New Megaman Battle Network
A complete reimagining of the universe and stories of Megaman Battle Network.
Story 5: A World Outside of Time
Chapter 4: Reconnecting
In a single-occupancy room in Den City Hospital, Dex reached out to turn off the television in his room, remote in hand. He lay back in his bed, closing his eyes, a large bandage wrapped around a portion of his cracked skull. The pain in his head had dulled to a weak throbbing over the past two days, so it didn't bother him anymore, though he still got dizzy if he moved his head too fast.
His real problem now was boredom. He had nobody to talk to and nowhere to go, and no matter how hard he looked, he couldn't find cartoons on any of the television channels he got. On a normal day, he'd be at the arcade right now, defeating everyone he could find in a Netbattle. The isolation was starting to drive him batty.
He kept his eyes closed, wondering if he should just try to take another nap, when he heard a soft knocking at his door. He sat up curiously, looking toward the sound, as a soft voice came from outside his room.
"Dex? Are you awake?"
He blinked in surprise, recognizing the voice, but never having expected to hear it here. "Yeah…" As soon as he responded, the door opened, and he watched as Mayl stepped inside, with an uncomfortable-looking Lan in tow, clearly not there of his own free will.
"Hi, Dex. We came to bring your homework for the weekend." She slid her backpack off of her back, opening the top zipper and looking through it.
Dex grumbled a bit, his foul mood tempered by his surprise at seeing them here. "This sucks. I shouldn't have to do homework when I'm in the hospital."
"Well, I don't make the rules." She pulled out several sheets of paper, putting them on his bedside table. "These math sheets have to be done by Monday. And there's a book…" She dove back into her backpack, pulling out a medium-sized paperback. "We're starting to read this in Lit class."
"Ugh, I hate reading assignments." He reached out and took the book from her, glancing over it to decide if he would bother reading it. He couldn't see anyone fighting on the cover, which meant it probably wasn't going to be worth his time.
Mayl zipped her backpack up and stood, eyes still on Dex, as Lan stood awkwardly near the door. "How are you? Are you feeling okay? Does it hurt still?"
He didn't look up, turning the book over, not wanting to meet her eyes. "I can deal with pain." He put the book down. "When I get home, I'm giving that Copybot ten times worse."
She nodded, doubting that he'd actually be able to fight off a Copybot, but she didn't say it out loud. "Well, you aren't the only one. Have you seen the news? There's around five other people who have been injured by Copybots in the past couple of days. They just suddenly attacked their owners for no reason."
He turned his head toward her, surprised. "Whoa, really? It's like an epidemic?"
"I guess you could call it that?" She shrugged. "The city is telling people to turn off their Copybots, to be safe. They don't want anyone else hurt."
"Huh." He thought on this for a moment before realizing something. "This is just like what happened at the factory, with Dr. Doohickey. Those two Copybots went nuts, before that blue guy showed up to stop them."
She nodded, eyebrows raised a bit, not having connected those events in her head. "You're right… that's so weird. I wonder what's going on…" She focused back on him. "So you're feeling okay?"
"I'm fine. They say I can go home in a few days." He folded his arms. "What sucks is being stuck in this stupid room. I'm bored out of my broken skull."
She frowned, concerned. "Have you been getting many visitors?"
"Oh, tons of them," he replied sarcastically. "Didn't you see all the flowers?" He gestured around him, at the completely empty room, symbolizing all the company he'd had. The only two visitors he'd gotten were standing in the room with him right now, and one of them wouldn't even look his way.
Mayl wasn't bothered by this barbed comment, knowing it wasn't aimed at her. "I bet people are just busy, Dex. I'm sure people at school miss you."
He scoffed. "I don't need pity. Especially not from you." He glared at her angrily. "You wouldn't even be here if you weren't giving me homework. He doesn't even want to be here at all!" He gestured toward Lan, who tried to shrink himself down.
Her eyes widened, not having expected such a response, but her expression quickly shifted to one of annoyance. "Well, what did you expect? Did you already forget what we were doing on the day you got hurt?"
He quickly turned his head away, a bit too quickly, making himself dizzy. "Just get out of here. I don't want visitors who are pretending to care."
She glowered in response, furious. "Fine! We're leaving." She grabbed her backpack and slung it over her shoulder, turning and marching toward the door. "Let's go, Lan." He nodded, turning and opening the door, glad to be gone. Dex turned and watched the two of them go, his anger fading a bit as they started to leave, his stomach in knots.
"Hey, wait!" Mayl turned back to face Dex, surprised but irritated, eyes settling on his. He no longer looked angry; he seemed more conflicted, like there was something he wanted to say, but couldn't bring himself to do it.
They looked at each other for a few long seconds, before he eventually spoke up again. "What chapters am I supposed to read?"
She rolled her eyes and sighed. "Let me check." She reached down for her PET, knowing that her Navi would have the answer. Roll was physically present in the device at the moment, but mentally, she was completely in another world.
Roll saw herself in an unfamiliar Cyberworld, running at full tilt toward a red-suited Navi who had a large grey torch in place of a head. She slammed her fist into the Navi's stomach, then dodged as he swung his cannon at her head, before leaping backward. As he glowered at her, holding his stomach, she glanced over to her side. Several meters away, she saw a kneeling Navi covered in blue armor, with black hair and a face unusually similar to Lan's.
"Megaman! Get a move on!" she called out, jumping into the air to dodge the enemy Navi's charge. She formed a crossbow on her hand and fired two arrows at her foe. He focused and formed a barrier of shimmering heat around him, and both arrows were quickly incinerated.
Before the fight could continue, the vision disappeared from her eyes, and another one took its place, as if she was watching a series of movie clips. In this new vision, she saw herself facing the blue Navi in a Netbattle arena, adrenaline racing through her as she grinned in anticipation.
"Both Navis are ready!" a voice called from outside the arena. "Let the battle… begin!"
She dashed forward and slammed her fist into his gut before he could defend himself, then leaped up to quickly kick him in the face. In response, the blue Navi grabbed her foot, spinning around and flinging her into a nearby rock. She collided hard but quickly bounced up, and the two traded fire for a moment, with her shooting arrows and him firing energy shots from his buster.
She landed on the ground, grinning wide, excited for the battle that lay ahead. This is gonna be fun, she thought to herself.
As they dashed at each other, the vision faded away once again, replaced with another. Roll had been having these strange visions for the past couple of days, all of them featuring this mysterious blue Navi. She had racked her brain numerous times, but had no recollection of who he might be. She wondered briefly if she was finally experiencing memories older than 50 days, but she dismissed the idea as one final vision appeared before her.
This was a scene that she had seen more than a dozen times over the past two days, and it couldn't possibly be a memory. In this vision, she was running through the forest of the real world as fast as she could, desperation pulsing through her. Minutes later, she emerged from the forest, faced with the massive, interminable rock wall that was the End of the World. She ran up to it and dashed upward, flying up as high as she could, pounding against the rock with her fist. Once she had gone as high as her body would allow, she charged up a powerful energy blast and aimed it at the wall, sending the rock flying in all directions as it exploded. Once the smoke cleared, she was amazed to see a hole had somehow formed in the indestructible wall. She started to gaze inside…
"Roll, what's our reading assignment?"
She blinked and glanced upward, hearing Mayl's ethereal voice in her head, and seeing a translucent image of her appearing in the screen. Seconds later, the true face of her operator appeared, looking down at her. "Roll, what's our reading assignment?"
"You're supposed to read the first three chapters," she answered quickly. She was no longer surprised by this phenomenon, this bizarre future sight that plagued her. Ever since her battle with Gutsman, it had increased in frequency steadily, until she eventually began seeing all events several seconds before they actually happened. It both worried and upset her, as she felt like she was somehow toying with dangerous forces beyond her control. What upset her more, however, was the vision of her operator that she couldn't shake, of what appeared to be her eventual death by means of a collapsing ceiling. But what was she supposed to do about it?
Mayl thanked her before glancing away, repeating the same information to Dex as she put her PET back in her holster. He nodded, unable to bring herself to thank her, looking back down at the book in his hands. She turned away and walked out of the room, followed by Lan, who closed the door behind them.
Twenty minutes later, Lan and Mayl were walking down the sidewalk to their respective houses, which were just coming into view.
"Sorry that Dex is such a jerk," Lan spoke up quietly. "That was nice of you."
"Forget it," she responded, still irritated. "If he's going to be a jerk, then he can be a jerk by himself in that hospital room. Serves him right." He nodded in response, as she turned to walk up to her house.
"See you Monday," he said, waving a bit at her.
She glanced back at him. "Have a good weekend," she replied, no longer upset with him after he had defended her honor at the arcade. He turned and walked toward his house, eager to crash on the couch and watch TV for a bit, when he noticed something out of the corner of his eye. Turning his head to a nearby rooftop, his eyes widened as he saw the mysterious blue Copybot again, the one who had saved them at the factory. As soon as their eyes met, the Navi quickly turned around and leaped away, heading toward downtown.
"Hey… hey!" Lan started to run after him. "Hold it!" The Navi didn't respond, continuing to run off, and Lan picked up the pace, not wanting to lose him. It was odd enough that this Navi looked so much like him, but now that he knew the Navi was spying on him as well, he had to get answers.
"Stop running away! Get back here and talk to me!" The two continued running, the chase continuing as they reached a series of taller apartment buildings, signaling that they were entering the downtown area. The Navi leaped off a roof and grabbed onto a fire escape, and the impact of him landing on it caused the bottom ladder to shake free and fall to the ground. Lan ran up to it and started climbing, chasing after the Navi as he ran up the stairs.
One minute later, he managed to make it to the roof of the apartment building, catching his breath, unable to remember the last time he had run that fast, let alone climbed that fast. He walked out onto the roof, holding his chest for a moment as he gasped for air, trying to calm his heart and cursing his limited stamina. By now, he was certain that the Navi had gotten away, and he had lost his chance to confront him. Looking up, he was shocked to see the mysterious blue figure standing motionless at the other end of the roof, facing away, no longer running.
Lan stared for a moment, taking in all the details he could, studying the armor, the bodysuit, and the build that was oddly similar to his own. Eventually, he took a step closer. "Who are you?"
The Navi didn't look back as he answered. "Someone who shouldn't exist."
Lan blinked, confused by this vague answer, but not sure he would get a better one if he asked again. "How long have you been following me? Days? Weeks?"
"As long as I can remember," the blue figure replied. "Almost as long as you've been alive."
Somewhere in Lan's brain, he knew that he should be disturbed by this answer. Looking at this strange Coypbot, however, something told him that this Navi wasn't a threat. It was evident in his voice, and his body language.
He took another step closer. "Why are you following me?"
"I've been watching over you. Keeping you safe." The Navi looked down, seeming almost remorseful. "Trying to make up for a horrible mistake."
Lan cocked his head, wondering what that mistake could have been. He racked his brain for any sort of tragedies that might have occurred in his past. As he thought, he was surprised to hear the Navi speak again, unprompted.
"You aren't the person you're supposed to be, Lan," he spoke. "You don't have the strength of character you're supposed to have. You need to be stronger. Your friends and family need to be stronger. The world needs you to be stronger."
"The… what? The worlds needs me?" Lan goggled for a moment, before shaking his head. "That can't be right. I'm not some kind of hero. You've got the wrong person."
"I thought the same thing, for a little while," the Navi replied. "Until your battle with Dex against the arcade."
"What? You were there for that?"
The Navi continued, undeterred. "You risked everything to protect someone you cared about. You became the person I've been waiting to see for years." He folded his arms. "You're going to have to be that person again, soon."
Lan took a step back, not fearful of this Navi, but of the pressure of potential weight on his shoulders. "Why me? Why can't it be someone else?"
"It has to be you. It was only ever you." The Navi looked up into the sky. "Very dangerous things are coming in the near future. Your friends and family are going to be depending on you. You need to step up and become the hero you were born to be."
"That… that isn't me," Lan answered. "That's someone else. That's an Official, or a soldier, or someone like that. I was never born to be a hero."
"It's the most important thing you are." The Navi unfolded his arms. "I still believe in you, Lan. I always will."
He suddenly leaped off of the side of the building in front of him. Lan gasped and raced forward, rushing to the edge of the building and looking over the side. He watched as the Navi landed on the rooftop across the street, continuing to run forward into downtown, until he was eventually out of sight.
Lan stood up and stepped back from the edge of the building, even more confused and scared than he was before the conversation. How could he be expected to save anybody, if he could barely stand up to a school bully? How could he ever be a hero? What would happen if destiny came for him and he wasn't ready for it? He envisioned himself standing in front of a giant force of mysterious evil, baring down on him like a tidal wave. Just the thought of it caused his legs to start shaking.
He stood and contemplated this for a long time, his heart pounding, before he eventually decided that he couldn't answer these questions right now, and especially not on an empty stomach. He sighed and turned around, walking to the edge of the building and climbing down the fire escape, before heading back toward his home.
