If I can move that program to cross it with this one, Chaud thinks, I should be able to switch up the functions and make them work how I need them to . . .
He tries it, working from the holographic screen of his PET, because it's easier to manipulate the programs and coding like this. Normally ProtoMan would be helping him, but at the moment, Chaud's working alone, and ProtoMan isn't in his PET.
Instead, he's sitting in the corner of Chaud's computer, knees drawn up to his chest and resting his chin on them, idly watching Dark Shadow amuse itself with some toy balls. ProtoMan has a weakness for ball-like things and throwing one is pretty much guaranteed to immediately distract him, but right now, he's just sitting there, not making a move to join in with Dark Shadow's playing.
It's not just because they're in the Blaze mansion, though that's definitely part of the reason why ProtoMan's so withdrawn right now. The other part is that, a few minutes ago, he had another random flash of memory from when he was Dark ProtoMan. Up until now, that hadn't happened since before Chaud and Mimic were separated into their own bodies, so this is the first time ProtoMan's dealing with his memory-induced panic without Arcadia to help comfort him.
Chaud had asked if he wanted to go to Arcadia, but ProtoMan said he didn't want to bother him - especially since Arcadia's likely to be asleep right now. They both know Arcadia would rather ProtoMan wake him up in the middle of the night instead of trying to deal with this on his own, but knowing that doesn't exactly stop ProtoMan from being reluctant to bother anyone with his panic attacks.
He has Dark Shadow, though. It's doing its best to distract him, pulling the toy balls out of its shadowy body and juggling them, pretending to eat them with its split-mouth and then 'vomiting' them back up to bounce off the walls of Chaud's computer, performing all kinds of tricks to at least try and take ProtoMan's mind off his panic. As far as Chaud can tell, it seems to be working, at least a little bit.
Chaud's a little frustrated that he can't do more than offer words of comfort, since they're separated by worlds. So he sits on his bed, working on figuring out how to make it so that only certain NetNavis are allowed in his PET, because even though there's not much he can do for ProtoMan's memory-panics, he can at least make it so that ProtoMan has somewhere safe to be while they're in the mansion, somewhere that Proxy won't be able to bully him.
If Chaud can figure out how to make this work, he can copy the program and put it on his computer, too. He doesn't care if Father punishes him for doing this - he refuses to allow his Navi to be tormented by that bully of a butler-Navi. ProtoMan's dealing with enough already, without Proxy trying to harass him at every available opportunity.
Friends list, Chaud murmurs, looking through the names on the list. The list is far longer than it was before Mimic accidentally stole Chaud's body - in fact, Chaud's pretty sure there wasn't even a single name on that list back then.
Now, though, there are so many names that Chaud has to scroll quite a bit to get to the bottom. Mimic and Arcadia are at the top of the list, of course - and under them are Lan and MegaMan. After them are Raika and SearchMan, and then the list goes on, with the names of all of their friends. At the very bottom is Bass's name, although no one's heard from him since he was defeated by Slur.
Chaud knows Mimic has Bass's name in her friends list, too. It made contact between them and the highly-independent NetNavi much easier, though it took both ProtoMan and Arcadia working together to convince Bass to let them add him to the list. He only relented when they told him that being on their friends list would allow his messages to come through far easier than they normally do, since messages from 'unknown parties' usually get marked as spam or junk. But, as he said already, no one's heard from Bass in a while.
Chaud blinks and shakes the thought out of his head. He's not looking through the friends list to wonder about Bass's fate - he's trying to figure out if there's some way he can link it to the program he's trying to create.
He's almost finished with it. He managed to work out how to stop other Navis from getting into his PET, but now he needs to figure out how to allow certain Navis to come in. If he can link the friends list to the program, only Navis whose names are on the friends list will be able to come into his PET.
It takes some work, and quite a lot of concentration - so much that he very nearly misses ProtoMan getting up to play with Dark Shadow, though Chaud's glad he notices, because the sight makes him smile. ProtoMan's recovering from his memory-panic, though he still seems a little tender. That makes Chaud more determined to finish this program, so he can at least try to protect whatever shred of innocence ProtoMan has left in him.
And he does finish. Barely an hour and a half after ProtoMan starts playing with Dark Shadow, Chaud finally figures out how to link the friends list to his new program. Now only the Navis on the list are allowed into his PET - and Proxy is very definitely not on that list.
"ProtoMan!" Chaud exclaims, bouncing off his bed.
"What is it?" ProtoMan looks over at him curiously as he slides into his seat at the desk.
"I did it!" Chaud's almost too excited to remember to keep his voice down. His bedroom isn't exactly near to his father's quarters, but it's close enough that Father would definitely hear him if he started shouting. "I made the program!"
"The one that'll stop Proxy from getting into your PET?" ProtoMan asks eagerly.
Chaud nods. "I think I'm gonna call it the friends program," he says. "Because it's linked to the friends list, and it only lets in Navis we want in there."
Dark Shadow flickers happily and moves its hands. [this good us will not scared again from bully]
"Hopefully not," ProtoMan murmurs. He looks up at Chaud. "So . . . if it's linked to the friends list, then . . . are all of our friends allowed to come into your PET?"
"All of them," Chaud agrees. He pauses before adding, "Even Bass."
"Bass," ProtoMan repeats slowly. "What . . . what do you think happened to him? We haven't heard from him since . . ."
"Since Slur sent him into the UnderNet," Chaud finishes. "I'm not sure what happened to him, but I know he hasn't been deleted. He's too stubborn for that - he probably survived out of sheer spite."
"That sounds like Bass," ProtoMan agrees quietly. He looks at his feet for a moment before looking back up. "Do you think Mimic knows what happened to him?"
"I know she does," Chaud replies. "But she's probably keeping quiet for a reason. Whatever it is, either we'll find out what happened to Bass on our own, or Mimic will tell us eventually. That's how it usually works."
"Yeah," ProtoMan says. He smiles a little. "I bet he'll be so confused when he finds out there's two of you."
"And he'll probably call Arcadia a traitor to independent Navis," Chaud jokes. "Though I don't think anything'll stop Bass from playing Skyrim. He kept calling it a stupid game, but he loved playing it, anyone could tell."
ProtoMan opens his mouth to respond, and pauses. Then he suddenly looks alarmed, and Dark Shadow bursts into tendrils and swirls around him almost protectively. Chaud's seen that look on ProtoMan's face far too many times to not know what it is, and he scrambles to connect his PET to the computer, but he's too late.
Proxy appears on the screen, with the same cold look of disdain that Chaud remembers from when Mimic used to live here. ProtoMan immediately backs away with a look of terror and presses himself against the side of the computer furthest away from Proxy.
"Hello again," Proxy says to ProtoMan, stepping toward him almost casually. A cruel smile comes onto his face as ProtoMan tries to press himself against the side of the computer. "Don't be like that. I've been busy since your idiot of an operator came back, but now I've got some free time, and I want to catch up."
"Leave him alone," Chaud hisses, before Proxy can take another step. "Get out of my computer, you bully."
"Bully?" Proxy looks almost amused. "I didn't realise you were so childish that you'd use such a word."
"There's nothing childish about bullying," Chaud snaps back. "Now get the hell out of my computer, or I'll make you leave."
"Make me?" Proxy repeats. "I'd like to see you try."
Chaud narrows his eyes. Well, if that's how Proxy wants it . . .
"Chaud, don't," ProtoMan chokes out. "Please, it's not worth it-"
"What's not worth it?" Proxy demands, and ProtoMan falls silent with a terrified squeak. Proxy steps closer, and ProtoMan's shadows spike into a frenzy, but the butler-Navi doesn't even seem to notice. "No, go on, I'm curious. What's not worth it? Does your idiot of an operator actually think he can stop me from getting to you? Let me tell you something, you half-breed mistake of science-"
Chaud connects his PET to his computer and Proxy is immediately banished. Before he can try to come back, Chaud makes a copy of the friends program and downloads it onto his computer, to stop Proxy from getting into it when the PET isn't connected.
"Chaud . . ." ProtoMan whispers.
"He had no right to call you that," Chaud seethes. "Just because you're part-virus . . ."
"But . . . but what if he tells Master Blaze?"
"Of course he will," Chaud says, sitting back in his chair and sighing. "And I'm fully prepared for any punishment Father will give me. But I'm not going to regret doing that - and no matter what Father does to me, I'm not deleting this program. Proxy's not getting back into my PET or this computer if it's the last thing I do."
"It might be," ProtoMan points out quietly.
Chaud doesn't reply for a moment as the implication of that sinks in.
Would Father really kill him over something like this? He slashed open Mimic's eye because she told him she wasn't his son. It's not much of a stretch to imagine him doing worse because Chaud banished Proxy like that. It doesn't matter anyway, because no matter what Father's reaction is going to be, Chaud is not deleting the friends program and he's not letting Proxy anywhere near ProtoMan ever again.
"Chaud?" ProtoMan's voice trembles, and Chaud doesn't think he's ever heard such fear in his tone.
"He won't kill me," Chaud says, hoping he sounds more certain than he actually is. "He needs me to help run the company. The temporary vice presidents he had to hire while I was-" Technically dead. "-gone were all terrible and couldn't keep up with the amount of work, but I can do it just fine. He needs me. He won't hurt me so much that I can't work anymore."
"He threw Mimic out onto the streets and almost drove her to suicide," ProtoMan reminds him quietly. "And he thought she was you at the time."
"He won't kill me," Chaud repeats.
His false certainty does nothing to reassure ProtoMan. But he keeps up the facade anyway, even if it doesn't work, because it's better than facing the alternative - the idea and the very real fear that Father might actually get angry enough to kill him.
They don't have to wait long to find out what Father's reaction is going to be. Chaud gets a message from one of the house programs barely twenty minutes after he banished Proxy, giving him an order to meet Father in his study. He doesn't take his PET with him - there's no way he's stupid enough to do that, not when Father could easily take it from him and delete the program himself, then immediately set Proxy on ProtoMan again.
Chaud isn't Mimic. His fear doesn't leave him paralysed and mute. But that doesn't mean he doesn't feel it - he's just used to ignoring it, to acting like he's completely unaffected, even though he wants nothing more than to break down crying and beg Father not to hurt him again.
So when he steps through the doors of his father's study, he ignores his fear and presents a calm front, even when Father stalks over to him with a look of thunderous fury.
"What do you have to say for yourself?" Father demands, looming over him.
Chaud looks up at him and blinks slowly. That question isn't one that he's expected to answer - if he tries, any response he gives will only infuriate Father more, so it's better to keep quiet and let him rage.
"You banished my NetNavi from your computer," Father growls. It's not the same kind of growl that Chaud can make, but that doesn't mean it's not terrifying to hear. "On purpose, for no reason."
Your bully of a NetNavi was tormenting ProtoMan, is what Chaud wants to say. Common sense keeps his mouth shut, though. So does a very large helping of fear.
"How did you do it?" Father asks sharply. "Tell me, boy."
"I created a program that will only allow certain NetNavis into my PET and computer," Chaud replies promptly. This is the kind of question he is expected to answer, and to keep quiet would get the same result as answering a question he isn't expected to answer.
"Delete it immediately," Father tells him.
"No."
Father narrows his eyes, and Chaud has to fight down an icy stab of fear. "What did you just say?"
"No," Chaud repeats. And then, just in case he's not clear enough, "I will not delete the program."
Father leans down until they're almost eye-to-eye. Chaud keeps his gaze fixed ahead, staring through him, and tries to ignore the cold fury in his father's eyes.
"You will delete that program," Father says in a dangerously quiet voice, "or else."
Chaud takes in a quiet, deep breath. "Do what you want to me," he replies. "But I will not delete the program."
Father straightens up slowly, and Chaud reflects that maybe he shouldn't have said that. It was an impulse, the kind of thing Mimic would do when she's faced with something like this - and yet Chaud can't really bring himself to regret saying it, because it's true, and he really doesn't care what Father does to him. He's not deleting the friends program.
"Take off your shirt," Father orders.
. . . Ah. So this is how Father will punish him, then.
Chaud does as he's told. When his father tells him to lean against the desk, back facing him, he follows orders. He hears the doors closing, and then a faint clinking as Father takes off his belt.
The last time this happened was to Mimic, soon after the incident with PharaohMan was resolved. For Chaud, it happened a couple of months before she accidentally stole his body, because he'd messed up a contract and hadn't noticed until Father ordered him into his study to punish him for it. Now it looks like it's going to happen again.
Whatever. Just as long as Father doesn't send Proxy after ProtoMan.
The first lash of Father's belt hits his back, and Chaud sucks in a sharp breath and holds it, then lets it out slowly. He's felt worse pain than this after fighting in Cross Fusion so much - he can deal with it.
The second lash hits him, and Chaud grips the edge of Father's desk. He's felt worse.
The third lash hurts more. He can deal with it, though, because he's felt worse.
The fourth lash comes next, and he trembles where he stands, desperately trying to stay upright. He's felt worse.
The fifth and sixth lashes come in quick succession, so fast that he's not expecting it, and nearly collapses because he didn't have time to brace himself between them. A faint whimper escapes from his mouth, but he forces himself to remember that he's felt far worse than this.
He endures the next four lashes in silence, biting his lip to keep his mouth shut. He doesn't bite hard enough to break the skin - with his sharp teeth, that's all too easy - but it helps to keep himself quiet.
He's felt worse.
After the tenth lash, Father steps back. Chaud takes in a quiet breath and lets it out slowly, fighting against the tears in his eyes and the pain from the lashing.
"I should've known that girl wasn't you," Father says. "She broke down after the first lash, like a coward."
A flash of anger pierces through the pain, and Chaud whips his head around and bares his teeth. Then he catches sight of his father's belt, still in his hands, and quickly lowers his gaze. No matter how much he wants to defend Mimic, he doesn't want Father to hurt him any more.
"Get out," Father tells him.
Chaud gathers his shirt and gingerly puts it back on as he makes his way over to the door. The material rubs against his back and stings where it brushes against the lashes.
Father stops him before he opens the doors, though.
"Be grateful I still need you to complete the Navigation Car Race project," Father says. "That's the only reason I'm not confining you to your room."
"Yes, sir," Chaud says tonelessly. "Thank you, sir."
He goes back to his bedroom. Only when he's far enough away from his father's study does he allow his pain to show, wincing with every step and biting back pained squeaks every time his shirt moves against his back. He just barely manages to get inside his bedroom before he all but collapses, and it's only ProtoMan's worried voice that gets him up and moving again, however much he struggles.
"Ch-Chaud?" ProtoMan calls shakily. "Are you- are you okay? What did Master Blaze do?"
Chaud pushes himself to his feet and shuffles over to his desk. ProtoMan's inside his PET now, apparently having decided to go back in after Chaud left, so he picks it up and moves backwards until his legs hit his bed, then falls onto it.
He immediately regrets doing that, because the pain in his back spikes and he flinches onto his side, hissing out a gasp of pain.
" . . . He belted you, didn't he?" ProtoMan doesn't sound like he needs an answer. "All because you were protecting me . . ."
"I'd do it again," Chaud murmurs.
"Why!?" ProtoMan cries desperately. "I'm not worth it!"
Chaud closes his eyes and clutches his PET to his chest. "You are to me."
Mimic wakes up crying.
At first, Arcadia's not sure what's going on. He's startled out of sleep-mode by a sudden spike in distress and a sharp sense of pain, and it takes him a few moments to fully wake his systems up before he realises the distress and pain he senses is coming from Mimic.
He activates the holographic screen, and sees her curled up in a fetal position, trembling so much she's nearly vibrating. He can hear quiet sobs, like she's trying to hide her pain, and he wonders if she's in so much pain that she's forgotten he can sense everything, even if she's trying to keep quiet.
His first instinct is to call out to her, to try and comfort her on his own. But there's only so much he can do from the cyberworld, and he remembers just in time that he doesn't need to do it on his own anymore.
He streams himself into Dr. Hikari's PET and activates the alarm. He feels a little guilty for doing this, since Dr. Hikari had a late night working on the Battle Chip Gate project for the Net Police, but Arcadia knows he and Haruka would rather be woken up in the middle of the night for something like this, instead of just letting them sleep through it.
The alarm goes off, and Dr. Hikari shoots up in bed, blinking around the room. Confusion comes through Arcadia's Empath Program, along with the bleary sense of sleep, and Dr. Hikari finally notices his PET's screen glowing in the darkness just as Haruka sits up with a silent yawn.
"Arcadia?" Dr. Hikari squints at him. "What . . . what time is it?"
"Mimic's crying," Arcadia tells him.
Dr. Hikari and Haruka are instantly shocked awake. They don't even bother to get dressed before they rush out of their bedroom. Arcadia streams himself back into Mimic's PET just in time to see them carefully opening the door, stepping around Ragdoll, who weaves around them while letting out distressed trills. The light is turned on, but even though the sudden change in lightning must hurt Mimic's eyes, she seems too focused on the other mysterious pain to even notice.
Lan should know about this too, Arcadia tells himself, as he watches Dr. Hikari and Haruka carefully untangle Mimic from her bed sheet.
He streams himself out of Mimic's PET and into Lan's, just barely catching sight of the adult Hikaris trying to comfort Mimic. MegaMan is in sleep-mode when Arcadia arrives, but that quickly changes after Arcadia starts messing with the programs.
"Arcadia, what-" MegaMan begins sleepily.
"Mimic's crying," Arcadia explains shortly. He feels a pulse of surprise from MegaMan, and then realisation.
"Let me," MegaMan says, gently pushing Arcadia aside. He activates the programs quicker than Arcadia could have done, since he's used to them, and Lan's alarm lets out a shrill sound that instantly wakes him up.
"Huh- wha-" Lan shoots up in bed the same way Dr. Hikari did, and looks around until he spots his PET. "M-MegaMan? What time s'it?"
"Mimic's crying," Arcadia says, for the third time that night.
Like the adult Hikaris, those words instantly shock Lan awake. He immediately slides out of bed and rushes out of his bedroom.
Arcadia heads back to Mimic's PET, this time with MegaMan following him. By now, Dr. Hikari has gotten Mimic onto his lap, and Haruka's trying to calm her down, but she's in too much distress to listen to anything either of them say. Lan comes in, not needing to open the door since Dr. Hikari and Haruka left it open, then settles down next to Dr. Hikari and leans over to peer at Mimic worriedly.
"What- what's wrong with her?" Lan asks, glancing up at his - and Mimic's - parents.
"We're not sure," Dr. Hikari replies. "Arcadia just woke us up and told us she was crying . . ."
"Arcadia?" Haruka glances over at him. "Do you know what's wrong?"
"I'm not sure," Arcadia murmurs. "I was in sleep-mode, and then I woke up, and she was crying. She's in a lot of pain, though."
"Pain?" Dr. Hikari repeats, puzzled. He shifts his grip on Mimic as he speaks. "But what-"
Mimic lets out a sharp shriek and lashes out, hitting Dr. Hikari in the face. He's startled by the sudden attack, but doesn't let go of her, only tries to avoid her flailing and half-panicked attacks.
"Her back!" Arcadia realises. "You moved your hand onto her back, and there was a spike in her pain!"
Haruka leans forward and carefully pulls up Mimic's shirt, and then gasps. Arcadia sees the problem immediately - there are red marks across her back, like someone's whipped her.
Cold shock makes Arcadia's mind go blank for a moment. He recognises those marks. He's seen them before. The last time he saw something like this was soon after the N1, after the PharaohMan incident, when Mimic was belted by Shuseki Blaze for leaving her - Chaud's - bedroom when she was supposed to be confined.
He suddenly remembers the battle with DesertMan, and how he and Mimic had felt Chaud's pain when he was flung into the wall. That was a result of Arcadia's Empath Program strengthening Mimic and Chaud's connection on Mimic's end - could it be possible that ability has transferred over to Mimic, the same way ProtoMan's cat-abilities were transferred over?
And if that's true . . . then that means Chaud's been belted by Shuseki Blaze. And Mimic is feeling the same pain.
"Those look like whip marks," MegaMan gasps. "But how . . ." He looks at Arcadia. "Do you know what happened? Can you sense anything from her? Memories, thoughts, anything?"
"No," Arcadia hears himself say. "She's in too much pain to focus on anything else. I don't think she knows why she's in pain, either."
Why is he lying? He should be telling the Hikaris what happened, right now. This is exactly why no one wanted Chaud to go back to his father - and now it's affecting Mimic, too, because she Cross Fuses with Arcadia and he didn't anticipate what his Empath Program would do to her.
I should tell them the truth, Arcadia thinks.
Yet he says nothing. Even when Mimic finally falls asleep again, having cried herself into merciful unconsciousness, and the Hikaris stay in her bedroom, too worried to go back to sleep themselves, he says nothing.
Why? Why is he staying silent, when he knows what happened?
Because you don't want to make things worse for Chaud, a little voice in the back of his mind tells him.
Of course. If he tells the Hikaris what really happened, they'll probably head straight to the police or something. But Shuseki Blaze is one of the richest and most powerful humans in the country - maybe even the entire world - and he could easily destroy the Hikaris' reputations and lives with little effort. But more than that, Chaud would be in even more danger than he already is.
He's not saying anything because he doesn't want Chaud to be murdered by his own father.
Mimic doesn't go to school the next day. The pain has faded to a dull ache overnight, but she's still shaken from suddenly waking up in absolute agony, and she can't concentrate enough to remember what time it is, never mind be able to sit in class.
Lan goes, though. He's reluctant to leave, too worried about her to want to leave her side, but Mom and Dad reassure him that they'll look after Mimic. And besides, they have homework to hand in today - even if Mimic can't go, Lan can still go himself, and hand in both his own homework and hers. She's grateful he's willing to do something like that for her, even though it means he has to leave her while she's still hurting.
She spends the morning lying on her stomach on the sofa with Ragdoll loafing next to her and purring. Mom puts some packs of ice onto her back to try and help cool the lingering pain, and Mimic closes her eyes and dozes for a few hours.
By the time she's awake again, the pain isn't so bad. The ice packs have been replaced and are definitely doing their job, and she's okay enough to try walking around. She has to be careful, though, because the slightest sudden movement sends pain shooting across her back, and moving too much - even slowly - makes the aching worse. It's better than it was last night, at least.
Sometime after lunch, Dad gets a call from Famous. She's lying on the sofa again, this time on her side, and she pays half her attention to the conversation while idly flicking a cat toy around on the floor for Ragdoll to chase.
"Can you come to SciLab?" Famous asks. "It's about the Net Saver pay thing . . ."
Mimic blinks and turns her full attention to Dad and Famous, leaving Ragdoll to gnaw on the cat toy.
"Has it finally been sorted out?" Dad asks, glancing at Mimic.
Famous grunts, sounding mildly annoyed. "Eventually," he replies. "I wanted to discuss it with you before letting your kids know."
"Actually, Mimic's at home today," Dad says. "I could bring her with me, if you want - then you'll only have Lan and Chaud to talk to, later."
"Well, just Lan," Famous corrects him. "Weird coincidence - Chaud's not in school today either. I called him earlier, and he said he hurt his back, so he's staying at home. He said he'd come by SciLab to talk about the pay, though."
"He . . . hurt his back?" Dad blinks. Again, he glances at Mimic. "I guess today's a day for weird coincidences, because Mimic hurt her back, too."
" . . . At this point, if you told me they suddenly swapped bodies, I wouldn't even be surprised," Famous sighs. "Chaud's already here, we're just waiting for you."
"Alright, thanks, Famous," Dad says, before ending the call. He looks at Mimic properly this time. "How about it? Think you're up for a trip to SciLab?"
Mimic wants to say yes, but she can barely get from the sofa to the kitchen at this point. If she shuffled the entire way, then sure, she'd make it - in about a week or something. But she wants to go with Dad, because she wants to find out what's going on with the pay thing. And if Chaud's gonna be there, she definitely wants to see him again, and give Arcadia a chance to hang out with his own brother, too.
Her PET's holographic screen appears in front of her. Arcadia glances at her before turning to Dad.
"She won't be able to walk on her own," Arcadia says. "But if you don't mind doing it, you could always give her a piggyback ride to SciLab."
Mimic perks up. A piggyback ride all the way to SciLab? That sounds fun. And the best part is, she barely weighs a thing, so it's not like Dad will get tired from carrying her.
"I can see you've already made up your mind," Dad laughs, seeing her eager expression. "Alright, piggyback it is."
They say goodbye to Mom and head out. As soon as they're on the street, Dad crouches down to let Mimic carefully climb onto his back, then straightens up and takes off. They get a few looks while they're walking, but most of them are from other parents who seem to think it's adorable that Dad's giving Mimic a piggyback ride. Others are just people who glance at them quickly, do a double-take, and then move on.
It's nice, actually. If the city wasn't so loud during the day, Mimic would probably drift off again.
Dad keeps a hold of her until they meet up with Famous in the main room. Manabe's with him, and so is Chaud, though Chaud's the only one sitting down at the moment.
As Dad lets Mimic down, she glances at Chaud, and their eyes meet for a split second. She's hit with a flash of memory and sharp pain through their connection, and it's then that she finally realises why she was in so much pain last night, and is still hurting even now.
Chaud was belted by Shuseki last night.
She sees a brief memory of Proxy tormenting ProtoMan, and then Proxy being banished from Chaud's computer. She feels grim determination mixed with cold fear, the fear almost completely overwhelming, as she sees Shuseki's study next. Then there's defiance, and suddenly pain that spikes with every hit, and I've felt worse, repeated over and over like a mantra to ward against the pain, though it doesn't work. It's over in a flash, far faster than Chaud was forced to endure.
"Mimic?" Dad puts a hand gentle hand on her shoulder, startling her, and she realises she's trembling. "Are you alright?"
"M'fine," Mimic replies, even though she's not.
I'm sorry, she says to Chaud.
You didn't do anything, Chaud replies.
That's kind of the point. If she'd managed to convince Chaud to stay at the Hikari house, he wouldn't have had to go through that again.
It was my choice, Chaud reminds her. Besides, I couldn't just let Proxy bully ProtoMan - you saw what he was doing, right? I had to get rid of him.
And get belted as a result. But Mimic understands Chaud's feelings - she'd have done the exact same thing in his position, so she can't complain without sounding like a total hypocrite. ProtoMan's safety takes priority, no arguments, no compromises.
But what's done is done, even if Mimic hates how much pain her twin brother was forced to endure last night. It's over now, and hopefully Chaud's defiance will make Shuseki back down on this- this friends program thing. Mimic caught a quick flash of the name from those memories, and she thinks it sounds pretty fitting. At the very least, this means Chaud's PET and his computer at the Blaze mansion are now safe for ProtoMan to be in.
They can't exactly ignore this, but they can put it aside for now. There's something a little more important to be discussed - and the only reason Mimic says it's more important is because getting paid will give Chaud a chance to build up some money that isn't linked to Shuseki, to help him be more independent, which, in turn, will hopefully help to prevent Chaud from getting hurt again.
Everyone settles down, except for Famous, who stays standing in the centre of the room. Since the issue of pay was his idea to fix, it falls to him to lead this meeting . . . discussion . . . thing. Mimic can guess why Manabe's here, though - even though Mimic and Chaud are Famous's personal Net Savers, Lan still works for the Net Police as a whole, so the issue of his pay should be handled by the Net Police themselves.
"As you already know, when I hired Chaud," Famous says, "I became aware that none of our Cross Fusion-capable Net Savers have ever been paid. My first thought was that this was some sort of glitch in the system - though I was wrong, and the actual issue was something else entirely. Commissioner Kifune thought I was going to talk to them about pay, while I thought he was going to talk to them about pay. We . . . basically forgot about it, afterwards, in the wake of everything that happened."
"So, what you're saying is," Dad begins, "my kids have been working for the Net Police for nothing? For months, just because of a simple miscommunication?"
"That's not exactly-" Manabe starts to say.
"Yes," Famous says. He at least looks ashamed of himself, though Manabe, in contrast, only seems disgruntled at being interrupted. "We should have noticed this sooner, and no amount of apologies will change the fact that these kids put their lives in danger constantly and didn't even get paid for their efforts. We've fixed the issue - all three of them will receive half the usual pay for any of my Net Savers, and will get bonus pay should they need to use Cross Fusion during a mission. I've already set aside the money they should've received up until now." He glances at Chaud. "Have you set up that separate account yet?"
Chaud nods. "I just need to activate it."
"Then give me its details when you do, and I'll transfer the money into that account as soon as possible," Famous tells him. Now he looks at Mimic. "I'll do the same for you, too. You, uh . . . you do have an account, right?"
Mimic kind of panics for a moment. She'd been so focused on the pay thing that she hadn't even thought about whether or not she had an account to keep the money in. How the hell does she set up a bank account in this reality? She barely knew how to do that in her old reality, forget this one.
"Don't worry, Mimic," Dad says, looking faintly amused. "Your mom and I have already set up accounts for you and Lan." He looks at Famous. "I'll send you the details later."
Famous looks relieved. "That's great, then," he says. "Alright, now onto the next item of business - we still need to discuss the Battle Chip Gate project."
Mimic blinks at that, and is surprised when Manabe gets up to take over the meeting. So she wasn't just here to discuss the pay thing, then - she also came here to talk about the Battle Chip Gate.
It's probably a good thing that both Mimic and Chaud are here, then. Only they can use the prototype, so their input would probably be insanely useful for something like this - and getting the Battle Chip Gate project completed would mean that Mimic, Chaud, and Lan won't be the only ones capable of fighting against Asteroid Navis or materialised viruses anymore. They'll be the most effective, of course, but at least other people won't be completely helpless when an Asteroid Navi materialises.
The same thing happened in the anime. Manabe got one, Mimic remembers - and so did her counterpart in Netopia, that Hunter guy. Presumably other members of the Net Police received the completed Battle Chip Gate, too, though Mimic doesn't remember if anyone else was ever shown using one.
"The Net Police really need to get their shit together," Mimic says later on, while she and Chaud are relaxing in a break room near the lab Dad and Famous are currently working in.
Chaud snorts. "You've only just noticed that? How many times did they screw up dealing with us when they thought you could see the future?"
"I lost count," Mimic admits.
"Exactly," Chaud agrees. "I get that they're trying to do their jobs, and they do deserve a little sympathy since we're so weird and kinda difficult to deal with, but still. You'd think after a few months of this, they'd at least have some idea of what to do with us."
ProtoMan hisses faintly, crossing his arms. He and Arcadia are inside Chaud's PET this time, and have activated the holographic screen so they can actually see their operators and participate in the conversation more easily.
"This pay thing should've been sorted out immediately," ProtoMan mutters. "This time it wasn't just you two, but Lan as well. I bet Raika never had to go through this when he was hired by his uncle."
"Sharo has their shit together," Mimic says, nodding. On the other hand, the Japanese Net Police seem to barely know what they're doing half the time, and the other half they're clashing with Mimic and Chaud at every opportunity.
"At least Famous fixed it, though," Arcadia points out. "You're being paid properly now, and you've gotten whatever money you should've already received in the first place."
"Should I even get that money, though?" Chaud wonders. "I mean, I technically wasn't around to earn it, so-"
ProtoMan cuts him off with another hiss. "Of course you earnt it!" he exclaims. "You did just as much as Mimic, Arcadia, and me. You weren't there physically, but you were there mentally."
Arcadia nods. "And without you, I seriously doubt we'd have been able to pull off half of what we did during the Nebula incident," he says. "And if that's not enough for you, I could sense how Famous is looking at this - he's basically counting you and Mimic as one person up until Duo separated you, so whatever pay she's entitled to, you're also entitled to."
Chaud glances at Mimic, and she shrugs with a slightly smug smirk. "Can't argue with logic," she tells him.
Chaud laughs. "Okay, okay, I earnt the money," he says good-naturedly. "Don't bite my head off about it, I'm in enough pain as it is."
The mood abruptly becomes more serious at that.
" . . . Maybe I should've kept quiet," Chaud mutters. Discomfort flashes from him like lightning, and Mimic winces in sympathy. She's been there enough times to understand how he feels.
"We were probably gonna talk about this sooner or later," Arcadia reasons. "In fact, I think we do need to talk about this."
"Talk about what?" ProtoMan asks, which is a mildly startling reminder that he doesn't have a psychic connection with any of them except during Cross Fusion, nor does he have the Empath Program.
"About how Shuseki Blaze belted Chaud last night." Arcadia lowers his voice, just in case anyone overhears them.
" . . . Oh," ProtoMan says faintly, seeming to shrink in on himself. "That."
Arcadia looks up at him worriedly, and carefully spreads one wing to wrap it around ProtoMan.
"You felt it too, didn't you?" Chaud asks Mimic. ProtoMan's head snaps up as he gapes at her.
"I did," Mimic murmurs, shifting uncomfortably. Not because of the sudden attention, but because the ache in her back makes it difficult to sit in a chair or on a sofa for very long. It's fine if she's lying down, but if she has to put her back against something, it starts to hurt more after a while.
And she knows Chaud feels the exact same thing. This is his pain - and Mimic is sharing it, somehow.
"She woke up crying in the middle of the night," Arcadia explains, for ProtoMan's benefit. "At first I didn't know what was wrong, but then I saw the marks on her back, and I . . . I recognised them. From back when . . ."
"Just after the PharaohMan thing," Chaud says. He frowns. "But why is Mimic feeling the same pain as me? I'd get it if we were right next to each other when I was-" He hesitates for a split second. "-hurt, but we were on opposite sides of the city at the time."
"I think it might have something to do with my Empath Program," Arcadia confesses.
Mimic blinks at him, and Chaud and ProtoMan give him almost identical puzzled looks.
"You remember during the battle against DesertMan?" Arcadia prompts. "Mimic and I felt the same pain that you guys did when he threw you into that wall. My Empath Program strengthened your connection on Mimic's end, so we ended up feeling the same pain when you guys were hurt."
"Wait, you're saying that transferred over from Cross Fusion?" ProtoMan looks stunned.
"I'm almost positive it did," Arcadia replies. "It's the same way your cat-abilities were transferred to them when they first started Cross Fusing with you. My owl-abilities mainly focus on my flight or eyesight, so I doubt I can transfer those to Mimic, but it looks like my Empath Program might have latched onto her connection with Chaud, and it's strengthening it even without Cross Fusion."
"Eyesight?" Mimic is briefly distracted from the issue of the shared pain thing. "You sure that can't be transferred?"
Arcadia blinks at her. "What do you mean?"
"Couldn't see far-away things before," Mimic explains. "But I- I saw Charlie's helicopter even though it was really far. Before Cross Fusing with you, things were blurry from far away. Now they're clear."
" . . . Oh," Arcadia says, looking startled. "Well . . . I didn't expect that."
"They got night vision, sharp teeth, and enhanced agility and hearing from me," ProtoMan begins, in a flat tone, "and you're surprised that Mimic got better eyesight from you?"
"Well, when you put it like that . . ."
"That's not fair," Chaud jokingly complains. "I can't see things from far away."
Mimic sticks her tongue out at him. "Can always get glasses," she cheekily tells him.
"I'm fine as I am," Chaud quickly says, and Mimic snickers.
"Maybe we should get back on track," Arcadia says, and they stop joking around to pay attention again. "So, it looks like Mimic got some abilities from Cross Fusing with me, too. Better eyesight, and a stronger connection."
"Only on her end, though," ProtoMan points out, frowning. "And it only lets her share Chaud's pain. What good is that?"
Arcadia sighs. "I have no idea," he admits. "It might be useful for something, though I don't know what. But this can't be the only way the connection was strengthened." He looks at Mimic questioningly. "Have you noticed anything different about your connection, lately? Aside from the shared pain."
Mimic tries to think, but she can't remember anything. As far as she knows, her connection with Chaud is still the exact same as always - except, as Arcadia said, for the shared pain. It's as strong as always when she's right next to Chaud, but gets weaker with distance, so she only feels faint flashes of whatever Chaud's feeling, and even then it's mostly only if he feels something strongly. It's the same vice versa, except Chaud doesn't feel her pain.
Well, she thinks he doesn't feel her pain. Their connection seems to only be getting stronger on her end, because she's the one Cross Fusing with Arcadia - but for all she knows, some of these abilities she's apparently getting from Arcadia might be getting transferred through their connection, and Chaud might have them too.
"Maybe we should test this out," Chaud says, picking up her line of thought. "Just to see if it really is just Mimic, or if I can feel her pain, too."
"How do we test it?" Arcadia looks puzzled.
"Bite," Mimic replies, lifting her arm. "Should work, right?"
Arcadia and ProtoMan exchange an uncertain glance, but Mimic can sense Chaud's agreement. Besides, what's a little bit of pain from biting themselves compared to the belting he received last night? They need to figure this out, or else they're pretty much screwed if it becomes a problem during a battle.
"I've seen that look before," ProtoMan mutters. "We're not gonna be able to talk them out of this."
Arcadia sighs. "Okay, fine," he says. "Just . . . be careful, okay?"
"And don't break the skin," ProtoMan quickly adds.
Mimic nods and raises her arm. She opens her mouth, glances at Chaud questioningly, and when he nods, she sinks her teeth into her arm.
She instantly feels sharp pain where she's biting herself. She's careful not to break the skin, like ProtoMan said, but it still hurts like hell. She keeps biting for a few moments, and when it becomes too much to bear, she lets go.
"W-well?" Mimic glances at Chaud again.
He's cringing, but it's the kind of cringe you give someone out of sympathy for pain, rather than the kind that comes from feeling the pain yourself.
"I can sense you hurt," Chaud says, "but I don't feel it myself. Not the same way you felt my pain, anyway." He raises his own arm. "Okay, my turn."
"Is it really necessary?" ProtoMan breaks in, before Chaud can roll back his sleeve. "I mean, Mimic's already felt your pain, so . . ."
Chaud glances at him. "We don't know if that was a fluke," he points out. "Besides, it's only fair - she bit herself, so now it's my turn."
"Alright, but . . . use your other arm."
Chaud looks at him questioningly.
"Mimic bit herself on that arm - she won't be able to tell if it hurts when you bite yourself," ProtoMan explains.
After a short pause, Chaud nods and switches arms. He opens his mouth hesitantly after rolling up his sleeve - Mimic feels his reluctance, but it's not because he's about to hurt himself. It's because he might be about to hurt Mimic, too. They can't really back out now, though. They need to figure this out, and it can't wait until they randomly find out about it in the middle of a battle, like they did during the fight with DesertMan.
Chaud picks up her train of thought. He steels himself, takes a deep breath, and then sinks his teeth into his arm.
Mimic immediately lets out a startled shriek and clutches at her own arm as sharp pain flares up. Chaud stops biting himself to gape at her.
"Ff-fuck," Mimic hisses. "Didn't- didn't r-realise it . . . it'd hurt that m-much."
It's one thing to bite yourself - you expect the pain, so you're ready for it. But if someone else bites you instead, it's completely different. Even more different if someone bites themself, and you feel the pain, too.
"I guess that proves it, then." Arcadia doesn't sound too happy about his theory being proven correct. "Your connection is being strengthened on Mimic's end only. All because of my Empath Program . . ."
"S'not your fault," Mimic tells him, when he slumps almost miserably. "Remember what we said during the battle. Just something new, is all. Gotta figure it out."
"We wouldn't have to if I didn't have this program," Arcadia points out quietly. For the first time since they discovered his Empath Program, he seems like he's cursing its existence.
ProtoMan's shadows drift across his shoulders as ProtoMan himself pulls Arcadia into a one-armed hug. There's not really much anyone can say to convince Arcadia that this isn't his fault - they've all been there enough times to know that sometimes words aren't enough, and the only thing that will lessen this kind of guilt is time.
Chaud exchanges a glance with Mimic, and they both decide to try and move on, if only to help distract Arcadia.
"Do you think the same thing would happen to me if I Cross Fused with you, too?" Chaud asks Arcadia.
Arcadia glances up, blinking in surprise. It's ProtoMan who replies, though.
"Can you Cross Fuse with Arcadia?" he wonders, tilting his head. "I know you and Mimic can both Cross Fuse with me, but that's because you were in the same body when we first started doing it. But only Mimic has Cross Fused with Arcadia."
"Honestly, no offence Chaud, but I think I'd rather not find out," Arcadia sighs. "If this is how Cross Fusing with me has affected Mimic, I don't want the same thing to happen to both of you."
"You get hurt enough already," Mimic murmurs, glancing at Chaud. He doesn't need whatever pain she might feel dumped on top of that.
"Do you think we should tell Dr. Hikari about this?" Arcadia asks, looking uncertain, as if he's not sure how the idea will be received.
"How would we even explain how we found out?" ProtoMan points out. "We can't exactly tell him our operators decided to bite themselves for no reason."
A flash of something like fear comes from Chaud. "I . . . I don't really want people to know what happened with my father," he admits quietly.
"You know," Arcadia says thoughtfully, "if you're vague enough, you can technically tell the truth without actually saying what happened. You've done it before."
ProtoMan perks up. "And if you two put on a show, you can discourage people from prying altogether!"
"I thought you would've screamed at me for trying to hide something like this," Chaud says, giving ProtoMan a puzzled look.
"I said I'd scream at you if you tried to hide your pain," ProtoMan replies, "but I never said I'd stop you from hiding why you're in pain. Fine difference, there."
"He's got a point," Arcadia agrees, shrugging with a slight wince. "It wouldn't do much good to tell people what really happened, anyway. It's like Mimic told Raika that one time - who would believe some kids and a couple of NetNavis over someone like Shuseki Blaze?"
ProtoMan nods. "And I wasn't even there," he murmurs, "so it would be Chaud and Mimic's word against Master Blaze's, and it doesn't take a genius to know who the police would believe. I don't think they'd accept Mimic's shared pain as evidence, either."
"So . . . we tell Dad, but be vague about how we figured it out, and put on a show to discourage people from prying," Mimic summarises. She doesn't exactly enjoy discussing why it's a bad idea to admit the truth, nor does she want to lie to Dad, but for Chaud's sake and the fact that Shuseki is simply far too powerful for them to accuse . . .
They can't say anything. They have to keep their silence, or risk Shuseki destroying everything they care about.
"Shared pain?" Dad repeats, blinking in shock. "I . . . I didn't think that was a thing, even with you two."
"Arcadia thinks it's the same thing as the cat-abilities we got from ProtoMan," Chaud tells him. "He's an animal-Navi too, so some of his abilities got transferred over, and he thinks his Empath Program somehow latched onto our connection and strengthened it on Mimic's end."
"I suppose it makes sense," Dad says, putting a hand on his chin thoughtfully. "Your connection is empathic and telepathic, and the Empath Program is relatively similar." He frowns. "But . . . how did you even figure this out?"
"That . . . was kinda my fault," Chaud admits, lowering his head as if he's embarrassed. "You remember I hurt my back? Mimic felt the same pain I did."
"Yeah, thanks for that, by the way," Mimic says abruptly, before Dad can reply. "I woke up crying and I'm still hurting even now."
"I didn't plan to hurt my back, you know!" Chaud retorts, glaring at her. "It was an accident."
"Be more careful next time," Mimic snaps.
"You be more careful."
"I'm the one who has to feel your pain!" Mimic lets just the right amount of anger seep into her tone to sell it. "If it wasn't for that, I'd kick your ass right now."
"Try it anyway, see how far you get before you break down crying again," Chaud snaps back.
Mimic hisses at him, and he hisses back. Dad looks startled as he steps between them, cutting off their view of each other.
"Stop it, you two!" he exclaims. "Mimic, Chaud already said it was an accident. Let it go."
"Bleh," Mimic mutters.
Dad sighs, pinching the bridge of his nose. "Go and cool down, alright? I need to talk to Chaud about the Battle Chip Gate project anyway."
Mimic's kind of glad that Dad's the one who suggested she should leave. It saves her having to pretend to get worked up enough to storm off on her own.
She heads out of the room, and as soon as she's through the doorway, she steps to the side and hides from view.
I didn't mean any of that, she tells Chaud, dropping the act.
Neither did I, Chaud replies. But he seems to have bought it, so at least it worked.
Neither of them acknowledge the burning guilt they share at lying to Dad, especially by manipulating him like this.
Later that day, Mimic's back at home with Dad. The ache in her back hasn't really faded away yet, but it's more manageable than it was before. The pain she got from the bite-tests has completely vanished, though she thinks that might just be because she and Chaud weren't exactly trying to hurt themselves. Not too hard, anyway.
She hears the front door opening and then the familiar sound of Lan's footsteps a moment before Lan himself comes through the door. He immediately perks up when he sees Mimic, and bounces over to sit beside her on the sofa.
"Hey, how's your back doing?" Lan asks, giving her a quick once-over.
"Better than before," Mimic replies. She has to smile at Lan's obvious concern - he's definitely her brother. Her other brother, that is.
"That's great!" Lan exclaims, grinning. "Oh, by the way, I gave Ms. Mari our homework. She said yours was pretty good!"
"I was just bullshitting on it," Mimic says, blinking in surprise.
"Language, Mimic," Dad calls absently, from the dinner table where he's working.
"Sorry," Mimic calls back. She lowers her voice to a mutter. "Not."
Dad glances up. "What was that?"
"Nothing," Mimic replies innocently.
Dad continues to look suspicious for a moment. He eventually goes back to work after it becomes clear that Mimic isn't going to offer anything else.
Lan snickers under his breath, and then perks up. "Oh, I almost forgot!" he exclaims. "Turns out it was a good thing I went to school today, after all. Not just 'cus of the homework."
"Don't keep me in suspense," Mimic tells him.
"You know how there's always this one lady who falls over by the fountain?" Lan asks. "Well, she dropped this identification card today, but she was gone by the time I picked it up, so I went to the place where she works after school and gave it back to her."
This sounds very familiar, Mimic thinks.
"But before I left, I noticed some weird stuff," Lan says. He winces. "Things were . . . well, stuff was being turned into stone. A tree, a bunch of fish in a tank, even people. Turns out it was 'cus there was an Asteroid Navi in the building - and the lady I gave the card back to was his operator! Though I don't think she knew what she was doing with him . . . so I guess it wasn't really her fault. She was just having a bad day at work, and I think StoneMan - that's the Asteroid Navi, by the way - misunderstood what she wanted."
"I'm wondering how that lady didn't get fired," Mimic comments. "She was terrible at her job. Whatever it was . . ."
Lan stares at her.
"Anime," Mimic tells him.
Now Lan groans. "Dammit!" he complains. "Am I ever gonna get to tell you about something like this and actually surprise you, or is everything that happens to me gonna be in that anime of yours?"
"You were the protagonist," Mimic points out. "F'it makes you feel better, I did get surprised sometimes. Not everything was in the anime."
"Most things seem to be," Lan mutters. He slumps until he's lying stretched out across the sofa with a pout. "I just wanna surprise you. Just once. That's all I'm asking. Is that so bad?"
"There, there," Mimic says, patting his head. "You'll surprise me one day."
Lan grunts, but she can see a faint smile on his lips as he wriggles into a more comfortable position.