"Alright," Chaud says, "are you ready for this?"
"Uh, yeah, but . . ." ProtoMan tilts his head questioningly. "Why're you dressed like that?"
He gestures to Chaud's outfit - it's the same style as Raoul's disco outfit, but instead of a one-piece suit made out of spandex (or whatever the hell the stretchy material that Raoul's outfit is made from is called), it's a white suit with red trimmings. He's also wearing a large black afro wig and circle-shaped sunglasses.
"I've been meaning to ask all day," ProtoMan says. "What the hell is that? I know you have the fashion sense of an empty program, but seriously."
"The fashion sense of a what?"
"Don't change the subject, I asked you a question first!"
Chaud sighs. "It's a disguise, ProtoMan," he replies. "Like how you're wearing that Masked Red outfit."
"The cape feels weird and itchy and I don't like it," ProtoMan informs him, successfully distracted from Chaud's disguise. "Can I take it off?"
"No," Chaud says. "It's a disguise, remember, so you need to keep it on while we're at this tournament."
"This tournament is boring as fuck."
"Still swearing like a sailor, I see," a new voice laughs.
Chaud and ProtoMan look up as Raoul enters the dressing room. He, too, is wearing his disco outfit as a disguise - and ThunderMan's already wearing his Masked Thunder outfit, too.
"Finals are in fifteen minutes, by the way," Raoul tells Chaud.
Chaud nods his thanks and looks back at ProtoMan. "See? You only have to endure this tournament and your disguise a little longer."
"A little longer my ass," ProtoMan grumbles. "You said that this morning, and now it's mid-afternoon. This is taking way too long and I don't like it and I don't like you right now and-"
Chaud mutes his PET. ProtoMan keeps talking for a few moments before he realises that no one's responding, and Chaud sees the moment that he realises he's been muted.
ProtoMan looks completely offended. His hair bushes out and his mouth snaps open, and the only reason Chaud knows he's screaming his indignant anger is because his PET's screen flickers and glitches in time with ProtoMan's spiking shadows.
" . . . He's got a temper," Raoul comments, looking a little startled.
"He can still hear you," Chaud informs him.
Raoul freezes awkwardly. "Um . . ." After a short pause, he clears his throat and continues speaking. "S-so, uh, we should . . . we should probably head to the arena. And hopefully your crazy cat-Navi won't try and murder me."
"Don't worry, he only tries to kill people who insult me, Mimic, or Arcadia," Chaud tells him.
That doesn't seem to put Raoul at ease.
Half an hour later, Chaud is almost literally thrown out of the Shouting Tournament. The only reason security doesn't actually touch him is because ProtoMan is cussing up a storm and threatening to bring down the entire building if anyone so much as looks at Chaud wrong. Even though Chaud hasn't jacked his Navi into the network, the security guards who escort him out of the building look extremely nervous.
He's left outside to wait for Raoul, who won the match by default and is currently being presented with the Shouting Trophy. The awards ceremony should only take a few minutes, so Chaud wanders over to a nearby bench and settles down to wait.
"I can't believe you did that," Chaud sighs, staring at the building absently.
His PET's screen flickers into view beside him. ProtoMan seems pretty huffy, and on anyone else, Chaud would've called that expression a pout. On ProtoMan, it's more like an annoyed scowl.
"Crybaby losers," ProtoMan sniffs. "They're just salty that I won."
"You got us kicked out of the tournament because you broke the sound board," Chaud reminds him. "You didn't win a damn thing."
"It's not my fault their sound board was weak!" ProtoMan protests. "If they can't handle my screaming, they shouldn't have set up this ridiculous tournament in the first place!"
"I think they wanted you to shout, actually," Chaud says. "With words, not just . . . not just a scream."
"I checked the rules, and they said wordless screaming was okay," ProtoMan replies. "I assumed that meant it'd be fine for me to do it, but apparently not, because they're all weak little crybabies who can't even handle one Poltergeist-level scream!"
"Thank god it wasn't the actual Poltergeist, or you would've gotten us arrested instead," Chaud mutters.
He can't imagine how that one would go down. What would Hunter say if he found out that Chaud and ProtoMan got arrested for something so ridiculous? And on top of that, the only reason they even entered this tournament in the first place was because they needed to do it for a case they're currently working on.
Though Chaud's not entirely sure if their plan will work now that he and ProtoMan have been kicked out of the tournament. Honestly, they're lucky they even got as far as the finals to start off with - ProtoMan's just been screaming his head off the entire day and blasting them through each Shouting Match in the tournament, winning with ease, until he got overexcited in the finals and broke the sound board.
Or maybe he was just bored, Chaud thinks, remembering what ProtoMan was saying before the finals match actually began. This is probably karma for something, he knows it - he did something to piss of some kind of higher power, so he's being punished with ProtoMan's habit of being an idiot and getting himself into trouble.
ProtoMan continues complaining about the 'crybabies who couldn't handle my screaming', and Chaud tunes him out. He raises his head and look up, peering at Duo's comet burning brightly against the blue sky.
His mind automatically goes back to the moment he and Mimic received their half-Crests, after they told Lan about their decision to stay in Netopia. Was that deliberate? Did Duo choose to give them their half-Crests at that moment, or was it just mere coincidence?
Mimic isn't really sure, either. The last time Chaud went to visit her and Dr. Hikari at the crater, he asked her about the Crests, and she told him some more about them. There's going to be more people getting these Crests, she'd said, but she doesn't know if Duo only gives out the Crests to the chosen people once they've proven themselves, or if the Crests just show up randomly and sometimes that happens to be after one of the chosen has done something note-worthy.
She'd also told him that thirteen people have been chosen to bear the Crest of Duo. Lan is the first, obviously - and Chaud and Mimic's half-Crests count as one, so they're the second. That means there're eleven more people who're going to get Crests. And Mimic knows who they all are, but she's not telling anyone. They need to figure this stuff out for themselves.
Chaud smiles to himself. It's actually kind of fun, wondering who the next person to get a Crest will be. Maybe it'll be someone they know?
He notices movement from the building and tears his eyes away from Duo's comet. Raoul's disco outfit is dinstinctive enough that Chaud instantly recognises him even though his far-off vision is blurry and terrible, so he gets to his feet and meets Raoul halfway.
"Well?" Chaud asks.
Raoul sighs. "Not a thing," he replies. "The awards ceremony went off without a hitch. Not even any of the other contestants vanished."
"Dammit," Chaud mutters. "I thought this would work. Guess this tournament was a waste of time . . ."
"I told you!" ProtoMan bursts out. "By the way, can I take off this stupid disguise now? It's making me hot and I don't like it."
"You're a cat, you're supposed to like warm things," Chaud points out.
"Warm, yeah, but not stupidly hot." ProtoMan shifts, wincing, and Chaud realises that underneath the childish complaints, he is actually genuinely uncomfortable.
"You can take it off now," Chaud tells him, and the look of sheer relief on ProtoMan's face makes him feel a flicker of guilt for basically forcing his Navi to wear something so obviously uncomfortable the entire day, and somehow not noticing.
Maybe they should figure out some other kind of disguise for ProtoMan. It'd be better if they could find something he can wear without getting uncomfortable, especially if they need to use these disguises again for any reason. Chaud had thought that a similar disguise to the one that ThunderMan's wearing would be just fine, but evidently not.
ProtoMan's disguise isn't the only thing they need to re-think, though. They'd entered the Shouting Tournament to lure out a criminal they're trying to track down, but Raoul said that nothing happened at the awards ceremony, so this really was a waste of time.
They head back to HQ to take off their disguises - well, Chaud and Raoul need to take off their disguises, anyway. ProtoMan took his off the absolute second he was allowed to, and ThunderMan kept his on for a little longer, simply enjoying the cape, but he also took his disguise off before they reached HQ. When they're back in their normal clothes, Chaud and Raoul make their way to mission control, where they meet with Hunter.
The main monitor shows a video of a hula dance competition. Humans are dancing on the stage, and there's a screen above them showing NetNavis copying their operator's movements. After a few moments, a gust of wind blows on the Navi screen, and the Navis vanish from sight.
"Jawaii Island's Hula Dance Competition," Hunter says. He clicks a button on the remote, and now the screen shows another video.
This one is another competition, though Chaud doesn't immediately recognise what it is. Like with the hula dance competition, there are humans, and above them, a screen showing NetNavis copying their operators' movements. Another gust of wind blows on the Navi screen, and once again the Navis vanish.
"Choina's Taijiquan Competition."
The last video that comes onto the screen is a fashion show. A model is walking up the catwalk toward three other models, and above them is a screen showing three NetNavis wearing different styles of dresses. Like the other two videos, a gust of wind blows on the Navi screen, and the three fashion-Navis vanish.
"And a fashion show in Creamland," Hunter finishes.
Hunter clicks another button, and this time, all three videos appear on-screen, showing the point where the Navis all vanished. He turns to Chaud and Raoul, who're seated at the end of the U-shaped table in mission control.
"Large numbers of NetNavis have suddenly begun to vanish across the cyberworld," Hunter tells them. "You already know the primary targets of the kidnapper - whoever they are - seem to be Navis who take part in competitions such as those shown here. But we also know that the kidnapper will go after places where there are large numbers of NetNavis, although they have yet to hit any of the Internet Cities across the world."
"Have you checked the data logs?" Chaud asks. He'd asked Hunter if he could take care of that while he and Raoul were out trying to lure in the kidnapper, though of course they failed at that. He's hoping Hunter had better luck.
But Hunter shakes his head. "There's nothing," he reports. "With this many Navis missing, there should be a large amount of network usage. But we haven't even found any traces of transmission records."
"Well, they didn't just go poof!" ProtoMan exclaims, as the holographic screen flickers into view beside Chaud. "Is someone taking Navis like Nebula did? Maybe they were all teleported somewhere."
"It's an idea, but even with simple teleportation, there should be some kind of transmission records left behind," Hunter replies. "Instead, there's absolutely nothing. In fact, it's almost as if the Navis never even left the scenes they were taken from in the first place."
"Maybe we should check out these places for ourselves," Raoul suggests. "Are there any in Heaven's City? Or anywhere nearby?"
"The closest Navi disappearance case in Netopia is Brand City," Hunter answers. He winces. "It's hours away, even by plane."
"Just a few minutes on the internet," ProtoMan points out.
"And what'll happen if you get kidnapped while you're in Brand City's cyberworld?" Chaud asks, and ProtoMan pauses.
" . . . Forget it, then," he sighs.
ThunderMan appears beside him on the screen and gives ProtoMan a consoling pat on the head. "Don't worry about it, kid, it was a good idea anyway."
"Kid?" ProtoMan looks almost offended. "I'm pretty sure we're the same age. I might even be older than you!"
"You don't act like it," ThunderMan laughs.
ProtoMan sticks his tongue out at him, proving ThunderMan's point.
Hunter speaks up, interrupting them. "I don't think we're going to get anywhere at the moment," he says. "How about we head off to do that product test of yours, Chaud? Maybe if we come back to this case with fresh minds, we'll figure something out."
Chaud perks up. "Yes, of course!" he agrees. He glances at Raoul. "Do you still have the Electric Grid I gave you?"
"Yeah," Raoul replies, taking it out of his pocket to show it to Chaud. "Don't worry, kiddo, I'm not gonna lose something so important."
It had actually been ProtoMan's idea to give the Electric Grid to Raoul and ThunderMan. Chaud was supposed to be testing it, but he had no idea what to do with it - the Electric Grid, as the name implies, it meant to be used on Elec-element Navis, and ProtoMan is a Null-element Navi. He couldn't ask Mimic to help out, since Arcadia is also a Null-element Navi (even though his Holy Fire is Heat-element), so he was stuck.
And then ProtoMan pointed out that ThunderMan is an Elec-element Navi, and Chaud had been shocked that he hadn't thought of that before ("ProtoMan, you're a genius!" he'd cried, and ProtoMan had cheered, "Yeah-heh!", and then five minutes later he accidentally broke a program in Chaud's PET while he and Dark Shadow were playing catch).
So, now Raoul's got the Electric Grid, a custom part created exclusively to power up the abilities of Elec-element Navis like ThunderMan. If this product test goes well, the Electric Grid will go on sale next week, and if it sells well enough, IPC's R&D department is planning on creating Grids for other Navi elements, too.
But for now, Chaud will focus on the Electric Grid. They still need to make sure it works the way it should, after all.
They head to HQ's battle practise area. It gets more use than the one in Japan's Net Police HQ, mainly because the Netopian Net Police are more willing to NetBattle each other or practise their skills in NetBattle machines, whereas the Japanese Net Police only really practise their skills on the job.
Chaud honestly prefers the work ethic of the Netopian Net Police. Most of the Japanese Net Savers that Chaud has met haven't really been entirely friendly toward him and only saw their jobs as just jobs, rather than something they could enjoy, and he never interacted with the rest of the Net Police outside of Kifune and Manabe. The Netopian Net Police and Net Savers are almost the exact opposite - plus, they have the advantage over the Japanese Net Police in that they've never tried to lock him and Mimic away 'for their own safety'.
But that's not why they're here. He doesn't want to get distracted thinking about how much he prefers the Netopian Net Police over the Japanese Net Police - he's doing his job as the vice president of IPC at the moment, not his job as a Net Saver.
Raoul jacks ThunderMan into a NetBattle machine in the practise area. Hunter starts up the program, and a bunch of Lark viruses appear.
ThunderMan begins to delete them with multiple Energy Beams of pure electricity. It's impressive to watch - he's a powerful NetNavi, and Chaud can easily see why Lan and MegaMan enjoyed NetBattling against them.
Maybe when Chaud gets some time off, he'll challenge Raoul to a NetBattle. ProtoMan would love to fight ThunderMan - after he got over his initial fear of ThunderMan, they became pretty good friends, and ProtoMan's always up for battling his friends.
"Arcadia says Mimic thinks Fishy viruses should be called Birdy viruses," ProtoMan suddenly says, while they're watching ThunderMan take out the Larks.
Chaud glances at his PET's holographic screen questioningly, and ProtoMan shrugs.
"She says they look like birds, apparently," he says. "I just thought of it when I saw the Larks - these things look like fish, so Mimic would probably say these should be called Fishy viruses, and the Fishys should be called Larks."
Chaud blinks and looks at the NetBattle machine. ThunderMan has just deleted all of the Larks, but as Hunter programs more of them to appear, Chaud studies them a little closer.
And . . . he sees what ProtoMan means. The Larks do look like fish. Mimic has a good point, he thinks. The Fishy viruses look like birds, and the Larks look like fish - why? Who the hell looked at these things and decided to name them like this?
Raoul attaches the Electric Grid to his PET, and then ThunderMan blasts out another Energy Beam. This time, it's far more powerful, and ThunderMan only needs to use a single Energy Beam to delete all of the Larks.
Raoul cheers. "This thing is great!" He turns to Chaud and grins. "What do you think, kiddo?"
"It seems to be working just fine," Chaud replies, returning the grin. ProtoMan bounces on the holographic screen beside him. "Better than fine, from what I can see."
"To think that this thing can increase power so much that it would make such a difference to the same technique," Hunter says in awe. "And you say your company's going to try making these for all elements? Not just Elec?"
"If this one sells well enough, yeah," Chaud agrees.
"It should," Hunter tells him optimistically. "If this is what the prototype does, I'd love to see what the actual product does."
Raoul laughs boisterously. "Now all we need for this is some practical tests!" he exclaims. "How about we electrocute that kidnapper? That should be a good use of this thing."
"If we can even find them," Hunter retorts. He narrows his eyes thoughtfully, and then turns to Chaud. "Do you think your sister could help us?"
Chaud stares at him blankly. Does he think Mimic would know something about this case from the anime? It could be likely, sure, but she doesn't know everything that's going to happen. She said the anime focused on Lan and MegaMan as the protagonists, and it never showed much of Chaud's anime-self while he was in Netopia, so she might not know anything about this case to start off with.
"Of course!" ProtoMan exclaims, perking up. "Arcadia might be able to use his Empath Program to see if there's any traces of the kidnapped NetNavis left behind!"
"Yeah, that's it," Hunter agrees with a nod. He looks at Chaud hopefully. "Do you think Mimic would be willing to lend us a hand? Or Arcadia."
Chaud honestly can't believe he didn't think of that. His mind just automatically went to thinking that Mimic would know about this from the anime, and he didn't even consider that she might be able to help in other ways, too - namely, that she could send Arcadia over to help them out.
And ProtoMan figured out what Hunter meant immediately. It's a good thing he's here and far more willing to speak up than he used to be before Mimic came to this world - Chaud would've missed Hunter's actual meaning entirely if not for him.
But, well . . . even if he knows what Hunter actually meant now, thanks to ProtoMan . . .
"I don't know if they could help us," Chaud says. "Mimic and Arcadia's current assignment is to guard the crater, not deal with regular Net Saver missions. Plus, last time I checked, they don't have any days off scheduled any time soon, so they can't come anyway."
Hunter's expression falls. "Ah, I see," he sighs.
Chaud thinks for a moment, and then an idea suddenly occurs to him. "But Mimic's not the only person we could contact for help!" he exclaims, taking out his PET. "I know Lan's dealing with the same case in Japan - the kidnapper took Navis from there, too, and Lan sent me a message yesterday telling me about it."
"Yeah, maybe he knows something!" Raoul agrees eagerly.
The holographic screen vanishes as Chaud brings up the friends list on the normal PET screen. He selects Lan's name on the list and presses call, hoping that he isn't calling his friend (his brother, a tiny voice in the back of his mind whispers) at an awkward moment.
He's lucky - when Lan picks up the call, Chaud sees the background behind him, and quickly determines that he's in some sort of arcade. Is Lan goofing off in an arcade instead of working?
"Hi, Chaud!" Lan greets him cheerfully. "You're looking as skinny as ever."
Chaud smirks. "Blame Mimic," he retorts jokingly. "What're you doing in an arcade, anyway? Shouldn't you be working?"
Lan purses his lips. "I am working, thank you very much," he says tartly. "Just 'cus I'm in an arcade, seriously . . . Me and MegaMan are checking out places that large groups of NetNavis tend to frequent, and there's a Net Square in this arcade where NetNavis hang out a lot, so we decided to have a look around."
"Oh." Chaud blinks, and then smiles sheepishly. "Sorry for assuming . . ."
Lan waves it off with a laugh. "It's cool," he replies. "So, what's up? You need something?"
"I wanted to ask if you had any new information about the missing NetNavis case," Chaud says, "but if you're still just checking out places where Navis congregate . . ."
"Yeah, we're not having much luck," Lan sighs. "I'm guessing you guys aren't doing so well over in Netopia either, huh? I'll let you know if MegaMan and I find anything, don't worry."
"ProtoMan and I will do the same," Chaud agrees. "Thanks anyway." He gives Lan a knowing smile. "Don't get distracted by the games, okay?"
Lan replies with a look of mock offence. "How dare you!" he exclaims, even as a smile quirks at his lips. "Getting distracted by games is Mimic's thing, not mine."
"At least she knows when to do her homework," Chaud retorts. He laughs. "I'd better get back to work now."
"Me too." Lan nods. "Talk to you later!"
Chaud has just enough time to say goodbye before the call ends.
He sighs. Talking to Lan didn't exactly reveal anything new, but at least he knows they're both on the same page with this case. And he does have an idea, actually . . .
Chaud glances up at Raoul. "What do you say we go out again? The tournament thing didn't work out, but we might be able to find something if we look around places where NetNavis tend to hang out."
"Like Lan's doing with that Net Square?" Raoul asks. Chaud nods in response, and Raoul grins. "Sure! But we'd better go out in disguise again. We don't want to tip off the kidnapper by wandering around as ourselves."
ProtoMan lets out a faint whine. "Does this mean I have to put on that stupid Masked Red disguise again?"
Chaud shakes his head. "No, of course not, ProtoMan," he replies. "I'm sorry, I should've noticed how uncomfortable that disguise was for you. But if you can't use it, you'll have to stay in my PET, and you can't activate the holographic screen - is that alright?"
"As long as I don't have to put that thing on again, yeah." ProtoMan shudders. "Stupid thing was itchy and hot and I hated it . . . ThunderMan, how could you stand it? It was horrible!"
"I'm a human-Navi," ThunderMan points out. "You're a cat-Navi. That might have something to do with it. Plus, you've got really long hair, so no wonder you got overheated so easily."
"Whatever, as long as I don't have to wear that stupid thing ever again."
But despite their motivation, their next plan to try and find the kidnapper goes about as well as their previous plan did. That is to say, it doesn't work at all. They get a lot of odd looks from people, and Chaud thinks that Mimic would probably wilt under the attention, but he's used to it and can easily ignore it.
The fact that he can successfully ignore being stared at does absolutely nothing to help them find the kidnapper, however.
Then, a couple of hours into their attempted investigation, Chaud gets a call from Lan. Raoul leans over him to look at his PET's screen as Lan's face appears on it.
"We figured out what happened to all the NetNavis!" Lan says eagerly. "Mr. Famous-" He ignores the shout of 'it's just Famous!' in the background. "-says they were all compressed, so they weren't kidnapped at all. They never even left the places where they disappeared!"
"Compressed . . ." Chaud murmurs. "That certainly explains the lack of network activity."
Lan blinks, looking confused for a moment, and then he suddenly looks strained. "Y-yeah," he chokes out. "M-Mr. Famous is studying the compression method n-now, so- s-so we should be able to figure out ho-how to decompress the N-Navis soon."
"Are you okay?" Chaud asks, concerned.
"I'm fine," Lan squeaks.
"You sure about that? You're stammering like Mimic when she's running out of energy for speech . . ."
"Oh, yeah, I'm t-totally fine," Lan replies. He's trembling so much he's practically vibrating on the spot. "I'll- I'll contact you guys again i-if we find anything else out- I can't take this anymore!"
Chaud blinks, startled, as Lan breaks down into helpless laughter. Famous peers over his shoulder curiously, clearly wondering exactly what caused Lan to break down like this.
"I'm sorry!" Lan howls. "Your afros are just too hilarious!"
. . . Oh.
So there wasn't anything wrong at all - Lan was just struggling to contain his laughter, and finally couldn't hold it back anymore. Chaud is suddenly very glad that he hasn't contacted Mimic while wearing this disguise. She'd probably laugh too, and would definitely mock him for days.
Chaud ends the call, trying to ignore his burning cheeks, and he and Raoul head back to HQ once again to take off their disguises. Checking out the Net Squares and other places popular for NetNavis to congregate (outside of Internet City, anyway) didn't really work out for them, so this was yet another waste of time, but thanks to Lan and Famous, they now know how the kidnapper managed to make all the NetNavis vanish.
Simply put, the kidnapper didn't make them vanish. This person isn't even a kidnapper at all - whoever they are, they just compressed all of those NetNavis, and then left them there. If this criminal wanted the compressed Navis for an actual purpose, they would've taken them when they were compressed, but they didn't; so that means there's another motive behind this, rather than taking NetNavis.
Could it be simple fame? Some people commit crimes for recognition, after all. The criminal compressed all of the Navis in such a way that people simply couldn't ignore it, which tells Chaud that his instincts are right. They're not dealing with a kidnapper, they're dealing with someone who wants recognition, most likely for the compression method that somehow turned NetNavis into mere bites of data.
But knowing the criminal's motive still doesn't help them catch this person. Trying to lure them out by entering tournaments or keeping an eye on places where NetNavis congregate didn't work - but Chaud can't think of anything else to try.
"Arcadia!" ProtoMan suddenly cheers, startling Chaud out of his thoughts.
He takes out his PET in time to see ProtoMan pulling Arcadia into an enthusiastic hug, and blinks. If Arcadia's here, then . . .
Chaud concentrates on his connection with Mimic for a moment, and then realises it's stronger than it usually is - she responds in kind, sending him a silent greeting (it's less of an actual greeting and more of a nameless emotion one of them sends in place of a greeting, just to let the other know they're nearby). The fact that their connection is this strong now, and the fact that Arcadia's suddenly in his PET, tells Chaud that Mimic is at HQ. If they're both here, it's likely that Dr. Hikari's here, too.
He heads off immediately with Raoul following, looking a little puzzled at his sudden activity. Chaud doesn't stop to wonder why he's just as excited to see Dr. Hikari as he is to see Mimic - he's too focused on the fact that they're here to think about it.
He follows his connection with Mimic until he finds her and Dr. Hikari in mission control. Dr. Hikari's just putting something into a metal briefcase, while Mimic, as usual, is settled on the table next to him and is watching him absently.
As soon as Chaud comes into the room, though, she perks up and grins at him. Chaud sends her a wave of happiness through their connection and very nearly bounces over to her, and they hug briefly before Chaud pulls back to greet Dr. Hikari as well.
"Hi!" Chaud exclaims, grinning up at him. "I didn't know you guys were coming today."
"It was a last-minute thing," Dr. Hikari admits with a laugh, as Raoul enters mission control and heads over to them. "Hunter wanted me to run one final check on the wireless signal between here and the research facility at the crater before I head back to Japan."
Chaud's good mood kind of dims at that. "Oh, that's right . . . You're leaving soon, aren't you?"
He feels Mimic's drop in mood as well, and reaches out to put his hand over hers. She gives him a quick, tiny smile, but her mood is still down. No wonder - Dr. Hikari's heading back to Japan, but she's staying at the crater. This'll be the first time she's been on her own (aside from Arcadia) since the Hikaris took her in, and she's in a foreign country to boot.
You still have me, Chaud reminds her, even though it probably won't make much difference. I'll visit whenever I can, and you're always welcome in the city, you know that.
Yeah, Mimic replies. Chaud's relieved to sense that his words are helping to comfort her, if only a little bit. Thanks, Chaud.
Dr. Hikari looks between them, obviously able to tell that they're having a mental conversation. He's seen it enough times to recognise the signs. Raoul, on the other hand, has never actually seen Chaud and Mimic talking like this, so he looks pretty confused, though he doesn't say anything. He's aware of the connection between them, sure, but that doesn't mean he actually understands it. Chaud and Mimic don't mind - they can't expect people to understand something they can't really describe themselves, after all.
"I know I'm leaving this country in your capable hands, though," Dr. Hikari says, smiling at both of them. "Chaud, your work in Heaven's City has been excellent so far, and Mimic, you've protected the research facility from so many of those Trilobites that I've lost count. Between the two of you, I don't think I need to worry about Netopia."
"Speaking of the Trilobites," Chaud begins, "have you figured out where they came from?"
"We did, thanks to Mimic discovering the actual impact site," Dr. Hikari replies, nodding. "They come through a tunnel in time. We call it the Past Tunnel - and we've built a tower over the top of it, to try and control the flow of viruses coming out of it. So far it's worked, but sometimes the Trilobites come through anyway." He grins at Mimic. "And that's where Mimic comes in."
"Burn them to bits," Mimic agrees cheerfully. "Or get creative, f'I wanna."
"So, we've got a few different ways to deal with those viruses," Dr. Hikari laughs. He turns back to Chaud, still smiling. "Anyway, how're you doing? I hear you've been working on the missing Navis case. How's that coming along?"
Chaud sighs. "Well, we know how the kidnapper took all of those Navis without leaving a single trace behind," he says. "They didn't take the Navis at all - they were just compressed into bite-sized data files. Lan told us Famous is working on decompressing them right now."
"We still haven't figured out how to catch this guy, though," Raoul adds, shrugging. "Everything we've tried so far has failed."
That's what happens if you try and win some weird tournament where Navis shout at each other instead of fight, Mimic says, with a certain air of smugness about her.
Chaud blinks at her. I wasn't even thinking about that, how did you- And then he realises. Wait, this case was in the anime!
Mimic nods. Yep. But I'm not telling you what happened - you've gotta figure that shit out for yourself.
I don't expect you to hold our hands every step of the way, Chaud agrees. If we start relying on your knowledge too much, we'll get blindsided when there's a case that you don't know anything about.
Exactly, Mimic says, with another nod.
"Maybe we could try another tournament or something," Raoul muses. He blinks and looks at Chaud and Mimic as if he's just realised something. "Hey, maybe you kids could enter a singing competition or something!"
" . . . A what," Chaud says. Mimic just blinks owlishly, too startled to speak.
"You could sing one of those weird Japanese songs!" Raoul tells them eagerly. "You know, from those cartoons - what's it called, anime? Yeah, that's it. People go nuts for that kinda thing. Or maybe something like, uh, I dunno, one of those old Vocaloid songs!"
Chaud gives Raoul an indignant glare. "Just because we're Japanese doesn't mean we know the lyrics to every 'weird Japanese song' out there!" he exclaims. He turns to Mimic for support. "Right, Mimic?"
Mimic is trying her best to look innocent, but Chaud can feel her awkwardness.
"Mimic?" he asks.
His twin sister sighs and gives him a sheepish smile. "I actually know the lyrics to a lot of anime and Vocaloid songs," she admits. "I love anime, and the Vocaloids are cool."
Chaud gapes at her. "Wha . . . but . . . Mimic!" he complains. "C'mon, I'm trying to prove a point here, and you . . . Agh!" He buries his face in his hands.
Dr. Hikari has the nerve to laugh at his frustration. If Chaud didn't respect him so much, he'd glare at him.
"If you've already tried something like this before, I doubt it'll work this time around," Dr. Hikari points out. He's trying to be serious, Chaud can tell, but there's still laughter in his tone. "Is there some other way you could lure out the kidnapper? Something you haven't tried yet?"
Chaud forces himself to ignore his frustration at Mimic and Raoul for the moment. He crosses his arms as he thinks, eyes narrowed, and then suddenly an idea comes to him like a flash of light.
"The kidnapper wants everyone to see how great their compression method is," Chaud says, looking up as a grin starts to spread on his lips. "They're not actually taking NetNavis, just turning them into small data files in such an obvious way that people can't ignore it - so they're after recognition and fame."
"So . . . ?" Dr. Hikari prompts.
"So we can lure them out by saying we've got a better method of compression!" Chaud exclaims eagerly. "If we go public with a fake compression method, we'll catch the kidnapper's attention."
"Ah, I get it!" Raoul's eyes light up. "And if the kidnapper really is after recognition and fame, they'll come and challenge us about our fake compression method."
"I know exactly how we can pull this off," Chaud says. He looks at Dr. Hikari with a grin. "Thank you, Dr. Hikari!"
"Oh, come on." Dr. Hikari waves his gratitude off with a humble smile. "You're the one who came up with the idea, not me."
"But if it weren't for you, I never would've considered it," Chaud points out.
"Just accept the thanks, Dad," Mimic tells Dr. Hikari. "He won't stop 'til you do."
Dr. Hikari chuckles. "Alright, alright. You're welcome, Chaud."
Chaud's pretty sure Mimic is laughing at him right now, and the only reason he's so sure is because he can feel her amusement even though she's back at the crater, miles away. If he can feel her amusement even from this distance, she must be really enjoying herself. They only feel each other's emotions from this kind of distance when they feel things particularly strongly.
He, on the other hand, is completely embarrassed. He'd managed to set up a fake TV interview on live news for himself and Raoul, and they announced their 'amazing and unbeatable' compression method while in disguise. During the fake interview, he hadn't thought much of his outfit, but afterwards, he realised he could sense Mimic's amusement, and then the embarrassment set in.
Even ProtoMan's laughing at him, the dirty traitor. Chaud wants to think that Arcadia's being a little more mature, but he probably isn't. Arcadia may be the only sane one out of the four of them, but he can be just as weird and childish as they are, sometimes. This is probably one of those times.
"I am never wearing this outfit again," Chaud mutters to Raoul, as they get ready to set the trap for the kidnapper.
"What?" Raoul looks almost heartbroken. "Why not? Our outfits match and everything!"
"My sister is laughing at me right now," Chaud groans. "ProtoMan is laughing at me. And I'm pretty sure Arcadia's laughing at me, too."
"Don't let a little embarrassment stop you from enjoying yourself!"
"It's a bit more than 'a little embarrassment'," Chaud grumbles. Lan was laughing at him too, and he's pretty sure MegaMan would've been laughing as well, but he's too polite to do something like that.
The good news is, he hopefully never has to do this again. It's funny - he'd actually thought this outfit was cool, and he still kind of does, but the embarrassment he feels from seeing how his family reacts to it is just too much for him to deal with. Nope, he's definitely not wearing this ever again.
However embarrassing this is, it works. Their trap is set up in a building that's scheduled to be demolished next week - Chaud had checked with the owner of the building, and they said that as long as they don't damage the building, they have permission to use it. And he and Raoul had made sure to give specific instructions for how to find them in the fake interview, so the kidnapper should be coming to the room they're waiting in.
Raoul keeps quiet so Chaud can focus his hearing on the building as a whole. He listens past the creaking and groaning of the old building, the faint sounds of traffic outside, forcing it all into background noise, and instead tries to listen out for sounds that don't belong.
It's not long before he hears heavy footsteps echoing in the building. Judging from the sound of the footsteps, the person who's walking is quite heavy, though the footsteps are rapid and not all hampered by the person's weight. He can also hear faint puffing, but it's not the unhealthy kind of puffing, more like the kind you would expect from a heavy person who's moving quickly.
Chaud relays that information to Raoul, who looks impressed that he gathered so much info just based on how the person is walking, and they hide in the lockers to wait. Chaud hears the quiet noise of the lift as it carries the person up to their floor, and then a faint ding as the doors open.
The heavy footsteps start to get closer, and Chaud knocks on the wall of his locker to warn Raoul. He gets a quiet knock in response, and they both go silent when the footsteps stop outside the room.
He hears the person muttering to themselves. A male voice, complaining about the state of the building, and wondering if such a company really did manage to create an amazing compression method.
Chaud fights down a flash of triumph. Just because the man outside the door is talking about compression methods doesn't mean this is their kidnapper - he could simply be someone else who works in the same field, wanting to check out the competition.
The door opens, and the man walks inside. Chaud's too small to see through the opening in the locker, but he doesn't need to see to know what the man is doing - he can hear the man walking across the room, getting closer to the window, and he hears more grumbling as the man stops walking.
He hears a faint knock from Raoul, and answers with a scratch that's just barely audible for normal human ears. The faint knock could only be detected by Chaud, but if he tried to respond with the same thing, Raoul wouldn't hear him, so scratching is the only thing that wouldn't be too loud.
They open their lockers at the same time and step out to stand between the man and the door.
"What're you doing here?" Chaud asks. He's never used his own mimicry before the fake interview, but since Mimic can do it, he can too. He uses the same voice she used back when she was pranking Lan with Raoul - Tory's voice, but different enough that it's not an exact copy. As far as he can tell, he's doing pretty well.
"You're trespassing," Raoul adds. Like Chaud is copying Mimic's voice from the prank, he also uses his own fake voice from back then.
The man turns to face them. Chaud was right - he is a heavy man, with small legs and a wide face. He's wearing the kind of clothing you'd expect someone in Sharo to wear during a bad snowstorm, though. It's nowhere near cold enough to be wearing such a heavy coat or a winter hat like that, but maybe this man just gets cold really easily. Chaud's not going to judge him, considering he prefers to wear long sleeves even in the middle of summer (though he has his own reasons for doing that).
"Are you the ones who came up with that new compression method?" the man challenges them. He seems pretty angry - far too angry to be someone just checking out competition.
This has to be their kidnapper. Now all they need to do is trick him into admitting it. Luckily for Chaud, being around Mimic so much has honed his manipulation skills, not to mention that being the vice president of IPC has given him plenty of chances to practise smooth-talking, and Raoul has agreed to let him take the lead on this one.
"You're talking about our Love Compression method?" Chaud asks, grinning. He tries to keep his lips over his teeth, though, in case he freaks the man out and they lose their chance to arrest him. "It's the best method there is!"
"Liar!" the man snaps, pointing an accusing finger at Chaud.
Chaud gasps as if he's deeply shocked. "Liar?" he repeats, bringing his hands up to his mouth to help sell the image. He looks up at Raoul. "Can you believe he just said that?"
"Oh, my feelings are hurt!" Raoul exclaims. "We can't lie about love!"
Chaud nods. "That's right!" he agrees. "We've put so much love into this compression method, no other method can compare!"
He is so glad that Mimic can't see what he's doing right now. He's also glad he had the foresight to mute ProtoMan again, because he's pretty sure his NetNavi is howling with laughter right now. But however ridiculous Chaud feels, their act is working.
"You are liars!" the man shouts, his face twisting with rage. "No one can beat the Ivan Chillski Compression method! I've spent thirty years developing it, and now it's powerful enough to compress even NetNavis!"
Chaud grins, and this time he lets his teeth show. Gotcha.
"That's right," he says with his normal voice. "We are liars. Our compression method is a fake."
"Wha-" The man gapes at him.
"This was just a trap to lure you in, and you fell for it," Raoul says, also dropping the act.
The man - Ivan Chillski, Chaud assumes, based on the compression method's name - takes a step back. He doesn't seem so angry now, more shocked than anything, and clearly he has no idea who he's dealing with.
"Who . . . who are you, really!?" Ivan Chillski demands.
Chaud and Raoul pull off their disguises in one go - thank god they both wore their normal clothes under these things, otherwise Chaud would have to endure wearing it for longer than he wants to - and take out their PETs. They activate their holographic badges.
"We're Net Savers!" they both announce.
"N-Net Savers?" Ivan Chillski looks even more shocked at that, and Chaud feels a slight sense of smug satisfaction upon seeing the dawning realisation of how screwed he is on the man's face.
"This building is surrounded by the Net Police," Raoul tells him. "You can check for yourself if you don't believe me. Now, give yourself up quietly, and we can resolve this without a fight."
Chaud's kind of hoping this doesn't turn into a fight. Raoul's a pretty big guy, and very strong, but Ivan Chillski might have hidden strengths - and Chaud wouldn't be able to do much against someone who's not only taller than him, but also far heavier. Sure, he's agile, and he can bite people, but still. He'd rather not develop Mimic's habit of biting a chunk out of people who try to attack her.
"No . . . I'm not going to jail!" Ivan Chillski wails. He whips out his PET and looks at it desperately. "ColdMan!"
Chaud feels a jolt of shock at that. ColdMan is the name of a Darkloid - the one that Lan deleted in Sharo. And if this ColdMan is the same, that means . . .
"He has an Asteroid Navi!" Chaud warns Raoul, just before he hears an odd, high-pitched splintering sound from the vent above their heads.
They both dive out of the way as a spear of ice pierces through the vent and smashes down between them. If they hadn't moved, they would've been impaled, or crushed.
Ivan Chillski takes the opportunity to make a run for it, calling a thanks to his Asteroid Navi as he leaves the room. Chaud's a little surprised to see such a heavy man running so quickly, but whatever the case, they need to stop him from escaping.
"Hold it!" Raoul shouts, pushing himself to his feet and dashing after Ivan Chillski.
Chaud heads after him, easily pulling ahead. He puts on a burst of speed as Ivan Chillski heads around a corner, jumps up and kicks off the wall so he doesn't have to slow down, sails over Ivan Chillski's head, lands in front of him, and then launches himself at the man.
He doesn't have enough weight to bring Ivan Chillski down just from that, but he can cling onto him. Ivan Chillski yells and tries to throw Chaud off, so Chaud clutches onto his heavy coat and hisses in his face.
He half-wishes he had ProtoMan's claws right now. He could just dig his claws in and be done with it - but then again, if he did have ProtoMan's claws, that would mean ColdMan would be materialised and Chaud would have to fight him instead of his operator. And aside from that, Chaud would probably kill or at least seriously injure Ivan Chillski if he used ProtoMan's claws to cling onto him.
Raoul comes running around the corner just as three Net Police officers appear on the other end of the hallway. Chaud grins at Ivan Chillski, letting him see his teeth up close. He feels a sort of vindictive sense of satisfaction upon seeing how unsettled the man is at that - okay, so sue him, he's getting a bit of revenge for that attempt to impale them with a spear of ice.
"Ivan!" an unfamiliar voice calls. Chaud's never heard it before, but he guesses it's ColdMan. "Download the dimensional chip!"
"Don't even think about it," Chaud growls.
Ivan Chillski hesitates, but ColdMan calls out again. "Hurry, or your compression method will never see the light of day!"
Now Ivan Chillski's expression twists with rage, and he grabs the back of Chaud's vest and rips him off. Chaud lets out a startled yelp that gets cut off as he's thrown at the wall, but thankfully Ivan Chillski isn't strong enough to actually hurt him, so he'll probably only end up with some light bruising.
Chaud shakes his head and looks up just in time to see Ivan Chillski downloading his dimensional chip, and then he drops his PET in surprise when light leaks out of it. A fridge-like NetNavi steps out of the light, takes a quick look around, and then opens his chest and starts blasting out ice everywhere.
"Run for it!" Chaud snaps to the Net Police officers, who look almost too stunned to react.
Chaud's words thankfully snaps them out of their daze, and they scramble out of the way of ColdMan's attacks. Raoul backs off too after seeing how easily the floor froze over where ColdMan's attacks hit, and Chaud pushes himself to his feet and takes out his PET.
He unmutes it and then calls Hunter. "I need a dimensional area, now!"
Hunter confirms his request, and Chaud ends the call quickly, then looks up to check what ColdMan is doing.
He abruptly has to dodge to the side to avoid getting blasted by an attack from ColdMan. The Asteroid Navi tries to attack again, but pauses when he sees the multi-coloured sheen of the dimensional area fading into view.
Chaud grins. "Synchro chip, download!" he exclaims. ProtoMan's voice joins his as he continues. "Cross Fusion!"
He sees Ivan Chillski's shocked expression just before the light of Cross Fusion blinds him to the world for a few moments, and then the light dies down. Chaud unsheathes his claws and bares his now much-sharper teeth in a grin, and is very satisfied when Ivan Chillski actually whimpers in terror.
ColdMan looks startled for a moment, but he quickly recovers from the shock and tries to blast out another attack. A tendril of Chaud's shadows sharpens itself and slices the attack in two, then more tendrils grab the pieces and hurl them back at ColdMan, who yelps and ducks.
ProtoMan lets out a wild laugh at that. "Careful, or you might get frostbite!"
Chaud pauses. "Seriously?" he demands, half-exasperated and half-amused. "All the ice puns in the world and you go with frostbite?"
"Shut up, it's a work-in-progress," ProtoMan huffs. Then Chaud feels a flash of alarm from him. "Raoul!"
Chaud whips his head around to see Raoul scrambling out of the way of an ice block that ColdMan shot out while they were busy discussing ProtoMan's terrible use of a pun. Chaud quickly sends a tendril of shadows after the ice block, and the tendril wraps around it and stops it from smashing into Raoul, then pulls it back and hurls it at ColdMan.
ColdMan raises his arm and shoots out another blast of ice to shatter his own attack. Meanwhile, Chaud gets between the Asteroid Navi and Raoul, crouching defensively.
"Raoul, get to the control room!" Chaud tells him over his shoulder. "I can detect viruses in the network. I'll deal with him!" He nods toward ColdMan.
"Got it!" Raoul agrees, taking off immediately.
ColdMan tries to throw another attack at Raoul, but this time, Chaud activates his Proto Sword and slices it in two himself. His shadows grab the two parts of the ice block and throw them back at ColdMan, who shatters them yet again.
"Stop throwing my own attacks at me!" ColdMan snaps.
"Stop giving us ammo," Chaud retorts, and grins when ProtoMan's amusement floods through their shared mind.
ColdMan's eyes narrow angrily. "Fine, how about this, then?"
He shoots out small spears of ice, and Chaud brings up his Sword to protect himself. But the ice wasn't aimed at him - it hits the floor around his feet and he doesn't have enough time to jump out of the way before the floor gives way and he falls.
His shadows whip after him and one curls around his wrist, then throws him out of the way as ColdMan drops down after him. Chaud twists in mid-air, dismissing his Proto Sword, and slams into a stone pillar claws-first, digs in his claws, then sticks there as his shadows swirl around him. ColdMan picks himself up out of the small crater he made after smashing into the floor, and begins to turn around to find Chaud.
Chaud jumps away from the stone pillar and digs his claws into another one just as ColdMan's eyes pass over the one he'd just been clinging to. He crawls around the side of the pillar to avoid being seen, and his shadows hide themselves in the darkness.
"Where'd you go?" ColdMan calls. "Come on out and face me like a man!"
Like hell I will, Chaud scoffs. He starts climbing his way up the pillar, going slowly so he doesn't make a sound.
He hears a series of high-pitched crashes. He can tell that ColdMan is flinging ice everywhere, but he doesn't actually know what the Asteroid Navi is doing.
Chaud narrows his eyes and glances around at the darkness he's hiding in. It shifts, and a few tendrils of his shadows drift downwards and then around the pillar. After a few moments, they come back up to Chaud, and form together to create Dark Shadow's torso, arms, and head, while the rest of its body is just tendrils of shadows that fade into the darkness at the ends. Even though it's only half-formed itself, it can still speak.
Floor is frozen, Dark Shadow tells him. Will be hard to run on.
We don't need to run on it, ProtoMan says. If we use our shadow-claws, can we make a bridge of shadows and use that instead?
You mean like a tightrope? Chaud asks. He gets confirmation from ProtoMan, and blinks at Dark Shadow's half-formed body. Think it'll work?
Can touch with shadows, Dark Shadow replies. Will work. Climb side. I will make bridge.
Chaud nods and begins to make his way around the side of the pillar. He comes around to the front, the side facing the room he and ColdMan ended up in, and sees the Asteroid Navi slowly skating around the room, trying to find Chaud. His back is turned to Chaud, so he can't see him, and he's still hiding in the shadows anyway.
Dark Shadow's half-formed body melts into tendrils, and then silently whips out toward the other side of the room. The ends wrap around a pillar over on that side, and then curl around the pillar Chaud is still clinging onto.
Chaud uses the remaining shadows to make his shadow-claws. Normally he or ProtoMan only uses these on their hands, but this time, Chaud uses the shadows on his clawed boots as well. If he's going to walk across the shadow-bridge like a tightrope, he's going to need his boots to be able to touch the shadows, as well as his hands.
With that done, Chaud reaches out and grabs the edge of the shadows, and then hauls himself up onto them. He starts crawling across the shadows on all fours, keeping an eye on ColdMan's progress as he goes, and Chaud doesn't stop until he's halfway across the shadow-bridge.
The end that's tied around the pillar he was just clinging to begins to come undone slowly. A few tendrils reach up and cling onto the ceiling, and then more of them, until one part of the shadow-bridge is completely tethered to the ceiling.
Dark Shadow half-forms itself out of the shadow-bridge. Throw pillar at him, it suggests.
Chaud jerks back in surprise. No way! he exclaims. I told the building owner we wouldn't damage anything.
This building's gonna be demolished anyway, what's the difference? ProtoMan asks.
The difference is that if a professional does it, it's perfectly fine, Chaud retorts. But if we do it, it's property damage!
This is battle, Dark Shadow says. Accidents happen.
It's right, ProtoMan agrees slyly. I mean, this building's old anyway, and we didn't mean to break the pillar, it just kind of happened . . .
Mimic is a bad influence on you, Chaud informs him.
He feels ProtoMan's amusement. Says the Mettaur to the Billy.
What does that even mean? Chaud asks incredulously.
They're both yellow viruses, so a Mettaur would be calling a Billy 'yellow' even though they're both the same colour, ProtoMan explains.
Oh, Chaud gets it now. It's the NetNavi version of 'the pot calling the kettle black'. Maybe he should think about learning cyberworld phrases, it'll make things like this so much easier to understand.
Okay, fine, we'll throw the pillar at him, Chaud says, much to ProtoMan and Dark Shadow's happiness. But don't bring down the ceiling, and only that one pillar. Nothing else. Got it?
Got it, Dark Shadow replies.
It melts into tendrils of shadows and drifts over to the pillar, then begins to seep into the fractures in the stone. Chaud hears faint cracks as the fractures are widened by the shadows, until the entire pillar is covered in spider web-like cracks.
The cracking becomes audible enough for ColdMan to hear it as well, and he turns around just in time to see the pillar almost bulging with fractures and shadows. His eyes widen comically a moment before the pillar explodes, and the shadows start hurling all of the debris at him.
Huge chunks of stone rain down, mixed in with smaller bits of debris, and ColdMan wails as he dances around, trying to dodge all of the stone. He gets nailed quite a few times despite his best efforts, and eventually becomes so bruised that he can't dodge the last huge chunk of stone that the shadows throw at him.
Chaud leans forward, curious to see if ColdMan was deleted by the chunk of stone. But after a few moments, the stone begins to freeze over, and then it shatters.
ColdMan struggles to his feet. It's easy to tell that he's almost defeated, and Chaud guesses one more attack should do it.
He narrows his eyes and crouches, then launches himself off the shadow-bridge. It comes apart and shoots after him, and he raises his arms, gathers the shadows into a ball of crackling black energy, and then hurls it at ColdMan with a yell of effort.
"Eat shadows, fucker!" ProtoMan screeches, and then all sound is lost in the hollow boom of impact.
The darkness blinds Chaud as he lands on the ground, digging his claws in to stop himself from sliding on the ice. After a few moments, the wind created from the force of the shadow-energy dies down, and the darkness recedes.
There's a large crater in the middle of the room, and ColdMan is nowhere to be seen. Chaud reaches out with his tracking program just in case, but the only NetNavi he can detect is ThunderMan in the cyberworld, and he can't detect any viruses either, so that means they were both successful.
" . . . How're we going to explain this crater?" Chaud wonders.
Dark Shadow forms itself properly. This is not my problem, it says, and then promptly melts back into tendrils.
"Oh, thanks!" Chaud cries sarcastically.
The Net Police take Ivan Chillski into custody, but before they put him in the car, Chaud and Raoul want to talk to him. Well, mostly Raoul - he wants to know why someone like Ivan Chillski would commit such crimes, while Chaud just wants to get out of here before the building's owner shows up and sees the big crater.
"It's Ivan Chillski, right?" Raoul asks, when the Net Police officers stop in front of him with Ivan Chillski held between them. "You're obviously a scientist, since you created that compression method. So why would a scientist do such a thing?" He glares at Ivan Chillski. "What possible motive could you have for compressing all those NetNavis and attacking us like that?"
"It's because I'm a scientist," Ivan Chillski replies glumly.
Raoul looks puzzled, and Chaud is briefly distracted from his desire to get away from the building to also be puzzled at Ivan Chillski's words.
"I worked for a programming company," Ivan Chillski explains. He's almost dejected, the complete opposite of the angry man he was before he got caught. "I was researching my compression method for them, but I was fired because the company needed to make some budget cuts." His expression twists into something like anger, but it's too sad to truly be called that. "Apparently some of the other employees were saying I was getting a free lunch. So the company fired me, and I had to make do with what little money I had to continue my research. And then that Navi appeared and gave me ColdMan, and finally I could complete my life's work."
He looks up at Raoul desperately.
"I just wanted the world to see how great my compression method is!" Ivan Chillski says imploringly. "I wanted to leave behind a legacy, I wanted to be famed the world over for creating something that no one's ever thought of before!"
"And this is the result of that desire," Raoul tells him. "Now you're not even a scientist, you're just a criminal! This kind of legacy has no value!"
Chaud blinks at Raoul, surprised at how vehement he's being about this. Raoul is a passionate man, he knows that, but he hadn't expected such a reaction to Ivan Chillski's crimes.
The Net Police finally take Ivan Chillski away, and Chaud sighs. Another scientist lost to the world, and another human heart tainted by Slur - because it's obvious that the Navi who gave ColdMan to Ivan Chillski was Slur. There's no other Navi that has the ability to give out Asteroid Navis like that.
He glances over at the building, and then freezes when he notices the owner talking to a few of the other Net Police officers. Chaud quickly tugs on Raoul's sleeve and starts pulling him away.
"Whoa, what's up?" Raoul asks, even as he follows Chaud.
"I broke something I shouldn't have and I really don't wanna be around when the owner finds out," Chaud replies.
Raoul glances over his shoulder at the owner, and makes a noise of realisation. Then he turns back to Chaud and, without any warning whatsoever, picks him up and starts running.
"Raoul!?" Chaud exclaims, shocked.
Raoul laughs boisterously. "You might be faster than me, kiddo, but I know these streets like the back of my hand! If you wanna hide from someone, just let me do the running!"
Chaud can't help but let out a startled giggle, and he lets Raoul carry him off through the streets of Heaven's City.
Much later, after they review the case with Hunter - and Chaud gets billed for the damage he caused to the building, which is fair he supposes - Chaud and Raoul have a bit of time to themselves, so they head to a nearby break room to wind down. They kinda need to, after all the excitement they've had.
"This Electric Grid was pretty good," Raoul tells Chaud, twirling said item in his hand. "ThunderMan managed to delete the viruses way faster than he normally could've without it, and he unfroze the network control system in seconds, too."
Chaud grins at him. "You can keep it, if you want," he offers.
"Seriously?" Raoul gapes at him. "This thing's so valuable, and you're just giving it to me? Just like that?"
"It's just a prototype anyway," Chaud replies, with a shrug. "When the actual product is completed and goes on sale, that one'll just get put into storage and will probably end up being forgotten about. It may as well get some use - and what better use than to be given to the person it suits best?"
"Wow . . . Kid, you're generous as hell!" Raoul exclaims, now grinning. "Thanks, from both of us!"
Chaud smiles happily, and then suddenly an email alert from Raoul's PET distracts them. Raoul puts down the Electric Grid and picks up his PET, then opens up the email.
"Shouting Tournament winner Masked Thunder, we hope that you will represent Netopia in the World Shouting Tournament," Raoul reads. He pauses, and then his mouth drops open in shock. "W-World Tournament!?"
"Wow," ProtoMan says, as the holographic screen flickers into view beside Chaud. "I'm suddenly really glad I broke that sound board."
Chaud sighs deeply and buries his face in his hands.