Somehow, the fact that the first thing you do with your money is buy a game does not surprise me at all, Chaud comments, as he follows Mimic through the game store.
Mimic gives him a look over her shoulder. You expected anything less?
No, he admits. He steps back while Mimic heads over to the counter and gives it to the cashier. But why Skyrim? You already have that game.
Not on Switch, though, Mimic replies. Now I have a portable Skyrim!
But from what I know, Switch Skyrim has no mods . . .
Mimic pays for the game and puts it into her bag, then leads Chaud out of the store. I like vanilla Skyrim just as much as I like modded Skyrim, she says.
Chaud's shoulders shake as he stifles a laugh. I can't believe I actually understand what that means, he says. I'm spending way too much time around you.
We were stuck in the same body for over a year, Mimic points out. If you didn't learn at least something about games in that time, I'd consider that a failure on my part.
And she actually would, Chaud realises. Mimic is nowhere near the kind of genius that Chaud is, but in the department of games, she's an expert and he's awed by the amount of knowledge and skill she has when it comes to gaming. Give him a game like Skyrim or Breath of the Wild and he would die immediately, but Mimic would be more than capable of going for days without once getting killed - if she didn't play so recklessly half the time, anyway.
The only games she's not that good at are racing games, but that's only because there's only one way to play those games, and she prefers things like RPGs or arena-style games where there are combos to memorise, potentially hundreds of abilities to use, and so many playing styles that Chaud can't even keep track of them. Mimic can, though.
Give her blueprints or coding and she won't be able to do a thing. Give her a game and she'll beat it in two days and find some way to break it in three.
We should head to the race track, now, Chaud says, putting aside his awe at Mimic's gaming skills for now. Where'd Lan run off to?
He went to the convenience store, Mimic replies. Said he wanted to get some of those animal figures. Y'know, the ones in them chocolate eggs?
Oh, those natural enemies things? Chaud checks, and Mimic nods. I think that's the new 'thing' right now. Famous is obsessed with them too - last time I saw him, he nearly talked my ears off about them.
That's ironic, Mimic says, flashing him a grin. Normally it's you who doesn't shut up.
Zip it, you, Chaud retorts, bopping her on the head with his fist. She sticks her tongue out at him in response.
They head toward the convenience store. It's within walking distance, so they don't need to take Chaud's car, which he knows is a relief for Mimic because she doesn't exactly enjoy being in it. He'd rather not force her to have an uncomfortable ride, and besides, they both like walking around. Even if the city is pretty loud during the day.
They wait outside the store for Lan, since there's not much point in going in just to come back out again. They can easily pinpoint where he is anyway - a faint shaking noise and MegaMan's disapproving voice gives them his exact location and what he's doing, even through all the general noise of the store and the city itself.
He said he was gonna buy, like, twenty of them, Mimic says, after a few minutes of waiting.
Chaud blinks. Seriously? How does he expect to carry that many?
It's Lan, Mimic replies, with a shrug. You can't tell him 'no', he's too stubborn.
Like someone else I know. Chaud smirks at her.
Mimic puts her hand on his face and shoves gently. Fuckin' hypocrite.
A few more minutes of waiting pass by, and finally Lan comes out of the store. He spots them immediately and blinks, surprised to see them already, but then his expression brightens and he bounds over to them happily.
"I bought so many of these things!" Lan exclaims, holding up a bag that's almost overflowing with small boxes.
"Did you get twenty like you wanted?" Chaud asks.
"Even better," Lan replies. "I got thirty!"
Mimic looks at him blankly. "How did you even fit them in that bag?"
"With extreme difficulty." Lan doesn't seem at all bothered by how absurd this is. "You should've seen the cashier's face, it was priceless."
"Is it even legal to buy that many?" Mimic wonders.
Lan shrugs. "No one stopped me," he points out. "Besides, I only took half of the Choco Tamago boxes they had on the shelf, so it's not like I cleared it out or anything. So, what'd you guys get?"
"Nothing," Chaud replies. "I'm saving that money, remember?"
Lan winces slightly. "Ah, right," he says apologetically.
Mimic reaches out and pokes Lan to get his attention, wanting to distract him from the sudden drop in mood. "I bought a game," she tells him.
"I'm not even surprised," Lan laughs, and Chaud shares a quick smile with Mimic, glad that her distraction worked. "What'd you buy?"
"Skyrim," Mimic replies.
Lan blinks. "But . . . you already have Skyrim."
"Not on Switch."
"Is . . . is there a difference?"
"Yes," Mimic says.
"Well . . . okay, I guess. It's your money," Lan says, shrugging. He looks at Chaud. "Are we gonna head to the race track, now?"
"That's why we were waiting for you," Chaud agrees. "Come on. The cars should already be built up, we just need to see how ProtoMan, Arcadia, and MegaMan deal with driving them."
Their Navis are already experienced with driving vehicles, even if their previous experience comes mainly from the NetMobile Grand Prix. In MegaMan's case, he already drove a car for that race, so all he has to do is translate what he already knows about driving cars to the NaviCar. For ProtoMan and Arcadia, it's a little different, since they drove the NetBike - but the basics are still the same, and it's easier to give Arcadia a backseat in the NaviCar's network than it was to have him just hanging off the back of the NetBike.
Chaud did consider building a car for Arcadia to drive himself, but he scrapped the idea after remembering ProtoMan's reaction to the noise of the NetBike. He's a cat - he absolutely hates loud sounds, and Chaud, since he has sensitive hearing too, understands why. The noise is just too much, and far too loud. So they're doing what they did in the NetMobile Grand Prix - turning off ProtoMan's audio program and having Arcadia ride with him.
Chaud doesn't think Arcadia would want to drive on his own, anyway. It seems he and ProtoMan already assumed they'd be driving a NaviCar together, rather than separately. It works out, so Chaud has no complaints.
"Road, keep going straight onto the beach, turn right onto the ocean, keep going and then head onto the next road-" ProtoMan is saying.
"No, there's a cove and then the road," MegaMan reminds him.
"Ah, right. Road, beach, ocean, cove, road again."
"Then pit stop," Arcadia says. "And then after that . . ."
Lan looks up from his PET with a slightly uncomfortable expression. "Is it right to use Mimic's knowledge like this?" he wonders.
Both Chaud and Mimic give him blank looks.
"It just feels like cheating," Lan admits.
"You never had any problems with it before," Mimic says.
"It was always life or death before!" Lan exclaims. "Or we were trying to catch a criminal or something. This is just a race. And we're basically cheating on it, because no one else knows the race course."
"S'not cheating if we don't get caught," Mimic points out.
"And besides," Chaud adds, "I'm pretty sure there's no rule against this kind of thing."
"That's because literally no one would ever even consider the idea that someone knows the future like Mimic does!" Lan cries. He's making a lot of effort keeping his voice down, which is good, because even though they are using Mimic's future knowledge, it wouldn't be smart to advertise that she knows the race course.
Technically it's not cheating, but if the race officials found out, IPC would be disqualified from the Navigation Car Race immediately. Chaud doesn't want that to happen - not just because his father would get angry if they were disqualified, but also because Mimic told him there's going to be an Asteroid Navi messing with the race.
Asteroid FlashMan, the NetNavi of Rei Saiko. Mimic says it's the same deal as with Sunayama - Saiko has to get away, but they still need to stop him and FlashMan from ruining the race. Or at the very least, they need to defeat FlashMan when he appears; Mimic doesn't know if there's any way they can resolve this without FlashMan ruining the race.
"It's not like we know what the entire course is, anyway," Chaud says, remembering what Mimic told him about FlashMan's interference.
Mimic nods. "Only know a bit about the second part," she says. "Forest path, and then-" She mimics ProtoMan's voice. "-left forty, keep straight three-hundred metres, right seventy."
Lan stares at her. So does Chaud, even though she's already told him this - because it's still surprising to him.
"You can barely remember what you had for breakfast this morning, and yet you remember something as specific as that?" Lan asks incredulously.
Mimic shrugs. "Never claimed to understand my own mind," she says. "Works weird."
"Whatever the case, we only know part of the course," Chaud says. "But we also know that FlashMan will be interfering as much as he can."
"Not today." Mimic glances over at one of the screens showing the practise race course for the NaviCars. "Tomorrow, yeah. Now, they're bad."
'They' meaning Team Shine, who really aren't doing very well. Just in the last few minutes alone, both their main NaviCar and their backup NaviCar have crashed on the tracks, and Chaud is pretty sure that they're at the bottom of the rankings at the moment. But if Mimic's right - and she usually is - then FlashMan's presence will change all that, and Team Shine will suddenly become a much bigger problem than they seem to be.
For now, though, Chaud can safely ignore them. He needs to focus on getting RedSun and BlueMoon ready for the preliminaries tomorrow - and all three of their Navis are doing just fine driving them. ProtoMan and Arcadia are working together as well as they did in the NetMobile Grand Prix, and MegaMan is doing a lot better than Chaud thought he would.
The preliminaries the next day go fairly smoothly for IPC. RedSun and BlueMoon finish the qualifiers with the same time, placing them both at the number one spot - at least until Team GiRAFT's Gigantes NaviCar literally smashes its way into first place, knocking them down to second.
Well, it doesn't matter. As long as they place high enough to compete. Only the top twenty NaviCars go onto the race in two days' time, and Chaud's fine as long as RedSun and BlueMoon are filling two of those spots.
"Man, those other cars are something," Lan mutters, looking up at the scoreboard. "Who's our biggest competition, do you think?"
"Team Shine's the obvious one," Chaud replies. "Saiko should've gotten FlashMan by now. But aside from them, Team GiRAFT's vehicles are used by the Netopian military, so they're formidable opponents. Then there's Team glue - their NaviCar design is similar to IPC's, so we need to watch out for them, too."
"Glue's ranked pretty high up on the list," Lan comments. He makes a face. "But what the heck's up with their car name? Zombietto . . . It's a purple car, why not just call it Purpletto or something?"
"Reminds me of Mewtwo's colour scheme," Mimic says, suddenly appearing beside them.
Chaud already sensed her coming because of their connection, but Lan jumps and almost fall off the box he's sitting on. He clutches at his chest dramatically and gasps for breath.
"Don't do that!" Lan exclaims. "You guys are gonna scare me to death one day, I swear . . ."
Mimic blinks at him. Her expression is blank, giving nothing away, but Chaud can feel her amusement - and the temptation to say something sarcastic in response. But then they hear the announcer calling out, and abruptly their attention is snapped back to the practise race track.
"Team Shine qualifies in fifth place!" the announcer shouts. "After so much trouble yesterday, it's almost like a miracle has been gifted to Team Shine!"
"More like an Asteroid," Chaud mutters under his breath, and Mimic growls faintly in agreement.
"How're we gonna deal with that guy?" Lan asks, glancing at them. "He has those lights that hypnotise Navis and make them crash their cars, right?"
"Arcadia's on it," Chaud says. "FlashMan will be using those lights on NaviCars in front of him during the first part of the race, so we won't be using the rear-view displays. Instead, we'll be relying on Arcadia's Empath Program to warn us when there's a Navi coming up behind them. This FlashMan isn't a Darkloid like the other one was, so it'll be easier to keep track of him."
"And what if FlashMan tries to hypnotise them from the front?" Lan still looks worried.
"If they can manage to keep going until they reach that forest area, they should be able to rely on Mimic's coordinates alone, and won't need the display at all," Chaud replies. "If it doesn't work out how we need it to, I've given our NaviCars a scanner that should be able to map out the race course for at least five-hundred metres, and they can use that along with Arcadia's Empath Program to stay ahead of FlashMan."
"Seems like we're doing a lot of cheating," Lan says.
"Scanner's a precaution," Mimic points out. "Not cheating. Besides, you want FlashMan to crash MegaMan?"
"No, of course not!" Lan cries, looking shocked at the thought.
"Then this is pretty much our only option," Chaud tells him. "If it makes you feel any better, we're only 'cheating' like this to avoid getting taken out by FlashMan - he's the real cheater here."
"Right." Lan seems to feel a little better after hearing that. "And the last leg of the race . . ."
"If we can stop FlashMan from ruining the race, we'll essentially be racing blind, since Mimic doesn't know the entire course," Chaud says. "But it's highly likely that things will go the same way they did in the anime, so we need to be prepared for when Saiko uses the dimensional chip to make FlashMan materialise."
Not to mention they still need to make sure Saiko gets away. But they can't tell Lan that - he'll want to know why, and unlike Chaud, he won't be satisfied just knowing there's a reason Mimic isn't saying anything. By now, he seems used to the idea that her knowledge of the future comes from the anime, but he also seems to think that she's going to tell them absolutely everything from each episode she remembers.
The actual race takes place two days from the preliminaries. Things are a lot louder than they were before, so Chaud and Mimic wear noise-cancelling earmuffs to dull the noise. Lan has a pair included in his pit crew uniform as well, but he wears them around his neck, not really needing to use them like Chaud and Mimic.
"I'd thought you would've invited Maylu and the others to watch," Chaud comments, while their team gets the NaviCars ready.
"I wanted to," Lan confesses, "but I didn't want to get them caught up in the battle, if there is one."
They didn't do much in the anime anyway, Mimic says. Maylu got annoyed about something called a . . . race queen, I think it was? And they all wanted to have NaviCars at the end I think. But that was basically it.
I don't think my father would be happy if I made that many NaviCars, Chaud mutters. Even if that wasn't the case, they expect me to be able to pull four NaviCars out of my ass? What the hell?
Yeah, you got annoyed about it in the anime, too, Mimic agrees. I guess with Yai gone, they started treating you like the new 'rich friend who gives us stuff for free'. Kind of an asshole move, if you ask me.
I'm not a people-pleaser, Chaud huffs. Sounds like those anime versions of us need to get their priorities straightened out.
Definitely.
Out on the track, the NaviCars begin to start up. The announcer is going over the rules at the moment, and when she mentions that not even she knows the race course, Chaud has to fight very hard not to smile. No one else has any idea what the course will be - but thanks to Mimic, Team IPC has a head start in that area. Even if FlashMan wasn't going to start interfering with the race, they would've used her knowledge anyway. Like Mimic said, it's not cheating if you don't get caught.
The announcer finishes explaining the rules, and then declares the race officially started. Immediately, all of the NaviCars get moving - Chaud catches a flash of red and blue as RedSun and BlueMoon race out of the starting track with all the other NaviCars.
"Let's go!" Chaud gestures to Mimic and Lan. "Get to the service truck, hurry!"
The route the service trucks take to get to each pit stop is more straightforward than the route for the NaviCars, so they can get there ahead of time. The other trucks are already on the move as Chaud, Mimic, and Lan head to IPC's, and they're the last ones to leave when they get on-board.
Chaud takes out his PET and connects it to the console, and one half of the main screen becomes the interior of RedSun's NaviCar network. It shows ProtoMan in the driver's seat, focused on the road ahead, with Arcadia perched on the seat behind him, eyes closed so he can focus all of his attention on his Empath Program.
Lan does the same as Chaud, and now the interior of BlueMoon's NaviCar network appears on the other half of the screen. MegaMan is alone in his NaviCar, but like ProtoMan, he's focusing on driving.
"How're things so far?" Chaud asks them.
"Everything seems fine," MegaMan reports. "All systems green!"
ProtoMan can't reply since he can't hear Chaud - nor can he speak at the moment - so Arcadia replies for him.
"Temperature's a bit higher than we expected," Arcadia says. "When we get to the pit stop, check the tires first."
"Got it," Chaud agrees.
Meanwhile, Mimic is setting up a smaller screen next to the main screen. Chaud showed her how to do it, because he wanted someone to keep an eye on the race as a whole - he and Lan will be too busy keeping track of their Navis in the NaviCars, so Mimic can tell them when something happens.
Namely, when FlashMan starts to hypnotise other NaviCars into crashing. They trust their Navis to be able to handle the rest of the race on their own - but FlashMan needs to be watched, and if Mimic sees him getting too close to RedSun and BlueMoon, she can warn them.
On the main screen, the displays in the NaviCars are now showing a beach path. ProtoMan, Arcadia, and MegaMan - thanks to Mimic's information - already knew about the beach being part of the race, so they drive up the ramp and land on the sand without a single complaint. They're driving fairly smoothly, too - and Arcadia occasionally signs on ProtoMan's back and calls out to MegaMan at the same time, warning them both when another Navi is coming up behind them. They manage to stay in joint third place thanks to those warnings, being able to keep ahead of their competition.
"FlashMan," Mimic suddenly says.
Chaud and Lan glance at her screen, and she turns it a little to let them get a better look.
FlashMan's NaviCar is letting off strange lights that blink in and out of sight in a seemingly-random pattern. The NaviCar directly in front of him swerves, and then crashes into the beach wall without warning.
"Those lights must interfere with the display somehow," Chaud muses.
"Hypnotised Navis in the anime," Mimic reminds him. "Eyes went red and sparky."
"It might be some kind of system override, then," Chaud says. "He uses the display to distract Navis, and then hypnotises them into crashing their own NaviCars."
"Wouldn't the race officials notice something so obvious, though?" Lan asks.
"Not if he was smart about using it," Chaud replies. "It's only obvious to us because Mimic's seen it before, and we know what to look out for. To anyone else, it would seem unrelated, especially if FlashMan spaced out his use of the lights."
The NaviCars are now turning to the ocean, much to the surprise of the announcer - and the rest of the competitors, aside from ProtoMan, Arcadia, and MegaMan. RedSun and BlueMoon already had sea-worthy hardware built into them, because Chaud had researched other Navigation Car Races to see what kind of terrain their Navis might be expected to race on, and he was glad that he installed the sea-worthy hardware when Mimic told him the race would go onto the ocean.
As he watches, another NaviCar crashes - this time into the ocean, sinking beneath the water. He glances at Mimic's screen and just barely catches FlashMan's lights cutting off. So that one was also the work of FlashMan, then.
Another car sinks below the ocean, but this one isn't FlashMan's doing. Even without his interference, the risk of malfunctions within NaviCars is still relatively high - which may be another reason why the race officials aren't noticing FlashMan's cheating. Even if they did notice the amount of NaviCars crashing, they would probably put it down to malfunctions, rather than another racer actively forcing the other NaviCars to crash.
Chaud has to grudgingly admit that Saiko and FlashMan's plan is pretty smart. It's the kind of thing Mimic would come up with - exploiting things to get what you want, either by forcing something to go your way or simply manipulating things. Whatever the reason is that Saiko has to escape, Chaud has no doubts that he'll be back at some point, and will definitely be a formidable opponent to face.
The racers are heading onto the cove, now. It's a short drive from the cove to the road, and after that, the NaviCars will head to the service station so the pit crews can deal with any problems that might crop up. The only issue IPC's NaviCars have so far seems to be the temperature thing that Arcadia mentioned, so they shouldn't have much to worry about.
"He's coming up behind them," Mimic warns them.
Chaud glances at her screen and sees FlashMan's NaviCar steadily gaining on RedSun and BlueMoon. RedSun is lagging behind a little bit, allowing BlueMoon to take the lead for now, which they've been doing since the race began - trading the lead to each other, that is. But it looks like ProtoMan handing the lead to MegaMan means he'll be the one FlashMan will attempt to hypnotise.
"I sense a Navi coming up behind!" Arcadia exclaims, signing the words onto ProtoMan's back to warn him at the same time.
"It's FlashMan," Chaud tells their Navis. "Be careful."
"Right," MegaMan replies, while Arcadia nods and passes the message on to ProtoMan.
FlashMan's NaviCar begins to let off the hypnotising lights again. They have no effect on RedSun and BlueMoon - because, as Chaud told Lan, they aren't using their rear-view displays.
Mimic told him that ProtoMan was almost hypnotised in the anime, but got lucky when MegaMan distracted him before it could work. If their rear-view displays were turned on now, MegaMan wouldn't be able to distract ProtoMan in time to stop him from getting hypnotised - and Arcadia may not be able to do it instead, because they don't know if the hypnotising lights work on two Navis at the same time.
They don't seem to work on two NaviCars at the same time, from what Chaud's seen so far. But ProtoMan and Arcadia are the only Navis in the race who're driving the same NaviCar - and no one wants to find out if the lights will work on both of them because of that.
FlashMan's lights go off after a few moments, when it becomes clear that they're not working on RedSun. Mimic also said that Saiko and FlashMan seemed to have it out for ProtoMan after the failed attempt to hypnotise him in the anime - FlashMan even tried to sabotage RedSun during the second pit stop, but luckily didn't get anything done because IceMan was in the network and distracted him long enough for ProtoMan and MegaMan to arrive and get rid of FlashMan.
IceMan isn't here to provide a distraction, but Arcadia is. And he's more than capable of taking care of FlashMan on his own anyway.
The pit stop lasts for fifteen minutes, giving all Teams the same amount of time to service their NaviCars. RedSun and BlueMoon are the third NaviCars to arrive, since they've managed to keep their third place thanks to a combination of Arcadia's Empath Program and not bothering with the rear-view displays.
They already know about FlashMan interfering with the race, so they just need to focus on the NaviCars for now. Chaud turns ProtoMan's audio program back on as he comes back into his PET, and Arcadia follows him, looking a little weary.
"You okay?" Mimic asks, looking over Chaud's shoulder to peer at her Navi in concern.
"I've never used my Empath Program so much, not like this anyway," Arcadia says. He leans against ProtoMan, who adjusts how he's standing so he can take some of Arcadia's weight more comfortably.
"Just rest for a while," Chaud tells him. "You won't need to use it like that again until after the pit stop is over, anyway."
"I'll look after him," ProtoMan promises, while his shadows drift around Arcadia gently. Some of them brush up against Arcadia's head, and he closes his eyes, looking relieved, and Chaud remembers that the shadows are cold - which must feel pretty good for an Empath Program-induced headache.
Chaud exchanges an amused glance with Mimic as he pockets his PET, and then they get to work on checking out RedSun. Lan can handle the work on BlueMoon alone - besides, MegaMan has already reported that there aren't any problems with BlueMoon, so the only thing Lan needs to do is perform a cursory check.
On the other hand, Chaud wants to look into this temperature issue with RedSun. Arcadia said to check the tires first, so that's what he does - he gives Mimic mental instructions on what to do, and while she's definitely not a technologically-minded person, she's pretty good at following instructions like this if they're simple enough for her to understand.
The issue turns out to be an overheating problem with the engine, which transferred to the tires through the underside of the car. It's an easy problem to fix, so all he has to do is open up the hood and mess with the interior.
You're pretty good at technical stuff, Mimic comments, as she leans on the edge of the NaviCar to idly watch him work.
Jealous that I'm smarter than you? Chaud teases. Wrench, please.
Mimic reaches into the toolbox and hands over the requested wrench. You won't be saying that when I kick your ass in Pokken Tournament, she replies.
You don't have that game, Chaud reminds her.
Ah-hah, not yet I don't! Mimic grins at him. Next time I get paid, I'm buying that game. Then I'll kick your ass.
Would it be a fair fight, though? Chaud wonders. Screwdriver.
She hands it to him as she replies. You're not completely helpless with games, you know, Mimic tells him. No one's terrible at every single game. Besides, you have to have picked up something from me after all this time.
Maybe, Chaud muses. I guess we'll see.
Guess we will, Mimic replies.
Chaud fixes the overheating problem, and gets MegaMan to test RedSun, since ProtoMan's still occupied with helping Arcadia deal with his headache. Chaud has no objections to that - they're brothers, after all, and he's pretty sure ProtoMan would complain if he had to leave Arcadia while he's hurting. Besides, Chaud doesn't mind anyway.
RedSun's overheating problem has been solved, and just in time for the pit stop to be over. The NaviCars start up again as the humans head back into the trucks, and the second part of the race begins.
They're only on the road for a minute or two, and then they race into a forest area. Chaud feels a spark of recognition from Mimic and guesses this must be the forest she saw in the anime - now all they have to do is hope that, if it comes down to it, her coordinates and the scanners are enough for their Navis to get through this second part.
"FlashMan's coming," Mimic warns him.
Chaud checks her screen and narrows his eyes when he sees FlashMan's car coming up behind RedSun and BlueMoon. The rear-view displays are already switched off, and the only warning the Navis have is Arcadia's Empath Program - he's already gotten a sense of FlashMan's mind from the last time he sensed him, so Arcadia's able to distinguish him easily this time.
When the flashing lights inevitably don't work, FlashMan's engines begin to charge. Chaud recognises it as a turbocharger, and he wonders if Team Shine's car has the engine power to handle such a piece of hardware. Most people who build NaviCars - Chaud included - are wary of adding in things like turbochargers given how volatile the systems can be with power boosts like that.
FlashMan's car shoots between RedSun and BlueMoon. The turbocharger cuts off almost immediately - so it looks like that was only good for a temporary boost, not a continuous one.
"Tell ProtoMan to turn off the display!" MegaMan calls to Arcadia.
"Right!" Arcadia replies. He quickly signs onto ProtoMan's back, and ProtoMan jerks his head in a quick nod.
The NaviCar displays turn to static-snow upon the command of ProtoMan and MegaMan. Chaud can't look at the display for too long without feeling a little dizzy, so he turns his attention to Mimic's screen, and sees lights flashing on the back of FlashMan's NaviCar.
"Left forty, keep straight three-hundred metres, right seventy," Mimic mutters under her breath.
They just have to hope this is the right place for those coordinates to work. If not, they can use the scanners - but Chaud would rather not rely on the scanners, in case they get caught out by the race officials. He suspects the only reason they did it in the anime was because there was literally no other choice, but here, they have a wider range of options.
RedSun and BlueMoon shoot past FlashMan's car, and continue going. Chaud keeps an eye on their paths as they go, but despite the lack of visuals, they're running smoothly. Looks like Mimic's coordinates were right, then - and they don't have to use the scanners because of it.
Never call yourself an idiot ever again, Chaud tells Mimic. We're getting through this race because of everything you've told us.
Objectively speaking, I'm still an idiot, Mimic says.
Realistically speaking, then.
That's the same thing.
He doesn't think it is, but Mimic doesn't know the difference between objective and realistic, so he doesn't bother arguing the point.
The second - and final - pit stop comes up quickly. When they're far enough away from FlashMan, MegaMan turns back on his display and tells Arcadia to get ProtoMan to do the same, and they stop at the service station so Chaud, Mimic, and Lan can check the NaviCars over.
By this point, there are only five NaviCars left in the race. RedSun and BlueMoon share joint third place as of the second part of the race, while Gigantes and Zombietto are fighting for first and second place. FlashMan's NaviCar is fourth, which is now the official last place spot, and Chaud has no doubts that Saiko isn't happy about that.
"There weren't any problems I could see while driving," ProtoMan reports. "If there were any sounds, Arcadia would've told me - so I think everything's fine, for now."
"Let's hope it stays that way," Chaud says. He glances over at Lan, who's checking BlueMoon again. "Seems like MegaMan's doing just fine, too."
"I don't know how he can stand the noise," ProtoMan mutters, poking his tongue out with a disgusted expression.
"He's a human-Navi, not a cat-Navi like you," Chaud reminds him.
"I'm aware of that, but the noise is just stupid . . ." ProtoMan pulls back his lips and bares his teeth. "Why can't you humans invent vehicles that don't make noise? Is that too much to ask? Or do you make these things just to piss me off?"
"Yes, humans make noisy things purely to annoy one specific NetNavi," Chaud says dryly.
"Don't mock me when you're wearing those earmuffs!"
"You're the reason I'm wearing these earmuffs," Chaud retorts.
ProtoMan hisses at him, though Chaud can tell he's fighting to keep a grin off his face.
Then the joking mood abruptly vanishes as he picks up a pulse of surprise mixed with mild anger from Mimic. Chaud glances over at her and sees that she's gripping her PET in her hands while glaring over at Team Shine's truck.
Arcadia just fought off FlashMan, Mimic tells Chaud, without taking her eyes off Team Shine's truck.
"Start the NaviCars," Chaud quickly orders, turning off ProtoMan's audio program again before he jacks him back into RedSun.
As soon as Lan gets MegaMan back into BlueMoon, the race is back on. This time, the race course seems to be more of a straightforward path, so the trucks simply follow along behind, just barely managing to keep up with the speeding NaviCars.
Mimic still keeps an eye on FlashMan, and when he abruptly veers off the path to cut ahead, she warns them what's going to happen. Even with her warning, it's still somewhat of a surprise when FlashMan's lights hypnotise Gigantes into smashing Zombietto out of the race, and then it turns around and heads straight for RedSun and BlueMoon.
This time, ProtoMan doesn't need a warning from Arcadia, because he can see the danger just fine. He and MegaMan easily dodge the hypnotised Gigantes, swerve around the wreckage of Zombietto, and give chase to FlashMan's NaviCar.
At this point, it's less about the race and more about stopping FlashMan. Not just because he's an Asteroid Navi using his abilities to sabotage the Navigation Car Race, but also because Chaud kind of wants some sort of revenge for FlashMan pretty much targeting ProtoMan throughout the race. No one tries to hurt his NetNavi and gets away with it. Consequences be damned, Chaud will not stand for this.
The race keeps going for a while, but it's not long before FlashMan's NaviCar suddenly serves to a stop. Chaud already knows what's about to happen even before Mimic warns them - a burst of light engulfs FlashMan's NaviCar, and then FlashMan himself steps out of the light as it fades.
RedSun and BlueMoon skid to a halt some distance away. Chaud orders the driver of IPC's truck to stop, and he, Mimic, and Lan rush out to confront Asteroid FlashMan just as Team Shine's truck comes to a stop, and Saiko dashes out, stopping just beyond FlashMan.
Chaud takes out his PET and calls SciLab just as ProtoMan comes back. "SciLab, we need a dimensional area!"
Famous is on-duty this time - Chaud briefly wonders if that man ever actually takes a break, because he always seems to be on-duty for this kind of thing - and he quickly confirms Chaud's request before the call ends.
It takes mere moments for the dimensional area to form up around them, closing them into an area big enough for them to fight in - and an area that hopefully will prevent others from getting trapped. The announcer's helicopter is circling above the barrier, and both service trucks are just on the outside as well, thankfully.
"Synchro chip, download!" Chaud exclaims. "Cross Fusion!"
If he wasn't so focused on defeating FlashMan, he might have noticed that ProtoMan's voice didn't join his as he said 'Cross Fusion'. Lan downloads his own synchro chip with the same words, MegaMan's voice joining his, and Mimic downloads her own with her usual silence. But they don't need voice confirmation to download synchro chips, so it doesn't matter.
The light of Cross Fusion dies down, and everything is silent.
Chaud stops dead in his tracks, looking around as if he can find the source of the silence - but there's nothing that could've caused something like this. Was it something FlashMan did during the race? Maybe those flashing lights had more of an effect on ProtoMan than they'd thought, even though they'd never actually seen them.
A blue hand suddenly waves in front of his face, and he jumps. Lan steps in front of him, but Chaud can't see his mouth because his mouthguard is up. He feels a slight breeze as Mimic comes down from the air and turns to Lan, whose eyes widen after a few moments.
Chaud tries to ask what's going on, but when he opens his mouth, nothing comes out. It's not just because he can't hear anything - he'd be able to feel his voice working if it was just that. No, his voice just isn't working at all. He can't even feel the vibration of his own voice in his throat.
What's going on!? Chaud cries, clutching at his throat and trying to speak again.
You didn't turn on my audio program before we Cross Fused, ProtoMan tells him. I tried to warn you, but I couldn't speak, and I couldn't get your attention quick enough for sign language . . .
. . . Oh, Chaud says, now feeling completely foolish. I'm sorry . . .
Chaud? Mimic suddenly asks. Can you still hear me?
ProtoMan! Arcadia calls.
We can hear you, Chaud and ProtoMan reply.
Before they can speak more - well, sort of - Lan suddenly grabs Chaud and drags him to the side. Chaud's about to demand what the hell that's about, but then a blast of electrified light shoots past them, and he realises Lan just pulled him out of the way of an attack.
He couldn't hear it coming. He's deaf and mute, all because he forgot to turn ProtoMan's audio program back on before Cross Fusing.
You'll just need to keep FlashMan in sight, Arcadia says. Dark Shadow? Can you hear me?
Arcadia's Dark Immunity doesn't allow him to hear Dark Shadow's 'voice', such as it is, but it can definitely hear him. It forms out of Chaud's shadows and looks over at him.
Will keep them safe, it says.
There's a pause as Mimic translates that for Arcadia.
Okay, good, Arcadia says. We'll try and keep FlashMan away from you - try to stick to long-range attacks for now.
But they can't download battle chips, Mimic points out. It's voice-activated, and they can't talk!
Use me to throw, Dark Shadow suggests. Mimic translates for Arcadia as it speaks. Projectile attack to throw at enemy. Protect host and host-brother.
We'll tell Lan, Mimic says.
She turns to Lan and presumably speaks to him. Chaud doesn't hear a thing, nor does he see her mouth moving, because like Lan, Mimic has her mouthguard up. At any other time, Chaud wouldn't care about such a tiny detail - but right now he's not enjoying this, because he can't tell when people are talking or even when there's an attack heading right for him.
Lan nods to Mimic, then turns to Chaud and raises his hands. [don't worry we can do this] he signs quickly.
Chaud nods back. Mimic and Lan dash past on either side of him, and he turns around to watch them heading for FlashMan. Mimic takes to the air as she runs, smoothly switching between running and flying, and Lan activates his Mega Buster while he runs along under her.
FlashMan might shout something, or he might not - Chaud doesn't hear him, and the only person whose mouth he can see moving is Saiko's, but he's too far away for Chaud to see him properly. Mimic was right - things are kind of blurry the further away they are. Chaud's pretty sure his eyesight wasn't like this before Cross Fusion, but he's not going to blame ProtoMan for something as ridiculous as this, especially when the pros very much outweigh the cons.
Mimic fires a stream of Holy Fire in FlashMan's face, then beats her wings and shoots up into the air to avoid FlashMan's retaliatory attack. Lan shoots a blast from his Mega Buster, which bounces off FlashMan's armour, and the Asteroid Navi looks down at him.
Chaud gathers his remaining shadows into shadow-claws. Dark Shadow grips his hand and he pulls his arm back, then hurls his shadow-double as hard as he can.
FlashMan's head jerks up and Chaud clearly sees his eyes widening, even through the blur of distance, a moment before Dark Shadow slams into him like a torpedo and sends him staggering back a few paces.
Dark Shadow immediately bursts into tendrils and rushes back over to Chaud, prowling around him protectively while its split-mouth opens up. Chaud doesn't know if ProtoMan's audio program being turned off affects it as well, but it's clearly static-hissing even though it might be mute like he is right now.
FlashMan tries to attack Chaud, sending out another blast of electrified light. It comes nowhere near him, though, because Mimic gets in front of the attack and downloads three Barriers at once, creating the Barrier program advance. FlashMan's attack explodes upon impact and fizzles out in a burst of sparks.
I could've defended myself, you know, Chaud tells Mimic, as she gets back into the air and hurls a Firebomb at FlashMan. I still have the Proto Shield!
Shush, just let me save you, my pretty long-haired damsel in distress, Mimic retorts teasingly.
Pretty long-haired damsel? Chaud repeats incredulously. Did you turn into Charlie when I wasn't looking?
That startles Mimic into laughter, and she nearly falls out of the air. Chaud can't hear her laughing, but he feels her amusement through their connection, and is thankful that the audio program doesn't affect it.
Some distance away, Lan downloads a Long Blade and hacks away at FlashMan, who tries to use his arm-swords in retaliation, but Lan's smaller and more agile and easily dodges the attempted attacks. He jumps back to avoid a swipe from FlashMan and slashes at the Asteroid Navi, then suddenly glances over his shoulder and ducks a moment later.
Chaud realises Mimic must have called out to him, giving him a split-second warning before she lets loose an Avenger's Arrow. It explodes into white fire upon impact, and Chaud blinks in surprise - he'd thought Arcadia's Avenger's Arrows only exploded like that when his Dark Immunity ability was activated.
Arcadia's power is boosted with Cross Fusion, ProtoMan points out. I'd guess that Mimic's power is about the same as when Arcadia's Dark Immunity has been activated.
How powerful would she be if Dark Immunity was activated during Cross Fusion? Chaud wonders.
He feels a faint sense of hesitance through his shared mind with ProtoMan. Humans can't handle ultimate program abilities, remember? ProtoMan tells him. I don't want to find out what would happen if Dark Immunity gets activated during Cross Fusion.
Chaud instantly understands what he means. He remembers how Lan had tired himself out during the final battle with Dr. Regal after trying to use MegaMan's Double Soul (though thanks to Full Synchro, he was able to use it with no problems later on), and Mimic had almost killed herself when she went Poltergeist in the same battle.
ProtoMan's right. They really don't want to find out what would happen to Mimic if Arcadia's Dark Immunity ability was activated during Cross Fusion.
But for now, her power is more than enough to deal with their opponents. The Avenger's Arrow she fired off was the last attack they needed to defeat FlashMan, and he vanishes in a swarm of pixels as his pained bellow echoes throughout the valley.
The dimensional area vanishes at the same moment, and suddenly there's sound.
It's overwhelming after the silence, and Chaud collapses to his knees, clamping his hands over his ears - or earmuffs - to try and block out the sudden rush of sound. His PET clatters to the ground beside him, and he can see ProtoMan frantically waving his arms on the screen, but he's still deaf and mute and there's not much he can do like that.
He senses Mimic coming a moment before her red shoes appear in his vision, and he looks up as she crouches in front of him with a worried look.
Give it a minute, she tells him. Just relax.
He's never been more thankful that she prefers to speak mentally when talking to him. Mental voices aren't loud like verbal voices are.
Is this sensory overload? He's pretty sure Mimic went through something like this after ProtoMan and Arcadia got trapped in the deep web, but their connection wasn't anything like it is now, so he never really experienced it for himself. And he's kind of glad he didn't, because if this is how loud things are after being deaf for a few minutes, he can't imagine the pain of being forced to endure that kind of thing for an entire day. And they weren't even using Cross Fusion back then!
Gradually, the sound becomes more bearable, and Chaud cautiously takes his hands off his earmuffs. He still needs them, of course - the same way Mimic needs them - but he doesn't need to press them over his ears anymore.
"Chaud?" ProtoMan's voice calls out softly. Mimic must have turned his audio program back on while Chaud was recovering from the sensory overload. "Are you okay now?"
"I'm f-fine," Chaud replies. He picks up his PET and sees that Arcadia is standing next to ProtoMan, giving him a worried look identical to Mimic's and ProtoMan's. "Really, I'm good now. It's just normal sensitivity again."
ProtoMan looks relieved. "Thank god for that," he sighs. "I'm sorry I couldn't get your attention sooner. Even I didn't realise how my audio program would affect Cross Fusion . . ."
"It was mostly my fault," Chaud reminds him. "I completely forgot to turn it back on."
"Speaking of . . ." ProtoMan suddenly looks mildly exasperated. "Can we not do this again? I'm sick of having my audio program turned off just so I can participate in some ridiculously loud race."
Chaud laughs. "You know I can't promise that."
ProtoMan lets out a groan that sounds more like a wail, and Arcadia reaches up to give him a half-sarcastic consoling pat on the shoulder.
Lan jogs up to them just then, looking a little disgruntled. "Saiko got away," he reports. "I tried to chase him, but he got into his car and drove off. I didn't even know these things could be modified for humans . . ."
Mimic knew, though. She told Chaud about this, too, but they agreed not to say anything to Lan - if he knew Saiko would modify his NaviCar to be driven by a human, he might've found some way to prevent Saiko from escaping. He wouldn't listen to reason (or lack of reason) and let Saiko get away; that's just not the kind of person he is.
That's not a bad thing, but it does get in the way of making sure things go the way they should. Chaud and Mimic are trying to plan for the long-term, to make sure key events happen (whatever those key events may be - only Mimic knows, and she'll tell people when they need to know, not before), but Lan is more focused on the here-and-now and would rather arrest every criminal they fight against as soon as possible.
Thanks to FlashMan ruining the race, no one wins. All the NaviCars - even the ones that were crashed by FlashMan or simply malfunctioned on their own - are taken back to the starting point for the ceremony, such as it is when there's no winner.
It's loud and there are flashing lights everywhere, so Chaud and Mimic are wearing sunglasses along with their earmuffs. They're not as pointed as the ones Mimic wore when she and Raoul were pranking Lan, but they're of a similar design, and Lan teases Chaud for choosing a design of sunglasses that looks almost exactly like ProtoMan's visor. Mimic shuts him up by pointedly asking about his headband, though.
Do you think Shuseki will get mad at you for not winning the race? Mimic wonders, while Lan pouts a few feet away.
Chaud hesitates for a split second.
He shouldn't, he replies. Even without Mimic being able to sense his emotions, she can easily hear the uncertainty in his tone, and she gives him a worried look. He won't. The race was ruined, and it wasn't even my fault, so he can't blame me for this.
He might find some way to blame you anyway, Mimic says quietly.
I know. Chaud swallows a sudden rush of anxiety and tries to remain positive. But if I can explain what happened, he'll understand. He won't punish me for the actions of someone else.
He doesn't need his connection with Mimic to know what she's thinking. The look on her face says it all - she, like Chaud, knows that his father will probably find some way to blame him for this, even if it's not his fault. The only question is, how will Father punish him if he does blame Chaud?