Whaddya know, before I even finish my first fanfic (West Island Chaos, a Sonic fanfic) I get the idea for another good one. I'm not going to waste any time here in my little author's space, except to say that I'm attempting to be a bit bold with this piece here. RR, tell me what you think. I hope it's good

One more thing, this fic is about 12 years after the events of EXE4. That means, if I'm not mistaken, Lan and Mayl are 23-24 years old.

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A Paradigm's Dawn

Chapter 1 - Just Another Day...

This is great... I'm already behind schedule as it is. I don't think I can afford to be late again. Lan buttoned up his shirt as he made his way toward the front door of the house. He made one last check of his attire with a mirror on the way to the door. His short brown hair was nicely combed, his shirt neatly tucked, and his face clean-shaven. Placing his hand on the doorknob, he froze as he recollected a thought in the back of his mind. "Megaman..."

Turning around, Lan made his way through the hallway extending out of the living room and entered his room. Slowly stepping to avoid making any noise, he searched around the room a bit till his eyes fell upon a small blue device on the nightstand next to the bed. Elated, Lan quickly picked it up and pressed a few buttons, causing it to whir to life in his hands. The small LCD screen on the device lit up and displayed the image of a human-looking face in a blue, armored suit.

"Huh?" A voice uttered through the device's speakers, sounding a tad drowsy. The image looked around a bit before centering its focus on Lan. In a louder voice, the image seemed to speak. "Oh, hey Lan, what's up?"

"Shh," Lan whispered quickly. Megaman was speaking much too loud.

"Huh, what's wrong Lan?" After looking around a moment, the image turned into one of nervousness. "Seven Twenty?! Lan, you're going to be late!"

"I told you to be quiet. I know I'm going to be late."

Megaman let out a sigh as he observed Lan turning around to head out of the door. Lan would always oversleep when he was younger. Fortunately, Megaman had always been there to wake him up on time. But things were different now, seeing as there were one more person's needs to worry about...

"I wish you were more discreet Megaman," Lan whispered as he opened the door in the room, "now let's get out of here before--"

"Before what?" a distinctively stern voice spoke from Lan's bed. Squirming into view, a young woman with long, dark red hair appeared before Lan. Covered with a white blanket, she looked at him with a slightly perturbed expression. "Before I wake up and find out you couldn't get up in time again?"

"Mayl, I..." Lan had no words now. He knew he had been caught, and that no excuse would be good enough at this point.

Mayl sighed, and then looked away towards the large window on the wall opposite of the doorway. The curtains were of white linen, with faint but noticeable pink hearts painted all over. The curtains formed a small opening which, during the day time, emitted a thin ray of light that lay perpendicular to the bed. "What am I going to do with you Lan? You can't even wake up in time to go to work. You'd think you'd have learned to get up on your own by now."

"Come on Mayl, it hasn't been that bad. I get up on time most days..."

As if ignoring Lan, she continued. "I really didn't think you were this dependant on Megaman waking you up all the time." She smirked and looked at Lan again. "I guess some things never change. Maybe I'll let Megaman wake you up again after all."

"Mayl, don't kid around..." Lan knew how much Mayl hated to be woken up early like this. Having a PET blaring one of those annoying alarm sounds wouldn't help that situation at all, and she had vocalized those concerns quite vehemently in the past.

Mayl sighed. "We'll talk about this later. Don't want you to be late after all. Oh wait, too late for that." With a chuckle, she lied down on the bed again and turned away from Lan. Still distraught, Lan turned into the doorway and walked towards the living room.

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"You know, she is right."

"I know that. She just doesn't have to tease me about it so much."

"Of course she does, it's the only thing you understand sometimes. Besides, I know you don't want to make her mad. I actually think it's a good thing she reacted calmly."

Lan sighed. He knew that the last thing he, or anyone for that matter, wanted to do was get Mayl mad. She was kindhearted for sure, but it's usually the nicest people that end up having the most evil dark sides. She was no exception. "Come to think of it, I think I'll take what I get."

"I thought so." Megaman kept silent as he reviewed a few key portions of data, even as Lan muttered under his breath about how annoying Megaman found Roll sometimes...

The clock showed 7:38 as the Metroline train halted near the SciLab station stop. With haste, Lan got up and started running away from the train towards the large building at the end of the path in front of him.

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"He was late again?"

"I know. I'm a bit surprised he even still has a job." Mayl sighed as she spoke to the PET she was holding in her hand while sitting down on the living room couch. She was clothed in a simple purple-pink T-Shirt with a pair of white shorts. They were a bit worn, mostly since they had been worn during many of the more strenuous cleaning tasks she'd dealt with. Her long hair was tied into a ponytail, hanging down below her shoulder. "Maybe I should just let Megaman--"

"Mayl, both me and Megaman know how much you hate being woken up too early. Just between you and me, I actually get a bit scared of you" The PET let out a chuckle, synchronized with the image of a human-looking face in a pink body suit smiling.

"I don't want him to lose his job. Even if Yuichiro does run SciLab--"

"Don't be paranoid Mayl. He does his job well, so I doubt they would get rid of him over being a few minutes late. Besides, Lan needs to learn not to be so irresponsible. He isn't 12 anymore you know."

Mayl smiled. Roll definitely looked the role of a typically submissive girl, and the pink didn't help to change that image either. Still, she was highly authoritative, and, judging from her dealings with Megaman, wouldn't just stand around if there was something that troubled her. Speaking of which...

"Wait a second." Mayl let out a smirk, "Since when did you become such an expert on dealing with my husband? Don't you have your own to deal with?"

Roll smiled. She had won this battle, and Mayl knew it. Typical of her operator, she found a way to change the subject. "I'm only telling you what I think should be done. I'm sure Megaman would do the same if he were here."

"Yeah, except he'd find some way to get some new program or something out of it." They both laughed. It had been a while since the two were able to talk by themselves. Megaman usually stood home while Lan went to work to help Mayl with the errands. He's a huge help to them when he's here, but the fact that he was almost always there was a tad uncomfortable.

The two were interrupted when a loud ringing sound came out of the PET. After pressing a few buttons on the machine, Mayl saw the image of a fair-skinned woman with short brown hair on the LCD screen.

"Hello Mayl," the voice from the PET spoke.

"Mrs. Hikari! How are you?"

"Mayl, I keep telling you, call me Haruka." Haruka's voice was calm and serene, and she kept it this way even when she seemed annoyed. It made her a difficult person to argue with.

"I'm sorry, Haruka. It's been a while since I've talked to you. What's the problem?" Roll noticed that Mayl spoke a bit more formally now that Haruka was on the phone. Even as an adult she still had the utmost respect for her husband's mother.

"No problems. I was actually hoping that, if you weren't busy, you could come to dinner tonight along with Roll. I'm making beef stew."

Mayl's face lit up like a bulb. Mrs. Hikari's beef stew was the best in the entire ACDC area, at least according to Lan. What she had of it only confirmed that statement. "That's wonderful Mrs-- I mean Haruka. I'll call Lan right away about it."

"Oh, yes... about Lan. I was actually hoping that you and Roll could come alone?"

"Really?" This took Mayl a bit by surprise. Mrs. Hikari never lost an opportunity to cook for her son. She would even occasionally come all the way to Den City with some of her food to give to Lan. Something had to be going on...

"Don't worry, there's no problem. I just thought it'd be nice... to get to know my daughter-in-law better... that's all." Mayl noticed a hint of nervousness in her voice, which was quite unlike her. Still, she could see why, now that she thought about it. She didn't really know Haruka that well, besides what she had seen of her when she visited with Lan. Having some time alone with her and Roll would do her some good.

She paused for a moment before giving her reply. "Sure, no problem. Roll and I would be delighted. Roll?"

"Don't worry, I'll e-mail Lan right away," the pink navi replied.

"Wait," Haruka interjected, "don't tell Lan you're coming here. If he knew, I'm sure he'd find some way to come anyway. You can tell him after we're finished here."

'After we're finished here?' Mayl felt a bit uneasy about not telling Lan, especially when it involved his own mother. Still, there was something up, something that she definitely didn't want her son to hear. At least not yet... "Um... okay, I won't tell him." Mayl smiled, but left a hint of nervousness in her expression.

"That's great. Dinner will be ready by seven. See you there."

"Bye Haruka." The PET screen blacked out for a moment, then returned to the image of Roll. Mayl noticed that Roll had a slightly nervous expression, not to dissimilar to her own. "I guess you're uncomfortable with this too."

"It's certainly not like her to leave Lan out of someone like this. She loves him so much. What she has to say to us must be awfully important."

Mayl let out a small sigh. "Well anyway, I should probably finish cleaning this living room before lunch." She would worry about what Haruka might want to say when the time comes. For now, she had a bit of work to do. She looked at her watch-- eleven thirty-six-- and got up from the couch, clipped the PET onto her belt, and resumed her cleaning duties.

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"Lan, you know you can't keep doing this."

"I'm trying my best not to be late sir. I can assure you it won't happen again?"

"Oh it'll happen again, I'm sure. And when it does, you'll get two hours docked from your pay instead of the usual one. I think you understand me."

"Yes sir, completely."

"Good. The demonstration is in half an hour. Our clients aren't exactly the most levelheaded group, so it's vital we leave a good impression."

"Don't worry. I'll make sure everything goes smoothly."

"Perfect. I expect good things from you."

"Thank you."

A section of the computer screen on SciLab's Head of Navi Operations and Development disappeared, leaving a sprawling mess of various numbers and images. The man in charge sat back in his chair and closed his eyes to calm himself. Ever since he took this job he's always had lots of people complaining to him, asking him what to do, and making all sorts of appointments. As a result, he found himself complimenting and reprimanding people more often than dealing the scattered pieces of data displayed on his desktop. He especially hated it when he had to punish people, as he had just done, but it was a necessary part of his job. Still, it was always difficult docking someone's pay, or telling them they have to work late a night instead of coming home to their family.

He felt especially so when it came to Lan, his own son.

Doctor Yuichiro Hikari opened his eyes and began looking at the computer screen. No matter how hard he tried, he never got Lan never did kick his very bad habit of oversleeping. Of course, he was partially to blame-- letting Megaman act as his alarm clock day in and day out seemed to make him dependant-- but it was troublesome that, at twenty-three years old, Lan's job security was threatened because he was always coming to work ten minutes late. He'd have to talk to him personally about it, in a non-professional setting, so he can make his concerns clear without having to worry about any formal etiquette...

The door to Yuichiro's office opened abruptly, revealing a middle-aged man with a small disk in his hand. "Dr Hikari," the man spoke, "here's the data you asked for. Also, Mr. Yuji just arrived five minutes ago. Should I tell him you're busy?"

Yuichiro thought for a moment. "I won't keep him waiting too long." Dr. Hikari opened a just-arrived e-mail on his computer. "Tell him I'll be down in fifteen minutes to see him."

"Very well sir. Oh, and one more thing: the computers in lab seven are acting up again. The supervisor can't fix the problem, and wants to know if he can-- Dr. Hikari?" The man looked puzzled as he noticed Yuichiro looking blankly at the screen in front of him. His expression was one of combined shock and disbelief. "Dr. Hikari, are you listening?"

The stunned scientist turned to face the man, a solemn expression on his face. "Tell Mr. Yuji I had to cancel. Cancel any appointments I have for the rest of the day and hold all calls and e-mails."

"Dr... Dr. Hikari, sir. Mr. Yuji is booked solid; you won't be able to see him again for the next six months."

"Then we wait six months. I'm afraid something's come up, something important." Yuichiro put on his coat and prepared to walk out the door. "I trust you can take care of things until I come back?"

The man still had reservations with the doctor leaving, but he trusted his judgment. "Very well. Have a good day Dr. Hikari."

"You too." With that, the doctor left the room, with the man following close behind.

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Yuichiro sat on the Metro Line train, going over the text of the e-mail he received at SciLab. He closed his eyes and thought for a long time. It's hard to believe it. After so many years... The train stopped, announcing the destination: Electown. Yuichiro got up and exited the train with a small crowd of people, then made his way into the open walkways of the city. Looking around and glancing at his e-mail, Yuichiro started walking south, walking past Jomon's Electric Store on the way. That was so long ago, he thought, referring to an event he recalled, He has a lot of guts calling me, after what happened... things can get very bad if I'm not careful.

Very, very bad...

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I hope this was good. Trying to keep characters in character, especially when you're writing about them years later, can be difficult. Let's hope I did a good job. Remember to RR, I look forward to all comments, good, bad, or even just random