"You know, I've kinda been wanting to come here since this place opened up," Lan admits. "I just never really found a reason to. Until now, anyway."
He looks around the atrium of the ground floor of DenTech Tower. There aren't as many people as he thought there'd be - there's still a crowd, sure, but he'd expected a lot more people than this. Apparently this is a really popular shopping destination, along with having amusement facilities, so he has to wonder where everyone is.
Then again, most people're probably on the upper floors, or in the shops. The atrium covers the first eight floors, including the ground floor, and all of them are full of shops. The floors beyond the atrium are full of arcades, cafes, eateries, and so on - and, of course, the very top few floors are observation decks.
At the very least, the smaller crowd should help to put Chaud at ease. He sticks close to Lan, but he's looking around curiously, and is clearly eager to explore.
"Arcade?" Chaud asks, and Lan can't help but laugh.
Okay, maybe he's not eager to explore - he's just eager to get to the arcade floors and play some games. Lan doesn't blame him, he kinda wants to head up to the upper floors and check out the arcades, too.
They head over to the lifts. They're on the outside of the building, and kinda remind Lan of pods - and the glass allows them to see the city as they go up. Chaud's presses his hands against the glass and peers out, eyes darting in every direction like he's trying to take in the entire view at once. Lan focuses more on Chaud's excitement than his own, extremely grateful that he managed to come up with this idea for a trip; even if it's an apology trip, this is definitely going to be a good day.
The arcades are just as great as Lan had hoped they'd be. There's tons of games - so many that they don't even know where to start. Luckily, in each arcade room, there's a list of the games inside, and they decide to play games based on familiarity and whether or not they sound like they'd be fun to play.
It's awesome. DenTech Tower's arcade facilities have way more games than their normal arcade does. Which he probably should've expected, given that their normal arcade is just one floor, while DenTech Tower's arcade facilities span an impressive six floors. There's even more scattered across the floors above, too, but these six are the main floors for the arcades.
Chaud absolutely destroys him in pretty much all of the fighting games they find, which is to be expected. Lan manages to get his revenge with the racing games - it seems Chaud's better with controlling characters rather than cars, though the fact that he keeps trying to bite the soft material of the wheel controller might have something to do with how badly he plays racing games.
They find a dance game, and decide to try working together rather than separately - and they end up doing so badly that they set the record for the lowest score on that specific game. Chaud is a whirlwind of limbs, though he's not following any of the dance directions on-screen, and while Lan is trying to follow them, he can't keep up. But they have a blast, and are laughing so much at the end that they have to stop for a few minutes to calm down before they move on again.
The morning goes by quickly, with them trying out different games - some of which they're good at, some of which they absolutely suck at, but they enjoy their time in the arcade facilities anyway. It doesn't matter if they suck at some of the games, as long as they get a good laugh out of it.
By the time lunch rolls around, Lan is absolutely starving. Though he doesn't realise how hungry he is until he and Chaud step out of the lift once again, having gone up another floor to see what's above them - this floor is full of eateries and restaurants, and Lan's stomach lets out an embarrassingly-loud growl upon seeing all the food.
Chaud gives him an amused smirk, and Lan sticks his tongue out in response. They find a good place to get some food - it's cheap enough to be in Lan's budget, and while it doesn't serve any curry or noodle dishes, their lunch is still awesome.
They get some ice cream as dessert, and head up to the observation decks. The observation decks have platforms built onto the sides of the building, but although those would definitely offer a better view of the city, Chaud refuses to go into them.
He doesn't really offer a reason why, beyond muttering something about air and suffocation. Lan's not sure what that's about, but he doesn't push it - they're enjoying themselves, and Chaud's . . . probably forgiven him for being a jerk, so Lan doesn't want to jeopardise that. He's not going to sour the mood because he wants to know why Chaud won't go into the platforms.
"Do you wanna check out the shops next?" Lan asks, as they're taking the lift back down. "I bet they've got some really good game stores here!"
"Pet shops too," Chaud adds. "Wanna see if there's-s, mm, anything I can get f-for Ragdoll."
"You mean like more things with catnip?" Lan grins. "He seemed to really like that stuff."
"Do you react to catnip at all, Chaud?" MegaMan speaks up curiously. "You've been chewing on those sticks, just like Ragdoll, but I don't think you've ever gone into a catnip-induced coma like he did . . ."
"We don't think he has any reaction to catnip," Arcadia replies. "Sense of smell doesn't seem to be something that was enhanced from his cat abilities, though even if it was, he probably still wouldn't react to catnip."
"Small mercies," Chaud mutters.
"Good thing you don't react to it," Lan comments. "Otherwise I'd have a lot of blackmail material."
Chaud gives him an offended glare, but he can tell there's no heat behind it.
Though Lan actually is almost a little bit disappointed to learn that Chaud doesn't react to catnip. It'd be hilarious to see him reacting the same way Ragdoll did.
But, of course, if he did react to catnip, it'd probably be super easy for people to take him down. If he did react to it and Nebula found out, all they'd need to do is throw some catnip at him, and he'd be easy to kidnap. So . . . it's probably a good thing that Chaud doesn't react to catnip. Disappointing in terms of humour, but good in terms of everything else.
They're about halfway down the tower when the lift suddenly jerks to a stop. Lan stumbles, almost losing his balance, and the only reason he doesn't fall on his face is because Chaud grabs his arm and helps to steady him.
"The emergency system was just activated," MegaMan reports. He doesn't sound alarmed, just puzzled. "I don't know why - there was no warning."
Before any of them can respond to that, a holographic screen flickers into sight just in front of the lift doors. On the screen is a familiar face that Lan had half-hoped he'd never see again - and he knows Chaud and Arcadia definitely hadn't wanted to see this person again.
"Good afternoon, DenTech Tower," Hatsuko Amano says. "I hope you're enjoying your stay, because you're not going anywhere for a while!"
"What the heck?" Lan gasps, staring at the screen with wide eyes. Beside him, Chaud is completely rigid, and he can only imagine how Arcadia is feeling right now.
"This tower is now under the control of Nebula," Amano goes on. "And in the name of Nebula, this tower will be brought down, in order to spread fear and confusion across the city!"
The image on the screen changes to show the network. A fully-black standard Navi is on a high platform, far above the ground, and it's programming a complicated system that Lan immediately recognises, and feels cold when he realises what it is.
"My NetNavi has placed a bomb in the network, as you can see," Amano narrates over the image. "In thirty minutes, the bomb will explode, and this entire tower will collapse. Good luck getting out before all hell breaks loose!"
The screen changes back to Amano, showing her cruel smirk just before it flickers, and then vanishes.
For several moments, Lan is too stunned to react. He knows the Net Police have been looking for Amano for a while now - ever since Chaud's kidnapping. She'd been directly involved in it, since she's the one who'd given Chaud the Dark Chip that had turned ProtoMan into Dark ProtoMan. But no one, not even her parents or aunt, has seen Amano.
Until now, anyway. Looks like the reason why no one could find her is because she joined up with Nebula.
Why? Lan wonders. She hates Chaud, he knows that - pretty much everyone knows that. But that doesn't explain why she'd join Nebula. Is her hatred of Chaud really so strong that she'd join a criminal organisation and become a terrorist?
"Lan!" MegaMan shouts, snapping him out of his shocked thoughts. "You have to jack me into the network!"
Lan takes out his PET and looks at his Navi. "But you said the emergency system has been activated," he says. Now that he thinks about it, Amano's Navi planting that bomb must be the reason why the system was activated.
"It's shut down the entire tower, but the network is still active," MegaMan tells him. "Everything's in lock down, no one can escape! If we don't do something, that bomb will go off, and everyone in this tower - you and Chaud included - will die!"
"He's right," Arcadia speaks up. His voice has a barely-noticeable tremor to it, but his tone is determined. "We can't just sit by and let Amano destroy this place. Let us go into the network - we'll shut down the emergency system, stop Amano's Navi, and disarm the bomb."
"Both of you?" Lan asks, as Chaud takes out the white PET. "But . . . Arcadia, you said-"
"I know I said I wouldn't leave this PET unless there's a dimensional area," Arcadia interrupts desperately, "but Amano was my operator, once. I have to do something to stop this!"
"She's not your responsibility," Chaud says quietly.
Arcadia hesitates for a split second. "I know," he murmurs, "but I still have to do something. I need to do something. Please!"
"We'll work faster if we go together," MegaMan points out. "Hurry, we're running out of time!"
Lan glances at Chaud questioningly. Of course he's going to jack MegaMan into the network, and technically there's nothing anyone can do to stop Arcadia from following, but ultimately it's still Chaud's choice.
Chaud glances back at him, and then looks at Arcadia. Lan's not sure what passes between them in that moment, but whatever it is, it makes Chaud come to a decision quickly.
"Go," he tells Arcadia. "Stop the bomb."
"Thank you," Arcadia whispers.
"Once you guys get these doors open," Lan says, "Chaud and I will try and find Amano. She's gotta be in the building somewhere, otherwise she wouldn't be able to send her Navi in to plant that bomb - and she'd probably need to stay nearby in case she has to detonate it herself."
Chaud looks puzzled, so Lan explains further.
"From what I know about bomb systems like that one," he tells Chaud, "they're too complicated to be controlled from a distance. If a Navi can't detonate it, the operator would need to stay nearby so they can get a signal from it, and detonate it themselves."
"She'd be killing herself, too," Chaud points out. His expression darkens. "But . . . maybe she doesn't care."
"Probably not," Lan agrees solemnly. "Which makes it even more important for us to stop her. Not just because she needs to be arrested, but because we can't let anyone die if we can help it. Right?"
Chaud almost looks like he wants to disagree. Lan's fully aware that the hatred between the two of them is mutual, but surely Chaud wouldn't let Amano blow herself up because he hates her? He hadn't even let Dark Shadow attack Dr. Regal, even though he hates that guy as well, probably even more than he hates Amano.
But eventually Chaud sighs, and nods. Lan can probably be forgiven for feeling relieved - it's clear that Chaud had been seriously tempted to disagree, but presumably his conscience won't let him.
"Alright," Lan says. He lifts up his PET, pointing it at the jack-in port in the lift. "Jack in, MegaMan!"
Chaud glances at Arcadia, and the two of them share a quick nod before Arcadia streams out of the white PET. The screen of Lan's PET changes to show the network of the tower, and MegaMan materialising inside, with Arcadia just a moment behind him.
"I'm gonna need some serious speed if we're gonna get this done in time," MegaMan says. He glances at Arcadia, hesitates for a moment, and then continues. "Lan, I need you to download Proto Soul."
Arcadia stiffens briefly, but he doesn't react beyond that. Chaud doesn't betray any of his thoughts either, but it's easy to tell how uneasy they both are at the mention of Proto Soul.
MegaMan's right, though - Proto Soul is easily one of the fastest and strongest Souls that they have. Lan doesn't use it much, because it hurts to think about the owner of the Soul; he can only imagine the pain it brings Chaud and Arcadia. But they can't just not use Proto Soul because of that, no matter how much Lan hates to hurt his friends. They'd be stupid not to use such a powerful Soul.
He takes out the Proto Soul chip. Chaud looks at the NaviMark on it for only the briefest of moments before turning away, as if seeing the NaviMark of his former Navi is too much to bear. Lan quickly downloads it so he doesn't have to see it any longer than he has to either, and to save Chaud the pain of looking at it.
MegaMan is engulfed in the familiar light of a Double Soul transformation. When it dies down, he's got the red armour of ProtoMan, and is very carefully avoiding catching Arcadia's eye.
That's right - they've never used this Soul in front of Arcadia, unless you count back when MegaMan had first gotten it. But Arcadia hadn't been there the first time Lan downloaded it, because he'd been stopping Ms. Yuri from stealing the password to the aerospace building next to the fashion show. If he'd seen it back then, maybe his reaction wouldn't be so strong now.
As soon as the Soul is downloaded, MegaMan takes off into the network. He's running on all fours, just like ProtoMan used to - just like Dark ProtoMan does. After a moment's hesitation, Arcadia spreads his wings and takes to the air, following him.
There's nothing more that Lan and Chaud can do but wait for their Navis to shut down the emergency system. He shoots a glance at Chaud, checking on him, but Chaud's expression is unreadable as he stares at the wall of the lift. Lan can't tell what he's thinking and almost doesn't want to know, because he can guess it's probably not pleasant.
His PET suddenly lets out an alert, and Lan almost drops it in surprise. He exchanges a glance with Chaud, and then brings his PET up to answer the call.
Famous appears on the screen, looking uncharacteristically serious. "Lan," he begins, "there's an emergency at DenTech Tower, you need to head there right-"
"Yeah, we're kinda in the middle of it already," Lan interrupts, almost sheepishly.
Famous stops and stares at him for a long moment, stunned into silence. Meanwhile, Chaud comes a little closer and leans over Lan's shoulder, peering at Famous.
"We were supposed to be on a trip," Lan tells Famous. "The emergency system suddenly activated and trapped us in the lift, so we're waiting for MegaMan and Arcadia to shut it off."
Famous blinks. "Oh," he says. "Well . . . I have to say, the two of you have an absurd amount of luck."
"I wouldn't say that." Lan winces, exchanging another glance with Chaud. "Hatsuko Amano is threatening to destroy the tower."
"Hatsuko Amano?" Famous repeats, looking shocked. "You mean the girl we've been looking for ever since-" He hesitates for a moment, glancing at Chaud. "-ever since Chaud was kidnapped?"
"The same one," Lan sighs. "Apparently she joined Nebula - that's why no one could find her. And she's gotten her Navi to plant a bomb in the network. MegaMan and Arcadia are gonna stop her Navi and disarm the bomb after they've shut down the emergency system. Me and Chaud're gonna try and find Amano when we can get outta here."
"Good work on already having a plan of action," Famous praises them. "I'll coordinate the Net Savers and Net Police - we'll work on evacuating the tower as soon as your Navis have shut down the emergency system. You won't need to let me know when that happens; we'll be alerted as soon as it's off, so you two can focus on finding Hatsuko Amano."
"Got it," Lan agrees, while Chaud nods.
"Be careful, both of you," Famous tells them. He twists his lips into a wry smile, in an attempt to lighten the mood. "Dr. Hikari would kill me if either of you got hurt on my watch."
Famous ends the call, allowing Lan to see the network of the tower again. MegaMan and Arcadia have arrived at the emergency system and are in the middle of working out how to shut it down, but they seem to be doing fine on their own, so Lan leaves them to it.
Chaud taps his shoulder, and then nods toward the outside. Lan follows his gaze and just about spots the familiar cars of the Net Police far below them on street level - looks like the Net Police are getting ready for when the emergency system is shut down, then. It's a good thing their response time is so quick, otherwise there might be a stampede when the other people who're trapped in the tower are finally able to get out. Amano's announcement probably caused a lot of panic.
The floor suddenly drops beneath his feet, and the lift comes back to life. It goes down a single floor before the doors open, and Lan and Chaud rush out before they can close - obviously this means MegaMan and Arcadia succeeded, but they're still worried about getting trapped again.
He can see other doors opening too - they're on one of the arcade floors, and big metal doors have slid down to trap the people inside. The people who were caught out in the hallways haven't been able to leave since the stairs, lifts, and emergency exits were all locked down as well, but with the emergency system now shut down, everything's starting to open up again.
There's an almost immediate panic as people scramble to get out, and Lan quickly presses against the wall, making sure to shield Chaud from the rush of people. Fortunately, the stampede doesn't last very long, as the intercom suddenly buzzes to life and Famous's voice calls out to everyone in the tower. He begins to give everyone calm instructions, telling them that the Net Police have arrived and are already beginning to evacuate the tower.
With Famous now doing crowd control, it's much easier to get through. Lan keeps his fingers closed around Chaud's skinny wrist, and he feels Chaud's hand clutching his wrist in turn, just so they don't get separated by accident.
They keep going until they reach an area that isn't so crowded or noisy. Lan takes out his PET again - he sees MegaMan and Arcadia racing through the network, and guesses they're trying to find Amano's Navi and the bomb. He doesn't know how much time has passed since Amano's announcement, but he can almost feel the seconds ticking away.
"Guys, we need to find Amano," Lan says. Both Navis pause and turn to look at him.
"I'm not sure what you expect us to do," MegaMan admits, looking apologetic. "We're still trying to track down her Navi - you'll have to search for Amano manually."
"But this tower's huge!" Lan protests.
"ProtoMan had a tracking program," Chaud suddenly says. Lan glances at him, too puzzled to feel the half-familiar pang that comes with hearing ProtoMan's name. "MegaMan sh-should have it too, right? With the Soul."
Lan's eyes widen. "That's it!" he exclaims. He looks at MegaMan. "Can you track down Amano's PET? Then we can find both her and her Navi."
MegaMan nods. Then he suddenly pauses, looking almost helpless, and he turns to Arcadia.
"Do you know how he used it?" MegaMan asks. "I don't have a tracking program in my base form, so I've never used one before."
"ProtoMan could track the data signatures of things he's seen before," Arcadia tells him. "You haven't seen Amano's Navi, but I have - here, I'l give you its data signature. That should be enough to help you track it."
Arcadia quickly transfers the data over, and helps MegaMan figure out how to activate ProtoMan's tracking program. Within moments, a small window appears on Lan's screen, showing the layout of the entire tower - both in the real world and the cyberworld. MegaMan concentrates on the data signature that Arcadia gave him, and then two dots blink into existence, one in the real world and the other in the cyberworld.
"I have their locations!" MegaMan exclaims, grinning. It's a little jarring to see the familiar needle-sharp teeth that ProtoMan had in MegaMan's mouth. "Lan, Chaud, follow the directions on the real world map, and you'll find Amano. Arcadia and I will follow the cyberworld map and track down her Navi. Let's go!"
The two Navis immediately take off, following their map. Lan quickly studies the map of the real world, and then puts away his PET once he's got Amano's location memorised. He'll check it in a while, just in case she's moved, but hopefully she won't.
"Come on," Lan says to Chaud, dashing past him. Chaud catches up with him easily, but doesn't pull ahead like he normally would because he doesn't know where they're going.
Taking a lift down to the floor Amano's on would be too risky - there are too many people trying to use them to escape, and even if they could get on, they'd probably end up stopping on every single floor between this one and the one Amano's on. Instead, they take the stairs, no matter how much Lan's legs will protest going down so many steps. Chaud doesn't seem at all bothered and even jumps over the railing several times, having to pause and wait for Lan to scramble down like a normal person every time.
There aren't many people trying to get down the stairs, at least not in the upper floors. Lan guesses most of them are trying to use the lifts, since it's a really long way down, and as they get lower and lower, they start to encounter more people. It's practically a sea of people at this point, but Lan and Chaud are small enough to be able to squeeze past people; Chaud especially, considering how skinny he is.
The floor that Amano's on is one of the bottom floors, in the shopping area. When they come out of the stairwell, they find themselves at the very top floor of the atrium - the distance between the balcony and the ground floor is almost dizzying, but Lan forces himself not to look down and leads Chaud into a nearby hallway.
There aren't many people here. Presumably the Net Police have already evacuated most of the lower floors, which Lan can spare a moment to be thankful for, because it makes getting to Amano's location that much easier. They do encounter a few fleeing staff members on the way through the hallways, but the staff leave them to their jobs after Lan flashes his Net Saver badge at them.
Eventually, they reach the location of the blinking dot that represents Amano. They're in a storage area, but there's more than one room, and Lan's PET isn't giving him any more precise details - at least they've gotten this far, though.
And there's always one person who can find someone, even without a tracking program.
"Chaud," Lan says, turning to him, "do you think you can figure out where she is from here? Can you hear her at all?"
Chaud closes his eyes and concentrates. Lan keeps himself as still as possible, hardly daring to breathe in case he distracts Chaud.
He hopes Amano doesn't know about Chaud's cat abilities. Ms. Yuri definitely knows - she used his sensitive hearing against him when he was kidnapped, to try and force him to tell them about his precognition power. He hadn't told her a thing, but if Ms. Yuri knows about his cat abilities, Amano might know as well. Then again . . . Nebula clearly hadn't expected him or Chaud to be here today, otherwise Amano would've mentioned them in her announcement. He feels like she probably hates both of them enough to do something like that.
So maybe she doesn't know. And maybe she'll be making enough noise for Chaud to be able to hear her, and track her down.
After a few moments of listening, Chaud opens his eyes. He takes off down the hallway, leaving Lan to follow as fast as his feet can take him. They come up to an intersection of four hallways, including the one they've just come out of, and Chaud pauses.
"Which way do we go?" Lan asks him.
Chaud gestures for him to stay quiet, so Lan shuts his mouth and lets him listen again. A moment passes, and Chaud heads down the hallway to their left. It's shorter than the others and ends in a pair of doors, and Chaud slows to a stop when they get to them.
"They're locked," Lan says, noticing the chains on the doors. There's a traditional lock keeping the chains on the doors, and he can't see any way inside. He glances at Chaud questioningly. "Are you sure she's in here? How could she have gotten in if the room is locked?"
Chaud holds out his hand, nodding to his PET. Lan hands it over, and Chaud shows him the screen, pointing to where they are now - and he sees the room in front of them, with the entrance they're currently standing in front of. For a moment, Lan doesn't see what Chaud's trying to tell him, but then he spots it - there's another entrance in the room, on the other side from where they're standing.
So that entrance must be unlocked, then. Or Amano might be on the other side of the second entrance - either way, that means they still need to get into this room.
Chaud hands him back his PET, and then opens one of his pockets. He takes out a couple of bobby pins, and Lan remembers with a jolt that Chaud can pick locks. He steps back to give him some room, and watches Chaud fiddle with the lock for a few moments, before he hears the faintest of clicks - and then the lock drops off, and Chaud pulls the chains off the doors.
Lan grins. "I am so glad you decided to teach yourself how to pick locks," he says to Chaud.
"Me too," Chaud agrees.
Chaud pushes the doors open, and Lan follows him into the room. It's dark inside, and the only light comes from the hallway behind them - Lan can't see a thing, but he sees Chaud's eyes flashing in the darkness, and is given yet another reminder of how insanely useful Chaud's abilities and skills are right now.
He lets Chaud take the lead as they wander through the maze of stuff. This seems to be a storage room - which makes sense, since they're in a storage area - and Lan has to constantly be on guard in case he trips over something he can't see. Luckily for him, Chaud can see just fine - he takes Lan's hand and carefully guides him through the darkness, moving him around obstacles that Lan can't see until he's almost on top of them.
They move around an upright stack of what look like giant pipes - Lan thinks they could be metal, but he's not entirely sure because it's too dark to see the material, but the pipes definitely look heavy. Just before they get past the stack of pipes, however, MegaMan calls out from Lan's PET, his voice hushed but still almost startlingly loud in the otherwise-silent storage room.
"We've found Amano's Navi," MegaMan tells them, as Lan brings out his PET. The sudden light almost blinds him, and in that moment, he feels extremely sorry for Chaud, who flinches back and lets out a faint hiss of pain. "We're about to engage. How're things on your end?"
"We're at her location, but we haven't found her yet," Lan replies, glancing at Chaud, who's still trying to recover from the sudden light. "She's either in this room or beyond it, but it's too dark to-"
An explosion cuts off his words. Lan yelps and tries to cover his ears, but before he can even move, Chaud suddenly slams into him and sends both of them sprawling. Not a moment later, Lan hears several metallic crashes, and can just about make out the pipes - definitely metal, then - falling to the floor. If they'd stayed there any longer, they would've been crushed.
He glances up at Chaud, intending to thank him. But Chaud's not paying any attention - he slides off Lan and crouches on his knees, clamping his hands over his ears. Lan's close enough that he can see the intense pain in Chaud's expression even in the dim light, and Chaud lets out a low moan.
Lan scrambles into a sitting position and reaches out to Chaud. It's only then that he realises he's no longer holding his PET, and he panics for a moment before he spots a light shining on the other side of the pile of pipes.
Relief floods over him - he must've dropped his PET when Chaud shoved him, but it looks like it didn't get hit by the pipes. It probably slid over there when he dropped it. Whatever happened, he's extremely lucky; the last time his PET got broken, it had taken Dad inventing an entirely new method of repairing Navis to fix MegaMan, and he'd had to get a new PET because he couldn't use his old one anymore.
Then he hears footsteps coming through the darkness, and he sees another point of light beyond the pipes. He almost wonders why Chaud didn't warn him, but it looks like Chaud's in too much pain from the sound explosion and the loud metallic crashing of the pipes to pay attention to anything else right now. The curse of sensitive hearing, Lan guesses.
The footsteps come closer, until a shadowy figure is almost visible. Then the figure steps into the light of Lan's PET, and he gasps.
"And here I thought this would be easy," Hatsuko Amano says, with a disdainful scoff. She shines her light - coming from her own PET - on them, and glares when she spots Chaud. "Oh, perfect, you again. I was hoping you'd get killed or something."
Lan's about to give her a stinging retort - how dare she say that about Chaud! - when Amano glances down carelessly. He realises that his PET is right by her feet, and feels a stab of fear when he sees her expression twist into cruel triumph.
Amano crouches down and picks up his PET, turning it over in her hand. She studies it curiously, and then glances at Lan.
"Give that back," he tells her, glaring.
Amano pretends to think for a moment. Then she smirks.
"No," she replies smugly, "I don't think I will. You honestly think I'm dumb enough to hand you this thing? Without your PET, you can't help that stupid Navi of yours." She smirks at Chaud, who's finally beginning to recover from the noise, and is looking over at her with undisguised hatred. "And I know you can't do anything either, because your dumb cat of a Navi is licking Dr. Regal's boots right now."
A loud growl echoes through the dark space, and Amano looks briefly startled to hear such a sound coming from Chaud. She recovers from her surprise annoyingly quickly, though.
"You think you can intimidate me?" Amano snaps. "I'm the one who holds all the cards here! I have even more of those little bombs planted everywhere, you know. I can just throw this PET at one of them, and it's goodbye MegaMan! Is that what you want me to do?"
Chaud's growling increases in volume. Lan's pretty sure the only reason he's not springing at Amano right now is because she's basically holding MegaMan's life in her hands. He's fast, but there's no way of telling if Chaud can get to Amano before she does any damage to Lan's PET.
"You know what?" Amano pockets Lan's PET. "I don't even need to break that thing to delete your stupid Navis." She carries on talking as she takes something out of her other pocket. "I can just give these to my NetNavi, and it'll destroy both of them, even if Arcadia has that weird immunity thing."
Even through the dim light, Lan can easily recognise the evil glint of Dark Chips. Amano's holding no less than five of them.
"No, don't!" Lan exclaims, jerking forward. He freezes when Amano glares at him, abruptly reminding him that she has his PET, but he doesn't stop talking. "Listen, if you're a part of Nebula now, you know what those things do to NetNavis. Do you really want your Navi's soul to be taken over by the Dark Aura? It'll go insane!"
"He used one," Amano says, jerking her head toward Chaud, who flinches at the reminder but doesn't stop growling. "And why should I care what happens to my Navi anyway? It's a computer program. It doesn't even have a soul, you idiot."
"Amano, don't-"
She ignores him and downloads the Dark Chips, one after another. Almost immediately, Lan hears a scream - it's not coming from Amano's PET, but his, and he recognises MegaMan's voice. There's nothing he can do; Amano's still on the other side of the pipes, and she could easily decide to break his PET anyway if he tries to get over to her.
"Good luck finding me again," Amano taunts them, before she takes off and melts back into the darkness.
"No!" Lan cries. He starts forward, but jerks to a halt when Chaud suddenly grabs his arm. "Let me go, I gotta-"
"I can find her," Chaud reminds him. "Hearing's getting okay again."
Lan stares at him blankly for a moment, almost too worked up to figure out what Chaud's trying to say. Then he registers the words, and although it doesn't calm him down - how can he be calm, when Amano has just given her Navi five Dark Chips, and he can't help MegaMan? - he doesn't feel as panicked.
"Can you hear where she's going?" Lan asks.
Chaud listens for a moment, and then nods.
"Follow me," he tells Lan.
Amano's Navi lashes out with its Sword, and Arcadia only just manages to duck in time and avoid getting his head cut off.
MegaMan comes up behind the Navi, slashing at it with his claws - ProtoMan's claws, Arcadia thinks, and it's very difficult to look at MegaMan and not immediately think it's ProtoMan - and giving Arcadia a chance to back off. They regroup a few metres away, and Amano's Navi crouches and brings up its Sword in preparation of an attack.
"We won't get anywhere until we take down this Navi," MegaMan growls. "But I'm worried about Lan and Chaud - I haven't heard from either of them since that explosion."
"Yeah," Arcadia agrees, readying a Bound Sword from his Holy Fire. "But they're not hurt - I can sense that much."
Amano's Navi rushes at them, abruptly breaking them apart. Arcadia splits off from MegaMan and tries to come around on the Navi's side, but it whirls on him, activating a second Sword, and almost slices his feathers as he dodges away from the attack. MegaMan tries to rush it from the back while it's distracted by Arcadia, though it doesn't work any more than his attempt had, and MegaMan has to dodge back from a twin strike of the Navi's Swords.
I don't remember Amano's Navi being this strong, Arcadia thinks, letting his Bound Sword fizzle out as he crafts his Avenger's Arrow bow.
It's not using Dark Chips, that much he's aware of - his Dark Immunity ability isn't making his feathers react, and MegaMan doesn't have the white sparks of the Dark Immunity Program, so whatever is making this Navi so powerful all of sudden must be something else.
Illegal modifications, maybe? That seems like something Nebula would do. It wouldn't be the first time Arcadia's seen something like that - he remembers way back when he and ProtoMan had gotten trapped in Deep City, the deep web's version of Internet City, and the Navis who chased them across the twisted city had illegal, evil-looking modifications on their basic weapons.
Arcadia banishes the thought from his mind. There's no point wondering - they have to take down Amano's Navi, otherwise they won't be able to get to the bomb.
Their original plan had been to have MegaMan distract the Navi while Arcadia flew up and disarmed the bomb. The platform it's been placed on is far too high for any Navi to jump up onto, and Arcadia can only guess that Amano's Navi was teleported directly up there so it could plant the bomb. MegaMan and Arcadia can't teleport up there, but Arcadia can fly.
Unfortunately, they'd run into a problem - Amano's Navi. MegaMan had tried to distract it, but it hadn't taken the bait, and had instead turned and tried to shoot Arcadia out of the air before he was even halfway to the platform. He'd tried again, but the Navi kept trying to shoot him down, so Arcadia and MegaMan came to the only conclusion they had - they'd have to defeat the Navi before they could disarm the bomb.
It's obviously proving far more difficult than they'd thought it would be.
He grits his teeth and takes aim, then shoots his Avenger's Arrow. Amano's Navi spins around and knocks the fiery arrow away, and Arcadia quickly fires again, keeping up a continuous volley of arrows that the Navi has to get rid of every time. While Arcadia's shooting, he uses his Empath Program to locate MegaMan, and senses him creeping up on the Navi from the side, using Arcadia's distraction to get close.
Good - that's what he'd been hoping for. If Amano's Navi can knock away his Avenger's Arrows, they're not going to be much use in terms of attacking, but he can at least provide a distraction for MegaMan.
He's distracted when his feathers suddenly flare up, and a shadowy aura appears around Amano's Navi. MegaMan's shock is almost identical to his own, but he tries to attack the Navi anyway, and Arcadia catches a brief flash of a desperate hope that he can take down the Navi before it can make use of the Dark Chip - because what else could it be?
Yet there's something different about this one. Arcadia's felt a Dark Chip being downloaded to a Navi before - he remembers the assassin NetNavi ShadowMan, and how his feathers had reacted to the Dark Chip being downloaded. This feels . . . different, somehow. More than what ShadowMan's downloading of a Dark Chip had been like.
He only realises it a moment before MegaMan flings himself at Amano's Navi, and is too late to warn him before the Navi whirls around, brandishing its almost black Sword, and slashes at him.
The attack creates a massive shock wave of darkness, and Arcadia's view of the battle is blocked for several moments. He can hear MegaMan screaming, feels his pain sparking like it's his own.
Arcadia stares into the sickly darkness for a moment, casting out with his Empath Program. He can't sense Amano's Navi anymore - it's been completely taken over by the Dark Aura - but even though the battle is being obscured by darkness, he can still detect MegaMan. He finds him quickly and raises his bow, aiming for the area around MegaMan rather than MegaMan himself.
He starts firing Avenger's Arrows. With his boosted power, he can dispel the darkness easily enough, and the explosion of Holy Fire that comes with the impact of every one of his arrows is enough to clear the area around MegaMan.
He sees a flash of red, and his first immediate thought is ProtoMan. Arcadia shakes his head and forces himself to concentrate, shooting the area around the flash of red until he can see MegaMan. Then he banishes his bow and flies down, reaching out to grab MegaMan's outstretched hand and pulling him out of the darkness.
He flies a short distance away, depositing MegaMan on the ground just beyond the darkness. Then he turns to the darkness and starts to gather Holy Fire in his hands, and blasts it out in massive, twin streams of Flashfire.
The darkness burns away until there's nothing left, but there's no sign of Amano's Navi. Arcadia narrows his eyes and tries to look around, almost instinctively reaching out with his Empath Program before remembering that he can't sense Amano's Navi anymore.
"That was way more powerful than a normal Dark Chip," MegaMan says. He's looking around as well, and Arcadia thinks he's using ProtoMan's tracking program again, but the Dark Aura has messed up the Navi's data signature, and it won't work.
"It wasn't just one," Arcadia says, glancing down at him. "I don't know how many Amano downloaded, but it was definitely more than one - I'd say four, at least. Maybe even five."
MegaMan's eyes widen under his transparent visor. "Five?" he repeats. "Who in their right mind would download that many Dark Chips at once?"
"Amano," Arcadia responds darkly.
MegaMan lets out a faint growl, so similar to ProtoMan that Arcadia is distracted for the briefest of moments - and Amano's Navi uses that moment to its full advantage.
It appears out of nowhere, slamming into MegaMan and sending him flying. MegaMan flips head over heels and only stops himself from skidding by digging his claws into the ground, but Amano's Navi doesn't give him a chance to rest - it goes after him with both dark Swords raised, and blasts out another wave of darkness.
Arcadia negates it with a Firebomb, making the darkness explode and fizzle out. Amano's Navi turns to face him, and although it doesn't have an expression like most Navi's, he can almost feel burning hatred being directed toward him - which is odd, because he shouldn't be able to feel anything from this Navi. Maybe it's not his Empath Program. Maybe it's just that this Navi is so overtaken by the Dark Aura that it's gone way beyond the limits of other standard Navis.
Amano's Navi banishes both of its dark Swords, and activates its evil-looking Buster. It aims at Arcadia - he can see energy being sucked into the Buster, but unlike most Charged Shots, it only takes a split second to charge to full strength before the Navi shoots a gigantic blast of dark energy at him.
Arcadia drops through the air to avoid getting hit. He's not completely successful - the energy just barely clips the tips of his wings, sending pain shooting through his systems. It's not enough to cripple him, but it's enough to send him crashing to the ground.
He only just manages to scramble to his feet before Amano's Navi is on him. It lashes out with a darkness-cloaked fist, and Arcadia ducks under the punch, launching himself forward and wrapping his arms around the Navi's middle. He shoves, hearing the faint sizzling of his Dark Immunity ability burning the Navi where he's touching it, but the Navi hasn't made a sound yet and he highly doubts even this will make it scream. It doesn't seem capable of making a sound.
Arcadia manages to drive the Navi back a few steps. He's running through the training sessions he's had with SearchMan, trying to remember a move he can use in this situation - that grab-and-shove move had been one of them, but are there any other moves he can use?
You could try using your wings, SearchMan had told him. You have six limbs - you may as well make use of all of them.
Arcadia spreads his wings, ignoring the faint sting from the energy blast on the tips, and slams them upwards into the Navi's face. He lets go of the Navi in the same moment, allowing it to stagger backwards, and whirls around, slamming a wing into the Navi's side and sending it flying.
He catches sight of a flash of red out of the corner of his eyes, and speaks without thinking.
"ProtoMan, can you-" Arcadia breaks off abruptly.
MegaMan stares at him, eyes wide. For several moments, Arcadia is completely frozen, unable to even think past the cold shock that spreads through his body, right to the very tips of his wings.
Then MegaMan glances to the side, and he gasps. "Arcadia, look out!"
Arcadia, still half-frozen with shock, jerks his head around just in time to see Amano's Navi coming at him with its dark Sword raised. He's not alert enough to react, and darkness covers his vision as it slashes at him.
Pain explodes throughout his body, starting from his right wing and sparking outwards from there. A scream rips out of his throat and he lets loose a panicked blast of Holy Fire, burning away the darkness. The Navi jumps back from his attack, blank eyes glittering with what Arcadia imagines to be triumph or hatred.
"Arcadia!" MegaMan shouts.
Arcadia shakes his head, trying to clear it from the haze of pain, and instinctively tries to spread his wings so he can fly away, to give himself some room, to do something. It's only then that he realises he can't feel his right wing past a certain point, and when he tries to move it, the pain stabs at him and brings him to his knees.
Gasping, trying to hold back tears and another scream, Arcadia lifts his head and tries to bring his right wing around to look at it. His first thought is that Amano's Navi broke it - but this doesn't feel like a broken wing. He's had broken wings before, and this feels worse.
All that's left of his right wing is a messy stub, bleeding so much data that he feels light-headed just looking at it. Singed feathers are just barely clinging onto what's left of it, and the ones that aren't cut in half or singed are askew and ruffled to the point where he's not even sure if any amount of preening will ever get them back into their correct positions.
Arcadia feels an icy numbness spreading over him at the sight of his ruined wing. So this is why he couldn't feel it past a certain point - because it's been cut in half.
A dark foot appears in the corner of his vision, and through the haze of shock and pain, he lifts his head and looks up at Amano's Navi. It stares at him for a moment, clearly revelling in the pain it's caused him, and then lifts its dark Sword.
"Leave him alone!" MegaMan screams, bounding forward on all fours.
But even with a fraction of ProtoMan's speed, he's nowhere near fast enough to stop Amano's Navi from bringing down its dark Sword on Arcadia's other wing, snapping it on the bone.
Pain blinds Arcadia. White fire blasts out in every direction, a roaring blaze created from his agony, and for the next several moments, the only thing he's aware of is the intense pain and his Holy Fire swirling around him, burning everything in his vicinity. He's just barely aware enough to know he's screaming, and he doesn't think he'll ever stop screaming because this pain is hell.
It feels like an eternity before his Holy Fire starts to fade away. Even though he'd thought he wouldn't stop screaming, he does - he can't find the energy to scream anymore, and is only capable of whimpers and faint cries. Even the slightest movement sends pain stabbing throughout his body, most intense in what's left of his right wing, so he tries not to move. He doesn't succeed.
He hears footsteps coming toward him and instinctively flinches back, a ragged cry escaping from his lips as the movement makes his pain flare up.
"No, it's okay, it's just me!"
The familiar voice only helps calm him a little bit. Arcadia's still in too much pain to actually calm down properly, and when he looks up, he only sees a blur of red in front of him.
"ProtoMan?" he whimpers.
The red figure slumps a little. "No," it says apologetically. "I'm sorry, I'm . . . I'm not ProtoMan."
It takes Arcadia's pain-ridden mind a moment to figure that out. "MegaMan," he whispers, lowering his head.
His vision starts to clear even though the pain isn't fading, and he finally makes out MegaMan, in his Proto Soul armour. Arcadia feels a brief flash of resentment mixed with disappointment - he wants his big brother, he wants ProtoMan, because he always made bad things better. And instead he only gets MegaMan, MegaMan with his Double Soul ability that lets him use ProtoMan's power, but he's not ProtoMan.
Then he feels guilty for thinking like that. It's not MegaMan's fault that he's not ProtoMan.
MegaMan crouches in front of him, and Arcadia sees his Proto Soul vanishing as he changes back to his base form. His guilt worsens at that - MegaMan can probably tell how he's feeling, even though he doesn't have the Empath Program, and is banishing his Soul because of Arcadia.
"What . . . what happened?" Arcadia croaks out.
"Amano's Navi broke your other wing," MegaMan tells him, in the gentlest tone he can manage. It's hard to think through the pain, but Arcadia can just about sense MegaMan's intense worry for him. "Then you threw out the biggest blast of Holy Fire I've ever seen - it was like a hurricane of fire, and I couldn't even get close in case it burnt me."
"What about . . . A-Amano's . . ."
"Gone," MegaMan replies. "You deleted it - that attack was so powerful it burnt whatever bits of data were left over from that Navi."
Arcadia manages to raise his head again, and he looks around. The ground around him is thoroughly scorched in a twisting, spiral-like shape, hard evidence of MegaMan's description of a hurricane of fire. If he weren't so dazed by pain, he'd probably find the energy to be awed that he somehow managed to create an attack so powerful that it burnt a NetNavi beyond deletion and scorched the ground around him.
MegaMan looks up, far above their heads, and Arcadia follows his gaze. The platform with the bomb is still there, and from what Arcadia can tell, it's still ticking away. He feels despair washing over him - he deleted Amano's Navi, but they still have to deal with the bomb.
"I shouldn't have banished Proto Soul," MegaMan says mournfully. "I could've jumped up there . . ."
"Even ProtoMan wouldn't have been able to get up there," Arcadia murmurs. He's the only one who could've possibly made it - and now he can't fly. One wing broken, the other cut in half? There's no way he'll be able to get up there now.
MegaMan glances down at him for a moment, and then stands up. He looks around, and Arcadia doesn't know what it is he's looking for until MegaMan calls out.
"Lan? Lan, we need some help here! Can you hear me? Lan!"
Arcadia hasn't seen the screen of Lan's PET for a while, but now it flickers into existence just in front of MegaMan, and he only has a brief moment to look relieved before his eyes widen in shock. Arcadia stares at the screen too, just barely finding the energy to be shocked as well.
"Stop shouting," Amano snaps.
"Why do you have Lan's PET?" MegaMan demands. "Give it back to him, right now!"
"Like I'm going to turn around and hand this thing over when that stupid cat-boy is coming after me," Amano says. She glances at Arcadia, giving him a scornful look. "Even if that dumb kid wasn't chasing me down, I wouldn't give it back anyway. You deleted my damn Navi! I was going to escape in the evacuation, but now I'll have to stay here and make sure that bomb goes off."
"Wait, that's the only reason you care about your Navi getting deleted?" MegaMan gapes at her.
Amano huffs, and the screen vanishes abruptly, leaving MegaMan staring at empty air.
"No," MegaMan moans, burying his face in his hands. He stays like that for a moment, and Arcadia can sense his hopelessness threatening to drown him - but then MegaMan looks up, expression setting, and starts to look around. "Maybe there's something I can use to boost myself up there . . ."
Arcadia can already tell it's a lost cause even before MegaMan realises it himself. There's nothing nearby that can help - and anything that might be of use can't be used, because it's static data and attached to the ground, unable to be moved unless MegaMan feels like wasting an hour or two trying to blast things apart. Even if they had time for that, it probably wouldn't work anyway.
If only his wings weren't screwed up, he could just fly up there and disarm the bomb himself.
Then it hits him - he doesn't need to fly up there. He could give MegaMan his power, and MegaMan should be able to get up there himself, using his Double Soul ability!
But can he do it? He's in too much pain to think straight, let alone figure out how to give his power to MegaMan. And besides, all of the Navis that MegaMan has Souls of are personal Navis - Arcadia doesn't know if Double Soul would even work with an independent Navi like him.
Maybe there's a way he can force it to work.
NetNavis have souls - MegaMan's ability proves that, if nothing else. If Arcadia can see the souls of humans, it stands to reason that he should also be able to see the souls of NetNavis. It'd probably be easier, since he's able to physically touch another NetNavi, rather than having to settle for physical contact through a PET he's not even connected to.
But it's not MegaMan's soul he needs, is it? No, it's his own.
Arcadia raises his hand and places it over his NaviMark. He has no idea if this will work - he's never used his Empath Program on himself, hadn't thought he ever could, because it's his own program, his own mind. He shouldn't be able to sense his own emotions, that would be absurd. But in this case, he's not trying to sense his own emotions; he's trying to see his own soul.
He doesn't know if he can do it. Then again, he hadn't known if he could see Mimic and Chaud's souls - and he'd managed that, hadn't he?
So he does what he's never done before, and turns his Empath Program on himself. Immediately, he's hit with an echo of emotions and thoughts, a confusing tirade that threatens to drown him, but he pushes past it, trying to remember how he'd gotten to Mimic and Chaud's souls. He'd gone past their emotions, deep into their minds, until he found what he was looking for.
He does the same now, forcing himself to ignore his own emotions and thoughts echoing back at him through his Empath Program. It's almost unbearable - he'd thought the pain was bad enough, but now it's being doubled as he's forced to experience it even more, and it loops and gets more intense the longer he lingers near it.
Focus, Arcadia tells himself.
Forget the pain. What's a little bit of pain in comparison to the thought of losing his operator?
That thought pushes him onward, gives him strength and the determination to see this through, and finally he does. He finds his own soul, past the tirade of his echoing emotions and thoughts, deep within his own systems.
What now? He hadn't thought this far ahead. There must be something he can do with his soul, right? How does it work? Does he need to take a piece of it out and give it to MegaMan?
No, he decides. That wouldn't work. Giving up a piece of his own soul would damage it, leave it incomplete - and he's pretty sure none of the other Navis lost a piece of their souls to MegaMan's Double Soul ability. They just gave him their power. But how?
Maybe he can copy the data. He's a computer program, after all - even his Dark Immunity ability, born of his Ultimate Program, can be copied with enough effort. That much has been proven with the Dark Immunity Program, for all that it's not a perfect copy, just a collection of programs and features based on his ability.
With that in mind, Arcadia reaches into his soul and copies a piece of it. He manages to drag out the copied soul, going carefully in case he damages the data by accident, and focuses on his task so he doesn't get distracted by his echoing emotions and thoughts. It gets easier the closer to the surface he gets, until finally, he comes back to himself and takes his hand away from his NaviMark.
The copied soul data flickers in his palm. It's white, and looks like a little ball of fire, just a bit bigger than the toy balls he, ProtoMan, and Dark Shadow used to play with.
"Arcadia . . . ?" MegaMan's hushed voice comes from somewhere above him.
He glances up, seeing MegaMan's awed look. But there's no time for explanations - he managed to copy a piece of his soul, so he should be able to give it to MegaMan.
He doesn't know how, though. The only time he's ever seen MegaMan getting a Soul was back when Mimic had been kidnapped - ProtoMan had almost lost control, and would've destroyed SciLab out of sheer uncontrollable rage if Arcadia and MegaMan hadn't managed to calm him down. Even then, Arcadia hadn't really seen it happen. One moment, he and MegaMan were struggling with ProtoMan in a mass of whirling black shadows, and then the next, bright light shined out of nowhere.
Then MegaMan had ProtoMan's armour, ProtoMan's power, and Arcadia has no idea how it happened. Did they connect to each other somehow? Is that how all Double Souls work?
He can't ask MegaMan. He'd already been drained enough from his pain, and stretching his Empath Program to its limits, using it to copy a piece of his own soul, has left him with barely enough energy left to function. Arcadia's pretty sure he's incapable of speech right now.
But he's not incapable of doing this. He has to, otherwise Mimic will die. And next to losing ProtoMan, that's the worst thing he can think of.
Arcadia struggles to his feet. He ignored the pain being echoed back at him in his own mind, so he ignores it now, and staggers over to MegaMan footstep by painful footstep. MegaMan is too shocked to react and can only stand there, staring at him, as Arcadia grabs his shoulder.
Arcadia takes a deep breath, trying to get his clear again - or at least clear enough to do this.
He found his own soul. He should be able to find MegaMan's. That's all he needs to do. Find MegaMan's soul.
Arcadia shoves his copied piece of his own soul into MegaMan's chest, aiming for his NaviMark. One thing he knows about Double Soul is that the NaviMark on MegaMan's chest will always glow when he's getting a new Soul - so this should give him an easy path.
He dives into MegaMan's systems, ignoring his emotions and thoughts. He's barely conscious enough to remember to be careful, because he can feel MegaMan's shock like a physical thing - he doesn't think he's going to get the same connection he now has with Mimic and Chaud out of this, but at the very least, he can do this much.
It's easy to find MegaMan's soul. It's bright, not a burning flame like Arcadia's, but more like a single point of light in the middle of darkness. Arcadia doesn't let himself study it any further, no matter how curious he is, because that's not why he's doing this.
He'd brought the copied piece of his soul with him, so he puts it near MegaMan's soul. The two seem to gravitate toward each other, but they don't appear to be combining or anything - so Arcadia decides to try and help them along, carefully reaching out to thread the two souls together. It isn't long before he manages to turn them into a single soul, MegaMan's light mixed with his fire, and Arcadia's work is done.
He drags himself out of MegaMan's mind, staggering backwards and falling to his hands and knees. The pain is even more intense now, and he can hardly breathe through it.
"How did you . . . ?"
Arcadia takes in a gasp of air and looks up.
MegaMan looks like him, now. There are some differences, of course - Arcadia has a feathered hood, but MegaMan has a feathered helmet. It still covers his eyes, though. And his wings seem smaller, more like generic bird wings rather than owl wings like Arcadia's. His hair has been turned white, and seems softer than it was before.
"You just forced a Double Soul," MegaMan whispers, staring at him with wide eyes. "H-how . . . ?"
Arcadia shakes his head. He can't explain right now - he's too drained of energy. Maybe later, he can tell MegaMan about his ability to see souls, and how he'd forced that Double Soul.
But for now, MegaMan has a job to do.
MegaMan blinks, looking puzzled - and faintly overwhelmed. Arcadia's Soul has given him the ability to fly, but it's also given him all of Arcadia's other abilities, too. Including the Empath Program.
There's no time to give MegaMan a crash course in figuring out how to use it. He has a bomb to disarm. Hopefully he can figure out how to fly on his own, because Arcadia is in absolutely no condition to teach him.
"I can do it," MegaMan tells him. Arcadia thinks it's a little odd that someone else is sensing his emotions and thoughts for a change, but he's not complaining. If this lets MegaMan figure out what he needs to say without him actually saying anything, then fine.
MegaMan turns away, casting one last concerned glance over his shoulder before spreading his wings. He's awkward in doing so - he's never had a Double Soul with the ability of flight before, and Arcadia can sense this is one of the reasons why MegaMan is getting a little overwhelmed by this new Soul.
But at least the ability to fly isn't so confusing that MegaMan can't figure it out. It's a little bit like ProtoMan's cat abilities, which MegaMan figured out easily enough - the ability to fly is instinctive for Arcadia, built into his programming, and MegaMan has that instinct now.
He takes off into the air, only wobbling a little bit before he figures out how to move properly. The flight is nowhere near graceful, and MegaMan's wings aren't silent like Arcadia's - he can easily hear every wingbeat. But noise doesn't matter at the moment; what matters is MegaMan getting up onto that platform.
And he does. Within moments, MegaMan is on the platform, folding his new wings against his back. Arcadia sees him over the edge, and focuses his Empath Program on him, trying to sense whether or not MegaMan is managing to disarm the bomb. It doesn't take long for Arcadia to sense triumph from MegaMan.
He's done it, then. He's disarmed the bomb. And with several minutes to spare.
Arcadia's vision starts to blur. His pain becomes a dull ache, and he's almost thankful for that before he loses what's left of his energy and collapses onto the floor. A white blur streaks down toward him from above, and he hears MegaMan's worried voice calling out to him. Then he feels no more pain, and mercifully falls into unconsciousness.
The only reason Mimic isn't running after Amano is because she needs to concentrate on listening out for her. She'd left Lan behind - at his own request. He could tell he was slowing her down, he'd said, and although she hadn't really wanted to just abandon him, he'd insisted.
She has to admit, she's making better progress on tracking down Amano on her own. She can tell where Lan is - she hears the faint of his slow footsteps as he works his way through another dark storage room, where she'd left him. Ahead, she can hear Amano moving around, and she doesn't seem to be running anymore. She's just walking around the place where she's stopped.
Judging by the way her footsteps echo, Chaud says, as Mimic follows the sound of Amano's footsteps, I'd say she's in a wide space. It could be an unused storage room.
She's not moving from there, Mimic comments.
Probably trying to find an exit, Chaud decides. She might have gone into that room, hoping it had two entrances like the one we found her in - and it obviously doesn't, otherwise she would've kept going. You can corner her in there.
She might just run past me, Mimic points out. She's coming up to the end of the hallway, and she's pretty sure Amano is in the storage room just up ahead, rather than one of the other rooms along the walls.
You're fast enough that it won't matter, Chaud reminds her. And you know how to stop her in her tracks.
Right - SearchMan's training sessions with Arcadia, when he'd been teaching the white owl-Navi hand-to-hand combat. He'd also sort of been teaching Mimic, too, though she hasn't had the opportunity to practise them like Arcadia.
That shouldn't matter, though. Even if she can't figure out how to do SearchMan's hand-to-hand combat moves, she can always fall back on her cat abilities. She'd nearly beaten up Amano the last time she saw her, and only hadn't because Anetta got them to stop fighting. Worst comes to worst, Mimic can always just bite Amano and make her bleed into unconsciousness or something.
She reaches the doors at the end of the hallway. They're not locked like the other storage room - there's no way Amano could've done that, she didn't have enough time and Mimic's pretty sure she doesn't have anything to lock doors with anyway - so she just pushes them open.
The room is as bright as the hallway, and almost empty save for a few stacks of boxes piled up along the far wall. Amano's pacing in the middle, muttering to herself, but when Mimic enters the room, she stops and glares at her.
"Can't I catch a break from you?" Amano snaps. "Stupid cat-boy, just leave me alone for once! Wasn't stealing my NetNavi enough? Now you need to ruin this for me, as well? This was supposed to be my trial-run, to prove that I'm loyal to Nebula-"
Mimic dashes across the room in the blink of an eye and lashes out at Amano.
Amano flinches back, yelping in anger and surprise, and stumbles. Mimic doesn't give her a chance to recover and keeps going, bringing up her foot to kick out at her.
"Stop it!" Amano complains, as she dodges Mimic's kick. "You're supposed to let me finish!"
"Talk shit, get hit," Mimic hisses.
She ducks under a flailing punch easily and steps into Amano's personal space. Amano's taller than she is, but that shouldn't matter - almost everything that SearchMan taught Arcadia was aimed to be used against a larger opponent, given how small Arcadia is in comparison to most NetNavis. It should work for Mimic, too.
Mimic trips Amano, then pushes her while she's stumbling. Amano falls, looking startled, and as she scrambles to her feet, Mimic comes at her again and lashes out with a hand, fingers curled into claws. It's little more than a slap to the face - for a moment, Mimic misses Cross Fusion, because she would've been using actual claws and this would've been far more effective - but it works to unbalance Amano again.
Amano growls at her, but Mimic's not intimidated in the slightest. Compared to the growls she's heard from ProtoMan, from Dark ProtoMan, even the ones she's made herself, Amano doesn't sound threatening at all. It's almost laughable.
Mimic growls right back at her, a full-blown snarl, to show her what a real growl should sound like. Her own threat works much better, and Amano backs off, looking unsettled.
Amano dodges to one side, but Mimic sees through the attempt at deception and isn't surprised when Amano tries to break away in the opposite direction. She lets Amano run for a moment, quickly untying her hoodie from around her waist, and then bounds after her for the few steps that Amano managed to get between them.
Mimic jumps up behind her and wraps her hoodie around Amano's head. She hears a muffled grunt of shock, but ignores it - as soon as her feet touch the ground again, she drags Amano around, keeping a tight grip on the arms of her hoodie, and throws Amano back so Mimic is between her and the doors again. She lets go of one arm of her hoodie, allowing it to slip off Amano's head, and quickly drops it so she doesn't get distracted - she can pick it up afterwards, anyway.
While Amano is trying to recover from that, Mimic darts toward her and grabs her arm. She strikes out with her foot, tripping Amano again, and while she's stumbling, Mimic yanks on her arm. She can't quite manage to get Amano into the air the same way SearchMan or Arcadia could, but it's enough to flip Amano upside-down. If she'd tried this without tripping her up first, she seriously doubts it would've worked at all.
She twists, yanking Amano over her shoulder, and slams her into the ground. It's nowhere near as powerful as SearchMan or Arcadia can manage - Mimic's not a NetNavi, and she's skinny as hell on top of that - but it's enough to stun Amano and drag a choked gasp out of her throat.
Before Amano can recover, Mimic drops onto her and pins her down. Amano glares at her, and Mimic bares her teeth and hisses in response, making Amano flinch back and hits her head against the floor with a painful smack, dazing herself.
Satisfied that Amano has been thoroughly defeated, Mimic leans back and starts searching through her pockets. She can't remember which one Amano had put Lan's PET into, but she finds it quickly, and pulls it out just as Lan rushes into the room.
He stumbles to a halt and stares at the scene before him. "Er . . . I guess you don't need my help," Lan says, blinking.
"Sorry," Mimic replies, flashing him a sharp-toothed grin. She holds up his PET, and his expression brightens.
"You got it back!" Lan exclaims joyfully. He comes forward and takes his PET gratefully, checking it over quickly. "MegaMan? Hey, MegaMan, are you there?"
"Lan!" MegaMan cries.
Mimic is immediately on edge upon hearing his tone. He sounds panicked - almost scared - and she's almost tempted to get up and take a look at the screen herself, but Amano's still conscious and would probably try to run away the absolute second Mimic gets off her. So she has no choice but to stay where she is, watching and waiting for some sort of explanation for MegaMan's panic.
"Arcadia was hurt badly!" MegaMan quickly explains, and Mimic's heart very nearly stops beating. "We need to get him to SciLab, right now!"
Lan glances at Mimic, still pinning down Amano. "We'll hand her over to the Net Police outside, then we can get to SciLab," he quickly says. "C'mon, Chaud!"
Mimic nods and gets off Amano. She's terrified for Arcadia - MegaMan hadn't said how he's hurt, just that he's hurt - but they still have a job to do. Turning Amano over to the Net Police takes priority, but after that, she won't let anything distract her from getting Arcadia to SciLab.
Hours later, Mimic sits cross-legged on the surface of a table, keeping her gaze fixed on the repair machine at SciLab. The screen shows Arcadia inside the repair system, still unconscious - he hasn't woken up since he collapsed after MegaMan disarmed the bomb in the tower's network - but his wings are doing much better than they were before.
Well, his left one is, anyway. It's no longer broken, but his right wing is the bigger concern. It was cut in half, and Mimic still feels sick to her stomach when she remembers seeing the state it had been in. The fact that Arcadia was only leaking data rather than blood didn't help, because data is basically a NetNavi's version of blood, and it was horrifying to think how much pain he must've been in before he fell unconscious.
His right wing is being rebuilt at the moment. It's little more than a stub with the bare skeleton of the rest of the wing attached to it - but at least it's starting to get better. It looks odd to see Arcadia with half a wing, though. She hopes he isn't in any pain when he wakes up.
"His wing should be rebuilt by tomorrow afternoon," Dr. Hikari tells her, appearing at her side. The only reason she doesn't startle is because she heard him coming up behind her. "He'll be fine, he just needs to rest for a while." He glances at her, and his expression softens. "He won't feel any pain when he wakes up, don't worry."
Dr. Hikari reaches out and puts a gentle hand on top of her head, threading his fingers through her hair. She closes her eyes and leans into the touch, allowing him to comfort her.
After a few moments, she becomes aware of Lan's footsteps heading toward them. She opens her eyes and glances to her other side, where Lan steps into view - but she doesn't move her head in case she dislodges Dr. Hikari's hand. She's enjoying being petted, sue her. It makes her feel better.
Lan glances at the repair machine, checking on Arcadia, and then turns to Mimic. He holds something up in his hand - a battle chip, with Arcadia's NaviMark on it. It takes her a moment to realise what she's looking at.
Arcadia Soul.
Huh. She hadn't thought that was possible - she knows all of the Double Souls that MegaMan gets in the anime, but she hadn't thought of the possibility that Arcadia could add to that collection.
"MegaMan told me Arcadia managed to force a Double Soul," Lan tells her. "He said he saw Arcadia dragging a bit of data out of his own NaviMark, and then he forced it into MegaMan's NaviMark, and suddenly he was just . . . well, he just suddenly had Arcadia Soul."
Even without context, Mimic can guess what happened. Arcadia can use his Empath Program to see souls - he'd managed it when Mimic was reeling from Dark ProtoMan's suggestion that she was nothing more than a split personality made up by Chaud, and had proved that they're separate people by seeing that they have two souls rather than one.
She hadn't known he could use that ability on himself. Maybe Arcadia himself hadn't known, until he did it - desperate times, and all that. And he'd used that ability again to force a Double Soul with MegaMan, giving him his power, namely the ability to fly, so he could get up to the bomb and disarm it.
Is this for me to say, though? Mimic wonders. It's not like they'd planned on keeping Arcadia's ability to see souls a secret, but they haven't really told anyone else about it.
It just wouldn't feel right, telling Lan and Dr. Hikari about Arcadia's ability. This is something for Arcadia to do himself - it's his ability, after all, and he should get a say in how much or how little gets explained. For now, she'll keep quiet, and she can ask Arcadia about it when he wakes up.
But Lan's looking at her expectantly, clearly wanting an explanation. Mimic's not sure she'll be able to refuse if he asks her outright.
Luckily for her, she doesn't need to find out whether or not she's able to refuse to explain - Famous chooses that moment to come into the lab, his exhaustion clear from his stumbling footsteps. Mimic looks over at him and is shocked to see how bone-tired the poor man looks.
Dr. Hikari pulls out a chair and gestures for Famous to come over and sit down. Famous falls into the chair gratefully, leaning forward and burying his face in his hands with a weary sigh. He's not physically tired, he's emotionally tired - Mimic's been there enough times to recognise what it looks like.
"How did it go?" Dr. Hikari asks carefully.
Famous sighs again and lifts his head up to look at them. "It wasn't easy," he replies. "I had to explain to two worried parents that their only daughter has been arrested for terrorism and use of illegal modifications - not to mention possession and use of Dark Chips."
Mimic can only imagine how Amano's parents must be feeling right now. Their daughter has been missing for ages, and then when she finally turns up, she's a terrorist working for Nebula - and she's been arrested for it. Mimic's never met Amano's parents, but she's met Rei Amano, Hatsuko Amano's aunt and a doctor at the General Hospital. Dr. Amano must've been just as worried about her niece as her brother and sister-in-law.
I don't think anyone can be prepared for finding out that a member of their family is a criminal, Chaud murmurs sadly.
"Considering how severe her crimes are," Famous says, "I highly doubt Hatsuko Amano will get a light sentence. She's a minor, sure, but . . ." He puts a hand to his forehead and stares at the floor. "What could drive a teenager to do something like this? Her parents loved her - they still do, even though they're devastated about this. She had a normal upbringing, from what I can tell. And yet she still did all this."
"I think some people are just cruel for the sake of it," Dr. Hikari says, with a quick glance at Mimic. She can tell it's not just Amano he's thinking of - he's also thinking about Shuseki Blaze. "There's no reason or justification. That's just how it is sometimes."
"I wish it wasn't," Famous mutters. He's quiet for a moment, and then shakes his head and looks up again. "We managed to get her to tell us where she hid the other bombs, at least. DenTech Tower is still on lock down, and I don't think it'll re-open for a while yet. We're still looking through the tower in case there are any more bombs."
"But you said Amano told you where they were," Lan speaks up, looking faintly puzzled.
"It would've taken more than one person to pull off an operation like this," Famous explains. "She obviously wasn't working alone - and there might be bombs she didn't even know about. We're lucky she only detonated one of them, and even luckier that it didn't do much damage."
Aside from making Lan drop his PET, allowing Amano to pick it up and prevent them from helping their Navis. Famous is still right, though - it could've been much worse. Mimic supposes they should be grateful things turned out the way they did. And even more grateful that she and Lan were in the tower in the first place; they wouldn't have been able to stop Amano if they hadn't been there.
Dr. Hikari tells Famous to rest for a while. The guy works two full-time jobs and has to deal with a shitton of insanity on a regular basis - he really looks like he needs the rest. Even Famous seems to realise that, because his protests are weak and half-hearted, and he allows Dr. Hikari to drag him out of the room to go find a break room for him to lie down in.
Lan watches Dr. Hikari and Famous leave with a worried look, but when they're gone, he blinks and his expression clears. He glances down at the Arcadia Soul chip in his hand, and then looks up at Mimic with a smile.
"Thanks for Arcadia Soul," he says. "I mean, I'd rather Arcadia didn't get hurt so badly that it was necessary to force it to happen, but still. Thanks."
"Not me," Mimic tells him. She nods toward Arcadia. "Thank him. When he's awake."
"We will," MegaMan speaks up. "We just wanted to thank you, as well."
Fair enough, Mimic supposes. She didn't really do anything to make Arcadia Soul happen - that was entirely Arcadia, if she's right about him using his ability to see souls. But if Lan and MegaMan are going to express their gratitude anyway, she won't complain. After the day they've all had, they could do with some nice things.