"I'm so hungry . . ." Lan groans, stumbling along the coastline. He's not close enough to fall into the ocean if he collapses, but if he was, he wouldn't stand a chance against the water. He can barely walk, never mind swim.
"You wouldn't be so hungry in the first place," MegaMan says, "if you hadn't eaten all the food Baryl was nice enough to give you!"
Lan winces away from his Navi's sharp tone. "How was I supposed to know it wasn't gonna last?" he whines.
"He told you!" MegaMan exclaims, exasperated. "He literally told you not to eat it all in one go! But did you listen?"
"I didn't eat it all in one go!" Lan protests, staggering to a halt so he can glare at MegaMan indignantly.
"You might as well have!" MegaMan retorts. "And now look at you! The only thing you've eaten today are some berries that might be edible, but could just as easily be poisonous!"
Lan lets out a low moan and slumps. "Don't remind me of how little I've eaten today, please . . ." he begs.
"It's your own fault," his Navi lectures him. "If you start turning purple or something, I'll have no sympathy! I'll just say 'I told you so', and watch!"
"You wouldn't, would you?" Lan looks at him desperately. "You wouldn't do something like that if those berries really were poisonous?"
MegaMan goes quiet for a few moments. The silence stretches on to the point where Lan is starting to get really worried, but then MegaMan sighs and softens his expression.
"I wouldn't," he says. "But I'd still say 'I told you so'!"
"That's fair," Lan is forced to admit.
He hears the familiar footsteps of a small NetNavi a moment before Trill appears on top of a small crest of rocks just up ahead. Trill spots him and his beaming smile is easy to see even in the gathering darkness of late evening, and he slides down the rocks and runs over to Lan.
"Look what I got!" Trill excitedly announces, holding something up in his hands.
Lan blinks at it, dumbly trying to work out what he's looking at, and then feels like an idiot when he realises it's a fish. A very fresh-looking fish, at that.
"I found it over there," Trill says, gesturing somewhere behind him. "There was a whole bunch of 'em! You won't be so hungry if you eat this, right?"
"Nope!" Lan agrees, grinning. He reaches out to take the fish.
"Wait a second," MegaMan speaks up, and Lan stops, glancing at him. "Dark MegaMan just made a good point - if this fish was on the ground, it's hardly going to be safe for human consumption."
"On the ground . . . ?" Lan's hungry as heck, but now he hesitates to touch the fish. If it's been on the ground for any length of time, then it wouldn't really be safe to eat, would it?
"It wasn't on the ground," Trill says. "I found it in a box."
"In a box?" Lan repeats, blinking.
MegaMan frowns. "Trill . . . was there a boat anywhere near this box?"
"Um . . ." Trill thinks hard for a moment, and then nods with another beaming smile. "Yeah, there was! I think there was a whole bunch of fish in the boat, too, but the box was closer so I took one from there, instead."
"Huh," Lan says. "So I guess this came from a fishing boat? That means it should be safe to eat!"
"Hold on," MegaMan says, and Lan lets out a faint protest that he talks over easily. "Lan, this fish is stolen. You can't eat it."
"I don't care if Trill stole it!" Lan protests. "I'm hungry! If I don't eat something, I'm gonna starve to death!"
"This fish could be someone's livelihood!" MegaMan tells him.
Lan groans, but Trill just looks puzzled. "What's a livelihood?" he asks.
MegaMan blinks. "Uhh . . ."
"Isn't it something that you live off of?" Lan suggests.
"Kind of," MegaMan says slowly, raising his arms in a shrug. "You do technically live off it, I suppose, so . . . yeah, it's something you live off."
"Oh . . ." Trill blinks at the fish in his hands. "So . . . that means I shouldn't have taken this?"
"Right," MegaMan agrees softly, with a reluctant nod. "By stealing this fish, you might be depriving someone else of a meal. 'Deprive' means preventing someone from having something, by the way."
Trill looks crestfallen, now. "O-oh . . . I guess I should take this back . . ."
"But I'm hungry!" Lan whines.
Before MegaMan can scold him, a new voice calls out to them from up ahead, startling them.
"Hey! Fish-thieves!"
Lan jerks his head up, all thoughts of his hunger forgotten, and he immediately drags Trill behind him and makes to grab his PET. Then he pauses upon seeing the person who called out to them.
It's a kid. He looks to be about the same age as Lan - he's standing on top of the rocks Trill came from, glowering down at them, and there's a cross-shaped scar on his left cheek. The translucent figure of a NetNavi stands on his shoulder, though Lan's not close enough to make out any of the Navi's features except the fact that it's brown all over.
"Give that back!" the kid with the cross-shaped scar shouts, angrily pointing down at Lan, MegaMan, and Trill.
"We worked super-hard to catch that fish!" the brown Navi adds.
Lan is momentarily distracted by the Navi's voice. There's something very familiar about it, but he can't quite put his finger on it. He sees MegaMan's frown out of the corner of his eyes and knows that he's thinking the same thing, but neither of them can place the brown Navi's voice.
"Are you even listening, rocks-for-brains!?" the kid with the scar yells. "Give that fish back right now!"
"We were just about to come and do that anyway!" MegaMan calls up, much to Lan's disappointment.
The kid and the brown Navi pause, evidently surprised by MegaMan's words.
"Sorry I stole it!" Trill adds, which apparently only serves to confuse the two even further. "I didn't know I wasn't supposed to, honest!"
"Uh . . ." The kid with the scar exchanges an uncertain glance with the brown Navi, who shrugs. The kid blinks and looks back down at them. "Alright then, I guess if you didn't know . . ."
He lets out a little 'hup!' as he hops over the edge, sliding down the rocks until he's at the bottom. He doesn't trip or stumble even once, and his landing is as smooth as anything. It'd be impressive if Lan wasn't used to the insane stunts that Mimic and Chaud can pull off even without Cross Fusion, though he supposes it's impressive for a normal human, at least.
"There we go," the kid with the scar mutters to himself. He dusts himself off and straightens up, looking at them again. "Alright, gimme me the fish back."
Wow, rude, Lan thinks, struggling to keep his expression neutral.
Trill steps out from behind him and willingly offers up the fish, and it's at that moment that Lan's stomach decides to announce itself. Very loudly.
" . . . Oh," the kid with the scar says, blinking. "Guess now we know why you stole the fish . . ."
"You must be really hungry if your stomach is that loud," the brown Navi adds, tilting his head.
"All I've eaten today are berries," Lan groans, wrapping his arms around his stomach.
"Berries?" The kid with the scar gapes at him. "Don't you know the berries around here are bad for you? Seriously, you could get really sick by eating them!"
"I told you," MegaMan says to Lan.
"Good for you," Lan mutters, scowling. It's definitely a scowl, not a pout. Nope, not a pout at all.
"Maybe we should take him back to the village," the brown Navi says to the kid with the scar. "The doctor can make sure he's okay, right? And if he's as hungry as he sounds, maybe Ms. Fahran can cook him something!"
"He would've ended up at the village if he'd kept going this way anyway, so . . ." The kid with the scar shrugs. "Yeah, I see no harm in it." He gives Lan a grin. "Aren't you lucky you ran into us?"
"So lucky," Lan mutters, and his stomach lets out another embarrassingly-loud growl.
The kid with the cross-shaped scar on his cheek leads Lan to a village that looks to have been built out of a rocky hill of some sort. It's close enough to the coastline that it barely takes more than a few minutes to get there, and although Lan's hunger is still gnawing at his belly, he's curious about his new surroundings.
"This is a fishing village," the kid with the scar explains. "We live off the fish that we catch - me and my friends catch as many fish as we can every day, so everyone's always got enough to eat!"
"See?" MegaMan gives Lan a pointed look. "I told you so."
"Will you stop," Lan grouses.
"I'm really sorry I tried to take the fish," Trill says sadly, fiddling with the hem of his shirt. "I didn't know someone else might need it more than Lan!"
"Eh, it's fine, we had plenty more in the boat anyway," the kid with the scar dismisses.
Then why'd you get so worked up earlier? Lan grumbles silently.
"Oh, hey, I never introduced myself, did I?" The kid with the scar flashes them a grin that reminds Lan very much of Mimic, suddenly. "The name's Mick!"
"And I'm-" the brown Navi begins.
"-the fuzzball," the kid with the scar, Mick, interrupts. The brown Navi puffs his cheeks out indignantly and Mick laughs.
The brown Navi sighs and rolls his eyes, then looks at Lan with a slightly exasperated half-smile. "Everyone around here calls me 'Fuzzball', but that's just a nickname." He brightens up. "Actually, you guys can call me Fuzzball too, if you wanna! And you can call Mick 'Cross-face'!"
"Hey!" It's Mick's turn to get indignant now.
"So what're your names?" the brown Navi, or Fuzzball (even if that's apparently just a nickname), asks eagerly.
"I'm Lan Hikari," Lan replies. He gestures to MegaMan and then Trill. "And this is MegaMan and Trill."
"Are they both your Navis?" Mick asks, his indignation forgotten as he gives Trill a curious look. "'Cus that little guy's been in the real world for a long time . . ."
"Uh . . . yeah, he can do that," Lan says, shrugging. "We think it's 'cus he's technically independent, but we're not totally sure."
"Independent?" Mick looks blank. "Independent from what?"
Lan tries to conceal his surprise. Does Beyondard not have independent NetNavis? Is that why Mick doesn't know what it means?
That's . . . probably it, actually. The Zoanoroids were all NetNavis before they were infected with the Beast Factor, after all, and Lan's willing to bet that independent Navis probably joined the Cybeasts' armies willingly. A lot of the independent Navis he's met weren't particularly fond of humans, though there are some obvious exceptions.
Arcadia, for one, even if he was only independent for a year or so. Trill obviously doesn't hate humans, either. Bass is a bit of an odd case, since he used to hate humans, at least until Mimic made friends with him.
But any other independent Navi that Lan's met? Yeah, they did not like humans at all. Or they were just plain bad guys. So it's very likely that independent Navis were the first ones to join the Cybeasts.
After the village's doctor gives Lan the all-clear - apparently he didn't eat enough of the berries to make himself sick, just hungrier than normal - Mick leads them up to a big building at the top of the hill. It kinda reminds Lan of a school, and when he mentions that thought, Mick tells him that it actually is a school.
Which is . . . kinda weird, if Lan is being honest. He wasn't expecting a school of all things, especially not in the middle of the war-torn Beyondard. Shouldn't these people have bigger things to worry about than school?
Apparently that's the case, because Mick goes on to explain that the school had to shut down a long time ago, just after the war started. The children of the village - like Mick - are taught basic stuff by their parents, but since they're primarily focused on staying alive, they have to prioritise fishing and other stuff like that.
The reason they're heading into the old school building, Mick says, is because a lady called Pat Fahran - who everyone calls Ms. Fahran - lives there. She's apparently the village's cook, and she makes breakfast, lunch, and dinner for everyone, which is frankly impressive because this village might be small, but there's definitely a lot of people who live here.
"Ms. Fahran!" Mick calls, confidently striding through a pair of open doors into a big kitchen area. "We got a visitor!"
"A visitor?" The only person in the kitchen - a tall lady with sharp eyes the same colour as her messy purple hair - looks up as they enter. "Oh, hey there! We don't get that many visitors out here!"
"Uh . . . h-hi?" Lan offers, suddenly nervous.
The reason why is pretty obvious. The lady is currently holding the biggest, sharpest kitchen knife that he's ever seen in his entire life, and she's wearing a layered headband that seems to have smaller knives tucked into it. She's smiling, but there's just something . . . sharp about her, pun totally unintended.
"Name's Pat Fahran," the knife-lady introduces herself cheerfully. "I'm the cook for this village. I see you've already met Mick and the fuzzball - I'm actually kinda surprised, honestly, since Mick isn't really the friendly type!" She lets out a boisterous laugh, and Lan finds himself beginning to relax even though he's still a bit freaked out over all the knives.
"Ms. Fahran!" Mick complains.
"The fuzzball, on the other hand, is the exact opposite," Ms. Fahran goes on, happily ignoring him. "Couldn't get him to shut up if you tried!"
"I've just got too much stuff in my head, and if I don't talk I'll explode," Fuzzball says, bouncing on his fuzzy feet.
"I'm Lan, and this is MegaMan and Trill," Lan says, smiling. Yeah, the knives are still kinda off-putting, but it seems like Ms. Fahran's a nice lady. She's definitely the kinda person he could get along with, at least.
"We found them after Trill stole one of our fish," Mick explains. "Apparently Lan's really hungry - he even ate some of the berries!"
Ms. Fahran looks startled. "Aren't the berries around here poisonous, though . . . ?"
"I didn't know that when I ate them," Lan mutters, crossing his arms.
"Well, you seem fine," Ms. Fahran says, giving him a quick look up and down. "You haven't thrown up or anything, have you?" Lan shakes his head. "That's good. I guess cooking you something shouldn't hurt - just sit tight for a few minutes, I'm nearly done here."
"What's today's dinner, Ms. Fahran?" Mick eagerly asks.
"Grilled sushi and vegetable soup!" Ms. Fahran replies, flashing him an energetic grin. "By request of your mother, actually, apparently she wanted you kids to eat more vegetables."
"We eat enough vegetables as it is," Mick complains, deflating.
"Not enough for your parents' liking," Ms. Fahran retorts. "I thought you liked my cooking, anyway? Didn't you say you'd eat anything I cook?"
Before Mick can open his mouth, Fuzzball speaks up. "That's right, he did say that!" he agrees cheerfully. "He said 'I'll eat anything as long as you cook it, Ms. Fahran!'"
"I did not!" Mick protests, red-faced with either annoyance or embarrassment. Maybe both.
"You did," Fuzzball gleefully says. "I heard it and everything! And NetNavis don't forget stuff, so don't try and tell me I'm remembering wrong!"
"You are remembering wrong!" Mick snaps.
The sound of their argument - one-sided as it is - fades as Mick heads off, leaving Lan, MegaMan, and Trill with Ms. Fahran in the school kitchen. Lan can't help but laugh a little bit, and that gets Ms. Fahran's attention even as she goes back to preparing the meal.
"They remind you of someone?" she asks, smiling.
Lan blinks, startled. "Er . . . yeah, kinda," he replies. "How did you . . . ?"
"That's the kind of look a person gets when they find something that reminds them of someone they know," Ms. Fahran explains. She chops away with her huge knife, though Lan still hears her clearly over the rhythmic chuk-chuk-chuk noise. "Those two haven't known each other for very long, but they're very close, and they fight like brothers."
"They . . . kinda remind me of my own siblings," Lan admits. He spots a chair nearby and settles down on it, thankful for the chance to rest after having walked for so long. Trill gives his hand an eager tug, so Lan helps him climb up onto his lap.
"Oh?" Ms. Fahran raises an eyebrow at him as she puts down her huge knife and pulls out one of the smaller ones from her headband, then starts using that to cut up some smaller vegetables. "You have siblings?"
"Yeah," Lan says, smiling a little. "My little brother and sister. They're twins, actually, and they've got their own Navis, too. The way Mick and Fuzzball act . . . kinda reminds me of Mimic and Chaud, honestly."
"Mimic and Chaud?" Ms. Fahran hums thoughtfully. "They sound like quite a handful."
"Sometimes they are," Lan agrees, with a laugh. Then he deflates a little bit, and the smile slips off his face.
Ms. Fahran obviously notices. "You alright, kiddo?"
Lan opens his mouth, but all that comes out is a faint croak. Trill reaches up and gives him a comforting pat on the cheek, and he manages a slight smile, but it doesn't last long and he sighs quietly as it fades.
"We've been separated from them," MegaMan explains, giving Lan a worried glance before he turns to Ms. Fahran. "From a whole bunch of our friends, actually. That's why we're all the way out here - we're looking for them."
"You lost your siblings and your friends," Ms. Fahran murmurs, setting down her small knife. "I . . . think I can relate to that, a little bit. The pain of losing people you care about . . ."
Lan glances up, and sees that she's got a kind of far-off look in her eyes. She's looking through him, not at him, and he recognises the look of pain in her expression even though she's clearly trying to hide it.
" . . . Are you alright, Ms. Fahran?" Lan asks carefully.
She jolts like he shocked her, and then smiles. "Yep, I'm totally fine!" she says brightly, and it's painfully obvious that her cheer is forced. "Nothing to worry about, just thinking about something, that's all."
It's very clearly not nothing to worry about, and whatever it is, it's painful for her to think of. Traumatising, even.
But Lan's got more than enough experience in dealing with this kinda stuff, mostly in part due to helping Mimic and Chaud with their own traumas. He knows that pushing will only make Ms. Fahran close off even more, or it might make her angry enough to lash out - and she's got a bunch of knives within easy reach, so he really doesn't want to upset her.
And besides that, she's under no obligation to pour her heart out to some random kid who just wandered into the village out of literally nowhere. Forget upsetting her, that'd just be rude.
"Okay," Lan says, keeping his voice even and calm, and he leaves it at that.
Looks like he made the right choice. Ms. Fahran looks relieved and she quickly changes the subject, offering him a bit of the food she's cooking since he's so hungry - and he lets her, because he doesn't want to upset her or make her hurt.
MegaMan's happy that Lan finally got to eat something that isn't potentially poisonous - and actually turned out to be poisonous, even if Lan didn't get too sick from it - and even happier that his operator finally gets to sleep on something that isn't the cold, hard ground.
Even that cloak Baryl gave Lan wasn't much. It's usually cold enough that he has to wear it like a blanket when he goes to sleep, so he has to put his head on the ground, which has led to him waking up and complaining of an ache in his neck more than once. Trill has an easier time of it due to the fact that he's a NetNavi, but MegaMan would still prefer both of them sleeping in a proper bed over the rocky ground of the desert wasteland they've been trekking through for the past few days.
At the very least, they've finally found the town that Baryl told them about. Sure, these people call it a 'village' instead of a 'town', but same difference, right? There are people here, and these people are nice enough to give Lan food and even let him sleep in their beds. MegaMan considers that a win.
Breakfast in the morning looks just as good as dinner last night, and once again, it's all cooked by Ms. Fahran. MegaMan has to wonder how she manages to cook so much food on her own, and to this standard, too. Even Mom wouldn't be able to manage this - she once told MegaMan that while she loves having a full house, it's difficult to cook so many meals for so many people, especially when they all have totally different tastes. It's probably a good thing that the Navis don't need to eat, otherwise Mom would never be able to keep up.
MegaMan leaves Trill with Lan, trusting his operator to look after his little brother for the time being, and seeks out the brown Navi whose name - or nickname, at least - is apparently Fuzzball. It's relatively easy to find him - as far as MegaMan can tell, there are only two NetNavis in this entire village, not including himself and Trill.
He has no idea who the second Navi is, but the first one is definitely Fuzzball, who's coming up with his operator Mick right now. That's lucky, MegaMan thinks.
He wants to get to know Fuzzball a little bit more. Not just because he's the first Navi aside from Colonel they've met in this reality, but also because . . . well, there's just something really familiar about Fuzzball, and MegaMan wants to work out what that is.
His voice sounds familiar. It's not just that, either - something about the way he acts reminds MegaMan of someone, but he's not sure who. The only problem is, MegaMan's never met any NetNavi who looks anything like Fuzzball, so he has no idea if Fuzzball could be the Beyondard version of Navi he already knows, or if Fuzzball just reminds him of someone and has no actual relation to that someone.
It's a mystery, and one that MegaMan is hoping to solve before they have to leave. He heard Ms. Fahran inviting Lan to stay for a while before he left to find Fuzzball, so that probably won't be for a while yet, but he wants to get this done as soon as possible, just in case.
"Hi!" Fuzzball greets him brightly when he shows up. "You're MegaMan, right? Lan Hikari's NetNavi? One of 'em, anyway."
"That's right." MegaMan can't help but smile. Fuzzball seems like an energetic little kid, for all that he's about the same size as MegaMan himself. "And you're . . . Fuzzball?"
The brown Navi giggles. "That's me," he agrees. "Fun little nickname, right?" He holds up his thick, fuzzy, gloved hands, flexing his black claw-fingers with a grin. "And it totally makes sense! I'm a fuzzball!"
MegaMan laughs a little. "That's true! Um, do you mind if I ask what type of Navi you are?" Maybe that'll help him figure out who Fuzzball reminds him of.
"I'm a tanuki-Navi!" Fuzzball replies, bouncing on the balls of his feet. His boots are as thick and fuzzy as his gloves, and they have black claws on the tips like toes.
MegaMan looks him over properly, frowning as he thinks. He's never met any tanuki-Navis - he'd definitely remember if he did, because animal-Navis aren't as common as human-Navis or even robot-Navis, and Fuzzball's design is pretty unique even for an animal-Navi.
His bodysuit is a kind of light brown, but his fuzzy gloves and boots are darker. Most Navis have helmets, but Fuzzball has a hood - a very fuzzy hood, at that - that covers most of his head aside from his mouth and nose, and has dark holes for his eyes. Dark brown floppy-tipped ears sit on top of his head, and there's a white-and-dark-brown collar-like design that covers most of his chest, just barely touching the top of his blue pawprint NaviMark. He even has a stubby little tail the same colour as his fuzzy forearms and boots.
Fuzzball looks absolutely nothing like any NetNavi MegaMan has ever met back in his own reality, and yet he still can't shake the feeling that he should know this Navi. Fuzzball is familiar somehow.
Maybe he doesn't have a counterpart in our reality? the core suggests. MegaMan's not holding the heart container, it's safe in Lan's PET at the moment, but he still hears the core's mental voice as easily as he would if he actually were holding it.
Maybe, MegaMan muses. But . . . I still feel like I should know him. Like I've met someone who might be his counterpart, but I just . . . can't figure out who.
Maybe it's just that he reminds you of someone, the core says. He sort of reminds me of ProtoMan, a little bit. If only because he seems like the 'dumb, but cheerful' type. And those foot-claws, too.
That's rude! ProtoMan's not dumb! MegaMan can't help but laugh, though.
"What's up?" Fuzzball asks, and MegaMan abruptly realises that he was laughing out loud.
"Uhh . . ." He quickly searches for an excuse, doesn't find one, and decides to change the subject instead. "How long have you known Mick for?"
Fuzzball jumps on that eagerly, and MegaMan breathes a quiet sigh of relief. He doesn't think ProtoMan is the Navi who Fuzzball reminds him of - besides, they've already met ProtoMan's Beyondard counterpart, and that guy was a Zoanoroid, not a normal NetNavi - but it seems like Fuzzball shares the 'easily distracted' trait that ProtoMan is well-known for.
"Not that long, but me and Mick are really good friends!" Fuzzball says happily. "I help him out with fishing and stuff, but I can't do it for very long 'cus NetNavis can only stay out for ten minutes, and then I've gotta recharge for three hours . . ." He pouts. "Which isn't fair at all! If I could, I'd spend all my time in the real world so I could play with Mick! He comes up with the best games!"
"Does he, now?" MegaMan smiles.
Fuzzball nods eagerly. "Uh-huh! One time, he came up with this game where you've gotta dig as deep a hole as you can, and whoever digs the deepest hole wins! I win that one a lot 'cus I've got my claws-" He holds up his finger-claws to show them off. "-but Mick's super-good at digging too, and he actually beat me once, though I'm not really sure how. And there's this other game he made up where you've gotta find the coolest treasure from the coast, and I win that one a lot too 'cus I'm really good at finding stuff, but Mick's nearly as good at finding stuff as I am so he sometimes wins that one too-"
MegaMan has to suppress a laugh as he listens to Fuzzball. Ms. Fahran wasn't kidding when she said you couldn't get him to shut up if you tried - not that MegaMan wants to try, mind you. He still has no idea who it is exactly that Fuzzball reminds him of, but he can't help but think of Trill when he listens to Fuzzball's babbling, and Fuzzball seems pretty happy to have someone listening to him.
Lan's still pretty tired, so he kinda just sits around for most of the morning, watching the villagers go about their business. Most of the people around here seem to be women and children - the only men he sees are old, wrinkled, and white-haired, and he finds that a little bit odd.
When he asks Ms. Fahran, it turns out that all the adult men in the village have gone off to the far sea, for deep sea fishing. She says the men work hard to bring fish to the world, a task that's ever more important with the war going on, since a lot of places don't have a steady source of food. Maybe they've been cut off and have no way to bring food in, or they're under constant threat of attack and are too afraid to venture out in search of food, or anything, really. The war has torn this entire reality apart, and this little fishing village is doing everything it can to help.
That's admirable. And kinda inspiring, really. It's sad that this reality has been so badly affected by the war, but the fact that the people of this village are so willing to help others, and so selflessly too, is just . . . it's inspiring, like he said.
And then he's promptly distracted from his inspired emotions by lunch.
"Curry!" Lan very nearly screams, not even bothering to contain his excitement.
"Curry!" Trill cheers, throwing his arms into the air.
"Lan . . ." MegaMan sighs. "Seriously, you don't need to freak out over this . . ."
"Can you blame me!?" Lan exclaims. "It's curry! I never thought I'd find curry here, of all places!"
Trill gets a plate too, even though MegaMan tries to warn him against it. Lan's not sure why - absolutely everyone should enjoy the awesomeness of curry, human or NetNavi, no exceptions! And Beyondard is giving him the perfect opportunity to let Trill experience it for himself.
"Hot-hot-hot!" Trill squeaks, panting like a dog after just a single bite. MegaMan sighs and mutters something that Lan doesn't hear.
"What do you think, Trill?" Lan asks, grinning.
"Ith hot," Trill replies, tongue out as he pants.
"Aw, c'mon!" Lan laughs. "It's not that bad! Mimic likes stuff that's even spicier than this!"
Trill looks up at him with wide eyes. "Really?"
Lan nods, grinning. "Yep," he agrees. "She says curry's too mild for her to enjoy it properly. Mild! Curry! Imagine that." He shakes his head as he laughs. "Chaud's even worse, actually - he can't stand anything spicy."
"But don't they have that connection?" Trill asks, blinking. "Chaud can feel what Mimic's feeling, right? And Mimic feels what he feels?"
"Yeah," Lan laughs. "So you can imagine Chaud's reaction whenever Mimic eats something super-spicy!" He flaps his hands at his face, panting even heavier than Trill was a moment ago.
Trill giggles.
"Lan, that's mean," MegaMan scolds gently. "Chaud has different tastes to you and Mimic, remember."
"Yeah, he likes sweet stuff, even though he keeps trying to tell us he likes bitter stuff," Lan says, smirking. "But he's a total wuss when it comes to spicy stuff!"
He turns back to his curry - he's only taken a few bites of it so far, he got distracted by the conversation with MegaMan and Trill - and shovels another eager bite into his mouth.
And then promptly panics when his mouth is suddenly on fire.
"Water!" he chokes out, flailing around. "Water!"
The villagers around him look like they don't know whether to laugh or panic. At least someone hands over a glass of water - it doesn't do much to help the fire in Lan's mouth, but it soothes the feeling a little bit, enough to give him his wits back.
"What the . . . ?" Lan peers at his plate of curry, and his eyes widen when he sees the topping that hadn't been there a moment ago. "Is- th-that's mustard! The spicy kind!"
"What was that you were saying about Chaud being a total wuss?" MegaMan asks dryly.
Lan's indignation wars with his shock, but he hears the giggling behind him, and whirls around, ready with a glare.
Somehow, the fact that the culprits of this mess turn out to be Mick and Fuzzball isn't at all surprising. Mick is brandishing a bottle of mustard like a trophy, and Fuzzball is laughing so much he's wheezing and has to keep himself upright by clutching onto a lock of Mick's hair.
"What the heck, Mick!?" Lan demands, springing to his feet. "What'd you do that for!?"
"Thought it'd be funny," Mick giggles. "Fuzzball noticed you really like curry, and that's pretty spicy, so we thought you'd like something even spicier! Or can you not handle the heat?"
There's a little smirk on his face, and even though Lan is acting like he's pretty annoyed, in reality, he isn't. He can't help but think of Mimic when she pulls a ridiculous prank like this, because that little smirk of Mick's is pretty similar to hers. Doesn't help that Fuzzball was very obviously Mick's partner-in-crime for this prank, which is exactly what Chaud is to Mimic most of the time, even if he tries to pretend that he's too mature for ridiculous pranks.
It's a little bittersweet. But at least Lan's got more than enough experience with pranksters, so he knows exactly how to deal with Mick and Fuzzball.
"I can handle it just fine," Lan says. "But what about you, huh? Think you can handle it?"
Mick's eyes widen, and Fuzzball stops laughing. Lan doesn't bother suppressing his grin - bingo.
"Is that a challenge?" Mick asks, raising an eyebrow. Lan has to admit he's impressed with the quick recovery. "Alright then, how about this? We both get a plate of curry, topped with as much mustard as possible. Whoever screams first loses!"
"You're on!" Lan immediately agrees.
"This is not gonna end well," MegaMan sighs.
Less than a minute later, Lan and Mick are sitting side-by-side at the table, both with full plates of curry topped with mustard in front of them. Trill is next to Lan, peering over the edge of the table with a look of such awe that it's almost hilarious, and Fuzzball is eagerly bouncing up and down on Mick's shoulder.
"Ready?" Lan grins at Mick.
"Are you?" Mick retorts with a grin of his own.
"Seriously, this is a bad idea," MegaMan says, but they ignore him.
"After you," Lan offers.
"You're gonna regret that," Mick replies, and he takes a bite out of his curry.
He tenses up immediately, and Lan watches in anticipation. He half-expects Mick to cave right then and there, but Mick swallows his mouthful with a gasp, and then shoots Lan a grin. Impressive, considering there're tears in his eyes.
"Your turn," Mick tells him.
Lan hasn't felt this kind of competitive spirit for a while. Not since the last time he had a NetBattle with either Mimic or Chaud - and he hasn't had a NetBattle with either of them for ages. Maybe once this Beyondard stuff is all over, he'll see if they're up for one. He could probably convince Bass to join in, he remembers Bass said he was kinda interested in fighting in the Colosseum. He didn't say why, but whatever, Bass does what he wants most of the time anyway.
The curry is even spicier than Lan was expecting. Even more so than when Mick sneakily dumped the mustard onto Lan's previous dish. It almost feels like he could breathe fire with this kind of heat in his mouth, but he forces himself to swallow and then returns Mick's grin with one of his own.
"No problem," he manages to say.
And then it's on. Neither of them are willing to back down now, so they start shovelling mustard-topped curry into their mouths - and one of the rules of this little competition was 'no water', so they can't do more than pause and desperately pant for air between bites.
By the time they're both down to half their dishes, Lan's mouth is almost numb. The only reason he's not crying is because of pride - Mick isn't crying, so he won't either, even if the mustard-topped curry is one of the single most spiciest things that Lan has ever eaten in his entire life.
Mimic would probably eat this without blinking. Chaud would just scream.
"What are you two doing!?"
A yelp slips out before Lan can stop it, but he hasn't lost the challenge because Mick yelps too. They both whirl around, and Lan's heart nearly stops beating when he sees Ms. Fahran standing behind them, looking as scary as she was last night, holding up the biggest knife in her collection like a weapon. It is a weapon, and a terrifying one at that.
"Don't play with your food!" Ms. Fahran snaps. "I made this so you could eat it, not get into ridiculous competitions for no reason!"
"B-but-" Mick begins, and Lan admires him for his courage in being able to speak up when Ms. Fahran is holding that knife.
"No buts!" Ms. Fahran points the knife at them to emphasise her point. "Mick, clean this mess up! Lan, you're helping me in the kitchen!"
One of the kids nearby giggles. "Ooh, they're in trouble!"
Lan sighs, and ignores the pointed look that MegaMan gives him.
"You don't seem as annoyed as I thought you'd be," Ms. Fahran comments later.
Lan shrugs and sets down the basket of vegetables on the kitchen counter. "Mick's not the only prankster I've met." He grins a little. "Mimic and Chaud are pretty into pranks themselves."
"Mimic and Chaud, huh?" Ms. Fahran hums thoughtfully. "Your younger siblings, right? If you're not annoyed with Mick's pranks, those two must be really mischievous."
"You have no idea," Lan laughs. "They once robbed a museum for a prank, though I think Chaud was just trying to prove a point . . ."
"They robbed a museum?" Ms. Fahran looks shocked for a moment, and then she barks out a laugh. "Now I really wanna meet these siblings of yours! They sound even more of a handful than Mick and Fuzzball combined!"
"What's up with those two, anyway?" MegaMan asks, while Trill happily trots in with a basket of his own and stretches up to slide it onto the counter next to Lan's. "You said they haven't known each other for very long, but they act like they've been together their whole lives."
"It's not that weird," Lan points out. "Me and you got close pretty quick, remember?" He pats Trill's helmet and smiles. "And you and Trill got attached to each other even faster than that!"
MegaMan laughs sheepishly. "Well, I suppose that's true . . ."
"Yep-yep!" Trill chirps.
Ms. Fahran begins sorting through the vegetables for tonight's dinner. "The truth is, Fuzzball actually came to this village with me."
"He's your NetNavi?" Lan blinks at her, astonished.
Ms. Fahran sighs. "No, he's not," she replies, going still and placing her hands on the counter. "He . . . was the NetNavi of someone I once knew."
Lan goes quiet. The mood in the kitchen has just changed drastically - it's even enough for Trill to stop and look at them, puzzled, and even though he's obviously wondering what's going on, he keeps quiet like Lan. Maybe he, too, can sense that Ms. Fahran needs to get this out on her own terms.
" . . . You know I was the cook for a luxury cruise ship, right?" Ms. Fahran asks, glancing at Lan.
"Yeah," Lan murmurs. "One of those girls mentioned it earlier, I think."
Ms. Fahran nods. "It became an evacuation ship when the war got worse. It would carry refugees from place to place, rescuing those in need of rescuing, ferrying them to safety. I stayed on the ship because I wanted to help, and if I'm good at anything, it's cooking - so that's what I did. I made the best meals I could for the refugees, because they loved the food, and it made them happy, even when they were all tired and scared."
Lan is burning to ask questions, but still he stays quiet. If he pushes, Ms. Fahran might close up again. And he can tell that she needs to talk about this.
"I got to know a lot of the refugees, but there one girl who I bonded with pretty well," she says. There's that far-away look in her eyes again, the same one from last night. "She would always come into my kitchen, asking if she could do anything to help, and in the end, I started teaching her how to cook. She had real talent." Ms. Fahran smiles a little. "That girl was my little protégé. And she had a NetNavi whose abilities made him pretty useful in the kitchen, too."
Lan's eyes widen, and he can't help himself. "You mean . . . ?"
Ms. Fahran glances at him, then looks back at the counter. "The fuzzball," she confirms, nodding again. "He wasn't as interested in cooking as my little protégé was, but he loved his operator, so he'd always try his best to help out. But then . . ." She trails off.
Lan feels Trill pressing against his leg, feels MegaMan's hand clutching his hair, but none of them speak. They wait for Ms. Fahran to gather herself up again, and eventually, she takes a deep breath and lets it out slowly.
"The ship was attacked by a Zoanoroid," Ms. Fahran tells them, not bothering to mask the shaking in her voice. "I . . . I have a NetNavi of my own, actually, and . . . a-and we tried to fight back." She clenches her fists on the counter, her whole body trembling now. "My little protégé . . . she tried to fight, too. But Fuzzball's not a battle-Navi by any standards, and . . . she was killed."
Lan bites his lip, fighting against a wave of sadness so sudden that it nearly makes him cry.
"I managed to save her Gate before it slipped into the ocean, at least," Ms. Fahran says. "The little fuzzball was devastated, and he couldn't fight anymore. After that, the ship sank, and . . . the three of us were the only survivors. Me, the fuzzball, and my NetNavi - SlashMan."
As if simply speaking the name summons him, Ms. Fahran's Navi appears on her shoulder. He's got huge knife-like claws in place of fingers, and his armour looks like a green shirt with long sleeves. He looks kind of intimidating, but he's entirely focused on Ms. Fahran, a look of intense worry and sadness on his face.
"Pat . . ." SlashMan whispers.
Ms. Fahran manages a weak smile, but it drops quickly. "I washed up ashore near this village, and they took us in. I can't thank these people enough for what they've done for us, so I try to pay them back by making the best meals I can."
" . . . Ms. Fahran," MegaMan begins carefully, "if you don't mind me asking . . . if Fuzzball was the NetNavi of your protégé, why is he with Mick instead of you?"
She hesitates. "The little fuzzball didn't do much when we first washed up here. SlashMan tried to look after him, and I tried as well, but he was so close to his original operator - losing her was like losing a part of himself. But then, one day, the fuzzball's Gate vanished. I freaked out, thought that maybe he'd materialised himself and taken off or something. But it turns out Mick took the fuzzball's Gate for one of his pranks, and when I found them, the little fuzzball was . . ."
"He was laughing," SlashMan says softly.
"I let Mick have him after that," Ms. Fahran continues. "I figured they'd make a good pair - and Mick has done so much to help him recover from losing his original operator."
She lets out a long sigh and lowers her head, fists clenched so tightly that her knuckles turn white. Lan automatically steps forward and reaches out, but he's used to comforting Mimic and Chaud, who're smaller than him - so instead of doing what he usually does, he ends up putting a very awkward hand on Ms. Fahran's arm.
That simple touch is enough to make her startle, and she looks at him with so much pain that it's difficult to keep his expression as calm as he'd like.
" . . . I'm sorry," Ms. Fahran shakily says, turning away again. "I . . . I don't know why I'm telling you all this. You don't . . . you don't need to be burdened with my pain."
"Ms. Fahran . . ." Lan murmurs softly.
She pulls away from him, wiping her eyes, and forces a painfully-bright smile on her face. "Anyway, we should get back to work! This dinner isn't gonna cook itself!"
Ms. Fahran takes out her PET - or Gate, whatever it is - and holds it up.
"SlashMan, transmission!"
Her Navi appears in the real world, still with that same look of intense worry and sadness. It's clear that his operator is breaking apart right now, and probably the only reason she hasn't had a total breakdown is because she's trying to distract herself, and SlashMan is clearly very concerned for her.
"Let's get to it!" Ms. Fahran says, whipping out a huge knife. Her hand's shaking so much that she can barely keep it still, though.
"Pat, maybe you should take a break for now," SlashMan says gently, laying his knife-like fingers across her arm.
"I'm fine," Ms. Fahran insists, giving him the most unconvincing smile that Lan's ever seen. "Really, I am! C'mon, we-" She falters for a split second. "-we've gotta make dinner f-for everyone . . ."
Lan watches her sadly. It's almost too much, seeing this - it's obvious that losing her protégé and being the only survivor of the evacuation ship still hurts her, and he knows that kind of hurt never goes away entirely. He sees it in the way Mimic still gets nervous around large groups of people, in the way Chaud sometimes retreats into his and Mimic's bedroom and doesn't come out for hours.
He glances at MegaMan out of the corner of his eyes, and suddenly gets an idea. He takes out his PET and taps Ms. Fahran to get her attention.
"Yeah?" Ms. Fahran blinks at him, eyes a little unfocused.
Lan holds up his PET and smiles. "Mind if we help out?"
Ms. Fahran looks confused, especially when she looks at his PET. But she doesn't protest when he materialises MegaMan, who glances at Lan with a faint smile, as if he understands what Lan wants to do. That's MegaMan for you - he knows just as much about this kinda stuff as Lan does, so of course he understands.
"Can I borrow your-" Lan hesitates a little bit. "-your . . . Gate thing, please, Ms. Fahran?"
Ms. Fahran looks even more confused, and so does SlashMan, now. They exchange a puzzled glance, and then Ms. Fahran slowly places her Gate onto the counter, watching Lan to see what he's about to do.
Lan gives her a quick smile and then takes out the touch-pen from his PET. He knows what to do by now - he's already got several Crosses stored in his PET, after all, and he remembers that SlashMan was one of the Navis on the list Mimic gave him.
He taps his touch-pen to the NaviMark on Ms. Fahran's Gate. These Gates seem to be Beyondard's version of PETs, so it's easy to pick out the data he needs, and he transfers it to his PET just like he did with the previous Crosses he collected.
MegaMan is briefly engulfed in a flash of light. It grows for a moment, then breaks apart and reveals MegaMan in the green armour of SlashMan. The light blue stripes on his body are now the same yellow as the patterns on SlashMan's pants, and he has knife-like fingers just like SlashMan, along with the same wing-like blades on either side of his helmet.
Ms. Fahran and SlashMan stare, dumbfounded.
"Shall we?" MegaMan's mouthguard is up, but his eyes narrow like he's smiling as he gestures to the vegetables on the table.
After several moments of shocked silence, Ms. Fahran eventually finds her voice. " . . . Yeah," she says quietly, somehow managing a tiny smile. "Yeah, I guess . . . I guess we could show you the ropes."
Lan smiles back at her, and they get to work.
Dinner that night is a loud, energetic affair. Somewhere in between 'showing them the ropes' and actually cooking, Ms. Fahran managed to get her own energy back, and Lan considers that a win. She seems to have warmed up to him a lot as well, and she was constantly asking him questions about the Cross System while they were cooking. Not to mention SlashMan's getting along pretty well with MegaMan and Trill, which is just as awesome in Lan's opinion.
"I'm impressed you managed to keep up with all this," Ms. Fahran comments, as they watch the villagers eagerly tuck into the food. "Not everyone has the energy needed to cook for this many people at once."
Lan laughs. "When most of your family consists of hyperactive lunatics who share the collective attention span of a very dense goldfish, you kinda learn to keep up with stuff."
"Collective attention span?" MegaMan gives him an amused look. "Oh, look at you, using such big words!"
"Shut up," Lan grumbles, though he's still smiling. He looks around at the people enjoying the food, and his smile gets a little wider. "They really look like they're happy to be eating this stuff. Kinda makes me feel happy, too!"
Ms. Fahran grins down at him. "It's necessary for a cook to have those feelings!" she tells him. "The people who eat your food can feel the love you put into it, you know. That's why I always try to cook the best food I can for everyone, so they can enjoy it!" Her grin softens a little, into something more solemn. "And . . . sometimes I think of the people lying beneath the sea, and how happy they must be to see these villagers enjoying the food I cook."
Lan goes quiet for a moment, surprised that she's bringing this up again. But rather than the pain-filled expression she had when she was talking about the evacuation ship earlier, the expression she has now is different. Not quite acceptance, but something calmer than her earlier agony.
Maybe she needed to tell someone about her trauma. Maybe that's the first step she needed to take in order to truly heal from it. Lan's honestly glad that he could help. He seems to have developed something of a talent for listening to people like this.
He sees Mick with a small group of the village kids, and sees the bright holographic figure of Fuzzball on his shoulder. Maybe that's what Mick did for Fuzzball? Or maybe they just clicked, and Fuzzball was able to recover from his own trauma through Mick's ridiculous pranks and mischievous nature. Either way, Lan's got a whole new respect for Mick.
It seems every reality has a 'trickster with a heart of gold' type. For Lan's reality, that seems to be shared by Mimic and Chaud. For this one, it's Mick. The contrast is kinda even more blatant since they all have Navis who're perfectly happy and more than willing to help them out with their ridiculous pranks.
Ms. Fahran notices him looking at Mick, and she smiles a little. She opens her mouth to say something, and then her eyes widen-
CRASH!
The attack only just barely misses Lan by inches, and even then he's only saved from becoming a human pancake because Ms. Fahran yanked him out of the way just in time. Several of the villagers let out cries of terror and outright scream at the sudden interruption of their evening dinner, and Lan sees a few of the adults dragging the kids away.
"What was-" Lan cuts himself off when he realises how tight Ms. Fahran's grip on him is. "O-ow, Ms. Fahran, what's wrong?"
She doesn't seem to realise she's hurting him. She's completely rigid, and there's a look of such intense rage in her eyes that Lan almost forgets she's a nice person and all he can think of is how many knives she probably has on her right now.
But she's not looking at him. She's looking over his head, completely focused on whatever threw that attack, so Lan manages to pull away a little bit and looks over his shoulder.
His heart sinks. There are Beast viruses making their way up from the coast - all of them Aqua-element ones like Starfish or Piranhas or even those weird submarine-looking ones that he can't remember the names of. The attack came from an arrow spat out of one of the Piranhas' mouths, and he can see a few of them opening their mouths again, readying another attack.
There's only one reason I can think of for why these things are here, Lan thinks, glancing at MegaMan, whose expression is grim, as if he's realised the same thing. The Zoanoroids must've found us!
Lan rips himself out of Ms. Fahran's grip with some difficulty. He's kinda worried about her - she doesn't look like she's doing too well, and it must be sore to suddenly be attacked by Beast viruses after spilling her heart out about the evacuation ship and her dead protégé - but he can't let these viruses attack the village.
"Ms. Fahran!" Lan says sharply, and she jolts like she's been shocked.
"S-SlashMan, transmission!" Ms. Fahran snaps, whipping out her Gate.
Lan's only a beat behind in materialising MegaMan. The two Navis immediately take off to intercept the viruses - maybe it's a bad idea to send MegaMan into battle since these viruses are probably here for him, but MegaMan and SlashMan are the only battle-Navis here. Trill's only ability that can be used in battle is his collector ability, and Ms. Fahran said that Fuzzball isn't a battle-Navi.
Plus . . . Lan doesn't really want to subject Fuzzball to fighting these things, not after he lost his operator to a Zoanoroid. It's a little hypocritical since he and Ms. Fahran are gonna be fighting these things, but Ms. Fahran is angry, and even if anger makes you reckless, he's seen enough battles ended very quickly because one of the participants got angry enough to decimate everything in their path.
"Cross System, activate!" Lan exclaims, bringing up the select screen on his PET. "Slash Cross!"
They already kinda know how to use Slash Cross thanks to Ms. Fahran and SlashMan showing them how to cook stuff. Now it's time to see if that stuff can be applied in battle, too.
MegaMan immediately twists around and starts spinning as soon as he's in Slash Cross, something that Ms. Fahran told them is an ability called Rolling Cutter. It's SlashMan's strongest basic attack, and they sometimes use it to cut up ingredients quickly.
And now, MegaMan uses it to cut up the Beast viruses. SlashMan copies him and the two of them cut their way through the first wave of viruses. Attacks from the Beast viruses simply bounce off them - it looks like their blades are sharp enough to deflect attacks while allowing them to attack at the same time, though Lan doesn't know if that's an ability exclusive to Rolling Cutter or if the basic blades can be used the same way.
The first wave of viruses goes down quickly thanks to the double Rolling Cutter, and then the next wave comes up the hill as MegaMan and SlashMan slow to a stop side-by-side. They crouch into mirrored battle-ready stances, holding their knife-like fingers up like claws, and Lan does a quick scan of the second wave of Beast viruses before selecting a battle chip.
"Moon Blade, download!" he announces.
SlashMan seems like the type who'd be good with sword-type chips, and Moon Blade is pretty good since it can attack all around.
Normally the Moon Blade materialises as a physical weapon, but MegaMan can't really hold stuff right now. Instead, he launches himself forward, jumping overhead so he lands in the middle of the viruses, and then spins around rapidly, unleashing a slash of energy from his claws using the Moon Blade as a base.
It's definitely a lot more powerful than Lan was expecting it to be. MegaMan ends up taking out almost every single Beast virus in the second wave entirely on his own, just from that one attack - and SlashMan takes out the rest with his Triple Edge, an attack that materialises anywhere between three and six knives that spin around once, lock onto a specific target (or targets), and then shoot right at said target(s) to cut them up.
The remaining Beast viruses - what looks to be the third and final wave - hesitate at the bottom of the hill. MegaMan and SlashMan dash down toward them, the light of the nearby bonfire glinting off their blades, and the viruses apparently decide to cut and run.
And just as quickly as it began, the attack is over. The Beast viruses vanish into the sea, though MegaMan and SlashMan follow them to make sure none of them try to sneak back up, and that's it.
Ms. Fahran drops like a puppet with its strings cut. She's breathing fast and hard, like she just ran a marathon or something, and Lan recognises the signs of a breakdown. Personal experience has taught him how to handle these kind of things, because even if it's different for everyone, there's always some similarities.
"Ms. Fahran," he says, making sure to keep his voice even and calm, "it's okay. They're gone."
"They're . . . gone . . ." Ms. Fahran murmurs, looking somewhat dazed.
"They're gone," Lan repeats. "MegaMan and SlashMan got rid of them."
Trill shuffles out from behind Lan and cautiously reaches out to Ms. Fahran, who jolts when he touches her. He draws back a little bit, uncertain, but when Ms. Fahran doesn't react beyond that, he tries again. Upon getting a better reaction - at least, she doesn't jolt, but she doesn't do much of anything - he gets a bit closer and hugs her arm.
That seems to get a better reaction out of her. Ms. Fahran lets out a faint sigh, like she's letting go of her rage and fear (because it's obvious she was scared, even if she was overwhelmed by anger), and she manages to give Trill a shaky smile as she reaches up to pat him on the head.
" . . . Thanks," she murmurs, looking up at Lan.
He nods to her, and then they're interrupted by Mick running over from where the villagers have retreated.
"Ms. Fahran!" Mick shouts, skidding to a halt next to them. "M-Ms. Fahran, are you okay!?"
"I'm alright," Ms. Fahran says, slowly getting to her feet. Trill keeps his grip on her arm, though it slides down to her hand since she's a lot bigger than he is. "How's the fuzzball doing?"
"He . . ." Mick hesitates, and it's then that Lan realises Fuzzball is no longer on his shoulder. "He vanished back into the Gate as soon as those viruses showed up. I-I think he's crying . . ."
Ms. Fahran's expression softens, and she holds out her free hand. Mick willingly hands over his Gate, and Ms. Fahran presses the NaviMark.
Fuzzball's Navi-hologram immediately appears on top of it. He's curled up tight, fur fluffed up so much that he just looks like an odd fuzzy little ball, and Lan can hear faint whimpers from him. It's a sad sight to see, honestly.
"Hey, fuzzy," Ms. Fahran says softly. "It's alright now, those viruses are gone."
"Ha . . . s-su . . . o . . ." Fuzzball whispers, so quietly that the word is barely audible.
Lan frowns and strains to hear more, but Fuzzball has gone back to wordless whimpering, and he's now rocking back and forth, letting out quiet and mournful cries.
"I know," Ms. Fahran murmurs, drawing the Gate - and Fuzzball - closer to her chest. "I know, fluffy. I miss her too."
There's not much Lan can do here - it's not his place to help Fuzzball right now, that's up to Ms. Fahran and Mick. If he tries to help, he'd just be intruding.
So he steps away and leaves them to it, and he sees MegaMan and SlashMan running back up the hill. After a quick glance at Ms. Fahran, Mick, and Fuzzball, Lan heads down to meet them.
"The viruses are all gone, now," MegaMan reports. He scrapes his blades together, and Lan winces at the noise, but that's what people do when they're cooking - they scrape two knives together, maybe to make sure they're sharp or something. "How's everyone else doing?"
"Ms. Fahran . . . kinda had a breakdown," Lan replies, glancing at SlashMan, who looks worried as he looks up the hill toward his operator. "She's okay now, I think, but Fuzzball's crying."
SlashMan's eyes widen. "He's crying?"
He barely waits for Lan to confirm that with a nod before he shoots off, continuing up the hill until he's at his operator's side. He puts an arm around Ms. Fahran, though he seems to be focusing his attention on the small ball of holographic light that is currently Fuzzball.
" . . . Those viruses came here because of us, didn't they?" MegaMan asks, making Lan glance at him. He looks troubled.
"I think so," Lan admits. He sighs. "Just our luck. We didn't get attacked at all for the last four days, and yet the absolute second we get anywhere close to safety, those things show up outta nowhere."
"Well . . ." MegaMan is clearly frowning under his mouthguard. "I think maybe we didn't get attacked because we were on the move constantly. Even when we stopped to rest, we only stopped for a few hours at most. But we've been here for a full day already."
"Do you think we should leave?" Lan wonders, glancing up the hill at the village. "I don't wanna put any of these people in danger . . . and there's Ms. Fahran and Fuzzball, too, not to mention SlashMan."
"He seemed far too eager to delete those viruses," MegaMan agrees, nodding. "He's focused on his operator, but he was just as affected by those events as Ms. Fahran and Fuzzball were." He taps Lan lightly, getting his attention again. "But . . . I don't think we should leave, Lan."
Lan's eyes widen. "What? Why? Those things attacked this village because of us! If we stay here-"
"The others might come through here too," MegaMan interrupts, and that's what makes Lan stop. "Plus, it was Baryl told us about this place, so once he's rescued Mimic, it's entirely possible that he'll take her here as well, or at least direct her here."
Lan goes quiet again. It feels like he's been doing that a lot over the past few hours - all for different reasons, really.
But this time, he's quiet out of shock, and the realisation that MegaMan is right. If Baryl does manage to rescue Mimic - no, not if, when - it's very likely that she'll end up coming here as well, one way or another. Lan would rather be here when she shows up.
And if the others get here first . . . well, either way, he'll be able to find the people he's missing. His brother and sister will still be showing up, though he doesn't know where the heck Chaud even is at the moment, aside from 'not in the hands of the enemy', which isn't much to go on, really.
" . . . Then we can't leave," Lan realises. He winces as he looks out at the ocean. "But . . . that means this village is gonna get attacked again and again while we're here."
"As long as we can defend it, it'll be fine," MegaMan tells him, holding up his knife-fingers to emphasise his point. "I don't like exposing these people to danger any more than you do, but if there's even the smallest chance that our friends could show up here . . ."
" . . . we need to stick around to meet them," Lan finishes, nodding. He lets out a faint sigh. "Then . . . do you think we should tell Ms. Fahran and the others that we're the reason those viruses attacked? They might make us leave, even if we say we're only staying here until our friends show up . . ."
"I don't think they'd do that," MegaMan says. "They helped us out last night, even though we're total strangers. These are good people. And besides, we've already proven that we're willing to defend this village, so that should weigh in our favour." He nods up to the top of the hill. "Let's tell Ms. Fahran first. She's not the leader of the village, but I bet her opinion carries a lot of weight here - if she thinks it's okay for us to stay, everyone else should be fine with it, too."
Lan nods his agreement.
Fuzzball isn't crying anymore, which makes it easier for Lan to ask Ms. Fahran if they can talk privately. Mick gives them a curious look as Ms. Fahran leads them back up to the old school, but he focuses his attention back on Fuzzball pretty quickly, which Lan's grateful for. Pranksters and tricksters are fun and all, but sometimes you've gotta get serious, and if Mick overhears something he shouldn't, it could be pretty bad.
As soon as they're in Ms. Fahran's kitchen, Lan tells her exactly what he told Baryl, even the bit about him being from an alternate reality. She takes it in quietly, never once interrupting, and her expression doesn't change from that calm look, not even when Lan explains that he and MegaMan (and technically Trill, too, though the Zoanoroids are still ignorant of his true abilities) are the reason why those Beast viruses attacked earlier.
The only time her expression falters a little bit is when he tells her how Mimic was kidnapped by the Zoanoroids. There's a brief glimpse of that far-off look and something like sympathetic understanding in her eyes, just before her expression goes back to neutral, and still she doesn't interrupt.
" . . . and that's about it," Lan finishes, after several minutes of talking. "I'm . . . I'm sorry we didn't say anything before, but . . ."
"I get it," Ms. Fahran says, and he blinks. "Something like that . . ." She purses her lips. "It's a little difficult to believe, I have to admit. But you strike me as the type of person who wears his heart on his sleeve - the kinda kid who wouldn't tell a lie about something like this. Besides, if you were lying about any of this, you wouldn't have told me that you're the reason those viruses attacked us - there's no benefit to that, not for you anyway."
"Then . . ." Lan hardly dares to hope. "Then you believe me?"
Ms. Fahran hesitates for a moment, and then she nods firmly. "I believe you," she confirms. "It certainly explains a few things about you, actually. Those battle chips of yours, for one thing - no one uses battle chips anymore, since there are so few NetNavis left. And that weird-looking Gate you've got, too."
"We call them PETs in our reality," Lan informs her.
"Pets . . . ?"
"Personal Terminals," he clarifies. "P-E-T."
Ms. Fahran's expression clears. "Ah, gotcha," she says, with another nod.
"And those Beast viruses are after you because of MegaMan's ability to use Beast Out, you said?" SlashMan asks, from where he's standing on the counter with MegaMan. Trill is sitting next to them, still in the real world.
"Right," Lan agrees, nodding. "Though he can only use Beast Out because of Trill, here." He reaches out and gives Trill a gentle pat on the head. "The Zoanoroids think it's MegaMan's ability - well, I guess it kinda is - so they're after us to kidnap him. They were after ProtoMan, too, though the reason for that was kinda different . . ."
"ProtoMan?" Ms. Fahran looks unsettled. "The Sunset Warrior?"
Lan blinks, mind blank for a moment, and then he remembers. "No, the ProtoMan from our reality!" he quickly explains. "He's the NetNavi of Mimic and Chaud. He can . . . he has this program inside him, and it lets him turn into something called the Poltergeist."
"It's basically the cyberworld version of a demon," MegaMan cuts in, seeing Ms. Fahran and SlashMan's increasingly-puzzled expressions. "It's extremely powerful. Mimic was his operator at the time, so she ended up getting kidnapped so the Zoanoroids could get at ProtoMan."
"I never thought I'd hear of a ProtoMan who's on the side of humans," Ms. Fahran muses. "Then again, I never thought I'd meet a kid from an alternate reality, either." She pauses for a second. "Well, kids, I suppose I should say. This village is kinda like a crossroads for travellers, especially if they're coming in from the ocean. Chances are, if your friends got scattered around in this region, they're gonna end up coming through here at some point."
Lan exchanges a hopeful glance with MegaMan and Trill. "Then," he says, turning back to Ms. Fahran, "you don't mind us staying here while we wait for our friends? E-even if it means the Zoanoroids could attack the village?"
Ms. Fahran has a troubled look, but it only lasts for a moment before she replaces it with a knife-sharp smile. "Hah!" she barks out, pulling out a huge knife from nowhere and spinning it in her hand like she's doing a circus trick. "Those Zoanoroids will think twice before coming near this village, right, SlashMan?"
"Of course!" SlashMan agrees. He whips his knife-fingers out in a double-slash. "Slash!"
Rapid, running footsteps interrupt anything Lan could've thought of to say to that, and then the kitchen doors are thrown wide open with a frantic bang. One of the village girls stands in the doorway, panting heavily, and the look of terror on her expression immediately sets Lan on edge.
"Ms. Fahran!" the girl cries. "There- there's- h-hahh-"
"Calm down, Michi," Ms. Fahran says, heading over to her and placing a hand on her shoulder. "What's wrong? What happened?"
The girl takes in a huge gulp of air before speaking again. "Th-there's a big Zoanoroid attacking the coast! Mick's down there!"
Icy shock shoots through Lan's blood, and judging by the look of horror on Ms. Fahran's face, she feels the same thing. They exchange a wide-eyed look, and then dash out of the kitchen at full speed.
They make it down to the coast in record time. Lan stops short upon seeing the scene in front of him - the Zoanoroid is, once again, someone he recognises, this one WhaleMan from the N1 Grand Prix. WhaleMan didn't get very far in the tournament, but he was good enough to qualify, and that means this Zoanoroid must be a good fighter, too.
The difference with this WhaleMan - Zoano WhaleMan, Lan supposes - is the very visible scar on his head. It's odd for a NetNavi or any being of the cyberworld to have scars, since they can heal themselves easily, but some choose to keep old wounds either as trophies or reminders. This is a Zoanoroid, so it's likely that the wound is a reminder, maybe of some past battle or a grudge or something.
And cowering away from the Zoanoroid is Mick, trying to press himself into a crack between some rocks. In front of him, Fuzzball is materialised, and his finger-claws are glowing almost painfully bright, leaving lines in Lan's vision whenever he swipes them at Zoano WhaleMan.
It's clear that Fuzzball isn't doing very well. Even from this distance, Lan can see he's still shaken from the Beast viruses' attack earlier, and it's affecting his fighting. He's not even coming anywhere close to hitting Zoano WhaleMan, just trying to fend him off, and he keeps stepping back, almost stumbling, until he's up against the rocks Mick is hiding in and out of room to fight.
"Oh, no!" Lan gasps. "Ms. Fahran, c'mon, we've gotta-"
He abruptly realises that Ms. Fahran has gone totally still again, and for a second he thinks crap, she's having another breakdown, but then he looks at her expression.
He recognises that look. It's the same look Mimic and Chaud had when they were facing Shuseki Blaze in the courtroom before the evil man was finally put away. That same look of blank terror, the kind of look you only get when you're facing the very thing that caused your trauma in the first place.
Realisation dawns on Lan, and then horror.
Zoano WhaleMan is the Zoanoroid who sank the evacuation ship. There's no other reason why Ms. Fahran would react like this, even to any other Zoanoroid. Fuzzball isn't still freaking out because of the attack earlier - he's freaking out because this is the Zoanoroid who murdered his original operator, and now that same Zoanoroid is trying to hurt his new operator.
"Pat!" SlashMan shouts desperately, his Navi-hologram appearing in front of his operator's face. "Pat, we need to save them! Materialise me, now!"
" . . . never forgive . . ." Ms. Fahran murmurs. She clutches her Gate to her chest, and then seems to come alive all at once, expression twisting into such fury that Lan actually takes a step back out of shock and a little bit of fear. "I'll never forgive you, you bastard!"
She snaps out her arms, holding up her Gate.
"SlashMan!" Ms. Fahran screams. "Transmission!"
SlashMan barely even waits for his body to properly materialise before he quite literally launches himself into battle, cracking the rocky ground from the force of his jump. He spins into a Rolling Cutter with an enraged scream.
Zoano WhaleMan looks up, briefly confused, before his eyes widen upon seeing the spinning tornado of death coming at him from above. SlashMan manages to knock the Zoanoroid back enough to get him away from Fuzzball, and away from Mick as well.
SlashMan immediately follows up with the max number of Triple Edge knives, slamming all six of them into Zoano WhaleMan one after the other. With barely even a pause for breath, he attacks with his blades this time, a flurry of slashes and claws so fast that Lan can only register the brief flashes of movement and Zoano WhaleMan's bellows of pain.
" . . . Do we need to help, here?" Lan wonders, exchanging a glance with MegaMan.
"I think we should let them handle it," MegaMan replies. "They need this."
"But what if they get into trouble?" Trill asks, taking hold of Lan's hand and looking at MegaMan. "Are you gonna help 'em then?"
"If they need it," MegaMan tells him.
It certainly doesn't seem likely that they will need help. Ms. Fahran's rage is SlashMan's rage - the intense flurry of attacks that he's unleashing on Zoano WhaleMan show no signs of stopping anytime soon, and Zoano WhaleMan is being given absolutely no room to counter or even think of defending himself.
It's quick and brutal, and all Lan can do is stand there and watch. He's seen worse, and for far worse reasons, so he's not that bothered - and even if his instincts practically scream at him for not helping out like he usually does, he keeps a lid on it.
MegaMan's right. Ms. Fahran and SlashMan need this. Confrontation doesn't always work for this kinda recovery, but sometimes it does - ProtoMan's the best example that Lan can think of, given how far he's come after being able to confront the NetNavi who bullied him constantly. It looks like confronting the Zoanoroid who sank the evacuation ship and killed Fuzzball's original operator might help Ms. Fahran and SlashMan in a similar manner.
And then, with one final double-slash of rage-fuelled power, SlashMan cuts Zoano WhaleMan to shreds. The battle is over.
Something seems to change in Ms. Fahran as she watches the Zoanoroid's data vanish. The pain is still there, but there's something like peace in her expression now, and she smiles and lifts her face to the night sky.
"You've been avenged," she says softly. "Rest in peace, everyone."
And that's how Lan knows she's gonna get better from here on. The pain won't go away, that much is certain - but she can finally move on, have some sort of peace, and maybe the mere sight of Beast viruses and Zoanoroids won't send her into a breakdown anymore.
He didn't mean to bring this kind of danger to the fishing village, but he can at least say that he's a little bit grateful he had some part in helping Ms. Fahran begin to recover, even if it was just accidentally attracting the attention of the Zoanoroid who sank the evacuation ship.
Mimic, Chaud, everyone, he thinks softly, looking up at the night sky. I hope I can see you again soon.
