New Megaman Battle Network
A complete reimagining of the universe and stories of Megaman Battle Network.
Story 4: Defiance of Fate
Chapter 4: The Recital
Lan was rudely awoken the next morning by the alarm he had set the night before. Groggy, he rubbed his eye and rolled out of bed, heading to his dresser, still feeling a bit tired out and sick from the previous day.
"Ugh… feel like crap…" He rooted through his dresser for clothes for the day. "Megaman, please tell me I don't have to do anything else besides that recital today." Grabbing the first clothes he could find, he started to head for the bathroom, when he realized he hadn't heard any answer. He turned back toward his computer, where his PET sat docked in its charger.
"Megaman? You there?" He walked over to it, leaning down and peering into the screen, eyes widening when he saw it was empty. "Megaman?!" He dropped his clothes on the floor as he grabbed the device with both hands, looking through the screen from all angles, as if he could see more of the inside if he tried hard enough. His fingers moved through menu after menu, looking for some sort of message, maybe something about a software update, anything that could explain his Navi's disappearance. Nothing came up.
A hundred different scenarios ran through his head that could explain the situation, none of them pleasant. He stared at his empty PET for what felt like ages before he finally came to his senses.
"Dad! DAD!"
Minutes later, Lan's father was seated at the kitchen table, carefully inspecting the PET for any signs of trouble. Behind him, Lan and Haruka were watching nervously, hoping that the news was as good as it could be, however good that was.
Eventually Yuichiro sighed, putting the device down. "Well, it hasn't been tampered with. No signs of being hacked, or anything else of that sort. It looks like Megaman just… left."
"But why?" Lan asked, not comforted in the slightest. "Why would he just leave? Where should we start looking for him?"
"I don't know, Lan." His father stood, handing the PET back to him. "I'm sure he has his reasons. He's probably doing something important. And if there's any Navi that can take care of itself, it's him."
"What do we do, honey?" Haruka asked, much more worried than her husband was.
"Honestly, I think we just wait. I'll ask our Officials to keep an eye out for him, but there's not a whole lot we can do besides that." He turned toward his son, who was still looking down at the empty PET. "He's going to be fine. There isn't much out there that he can't handle." He walked past, clapping Lan on the shoulder as he did, heading back to his bedroom to change into his work clothes. "Just get ready for school, and try not to worry."
Lan nodded, a bit numb, having no idea how he was supposed to not worry. He felt two hands resting on his shoulders, looking up to see his mother's face looking down at him.
"He'll be alright, sweetie. I'm sure he has a good reason. He'll be back soon." She had learned long ago how to put on a brave face for her son, and it was working overtime here. She leaned in and kissed him on the forehead, letting go of his shoulders and heading back to her bedroom. Lan sighed and went to clean up and change, his stomach still in knots.
Far away from Lan's PET, in the bustling cyber streets of the rebuilt Creamland Square, rows of merchant Navis were hawking their wares to passersby, offering Battlechips, Subchips, Powerups and other upgrades. Most of the stalls were occupied, as various Navis ran errands for their operators during the work day.
One merchant in particular, an upgrade vendor, was starting to get a bit annoyed with his current customer. "Hey, pal, are you buying anything or not? I have other customers I could tend to."
"Sorry, I'm just taking a look… trying to see what looks good…"
"See what looks good?" The Navi cocked his head. "How about you just buy what your operator wants you to buy, like everyone else?"
'Yeah, well…" The customer stood up, and the merchant took a closer look at the blue Navi, who looked familiar. "Honestly, I'm sort of… seeing what things might be like without an operator, right now. Just trying things out."
"You're a weird Navi, you know that?"
"Mm." The blue Navi nodded, stepping away from the merchant and back toward the center of the Square, as another customer came up and quickly ordered an HP Memory.
Megaman looked around at the bustle of the Square, which was surrounded by tall buildings, many offering amenities or activities for Navis, with others acting as servers that ran tasks for larger companies. It was similarly structured to Den Net City, which he was much more familiar with, but there was a different energy here. This was an experience he rarely got to have, since he spent most of his time in Lan's PET, and he couldn't help but think of what it might be like to spend his days wandering the Net, exploring new sites every day.
Every time he gave the idea some thought, his brother's face naturally came back into his mind, reminding him of what he would be missing. More and more, though, the face he saw wasn't a healthy one, and instead many of his worst memories would come to the surface. He saw Lan's face covered in blood, after the cable car explosion; his body lying in a hospital bed, recovering from the final battle with Forte; his exhausted, sweating face as he was passing out from heat exhaustion just the day before. How much worse were things going to get for Lan, the longer Megaman stayed with him? What if, one day, it was too much for his brother to withstand, and that was Lan's final day?
He looked down at his feet as he walked, absorbed in thought, before he realized that a voice was calling out to him. He looked up and around, trying to find the source of the voice, when he saw a pink Navi rushing toward him in the crowd.
"Mega!" Roll ran up and threw her arms around him, barely winded despite the high speed with which she traveled. "What are you doing here? Are you okay? Everyone's been worried sick!"
"Roll, I'm fine…" He put his arms on her shoulders, taking a step back. "I'm fine, I'm not hurt. What are you doing out here?"
"What am I doing here?" she repeated, a little incredulous. "I'm running an errand for Mayl's mom. What are you doing here? You left without saying anything to anyone!"
"I know, I know." He sighed and looked down. "I just… had to get away for a bit. I'm sorry I worried you."
Roll shook her head. "Don't be sorry. You're fine, everything's okay." She stepped back, preparing to pull up a screen to her PET. "I'm going to let Mayl know I found you. She'll tell Lan."
"No!" Megaman reached out, gently grasping Roll's wrist, to her surprise. "Please, don't. I don't want them knowing where I am, right now."
"What…?" She looked back into his eyes, confused but highly concerned. "Mega, what's wrong? What's the matter?"
"It's… I don't really want to talk about it." He let go of her wrist. "I'll come back soon, I promise. I just… want to be alone for a little bit. Please don't tell anyone you saw me here."
"I…" She hesitated, not sure that she wanted to make such a promise, now very worried for her friend. Eventually, she sighed and relented. "I won't, I promise. But you better come home soon, okay?"
He nodded, and she walked past him, turning and looking back at him as she walked away. Their eyes stayed linked for some time, until she finally turned a corner and out of sight, as slowly as she'd ever walked before.
Megaman sighed and resumed walking aimlessly, his encounter with Roll having left him full of regret. This was wrong; it felt wrong, being away from Lan and everyone else he knew. He would never be able to keep this up, not with the heartache that he currently felt. He'd have to go back eventually, and figure out some other way to keep his family away from danger.
He continued wandering aimlessly, turning corners and taking the long way back to Electopian Net space.
Later that evening, Lan was sitting in the back row of the modestly-sized auditorium of the school that he and Mayl attended, one hour into what felt like an eternally long piano recital. It seemed like a thousand students had come up and played already, but he remembered nothing about any of them, as it was hard for him to stop worrying about where his Navi had gone. He looked down at the ground, not even mustering the energy to applaud when each student finished.
His moping was interrupted by a poke to the arm. He started a little and looked up, toward his left, where Mayl's father sat, much too large for the chair he was sitting in. "She's coming on next."
He sat up a bit more, exhaling and halfheartedly patting his leg as the rest of the room clapped for the boy who had just finished playing, who bowed politely and walked offstage. The crowd clapped again as Mayl walked on, keeping her eyes on the piano and avoiding the temptation to look out at the audience, not wanting to make herself more nervous than she already was. She had dressed up for the occasion as she had told Lan she would, wearing a knee-length maroon dress, with a small sunflower in her hair. If nothing else, Lan thought she looked rather pretty tonight.
He leaned against the back of his chair, keeping his eyes on her as she sat down and started to play. He was surprised to hear that it was an intricate, complicated and somewhat aggressive etude, far different from the pieces she played when she was at home and he was around. He leaned forward a bit, intrigued and impressed, listening more intently to her playing.
Beside him, Vikos's chest swelled with pride; as well as he knew his own daughter, she still managed to surprise him with her abilities every so often. They both watched with rapt attention, neither of them paying any mind to the two figures entering the room through the door in the back. Lan blinked and sat up as the two figures stood behind the two of them, looking back and finding two uniformed police officers. Vikos looked back as well, a surprised and curious look on his face, as one of them leaned in and spoke quietly.
"Vikos Sirelis?"
His voice was calm, mostly curious, as he responded. "Yes. Can I help you?"
"Mr. Sirelis, I'm going to have to ask you to come with us."
Vikos turned around more fully, his arm on the back of his chair, as Lan looked on, very nervous now. "What exactly is the problem, officer?" He tried to make himself look as large as possible.
"S… sir, you're under arrest." The speaking officer stood up more fully, as the other one kept her eyes on Vikos, not sure what they would do if he resisted. "You're under arrest for theft and destruction of property. We have reason to believe that you are responsible for a burglary at an IPC research facility."
"That's absurd." Vikos kept his voice calm, but still managed to sound incredulous at this accusation. "What evidence do you have that I am responsible?"
"Mr. Sirelis, you have to come with us."
He sighed, knowing he wasn't going to win this. "May I at least stay and finish watching my daughter play?"
The two officers looked at each other, trying to determine if this was some sort of plot to escape, but they eventually nodded and permitted him to stay. Vikos silently turned back to the front of the auditorium, keeping himself as calm as possible as he watched Mayl play the piano, the song growing in intensity and energy; the etude felt like a dramatic soundtrack to the moment. Lan faced forward as well, his eyes darting back and forth between Mayl and her father, feeling more awkward than he ever had in his life.
As the song was reaching its conclusion, Vikos quietly stood up. "Alright, let's go. I don't want her to see me leave like this."
He stepped out into the aisle, walking over to the waiting officers, who led him out of the auditorium without handcuffing him. Lan turned around, watching with wide eyes, standing as they walked through the door and walking up to it, as if he could do something to stop what was happening. As the doors closed again he came to a stop, staring at the exit, his mind reeling with the inexplicable events that had just occurred.
It took him a second to notice when the music stopped, as the audience started to applaud. He looked back at the stage as Mayl stood and walked to the front, smiling as her eyes scanned the crowd, searching for her father. Her smile quickly faded as she failed to find him, only seeing Lan standing at the back of the auditorium, a worried and apologetic look on his face.
Having returned to Electopian Net space, Megaman slowly made his way back toward Den Net City, his mind and his heart heavy. On top of feeling responsible for the threats to his family, he was now going to have to explain where he had been all day, and why he had left without telling anybody, a conversation he was not looking forward to. It had been a rash decision, one he had come to substantially regret.
As he approached the residential networks, he decided to take a detour for just a little bit longer, heading toward the outskirts of the city. This was an area he hadn't spent much time in, and the change of location would provide a nice distraction. He looked around lazily for a bit, seeing various businesses and other buildings, before coming across one of the external SciLab research sectors. This was his sign that he had reached the edge of the city, and should probably turn around. He started to do so, before something caught his eye.
One of the SciLab research stations was clearly active, with some of the windows in the Net structure lighting up, a sign that energy was flowing in and out. He stopped and studied it for a minute, watching how many lights were flashing on and off; whatever was going on here, it seemed to be firing on all cylinders. As he watched, he remembered what his father had said two days ago, about Magnus Gauss working in an externally-located research facility. Could Gauss be working on something now?
He stepped closer, curious. He wasn't sure what he could discern from the outside of the structure, but he wanted to try and see anyway. As he looked over the building a bit more carefully, his eyes rested on the door, and he realized with a start that it had not been locked down. SciLab buildings were normally supposed to be locked with heavy security, but it was possible that Gauss's team wasn't familiar with the security protocols, and had left it open by accident.
As he thought more on two days before, when Yuichiro had told Gauss that his experiments were far more dangerous, his curiosity ultimately got the better of him. Looking around quickly, he dashed over to the door, opening it and sneaking inside.
An hour after Mayl finished playing at the recital, she and Lan were down at the Den City police station, where Vikos was temporarily being held. Father and daughter were seated across from each other, separated by a pane of glass, talking to each other through telephone handsets. Lan had no idea what the two of them were saying, as they were both speaking in fast Ameroupic, which is how Mayl and her father usually spoke when they were together. It was obvious, however, that the conversation wasn't a pleasant one. He stood nearby, looking toward them and occasionally around the visiting room, studying the expression on Mayl's face and noting her rising, almost panicked tone.
After a good fifteen minutes, the discussion finally quieted down, as the two of them finally started running out of things to say. They both said strained goodbyes to each other, as Mayl slowly stood, a lump in her throat and on the verge of tears. She turned to Lan and opened her mouth to speak, but was too choked up, and nothing came out. She closed her mouth again, tears leaking from her eyes as she gestured toward the phone, indicating that Lan was to talk to her father. He sat down and picked up the handset as she walked away, holding it to his ear as his eyes met with Vikos's.
"Lan." The man's voice was gruff, matter-of-fact. "I need you to take Maylumai home. She'll get her things and stay with you tonight."
"With us?" Lan hadn't expected instructions like this. "How come?"
"Her mother is going to be staying here very late," Mayl's father explained. "She will be getting answers and legal advice and anything else she can get her hands on. She is very angry, as you can imagine."
"Sir, what's going on? Why did they arrest you?"
Vikos frowned. "Someone broke into IPC and stole sensitive equipment two days ago. The police claim that there is evidence linking me to the burglary, but I have no idea what they could mean. They are not being very forthcoming."
"That's…" Lan tried to think of something appropriate to say about the situation, but his mind just reeled with confusion. "I'm sorry this is happening."
"Don't be." Vikos shook his head. "In all likelihood, they will realize they have the wrong man and release me before too long. I just hope this isn't too hard on the girls."
"Me too, sir." Lan looked back at the man, thinking that his downcast face didn't match his optimistic words. "Are you… doing alright? In there?"
"Mm. As well as can be expected." Vikos leaned in, looking more serious all of a sudden. "Lan. You are a good young man. You take good care of Maylumai, and she thinks the world of you."
"Sir…?" Lan was surprised by this sudden change in tone, not sure what the man was getting at.
"If something should happen, and I do not get out of here, I need you to take care of my little direna. Protect her and watch over her. Do you understand?"
"I…" Lan's eyes were wide, taken aback by this fatalistic outlook. Was Vikos just being overly cautious, or was he really worried about what was going to happen to him? "I will, I promise."
"Good man." Vikos sat up straighter. "I am going to see if I can get any more answers. You take her home." He hung up his telephone, standing and walking away, looking for someone he could talk to. Lan watched him leave, his mind reeling a bit with the words they had just exchanged. After a minute, he hung up as well and stood up, going to collect Mayl, deciding that she didn't need to know any of the conversation he just had.
Megaman moved quickly yet quietly through the network of the research facility, looking all around, trying to find something that might give him a clue as to what was going on. Whatever was happening, it required a lot of effort and energy, as almost every machine in the facility was on and operating. He tried to imagine what sort of experiment would be happening later at night. Did this man just keep unusual hours, or was there something that Gauss didn't want people knowing about?
After wandering further into the facility, he found himself at the edge of a large room, and he stopped himself from stepping in. He was able to pick up on some voices, which he guessed belonged to some of the scientists here. He took a couple steps back to stay more hidden, looking toward the center of the large room, where a strange cloud appeared to be forming, surrounded by a number of strange devices.
"Well, everything's working well so far," one of the voices spoke. "But now comes the hard part: stabilizing this weird thing. You ready?"
The other voice affirmed that they were ready, and Megaman watched from the shadows as more of the machines whirred to life. The cloud began to glow and spin, moving in strange and unpredictable ways as it shone brighter and brighter. He was eventually forced to look away, covering his eyes as the light became painfully bright; a minute later, the light faded and he turned back.
His eyes widened when he saw what had formed. The cloud had formed into some sort of ring, standing vertically in the middle of the room, but when he looked into the center of it, he didn't see more of the large room as he had expected. Instead, he was able to get a view into what looked like a strange, glowing city. It was as if the ring was a window, looking impossibly into some different world or different reality.
"That's… did it work? We haven't seen this result before. Run the tests. Let's see what the measurements are."
Megaman listened as the two muttered to each other, as other machines started running tests and taking measurements. He was insatiably curious, having a strange feeling as to what this ring was, but not eager to be spotted where he wasn't supposed to be. Looking through his most recent preset folder, he managed to find one unused Invisible card, and he activated it, immediately becoming transparent.
Walking as quietly as he could, he stepped slowly forward into the room, getting closer to what looked more and more like a strange portal. He moved his head around, trying to look at it from different angles, concluding that this was definitely a different space, and not just an image that had formed in the air. Finally getting close enough to get a good look, he leaned in as far as he dared, not putting his head through the portal, stopping just short. What he saw caused his eyes to widen and his breath to catch in his throat.
On the other side of the hole, he could see Den City, but not as he recognized it. The city was practically destroyed, fires burning almost everywhere he could see, with large chunks taken out of ground-based buildings and some of the skyscrapers knocked over completely. The skies were dark, blocked out by clouds of ash, and there was nary a soul in sight - at least, not a living soul. There was no shortage of motionless bodies littering the street.
His stomach turned with what he was seeing, and yet he couldn't look away. Where did this image come from? Was this some sort of alternate reality? Or, more frighteningly, had Gauss managed to really make a connection to the future? Was Megaman seeing the fate of Den City before him? His horrified musings were cut short by the return of the voices.
"This is… amazing. Come look at this. We really did it."
"Holy crap, I don't believe it… that old man really figured it out," the second voice responded, oblivious to the horrors that Megaman was witnessing. "We've made a tunnel to another point in time. We're getting data through it."
The blue Navi slowly backed away, stunned and terrified. He tried to imagine how this could happen, what could have caused such horrifying destruction, but he had no answers. Instead, his mind was full of images of his brother, his mother and father, and the fates that might befall them as well. The thought was almost too much to bear.
"We're almost out of energy. We need to shut this down."
"Man, really? I guess time travel is expensive… alright, let's kill it."
He came to his senses a bit upon hearing the voice talk again. He turned and ran out of the room as he heard the machines shutting down behind him. What was he going to do about the fate of Den City? He couldn't let this happen. He wouldn't let this happen.
By the time his Invisible chip wore off, he was deep in the streets of Den Net City, racing back to his PET as fast as he could.
Back in the real world, Lan and Mayl were both seated in a cable car, taking them back to the suburbs of ACDC from the Den City police station. Lan was looking out the window, mind racing, as Mayl sat next to him, looking down into her lap, where her hands sat clasped together. Her eyes were stained red.
He eventually turned back to her, biting his lip, hating to see her so distraught. He tried his best to think of something that didn't sound like some pathetic, meaningless platitude.
"Mayl… it's going to be alright." He wasn't thrilled with his choice of words, but it was better than nothing. "He's going to get out of there when they realize they have the wrong guy. Everything's going to be fine."
Mayl nodded a tiny bit, almost imperceptibly, not saying anything in response. Lan continued on.
"We'll do something about this, you and me." He wasn't sure where he was going with this, but at this point he would say anything to cheer her up. "We'll go out and find evidence that he didn't do it. We'll find the real thief and get your dad out of jail, I promise."
She didn't respond at all to this, continuing to look down. Lan watched her for a few moments longer, trying to think of something else to say, but coming up with nothing. He eventually turned his head and looked back out the window, watching the various businesses and restaurants of Den City moving past.
"Lan?"
He turned his head back toward her, a little surprised. "Yeah?"
"You know I would never tell anyone, right? About you and… her?"
Lan nodded slowly, looking away again. "Yeah, I know."
"But you still came."
He nodded again. "Yeah."
Mayl looked toward him, her head still pointed down, trying to summon words to express her gratitude, but none came. She instead moved closer, burying her face into his shoulder, wanting the closeness and comfort and trying not to cry again.
Lan sighed and stretched out his arm around her shoulders, holding her arm and pulling her more into him, feeling her body relax against his. As he listened to her breathing, which was gradually slowing, he became more and more convinced in the words he had told her. The two of them needed to go out and find some evidence of Vikos's innocence, and soon. He didn't know how much longer he could stand to see her like this.
The two of them sat together in silence, relaxing in the warmth of each other's presence as the cable car took them both home.
Thirty minutes later, Lan was walking into his bedroom, completely exhausted both physically and emotionally. He and Mayl had stopped off at her house next door, packing a bag with clothes and toiletries before returning to Lan's house, where Mayl was set up in the small guest bedroom after the situation was explained to Lan's parents. She was there now, having finally drifted off into a fitful sleep.
Lan was ready for bed himself, yawning and rubbing his eye. He was trying to come up with a plan to go out and investigate what had happened, but he was in no state of mind to come up with any plan more complicated than applying his head to his pillow. He instinctively looked toward his PET, eyes widening when he saw a familiar sight. He rushed over, grabbing the device out of his charger, looking into the screen and confirming what he had thought he saw.
"Megaman! You're back!" His voice was partly excited, partly exasperated, mostly relieved. "Where did you go? I was worried sick! Are you okay?!"
"I'm fine, Lan, I promise," his Navi responded. "I was just…" He tried to think of some sort of explanation for what he had done, but he couldn't think of any way to dance around the uncomfortable truth. He looked back up at his brother, cocking his head a bit as he read Lan's expression, realizing there was more than just concern for him there. "What happened? Is everything okay there? You look… really upset."
"Mayl's father was arrested!"
"What?!" Megaman goggled. "Why?!" He listened carefully as Lan recapped what had happened that day, confused and shocked by the end of it.
"That's all I know… we don't know much." Lan sat down in his computer chair. "Mayl's beside herself. I want to help her."
"How are you going to do that?"
"I want to try and investigate what happened," Lan replied. "I don't know how, but… I have to do something. I have to help."
Megaman nodded. "I know what you mean. I'll do whatever I can to help her, too. We'll figure something out." He started to have a sick feeling that the two major events of the day were connected, and he wasn't sure he wanted to know how. As Lan looked back into his PET, Megaman started to feel guilt rise up in him for abandoning his family during such a stressful time.
"Lan, I…" He failed to find the exact words he wanted to say, and he looked down, voice quieter, almost tearing up. "I'm really sorry I left."
Lan sat forward, holding the device in both hands, studying his Navi's expression. Any urge he may have had to berate him, unload all of his worries and frustrations, melted away as he saw the look on Megaman's face. "Mega… it's alright. Just… warn us next time, please?"
"I will. I'm sorry."
"It's alright." Lan put his PET back into its charger, exhaustion catching up with him again. He bid Megaman goodnight before walking over to his bed, turning off the light and getting under the covers. As stressful as today had been, he had a feeling that the next several were going to be almost as trying. He lay down with his eyes closed, trying to empty his mind of everything that happened, before eventually drifting off.
