The warehouse is a pretty big place, but for Mimic's idea to work, they only need to use the main room - meaning the factory floor, where the machines are. The plan is basically the same as it was in the anime; lure Lan into the main room, make the machines go crazy, and he'll jack MegaMan into the network to check it out. ThunderMan will be waiting to 'ambush' MegaMan inside, disguised as Masked Thunder.
They all have disguises, except Arcadia, who won't be participating in any battling for obvious reasons.
Raoul's disguise is the same as it was in the anime. Mimic has to wonder what other kind of stuff SciLab has stored away if Dr. Hikari and Famous were able to dig up something like that; Raoul's disguise looks just as ridiculous as Mimic remembers, and the material of the one-piece outfit makes odd stretching noises that grates on her hearing every time Raoul moves.
Mimic, on the other hand, didn't want to pick out the same outfit that Chaud wore in the anime. It had been there, sure - and Chaud had been trying to convince her to wear it, for whatever reason. But she refuses to wear something that outlandish and embarrassing. She can't pull off that kind of outfit, even if it's just a disguise.
So instead of that ridiculous disco outfit, Mimic chose something else. In contrast to Raoul's loud disco look, she decided to go with punk rock. She even has a matching cap to hide the white half of her hair. Personally, Mimic thinks this outfit is a lot cooler than the disco thing, even if it doesn't match Raoul's outfit.
The point is, she's now Punk Rock Mimic. And Raoul is Disco Raoul. It looks just as ridiculous as it sounds, but at least they've got disguises.
Of course, Lan will immediately figure out who she is if he sees her eyes - the lighting in here isn't that dim, but her eyes will still reflect light if it's there. There's literally no other human on the planet whose eyes do that, because she's the only human with proper night vision.
Luckily, SciLab's weird collection of clothes came through yet again, and Famous was able to dig up a pair of tinted sunglasses to hide her eyes. They're not the same round sunglasses that Chaud wore in the anime - she would've refused to wear them if they were, and besides, they wouldn't fit with her punk rock disguise. But the sunglasses are a little bittersweet, because they look a lot like the visor that Dark ProtoMan has on his helmet, though these sunglasses are black rather than red.
The sunglasses honestly remind her more of ProtoMan - the real ProtoMan, that is. Hence why she feels bittersweet about them; when she looks at them, she thinks of ProtoMan and Dark ProtoMan. But however she feels about these sunglasses, they do a good enough job in hiding her eyes, and definitely fit her punk rock disguise.
With their disguises successfully hiding their identities and the plan refined as much as they can make it, they're ready to begin. Raoul sends ThunderMan into the warehouse's network to shut off all the lights and machinery, getting ready for a dramatic reveal, while Mimic takes out the white PET.
"I've sent a message to MegaMan," Arcadia reports. "He won't be able to respond, obviously, but I've told him everything I can - so he should help us."
"Not to be a downer or anything," Raoul begins reluctantly, "but what if he tells Lan about this plan? Not on purpose, of course, but . . . well, NetNavis usually read out their operator's messages as soon as they get them."
"I sent the message directly to MegaMan, rather than Lan's PET," Arcadia explains. "If we ask MegaMan not to say anything more than what we need him to, he won't. And yes, he will help us - I could sense his frustration with Lan yesterday, and he's worried that Lan might get himself into trouble, same as us. We're offering him a relatively easy way to help his operator."
"How did you know I was about to ask that?" Raoul asks, looking puzzled.
"I have something called the Empath Program," Arcadia replies. "It lets me sense emotions and thoughts - mostly surface ones, but I'm able to dig much deeper if I concentrate hard enough." He glances at Mimic, and she knows she's not the only one thinking about how he'd looked at her and Chaud's souls. "You weren't sure if MegaMan would help us with this plan - so that thought was on the forefront of your mind, and I could pick up on it easily."
Raoul whistles appreciatively. "And you've got that Dark Immunity thing? You're one powerful little NetNavi, kid."
"Um . . . thank you?"
The lights in the room shut off suddenly, plunging them into darkness. Mimic leans over the railing of the balcony she and Raoul are standing on, blinking as her night vision starts to kick in, showing her a somewhat hazy black-and-grey view of the floor below them.
"Didn't think it'd get this dark. I can't see a thing," Raoul comments. "At least we've got good cover - perfect for a dramatic reveal!"
He laughs, and the sound echoes throughout the room. Mimic pushes off the railing and turns around just in time to see him turning on a torch - he offers one to her, but she waves it away.
"I can see," she tells him. At least her sunglasses make the light of Raoul's torch a little more bearable to look at.
"Yeah, I guess one torch is good enough," Raoul decides, not understanding what she's actually saying. "I'll have to turn it off when Lan shows up, though - but ThunderMan knows when to turn the lights back on, so we won't be in the dark for too long."
Mimic's not in the dark at all, but sure, whatever.
"We're gonna need to change our voices somehow," Raoul says thoughtfully. "I don't think I'll have much trouble, but what about you? You, uh . . . don't seem to be able to talk very well."
"You don't seem to be able to talk very well," Mimic says, with Raoul's voice.
Raoul stares at her. She can't see his eyes through the star-shaped sunglasses, but she can bet they're as wide as anything. Most people react the same way the first time they hear her using her mimicry.
"Why d'you think m'called Mimic?" she asks rhetorically, flashing him a grin.
"That's actually pretty cool," Raoul admits. "Did you practise that, or . . . ?"
"Natural," Mimic replies. She mimics Tory's voice, but changes it just enough so it won't be recognised. "My voice is fine. What about yours?"
"How's this sound?" Raoul tries. He's making his voice a little higher, more theatrical - for anyone else, it wouldn't be much of a difference, but considering how deep and calm his voice normally is, it's almost unrecognisable.
Mimic gives him a thumbs-up, and he pumps his fist triumphantly.
Barely half an hour passes before Arcadia suddenly speaks up, telling them he can sense Lan's mind coming closer. The message Arcadia had sent MegaMan included directions to the warehouse room they're waiting to ambush Lan in, so if Arcadia can sense Lan already, he must be close.
Raoul turns off his torch and stashes it away, and the room is fully dark once again. Mimic keeps her gaze fixed on the door on the other side of the room, waiting and listening, until she finally hears Lan's rapid footsteps. Then she hears the high-pitched screech of metal as Lan drags open the door, and he rushes inside, stopping in the middle of the room and looking around.
He doesn't spot them on the balcony. It's a good thing he doesn't have night vision like her, though even if he did, it wouldn't matter anyway. He wouldn't recognise them even if he could see them.
"Mimic!" Lan calls out. "Where are you?"
Good thing he didn't slip up. Mimic had kind of forgotten about the 'fake' name thing, until Arcadia told her he'd asked MegaMan to make sure Lan remembered to call her Mimic, even if they're making him believe it's just her here. Even Chaud had forgotten, so it's a good thing Arcadia's here.
Raoul doesn't know that she's supposed to be Chaud - even if her 'fake' name is actually her real name. Mimic's names are . . . mildly confusing to explain. It's pretty simple in practise, though, even if the concept sounds way too complicated.
"MegaMan," Lan says, taking out his PET after the silence stretches out, "is there any way you can contact him?"
"Sorry, Lan, but I can't," MegaMan replies. That, at least, isn't actually a lie - if Lan tries to contact her, it won't work, unless Manabe suddenly gets super fast at approving messages.
No one can call her, for basically the same reasons. So simple messages like emails are the only way people can get in touch with her - and even then only after Manabe has approved the message, so unless Lan feels like standing around for an hour or two, he can't contact her. At least Mimic's restrictive orders are working in her favour for once; the white PET technically doesn't belong to her, it's just somewhere for Arcadia to stay since her actual PET still sparks and hurts anyone who touches it, so she can't shut off any of the white PET's functions.
"But you told me he said Nebula is attacking this place," Lan says, looking around. "He should be here if-"
ThunderMan chooses that moment to turn the lights back on. It's less jarring than the abrupt change in lighting usually is for Mimic, probably because of her sunglasses - another thing to be grateful for, she supposes, though the sunglasses still remind her of ProtoMan and Dark ProtoMan.
Lan isn't wearing sunglasses like her, so he's temporarily blinded by the sudden light. While he recovers, ThunderMan activates the control system in the warehouse's network, and the machines on the floor below them begin to thrash around.
"Lan!" MegaMan calls, sounding convincingly panicked. "The control system is going crazy! Nebula could be using viruses to attack the network, you have to jack me in!"
"Right," Lan agrees. He looks around quickly and spots a console nearby, then heads over to it and raises his PET. "Jack in, MegaMan!"
Still unseen above Lan, Mimic stands on the balls of her feet so she can see the screen of Raoul's PET as he takes it out. A few metres away from ThunderMan, MegaMan materialises and readies himself. He pauses when he sees ThunderMan's odd disguise, but he doesn't give them away.
"Who are you?" MegaMan demands.
"My name is Masked Thunder," ThunderMan replies. "I'm here to defeat you and your braggart of an operator!"
"What?" Lan scowls. "I'm not a braggart!"
Mimic steps forward, hitting the railing with her hand so it clangs loudly, drawing Lan's attention away from his PET. Her heart skips a beat when he looks up at her and Raoul, and she has to remind herself that Lan can't recognise either of them at the moment.
"Is that so?" she calls, pitching her voice so Lan can actually hear her. She doesn't feel comfortable talking this loudly at all, but this won't work if Lan can't hear a damn thing she says. "I hear you've been bragging about how great your new PET is, and how you're totally unbeatable!"
"We're here to put a stop to that," Raoul adds, in his higher theatrical voice. "Nebula won't stand for this, you brat!"
"Who even are you two!?" Lan snaps.
"We are the operators of Masked Thunder, agents of Nebula!" Raoul announces, striking a pose. Mimic almost feels second-hand embarrassment just watching it. "The Thunder Brothers!"
"Sure you're not from the circus?" Lan mutters under his breath.
Raoul doesn't hear him, but Mimic does - and it takes every bit of self-control she has, however little that is, to stop herself from snapping out a retort. Normal humans don't have her sensitive hearing, and Lan is fully aware that Mimic is the only person who could've possibly heard that. If she comments on something that Raoul obviously didn't hear, she might give them away.
Hey, try saying this, Chaud suddenly says.
"You rely too much on that new PET's power!" Mimic mocks Lan, speaking the words as Chaud gives them to her. "Sure, it gives you a boost when you're fighting the glorious darkness of Nebula, but I bet you can't even scratch Masked Thunder without it! We won't even need to use a Dark Chip to beat you!"
"What!?" Lan seethes.
Mimic feels an almost vicious sense of satisfaction at that. She's getting under his skin - good. That means the plan should work. And it has the added benefit of letting her work off some of her own pent-up anger at Lan.
"That does it!" Lan shouts. "You don't get to stand there, calling me names and mocking me like this! MegaMan, we'll beat that Masked Thunder guy - and we'll show them how powerful we are without the Dark Immunity Program!"
"Lan, I'm not so sure this is a good idea," MegaMan begins hesitantly. His acting is pretty damn good, so much that Mimic almost forgets he's just pretending. "Masked Thunder looks really powerful, and if they're not using Dark Chips, we might not be able to-"
"We're not giving up without a fight," Lan interrupts. "Cannon, download!"
Mimic stands on the balls of her feet again so she can see the battle on Raoul's screen. He helpfully lowers it a little so she doesn't have to strain to see it, and she watches the Cannon materialise on MegaMan's arm.
Lan's too busy seething about Mimic's taunt - which came from Chaud, so she guesses he's also working off some of his own anger at Lan - to notice the little nod that MegaMan exchanges with ThunderMan. He starts firing the Cannon, just barely aiming, and ThunderMan easily dodges every single blast. He dodges as dramatically as possible, hamming it up the same way Raoul was, just to further mock Lan.
"I can't hit him!" MegaMan cries, banishing the Cannon and jerking back as if he's surprised. "He's too fast!"
ThunderMan raises his arms and blasts out a bolt of thunder. Mimic can tell he's holding back his attack, but MegaMan still screams when he gets hit, like he's in agony. He staggers backwards a few paces and plays up how much pain he's in, and Lan grits his teeth.
"Heat Shot, triple download!" Lan announces. "Let's go, MegaMan!"
"Heat Spread!" MegaMan shouts, brandishing the program advance at ThunderMan.
He's deliberately not aiming toward ThunderMan - that's easy to see, at least from this angle. Mimic hopes it doesn't look like this from Lan's side of the battle, or else their plan might fall through because MegaMan's pulling his punches and making it look too obvious.
"How do I counter that!?" Raoul whisper-shouts, looking half-panicked even though the attack won't even hit ThunderMan.
But they can't just have ThunderMan dodge it - simply avoiding getting hit won't work for the duration of this 'battle', so they need to counter at least some of MegaMan's attacks. They'd risk Lan getting suspicious otherwise, but then again, his head's so far up his ass right now that Mimic's not really sure if he'd even notice. All the same, they have to be cautious with this.
"Here," Mimic whispers, pushing three Bubblers into Raoul's hand. The best way to counter a program advance is to fire one right back at it, and if it's the opposite element, they can cancel out Heat Spread without worrying about ThunderMan or MegaMan getting hit.
"Bubbler, triple download!" Raoul says, quickly downloading the three chips.
"Bubble Spread!" ThunderMan calls out, as it materialises on his arm.
Both Navis fire their attacks at the same time. MegaMan is only a little bit faster, because he's more used to gun-type chips than ThunderMan, who mainly uses Elec-element attacks. But no matter how skilled MegaMan is with gun-type chips, the Bubble Spread still cancels out Heat Spread when the two program advances collide, and both attacks vanish harmlessly.
Mimic hands Raoul one of her Vulcans before Lan can even think about downloading another battle chip for MegaMan.
"Vulcan, download!" Raoul exclaims.
ThunderMan seems to do a little better with the Vulcan, but she guesses it's for the same reason that Arcadia was able to use it - Vulcans are easy to aim, and ThunderMan can just follow MegaMan as he dodges to the side and hit him with a stream of blasts. Carefully controlled, of course, and ThunderMan only lets a few of the blasts hit MegaMan before moving the Vulcan just enough that it hits the ground in front of his 'opponent'. The explosions from the blasts obscure MegaMan from sight, and he lets out a loud, pained yell to help sell it.
"MegaMan!" Lan exclaims. He shoots a glare up at Mimic and Raoul, and then turns back to his PET. "Guts Soul, download!"
Powerful but slow, Chaud mutters. Does he really want to use a Soul like that against ThunderMan?
Maybe he's trying to overpower us, Mimic suggests.
Whatever Lan's thinking, it's not going to work. ThunderMan might not have the same kind of speed that Arcadia or even ProtoMan have, but with MegaMan now using Guts Soul, he's definitely faster.
"Guts Punch!" MegaMan exclaims, rushing forward with his arm raised in preparation for an attack.
He swings wide, aiming to miss but making it look like he's trying to hit his opponent. ThunderMan dodges to the side, and Mimic quickly gives Raoul a Wide Sword to download, which ThunderMan uses to slash at MegaMan. The attack is just barely strong enough to send MegaMan staggering back, and he plays it up, gasping and tripping over his feet so he collapses.
"This isn't working," Lan mutters. He raises his voice as he downloads the next Soul. "Roll Soul, download!"
Mimic can easily see MegaMan's weary and exasperated look, and she wonders how Lan misses it as Roll Soul downloads, replacing Guts Soul. MegaMan schools his expression as he stands up, readying himself to fight again.
"Come on, kid!" Raoul calls irritably. "Can't you see this battle is impossible for you? Your Navi isn't doing so well!"
"Stop trying to mess with my head!" Lan snaps back. "You can't psyche me out and make me lose!"
"He was nothing like this when we battled in Netopia," Raoul mutters to Mimic. "What the hell changed?"
Mimic huffs. "Power went to his head," she replies, just barely talking above a whisper.
"Get him, MegaMan!" Lan orders. "Show these guys our power!"
MegaMan's eyes narrow into a glare for a split second, and he glances at ThunderMan. He raises his arm, activating Roll Arrow, and shoots it without hesitation - but it's another deliberate miss made to look like it was supposed to hit, and ThunderMan simply ducks under it, letting the attack sail far over his head.
Then ThunderMan blasts out a bolt of thunder, and MegaMan lifts his hand to catch it. He allows it to hit him, letting out a very convincing scream, writhing in pretend agony. ThunderMan keeps the attack up for a few seconds, though Mimic can see it's just barely got enough power to do more than tickle MegaMan, who's acting as though it's a full-force blast.
When the attack is over, MegaMan staggers as if he can't hold himself up anymore. Roll Soul vanishes and he's back to normal - he probably banished it himself, to make this look more convincing. MegaMan gives ThunderMan a tiny, barely noticable smile before he falls to his knees, and then collapses face-down.
"MegaMan!?" Lan exclaims, looking absolutely shocked. "MegaMan! C'mon, answer me! MegaMan!"
Now say this, Chaud quickly says, while Lan's reeling from 'losing' the battle.
"Looks like your new PET wasn't much help," Mimic calls out smugly, again saying the words as Chaud gives them to her. She's good at tricking people with her words, but he's better at insulting people with his. It balances out. "Not so unbeatable now, are you?"
"You must've cheated somehow!" Lan shouts, glaring up at them. "You used a Dark Chip, even though you said you wouldn't! What, did you download it before I got here?"
Is he actually being serious? Chaud asks incredulously. The Dark Immunity Program would've reacted if we'd actually used a Dark Chip.
Dammit, Mimic hisses. I thought doing it like this would work, but apparently not. What's it gonna take to get Lan to use his fucking brain?
"We didn't use a Dark Chip at all," Raoul tells Lan, matching Mimic's smug tone. "We just used our base power! And if we can beat you without bothering to use a Dark Chip, those Darkloids our boss recruited should have no problem taking you down!"
Lan looks even more offended at that. But before he can open his mouth to reply, his PET lets out a loud alert, and Lan pauses to stare at it disbelievingly.
At the same time, Raoul's PET lets out an alert as well, much quieter than Lan's. They didn't want to mute it entirely in case something like this happened - which Mimic knew it would - so it's just quiet enough that they can hear it, but not Lan.
Famous appears on the screen, trying to look professional, but an awkward twitch betrays him. Lan doesn't notice - he's too busy wondering why the hell there's a call while he's already dealing with two agents of Nebula and their Navi. As far as he's concerned, he's already on a mission, and the only reason Famous would call him so randomly is to give him a mission.
"SwordMan has reappeared," Famous says, sounding almost apologetic. "Lan, I need you to head over to the research facility right away."
He's talking as if he's only called Lan. So he's pretending he hasn't called Raoul as well, to try and help them keep up the ruse.
Lan shoots a glance up at Mimic and Raoul, before he turns as if he's hiding his PET from them. He mutters to Famous - Raoul doesn't hear, but Mimic does, and she's intensely grateful that Raoul isn't connected to Lan's side of the call, because he'd have a lot of questions if he hears what Lan says next.
"MegaMan's really hurt, though," Lan hisses. "These two Nebula agents challenged us and they somehow beat us! Is there any way you can send Chaud, instead?"
"He's unavailable right now," Famous replies, very carefully not mentioning Mimic's 'real' name in front of Raoul. "You're the only one we can send, sorry."
Lan makes a faint sound of frustration. "Guess I'll just try and heal MegaMan on the way there . . ."
Never mind the fact that MegaMan barely needs to be healed at all. But Lan thinks MegaMan does need healing, and if he thinks MegaMan is hurt enough, he might not fight SwordMan properly for fear of MegaMan getting hurt even further.
Well, whatever. There's no help for it - Mimic and Raoul will just need to step up like Chaud and Raoul did in the anime. It'll all probably end in an extremely embarrassing reveal, though at least Mimic's avoided the absurdity of wearing that disco outfit of Chaud's. The punk rock outfit looks pretty cool, in her opinion.
I thought the disco outfit looked cool, too, Chaud says, sounding hurt.
It was funny, but there's no way in hell I'm ever gonna wear something as ridiculous as that, Mimic replies.
While Chaud's comically offended feelings flow through their connection, Mimic tugs on Raoul's sleeve. He looks away from the screen of his PET as Famous ends the call, and Mimic gestures that they should leave.
Raoul nods and quickly jacks ThunderMan out of the network, and they sneak off before Lan sees them. They've already 'beaten' MegaMan anyway - so it shouldn't matter even if Lan does spot them. But still, it'd probably be better for the plan if they don't get seen, because Lan might try to stop them.
Mimic easily keeps up with Raoul despite his greater size - in both height and leg length. He seems faintly surprised and impressed; Mimic wonders how he'd react if he saw her running around at full speed, because she's actually having to slow herself down so she can keep pace with Raoul rather than overtake him.
"Do you know the way to that research facility?" Raoul asks, as they're running. "The one Famous mentioned."
Mimic nods. "I'll take you," she tells him.
"Great," Raoul says, "because I think we're gonna need to step in. Not sure if we'll get there in time, but we'll make do somehow."
The warehouse isn't actually that far from the research facility - just ten or fifteen minutes on foot, if Mimic remembers correctly. She'd checked before putting her plan into action, and thanks to Chaud's help, she's already got a route planned out. Normally she'd just parkour her way over buildings and walls to get there directly, but while she knows Raoul is pretty agile, he's probably not capable of scaling entire buildings like she is.
So she leads him through the streets, no matter how much her body aches to climb. Halfway there, they have to duck into an alley and hide when a Net Police van comes roaring past on the road - it's heading in the direction of the research facility, so Mimic guesses that Lan's inside, which means he'll get there before them.
Will the difference matter, at all? In the anime, Chaud and Raoul had gotten there before Lan, presumably because they took Chaud's car rather than heading there on foot. Whatever's going to happen, they still need to get to the research facility.
They arrive at the research facility, skirting around the Net Police van before heading inside. Mimic just barely remembers the way to the room they'd been in yesterday, and Chaud helps her by giving her quick directions when she gets turned around, and she eventually manages to lead Raoul the right way.
When they arrive, they discover that Lan's already there, calling encouragement to MegaMan. He looks up when they come in, and his eyes widen, then narrow suspiciously.
"What're you doing here?" Lan demands. "Don't tell me Nebula decided to make this a two-part assault!"
"This has nothing to do with you," Raoul retorts, stepping forward and raising his PET. "This is our business, strictly between members of Nebula, so butt out!"
Lan just looks plain confused now. "Wait, wha-"
"Get lost," Mimic tells him, as Raoul jacks ThunderMan into the network. "We'll deal with this. MegaMan's too weak anyway."
"He's the strongest Navi there is!" Lan snaps. He scowls at them and then turns back to his PET. "C'mon, MegaMan, it's time to prove these weirdos wrong!"
MegaMan replies as ThunderMan materialises in the network. The screen of Raoul's PET changes to show the interior, and MegaMan being pinned by SwordMan, white sparks dancing across his arms as he holds off the non-sentient sword that's trying to crush him.
"I can't," MegaMan grits out. "Th-that last battle . . . was too much . . ."
It really wasn't, but unless MegaMan wants to give away the plan - which is honestly kind of falling through anyway, but Mimic had been expecting that - he has to pretend to still be injured.
"You can do it!" Lan tries to encourage him.
"Step aside," ThunderMan says. "You're not strong enough to fight right now."
MegaMan hesitates for a moment. Mimic can tell it's mostly just for theatrics - he probably has no objections 'stepping aside', and seems almost glad to shove SwordMan's non-sentient sword out of his face so he can stagger away. Lan almost protests, but MegaMan's acting is good enough that even Mimic is nearly fooled by how 'injured' he seems.
As soon as MegaMan is out of the way, ThunderMan rushes at SwordMan. Raoul quickly downloads a Sword that Mimic hands him, and ThunderMan raises the weapon just in time to block an attack from SwordMan's non-sentient sword. The pair of them clash for a few moments, trading blows and trying to get in a quick hit on their opponent, but despite ThunderMan not being used to these kind of battle chips, he's able to match SwordMan's strikes blow-for-blow.
"I'll send you some more Recovery chips," Lan says, while the sword-battle is taking place.
Judging by the look on MegaMan's face, he's probably sick of Lan trying to send him Recovery chips. How many has Lan wasted on the way over? How many times has MegaMan had to lie about his hit points and how much damage he took just to help sell the image of being injured? Mimic guesses it's a lot. Normally MegaMan's got the patience of a saint, but right now he just looks like he'd slap Lan for nothing more than a few moments of peace.
She jerks her attention back to the battle between ThunderMan and SwordMan when she hears a blast of thunder, and is just in time to see SwordMan reeling back from ThunderMan's attack. ThunderMan looks battered, more so than she'd expected - then again, she probably should've expected this, given that he's not good with sword-type chips, and wasn't likely to get very far when trying to match SwordMan's skills.
"Why don't you have a taste of our triple attack, stupid Navi?" SwordMan snaps. The sentient swords swap around, and the yellow one becomes his face. "Great Sword!"
He swings the non-sentient sword in a horizontal slash, and a blast of energy similar to ProtoMan's Sonic Boom is thrown out. Mimic, without even thinking about what she's doing, grabs Raoul's PET and downloads an Area Steal, getting ThunderMan out of the way in the nick of time.
"Thanks," Raoul mutters to her. She's glad he's not annoyed that she just snatched his PET like that.
SwordMan's blue sword switches in now. "Sword Press!"
He jumps high into the air - if it can even be called jumping, since he kind of floats on the tip of whichever sword is in charge - and comes down with shocking speed. Mimic only has one Area Steal, so she can't get ThunderMan out of the way this time, and she winces at the pained bellow he lets out when SwordMan's attack connects.
Did SwordMan do this in the anime? Chaud asks quickly. What comes next?
Uh . . . Shit, she can't remember. Three attacks, one from each sword, but she can't remember what the last attack was. All she knows is that it's probably the strongest of the three.
You have a Barrier, Chaud reminds her, as SwordMan backs away and switches to the red sword. Use it, hurry!
"Sonic Blade!" SwordMan exclaims, raising his non-sentient sword.
She wonders if a Barrier will even be useful right now, but it's all she has. She downloads it at the same time that SwordMan slams the point of his sword into the ground.
ThunderMan feebly raises his hands and the Barrier shimmers into existence just in time to meet the shock wave that blasts out of SwordMan's non-sentient sword. For a moment, it looks like the Barrier will hold up - but then it begins to crack, and bits of data bleeds off the edges. ThunderMan grunts with the effort of trying to keep the Sonic Blade attack at bay, and then, abruptly, the Barrier breaks.
The Sonic Blade attack hits ThunderMan and scores a deep scar into the ground. Raoul lets out a shocked cry and snatches his PET back. Mimic lets him take it without a fight, because ThunderMan is his NetNavi, no matter how much she wants to help.
"How about that?" SwordMan calls out mockingly. "You NetNavi puppets are all the same!"
"I don't get it," Lan mutters to himself, casting a glance at Mimic and Raoul. "They're all on the same side - why're they fighting each other?"
Like you've never gotten into a fight with someone from your own side, Mimic thinks, remembering the last time Lan had gotten overconfident. He'd been annoying her so much that Dark Shadow had attacked him in response to her anger - and much later, Dark Shadow had almost ripped Lan apart when he tried to stop it from attacking Dr. Regal.
Both times, Dark Shadow had been reacting to her emotions, which caused infighting. The second time was worse than the first, because Mimic and Dark Shadow destroyed the dimensional converter while they were fighting each other - so Mimic ended up accidentally helping Nebula.
Besides, Chaud says, deliberately dragging her thoughts away from that old shame, it's not like the Darkloids and Nebula are on good terms, even if the Darkloids work for Nebula now.
True, Mimic agrees.
She stands on the balls of her feet to get a good view of the screen of Raoul's PET, trying to keep an eye on the battle. If there's anything she can do, she'll do it - but she won't be able to know what to do unless she can see the battle. Raoul's too worked up and worried about ThunderMan to remember that she's too small to see the screen properly, but she doesn't complain. If Arcadia was in trouble, she'd be the same way.
ThunderMan is just barely managing to get to his hands and knees, but even that effort leaves him exhausted. Raoul's PET shows that his hit points are dangerously low, and SwordMan is already gearing up for another attack, aiming to take out ThunderMan while he's weakened.
SwordMan raises his non-sentient sword and rushes at ThunderMan. Raoul, forgetting to put on his fake voice in his panic, yells out a protest that falls on deaf ears - until MegaMan jumps in without warning.
He activates his Mega Buster and shoots in the same motion, and dust and bits of data blast out from the explosion, obscuring all three of them from view for several long moments.
"MegaMan!?" Lan yelps, looking both scared and shocked. "Why . . . why did he protect that Nebula Navi . . . ?"
Is now a good time to do a dramatic reveal, or . . . ? Chaud absently wonders. Despite his light-hearted words, Mimic feels his worry for both ThunderMan and MegaMan.
But it turns out this isn't their time for a dramatic reveal, because a bright light shines out of the dust and data cloud, and then a twisting blast of electricity blows it all away. It reveals SwordMan pointing his non-sentient sword at MegaMan, who stands between the Darkloid and ThunderMan, with his arms raised and yellow thunder sparking along his arms.
Thunder Soul! Mimic exclaims, unable to contain a excited grin. Hell yes, I was hoping for this!
He looks like a weird mummy, Chaud comments.
Mimic has to purse her lips to stop herself from laughing out loud.
In contrast to Mimic's excitement, Lan looks absolutely horrified. No wonder - he still thinks ThunderMan is Masked Thunder, because his disguise hasn't been broken yet, and Lan definitely doesn't want the Double Soul of a Nebula Navi.
MegaMan lowers his arms but doesn't get rid of the yellow sparks. Mimic can just about see the white sparks of the Dark Immunity Program mixed in with them, and wonders how much of the program was mixed in with that electric twister.
"Are you okay?" MegaMan calls over his shoulder.
"I can keep going," ThunderMan grits out. He struggles to his feet and stumbles over to stand next to MegaMan. He just barely keeps himself upright - his entire body is bruised and battered, and he's got one arm wrapped around his side. But he's still standing.
That's some determination right there, Mimic thinks.
"Oh, you're all pointy now!" SwordMan mocks. "We're so scared!"
"You should be," MegaMan retorts. He glances up at ThunderMan. "Together?"
"Together," ThunderMan agrees with a nod.
ThunderMan takes his arm off his side so he can raise both of his hands. MegaMan copies him, both of them aiming for SwordMan, who suddenly seems to be hesitating.
"Thunder Bolt!" MegaMan and ThunderMan shout at the same time.
Thunder blasts out from both of them, mixing into an even bigger attack as it streaks toward SwordMan, and the Darkloid doesn't even have time to dodge. The twin Thunder Bolts light up the screen to the point where no one can tell what's going on, and the only guide they have for the outcome of the fight are the pained screams of SwordMan.
It's several moments before the light starts to die down, along with SwordMan's screams. When the screen is no longer too bright to look at, Mimic sees the condition that the Darkloid is in - he's looking even more battered than ThunderMan, and bits of thunder still spark along his body. SwordMan teeters on his sword-point, almost collapsing, before he recovers enough to stare at MegaMan and ThunderMan. If his swords had expressions, he'd probably be glaring.
"We'll remember this," SwordMan swears, before vanishing from the network.
MegaMan and ThunderMan wait a few moments, just to make sure he's actually gone, and then they turn to each other and high-five. That action proves to be a little too much for the weakened ThunderMan, and he staggers, almost falling over, before MegaMan reaches out and helps prop him up.
"Thanks," ThunderMan sighs gratefully.
"C'mon, ThunderMan," MegaMan says warmly, "don't overdo it."
"ThunderMan?" Lan repeats.
Mimic sees MegaMan's wince and can't help but sympathise. Oops - looks like the cat's out of the bag, one way or another.
"You should probably get back to your operator," MegaMan mutters to ThunderMan.
ThunderMan nods, and vanishes. A moment later, Raoul's PET changes back to the home screen, and ThunderMan reappears - and promptly collapses onto the side of the PET, leaning on it so he can keep himself upright.
"Lan, can you get an empty chip and download the new Soul?" MegaMan asks.
"But it's a Double Soul from a Nebula Navi!" Lan protests. Then he pauses. "But . . . you called him ThunderMan." Now he just sounds confused, and even though Mimic is still annoyed with him, she feels a pang of pity on his behalf - he has absolutely no idea what's going on.
" . . . I did," MegaMan admits reluctantly. "Look, just . . . just download the new Soul, and I'll explain everything, okay?"
Lan does as his Navi asks, if only because he clearly just wants answers. When he sees the NaviMark on the Double Soul chip, he does a double take, and stares at it in total shock.
"That's ThunderMan's NaviMark!" he exclaims. "So . . . that really was ThunderMan?"
"Masker Thunder's true identity was ThunderMan, yes," MegaMan tells him. "And the Thunder Brothers don't work for Nebula."
"But they said-" Lan breaks off, turning his shocked stare to Mimic and Raoul. Mimic has to fight the urge to hide behind Raoul as Lan's eyes widen in realisation. "One of those guys must be Raoul."
"And the other is Mimic," MegaMan says.
"Wait what."
Raoul clears his throat awkwardly. "Yeah, sorry about all that," he says, reaching up to remove his wig and star-shaped sunglasses. "Your brother asked for my help. He said you were getting too overconfident, and was worried you'd get yourself into trouble."
Lan stares at him for a moment, and then glances at Mimic. He's probably waiting for her to add to the explanation, but . . . well.
She doesn't want to talk to him. She takes off her own sunglasses and removes her hat, meeting Lan's stare with a flat look. Yeah, she'd been fine with insulting him, but that's just it - she was insulting him, working off some of her anger (and Chaud's). Actually talking to him is something she's not yet prepared to do.
He tried to slap her. Twice. She's not going to forgive that easily.
"Don't think too badly of them," MegaMan says quietly, after several moments pass by in silence. "They just wanted to help."
"You knew about this?" Lan asks, glancing down at his PET. He looks almost hurt.
"I did," MegaMan agrees. He mostly succeeds in keeping his voice steady, but the slightest tremble in his tone betrays how uneasy he is. "Arcadia sent me a message, earlier. He told me what Mimic had planned. He said to get you to go to that warehouse, where Mimic and Raoul could ambush you. ThunderMan and I would start a pretend battle, and I would lose. The idea was that . . . well, they - we - hoped it would humble you, at least a little bit. You were going around saying you were unbeatable, bragging about your new PET . . . and like Raoul said, we were worried you'd get yourself into trouble."
" . . . Oh," Lan says, in a small voice. "I . . . I see."
He bites his lip and glances up, looking back at Mimic.
"I'm . . . I'm sorry," Lan says. "I shouldn't have let this new power go to my head."
"Is that it?" Arcadia demands sharply.
"Isn't that why you guys did all this?" Lan sounds honestly confused.
Mimic bares her teeth, letting out a faint hiss. She'd hoped Lan would figure it out on his own, but apparently not - though she's not going to tell him. She's not talking to him right now, and she'd probably just hiss at him if she tried. Hiss louder, that is.
"You tried to hit my operator!" Arcadia snaps. "Twice! And you were treating him like dirt this entire time! You think just apologising for letting your new power go to your head is enough? If I have to tell you what you did wrong, maybe you're not really sorry."
"Wh- no!" Lan cries. He looks horrified at the thought, and he steps forward, reaching out to Mimic. "L-listen, I-"
She steps away, allowing a warning growl to rumble in her throat. It's enough to make Lan flinch back. Mimic stops growling and glances up at Raoul, forcing her expression into something calmer when she notices his alarmed look.
"Thank you," she says, bowing to him. At the very least, she should acknowledge the part that Raoul played in getting Lan to realise what an asshole he was being - even if she didn't get the apology she actually wanted.
"Uh," Raoul says, "no problem."
He's clearly wondering what the hell is going on with her, but she doesn't want to explain it herself. Let Lan do it - see if he can work through his shame to find the energy to explain why she's hissing and growling.
Mimic gives Lan one last flat look before turning on her heel and walking out of the room. She has nothing to say to him, and it's clear that Arcadia doesn't have anything else he wants to say, either. She hears Lan calling out, but she ignores him. No, nothing to say. Not until he's ready to give her a proper apology.
Raoul's leaving for Netopia the next day, and Lan's going to say goodbye to him at the airport. Mimic is almost tempted to go with him - she gets along better with Raika, sure, but Raoul's a nice guy, and it'd be rude to not say goodbye after he helped her. Unfortunately, her annoyance with Lan is stronger than wanting to say goodbye to Raoul, so she doesn't go with Lan to the airport. Luckily, she has an alternative - Arcadia sends a goodbye message from both of them to ThunderMan, who'll read it to Raoul. That's their goodbye sorted out, and Mimic doesn't have to deal with Lan any more than she has to.
Dr. Hikari's gone out to SciLab, and Lan's obviously at the airport, so Mimic is left at home with Haruka, and Ragdoll too. It's a relief to be away from the male Hikaris for once - Lan for obvious reasons, but she feels a little guilty for thinking that about Dr. Hikari.
Oh, he loves her, sure - and while Mimic's still a little confused about her own feelings on this matter, she's happy about how much the scientist cares for her. But he can be a little bit much sometimes; he's almost too overprotective, and is constantly paranoid that she'll get hurt in the middle of a battle. His concerns are valid, she can't deny that, but still.
Haruka, on the other hand, is just happy if Mimic's not in any immediate danger. She'll fuss a little, but that's what she does with Lan, so it's not that bad - and she's fine with letting Mimic wander out of her sight, just as long as she knows where Mimic is.
While Lan's out, there's a delivery from the local grocery store. Haruka usually goes out to do the food shopping herself, but this time, she's done some online shopping, and had it delivered straight to the house. Mimic wonders if that change has anything to do with her, but Haruka isn't offering an explanation and Mimic isn't going to ask.
Haruka does ask Mimic to help with putting away all the food, though. Mimic's here, so she may as well make herself useful - she's not just some freeloader, after all. Though sometimes she feels like one.
While she's helping Haruka put away the food, she comes across a plastic pot. It reminds her of instant noodles - and the image on the front of the pot does indeed show noodles, but she doesn't recognise these ones. She studies the pot for a moment, then picks it up, tugging Haruka's sleeve to get her attention.
"What's this?" Mimic asks, showing her the pot.
"Those are soba noodles," Haruka explains. She puts down the carton of milk she's holding and reaches into the bag Mimic is going through, pulling out a couple more pots. "I thought you might like them, since you love noodles. I don't think there's any paprika chicken, but they have a lot of other flavours, so I bought one of each - you can try them out and let me know if you like any!"
Mimic can't contain a short, delighted bounce at that. A whole bunch of noodles with flavours she's never tried before? Hell fucking yes!
Haruka puts aside the small horde of soba noodle pots, and they continue putting away the rest of the food. It doesn't take too much time, though Ragdoll keeps trying to climb into the bags and gets in the way a lot. It's funny, so Mimic doesn't mind, and Haruka finds it hilarious as well - at one point she even picks up the bag Ragdoll is currently commandeering and carries him around the room, much to Mimic's delight.
Her delight fades quickly when Lan comes back from the airport, though. He looks at her from the doorway and after a moment of awkward silence, he opens his mouth. Mimic immediately turns away and ignores him.
Haruka gives them both a worried look, but she doesn't try to make them talk. She probably figures it's best to let them sort this out on their own, since that's what they've usually done in the past - though Mimic's not sure how long this one's going to last. Sure, they'd fixed Lan's overconfidence and made him stop bragging about being unbeatable, but that doesn't make up for him trying to slap her and, as Arcadia said, treating her like dirt.
"Um . . . Chaud?"
If Mimic had cat ears, she'd probably be flattening them right now. But she has human ears, so she just scowls and resolutely ignores Lan, even when he follows her to the cupboard.
"I just . . . I wanna say sorry," Lan says, as she starts to put away the small horde of soba noodle pots. "For, you know. For being mean to you. And trying to hit you."
She doesn't have the patience to deal with this right now. She gives him a flat glare over her shoulder, and pulls back her lips a little, just enough to show her teeth. She hears an audible gulp from Lan before he steps away and heads over to the sofas, where he settles down and stares at his hands miserably.
Don't you think you're being a little harsh? Chaud asks carefully, while she gets back to putting away the soba noodles. I mean, he did just apologise. Again.
I know I'm being petty as hell, Mimic replies, but I wanna punish him a little bit longer. He kinda deserves it.
Well, sure, but still . . .
Alright, how about this? I'll ignore him for a few days, and then I'll talk to him, Mimic says. How's that?
A faint sense of relief comes through their connection. I guess that's all I can ask you to do, Chaud says. Just as long as you actually do talk to him.
I will, Mimic promises.