"Ho ho ho!" Colorman balanced on his ball, his grin growing wider. "Now that is rather unfortunate!"

Megaman was frozen, staring in horror as Lan disappeared from sight, his scream still resonating in his sound receptors.

"MEGAMAN!"

Lan…

"Such a shame but alas, he was in our way." Colorman brought a hand to his head, striking a dramatic pose. "Our Lord would hear nothing of it if I didn't dispose of him." He laughed. "And now Ms. Maddy and I get bragging rights for taking him out!"

Megaman was still frozen in place, not a single bit of pixel moving. The only things moving were his eyes as they trembled with fear that was slowly melting into anger.

Lan… My little brother…

"Heeeeellooooo?"

Colorman was in front of him now, the net navi waving a hand in front of him.

"Did stop working?" He asked. "Do you need a reboot? Oh! Right, you can't do that without your netop! Guess you're out of luck-"

CRACK!

Colorman was sent to the ground, the net navi holding his cheek at where he had been punched by Megaman. He looked up, seeing Megaman standing before him, his Mega Buster out, his green eyes burning with pure and utter rage.

He pointed his Mega Buster at him, a snarl escaping his throat.

"Mock my netop one more time. I dare you."

Colorman grinned.

"How about we just cut straight to the part where I delete you?"

Colorman jumped back, smacking the ground with his hands as a large tower of water appeared.

"AQUA TOWER!"

Megaman didn't have a chance to react, the net navi being sent flying right back into the sea of cyberwater.

"AUGH!"

Colorman laughed, sitting on his ball again, looking down at Megaman.

"Give it up kid! You're nothing without that useless netop- Oh wait, nevermind, you'd be nothing without him anyway! Two wrongs don't make a right after all!"

Megaman growled, making his way out of the water, getting up onto a platform, firing blasts at Colorman.

"SHUT UP!"

Colorman dodged the blasts with ease, dancing around on his ball.

"Hm… Nope. I don't take orders from a child."

Colorman disappeared, soon reappearing in front of Megaman, knocking him down to his back with a hard kick, pinning the net navi with his foot.

"Especially not a freak like you."

Megaman struggled, trying to get up, cries of rage escaping him.

"You know… I expected more." Colorman smirked. "Especially with how highly Lord Wiley spoke of you." He leaned in, whispering into Megaman's sound receptors. "Don't worry. I won't tell anyone that you're just a half human mutt pretending to be a normal net navi."

Megaman's system went entirely cold upon hearing this.

He was aware they knew… but it hurt more hearing them say it.

"Get… off me!" He cried out.

He tried pushing Colorman off but he just didn't have the strength to do it. He was too battered from the hits he took and the cyber water had not done him any favors in regards to maintaining his stamina. And without Lan… he didn't have any other means of fighting back.

Tears welled up in his eyes.

"Lan…" He whispered. "I…. I'm sorry I failed you…"

Colorman's right arm transformed into a sword. He raised it into the air, a maniacal grin crossing his features.

"Any last words before I delete you?"

Megaman stared blankly at Colorman for a moment before letting his head fall to the side, his eyes sliding shut.

"Aww… Only silence? Very well." Colorman went to strike. "Farewell, Megaman!"

Megaman let himself go limp, ready to accept his end. It only served him right, he figured.

I failed Lan… What's even the point anymore?

SHINK-CLASH!

"I think that will be quite enough."

Huh?

Megaman's eyes snapped open as the sight of another navi locking swords with Colorman met them.

It didn't take him long to recognize this new net navi. He had seen him in pictures multiple times from news articles and in net navi history books. The iconic red, white and gold armor, the long flowing grey hair, and the blazing red sword that the net navi was currently using as a means of protecting Megaman from meeting Colorman's sword.

Protoman.

Colorman sneered at Protoman, trying to get him to back off but to no avail.

"You just had to steal my moment of glory, didn't you?"

"You took too long." Protoman gave a flat look. "You only have yourself to blame for that one."

"Arrrrrgh! You pest!"

Colorman jumped back, keeping a strong stance.

"I will have my moment! I just need to get you out of the way!"

Protoman jumped over to Megaman, getting in a defensive stance, a shield appearing on his other arm.

"We'll see about that." Protoman kept a calm demeanor. "I'll do whatever it takes to keep this net navi safe."

"Very well then. I hope you like being scrap data!"

Colorman brought his fingers to his lips, whistling loudly. At this, a bunch of aqua type viruses of all sorts popped out of the water, all ready to pose an attack on the net navi.

"Run…" Megaman rasped. "I know you're strong… but there's no way you can handle this all on your own."

Protoman smirked.

"Who said I was alone?"

SHING!

In an instant, several viruses were deleted as two figures joined Protoman's side.

"Aww almost late!"

"To be fair we had to make sure nothing bad happened, Ashe."

They looked back at Megaman, grinning.

"Just leave the fighting to us, kid. You take a rest." Ashe turned to Colorman, summoning her buster. "Time to delete a creepy clown."

That armor… That's form change…

Colorman growled.

"You can't defeat me that easily!" He growled, charging Ashe, swinging his sword in her direction. "SAY GOODBYE!"

She lunged out of the way, firing at the arm with the sword attached.

BANG!

Colorman gulped as the sword was deleted from his grasp.

"... Oh, crab."

Grey shook his head.

"Come on, don't play with him, Ashe. That's not very Net Saver like."

"But it's fuuuun!"

"Focus!" Protoman barked.

The two net navis went quiet, going straight to work on the viruses, leaving Protoman to deal with Colorman.

"Just you and me now." Protoman raised his sword. "Do you still want your moment?"

Colorman growled, summoning his ball.

"I'll take pleasure in deleting all of you!"

He threw his ball at Protoman, the ball sparking with electricity.

"Have a taste of my elec ball!"

Protoman narrowed his eyes before dashing forward, slicing the ball in two with his saber before disappearing.

"AH!" Colorman looked around. "Where-!?"

Colorman gasped as his frame was cut in half at his abdomen by Protoman's sword. The net navi sneered at him.

"I suggest logging out now before you run out of chances to get your moment."

Colorman growled, eyes narrowed.

"I…" He rasped. "Will be back!"

Colorman disappeared in bits of data, the words logging out appearing before fading away.

The water around the area began to drain as Grey and Ashe continued their virus busting spree, the chaos starting to settle.

Protoman turned his attention to Megaman. He made his weapons dissipate before going over to him, offering a hand.

"You okay?" He asked.

Megaman shook his head, looking away.

"I failed…" He whispered. "I… Lan's probably.." Tears welled up in his eyes, before he closed them, letting out a cry. "I COULDN'T SAVE HIM!"

Protoman frowned, helping him sit up.

"You sure about that?"

Megaman gave him a cold look.

"I saw those things drag him away… I think I can put two and two together."

Protoman shook his head, bringing a hand over his audio receptor.

"Chaud? Can you give us a visual please?"

A screen materialized in front of them.

Megaman raised an eyebrow as the face of a boy with black and white hair appeared.

"You alright?"

"We're fine. How about the Hikari kid?"

Chaud turned his PET to a bench behind him.

He was exhausted, some cuts and bruises covering his body… but there was no doubt in Megaman's mind who that was.

He jumped up, pressing his hands to the screen.

"LAN!"

He's alive… Oh thank the creator, he's alive!

Lan looked up, his eyes widening before a relieved look crossed his features, along with a smile.

"Megaman!"

Chaud brought his PET over to Lan, letting the teenager hold it.

"Here."

"Thank you." Lan nodded, tears welling up in his eyes. "Megaman, I was so worried I had left you to be deleted! I'm so sorry!"

Megaman's eyes welled up, a few tears escaping.

"You knucklehead… Why are you sorry? I should be the one apologizing!" He sniffled a little. "I… I was supposed to protect you! I said I was gonna fix this and.. I'm so sorry!"

"H-Hey…" Lan frowned. "Don't. It was my stupid idea to be live bait."

"Which if you ever do that again I swear… Guh! I'm just glad you're okay… You are, right? Nothing broken?"

"Thankfully, no." Lan gave a small smile. "Just a few scrapes and bruises from the robotic marine life. I was really lucky with Chaud showing up at the right time." Lan glanced over to the teen, who was busy typing up a report on a computer watch. "Won't deny… he's… kind of cool."

Megaman glanced behind him at Protoman, who was talking to Ashe and Grey.

"I have to agree. His navi's cool too." Megaman sighed in relief, touching his head to the screen. "I don't wanna go to aquariums for a while. Okay?"

"Deal. I don't think Ciel would want to either." Lan rubbed the back of his neck. "Again… I'm sorry I put you through this. I just… I panicked and I thought I was doing the right thing."

"Don't. Just don't apologize for it. You tried. Not like I didn't have my scare either. As long as you're okay, I'm okay."

"Okay…" Lan held the PET close. "Okay…"

Megaman kept close to the screen, closing his eyes.

"We got one heck of a story to tell Dad and Mom when we get home but right now… I just want to rest…"

"Then rest."

Lan closed his eyes.

"Because I will be too."