New Megaman Battle Network
A complete reimagining of the universe and stories of Megaman Battle Network.
Story 4: Defiance of Fate
Chapter 1: Early Arrival
Mayl looked downward toward the floor for a moment, then back up. "Alright, are you ready?"
Lan nodded, standing across from her, meeting her gaze. "Ready as I'll ever be."
The two of them kneeled down, as Mayl took a deep breath, then let it go. "Alright, on three." Their hands reached out, grasping the heavy object that lay on the ground between them. "One, two… three!"
The two kids closed their eyes and gritted their teeth, straining to lift the heavy appliance off the floor of Mayl's kitchen. Between the two of them, getting it a foot off the ground was easy enough, but they had substantially more trouble lifting it above their knees. Somehow, by some miracle, they managed to get one side of it on the kitchen counter, and they were able to push the rest of it into place.
"Whew…" Lan leaned against the counter face-first, flexing and unflexing his sore fingers, while Mayl rested her back against the new BubbleWash her mother had ordered, catching her breath. "I wasn't sure we'd be able to do that."
"I don't know, I was expecting something a little heavier, based on the box," she replied, eyes closed. "It wasn't as bad as it could have been."
"Speak for yourself. Did you get thrown through a wall recently?"
"Oh, whatever." Mayl grinned, looking toward him. "That was months ago. You've run out the statute of limitations on that excuse." After Lan had made a full recovery, she finally felt comfortable making light of the situation.
Lan sighed dramatically. "No sympathy at all… I've got no friends anywhere." He rested his head on the counter. "We totally should have waited for your mom to come home."
"I told you, I wanted to surprise her!" She stood and walked past him, whapping him lightly on the back of his head with her hand. "Come on, let's get this installed. Where did you put the instructions?"
"I dunno. Somewhere." They looked around the kitchen and living room for a moment, before a sound made them both freeze in place. Their eyes snapped toward the front door of the house, where the doorknob was rattling, as if someone was trying to get in.
Mayl froze in place, her eyes glued to the door, as Lan took a couple of steps forward protectively. He made his way quietly toward the door, intending to look through the peephole, when a voice from the other side of made him stop again.
"Verzegt! Why do these girls insist on keeping the door locked? Where is my key?"
Mayl's eyes widened as she recognized the voice immediately. "Papa…!" She rushed over past Lan, racing toward the door, unlocking it and throwing it open. On the other side, digging through his pockets and grumbling in another language, was a large, muscular man with a sharp face and graying black hair, wearing a formal business suit.
"Papa! You're home!" She beamed, leaping up into the air and throwing her arms around his neck. The man laughed and caught her easily, able to hold her up with one arm without any trouble.
"Maylumai, ma direna!" he replied in Ameuropic, his accent thick. "Eris tur vijnit?"
"Vijnit virelis, Papa!" she answered without missing a beat. "I missed you!"
He grinned, kissing her on the forehead as he walked in, still holding her up effortlessly with one arm. His eyes quickly settled on Mayl's companion. "Ah, Lan, good to see you. Keeping my daughter out of trouble, I hope?"
Lan smiled and nodded, partly relaxed but partly stiff. He had met Vikos Sirelis plenty of times in the past, but he was still a bit intimidated by his size and occasional gruff demeanor. "Trying my best, sir."
Vikos chuckled as Mayl hopped down to the ground, moving to the kitchen to make a few cups of his favorite tea. Lan followed them in after closing the front door.
"Why are you home so early? You were supposed to be working in Sharo for the next two months."
Vikos nodded, sipping his tea as the three sat around the kitchen table. "Change of plans. The Sharo client's company folded before I could start, and I was able to take another job in Den City, of all places." He grinned, putting his cup down. "I thought you'd both come home and I'd be lounging on the couch, reading the paper."
"Sorry to disappoint you." Mayl beamed at him, thrilled at his surprise return. She adored her father, and it was obvious to anyone who saw them together. "Who is this client you're working for now? Are you allowed to say, or is it some classified thing?"
He shook his head. "No, not classified. It's a Netopian billionaire named Magnus Gauss. I got him some space in a SciLab research facility. He's got some absurd project that he's working on, but it will never work out."
"What's he trying to do?" Lan piped up. He thought about all of the amazing things his father had been able to do, and wondered what, if anything, was impossible at this point.
"The madman is trying to travel through time."
Mayl's eyes widened, and she had to restrain herself from spitting out her sip of tea. Lan snorted at the sight, as she quickly swallowed. "He's trying to what? Are you serious?"
"Can he actually do it?" Lan chimed in.
Mayl's father shook his head. "No chance. He thinks he's hit on some sort of breakthrough, but I haven't seen anything from him that suggests he's anywhere close." He shrugged. "He can try all he likes, though, especially if he pays well. I'll take the excuse to be back home."
Mayl nodded, smiling, before her eyes lit up with realization. "You can come to my piano recital! It's this coming Tuesday, at the school auditorium!"
"Oh, that will be wonderful." Her father smiled, putting his cup down. "It's been too long since I last heard you play." He turned his head toward Lan. "I assume you'll be joining us?"
Lan looked down, tripping over his words for a few seconds, before Mayl sighed. "He doesn't want to go."
"Really." Vikos turned fully toward him, making himself as tall and intimidating as possible. "Is there something about my daughter's musical talents that you dislike, Lan?"
"N-no! Nothing, I promise!" Lan panicked a bit, holding up his hands. Mayl giggled in response, glad that her father was giving Lan a hard time. "She's great! It's everyone else I don't care about! Just… I'd rather not sit through two hours of piano to see Mayl for five minutes."
"This is different, though!" she replied, annoyed that she was having this conversation again. "This will be important, and there will be lots of people and I'll be wearing a nice dress and all that."
"Well, wear a dress here and play! I'll listen!"
Vikos furrowed his brow as he heard his daughter sigh, disappointed, and he reached out and clasped her hand. "Well I, for one, can't wait. We'll have to go out and eat afterward." She smiled up at him and nodded, thrilled that he would be able to attend, as Lan looked down and sank further into his chair.
"Well, it sounds to me like you're off the hook."
Lan sighed, looking into his PET. "She's still annoyed with me, though. And now her dad Is too." He was back at home, several hours later, nearly done surfing the net with Megaman before dinner.
"What did you expect, Lan?" his Navi replied as he walked through the streets of Den Net City, making his way back to Lan's PC. "She wants you to go and you won't. You want her to be happy about that?"
"No, just…" Lan sighed. "Never mind."
Megaman ignored his comment. "You want to do whatever you want and also not feel bad about it. You can't have it all ways. The world doesn't work like that."
"Yeah, yeah, I get it…"
Before the Navi could lay into his operator more, he heard an unfriendly voice from behind him. "Well, look who it is… the famous Megaman."
He turned around, wary, to find a standard-issue, purple-colored Heel Navi looking toward him. "Can I help you?"
"So you're the Navi who did so well in the Red Sun tournament, huh?" The stranger looked the blue Navi over. "Can't say you look very tough… I bet I could take you easily."
Megaman rolled his eyes and turned around, not having the patience for this conversation. "If you say so."
"Hey! Don't walk away from me!" The Navi followed him, agitated, and Megaman could hear him readying his buster. "Don't you know a challenge when you hear one?"
"Pass."
The Navi growled, and Megaman heard him advancing quickly from behind, obviously about to attack. He silently requested a Sword chip from Lan, and in one smooth motion he whirled around and swung his sword upward, separating the Navi's buster from the rest of his body.
"Gahh!" The Navi knelt down, cradling the stump on its arm, as Megaman pointed his sword at the Navi's face. His face had changed from annoyance to frustration, bordering on anger.
"If you want to keep your other arm, get out of here." His opponent quickly stood and ran off, mumbling curses and threats. Megaman took a deep breath, putting away his sword and walking the rest of the way back.
"There," Lan commented as his Navi returned to his PET. "Sorry that jerk got on your case like that."
Megaman shrugged. "Don't worry about it. It's not the first time."
Lan cocked his head. "Wait, really? Has this been happening a lot?"
"This is at least the fourth time. I got a lot of grief while you were recovering."
"Oh…" Lan bit his lip. "Well… at least you can take care of them. It'd be bad if you had Nebula Navis or something on your case."
"Sure." Megaman watched Lan get up to go down to dinner before speaking up again. "Hey, Lan? Can I ask you something?"
Lan turned around, curious. "Sure, what's up?"
"Well… did you ever get hurt badly before I showed up?"
Megaman watched as his operator sat back down. "Got hurt? I mean, I broke my arm falling out of a tree once, but…"
"No, not like that…" Megaman thought for another second. "I guess I mean… did you have people who wanted to hurt you?"
Lan blinked, surprised at the question. "No, of course… Megaman, what is this about?"
"I dunno." His Navi looked down. "Just thinking."
"I hope you aren't thinking you're the cause of anything." Lan sat up, trying to project certainty and confidence as he looked down at his PET. "You don't cause trouble. You solve it."
"Mm." Megaman nodded. "You know what, forget I said anything. Go enjoy dinner."
Lan looked back at him quizzically for a moment, then carefully put the device into its charging port, heading downstairs to eat. Megaman continued to sit in his PET, closing his eyes, trying to will away the images of his brother lying in a hospital bed after the final encounter with Forte, broken and bleeding and weakened. The images had been haunting him for nearly two months, and no matter how he tried, he couldn't cast aside the unease that had settled in his heart.
He settled back into his PET, wishing that it was possible for him to fall asleep.
