Hey, everyone! Pikasqueaks is my mascot – an annoying little Pikachu who chases me all around the site. Yes, I know… Everything's getting crazy. (crazed laughter emits from its gaping hole of a mouth) Right, so this fanfic takes place sometime during Battle Network 3 - Lan, Maylu and Dex are still twelve, Tory is eleven and Yai is ten.

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Mega Man's POV

He was at the foot of the tree, looking up at me. I hadn't noticed him at first; I was watching the sky as I ate my apple. I mean, Navis, well, you know, don't eat anything. (blushes). Well, come on! It was all so new to me, this cool world; Lan's world which went past my farthest imaginings, and this sense of taste was just so amazing.

The apple had a strong, tangy, if a little bitter, taste. Sometimes I'd watched, from where the PET was in its recharger, little kids go playing at sunrise, laughing and joking and having fun together. I'd wondered what it was like, playing around the tree with your friends. Now I knew.

Gradually I became aware I was being watched. I'd noticed someone settling down under the maple tree to my west before, but I hadn't really paid attention. All I'd seen was a blur of orange and white.

Orange and white! Oh no. Don't tell me. My Operator!

I glanced down instinctively. There he was, looking up at me with this kind of almost drooling, openmouthed, absolutely amazed expression on his face.

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Lan: I was not drooling!

Mega Man! I said almost drooling.

Pikasqueaks: Ooh! Finally some character interaction. Keep it up, Fanficcer!

Lan: (turning to Fanficcer) Who is this guy and what in the world is he talking about?

Pikasqueaks: (puffing himself up) I am not just a guy! I am-

Thecrazyfanficcer: Just a crazy Pokémon. Ignore him.

Lan: So that explains the insanity.

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"Hey," he said.

"Hey," I answered, carefully jumping down from the branch. We faced each other, quiet for a few seconds.

It was kind of weird, you know? Like having a pen pal that you've never actually seen before, and when you meet them it's like "Oh man, this is so weird..."

Well, that's how it was for me. I was standing there, looking right at the guy who I had known and not known for approximately one and three quarters years of my life, and my thoughts were going something like: Wow. It's finally happened. I knew it would happen, but I didn't know it would happen.

Lan finally broke the moment. "So, uh, you know..."

"What happened?" I finished the sentence for him.

"Yeah," he said, blushing a little, clearly embarrassed, "You know, how'd it happen?"

"Um..."

Five minutes later, the story had leaked out, or to one person, anyway. "We've got to get to-"

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"SciLabs," Lan finished fifteen minutes later, pulling my arm along. In that strange anime way of his, he had somehow managed to hop into his roller skates and drag me all ten miles to the DenTech Laboratories, and in hyperspeed on top of it.

"Here we are," he panted, looking up at the gleaming white building. He was about to drag me into the building like a rag doll, but I wrenched away from his grasp and looked up at the lab.

"Oh, great, what are we gonna do?" Lan stood at the keypad right next to the door of the lab, this totally confused expression on his face.

"Lan!" called a voice. We both turned around. Yai Ayano, ten year-old genius, was running toward us, a sheet of paper flying in her hand.

"Guys!" Yai fought her way between us and began typing in the code on the keypad, her pale fingers a blur on the colour-coded square buttons. "Maylu told me about it. Here are the codes." She shoved the sheet of paper up my hands and loped off into the sunset.

"Don't ask me how she knew," said Yai, popping back to us from the other side of the street when Lan opened his mouth to speak. "Word gets around." And then she sped off again.

"Well, at least now we have the codes to open the door," approved Lan, walking through the entrance .

"We should tell them, though," I mused thoughtfully, glancing up at the metallic silver-gray ceiling as I followed Lan into the complex. "Your friends, I mean. If this is for life, at least they can help us."

Lan shrugged.

"Oh, Lan," I said suddenly, and I could feel the sweat dripping down my forehead, "What are we going to do?"

"Don't worry, little Mega Man. I have a plan."

I groaned. This could get ugly.