Chapter 2

Classes had ended, and the day should have been over, but for Lan and Mayl weren't done yet. Still angry at the world famous NetBattler for breaking her vase, Ms. Mari forced him to clean every single inch of the classroom, but was being rather forgiving to Mayl for some particular reason by just having her feed all the animals. Sitting back at her desk, the angered teacher began grading papers, occasionally looking over her work to check on Lan She couldn't understand his sudden mood swing, it was unlike Hub's brother to mope about detention. Something was up, she just couldn't put her finger on it at the moment. Fuming again as she thought about her broken vase, Ms. Mari went back to her work.

The entire time, Lan remained extremely quiet, not looking up from his work of cleaning off all the gum on Dex's desk (how he ate so much gum, even Lan couldn't figure that out). His movements were slow and clumsy, it was almost as if the brown haired youth wasn't even trying hard. His mind was consumed by the picture of Mayl's angry face, which for some reason, he couldn't shake off It hurt the Netbattler, like the time he thought he lost Megaman forever. But he couldn't understand why, it wasn't as if him and Mayl were that close to each other, they were not twins, they weren't even related. If that was so, however, why was he having such a hard time copping with his present situation?

Without even thinking about it, Lan's eyes turned their gaze towards Mayl, whom surprisingly was looking back at him with a semi-worried look on her face. When she saw him turn, however, the pianist quickly turned away, giving her friend another angry glare before she did. Every time he looked at her, she just seemed to get angry. The funny thing was, why? Lan had made a mistake, and she had dragged herself into it by defending him. Still, Mayl felt he deserved what he was getting, the NetBattler would not be forgiven so easily for getting her into trouble.

And, at the same time, she worried for him. The red haired girl could see it in him, something was bothering Lan greatly. And whatever it was, it had been bothering him all day. Even if she was angry, Mayl's heart felt like it tore in two after watching her closest friend leave their lunch table Sure he deserved it, in her mind, but that still didn't make it feel right. She shook her head and turned back to the drawing she had on her desk. She had finished her assignments, and had taken up drawing to pass the time until she could go home.

Roll listened to Megaman's theory, surprised by what she heard. If the blue Navi was correct, then they had a problem. Roll knew Mayl better than everyone, she knew that the teen wouldn't forgive Lan so easily. She might get concerned over Lan's attitude change, but she won't forgive him. This was going to be a problem, she didn't' want to see their friendship ruined. That could cause her to never see Megaman again.

Wait, stop Roll. You're acting selfish, you have to help Megaman think of a way to fix this.

She didn't know that Megaman was having the exact same thoughts.

"Mega, what can we do?"

"I don't know Roll. I'm used to fighting WWW, or Nebula. I'm...I'm kinda at a loss on this."

After a few moments of contemplating and confusion, the blue Navi sighed, coming up with the obvious answer. Turning to face Roll, Megaman hid the blush on his face from looking at Roll. He couldn't help but think how cute she was when she was deep in thought..

"I'll try and talk to Lan when we get home, he'll hopefully talk to me."

Roll looked up and nodded, catching a very brief glance at his blush. Smirking, she acted as if she saw nothing.

"Or at the very least he might listen."

The two Navis sighed, and looked away. They both wanted to say something else, and both were afraid the other didn't feel the same way. But any chance they had was lost when Ms. Mari's voice rang out. An audio system allowed Navis to hear what was said in the classroom.

"Okay Lan, Mayl. Detention is over. I'll be seeing you two again tomorrow. And don't...be...late Lan."

Finally, Lan and Mayl were allowed to leave, their first day of detention over finally. Jacking out their Navi's, they gathered their stuff and left. Ms. Mari watched the two leave, paying particular attention to the NetBattler's sloppy movements. It was still confusing to the teacher. She had been wrong about earlier, even when Megaman was thought to be deleted Lan wasn't this bad. All she knew was that it had to do with Mayl, Lan had been through worse than detention so it couldn't be that. Watching as the two students left, Lan waiting a minute after Mayl left before leaving, she shook her. Head. She knew she had to get to the bottom of this.

Lan and Mayl walked home slowly, one in a saddened state while the other having a mix of anger and concern. The NetBattler stayed behind his friend, looking down at the ground, and almost tripping over a pair of rocks, even if he saw them. After a while, the brown haired kid's eyes did manage to leave the sidewalk and look towards Mayl. Again, her eyesight was caught on him, though this time Lan was the first to look away. The same anger that slipped into the red haired girl's mind quickly came back, turning to face Lan with her hands on her hips and her glaring blue eyes seemingly piercing her friend.

"What are you looking at?" She asked irritably, soon regretting her own words as she noticed him shudder and look away.

"I-it's nothing." Lan sheepishly replied, walking as fast as he could pass Mayl and disappearing into his own home. This left a confused and concerned pianist outside her best friend's home, shocked by his reaction. This brought her to looking down at the sidewalk as Lan did before, a depressing look across her face as she faintly said good-bye and made her way home as well. She said hello to the maid (her parents were away again, because they were home so very little they had hired a maid to look after Mayl) she walked up to her room and jacked Roll into her computer. The pink Navi appeared on the screen, and was about to ask something when Mayl cut her off.

"I know what you want to talk about and I don't. Just upload my homework, I'd better get it finished with."

Roll sighed and did as Mayl asked. The homework replaced Roll on the screen, and Roll started walking to the link to Lan's computer. Mayl didn't need her help with the homework, and she wanted to talk to Megaman. She wanted to know how his and Lan's talk had gone.

When Lan walked in his mother instantly noticed his depressed attitude. That wasn't like him. And he didn't say hi or anything, he just went straight to his room. She stared after him, to surprised to do anything. Yuichiro walked in from the back room right after Lan left to his room, and looked quizzically at his wife.

"What wrong?"

Lan dumped his backpack onto the floor by his bed and walked over to his computer. Looking out the window into Mayl's room, he saw her at work on her homework. Then she glanced up, saw him, glared, and pressed a button to make her windows blacken. The need for binds was long since over, windows could now darken themselves to block out light, or in this case people. Lan sighed, and jacked Megaman into his computer. He didn't feel like surfing the Net, or Netbattling, so for once he was going to do his homework. A first for sure.

"Megaman, can you upload my homework files?"

"Lan, are you alright? You haven't been acting normal since Ms. Mari gave you detention."

"I'm fine Megaman," an irritated tone was clear in his voice, "Just upload my homework, now."

Megaman sighed and did as he was told. He wasn't going to get through to Lan at all. He uploaded the homework, and tried one last time.

"But Lan--"

"I'm fine! Just...go do something on the Net. Leave me alone!"

Megaman was taken aback by Lan's outburst. Sighing in defeat, he loaded the homework program. Without a word the Navi left into the Ne, not noticing the pink Navi that had seen it all from her spot by the link to Mayl's web-page. Roll stepped back onto it, teleporting back to her home. There was definitely something wrong with Lan, she was positive of it now.

The next morning...

Megaman woke up and looked at the clock.

7:00

Just enough time to get Lan up so he'll be late for school. Turning on the speakers, he was about to yell for Lan to wake up when he noticed something. The PET was moving. Looking up he saw Lan, then looked back at the clock.

7:01

This was scary. Lan was up early. Lan walked into his classroom, and seeing Ms. Mari at her desk looking over some papers walked up to her. It took her a second to notice the NetBattler, but when she did her scream was heard throughout ACDC Town. Lan didn't seem to notice. He took out several chips and laid them down on his teacher's desk.

"Here are my homework assignments Ms. Mari."

Ms. Mari just watched, stunned, as Lan walked over to his desk, sat down, jacked in Megaman, and waited for class to begin. She looked at her clock, wondering if she was hallucinating.

7:04

She stared at the clock, back at Lan, then at the clock. Telling herself she was still asleep, she left for some coffee. When she returned and still saw Lan, the only one in the class, and his homework projects, she almost fainted. She downed the coffee and sat down, still in shock. Picking up his homework chips, all of the assignments were there too, she slid them into her PET for her Navi to grade. Then looking back up at Lan she shook her head, trying to recover.

"Well...done Lan. It's good to finally see you on time, er, early?"

The words sounded weird. She had never thought at anytime in her life that she would say "Lan", "on time", and "early" in the same sentence as a compliment. Lan didn't seem to acknowledge it , he just clasped his hands together and waited for the bell to ring. When it did, and the rest of the kids started to file in, each one froze in the doorway, as shocked as Ms. Mari was. Mayl snapped out of it the, figuring it was about time Lan pulled his act together. The other kids soon sat down as well, Yai and Dex looked at each other before they sat down. Even Dex knew something was up. They sat down, ans class started.

Lunch was the same as the day before. Only Lan walked straight past his normal spot by Dex to the empty table from the day before. Again, Ms. Mari watched him, trying to figure out what was wrong. This time, however, Lan also attracted the looks of a few students, Dex and Yai included. When lunch ended, he again drew the stares of the staff, throwing away another full tray of food. Again he was the last one to leave the cafeteria, though this time because eh had to ask Ms. Mari something. Walking up to her as she prepared to leave, he waited for her to notice him. It took a second, but she did.

"Yes, Lan?"

"Um, Ms. Mari, can...Can you let Mayl off of detention?"

Ms. Mari thought about it, a few more pieces of her mystery clicking together. But she shook her head, no chance.

"No."

"But...but why? She didn't do anything."

"My answer is no."

"But--"

"Lan Hikari, are you back-mouthing me? Do you want another week of detention?"

"No ma'am..."

"Lan, is nice to see you care for your friend, and showing up early for once...But..."

She noticed Lan had zoned out and and walked away. Normally she would have yelled at him, but in light of his recent attitude, she said nothing. She didn't want to risk worsening his condition. Making her Navi make a note to remind her to call Lan's parents, she followed him back to class, closing the door behind her as the bell rang.

That detention was like the day before's, Lan cleaned the room, Mayl took care of the animals. They finished their assignments, Mayl turning back to her drawing and Lan, well, sitting like he had when the day began. Mayl, ignored him, Ms. Mari continued trying to figure out what was going on while grading projects, and Roll and Megaman were again talking in the Chalkboard Computer.

"Mega...I heard what happened with your talk last night..."

Megaman looked up at Roll. How did she know what happened last night? Roll saw the look of bafflement of the Navi's face, laughing. Megaman was cute when he looked like that.

"I wanted to talk to you, so I used the link from my home page to yours. I heard it all."

"Roll, I don't know what wrong with him. I know it has to do with Mayl, he was muttering her name last night, asking her to not be mad at him."

A few minutes later, Ms. Mari announced that detention was over. The two Navis walked over to the panels to jack out, and as Megaman was about to step on his, Roll grabbed his arm. Megaman looked back at her, a confused look on his face. What was Roll doing?

"Roll, what are--"

"Megaman, I...I just want you to know that if you ever need help, you're free to come by Mayl's HP. Okay?"

Megaman thought about it, then smiled and nodded. This brought out a smile from Roll, who watched him jack out before she did herself. She had been so close to admitting how she felt, so close! She took s breath, even though Navis didn't need air, to calm down as she appeared in her PET. There was always tomorrow. She smiled to herself, yes, there was always tomorrow.

The next few days repeated over the same exact way. Lan was early, turned in his homework, sat at lunch alone, drew concerned glances, dumped an full tray of food, drew more concerned glances, cleaned the class, and Megaman and Roll talked. They were getting along great, unlike their operators, and started talking more freely to each other. They were still afraid of admitting their feelings, both hiding them. Ms. Mari had called Lan's parents a few days after the second detention. His mom and dad were planning on talking to him that night. However, something else was to happen that night. The eighth detention had just ended, and Lan walked walking a few feet behind Mayl, staring at the ground. He sighed, he doubted that he could keep this up any longer. Taking a deep breath, he walked up behind her and tapped her shoulder.

She sighed, and turned around and crossed her arms. Lan gulped and looked down, trying to avoid her glare. And to try and ignore the obvious anger in her voice.

"What do you want?"

"Uh, Mayl...I...I'm sorry I got you dragged into detention with me. I really am."

Mayl just looked at him, and for a second eh thought she was going to forgive him. However, that soon changed when she started yelling.

"You're sorry? Sorry? You waited eight days to tell me you're just "sorry"? If you hadn't been late in the first place, none of this would even be happening! I wouldn't have to keep lying to my maid so she won't call my parents, I wouldn't have to stay up later to finish all of this extra homework. And all you can say is sorry? Hmphh. Forget it Lan Hikari, you're not getting off that easily."

With that she turned and stormed off, disappearing into her house that was right up the street. She was too angry to think about how harsh she had been on him when he was trying to apologize. To Lan, his hopes were shattered. It seemed positive that there was no way Mayl was going to like him back, not now, not ever.He sighed and dropped his head, walking into his house. His mom and dad weren't there, though he found a note saying they would be back later that night. He crumpled it up and threw it away, making his way up to his room. To save himself further hurt, he blackened his window right away, then jacked Megaman into his computer. The blue Navi had heard everything, and right away tried to help his brother.

"Lan, maybe--"

"Forget it Hub! I don't want to talk about Mayl."

"But Lan, if you let her calm down--"

"I said forget it! You don't think she made it clear a few minutes ago that there is no way she'll ever like me the way I like her? AT this rate, I'll be surprised if she even talks to me again..."

"Lan--"

"Just drop it Hub!"

Lan sat down on his bed, holding his head in his hands. Here he was, Lan, world famous NetBattler. He had saved the world several times, gone into positions where he could have been killed, and he barely flinched. But here he was, crying over the one girl he...loved. He loved her. That just made it all the more painful.

"I love her..."

"What was that Lan?"

"Oh, nothing. Uh, Megaman, I'm gonna take a walk. You know, to cool off. Start up the homework, okay?"

Megaman just nodded, surprised by Lan's sudden calmness after the outburst. But, what had he said? He loved Mayl? Megaman booted up the homework as Lan left the room, turning when he heard an alarm that someone was trying to break into the computer. His right arm changed into his MegaBuster, though eh was frozen with shock he saw who had broken in.

"Miss me? He-he-he-he!"

"No..."

Lan was in the park, sitting on a bench, staring at nothing. He briefly considered going into Higsby's and looking at the new chips, but decided against it. He didn't feel like talking to anyone. He sighed, this wasn't his day. How could he get Mayl to forgive him? Getting u, he skated towards the school, he could always try getting his friend out of the rest of the detentions. Nodding to Dex as he passed him, he rounded a corner. He never knew what hit him. The second he did someone grabbed him and pressed a cloth against his mouth and nose. In seconds he was unconscious, and the kidnapper carried him away as another person broke into Lan's house, stole Megaman's PET so the Navi couldn't escape his attacker, and left a note for Lan's parents. The man smirked as he climbed into a black mini-van. Pulling out a phone, he pressed speed-dial number one.

"Boss? Phase One is complete. Start Phase Two."

"Hahahaha...good, good...Lan, it's about time we had revenge for everything you've done to us...HAHAHAHA!"

The mini-van drove off, no one knowing what had just happened.

Mayl walked into her house, still fuming at Lan. Slamming the door to her room, she jacked Roll into her computer, and started ranting.

"How dare he Roll! You heard what he said, didn't you?"

"Mayl, I think you were too harsh on him. You know Lan, he doesn't get depressed like he's been lately unless something really hurt him. And he was trying to apologize, you just threw it back in his face. Most people wouldn't have said anything at all, yet he got up the courage to try and apologize."

"But Roll--"

She was cut off when she heard yelling from Lan's room. She couldn't help but be curious, and opened her window to listen to it better. She heard all of it, even Lan's confession of liking her. That dissipated any anger she had left, and she slumped back into a chair. She couldn't believe it. She was the reason of Lan's sudden change. Her thought were interrupted by a shriek from Roll. She dashed over to her computer, looking into the screen.

"Roll, what's wrong? Roll? Roll, answer me!"

Her shriek was caused by Megaman. He stumbled into Mayl's HP through the link, looking to be near deletion. The pink Navi rushed over to catch him before he fell, her mind racing. What had done this to him? Why wasn't Lan helping him? What was going on?

"Roll...destroy...the link...hurry..."

She hesitated, but did so. The link was deleted, though she wasn't sure why Megaman wanted it deleted. Viruses could use them, unless it wasn't a virus that did this. She pulled Megaman into Mayl's sight, channeling healing energy into him to keep him from dying.

"Mega, what happened? Who did this to you?"

"I...It's...Shademan...he...he's back..."

Okay, time for a bit of explaining. I did say this was AU, so the thing with Shademan is this. There is a secret scene in Megaman Battle Network 4 where you can team up with Django (?) the Solar Boy to delete Shademan once and for all. Django uses the Piledriver, and Shademan is supposed to be gone, well, he's back and stronger than ever. Any, you know the drill. Drop a review. Please.