The Pain Of Loss Chapter 31 – The End, and the Beginning
Mayl: "The End, and the Beginning"?
Me: Yup... It's the ending of my story, and the beginning of Battle Network 4's.
Lan: So... this is it, huh...?
Me: #Sighs# Yeah... guess it is...
Megaman.EXE: No jokes or anything to start us off...?
Me: #Shakes his head, smiling a bit# ... nah... it'd kill the moment... C'mon, let's end this...
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It was the day before school, and preparations were being made by all the former 5th graders for their first day of 6th grade. Yai was working with Glyde on preparing one of her infamous flashy introductions. Dex and Gutsman, as usual, were on the Net, taking on challenges from other Navis, trying to boost their egos before the first day. Lan sighed as he sat at home on his bed, his blank PET sitting beside him. He was contemplating over and over again how he would deal with getting a new Net Navi, when he had grown so attached to Megaman. After a good 3 hours of thought, he stood, leaving his home on his way to Beach Street to send his final regards to his beloved Net Navi, and brother.
Mayl, as usual, was fully prepared for her first day. At least, in terms of organizing her back pack and such. The only thing she wasn't prepared with was Roll. Roll had been in a state of shock since her power was destroyed, and she was having the hardest of times coping with it. She sobbed uncontrollably in her PET, her knees hugged up against her chest as she sat alone. Mayl couldn't bear to let her be like this, so she let her into Sleep Mode. She looked out her bedroom window at the clear blue sky, sighing a little bit. "... If anyone, some higher being out there, can hear me... please, just help Roll get through this... Not for my sake, but for her's... Please..."
Protoman and Chaud were dealing with matters other than school preparations at the time. Currently, they were searching the New Undernet, searching for a wanted Navi. It was a basic Black Navi, so hidden among the rest, it would be difficult to spot. At least for any normal Net Op and Navi. Protoman and Chaud caught notice of their target dashing through a pathway with what looked to be someone's rib cage sticking out as bars. Protoman sighed, then charged forward, jumping up and slashing the Navi clean in half across the torso. The Navi fell to the ground, gritting his teeth as he clutched onto some strange Battle Chip data. "N... no... I... I mustn't... fail Ne... bula...!" He turned created a buster on his arm and turned it, just to receive a Long Sword straight through his face. The Navi vanished, leaving the chip lying upon the ground. Protoman knelt down, shuddering a bit as he grasped it. Chaud narrowed his eyes, recognizing that chip from some recent Net Police reports he'd searched through. "... the Dark Chip..."
High above Protoman, Shademan hung upside down, his eyes narrowed as he thought to himself. 'That Official got his grubby hands on the chip... I can't face him right now, not as I am... I will just have to explain the situation to Lord Laserman...' Shademan disengaged his talons from the bottom of the path and flew off with a high pitched cry, heading towards Nebula's new base to inform Laserman of the current happenings involving one of the thousands of Dark Chips that were to be delivered to them.
At Sci-Lab, Dr. Hikari sighed, smiling gently. He had finally finished decoding the letter that his Father, the original Dr. Hikari, had left in the care of Lan and Megaman to deliver to him. He blinked, raising an eyebrow at some extremely interesting data within the letter. "... Amazing... Not even Alpha could reach this section of itself... What's this...?" He blinked, focusing his studies upon an odd form of data that didn't seem to match with the rest of the area.
After about 15 minutes of sorting through the data, he was finally able to classify it. "Navi Data..." He blinked, watching the data begin to merge and take shape upon his screen. He sat still, amazed at the Navi before him. He then smiled, downloading the data onto a CD and standing, placing it carefully within a case. He grabbed his coat and turned, leaving Sci-Lab with the CD Case in hand. Upon the monitor he had been working on, an Emblem appeared. The emblem in name belonged to Lan.
Lan sighed as he said "Good Night" to his mother and shut his bedroom door. He changed out of his day clothes and into his pajamas, shutting off his lights and lying down in bed, the covers pulled up to his chest. He just lay there for a few moments, looking at his ceiling as he pondered to himself. 'Megaman... I'm going to miss you so much... I don't want to replace you, but, I have to for the 6th grade, it's required... I'm so sorry...' With these last thoughts, Lan dozed off into a peaceful slumber.
Only an hour later, Lan's father walked into his room, smiling at his sleeping son as he thought to himself. 'You're a good boy, Lan... You've got a kind heart, and even though you're brash at times, you do follow your instinct and do what's right... No wonder Dad preserved this...' Dr. Hikari moved quietly to Lan's PC where his PET was hooked up. He turned it on, making sure the speakers were off first and foremost. He then opened the Disc Drive and inserted the CD he had been so careful with, letting it slide into the computer and begin downloading into the PET. He set it so the computer would shut off after the data transfer was complete, then turned off the monitor and sighed, turning and walking to Lan's doorway. As he grasped the door knob and got halfway out, he smiled to his son, whispering a bit. "Good night, Lan... Take good care of "him"."
Mayl sighed as she sat at Higsby's Chip Shop after school, waiting on Lan. Surprisingly enough, Lan had made it on time, and he was apparently very excited about his new Navi. This worried Mayl and made her wonder if Lan was either in denial, or if he had totally forgotten about Megaman. Fortunately, since it was only the first day, the Navis were permitted to remain in their PETs and just listen to introductory lectures to their lessons and such. There was no homework, either, so there was no reason for the Navis to even need to download anything for their Net Ops. Lan took this chance to bring Mayl invite Mayl to the chip shop after school to show her and Roll the new Navi. Mayl was hesitant at first, concerned it would injure Roll's heart, but Lan had specifically guaranteed that she would be happier than ever.
Lan skated into the shop only moments after Mayl, panting a bit. "Sorry I kept you, Mayl. Mom insisted she check me for homework." Mayl giggled a bit, smiling. "Considering your track record in the past, I would, too... Anyhow, show Roll and I this new Navi of your's. That's what you invited us here for, right?" Lan grinned, nodding to his PET. He then pulled out the link cable and drew his arm back in his classic stance. "JACK IN!!! MEGAMAN, EXECUTE!!!"
Mayl and Roll's eyes shot wide as they heard the name of the Navi. Surely enough, on the monitor in a flash of blue light, the Blue Bomber stood before Roll, smiling. "Hey, Roll. It's great to see you again." Lan grinned, looking right to Mayl. "I don't know how Dad did it, but he brought Megaman back!!!" Mayl smiled, looking to Roll. Roll just stood there, in shock. She couldn't believe her eyes. Megaman blinked, then chuckled a bit. "What, no "Welcome back" or anything?" Roll lowered her head, sniffing a bit. Megaman sweatdropped, stepping forward. "I, I was just kidding Roll!!! You don't gotta get upset!!" Roll lifted her head, a smile on her face as tears rolled down her cheeks. "Y... you jerk... I thought... that you were gone for good..." Megaman smiled, walking forward and embracing her very tenderly. Roll's hands came to rest on Megaman's chest, as did her forehead as she cried tears of joy. This continued on for a few moments before she regained her composure some more, looking up to Megaman with the same delicate smile she would always wear around him. "... I love you so much, Megaman... Don't you ever leave us again..." Megaman smiled, shutting his eyes and embracing her, stroking her back and kissing her helmet softly. "I'm here to stay, Roll..."
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Me: #Sighs, packing it up#
Mayl: So that's it...
Me: Yup. But, hey, not like I don't see you guys all the time when I play MMBN 4: Blue Moon...
Lan: Yeah...
Me: Well, you guys can throw that party ya all wanted to, now...
Everyone else: #Looks to each other, then sighs, looking down#
Me: What? Don't tell me you're getting emotional on me now...
Lan: Guess we are.
Chaud: Look, just write another MMBN fic if you want to incorporate us in a story again, okay...?
Me: Hehehehe, you know it. Anyhow, folks, I hope you enjoyed "The Pain of Loss" as much as I did writing it. It sucks that it's gotta end here, but, I've kinda hit the end of the time gap between MMBN 3 and MMBN 4, so, it's gotta be done. Catch you guys on the flip side, and be expecting my newest story sometime in the near future!!! JA MATTE!!! ( FYI – That's "See you later" in Japanese. XP )