New Megaman Battle Network

A complete reimagining of the universe and stories of Megaman Battle Network.

Story 1: New Origins


Chapter 2: Bake, Battle and Roll

Later that week, Lan found himself walking downtown with Mayl, describing to her the events of several days ago as they passed by various stores.

"Really?" Mayl exclaimed. "Megaman defeated a World Three Navi?!"

Lan grinned and nodded. "He's really strong! Dad said he was the best Navi he ever made."

"Wow… I wish I could have seen that. That must have been an awesome battle."

Lan smirked. "Maybe you should have come with us."

"Well, you didn't invite me!" she retorted.

"You would have said no!"

"Of course I would have said no!" Mayl shot back. "I don't need to be grounded for four days like you were."

Lan grumbled and kicked at the ground. "Yeah, yeah… I thought my dad would be on my side, for once."

She raised an eyebrow. "You thought he wouldn't punish you for sneaking out of the house?"

"I stopped a crime! I was literally crime-fighting!" he insisted. "He should be proud!"

Mayl smirked. "Oh come on, Lan. You went out looking for trouble. It's not the same thing."

"Whatever…" Lan couldn't help but grin, as another memory stirred in his mind. "You should have seen him when I was telling him what happened. He was trying to be angry, but he kept asking questions about how strong Megaman was, and how well he fought. I thought Mom was going to throttle him."

She let out a laugh. "Maybe he is on your side after all, then. Just don't sneak out of the house next time." She looked back toward the businesses they were walking past, before her eyes widened and she dashed to a nearby window, peering inside. "Oh, look at that!"

Lan, a bit bewildered, looked upward to find they were in front of a multi-floor department store; he walked over to the window, trying to find what had gotten his friend so excited. "Um... what are you looking at?"

"That, right there!" she exclaimed, pointing to a handbag in the window. "That purse! I've been looking for something like that for weeks."

Lan stared at it, wondering what exactly made it better than any other purse, when Mayl grabbed his wrist. "Come on! I wanna try it on!" Lan yelped as she pulled him helplessly into the store.


Three minutes and two floors later, the pair was walking through the women's accessories section, one of them clearly enjoying themselves more than the other. Mayl carefully scanned the racks of handbags, eyes lighting up when she found what she was looking for.

"Here it is!" She stood up on her toes, grabbing it off of the wall. "This won't take long, Lan."

Lan grumbled a bit in response. "This is the actual girliest thing you could be doing."

"Well, Lan, I am a girl, in case you hadn't noticed."

"I mean, you're in a department store, trying on purses because you saw something in the window," he continued, as she looked for a nearby mirror. "This is like the ultimate girl stereotype you're fulfilling here."

Mayl was unfazed by his criticism. "So what, Lan? I'm a girl, I like girly things sometimes. I also run track, I play piano, and I Netbattle just like you do. I am a perfectly well-balanced individual." She stopped in front of a full-length mirror on the wall, putting the purse on and taking a look. "You're just being snotty because you want to be at the arcade instead."

"Got that right…" Lan muttered in response, looking down.

"Well, nobody's making you stay here and watch me do this," she responded, turning to the side. "Go do whatever you want to do and I'll find you when I'm done."

"Alright." Lan quickly turned away, relieved. "I'll be downstairs, in the electronics section."

Mayl smirked, glancing back at him. "Oh, will you? How stereotypically boyish of you, Lan."

"Oh, shut up." Lan started walking away toward the escalators, when a loud buzzing sound started to pierce the air, causing both of them to jump. They heard a number of shocked cries from other customers nearby, but a couple of seconds later, the alarm stopped as suddenly as it had started.

"Attention, customers," a male voice announced over the store speakers, sounding as unnerved as everyone else. "We apologize for the alarm you just heard. There was a momentary glitch in our security systems, which we are resolving now. There is no cause for further alarm. Thank you."

Lan and Mayl both exhaled, their bodies un-tensing, as Lan continued heading downstairs. "Geez, give me a heart attack, why don't you…"


"Bit headstrong, isn't she?" Megaman commented a few minutes later, as Lan was standing in front of a display case of Battlechips, looking them over.

"Yeah, she is," Lan confirmed, eyes looking over the more expensive chips. "It's fine, though. She's fun to spend time with, whatever we're doing."

"How long have you known each other?"

"Since we were born, basically." Lan glanced over the prices, wondering if it was worth saving up his allowance for a powerful chip. "Our parents were all friends, so they tried to get us to be friends, too. It worked, eventually."

His Navi smirked. "Eventually, huh?" Lan started to respond, but a voice from behind made him turn around, where he saw Mayl walking in his direction.

"I'm all done," she called out as she approached. "Are you ready to go?"

"Yeah, I was just looking." Lan glanced over her, noticing she didn't have anything more than she came in with. "Didn't like the purse, huh?"

"No, it was great, I loved it."

He raised an eyebrow in response. "So why didn't you buy it?"

"Oh, I was just looking at it. There's no way I could afford something like that," she explained. "That's not the sort of thing I buy. It's the sort of thing I borrow from Yai's closet, and then hope she doesn't ask for it back."

Lan stared back at her in disbelief, feeling like his head was going to explode. He was tempted to complain again about what he felt was a waste of time, but decided not to bring it up, now that he had a chance to actually leave. "Alright, well, let's get out of here, then." They started heading toward the department store entrance, when a voice caused them to stop in their tracks.

"Excuse me!" Lan and Mayl turned around, surprised, to see a rather wiry, middle-aged man in a suit standing behind them, looking a bit nervous and shaken; he had his eye on Lan's PET. "But are either of you skilled Netbattlers, by any chance? I noticed you over here by the Battlechips…"

Lan nodded, and the man wiped a bit of sweat from his forehead. "Thank goodness… I'm the store manager, you see. Our security systems aren't functioning properly, and we have a virus attacking our computers, but we don't want to alert police or the Officials… it might scare away some customers. I'm sure you heard the alarm a few minutes ago."

"We did, but why…" Mayl's eyes widened a little. "Are you asking us to take care of it for you?"

"I know it's unusual to ask such a thing of our customers, especially children, but this is a critical shopping period for us. We can't really afford a ruckus." He looked rather uncomfortable making the request, even embarrassed. "Both of you will be compensated for your assistance, of course."

Her eyes lit up a bit, thinking back to the accessory she had just been trying on. Lan grinned at the man and nodded. "No problem! Me and Megaman can take care of any virus!"

"Excellent, excellent!" The manager led them over to a specific hole in the wall. "You can jack in right here. But please hurry, and try not to let customers notice you." Mayl and Lan both nodded, pulling out the jack-in cables on their PETs and sending their Navis into the store's Cyberworld.


An instant later, Megaman arrived in the store's network, appearing in a blue flash of light; looking over to his right, he saw another Navi appear immediately afterward, a slightly shorter, female Navi in pink armor, with yellow, curved bands expanding backwards from her helmet. This was Mayl's custom Navi, Roll, whom Megaman had met earlier in the day, when Lan and Mayl were at school.

Looking forward, they saw the Cyberworld was in complete disarray; something had come through and torn it apart, scattering devices and data every which way.

"Wow, what happened here?" Megaman wondered, stepping forward and looking around. "This place is a mess, but I don't see any viruses."

"It looks like they were looking for something," Roll responded, glancing around as well. "You think they went ahead searching elsewhere?"

"Only one way to find out," Megaman replied, and the two went running off in search of the assailant.

Elsewhere in the store, a mysterious Navi was sifting through data, tossing it aside as he looked about. This was a humanoid Navi wearing a red bodysuit, but with a large gray torch acting as his head.

"Damn... these Elemental Programs are in the oddest of places," he muttered to himself, tossing aside financial and product data bits. "The kitchen section of a department store is the apparent location of a highly powerful... wait!"

He looked down at a certain piece of data he had in his hand; it was colored orange, and was exuding a strange aura. It matched the description he had been given exactly.

"This must be it, then." He studied it curiously, not noticing the two humanoid Navis that were coming into view from his side. He put two fingers to the side of his head, roughly where his ear should have been; Megaman, upon seeing this, quickly grabbed Roll's arm and had them both duck behind a large file structure. He resisted the urge to peek back out, intensely curious about the orange data file the Navi had taken. It reminded him of the glowing yellow data that Elecman had pulled out of the abandoned power plant, before their battle began.

"This is Fireman, reporting in. I've found the third Elemental Program." Lan and Mayl's Navis listened in carefully, hoping they could glean some information. "I can't believe it was here, either. Makes me wonder if this LifeVirus is really going to be as powerful as it's supposed to be." He listened for a moment, as whoever he was speaking to said something in response. "Well, whatever. Returning to base now."

He moved his fingers from the side of his head, about to jack out and teleport away, when a Mega Buster blast whizzed right by his head, hitting a nearby object. The Navi jumped and looked over at the source of the attack, and his eyes widened a bit at the sight of Megaman, as he and Roll got closer.

"You... you fit Zapp's description exactly." The Navi took a fighting stance. "You must be the Navi that defeated Elecman, are you not?"

"What... how do you know that?" Megaman exclaimed, dropping back into a defensive stance. "Are you a World Three Navi, too?"

"Who were you talking to?" Roll demanded. "What's a LifeVirus? Why does it need these special programs?"

The enemy Navi's eyes narrowed. "You two snoops were eavesdropping on me… you've heard entirely too much." He looked at the orange data file he had in his hand, before he snapped his fingers, and the data suddenly disappeared. "We'll have to do something about that."

The Navi stood fully, several inches taller than the other two at his full height. "I assure you I'll prove a much better challenge than Count Zapp's weakling." He took a fighting stance. "I am Fireman, the strongest of the World Three Navis, operated by the incomparable Kenichi Match! You can't win!"

Megaman smirked, as he and Roll both assumed fighting stances as well. "We'll just see about that!"

The three ran at each other, prepared to battle.


Immediately upon beginning the battle, Megaman activated a Cannon and started firing it at Fireman. Expecting it to contact, he was quite surprised to see his opponent dodge with surprising deftness, given how close the two were.

Fireman laughed, dashing forward and slamming his flame-charged fist into Megaman's stomach, sending him flying backwards. "I told you that I would be a challenge!"

Lan's Navi landed hard on the ground, whereupon Roll ran over to him. "Megaman, are you okay?"

"Yeah… I'll be fine," Megaman sat up, rubbing his head. "Looks like Cannon fire is too slow, though. We'll have to hit him with our small arms, they're faster!"

"Got it!" Roll replied, pulling her companion to his feet, before forming a crossbow on her right arm. She turned toward Fireman and began to fire at a high speed. "Dodge this!"

The arrows flew directly toward Fireman, who had barely any time to dodge. Roll and Megaman anticipated the hit, but at the last moment, a fire shield surrounded the enemy completely, causing the arrow to disintegrate upon contact.

"No... no way!" Megaman shouted, getting out his Mega Buster and firing. Every shot dissipated upon coming in contact with the shield.

"Is that all you fools have got?" Fireman demanded, as he lowered his shield, unscathed. "Weaklings, the both of you." He aimed his cannon arm at the both of them. "Let me show you what real strength looks like!"

He started firing high-temperature rounds at both of them at a high speed. Megaman yelped and barely dodged one, but got hit by a second and third before Lan sent him a Barrier to protect himself with; the barrage continued as he nursed his wounds.

"Damn it! Nothing we have is working!" he cursed. "We need a strong attack, but they're all too slow..."

Fireman stopped his onslaught, as he saw his rounds dissipate as they impacted the shield. "Hiding behind a Barrier already, are you? That didn't take long." He chuckled, marching forward. "Perhaps you're not the Navi who defeated Elecman after all..."

"Megaman, what's the strongest chip you've got?" Roll inquired. Megaman looked over, expecting to see her covered in scorch marks, but blinked in surprise when he saw she was completely unscathed.

"Er... Lan?" Megaman asked.

Back in the real world, Lan flipped through his chip folder. "I've got one Mega Cannon here... got lucky in a chip trader a couple weeks ago." He pulled it out. "We could maybe charge it up... it'll never hit Fireman, though..."

Roll shook her head. "Don't worry about that. I'll distract him while you get ready to fire that thing... then when it's charged, give it to him where it hurts!"

"What? But how will you distract him?" Megaman inquired.

She smirked and took a runner's stance. "If you thought Fireman was fast, you haven't seen anything yet!"

An instant later, she took off like a rocket. Megaman gawked as she traveled at blinding speed, nearly untrackable, toward Fireman, whom she punched in the stomach as hard as she could. Fireman's eyes widened, and he took a step backward before swinging his cannon at her head; she dodged with ease, and jumped back a few feet before Megaman knew what happened.

"What the... Roll is that fast?!" he exclaimed, incredulous. Roll looked over at him, as Fireman charged her.

"Megaman! Get a move on!" she yelled before jumping again, firing two more arrows which Fireman incinerated. Megaman, back in reality, nodded, as Lan slotted in his Mega Cannon chip. His Navi held out his arm and let the Mega Cannon take its time forming, as Roll continued her high-speed, low-power battle with her foe.

"Gah! Enough of this!" Fireman exclaimed, after being dodged for a fifth time. He put both his hands out. "Let's see you dodge this!"

Standing still for a moment, Fireman started straining, as if trying to summon something. A second later, the ground in front of him turned into a long, thin pool of lava, separating himself and Roll.

"What's he doing?" she wondered aloud, an instant before her questioned was answered. The pool of lava erupted into a massive tidal wave, one too tall for her to jump over; her eyes widened, as Fireman laughed, amused.

"Let's see you dodge this one!" he exclaimed, as he thrust his hands forward, causing the wall of lava to advance with shocking speed; Roll yelped and started running away reflexively. She looked at the top of it, seeing that it was much too high to jump over, and she'd never manage to get to either side. All she could do was outrun it, and it would doubtless chase her down eventually. She started to panic as she ran backwards.

"Now!" Megaman said aloud to himself, aiming the Mega Cannon and firing.

Fireman barely saw the blast out of the corner of his eye, long after it was too late. He took the full force of the Mega Cannon head on, as it knocked him back several yards. His wave of lava began to fall, and Roll, seeing her opening, barely managed to jump over the top of it, landing on safe ground.

Megaman got his Mega Buster back out and ran over to the enemy Navi, but it was hardly needed. The blast had taken a semi-circular chunk out of Fireman's body, including an arm and part of his leg. He groaned and tried to stand, but failed.

"You... you bastards..."

Megaman pointed his Buster at Fireman's head. "Give up?"

Fireman snorted derisively. "I never needed to win this battle. World Three already has what it needs from this place. All you've done is slow me down." He started to glow a little. "Lord Wily's plans will not go undeterred..."

"Lord Wily?" Megaman wondered aloud, but Fireman was jacked out before he could shed any more light on the situation. He sighed and put his Buster away.

"Thanks, Roll. We could never have won without your help."

Roll smiled. "I should be saying the same to you. Now come on, let's jack out. I'm sure Lan and Mayl are eager to leave."

Megaman nodded, as both of them left the store's Cyberworld.


Ten minutes later, Lan was standing outside, leaning against the window of the department store right next to its main entrance. He was holding and looking at a gift card to the store, worth 10,000 Zennys, which had been given to him by a grateful, frazzled, and probably unscrupulous store manager.

"So... World Three wants this LifeVirus..." he mused aloud. "I've never heard of a super-powerful virus before. What do you think, Megaman?"

"I think your dad may know what to do better than the two of us," Megaman chipped in. "SciLab could probably stop World Three from getting the last Elemental Program, if anyone can."

"Yeah, but he doesn't want me associating with World Three anymore," Lan added. "How can I get that information to him without getting in trouble?"

Megaman didn't have an answer to this. Neither had much time to think, however, before the doors next to Lan slid open; he glanced over to see Mayl stepping outside, grinning from ear to ear, the infamous purse slung over her shoulder.

Lan smirked a bit. "So you were able to get it after all."

Mayl turned toward him, a wide smile on her face. "And you're getting a handful of new Battlechips, I bet." She grinned teasingly at him. "Aren't you glad we stopped in there now?"

"Yeah, yeah, you were right and I was wrong." He pushed away from the window with his elbows, standing up fully. "So are we still going to the arcade, or what?"

"You go ahead without me, Lan. I'm going to go and show this to Yai. She's going to flip!" Lan's eyebrows raised as he watched Mayl turn and run off toward uptown.

"Hey, wait! Are you serious?" He watched her race off, groaning as he leaned back against the window. "Ah, geez… so much for today, then."

"Mayl gets her way a lot, doesn't she?" Megaman piped up.

"She sure does…" Lan sighed and stood up again. "Well, if we're not going to play games, I might as well take a look at some of those Battlechips."

"Sure, good idea. I know a few I'd like to use…" his Navi responded, as Lan walked back inside.