New Megaman Battle Network
A complete reimagining of the universe and stories of Megaman Battle Network.
Story 1: New Origins
Chapter 3: Round Two
"2600 Zennys, please."
Megaman held out his hand, and a second later a small device formed in his palm, which he handed over to the Netmerchant; the man deducted the proper amount from the account and handed it back, along with a piece of data.
"Thank you, come again!" Megaman nodded and turned, leaving the shopping district of Net City and walking off.
"Well, that's done. Your mom should be happy," he said to a listening Lan in the real world. "This should fix the stove good as new."
"Good thing, too," Lan responded. "Dinnertime's supposed to be in an hour and a half!"
His Navi grinned, as he headed back toward ACDC's Net space. "Your mom likes to cook a lot, doesn't she?"
"I mean, I guess? I'm not sure 'like' is the word. She enjoys cooking, but you can tell she gets annoyed when she has to do it all the time."
Megaman made a quizzical face. "It sounds like she's cooking pretty much every night, from what I hear."
"Well, that's more because she's good at it, and Dad is really, really bad at it." Lan leaned back in his computer chair, sitting in his room at home. "She's done the stay-at-home mom thing since I was born, and I guess she's getting tired of it. That's why she's going to night school."
His Navi nodded, soaking in all the details. "What does she want to do with that?"
"She wants to teach Electopian."
Megaman smirked a bit. "That explains why she keeps correcting your grammar." He entered ACDC's Net and looked around. "Well, that's done. What do you think we should do next?"
"Hmm." Lan pondered to himself. "How about we check up on Dex? We can see what he's done to Gutsman after that loss last week."
Megaman nodded. "Sure thing. Maybe he'll want another chance to Netbattle." He started heading off, but just as quickly stopped, taking a cautious look around.
"What's wrong, Mega?" Lan inquired.
"I'm not sure..." the Navi replied. "I just got this feeling, like I was being watched... it's weird."
"It's probably nothing," Lan said reassuringly. "Come on, let's see what Dex is up to!"
Megaman nodded, taking off in a light sprint.
A few minutes later, Megaman was near his destination, a little out of breath from running and the occasional virus battle. He looked ahead and saw the portal to Dex's home page, a minute or so out.
"Almost there, Lan," he noted with a smile, as he slowed to a walk and approached the portal. He paused for a second as a notification sounded in his head, before continuing on. "Oh, and your dad just replied to your email. Want me to read it?"
Lan sat up in his chair, curious. "Yeah, go ahead." Megaman nodded and started to recite the email.
"'Your PET is working fine, Lan. The reason you couldn't back up Megaman last night is because I haven't figured out how to back him up on consumer machines yet.'"
"Wait, what?" Lan interrupted, baffled. "I can't back you up at all?"
"I… guess not? That's concerning." The Navi continued reading. "'Writing his data out is easy, but putting it back together is nearly impossible. It took a supercomputer weeks to build him the first time, in several stages. He could only be restored from backup data in a very limited set of circumstances. That should be a good reason for you to be careful and stay out of trouble." He glanced up. "That last part was in bold, and underlined, by the way."
"Yeah, yeah, I get it…" His operator sighed, sitting back again. "Dad really needed a supercomputer to build you? That's pretty cool, at least."
"If he says so. I don't remember being built, any more than you remember being born," Megaman replied, as he finally reached the portal to Dex's home page. Upon stepping on it, however, nothing happened.
"That's odd, it's deactivated," he observed, poking at it with his foot curiously. "I wonder what- gyah!" He didn't finish his sentence before he felt an intense, sharp pain shoot through him, making his vision go white.
"Megaman!" Lan exclaimed, as his PET's screen started to fade in and out. After an instant that felt like forever, the Navi fell to the ground, groaning and struggling to stand.
"How does it feel, Megaman?" an all-too-familiar voice inquired. Megaman turned himself over, blinking, and stared up into the eyes of a smirking yellow-and-black Navi. "The pain, the humilation?"
"Elecman!" he shouted, working to get back on his feet, his whole body sore. "What are you doing here?"
"Payback," his foe responded with muted anger, kicking him in the jaw and knocking him back. "Our last battle was an embarrassment to me and World Three… I'm here to do something about that."
Megaman once again tried to stand, but was hit by an electric Minibomb and cried out, slumping down again. "I have convinced Lord Wily to give me another chance to defeat you, at my full strength... and I assured him I would succeed."
"C-coward..." Megaman struggled to get out, leaning on one arm while turning the other into a Sword. "Hitting me when my back is turned... you don't think you can beat me in a fair fight, huh?"
"I'm putting the shoe on the other foot," Elecman shot back. "We didn't have a fair fight last time, and we won't now, either. This time, it's going to be in my favor." He formed his arm into an Elec Sword and raised it above his head. "Let's see how long you last!"
As he brought his sword down, Megaman closed his eyes and raised his own blade to defend himself, anticipating another dose of searing pain. When he felt nothing, he opened his eyes to see not Elecman standing before him, but a mysterious red Navi blocking the sword sword with his own, long silver hair streaming from his head. He lunged forward and knocked his opponent back.
"You!" Elecman cried out angrily. "You don't ever give up, do you?"
"Who...?" Megaman started, before the Navi turned around to look at him. He was surprised to see that this newcomer was wearing sunglasses.
"Don't try to get up, Megaman. You're in no condition to fight," he stated matter-of-factly. "Return to your PET and get yourself healed."
"He'll do no such thing!" Elecman exclaimed, dashing toward the red Navi again with his sword; the Navi jumped to the side, kicking Elecman hard in the head as he passed. He flew backward, but landed well and got back up quickly. "This is a private matter! You Officials stay out!"
"An Official Navi..." Megaman muttered to himself, as the other two Navis squared off against each other.
"That explains how he knew your name," Lan chimed in. "I'm sure Dad's told them about you..."
Megaman nodded and returned to watching the battle, which was appearing more and more one-sided in the Official Navi's favor. A few more punches and sword clashes later, Elecman was holding his injured arm and breathing heavy, while his opponent looked to be in top shape.
"Give up?" the Official inquired, as a beeping sound came from Elecman, who touched his ear.
"Elecman! Count Zapp!" a harsh, older voice sounded. "Return to base immediately!"
"No!" he responded, as Megaman watched curiously. "I can still beat them both!"
"Never mind that!" the voice demanded. "We have a serious problem. The LifeVirus has escaped into downtown Den City's Cyberworld!"
"What?!" all three Navis exclaimed at once; Megaman and the Official Navi exchanged looks, each wondering how the other knew about the LifeVirus.
"But it's not complete yet!" Elecman continued.
"Exactly!" the voice returned. "Which is why we need you back at base! Return, now!"
He glared at both the other Navis. "This isn't over!" he exclaimed, before jacking out. Megaman breathed a sigh of relief, as the other Navi stepped forward.
"I don't know how you know about the LifeVirus, but you should know as well as I do you don't want to be on the Net right now. You'd be wise to jack out right away." The Navi disappeared in a flash of light, as Megaman lay back on the ground.
"Jacking out sounds pretty good right now, Lan. That jerk really did a number on me." Lan nodded and immediately sent his Navi back to his PET, before unplugging it from his computer and placing it in its charger.
"What should we do?" Lan inquired a few minutes later, after his Navi had restored himself. "We can't just let this LifeVirus run free, can we?"
"We're not just letting it run free," Megaman responded. "The Officials know now, and I'm sure they'll be on their way to take care of it. Not to mention your Dad told you to stay away from World Three, if you could help it..."
Lan sighed and leaned back in his chair. "I guess..." He kicked a soccer ball, which rolled to the other side of the room. "I just hate feeling helpless, like I can't do anything."
"Don't worry about it, Lan," his Navi reassured him. "I'm sure-"
Megaman was interrupted by a loud ringing sound, as the phone function in his PET alerted them both to an incoming call. Lan jumped a little bit, then pressed a button to see Mayl's distressed face.
"Mayl? What's going on?" Lan inquired, sitting up straight.
"Lan! Thank goodness I got you!" Mayl seemed quite distressed. "They're telling everyone to stay off the Net and to leave the downtown..."
"Yeah, I know, we already heard," he cut in. "Thanks, though..."
"No, not that!" she interrupted, a little annoyed at being cut off. "It's Yai! She's trapped in an elevator downtown! She can't get out!"
"What?!" Lan stood up. "We need to go and get her out!"
"I can't go!" Mayl exclaimed, exasperated. "My mom's not letting me leave the house! She says to let the Officials take care of it!"
"Don't worry, I'll go and help!" he replied, running toward his shoes. "We'll be back in no time!"
"Thank you so much, Lan!" Mayl managed, before she hung up. Lan hopped into his shoes and ran downstairs, sprinting through the kitchen.
"Lan!" his mother, Haruka, exclaimed. "Where on Earth are you going in such a hurry?"
"I gotta get something downtown... before... the place closes!" Lan thought up quickly, running out the door quickly before coming to a stop. He turned around quickly and ran up to his mom, handing her a data card. "Oh, here's the repair thing you wanted," he got out quickly before leaving again, leaving Haruka scratching her head.
