending him.
He knows how you operate, Chaud tells her. Arcadia glances at her out of the corner of his eye, but he doesn't offer any comment. Just send him a battle chip, and see what happens. He can't get annoyed with you for helping.
He could, Mimic replies.
But she takes out the Battle Chip Gate anyway, because he's right - the only thing she can do is use it and see what happens.
Mimic connects the Gate to Lan, then studies the battle for another moment, just to make sure she's not about to screw it up. Lan's jumped down from the balcony by now and is practically glowing with white sparks as he runs circles around SwordMan, apparently trying to tire out his opponent so he can land a hit with his Mega Buster.
The white sparks on his body remind her of something. It takes Mimic a moment to figure out what - she's reminded of Izuku Midoriya, the protagonist of My Hero Academia. His quirk, One For All, has a similar visual effect, though the sparks are a different colour and they cover his entire body when his quirk is activated, rather than just specific parts. That's actually pretty cool to think about.
But back to the battle at hand - Lan's just running around, tiring out SwordMan. The Darkloid is attempting to strike back, lashing out with his non-sentient sword, but the Dark Immunity Program gives Lan a boost in speed and he's too quick for SwordMan to hit. He's nowhere near as fast as Arcadia or ProtoMan, or even Dark ProtoMan, but he's fast enough for the difference to be obvious.
SwordMan almost gets in a lucky hit, but Lan jumps over the attack. While he's in the air, Mimic sends him an Area Steal, and he vanishes and reappears a few metres away, landing lightly on his feet.
"Thanks!" Lan calls to her.
SwordMan starts coming at him again, so Mimic sends Lan a Wide Sword. She figures it would be best in this situation - SwordMan's non-sentient sword is big enough that a sturdier type of Sword would probably be better to counter it with, and Mimic's pretty sure the Wide Sword has the best durality out of the three basic sword-type chips.
You're right, Chaud informs her, as Lan blocks an attack from SwordMan with the Wide Sword. In terms of durability, Wide Sword is the best - then it's Long Sword, and finally, the normal Sword.
That's good to know. She'd almost been afraid she'd gotten this horribly wrong, and the Wide Sword somehow had the worst durability rather than the best. And this means she's getting better at remembering stuff about battle chips - it had been difficult enough to figure out how different battle chips could be used, and Chaud had managed to teach her how to find a battle chip she wants just by touch alone, but remembering the durability of each chip is like trying to beat Skyrim on Legendary.
Lan struggles against SwordMan's attack for a few moments, and then pushes forward with his Wide Sword. SwordMan is sent stumbling back a few paces, and Lan backs off quickly, banishing the Wide Sword - it had a lot of durability left over, but Mimic thinks she knows what Lan wants to do next.
She reaches into her pocket and starts to feel for her Mega Cannon.
Wait, Chaud says, just as she grabs it. Use one of the Vulcans Raika gave you. Remember how well Bubble Shot worked? And the Mega Buster? I don't think SwordMan's good with continuous attacks.
Good news for us, Mimic comments, sending him a flash of gratitude.
The Vulcans Raika had given her are in the same pocket, so she just feels around until she comes across the right chips. She's got the rest of them memorised by touch, but not these two, though that just means Mimic can find them easier because she can just feel for battle chips she doesn't recognise. Pretty simple, to be honest.
She downloads one of the Vulcans and it materialises on Lan's arm. He immediately aims it and starts firing, with white sparks flickering across the Vulcan continuously. SwordMan gets hit with the full force of the attack since Lan's aim is better than Arcadia's - he's used to using battle chips, gun-type ones especially, so none of the blasts are wasted.
By the end of the Vulcan barrage, SwordMan looks battered. His sword-faces don't really have any expression, but his tone is easy enough to decipher, and he sounds pissed.
"We'll remember this," the Darkloid promises, before vanishing from the real world.
The dimensional area fades along with him. Arcadia's warmth vanishes from Mimic's side, leaving her colder than she'd have liked, as he's forced back into the cyberworld. Even if Mimic's now cold, at least there's no more potential danger to her life - Arcadia's silent threat to SwordMan had seen to that, and Lan had kept the Darkloid busy enough that he didn't even try to attack her.
Good. That means she's not violating her orders. Though if she has to, she'll probably end up doing that anyway - wouldn't be the first time, after all. Kifune probably expects her to do something stupid at this point.
Check on the console, Chaud tells her. Let me look at the firewall - I want to see if there's been any more damage.
I highly doubt it, since we just beat SwordMan, but sure, Mimic replies.
She heads over to the console, ignoring Lan's bragging in the background. Chaud directs her on how to open up the network and check the data for the firewall, and she looks where he tells her, letting him get a good view of everything. Literally none of this makes sense to her and the only thing she sees when she looks at the cyberworld version of the firewall is a big hole with bits of data debris, but Chaud's better at this than she is.
The staff in this facility can repair the damage easily enough, Chaud says, after a few moments of silence on his end. It'll take a couple of days, though.
I'm pretty sure SwordMan'll attack this place before that happens, Mimic tells him.
A jolt of shock pierces through their connection. Mimic waits a moment for it to die down before continuing.
Don't worry, we can take care of it, she says. I think.
Oh, that's very reassuring, Chaud mutters.
"Hey, Chaud!" Lan exclaims. His voice gets louder as he approaches her, so he's no longer just annoying background noise. "Don't you think me and MegaMan are unbeatable?"
. . . Is he serious? Chaud wonders.
Someone shoot me, Mimic sighs.
She tries to ignore Lan's bragging, but it's difficult when he's standing a foot away from her. Though he'd technically asked her a question, he obviously didn't expect an answer, because he just keeps talking.
"Thanks to my new PET and the Dark Immunity Program, beating SwordMan was easy!" Lan brags.
He does remember that you helped, right? Chaud asks, sounding almost offended. He's acting like he did all the work himself.
Technically he did, Mimic points out reluctantly. I just gave him the tools - he's the one who used them.
He wouldn't have had them in the first place if you hadn't given them to him! Chaud argues. Hey, Arcadia? Can you remind Lan that he's not a solo player here?
"Lan, try not to act like you did this on your own," Arcadia calls out. "Remember, Chaud was here too - you would've had a much harder time defeating SwordMan if he hadn't been helping by giving you battle chips with the Battle Chip Gate."
Clearly Chaud and Arcadia are trying to humble Lan by reminding him that he didn't work alone. Unfortunately, their attempt has the opposite effect - rather than getting him to stop bragging, it only inflames his arrogance.
"Yeah, that thing!" he exclaims eagerly. "Thanks to the Battle Chip Gate, I don't need to worry about running out of battle chips in the middle of a fight anymore! It's great! I'll be counting on you from now on, okay, Chaud?"
She hears the faint movement of his hand moving through the air even before she remembers what happened in the anime. Mimic whirls around and grabs Lan's wrist in the same moment, effectively stopping him in his tracks before he can slap her on the back like he did to Chaud.
Lan looks pretty startled. Mimic gives him a flat glare and tosses his wrist away, then pushes past him without bothering to glance back at him.
Honestly. Does he not remember what happened last time he was like this? Sure, she doesn't have Cross Fusion anymore and can't 'accidentally' sic Dark Shadow on him in the middle of a battle, but if she can bite a hole in Misaki's arm, she can do some serious damage to Lan, too.
You're actually considering biting him? Chaud asks. I mean, I get your anger - I'm pretty annoyed too - but you told Dr. Hikari you've only bitten people in self-defence. This . . . wouldn't be self-defence.
I'm defending myself from an idiot, Mimic retorts.
I don't think Dr. Hikari will see it that way, Chaud replies. Or Haruka, for that matter.
Mimic doesn't stop walking, but she's quiet for a moment as she lets that sink in. She's still annoyed at Lan, but the temptation to bite him is giving way to shame and a faint sense of worry.
. . . You think they'd kick me out if I attacked Lan? she wonders quietly. Even if he kinda deserves it?
They might, Chaud says in a subdued tone.
"They wouldn't," Arcadia speaks up, almost startling Mimic before she remembers he can hear their mental conversation. "Dr. Hikari told you - he promised - he'd never kick you out for any reason. Haruka would say the same if you asked her; she cares about you just as much as Dr. Hikari does."
Even if they care, Chaud murmurs, they might not want us around if Mimic attacks Lan.
Arcadia falls silent at that, and Mimic makes a decision - even if Lan pisses her off to no end, she's not going to bite him. She won't attack him at all, unless he tries to slap her again, in which case she'll just stop him from touching her. She doesn't want to risk getting thrown onto the streets again. No matter what Dr. Hikari promises, the adult Hikaris definitely won't want her anywhere near Lan ever again if she attacks him.
They head to Kifune's office to give their report on the mission. Famous was still waiting outside the facility on his motorbike, so he was able to take Mimic to HQ, though he makes her wait for Lan to arrive before he lets her go to see Kifune and Manabe. It's a shame he didn't just let her go in on her own - she doesn't want to deal with Lan right now.
"So, it was SwordMan," Kifune muses, after Lan finishes giving his . . . report. It honestly sounded more like a grand tale of adventure the way he was talking, even though the battle - both parts of it - barely took a few minutes. "An interesting culprit - you said he seems to have a split personality?"
"He kept saying 'we' and 'our', so, yeah," Lan replies, shrugging. "But we still beat him really easily." He grins and holds up his PET like he's showing it off - he probably is, actually. "With my new PET, defeating him and any other Darkloid will be just as easy as it was today!"
He's wrong, Chaud mutters mutinously. There was something different about SwordMan. From what you read in the mission reports that Raika filed, that Darkloid should've been much stronger than he was today.
"SwordMan seemed different, though," Arcadia says. Apparently he's going to act as Chaud's interpreter - Mimic doesn't mind, because this means Chaud's now got two people who can hear him and say things for him. "SearchMan told me about that battle at the oil refinery while we were training - based on what he said, SwordMan should've been more powerful."
"No way!" Lan dismisses. "The difference is my new PET. SearchMan only struggled against SwordMan 'cus his power wasn't boosted by the Dark Immunity Program!"
Has Lan forgotten where the Dark Immunity Program even came from? If Arcadia hadn't agreed to let SciLab study his Ultimate Program ability, that program in Lan's PET wouldn't even exist. The PET would still give him a power boost, sure, but only in Cross Fusion - with the Dark Immunity Program, MegaMan also gets a boost, and from what Mimic can tell, it's stronger than it was in the anime.
And on top of that, Lan's basically dismissing SearchMan's own unique abilities. That's not fair on SearchMan - or Raika, for that matter. They don't have the Dark Immunity Program, but they've got their own way of fighting Nebula.
"And with your Battle Chip Gate," Lan goes on, "we're practically unstoppable! We can take on any enemies that try to fight us!"
"Well, you . . . certainly have a lot of enthusiasm, for a member of the Net Police," Kifune comments. He looks half-amused, half-concerned. Mimic can guess why - Lan's got way too much enthusiasm right now.
"Yeah!" Lan agrees, oblivious to the mood of those around him. "Me and Chaud are unbeatable! Right?"
Mimic sees his hand moving out of the corner of her eye and decides she's had enough. Just as Lan raises his arm to try and slap her again, she steps back and hisses at him, baring her teeth. She's not actually going to bite him, but she's hoping that showing her teeth will be enough to remind him of how much damage she can do.
It works. Lan pauses, looking startled and a little afraid, and Mimic takes the opportunity to turn on her heel and walk out of Kifune's office before she does something she'll regret.
I'm calling Raoul, she decides, as she walks through the halls of HQ. He can help sort Lan out.
Why? Chaud asks her curiously. She can feel his annoyed anger at Lan bubbling just under that curiosity. You've never even talked to him before. You could just call Raika, you know.
True, but that's not how it went in the anime. Besides, Raika's less likely to help her with the idea she has - it's similar to what happened in the anime, and she's pretty sure Raika would throw a fit if she tried to get him to help her with this, even if they're good friends now. But Raoul is different; he's more relaxed, and would definitely be willing to go along with Mimic's idea.
Not to mention, MegaMan needs to get Thunder Soul somehow. He already has Search Soul, so involving Raika would be kind of pointless.
Mimic takes out the white PET and is about to call Raoul when she realises one important detail she's overlooked - she doesn't know Raoul's contact details. Maybe she should ask Famous? Raoul's been working closely with the Net Police - the Net Savers in particular - so he and Famous have been interacting quite a lot, meaning Famous would definitely have his contact details.
Then she notices Arcadia waving for her attention on the screen.
"SearchMan gave me ThunderMan's contact details in case I ever needed his help," Arcadia tells her. "If you want to talk to Raoul, I can send a message to ThunderMan so he can pass it on to his operator."
Mimic perks up. This sounds a lot simpler than trying to track down Famous and ask for Raoul's contact details.
The rest of the day passes without further incident, but it also means Mimic has to endure Lan's bragging even more. Even Dr. Hikari and Haruka are starting to look a little sick of Lan's non-stop chattering about how great his PET is. Mimic is almost tempted to throw one of her catnip sticks at Lan just to get Ragdoll to jump on him and claw his legs or something; she could easily pass it off as an accident. Unfortunately, Chaud acts as her impulse control and shoots her down every time she even thinks about throwing a stick at Lan.
The next morning eventually comes, and Mimic once again dawdles upstairs so she won't have to listen to Lan any more than she has to. Dr. Hikari and Haruka have probably guessed why she's avoiding Lan by now, because they don't give her odd looks when she eventually comes downstairs.
After Lan leaves for school, Dr. Hikari takes Mimic to the airport, where they meet Raika. It's a huge relief to be around a Net Saver who doesn't let power go to his head, though her relief is dampened by the sad knowledge that Raika's leaving.
"Is Lan not coming to say goodbye, too?" Raika wonders, looking around the airport as if he expects Lan to show up out of thin air.
"He's in school at the moment," Dr. Hikari replies. "He told me to say goodbye for him, though."
"Don't wanna . . . b-be around him anyway," Mimic mutters, folding her arms and glaring at the floor. "Tried to s-slap me."
"What?" Dr. Hikari's voice sharpens.
Mimic winces as she realises how that must sound to him. He probably thinks Lan tried to hit her - he did, kind of, but not in the way that Dr. Hikari is thinking.
"It's f-fine," she quickly says. "He- he got excited. Too much. Stopped him. Didn't actually slap me."
"He still tried," Raika points out, with a quick glance at Dr. Hikari. "That . . . wasn't very nice of him."
"No, it wasn't," Dr. Hikari murmurs. Judging by his frown, Mimic can guess that he's going to be talking to Lan about this later - hopefully by then, Mimic's idea will have worked, Lan will stop being so arrogant, and he'll be back to normal and willing to listen.
And apologise. No matter how temporary this stupidity might be, Mimic is not going to let Lan get out of this without saying sorry. It's not fine, no matter what she tells Dr. Hikari or Raika, and she's pretty pissed off with Lan at the moment. Not pissed off enough to try and attack him like she'd been considering yesterday, but definitely pissed off enough to come up with an idea that's halfway to being a prank.
Before Raika leaves, Mimic manages to spring a surprise hug on him. It's a little funny how he goes completely stiff, almost like a statue, for several moments until he gradually relaxes and puts his hands on her back in the most awkward hug in the history of hugs.
She carries that funny little memory with her even after Raika boards his plane and finally leaves. It puts her in a good mood, so she's in the right mindset when Dr. Hikari takes her to SciLab, and in the afternoon, Raoul turns up.
She hadn't known whether or not Raoul would even come - he couldn't send her a message in return, since all of her emails and correspondences are being monitored, and any kind of cryptic email, even from Raoul, would send up an alert flag immediately. But Arcadia's message had explained the situation, though she'd asked him to keep her idea out of it until Raoul showed up. She doesn't want to tell him her idea only to have him decide not to help, though she knows Raoul is Lan's friend - so he won't want to see Lan's overconfidence get the better of him any more than she does.
Famous brings Raoul into the break room where she and Dr. Hikari are sitting. In the anime, Raoul had met Chaud in IPC Tower - but that's obviously impossible here, so SciLab was the only option Mimic had. Luckily for her, Dr. Hikari's already witnessed Lan's overconfidence, so he shouldn't really have any protests against anything Mimic has to say - neither should Famous, for that matter.
"Oh, hello," Dr. Hikari says, looking a little startled to see Raoul. "It's . . . Raoul, right? Lan told me about you. I hear you're working with the Net Police at the moment." He pauses, and then his eyes widen. "Has there been an incident?"
"Nah," Raoul tells him calmly, waving him down. He gives Mimic a slight grin. "Your other kid asked me to come here. Something about Lan being an arrogant tool?"
Mimic blinks and glances at Arcadia, where she's set the white PET up on the table. She hadn't seen what Arcadia wrote in the message he sent to ThunderMan, but if Raoul is to be believed, 'arrogant tool' had been in there. She's not sure if she should be confused or just laugh at the absurdity of Arcadia calling Lan an arrogant tool.
She's also not sure how she feels about being called Dr. Hikari's 'other kid'. It doesn't feel like a bad thing, but . . . well, she's just not sure how she feels, that's all.
Dr. Hikari looks even more startled upon hearing Raoul's explanation. He shoots Mimic a quick glance, like he's trying to silently ask what the hell is going on, but Mimic only meets his glance with a steady look and doesn't answer his unspoken question. After a brief staring contest, Dr. Hikari looks away, and gestures for Raoul to sit down. Famous plops himself down next to Raoul, only looking curious rather than startled like Dr. Hikari.
"Lan's letting his new power go to his head," Arcadia begins, diving right into things without wasting any time. "Mimic and I agree that if this keeps up, he's going to get way too overconfident, and he might take on more than he can actually handle. We're worried about him - and Lan's not exactly being the nicest person right now, so we're also hoping to take him down a peg or two."
"So when you said he got overexcited and tried to slap you . . ." Dr. Hikari trails off, giving Mimic a questioning glance.
She nods in response to the unspoken question. "Had an idea to fix it," she says. "Pretty sure it'll work - but w-we need Raoul to help."
"I've got no objections," Raoul says. He seems a little more serious than he was when he walked in, but he also looks a little puzzled, too. "I don't want Lan getting himself into trouble because he's letting power go to his head any more than you do - he's my friend, after all. But from what Lan's told me, you get along better with that Raika guy from Sharo. Why not ask him to help you out?"
"Raika left Japan this morning," Dr. Hikari tells him. "And from what Mimic's saying . . . well, it sounds like this isn't something Raika would go along with, even if he were still in the country."
"Was considering him," Mimic admits. She's only half-lying, to be honest. She does get along with Raika, and she'd rather work with someone she knows, rather a guy she's never personally met. But since Raika's no longer an option and probably wouldn't have gone along with this anyway - and since MegaMan still needs to get Thunder Soul - Raoul is her only option.
"Well, fair enough, I guess." Raoul shrugs. "So, do you have a plan of some sort? What do you want me to do?"
Mimic shoots a quick glance at Dr. Hikari and Famous before replying. "Impersonate Nebula and fight Lan," she says bluntly.
All three adults stare at her. Mimic doesn't bother trying to hold their gazes - she'd only look away anyway, so she just stares at her hands on her lap and waits for someone to say something.
"So . . . wait a second," Raoul eventually says. Mimic glances up and meets his incredulous look. "You're for asking me to pretend to be a part of Nebula, and for ThunderMan to pretend to be a Darkloid? And you want us to fight Lan?"
Dr. Hikari's eyebrows furrow as he listens. He looks like he's about to say something, but Mimic speaks up before he can.
"Darkloids don't ha-have operators," Mimic tells Raoul. "Neb-Nebula has agents, though. Not just . . . Darkloids."
"That's right," Famous speaks up for the first time. "I remember you stopped an agent of Nebula from stealing our Cross Fusion research." He pauses, suddenly looking very awkward. "And then Dr. Regal managed to infiltrate and steal everything anyway . . ."
Dr. Hikari scowls a little upon being reminded of that. Mimic decides to move on before he can get any more annoyed - or before the conversation inevitably turns toward the consequences of Dr. Regal's infiltration.
"Pret-tend to be an- a-an agent of Nebula," Mimic says to Raoul. "Disguise yours-self. A-and ThunderMan."
"Then you'll challenge Lan and MegaMan to a battle," Arcadia takes up the explanation, much to Mimic's relief. He probably sensed she was nearing the end of whatever energy she has for talking. "You should be able to match them - the Dark Immunity Program won't give MegaMan a boost in power since there won't be any active darkness nearby. And Mimic knows how MegaMan's Double Souls work, so he'll be able to help you if Lan starts using them."
"Wait, you're going too?" Dr. Hikari looks shocked.
"Need to go," she tells him. "Wanna help."
"Ah, c'mon," Raoul says cheerfully, before Dr. Hikari can protest again. "From the sounds of it, he'll be pretty useful to have around. And his Navi can-"
"I'm not leaving this PET unless there's a dimensional area," Arcadia interrupts.
Raoul's cheerful expression briefly freezes, but he recovers quickly. "Alright, well, the kid'll still be helpful anyway," he says. "I haven't battled Lan since before the Gospel thing, so I don't know how different his battle style is now, what with that Double Soul ability and all."
Dr. Hikari still doesn't look convinced. On the other hand, Famous is nodding along with Raoul's words, which makes this four out of five - five out of six, if ThunderMan is counted, and Mimic's pretty sure that he'll agree with his operator if they asked him for his opinion. Either way, majority wins.
"If you're gonna disguise yourselves," Famous says, "I might be able to help you out. SciLab's got all kinds of stuff lying around in the storage rooms - you can sort through some of it and see what you can use!"
"Hold on, I'm not sure-" Dr. Hikari begins hesitantly.
"Dr. Hikari, please," Arcadia begs. "Let Mimic help."
"But what if there's a Darkloid attack while you're pretending to be agents of Nebula?" Dr. Hikari frets. "Lan and MegaMan might be too tired from this plan to fight."
"We'll tell MegaMan what's going on," Arcadia replies. "Mimic already worked it out - if MegaMan knows about this, he and ThunderMan won't actually have to fight. They'll just have to make it look like they're fighting, and MegaMan can pretend to get beaten. Lan won't say he's unbeatable anymore if MegaMan can make it look convincing enough."
"This seems more like an extremely elaborate prank rather than a plan to stop Lan from making a mistake," Dr. Hikari comments.
"Pretty much," Mimic agrees.
Dr. Hikari looks at her for a long moment. Mimic holds his gaze, even though it makes her uncomfortable after a few seconds - she's not going to back down from this. He knows her well enough by now to realise that she'd go with Raoul anyway, even if he tells her no, so he must know that it's better to just give her permission so they can avoid the hassle afterwards.
Eventually, Dr. Hikari sighs. "Alright, fine," he says. "I'll help Famous get together some things for your disguises. Just . . . promise me you'll be careful, okay? If Nebula actually attacks, don't take any more risks than you have to." He pauses. "Actually, no, just don't put yourself in danger. I'm not having you pull that 'exact words' trick on me."
"Damn, foiled again," Mimic deadpans.
Dr. Hikari lets out a brief huff of laughter as he stands up. "Come on," he says to Famous. "Let's see what we can find."
The two scientists head out. Raoul watches them leave, and as soon as the door closes behind them, he turns back to Mimic.
"Well," Raoul says, "while they're doing that, how about we figure out the finer details of your plan? And you can give me and ThunderMan some tips on fighting Lan and MegaMan before we actually head out."
Mimic nods, and they get down to work.