"So… you were unable to delete Megaman during your little escapade."

"Y-Yes… Lord Wylie…"

Count Zap lowered his head in shame.

"Please, forgive me. Elecman got out numbered. It was more than what he could handle on his own."

"Don't give me excuses."

"Ah, right, Sir."

Lord Wylie shook his head before chuckling.

"However, I will not deny how helpful you were in allowing Mr. Match and Yahoot to be able to secure the data we needed for our operation."

Count Zap gave a nervous grin.

"It-It was my honor, Lord Wylie. So, your research on that virus?"

Lord Wylie nodded, looking up to the screen above him.

"Coming along beautifully."

Displayed on the screen was a monster like being that was encased in digital crystal. It was dark green with spindle legs and large claw like arms. It's golden eyes had no glow to them, letting all know the creature was asleep.

"How much longer before you can utilize it?" Count Zap asked.

"Another month or so." Lord Wylie grinned. "But no matter what, soon, all will bow to the order of WWW and the real world and the cyberworld will be ours!"

"And what a world it will be!"

Lord Wylie gave him a look.

"And your job is done for now. Keep on standby for the next phase. Contact Maddy and have her prepare."

"Yes, My Lord." Count Zap gave a bow.

Feh, two of my best got taken out by a Hikari's work…

Let's see how they like a tsunami.

oooooo

How do I tell him?

Megaman lunged backwards, dodging a slash. He was training with Zero as per their agreement… but his heart wasn't in it.

Lan's got a target on his back… WWW knows about me...

"Come on, attack!"

Zero narrowed his eyes, spinning around, sweeping the navi's legs out from under him.

"UWAH!"

THUD!

Megaman looked up, exhaustion in his eyes.

"Are we done yet?"

Zero's gaze softened as he knelt to his level.

"What's on your mind?"

"You're gonna be mad." He mumbled, looking away. "It's my fault we're in this mess."

"What? Come on, you can tell me."

Megaman lowered his head.

"... Zero, I got into a fight with a net navi that was trying to steal that game Lan and I were excited about. He… He knew the last navi that was causing the oven fires…" Megaman's hands clenched into fists. "He knew… about my secret."

Zero's eyes widened in horror.

"No…" He shook his head. "That… Oh goodness, Hub, I am so sorry."

"And they made it clear they're gonna go after Lan no matter what I do." Megaman's voice cracked. "I can't lie to him about it! And I can't keep that a secret anymore either."

"Easy…" Zero rested a hand on his back. "It's bad. There's no denying this is the worst case scenario but the fight's not over yet now, is it?"

"No… But… What if they do something awful to Lan because of me?"

"They won't because you'll be able to stop them." Zero stroked his back. "And so will the rest of us that are right behind you."

"You sure…?"

"I can't say what will happen but I can guarantee those of us who have sworn to protect our worlds will be there to help at a moment's notice."

Megaman relaxed a little, looking up, his green eyes flickered with worry… and fear.

"But what if a moment's not soon enough? What if... " He looked at his hand. "What if something happens like it did to me?"

"Mega, deep breaths." Zero tilted his head up, giving him a serious look. "There's no point dwelling on that. We won't let anything happen to him. He's our family too."

"Right." He took a deep breath. "I just… I don't know."

"That feeling of the world starting to slip right?"

He nodded.

"That's how I felt during the war." Zero's gaze softened. "It was not fun. It was probably one of the hardest things I had to endure but we won the day, sure as I'm here before you." He smirked. "Us Hikari navis don't exactly do things the sane way now do we?"

"Not really." Megaman laughed a little. "Just seems to be in our code. Be it human or net navi."

"Can agree." Zero smiled. "We'll all do our best, okay?"

"Okay… and… can I please tell Lan about what's going on? What happened last night did affect him and he still wants an explanation for what happened. He's… still kind of livid."

Zero sighed, pinching the bridge of his nose.

"Ah, the Ol' Hikari Grudge. I know it all too well… At this point you don't have a choice. He's involved now, whether we like it or not. Plus, he definitely gets that from your Dad."

"WHY'D YOU DISCONNECT ME YOU IDIOT!?"

"When did you yell like that!?"

Ugh… Those memories I'd like to forget.

"So… I just should do it?"

"Yep. Just tell him you two need to have a serious talk and get it out in the open. If he's scared, calm him down as best as you can."

"Right… Though, one more thing. Have the Net Police found anything?"

"Not yet."

Zero narrowed his eyes.

"But at some point, they will."

oooooo

Lan was sitting at his desk, Megaman present on his computer screen. The navi had a nervous look to him as he stared his netop down. His arms were folded behind him and he wouldn't stop glancing around.

Lan crossed his arms, leaning back in his chair.

"You wanted to talk?"

"Yeah… It's… about what happened on Saturday." Megaman sighed. "I… owe you a really big explanation for why I did what I did."

Lan narrowed his eyes.

"Darn right ya do! You could've been killed!" He frowned. "I was really worried about you."

"I know and… I'll just be blunt. I didn't want you getting involved in something that I got roped into around the Torchman incident… but it would seem we were both roped in when that happened."

Lan raised an eyebrow, leaning forward. He had never seen his net navi so nervous before.

It's not like him at all… If something scares him, then it's bad news.

"What did we get roped into?" He asked, keeping his voice calm. "How does this involve Torchman?"

Megaman took another deep breath before speaking.

"Lan… There's been concern for net terrorism for awhile and now… it's been confirmed in recent time it has all been the cause of a group known as WWW. Torchman and the net navi I went up against on Saturday, Elecman, are connected with that group."

Lan's eyes widened.

"You're kidding me… We're…" He ran a hand through his hair. "Okay, screw being mad about the disconnect, that's over. We're getting targeted by TERRORISTS!?" He hissed the last part.

"Yeah. Due to my connection with SciLabs they are not a fan of me. Especially with the fact we stopped Torchman from doing something awful. The Net Police are still trying to catch them but in the meantime, Zero has been helping me prepare to fight those navis if something were to happen again. We didn't want to tell you at first because we didn't want you to worry. We… hoped you hadn't become a target but we… we were wrong… I'm sorry I lied to you, Lan."

Lan let out a groan of frustration, putting his head in his hands. He was already thinking back to the stories of the war his father told him, as well as what was in the history books.

And of course… SciLabs is, again, at the center of it all.

"Oh gosh… So they were deliberately trying to kill me." He lifted his head up, worry gleaming in his eyes. "And trying to delete you for good?!"

Set my house on fire? Fine. Mess with my gaming time? FINE. Trying to mess with my friends!?

NOT COOL!

"Y-Yeah." Megaman frowned. "Their boss wants me gone, according to what Elecman told me."

Lan scowled, sitting up straight.

"Well, that ain't happening." He took a deep breath, trying to calm himself down. "I'm not letting you go into any more of this alone, got it? And you can tell that to Zero too. I wanna help."

Megaman's eyes widened.

"Lan, are you sure? This isn't exactly safe."

Lan grinned, eyes gleaming with mischief.

"I'm a Hikari. If Dad could handle this stuff, so can I!"

Megaman blinked before smiling, shaking his head.

"I guess that's true… I'll do my best to explain everything that Zero told me but the most important thing is we do our best to keep each other safe." Megaman held a hand up to the screen. "I don't know what I would do if something happened to you, Lan."

Lan placed his finger over Megaman's hand.

"I don't know what I'd do if something happened to you either. You're my best friend." He smiled. "We're gonna get through this together. Just let me keep fighting with you."

"Very well." Megaman nodded. "Come what may… we'll go forward together."

"Always."