Lan was practically floating on air as he skated home. It had been a long month but he finally made it through… and he had to admit, bringing home a piece of paper with "A+"s written on it felt pretty amazing.
Maybe I should do this more often…
… Hm… I'll think about that later.
Right now, it's finally time!
Lan skidded to a halt as he came up to his home, quickly unlatching his removable skates, rushing up to the door.
"Mom! Airisu! I'm home!" Lan called, taking off his shoes."I got something to show you both!"
Haruka leaned into the living room from the kitchen, curiosity in her eyes. Airisu' image flickered onto the laptop in the room, her arms crossed.
"Oh? What is it sweetie?" Haruka asked, grinning a little.
Lan smirked, lifting his head high, holding the paper up for both to see.
"I got ALL A'S!"
Haruka smiled.
"Oh, that's wonderful sweetie! Looks like your study sessions with Airisu have all paid off."
Airisu smirked, nodding her head.
"Knew I could whip you into shape… Though can't take all the credit." Her look turned gentle. "There was a carrot for this stubborn mule."
Lan nodded, bouncing a bit in place.
"Yeah! You guys promised… I still get that right?" He gave a bit of a puppy eyed look. "I didn't slack off once. Right?"
"Not even when that new game came out. We're both very proud." Airisu grinned. "I'll send a message to Yuichiro."
Lan gasped before he cheered, throwing his arms around his mother.
"YES! THANK YOU, THANK YOU, THANK YOU!"
Haruka laughed a little, hugging her son.
"I'll make curry tonight to celebrate. Then maybe a sundae to go with it."
"Yes, please! I'd love that! Plus, perfect way to kick off the weekend!"
"Very well. I'll call up your father and tell him the good news."
"I'll just be in my room then." Lan rubbed his hands together. "It's been hard resisting but I really want to test out the VR set Dad brought home. Especially with that game he got for it too."
"I'll keep an eye on him." Airisu said, shaking her head. "If you hear screaming, it's nothing to be concerned about."
Haruka nodded.
"Thank you, Airisu."
Airisu disappeared from the laptop screen as Lan ran up to his room.
Lan was bouncing on his heels as he got the system set up. Before he put the headset on, he took a glance at the PET on his desk. It was currently charginging, a standard net navi sitting on the screen. It had no name, it was just a placeholder navi. No personality whatsoever, just a blank slate for Lan to project on to.
Soon though it's goodbye Mr. Standard Navi with weak stats and hello expert cyber warrior!
"You, my old friend, are so outta here." He grinned. "Pack your cyber bags, it's net battling here on out!"
"Lan."
"Ack! I mean… I'll always treasure the help." Lan mumbled. "Airisu, c'mon, it's basically nothing."
"Still, don't be rude. Your new navi will be your friend too, not just a fighting machine. We aren't going to have a repeat of when you went through your "Let's steal Zero and enter twenty net battles." phase."
Lan gave a sheepish look.
"I just really wanted to battle and they didn't allow regular navis… and Zero is a veteran at this stuff."
"Key word, veteran. As in, he doesn't really do it anymore unless he absolutely has to. He's a dedicated navi to research now. Just like how your father used to travel all the time before he decided to settle down." Airisu gave a smile. "And be here more so he could help take care of you and be there for you. Like a good father."
Lan smiled a little.
"I am glad he decided to stay home more… Though ehehe… wouldn't have been if it wasn't because I was being a little brat in school. I learned though!"
"More like a work in progress." Airisu chuckled. "Fret not, it'll be corrected in time."
"Oh, come on, Airisu! I got straight A's for a month!"
She gave him a wink.
"I'll talk Haruka into giving you a special battle chip if you keep it up for another two."
Lan let out a sharp gasp, eyes widening.
"You swear?"
"I swear on my data. You keep bringing home good grades, you get rewarded." She grinned. "Just keep making us proud."
He smiled, giving a nod.
"I will. Now… I got game mysteries to figure out. Care to watch?"
"Of course. Someone has to point out when the level goes nightmare mode."
"Then let's do it!" Lan put on his headset. "Here we come, you haunted pizzeria!"
Airisu chuckled, sitting down as she began to watch.
Oh, Hub and Lan are going to make an interesting team.
oooooo
"Cyber sword!"
CLANK!
Zero grinned as he and Megaman locked swords.
The two were currently in the middle of a training session. While Megaman was more so an errand boy, an assistant in the lab and a helping hand around the house security system, net battling was never a bad thing to teach him.
Especially with who his future net op is going to be.
Megaman grinned as he sliced forward, sending Zero flying. Zero flipped into the air, landing with grace. He panted, staring Megaman down. Megaman was panting as well but he still stood strong.
"Nicely done, Megaman." Zero stood up straight, dissipating his sword. "You're getting better with your close combat."
"Thanks. You're still doing good too." Megaman smirked. "For a veteran."
Zero chuckled.
"Very funny." Zero crossed his arms. "Alright, that'll be it for now. Shall we go make sure Yuichiro didn't pass out at his keyboard again?"
"If he did, can I scream?"
"I'll help."
The boy snickered before disappearing from view as they sped through the connection in SciLabs, popping up on the monitors at Yuichiro's workstation.
True to their prediction, the man was slumped forward, his face pressed into his keyboard, the document having a series of "w"s trailing off.
Zero whistled, an unimpressed look coming to his face.
"He didn't save."
Megaman rolled his eyes, deleting the excess letters and saving the document for Yuichiro before turning to his father, mischief in his green eyes.
"Five…"
"Four…"
"Three…"
"Two…"
They both took a deep breath.
"YUICHIRO HIKARI! WAKE UP!"
"UWAH!"
Yuichiro fell out of his chair and right on to the floor, flat on his back, groaning a bit. Zero and Megaman laughed, holding their sides.
"Oh, circuits! His face!" Megaman was wiping at his eye. "And I think he went flying at least ten feet!"
"If I didn't know better I'd say a mettaur possessed him!" Zero laughed harder. "Gotta process faster if ya wanna get ahead of us!"
Yuichiro sat up, rubbing his head, putting his glasses back on. He gave a bit of a stern look at the two net navis before he started laughing.
"I'll give credit where credit is due, that was a good scare." He looked to his computer, happy to see it was already cleaned up and saved. "Oh, good… I hadn't saved since… last night." He paled a bit. "That could've been a disaster."
Megaman chuckled, folding his arms behind his head.
"Awww, Dad, don't worry. If it hadn't, we would've found a way to recover it. Like last time!"
"Oh gosh, don't remind me." he cringed. "Two weeks of work into a corrupted USB. Guuuh!"
"Never again." Zero shook his head.
Beep beep beep!
"Hm?" Zero looked to a screen next to him, a grin coming to his face. "Oh, it's Haruka. Got a moment, Yuichiro?"
"Or I could talk to her for you." Megaman volunteered.
"How about together?" Yuichiro chuckled. "Put her on."
Zero nodded, pressing a button, Haruka appearing on screen, a wide grin on her face.
"Hey, Honey!" Yuichiro greeted, waving a little.
Megaman jumped up in front of the window, waving like crazy.
"Hi Mom!"
"Hi sweetheart, hi kiddo." She chuckled. "How are my favorite boys?"
"Dad fell asleep at his computer again. Zero and I had to scream to get him to wake up."
She raised an eyebrow, a knowing look in her eyes.
"Had to or wanted to?" She teased.
Megaman looked down to his boots, trying to hide the grin on his face.
"Wanted to. We saved his work though."
"That's my little virus buster." She giggled. "I got great news too."
"Oh?"
"What's going on, Dear?" Yuichiro asked.
Haruka said nothing, holding up Lan's report card for all three to see.
"Ta-ada."
"Oh, congrats to him!" Zero grinned. "And congrats to Airisu for being able to help him study successfully. I thought she was going to lose her circuits because of that boy."
Haruka snickered a bit.
"There were moments, especially when Lan wanted to play his games… but a few well timed "accidents" with the router helped… and a promise." Her gaze softened, as she looked to Megaman. "You remember that talk we had, Son?"
His eyes lit up, nodding.
"Yeah! When Lan was ready, I'd stop being an errand boy and become his net navi, right? That's still the plan?"
"It is and well, since Lan kept his promise of getting straight A's for a month. I think it's finally time. He's shown he can be responsible. Least, I think so. Yuichiro?"
Yuichiro nodded.
"Yes. I haven't heard any stories of him getting into rough net battles with Dex and his school work is improving. Just hope it can stay that way."
"I'll make sure Airisu's work doesn't go to waste." Megaman winked. "I'll even make sure he doesn't fall asleep at his desk like a certain someone."
Zero barked out a laugh, throwing his head back.
"I don't think they make an aloe for that one."
"Oh hush." Yuichiro smirked, shaking his head. "But I agree, it's time. We'll transfer you to his PET some time today."
"Sounds good to me." Megaman grinned. "Just don't fall asleep at your desk anymore or I'll come back screaming."
"Duly noted."
"We'll see you at home." Haruka blew a kiss to both of them. "No crazy experiments, okay?"
"No promises!"
Haruka giggled before ending the call.
Megaman looked to Yuichiro.
"Can we see how many mettaurs we can stack up to the cyber sky?"
"... Maybe later."
oooooo
"Haruka! Lan! I'm home!"
Before he could even get his shoes off, Yuichiro was nearly tackled to the floor as Lan darted down the stairs.
"WELCOME HOME!"
"WHOA!" He laughed, hugging him. "You're in a great mood today."
"You got Mom's message right?" Lan asked, an excited look in his eyes. "Maybe not today but later...?"
Yuichiro smirked.
"After dinner I'll program the navi into your PET. I can't do that when I'm hungry. Don't want me to mess up your set up, right?"
"No, of course not! That took me months!"
"Then after dinner it is."
Haruka made her way over, kissing his cheek.
"Welcome home, Honey. Have a good day at work?"
"Yep. Making plenty of progress on our research on that energy source we're trying to use for our digital projections. Just still working out the bugs."
"Glitches or literal ones?" Lan asked.
"Yes."
"Oh… Oh, that's bad."
"Yeah but we're not going to dwell on that. Tonight is a night to celebrate for my little boy making progress in his school work."
Lan grinned.
"And to my new navi!"
Yuichiro chuckled.
"Haruka, we sure this our son? He's more worried about something else than food."
Haruka laughed.
"Oh, definitely. Wanna tell your dad what you told me a few minutes ago?"
Lan was bouncing on his heels, mischief in his eyes.
"Airisu said if I kept it up you guys would get me a rare battle chip."
"... Oh she is baaad. Yep that's our son."
Lan grinned.
"Soooo… dinner?"
"Yes, yes, I'm starving."
They all settled around the dinner table. While it was enjoyed at a moderately good pace, it was still fast. Lan practically inhaled his curry before running up the stairs to his room with his ice cream bowl. Yuichiro followed shortly after, taking his place at Lan's desk.
Lan couldn't touch his ice cream. He was too busy watching his dad work with his PET.
This is it… This is it!
Yuichiro nodded as he finished putting the last bit of code in before producing a USB that had the Hikari family crest on it.
"Alright, ready to meet your new net navi Lan?"
Lan nodded.
"Yes!"
Yuichiro smiled, plugging the USB into the charging port.
"Here he comes."
There was a beep before the screen glowed brightly. Lan's eyes were wide as he saw the standard navi disappear, new codes and structures filling the screen. They all moved around before they came together, a silhouette of a new navi appearing. The silhouette was similar to the old standard navi but Lan didn't want to say anything still he saw what it looked like.
The light faded, revealing a net navi decked out in blue armor with teal and yellow accents, the family crest present on his chest. He had a grin on his face along with a glint in his bright green eyes. Eyes that were a mirror image to Lan's.
"Lan." Yuichiro smiled. "Meet Megaman."
Lan jumped up, leaning over his father's shoulder, eyes wide in wonder as he took in the image on the screen.
"Whoa…"
"Hey there." Megaman waved. "Nice to finally meet ya, Lan."
"Y-You too." He looked him over. "Speed type, built for fast combat with a heavy focus on… close combat?"
"Bit of long range and close." He winked. "Good job guessing though."
Yuichiro looked to Lan.
"What do you think?"
He grinned, side hugging him.
"Thank you! HE'S PERFECT!"
Megaman waited until Lan looked away to heave a sigh of relief.
Whew. He doesn't want a bigger navi. Thank the maker.
"Good." Yuichiro smiled, side hugging his son. "You promise to take good care of him, yes?"
"Of course! That's what a net op is supposed to do, right?"
"Yes. Your navi is not just an assistant. They are your companion. A friend. Zero and I are very much like brothers. I hope to see that same kind of bond between you and Megaman."
Lan looked to Megaman, excitement in his eyes.
"I think we can manage that… right?"
"Of course!" Megaman smiled. "I'll always have your back, Lan. That's a promise."
"Thank you. I promise the same." Lan cheered a little. "I FINALLY HAVE MY OWN NET NAVI!"
Yuichiro smiled as he watched Lan pick up his PET, hugging it close to him.
"We're going to be a great team! I know it!"
Together again.
Yuichiro sighed happily.
Just like we wanted.