Of course Bass already knew that baby-Navi was weird. He turned MegaMan into a fucking beast, and Mimic says he's something called the Synchroniser - if that doesn't mark Trill out as weird, then what would?

Well, there's always the fact that the baby-Navi somehow became a child-Navi overnight. Bass doesn't know that much about growth and all that, but he's pretty sure even a human wouldn't be able to grow that fast. And besides, Trill is a fucking NetNavi. NetNavi's can't grow up on their own, not unless a human modifies their appearance or something. From what MegaMan and his human are saying, Trill just grew up without anyone doing anything to him.

Which is definitely weird. This whole Beast Out shit is weird, and Trill growing up for no apparent reason is even weirder.

But even weirder still is the fact that the Navis are all watching a horror movie in SciLab. Bass knows why they're watching a movie, obviously - Dr. Hikari wants to scan Trill and see if there's anything new with his systems and all that, and Trill apparently has a thing for movies, so this is the only way to keep him still long enough for Dr. Hikari to run the scan.

What he can't understand is why they're watching a horror movie, of all fucking things. Seriously, he's pretty sure the cat said Trill likes those Pokemon movies, so why not watch one of those? Why a dumb horror movie that isn't even that scary?

It's certainly not doing MegaMan any favours. No matter how shitty the movie actually is, it's still scaring the shit out of MegaMan - and that confuses Bass to no end, because MegaMan has literally saved the world multiple times, and yet he's scared by some poorly-animated ghosts and a dumbass pirate skeleton and an equally-dumbass ghost ship? Seriously, the plot isn't even that good, this entire movie just sucks ass.

"MegaMan has a really bad phobia of ghosts and monsters," Arcadia explains quietly, when Bass brings it up after having watched MegaMan attempt to scream no less than eight times (and only stops because that pink NetNavi Roll clamps her hand over his mouth and shuts him up). "Ghosts most of all, really. It's, uh . . . not very dignified."

"I'll say," Bass mutters. He scoffs as MegaMan tries to scream for the ninth time, and once again, Roll stops him. "Pathetic. He fucking lives with a cyber demon that's even worse than that crap on the screen, why is he so scared?"

"I think the Poltergeist is a good kind of scary," ProtoMan muses, with a glance at Dark Shadow. "But that movie is supposed to be a bad kind of scary. Or . . . maybe he's just too used to Dark Shadow and the Poltergeist itself to be scared of them . . ."

"It's still pathetic."

"Can't argue with you there," the cat admits. "That movie is kinda crap."

"Trill seems to be enjoying it, though," Arcadia observes, nodding to said child-Navi.

Unlike MegaMan, who looks about two seconds away from having a system meltdown, Trill is watching the shitty horror movie with a look of awe and excitement. He cheers whenever a ghost or that pirate skeleton comes on-screen, and follows the plot (however bad it is) with rapt attention.

That's what they were going for when they started watching this stupid movie, sure, but it still puzzles Bass to no end. How can anyone enjoy such a shitty horror movie?

He honestly would've been happier if they'd just put on one of those Pokemon movies or something. Or maybe let Mimic pick the movie - the ones she usually watches are fucking awesome and usually involve some pretty damn good fight scenes, which Bass fucking loves.

Instead, they're stuck watching whatever's left of this shitty horror movie. At least he knows the scan is almost complete, and so is the movie - which means they won't have to endure it for that much longer.

It still feels like it's gonna last for far too long, though. Fucking hell, hurry up, he wants this torture to be over already, dammit!


"Hang in there, MegaMan," Lan murmurs, looking the main screen and wincing. His Navi doesn't seem to be doing very well with the movie - he honestly looks like he's about to pass out.

He just needs to hold on a little longer, though. The scan's almost finished, as is the movie itself, so poor MegaMan won't have to endure the horror for much longer.

MegaMan isn't the only who doesn't seem to be enjoying the movie, though. Bass's expression is somewhere between boredom and annoyance, and Arcadia seems more or less indifferent. ProtoMan's actually watching the movie, though he doesn't look too impressed, and Roll is more focused on stopping MegaMan from screaming in front of Trill to care about the movie, apparently.

Trill is the only one who's enjoying the movie, it seems. He's the exact opposite of MegaMan in this regard - while MegaMan is absolutely terrified of ghosts and monsters and all that, Trill appears to love them. Which . . . kinda spells trouble, if you ask Lan. Trill has a reputation as a troublemaker already. Not Mimic and Chaud's kind of troublemaker, but definitely the kind to be worried about.

"Poor MegaMan," Maylu sighs from beside Lan. "His fear of ghosts and monsters isn't really his best trait, is it?"

"Everybody's scared'a somethin'," Mimic wisely points out.

"Well, yeah, but this is kinda ridiculous . . . I mean, just look at him."

"True," Mimic admits, with a shrug.

"How can anyone be scared of such a poorly-made movie?" Chaud wonders. Like ProtoMan, he doesn't seem very impressed with the movie, and is even looking at the screen showing the movie like it's personally offended him somehow. "Seriously, the CGI is terrible at best, the special effects are so bad that they hardly deserve the name, the acting is absolutely horrendous, and the plot . . . ugh. Don't even get me started on the plot."

Lan raises an eyebrow at him. "What, are you a movie critic now?"

Chaud gives him a deadpan look. "I've got nothing else to do. Literally."

Lan winces faintly, only able to offer a sheepish smile in response. Him and his big mouth, seriously . . .

He suppresses a sigh and glances over at Dad and Famous, who're working at the console in the middle of the main room. One of the holographic screens around them is showing the progress on Trill's scan - it looks almost complete, and although the words and coding is backwards from where he's looking at it, Lan can tell there isn't much there. No more than they got from the first scan Dad and Famous did on Trill, anyway.

Doesn't hurt to ask, though.

"Hey, Dad?" he calls, making his dad glance up. "How's it going?"

"We're almost finished," Dad replies. His eyes flicker down to the screen showing Trill's scan when a faint beep emits from the console. "Ah, here we go. Just finished . . . Hm." He leans back and lets out a faint sigh. "Nothing new after all, then. There's nothing that indicates a trigger for this rapid growth."

"Told yah," Mimic throws over her shoulder.

"Yes, you did." Dad's shoulders shake with faint laughter as he steps back from the console, and the holographic screens vanish from around it. "But you know we have to be absolutely certain, Mimic."

"Mm-hm."

"And you really don't know anything about this?" Famous asks, also stepping away from the console. "Did your anime never explain it at all?"

"F'it did, I don't remember," Mimic replies. "Seemed more focused on the Beyondard war than anythin' else, really. He was made in a glass egg-lookin' machine, maybe that's got somethin' to do with it . . ."

"Glass egg-looking machine?" Dad repeats, frowning and putting a hand on his chin thoughtfully. "Hm . . . that sounds like it could be Beyondard's version of a NetNavi development pod. I can't be certain without being able to look at it for myself, though."

"Oh, it looks like the movie's finishing," Maylu suddenly says, drawing everyone's attention to the main screen again.

"Thank god," Chaud mutters. "I'd rather take a bath than have to watch any more of that."

Lan gives him a surprised look.

"What?" Chaud demands, lifting his arms in a shrug. "That movie was terrible. And not in a good way."

"I'm just surprised that you'd rather take a bath," Lan says. "You hate baths."

"Yeah, that's why I said it. Still hate baths, but I'd rather have to deal with that than this horrible movie. At least it's over, now . . ."

"Great. Can we go back to bed now?" Mimic asks, somehow both exasperated and desperate at the same time.

Dad lets out an amused chuckle. "Back in summer, you wanted to spend more time wandering around at night rather than being in bed."

"Summer was warm. Winter ain't. Futon was nice an' warm, an' then we get dragged all the way to SciLab for this . . ."

"She's not wrong," Chaud comments idly. "We basically came all the way here for no reason."

"You guys weren't even asleep and you know it," Lan accuses.

The twins give him equally-bland looks.

"Doesn't mean we weren't in bed," Mimic says.

"We were enjoying the warmth," Chaud adds.

"Don't forget you're getting an actual bed tomorrow, you two," Dad reminds them. "Remember to put your futon somewhere out of the way, alright?"

"Got it," the twins chorus.


MegaMan can't help but let out a sigh of relief when the movie is finally, mercifully, over. Unlike everyone else, he didn't even notice how bad the movie actually is - he just sees ghosts and monsters and his mind immediately bails on him. Which has the unfortunate side-effect of leaving him to deal with his fear all on his own, though Roll . . . kinda helped.

She stopped him from screaming in front of Trill, anyway.

Trill, who seems to believe MegaMan is some kinda cool person, and although he's not really sure why, MegaMan doesn't want to shatter that belief. So, maybe Roll did do more than just stop him from screaming during the movie.

The others certainly didn't do anything - they're just sitting nearby, or in ProtoMan and Dark Shadow's case, lying nearby. He could hear Bass's annoyed muttering throughout the movie and thanks the maker that Trill doesn't have enhanced hearing, and ProtoMan and Arcadia didn't seem to care much for the movie at all.

The network gets brighter as the movie screen vanishes. It seems SciLab's network has all kinds of system settings, and one of them is a 'cinema' mode. What purpose it serves outside of what the name implies is a total mystery, but MegaMan has long since learnt that asking anyone who works at SciLab about the weird things scattered throughout the building and network (such as that weird stash of costumes and clothes that absolutely no one will explain) is completely pointless.

"That was so scary!" Trill cheerfully says. "But it was fun, too."

"R-really?" MegaMan plasters a confident grin on his face. It feels fake, and definitely looks fake, but Trill doesn't even seem to notice. "You were scared, then? I-I wasn't scared at all."

He hears an incredulous mutter of 'the fuck?' from Bass's direction, and hopes that Trill didn't hear it. Not just because it was a curse, but also because he doesn't want Trill to doubt him.

"Wow, really?" Trill looks impressed.

"Nope!" Something about the way Trill is looking at him makes him feel . . . well, more confident, kinda. "A-actually, I've never even once screamed during a horror movie!"

He can almost feel the deadpan looks his friends are all giving him. But what he's focusing on is Trill's bright-eyed look of excitement.

"That's so cool!" Trill cheers, throwing his arms up in the air. "MegaMan, you're so cool!"

Oh, maker, his core is melting.

"MegaMan . . ." A screen appears in front of them, showing Lan's face. He's giving MegaMan a slightly exasperated look. "Are you sure you should be saying all that?"

Luckily, MegaMan is saved from having to reply thanks to Trill.

"Oh!" the child-Navi exclaims. He straightens up in his seat and bows politely. "Good evening, Lan!"

"Uh-" Lan looks startled for a split second before a nervous smile appears on his face. "G-good evening, Trill! Heh heh . . . where are my manners?"

At least Trill didn't say 'good morning', this time. When he woke up earlier, that was the first thing he said - mostly because he actually thought it was morning, which is when they usually wake up, so . . . at least the mistake was justified, MegaMan supposes.

Does this mean he'll have to teach Trill about grammar? He's not sure if Trill can learn things the way most NetNavis do - Mimic's knowledge about Trill's origins doesn't cover absolutely everything, after all. He's pretty sure she's told them everything she can remember.

At the very least, Trill should listen. He seems to hang onto MegaMan's every word - he even believed that terrible lie about MegaMan never screaming during a horror movie.

. . . He lied to Trill. Oh, maker, he lied to Trill.

Why is it only now that he realises what a horrible mistake he's just made? He knows not all lies are actually wrong (and Mimic and Chaud basically specialise in lying, after all, and even if they don't act like it sometimes, they're definitely good guys), but this kind of lie? Boasting about something that isn't even remotely true just so he can impress Trill? That's definitely wrong.

"Hey, MegaMan?" Trill tugs on his hand, breaking him out his horrified thoughts. "Why is there a virus over there?"

MegaMan blinks. He hasn't detected any viruses, and he's pretty sure SciLab's security would've detected one even before his own systems could've. Does Trill have some kind of special virus-detection ability that even Mimic didn't know about?

"What virus?" MegaMan asks.

"That one." Trill points.

MegaMan follows his finger and blinks again. Trill isn't pointing at a virus - he's pointing at ProtoMan, who's listening to something Arcadia is saying and is thankfully not paying any attention to Trill.

"Don't point at people like that, it's rude," MegaMan gently scolds.

"Oh, okay." Trill lowers his hand. "But . . . how come there's a virus here, though?"

"That's ProtoMan," MegaMan explains, while internally he's wondering why Trill doesn't seem to recognise ProtoMan at all. Maybe he can try and jog his memory. "He babysat you a few times when you were a baby-Navi, remember?"

"Umm . . ." It doesn't seem to be working.

It could be the same kinda thing that happens with humans. MegaMan knows that humans don't necessarily remember their time as babies, and this . . . seems like it could be something similar. He's pretty sure the only reason babies remember their parents or whoever raised them is because they have a strong emotional connection to them, so that's probably why Trill knows MegaMan and Lan.

"Why was a virus babysitting me?" Trill asks, tilting his head a little.

MegaMan winces. ProtoMan still doesn't exactly consider himself to be a 'real' NetNavi because of all his glitches and stuff, and hearing someone calling him a virus over and over definitely isn't going to help his self-esteem.

"He's a Virus Na-" MegaMan begins.

He jumps when a sharp alarm tone rings through his systems, and it takes a moment or two to recognise it as the alert tone of Lan's PET for when someone's calling. That movie still has him on edge, seriously . . .

"Lan!" MegaMan calls, getting his operator's attention. "Someone's calling you!"

"Really?" Lan looks puzzled as he takes out his PET. "I wonder who would be calling this late . . ."

MegaMan hears a muttered complaint from Mimic - something about wanting to go back to bed - before he's distracted by the voice of the person who called so late in the first place.

"Lan, are you free at the moment?" Manabe asks, not even bothering with a greeting. That would be considered kinda rude, except she sounds pretty worked up about something.

"Uh . . . I think so, yeah. Why?"

"I need you to do an investigation right now," Manabe replies.

"An investigation?" Lan repeats, blinking. "For what?"

There's a slight pause that seems almost . . . fearful. It's not just the movie playing with MegaMan's mind - he can almost feel the fear coming from Manabe, though he doesn't have Arcadia's Empath Program.

"A ghost ship investigation," Manabe eventually says.

MegaMan jumps to his feet. "G-ghost ship!?" he yelps.

Lan gives him a worried glance, then turns back to Manabe. "Um . . . are you sure that's a job for a Net Saver, Ms. Manabe? I mean, it seems more like something one of those ghost hunters would check out, really . . ."

"This is definitely Net Saver work," Manabe says grimly. "Trust me on this. I'll give you the full details when you arrive. Famous can drive you here - and you can take whoever you want along with you, too. Just as long as you get here as fast as possible."

And with those ominous parting words said, the call cuts off.

Trill hops off his seat before anyone can even think of anything to say. He bounces eagerly, tugging at MegaMan, looking up at him with a pleading expression.

"I wanna come too!" he exclaims. "Please, MegaMan! I wanna meet some ghosts!"

"N-no, Trill." MegaMan carefully extracts Trill's hands from him and crouches down so they're eye-level. "Look, this is gonna be dangerous, so-"

"But I wanna go!" Trill insists. "Please, please, I'll be good, I promise, I just really wanna meet some ghosts!"

MegaMan would rather do the exact opposite and not go anywhere near the ghosts, if there are any. But he can't say that in front of Trill.

"Look-" he begins.

"Oh, just take him," Mimic interrupts, sounding completely exasperated. "He'll only scream if you don't, anyway. Please take him with you."

MegaMan stares at her for a few moments, stunned into silence. He's not the only one, though the looks that Chaud, ProtoMan, and Arcadia are giving her are more like total horror than stunned silence.

Ah . . . now that he thinks about it, that makes sense. Trill's screaming would be absolute hell on their sensitive hearing - from what Lan and Dad said, it was loud enough to do damage even to the real world, and it even spread to Internet City, despite it being pretty far from SciLab's network.

Yeah, okay, if refusing to take Trill along on this . . . ghost ship investigation . . . will make him scream like that again, MegaMan'll just have to take him along. If only to spare the twins and their Navis the pain of having to endure the screaming. He knows Arcadia and Mimic have already experienced it once, and that was clearly more than enough for Mimic.

"Alright, alright," MegaMan sighs.

Trill's pleading expression brightens into one of pure excitement.

"But!" MegaMan holds up a finger and gives Trill a stern look. "This is gonna be dangerous, and I don't want you to get hurt. So you have to do what I tell you, and you have to stay out of trouble. Got it?"

"Got it!" Trill cheers. He giggles and bounces up and down, chanting happily. "We're gonna meet some ghosts, we're gonna meet some ghosts, we're gonna meet some ghosts!"

Please let it be anything but ghosts, MegaMan sighs.


Manabe said that Lan can take whoever he wants with him, right? So . . . so that means Chaud can go. And no can say he's not allowed to go, because it doesn't matter that he's still on leave - Manabe gave her permission for Lan to take whoever he wants.

"Ooh, can I come?" Maylu eagerly comes forward before Chaud can speak up. But that's okay, because Manabe didn't exactly set a limit on how many people Lan can take with him. "A ghost ship investigation sounds like a lot of fun!"

"Uh, sure." Lan looks a little startled at how eager Maylu is.

"Hey," Chaud says, stepping forward as well, "can I come, too?" He sees the hesitant look on Lan's face and immediately rushes to explain. "Look, Manabe said you can take whoever you want, so-"

The ghost ship investigation is gonna be near the ocean, Mimic tells him.

"-never mind, I don't want to go anymore," Chaud quickly backtracks.

" . . . What?" Lan is giving him a blank look. So is Maylu.

"Mimic said the investigation is near the ocean," Chaud explains, gesturing to his twin sister. "That's way too much water. I'm not that desperate."

Implying that you are, at least, somewhat desperate in the first place, Mimic dryly comments.

Shut up, he retorts.

"Wait, what?" Lan doesn't look any less confused. "You barely even paused between words, how did she tell you where . . ." He trails off, and then his eyes widen. "Wait, Mimic knows where the investigation is!?"

Maylu realises it, too. "So this was an episode in your anime!" she exclaims, looking at Mimic.

"Hey, Mimic, do you wanna-" Lan begins excitedly.

"No," Mimic deadpans.

Lan deflates a little. "But . . . if you know what's gonna happen, then-"

"Same reason Chaud don't wanna go," Mimic says, gesturing to him. "Too much water. Couldn't pay me enough to go near that mess." She slides off the table she's been sitting on and starts heading for the doors. "Deal with it your-fuckin'-self."

"Mimic!" Dad says sharply.

"M'not gonna hold your hand the whole damn time, you gotta do stuff f'yourself too," Mimic goes on, casually ignoring him. She doesn't even glance over her shoulder as she leaves, only offering a lazy wave of her hand. "Have fun with the ghosts an' shit!"

Dad sighs and looks up. "Why do I even bother?" he asks the ceiling.

"Because you're naive enough to believe that she'll actually listen to you one day?" Chaud suggests, and gets a flat look in response.

"That was a rhetorical question," Dad tells him.

Chaud shrugs and heads out, hurrying to catch up with Mimic. They have a warm futon to make the best of until tomorrow, after all.


Ragdoll's still exactly where they left him - in his bed, that is. At least one of them was able to get some sleep, instead of having it interrupted, although . . . Lan was right. They actually weren't asleep at all, they were literally just lying in their futon, enjoying the warmth.

They usually switch who has their back against the wall and who has their back facing the room. Up against the wall feels safer, so if one of them needs that for some reason, they don't switch until they're both okay. Or as okay as they can get.

Since neither of them really need to feel safe at the moment, it's Mimic's turn against the wall tonight, and tomorrow night it'll be Chaud's turn. But before she can crawl back into the futon and curl up to wait for Chaud to crawl in after her, ProtoMan speaks up.

"Um . . . I-I know you guys wanna go to bed now, but, uh . . ." He trails off uncertainly.

Mimic exchanges a quick glance with Chaud, and then they both sit down on the futon. ProtoMan's Navi-hologram flickers into view on the floor in front of them, with Arcadia and Bass on either side of him and Dark Shadow crouching in his shadow.

"What's up?" Chaud asks, speaking out loud mostly for Bass's benefit.

ProtoMan opens his mouth, hesitates, and then his expression falters and he presses his lips together and looks down at his feet. He taps his claws on the floor, a slightly less active version of shuffling his feet.

Arcadia puts a hand on his arm to get his attention. "C'mon, it's okay," he says encouragingly. "Just tell them what you told me. They won't get mad, you know that."

Mimic can't decide if that sounds ominous or not. She and Chaud exchange another glance, and this time, she speaks.

"We won't, whatever it is," she tells ProtoMan.

He still continues to hesitate, regardless of their attempts at encouraging him. Bass nudges him, strangely gentle for all that he's probably the least gentle person Mimic knows, and nods toward Mimic and Chaud.

"Just tell them, cat," he says. "You're not gonna get anything done if you don't speak up."

Dark Shadow adds in its own silent encouragement by pressing its head against the back of ProtoMan's legs. ProtoMan is quiet for a few moments, probably listening to whatever his shadow-double is saying, and then he takes in a deep breath and lets it out shakily.

"I . . . I want . . . I-I wanna try and go back to Internet City," ProtoMan declares. "T-tonight, I mean. Now."

"Now?" Chaud repeats, blinking. "Any particular reason why now?"

Apparently encouraged by Chaud's lack of protesting, ProtoMan seems to find it easier to speak now. "W-well . . . it's the middle of the night. So most Navis'll be with their operators, right? And . . . and there won't be so many people around the City." He swallows and wrings his hands together, a nervous habit he picked up from Mimic. "I . . . I figured I'd be able to handle it easier if . . . i-if there weren't so many Navis around. If it wasn't so loud. I just . . ." He winces. "I-I know I'm not . . . I might not be ready, I-I don't feel ready, but if I don't try, then I won't . . . I don't think I'll ever be ready if I don't, y'know? So . . . I asked Arcadia and Bass what they thought on the way back here, and they said . . . I should tell you two . . ."

"You sure about this?" Mimic asks carefully, leaning forward and resting her arms on her knees. "There's no rush, y'know."

"She's right," Chaud agrees. "You don't have to force yourself, ProtoMan."

"But-" ProtoMan bursts out, and then he stops and takes in a shuddering breath. "I-I . . . I do wanna go back, at some point. I haven't been to any kind of Internet City for months. And . . . I know the Japanese site is . . . well, I hope it's nicer than the Netopian one. No one seemed to mind me before, anyway."

"If they're not nice, I'll beat 'em up," Bass offers.

ProtoMan smiles nervously. "Y-yeah, that's . . . yeah."

"Well, you won't be alone, at least," Chaud observes.

ProtoMan looks up, blinking his mismatched eyes. "I-I won't- wait, you mean . . . ?"

"It's your choice whether you want to go back or not," Chaud says. "If you think going back while most Navis are asleep will help you to get more comfortable with all this, then we'll support you." Mimic nods along in agreement. "You'll have Arcadia and Bass with you, not to mention Dark Shadow, and we'll be sitting at the desk, watching from the computer. Okay?"

"O-okay," ProtoMan replies faintly. He looks a little stunned, as if he hadn't expected to get them to agree so easily. "Um . . . thank you. A-all of you."

Bass snorts. "What, you think we'd just dump you in Internet City and leave you to deal with it on your own? I may be an asshole, but even I wouldn't do something like that."

"Ah . . . y-yeah, I know." ProtoMan lets out a trembling laugh. "Still . . . thank you."

"Just ask," Arcadia murmurs, pulling his big brother into a hug and pressing his forehead against ProtoMan's shoulder. "That's all you have to do. Ask, and we'll do everything we can to help you."

ProtoMan returns the hug, and to Mimic's surprise, his tongue flicks out and he gives the feathers on Arcadia's hood a gentle lick.

Chaud glances at her, and a memory comes through their connection. ProtoMan licking baby Trill like he's doing with Arcadia right now, purring softly, and baby Trill clearly enjoying the impromptu tongue-bath. Huh. Looks like ProtoMan's finally decided to make use of that part of his cat virus data, then. She was kinda wondering if he'd ever start licking people like that.


The network path to Japan's Internet City is both familiar and completely alien at the same time. He recognises it, of course he does - but it's changed somewhat, thanks to all the advancements in network technology, not to mention the standard updates to things like this.

ProtoMan and Arcadia use their operators' log-in details to get into Internet City like they used to. Bass just walks through the barrier like it's not even there. It's not really clear if that's because he's an independent NetNavi or if it's an ability exclusive to Bass, and he isn't telling them. The only thing ProtoMan knows is that Arcadia certainly didn't have that ability when he was independent.

They arrive in Internet City, and ProtoMan lets out a breath he didn't even know he was holding. It does nothing for his nerves, but at least he's here now - and it was oddly easy. He'd almost expected himself to hesitate before actually going through the barrier, maybe take a few minutes to psyche himself up for it, but . . . he came in, just like that.

His nerves still flare up when he sees the digital buildings for the first time in months, though. Japan's Internet City is similar in design to Netopia's, though they have different colour schemes - Japan has a grey-ish kinda metallic colour scheme, while Netopia's was more yellow and sandy-coloured. But the shapes are still similar enough that he hesitates upon actually setting foot in the City, regardless of whether he came in without any hesitation.

"It's okay," Arcadia says softly, and he stretches out a wing to place it around ProtoMan's shoulders. "You're fine, ProtoMan. You're safe."

Dark Shadow crawls out from under Arcadia's trailing feathers and turns to face ProtoMan. It reaches into its chest and pulls out his helmet, then offers it up questioningly.

It takes a lot of effort to speak out loud, so he doesn't. No, I'm fine, he tells Dark Shadow. It's an obvious lie, but . . .

He doesn't want to rely on his helmet as a crutch or . . . or one of those comfort blanket things. If he can't deal with this, he's no good to anyone - he wants to be able to walk around Internet City as confidently as he used to be able to, he wants to have the confidence to do everything he used to do before. He wants to fight, too, and help with the Zoanoroids, and this is the first step toward that.

Dark Shadow tilts its head, and after a moment or two, it puts ProtoMan's helmet back inside itself. Is there if needed, it tells him.

ProtoMan nods, a jerky movement that betrays more of his nerves than he'd like. He tells himself it doesn't matter - Arcadia can sense how he's feeling, as can Dark Shadow, and Bass already knows anyway even if he can't do the same. He's not exactly successful in believing that, though.

"How about you try walking around for a while?" Chaud suggests. "You don't need to go too fast. Just walk, that's all."

"An' stop if y'need to," Mimic adds. "F'anyone gives you shit about it, Bass can knock 'em dead."

"Hell yeah," Bass agrees.

"Not dead," Chaud quickly says. "And, uh, don't knock anyone out, either. Just . . . I dunno, intimidate them or something."

Bass sighs heavily. "Fine," he says grudgingly. "Fucking humans trying to ruin my fun, what's next? You gonna stop me from fighting things, too?"

"That would be very stupid on our part," Chaud comments dryly.

ProtoMan surprises himself with a huff of laughter. For a split second, his nerves aren't so bad, and he's able to focus on the ridiculous conversation between his operators and Bass. It doesn't last as long as he'd like, but it feels . . . kind of okay. Gives him a slight boost in confidence, which is something he desperately needs right now.

It kinda helps when Arcadia gives him an encouraging smile, like he's saying 'that's the way'. It does feel like it.

As they begin walking, ProtoMan is once again surprised - he's still trembling like a Kettle virus that's about to spit boiling water everywhere, but each step he takes makes it easier for him to take the next one.

Arcadia's patient with him, keeping his wing on ProtoMan's shoulders, sometimes murmuring encouragement, and Dark Shadow prowls beside him, pressing against his side with its own silent support. Bass offers no physical contact of his own - that's not really his thing, though he doesn't seem to mind when ProtoMan hugs him or anything - but simply walking alongside them still helps.

What also helps is Mimic's running commentary on things she sees. Most of the time she just points out random things like street lights and makes incredulous comments about them, and occasionally Chaud will interrupt and explain things, often in the most exasperated tone ProtoMan has ever heard. He's not entirely sure, but he thinks they're doing that weird comedy routine thing just to distract him. It's kinda working.

For a couple of streets, they don't encounter any other NetNavis, and everything is . . . not entirely quiet, since it's still Internet City regardless of what time it is, but it's not as loud as he remembers it being the last time he was here. It'd be almost peaceful if he wasn't still so nervous that he's probably in danger of throwing up or something.

Then they come out into a street where a few NetNavis are, and ProtoMan stops walking. So do the others - Arcadia is giving him a worried look, Dark Shadow presses a little closer, and Bass looks between ProtoMan and the Navis on the street carefully.

" . . . We can find another street," Arcadia offers, after a few moments of silence. "If you don't feel ready to go near strangers yet-"

"I want to try," ProtoMan blurts out. He winces and stares down at his feet. "I-I mean . . . can I?"

"It's your choice," is the response he gets.

It is, sure, but . . . ugh, why does he feel like he needs permission to do this? Maybe it'd be better if he just asks Arcadia or someone else to make these decisions for him, then he wouldn't have to think so much. It'd be easier that way.

But . . . but that's why he's here, isn't it? So he can do this? Taking the easy way out isn't gonna help, he knows that. He's seen it with Chaud, and with Mimic. With Arcadia, too.

Of course his family would let him take the easy way if he wants to. They don't want to force him to do anything - unless it's life-threatening if he doesn't, anyway. But taking the easy way would just make regaining his confidence even harder than it already is, because he'd risk getting stuck in that mindset and then he'd never be able to do anything ever again.

Alright. Hard way it is.

He can't make his feet move, though. He wants to, but he just can't.

Dark Shadow, he thinks. Can you . . . push me?

Dark Shadow has no expression, but the way it jerks its head back is obvious shock. Push host? Why? it asks.

I think I need it, ProtoMan replies. His entire body is tense and he's pretty sure his hair is bristling to almost ridiculous extremes. He can feel it against Arcadia's wing. Please. Just give me a push. Enough to get me moving.

Dark Shadow stares at him. The connection he has with it only goes one way - it can sense what he's feeling and thinking, but he can't do the same to it. They can talk to each other mentally, of course, but otherwise, the connection is one-way. So he has no idea what Dark Shadow is thinking right now.

I will push, Dark Shadow eventually says. It slips behind ProtoMan, and doesn't move for a moment.

Arcadia does, though. Dark Shadow must have gestured or signed for him to move away, because the warmth of his wing vanishes from ProtoMan's back, and he steps away, glancing between ProtoMan and Dark Shadow with a faintly puzzled look.

Sorry, Dark Shadow whispers.

Don't be, ProtoMan replies. I asked for this.

He squeezes his eyes shut, shoulders tensing in anticipation. Dark Shadow hesitates for a couple of seconds, apparently still uncertain, and then it comes at him.

ProtoMan feels a shock of cold at his back a moment before Dark Shadow slams into him, and he squeaks out a startled yelp - which is kinda stupid, because he knew this was coming, and he literally asked for it - and stumbles forward a few steps.

And it's like a barrier has been broken. As soon as he stops again, regaining his balance easily, he finds that whatever was making him hesitate so much is just . . . gone. He's still nervous, of course, and it doesn't help that a few of the Navis in the street heard the slight commotion and are looking in his direction, but whatever was stopping him before isn't there anymore.

Dark Shadow is suddenly right there, cold all around him as it pulls him into a hug. Sorry sorry sorry sorry- it chants frantically.

"It's okay," ProtoMan murmurs. He can't really touch Dark Shadow the same way it's touching him at the moment, but he still brings up his arms anyway. "It's okay, really. I-I asked you to do it, it's f-fine . . ."

Still sorry, Dark Shadow whimpers. It moves back, shadowy body easily phasing through ProtoMan's arms like they're not even there, and drops back down to all fours. Sorry sorry sorry . . .

I know, ProtoMan says. He reaches out and Dark Shadow presses the top of its head against his offered palm.

"Are you okay?" Arcadia appears in his vision, looking worried.

"Yeah," ProtoMan replies, giving him a quick smile. "I just . . . I just needed a push, is all."

"I could've done that," Bass says, appearing on his other side. He looks at Dark Shadow with an eyebrow raised. "Could've saved it the misery, too."

"Maybe, but . . ." ProtoMan presses the tips of his fingers together. "I feel like it wouldn't have worked if I'd asked anyone but Dark Shadow. I dunno why . . . Th-that doesn't make sense, I know, but . . ."

"Doesn't need t'make sense," Mimic speaks up. "'Long as it works."

"Mm-hm," Chaud agrees.

With that . . . kinda sorted . . . they move on. More specifically, they move through the street. The Navis who were looking before have evidently decided that there's nothing of interest to see anymore, because they've gone back to whatever they were doing before, which makes it a bit easier to walk near them. It also helps that none of them are in huge groups - just the odd one or two Navis standing around or walking somewhere, occasionally a group of three. If there were any more, ProtoMan's not entirely sure he'd be able to handle it, even with a literal push from Dark Shadow.

It gets easier the more time he spends wandering around near strangers. There aren't too many of them - which is what he was hoping for, since it's so late, though you wouldn't be able to tell since the sky is always day here. The few Navis that actually look at him only give him and the others a quick cursory glance before turning away again.

They're world-famous, he knows that. He and Mimic were the runners-up in the N1 Grand Prix, and they've all saved the world multiple times - even Bass has helped with that, though no one's really sure how many people actually recognise him. ProtoMan had kinda been expecting people to stare openly or something because of all that, but it looks like that's not the case.

Maybe the night-time crowd in Internet City is just more . . . chill, is the word Mimic would use. That's good, though. Makes things easier.

No, he doesn't want to take the easy way, but that doesn't mean he's gonna intentionally makes things more difficult for himself. That'd just be stupid. Maybe he's not the most intelligent NetNavi when it comes to anything that isn't NetBattling, but he's not a complete moron.

Eventually, he decides he's had enough of wandering around aimlessly, so they sit down on a bench just outside a cybercafe. ProtoMan watches the few Navis that're in this street wander past or just stand around talking to each other, and there's a faint chill beneath the bench where Dark Shadow is lying under it, peering out between his legs. He's seen that kinda thing in human parks - a human will sit on a bench or something, and if they have a dog with them, sometimes that dog will be lying under the bench. Dark Shadow's a cat, not a dog, but it's still doing the same thing.

"This has . . . been kinda good," ProtoMan speaks up, making Arcadia and Bass glance at him. "It's . . . it's not loud, or anything. A-and no one's . . ." No one's calling him names, or shouting at him to leave. No one's throwing stuff at him, either.

"Those Navis in Netopia's Internet City seem to be the exception rather than the rule," Arcadia comments, obviously sensing ProtoMan's thoughts. He's not sitting on the bench properly - he's sitting on the back of it, with his taloned feet resting on the actual seat. It seems that, like Mimic, he has a thing for not sitting on stuff the way he should. Maybe it's justified in his case, because of his wings.

Bass is sitting normally, though, with his arms crossed and head tilted back, eyes closed like he's relaxing in the sun - though the sun doesn't really exist in the cyberworld. "I still say you should let me delete the lot of them," he says mildly. "Or at least make 'em pay for what they did."

"Answer's still no, Bass," Chaud tells him. "It's nice of you to offer, but no."

"Yeah, yeah," Bass mutters, opening his eyes. "I remember what SearchMan said. I'd just make shit worse. Doesn't stop me from wanting to delete the fuckers."

"I don't care about them anyway," ProtoMan murmurs. He feels Arcadia's glance, and sighs. "Alright, I do care. It still hurts, a lot. But . . . I mean, I'm not gonna go back there ever again, so they don't matter anymore." He nods to the street they're watching, at the few Navis wandering around. "And anyway, this place is much nicer. Calm, and all that. Maybe . . . maybe at some point, I'll be able to come here during the day. F-for now, though, I think . . . I think coming here at night'll help me." It'll help his confidence, is what he doesn't say, but he doesn't really need to say that anyway.

"Anything you want," Arcadia says softly. Clawed fingers thread through ProtoMan's hair gently, and he closes his eyes and starts purring. "I'm proud of you, you know that, right? Even just deciding to come here took courage. And all of this . . . you're doing wonderfully, ProtoMan. Don't ever forget that."

"I won't," ProtoMan whispers, breaking off his purring just long enough to speak before he continues.

They all stay like that for a few minutes, just enjoying the peace and quiet of Internet City at night. This seems like a nice spot - he'll have to mark it down on the map so he doesn't forget where it is, or something. Not that he can forget, being a NetNavi and all (though apparently GutsMan doesn't have a very good memory because the company that made him fucked up somehow, which isn't GutsMan's fault at all). But he'd rather know where this place is than second-guess himself because he doesn't know the exact route they took to get here the first time.

After a while, he hears faint footsteps from inside the cybercafe behind them. He opens his eyes and looks up, too content to really care that he doesn't recognise those footsteps.

It looks like the shop-Navi from the cybercafe has come out. He stops when he sees ProtoMan looking, and hovers nearby for a moment or two until Arcadia and Bass are looking at him, too. Dark Shadow sticks its head out from under the bench, and the shop-Navi blinks at it, looking a little puzzled, before he looks back up.

"Uh, hi," the shop-Navi greets them a little awkwardly. "I, uh . . . you guys've been sitting there for a while."

"Oh, sorry." Arcadia stops stroking ProtoMan's hair, much to his disappointment, and gives the shop-Navi an apologetic smile. "We can move, if you want us to?"

"Oh, no, of course not, I was just . . ." The shop-Navi purses his lips, going quiet for a moment, and then gestures to the inside of his cybercafe. "Do you wanna have something to eat, while you're here? You don't have to, I just thought it'd be, y'know, nice to . . . have something to eat. While you're . . . uh, what are you doing, anyway?"

"People-watching," Arcadia replies.

Even if ProtoMan's a lot calmer being here now than he was before, he doesn't really feel like he's ready to actually talk to a stranger just yet, so he's happy to let Arcadia do the talking. And Bass doesn't seem to care either way, only half paying attention to the conversation.

"Fair enough," the shop-Navi says, shrugging. "I'm not gonna judge. So, do you wanna have something to eat, or . . . ?"

"One second," Arcadia says, holding up a finger. The shop-Navi nods, and Arcadia turns to look at ProtoMan and Bass. "How about it, you guys? Want some food?"

"Depends on what they've got," Bass mutters.

That's true. And ProtoMan knows what he likes - cybersteaks. Those things that Colonel gave him and Mimic when they got trapped in the cyberworld of the past. They taste great, even if Mimic says they don't exactly taste like actual steaks.

But he'll take any kind of cooked meat. Fish, especially.

[ask for fish or meat] he asks Arcadia.

The shop-Navi blinks at the signing. It doesn't look like he understands, but now he seems more interested in ProtoMan than he was before. It's just one NetNavi, and this guy's been nice so far, so ProtoMan doesn't feel entirely nervous about this.

"My brother wants to know if you have any fish or meat," Arcadia explains, turning back to the shop-Navi.

"Fish or meat . . ." the shop-Navi murmurs thoughtfully. "We do, I think. Tell you what - you guys come inside and I'll give you a menu, and you can pick whatever you want from it. If anything has any fish or meat, I'll let you know."

"That sounds fair," Arcadia agrees.

ProtoMan definitely doesn't have any arguments. Neither does Bass.

They get up and follow the shop-Navi into the cybercafe. ProtoMan's too intent on the prospect of getting to eat fish or some kind of cooked meat to even remember what happened the last time he tried to walk into an Internet City shop - so he's completely blindsided when a sharp alarm rings out, startling him badly enough to make him yelp and jump back, almost stepping on Bass's feet.

"What the-" The shop-Navi looks up at a flashing strip of light above the doorway, puzzled. "Why did the anti-virus system activate?"

Oh. Oh, this feels . . . very familiar. And not in a good way.

ProtoMan tries to back off, all of his earlier calm suddenly gone and replaced entirely with rising fear and the need to get the hell out of this place right fucking now.

The shop-Navi looks down again, blinking. "Wait . . . the system activated when you came in, didn't it?"

Arcadia - who was already inside the cybercafe - gives the shop-Navi a hard look. Bass pushes past ProtoMan and brings up his hands, fingers curled into claws, and a faint spark of dark energy crackles between his fingers.

"That's weird . . ." the shop-Navi murmurs. He looks ProtoMan up and down, then spots Dark Shadow phasing through the window of the cybercafe. "Is it because of that thing?" Then he frowns. "No, wait, it wasn't in here a moment ago . . . so it definitely was you . . . That doesn't make any sense, why would the anti-virus system go off when a NetNavi walks in?"

And here comes the moment ProtoMan is absolutely dreading. The shop-Navi activates his scanners and gives ProtoMan a quick check, and then his eyes widen when he inevitably detects the virus data within ProtoMan.

"Oh, you have virus data in you!" the shop-Navi exclaims. "That explains it. Huh . . . I didn't know NetNavis could survive like that. Did you know you have that virus data in you?"

ProtoMan nods warily. He's still half-poised to run the absolute second the shop-Navi turns on him.

So it comes as a total shock when the shop-Navi only gives him an apologetic smile.

"I didn't know the system would activate for you," he says. "I'm really sorry, I hope it didn't scare you too much? I know it's kinda . . . well, loud, and all that. I know it's supposed to be, but, still."

"It's . . . f-fine," ProtoMan croaks out, startled into speaking. He sees Arcadia and Bass exchanging quick looks, but he's too focused on the shock of a stranger finding out about his virus data . . . and not immediately kicking him out.

"Ah- tell you what!" The shop-Navi springs into movement suddenly, startling all of them, but all he does is head around the counter and duck out of sight for a moment. He comes back up quickly, and offers a menu file to ProtoMan. "As an apology, you can choose anything you want from the menu, and it'll be totally free. Of course, if you want anything extra, you'll have to pay - gotta make money somehow, right? - but you won't have to pay for the main meal. Okay?"

"A-are you sure?" ProtoMan stammers. "I-I don't . . . I don't m-mind paying . . ."

"No, c'mon, it's fine," the shop-Navi dismisses easily, waving his other hand like he's flapping away a cloud of dust or something. "I insist. And, one more thing, actually."

"Um . . . yeah?"

"Are you gonna come back here at all?" the shop-Navi asks. "To that bench outside, or my shop, either one."

"M-maybe?" ProtoMan winces. Sure, he was thinking about coming back sometimes, because that bench outside seems like a nice place to just sit and relax, but . . . he'd been expecting the shop-Navi to ban him from ever coming near this cybercafe again. He still is, really.

"Alright, do you mind if I get the system to scan your data signature?" The shop-Navi gestures to the strip of light above the doorway. "Just so it'll recognise you. If it does, it won't activate the next time you come in. There's this one dog virus that comes in here sometimes, and I did the same for him - I think it's a him, anyway - so I should be able to do it for you, too. I mean, if you want to. I'd understand if you don't wanna come back, after . . . that."

"You'd . . . you'd do that?" ProtoMan whispers, eyes wide. "You'd make it so it wouldn't go off for me, just so I can come back? R-really?"

"Well . . . yeah." The shop-Navi is looking puzzled again. "Why wouldn't I?"

ProtoMan opens his mouth, but he can't make the words come out. Helpless, he glances at Arcadia, who decides to take pity on him.

"He's . . . had some bad experiences with other shop-Navis," Arcadia explains. "They were all really mean to him, and . . . well, he was thrown out of a lot of places."

"How come?" the shop-Navi asks.

"Because he's half-virus."

The shop-Navi blinks, and then frowns. "Well, that wasn't very nice of them." He shakes his head and offers ProtoMan a smile that looks a good deal more gentle than before. "I promise I'm not like them. I won't turn you away or throw you out just because you have virus data in you. I mean, I already said one of my other customers is an actual virus, so it'd be stupid to make you leave just because you're half-virus or whatever."

ProtoMan has to fight with the sudden ridiculous urge to leap across the counter and hug the shop-Navi. Regardless of how nice he's being, that'd probably just freak him out more than anything.

"Thank you," he nearly squeaks. "I-I . . . I'm . . . just, thank you. Really."

"Oh, wow," the shop-Navi says, looking a little worried. "I guess those other shop-Navis must've been really mean to you, huh? If you're reacting like this and all . . ."

"You have no idea," Bass mutters, finally lowering his hands.

The shop-Navi hears him, evidently, and gives him a quick glance before offering up the menu file again. "So, c'mon! Whatever you want off the menu, totally free. Aside from anything extra, of course."

ProtoMan would honestly be happy to pay double just for the fact that the shop-Navi has been nothing but kind to him even after finding out about his virus data.

But he doesn't, because the shop-Navi still insists on letting him have his food for free. Even better, it turns out there's a fish option on the menu, so ProtoMan chooses that - and free fish from a NetNavi who doesn't mind his virus data tastes really, really good.

He's definitely coming back here.


Even they have to go to bed at some point, and they still want to make use of their futon while they have it. But Mimic is at least happy to see that not every shop-Navi is as much of an asshole as the ones in Netopia were - and she's not ashamed to admit that she may have cried a little at how nice the cybercafe shop-Navi was being to ProtoMan. Chaud's no better, because he actually had to step away from their computer and sit in the corner for a little while, grinning so much that Mimic could feel the strain on her own cheeks and desperately holding back his own tears.

It sounds ridiculous, crying over something like this. But while it may seem like a tiny, insignificant thing to anyone else, to them it means the whole fucking world. Even more to ProtoMan himself, it's obvious to see.

With the location of that specific cybercafe marked on their Internet City maps, and some cyberfood in whatever the NetNavi equivalent of a belly is, Arcadia, ProtoMan, and Bass come back.

They're all too excited to actually to go to sleep, despite wanting to, so Mimic and Chaud just sit on their futon and watch the trio of Navis on the surface of their desk. ProtoMan is wandering in circles, happily babbling away about anything and everything, and Arcadia and Bass are apparently fine with just letting him babble away. He's way too excited to stay quiet right now, or even just to stay still for more than two seconds.

If things keep going like this, he'll be able to go back to Internet City during the day sooner than we thought, Chaud remarks. He's got Ragdoll on his lap, and is absently stroking the giant black cat's fur with one hand, his other hand gripping Mimic's between them.

I wonder if there's any other shop-Navis like that cybercafe guy? Mimic muses. NumberMan'd be fine with ProtoMan, I know that.

And the Number One Curry Navis, too, Chaud adds. There's also that game shop you used to like . . .

Is it even still there? It's been months since I've even seen that place.

Chaud shrugs. Before he answer, they both hear the front door opening and closing - and the familiar footsteps of Lan and Dad as they walk into the living room. They're obviously trying to be quiet, since Mom's still in bed and asleep (she sleeps pretty deeply, which explains where Lan gets that particular habit from, at least), and they're probably assuming Mimic and Chaud are both asleep, too.

The two of them exchange a glance as Lan and Dad's footsteps creak up the stairs, and then Chaud carefully slides Ragdoll off his lap. They get up and head over to the door, then open it and poke their heads out just as Lan and Dad come up to the top of the stairs.

"Shouldn't you two be in bed?" Dad looks startled to see them suddenly.

"We got distracted," Chaud replies. "How'd the ghost ship investigation go?"

Lan pulls a face and blows out a quiet raspberry. "Wasn't really much of a ghost ship. You ever heard of the warship Onibi?"

"It has a monument near the coast, right?" Chaud frowns. "Apparently it sank to the bottom of the ocean somewhere nearby. One of the biggest warships in recorded history, not to mention one of the most powerful."

"Yeah, powerful is right," Lan sighs.

Chaud blinks and glances at Mimic. She looks back at him, head tilted, and says absolutely nothing.

"You're gonna have to explain this," Chaud says, pushing their door open a little wider so he can step out.

"Mimic didn't tell you?"

"No. Like I said, we got distracted."

Distracted by ProtoMan getting the courage to go to Internet City for the first time in literal months, and then by how nice that cybercafe shop-Navi was. A big thing to be distracted by, in Mimic's opinion, and definitely good, too.

Mimic follows Chaud out of their bedroom and closes the door behind them. If Arcadia, ProtoMan, and Bass want to know about the ghost ship investigation, they'll show up sooner or later - or they can ask Mimic to tell them later, or even Lan since he lived it.

They head into Lan's bedroom, since standing around in the hallway isn't really a good idea. Even if they're being quiet, they might still accidentally wake Mom up, and although she's not the type of person who gets cranky when she's tired, it's still rude.

Once they're all inside, Lan sits on his bed, and Mimic and Chaud settle down on either side of him. Dad closes the door - still being quiet, obviously - and then leans against it while Lan starts telling the story of the ghost ship investigation.

She already knew what was gonna happen, of course, but Mimic still winces when Lan recounts how he and the others were almost blown up by Onibi's guns. Dad only purses his lips, so he was probably already told about this, but the fact that they were almost killed by an actual warship being controlled by a Zoanoroid is still pretty bad. Chaud's pretty relieved that no one was actually hurt, though a lot of damage was done to the nearby town and its lighthouse.

Aside from that, though, the rest of the ghost ship investigation - even if it wasn't an actual ghost ship - is pretty entertaining to listen to. Trill kept putting on random monster masks and scaring the shit out of MegaMan, even during the actual investigation, and poor MegaMan had to endure every second of it and swallow down his instinctive screams. That's something Mimic definitely remembers from the anime. It's just as entertaining listening to a recount of it as it was watching it for herself in the anime.

Their opponent, the Zoanoroid FlameMan, was apparently enough like a monster to impress Trill. He was drawing child-like pictures of MegaMan defeating FlameMan all the way back home, which is kind of adorable, really.

The whole adventure was one big disaster for MegaMan, especially with Trill along, but they managed it in the end. And without Mimic having to interfere at all, which is good, because she really did want to go to bed - until ProtoMan decided he wanted to try going to Internet City, anyway, and that's way more important than sleep.

"He did?" Lan is astonished to hear what they were doing while he was off fighting a Zoanoroid. "That's amazing! Aw, now I kinda wish I'd been there to see it . . ."

"Someone had to take care of that investigation," Dad points out reasonably. "You can't be in two places at once, Lan."

"I could try," Lan mutters.

MegaMan appears on his shoulder with an eyebrow raised. "I highly doubt that. Unless you've got some kind of multiplying ability, anyway."

"Hey, big brother," Lan teases, apparently unbothered by his Navi's comment. "How's Trill doing?"

"He wanted to say hi to the others, so I dropped him off in the twins' room and then came back here," MegaMan replies, waving his hand in the vague direction of Mimic and Chaud's bedroom. He pauses for a moment, and then sighs. "Um . . . don't call me 'big brother', please. I'm not . . . I'm not Trill's big brother, really."

"He still looks up to you like one," Lan points out.

"But I can't be his big brother." MegaMan looks almost miserable now. "I mean, I lied to him." He glances at Mimic and then Chaud, and sighs again. "I-I know not every lie is bad, but . . . but saying I've never screamed during a horror movie? That's just . . . it wasn't true, and . . . well, I can't be Trill's big brother if I lied to him about something like that, can I?"

"That's not how it works," Dad speaks up, before anyone else can. "At least, not the way I see it, anyway. Big brothers tend to want to look strong for their siblings - especially if that sibling is much younger, like Trill."

"ProtoMan doesn't do that with Arcadia," MegaMan says uncertainly.

"No, but that's because Arcadia is different to Trill," Dad replies. "He's more mature, and older. He doesn't need to be lied to."

"ProtoMan's bad at lying anyway," Chaud adds.

"An' Arcadia'd just sense the lie," Mimic agrees, with a nod.

"My point is," Dad continues, looking back at MegaMan, "different sets of siblings have different dynamics. The one between you and Trill isn't like the one between ProtoMan and Arcadia. Trill looks up to you and idolises you - so of course you want to look strong for him. That type of growth and strength is a good thing."

"Growth, huh?" Lan says thoughtfully. "You mean like how Trill grew up?"

Dad laughs quietly. "Well . . . that's a different kind of growth."

"Heh . . ." MegaMan smiles a little. "I guess it's okay, then. I . . . I still don't think it was good to lie about something like that, so I'll . . . I'll tell Trill the truth tomorrow. But for now . . ."

He takes in a deep breath, confusing everyone except for Mimic.

She already knew it was coming and her first instinct is to duck and cover her ears, but she's right next to MegaMan, so that won't work at all. Her second instinct is to stop it from happening entirely - so that's what she does.

She grabs Lan's PET and mutes it, so when MegaMan lets out his massive scream, they hear absolutely nothing and the only person who actually hears it is MegaMan himself.

There's silence for several moments, as MegaMan pants mutely. He opens his eyes after a short while and says something, and then looks puzzled when no one reacts.

Mimic unmutes Lan's PET and slots it back into his holder. He's the only person she knows who still uses a holder - everyone else, herself included, just puts their PETs in their pocket or their bag or something. Dad offered to make holders for Mimic and Chaud, too, but they didn't really care much for them, honestly.

" . . . What the heck was that?" Lan asks, after several more moments of silence.

"Did someone just mute me?" MegaMan looks no less puzzled than he was before.

"I avoided Trill's scream, m'not gonna get deafened by yours," Mimic says.

MegaMan holds up a finger, opens his mouth, and then pauses. " . . . Ah. Right. Sorry, I just . . . I was holding that in all day, so I didn't . . . I didn't think."

"Evidently," Mimic says dryly.

They all jump when they hear a sudden shout from another room. It sounds like Arcadia - and then they hear Bass's colourful cursing as well, along with a high-pitched yelp that can only be Trill. Upon hearing that, MegaMan looks ready to rush to the rescue.

Before he can, though, Trill's Navi-hologram appears and the child-Navi darts over to MegaMan. The brief glimpse that Mimic sees of Trill's face before he starts clinging to MegaMan's legs shows her an absolutely terrified expression, which is . . . worrying, to say the least.

And then Bass shows up with an expression of thunderous rage, Arcadia a beat behind him, looking too shocked to be angry or anything.

"What's going on?" Lan asks, blinking as he looks between them. "What happened?"

"Ask that fucking brat!" Bass snaps, pointing at Trill.

"Bass!" MegaMan says sharply.

"Don't fucking start with me," Bass spits out. "Tell that stupid brat to let the cat go!"

That makes everyone pause.

"I think you need to explain what's going on, before things get out of hand," Dad says, stepping forward with a frown.

Bass shoots him a scowl and then turns to glare at Trill, who squeaks and hides behind MegaMan. "That little shit just turned ProtoMan into a fucking cube, that's what happened!"

"What," Mimic says. She can't think of anything else to say.

"Yeah, so tell that brat to let the cat go, now!" Bass snaps.

"Hold on, hold on," MegaMan says, gesturing for Bass to calm down. It doesn't work, predictably, so MegaMan turns to Arcadia. "Can you tell me what happened?"

Arcadia blinks, still looking shocked. "He just . . . he touched ProtoMan, and then suddenly ProtoMan was a cube, and . . . and then Trill ran off."

"Like a fucking coward," Bass hisses. "Let the fucking cat go right now, you damn brat!"

Trill whimpers and tries to hide from sight, but MegaMan steps away from him - much to Trill's distress - and crouches down in front of him.

"Trill?" he asks carefully. "Is that true? Did you turn ProtoMan into a cube?"

"I . . . I just . . ." Trill's breath hitches like he's about to start crying, but he isn't screaming - yet. "It was that v-virus from- f-from earlier, I just wanted to . . . i-it looked interesting, and y-you said I could keep the viruses I collect, so . . . I just wanted to collect that one, too . . . a-and then he started shouting at me." He raises a trembling finger and points at Bass, whose expression darkens into a deeper scowl.

"You let the fucking cat go right now or I'm blasting your half-pint ass to the UnderNet!" Bass's hands crackle with dark energy.

"Bass!" MegaMan snaps, glaring at him over his shoulder. "Stop it, threatening Trill isn't gonna help here."

"It'd make me feel better," Bass hisses, taking a step forward.

He's stopped by Arcadia, who puts a hand on his shoulder and shakes his head. Bass subsides, though he still looks completely pissed, and Arcadia takes in a deep breath, lets it out slowly, and then looks at Trill.

"Could you please give me my brother back?" he asks. He sounds as gentle as he can be, but there's an odd strain to his tone, like he's holding himself back from reacting just like Bass.

"Y-your brother?" Trill blinks, looking confused. "But . . . I didn't . . ." He swallows and puts his hand in his pocket, and then produces a small cube.

Mimic feels her own flash of shock reflected through Chaud in their connection. The little cube is mostly red and black, but one of the faces is white and has a messy white tail sticking out of it, and the face on the opposite side has two cat-like eyes. One red, one blue, just like ProtoMan's.

"Oh, by the maker," MegaMan says softly, eyes wide. "U-um, Trill, please let that cube go, that- that's ProtoMan."

"But . . . it's a virus," Trill says. He looks so confused that Mimic would feel for him, she really would, except he's literally holding ProtoMan in the palm of his hand.

And she's seen how terrified actual viruses are of Trill when he lets them go. This is . . . this is not good.

"He's a fucking NetNavi!" Bass barks, making Trill flinch. "Let him the fuck go or I'll-"

"How many times do I have to tell you?" MegaMan demands, getting to his feet to glare at Bass. "Threatening him isn't gonna help!"

"Try saying that when your brat hasn't just turned the cat into a fucking cube!" Bass retorts sharply.

MegaMan opens his mouth, no doubt about to respond with something equally sharp, but then he stops and closes his eyes, taking in a deep breath. When he opens his eyes, he doesn't look any less angry, but he turns away from Bass and schools his expression into something calmer for Trill's benefit.

"Please, let him go," he says. "He's our friend, Trill."

"Oh . . ." Trill murmurs, fiddling with the ProtoMan cube. "I . . . I didn't know . . . I'm sorry . . ."

"You will be," Bass mutters, thankfully not loud enough for anyone without sensitive hearing to hear.

Trill clasps his hands together, and a faint glow encases his gloves like an aura. After a moment, he throws the cube up high.

ProtoMan lands on thin air, hair bristled to ridiculous extremes, eyes wide and pupils terrified slits, his hologram flickering spastically and shadows sparking around him. He catches sight of Trill and lets out a choked yelp, then scrambles away as fast as he can.

Chaud reaches out and catches him, and ProtoMan claws his way up Chaud's sleeve until he's crouching on his shoulder, trembling and whimpering quietly. He presses up against Chaud's neck, and Mimic can feel the cold shock of ProtoMan's shadows as they spark against Chaud's skin reflected on her own.

"ProtoMan!" Arcadia cries, vanishing and reappearing instantly on Chaud's shoulder. He crouches down beside his brother and pulls him into a tight embrace, wrapping them both in his wings and murmuring quiet comfort.

Bass gives Trill one last scowl before following Arcadia, though rather than joining the hug, he stands beside them like a bodyguard.

"I think we should go," Chaud says, sliding off Lan's bed. Mimic follows him immediately.

She can almost feel Lan and Dad staring after them, and hears Trill starting to cry - quietly, though, obviously too afraid to be loud like he usually is - as he apologises over and over. MegaMan's trying to calm him down, but after something like that . . . well, it's probably gonna take a while to make Trill stop crying, at least.

Mimic shuts her and Chaud's bedroom door behind them as soon as they're both inside. She's half-tempted to drag over the chair from their desk to block the door, but dismisses that thought as absurd. There's no need to stop anyone from coming into the room, everyone already knows when they need their privacy, and this definitely qualifies.

They don't go to sleep that night.