"Mega? Could you stay behind, please?"
I turned around quickly to find Lan's dad dropping down into his swivel chair, staring intently at me. "Yeah, what is it, Dr. Hikari?"
His eyes closed as he shook his head, turning abruptly away from me. "Mega Man – you do know what you are, right?"
"Well, let's see…" I looked up thoughtfully at the ceiling as I ticked things off my fingers. "NetBattler, humanized Navi, twin brother to Lan Hikari…" I trailed off as realisation hit me plain in the gut. "Oh, I get it."
"See what I mean?" He shook his head, but this time he was smiling slightly. "You're my son, Hub…"
I grinned. "All right," I laughed as I strode from the doorway over to his side, "You asked for it, Dad."
The next thing we both knew we were tightly hugging each other. I felt strange – like I was an outsider and didn't belong in this scene (And yes, I as aware it was only the two of us in the room), but happy, pleased at the same time. Not excited, though – wildly excited was what I am when I'm still running through those fields and meadows just out of DenTech as I did on my fateful first morning spent in the Real World.
Right now it was different… It was more like a thrill of pleasure that spread and pressed down deep into my consciousness, a kind of quick yet incredibly joyous beat – yet somehow stifled; the situation was calling for seriousness and not insane craziness, after all – that wormed its way into my heart, my mind, my very soul. To get down to it – I felt a small, pleased kind of emotion beating from the depths of me and spreading into my whole my whole being. So this is what having a real family is like, I thought with a small smile.
Said Dad:
"I love you, Saito."
And softly murmured I:
"Same here, Papa…"
Within exactly three point seconds, we swore at the exact same time:
"Darn Fanficcer and its Rockman.exe fanperson-ism!"
"Well, here we are." Lan stretched, luxurious and catlike, as we faced the horizon. The ten of us – Net Ops and NetNavis – were perched on a gentle cliff that rose over the fields and meadows just out of DenTech City. "The end of one adventure, with loads more to come."
"All thanks to the Interworld Connectors" I acknowledged with a smile as I pressed the small, compact, blue-tinged bracelet wrapped snugly around my wrist.
"Actually, we have sixteen more as of now." Yai paused thoughtfully; at that moment, we all noticed just how close she was to Tory. "One of 'em involving Mr. Froid and all his awesome football-playing."
"Hikawa-san, actually." Raising one eyebrow, Tory playfully pushed her aside (OOC-ness, TCF!) and stretched himself over the bright emerald-green grass. "In the words of this crazed author/authoress – 'It's Rockman.exe, not Mega Man.'"
We all laughed at that; I grinned suddenly and for no apparent reason. Here I was, in the Real World, surrounded by my twin bro and our eight best friends in the world, and I couldn't be happier. Oh, sure – we were crimefighters, one and all, but now was a time of rest and relaxation. 'A time to bask in the glory of our victory and letting others do our work for us,' as Lan had remarked earlier with a gigantic grin and a flash of the peace sign.
"Yeah, this is the life." Maylu, who was sitting near the slope's edge with Roll, smiled contentedly. "And soon every Navi will be able to live as Netsurfing humans. I could get very used to this."
"Life's life. It is the way it is," Ice Man agreed, rubbing his swirly pink cheeks. "And, yeah, this will be great for us Navis," he went on, relishing the thought. "We get to Netsurf."
"OK, OK, no showing off," laughed Maylu, "we won't be able to do that until a good way into – Wait, I just forgot what I was about to say." She shook her head with a faint smile, sending her magenta curls bouncing. "Anyway –"
"—don't show off," Roll finished with a grin as her pink-clad form whipped around so fast that her thick golden braid twirled, as did her ribbon-like antennae. "We may be Netsurfers, but what can I say? Your world is awesome."
"I don't know exactly what it means, but I'm guessing you guys still think we take stuff for granted, right?" Dex quested, swinging his legs over the edge of the cliff."
"Well, yeah," I said apologetically, feeling slightly embarrassed. "But never mind that… I've got an idea."
"Dad was right!" cheered Lan, practically jumping up and down on his orange roller blades (now repaired, though still covered with small scratch marks) as the five of us rematerialised once more in the Real World. "And you guys have human clothes, too!"
"Talk about a plot hole, guts." With a grin slightly strained because of a MiniBoomer blast gone straight to his jaw, Guts Man rubbed his big orange-yellow fists, one against the other. He paused, making a face. "Whatever those are."
"Well, you don't," I observed with a laugh as I laid one hand against the Navi's bulky red chest. "You, my friend, look the same as always."
"You guys're all humanized now, though," Yai said brightly, patting the computing pad stuck into that same hidden pocket of her red dress. "Glide… Should we tell him?" She moved a little, finger extended slightly in my direction.
"Tell me what?" I don't get it – what would they have to tell me? I don't think I'm completely human or anything. I puzzled about it, frowning a little.
"Of course, Miss Yai." Glide paused thoughtfully, probably thinking about what to say. "Mega Man – you know when that NetNavi Bass ambushed you?"
I nodded, wondering how word had gotten round. "Yeah – I didn't understand why I reappeared in the Real World after that."
"Well, the thing is, see," – and here Glide began nervously shifting his weight from one foot to the other in a most uncharacteristic (hint hint, TCF)action – "you got deleted."
"Oh, so that's why." I didn't mind Glide's words; they were the truth, after all, and now that the adventure was over I knew I'd have to be more careful; that thought in mind I looked up at my friends. "This probably sounds weird, but it doesn't bug me."
Roll stared hard at me for a few seconds before turning; her golden cascade of hair brushed gently against the necklace hidden under my collar. "That's the way it should be, Mega," she said softly, and I felt the caress of one pink glove against my chest.
"That's the way it should be, Mega."
I blushed, happy and embarrassed, before moving away from Roll and going to join the others. Even now, I get a sort of warm, soft feeling as the blood rushes to my cheeks. (blushie)
So then we were talking for some short while about how the world would be better for both Navis and humans. I occasionally joined in, always with a grin and a laugh; now that the world was saved, it seemed to me, I had nothing to fear. OK, so I probably would – in yet another fanfic… (smirks)
Anyway, it wasn't much of a surprise – especially for Lan – when Chaud and Proto Man. Unsurprisingly my Operator quickly scrambled to roller-skated feet and shakily offered one hand. "Chaud… Can we be allies now?"
In reply, the white-haired preteen raised one eyebrow. "I'm a good guy, first of all," he instructed, ignoring the proffered hand as he shook his bleached locks, turning away from the crazed crimefighter. "And secondly, we have to wait until Axess before you become a NetSavior."
Lan hung his head and grumbled unintelligibly before looking back up to his rival. "But this is Battle Network 3," he pointed out, "not the show."
"Oh, yeah – about that. TGT is the next Mega Man fanfic I'm planning to write, and that one's set during Axess." We all turned to see Fanficcer itself, perched on one corner of the slope with Pikasqueaks by its side. "So, until then…" It gave a hapless shrug. When we all stared at if it were insane – or, in TCF's case, weren't insane, because we all supposed it already was – but it only gave another shrug. "Hey, what do you want?" it muttered before disappearing with the muse.
"Well, it coulda been worse," I told Lan with a cheesy grin.
"Some people are so annoying…" grumbled Dex from behind us; he was kicking the sand next to the other three Net Ops, who were looking politely confused – habit, I guessed, judging by the look on Tory's face.
"Ah, well, what do you want?" was Ice Man's haze answer as he wriggled, small and serpentine, in the grass, unknowingly echoing Fanficcer's words of a minute past.
"Yeah, we're Navis, we're in the Real World, we're happy, and you humans take stuff for granted, guts," Guts Man grinned, holding up the peace sign. "Guts!" he added as a joyful afterthought.
"Lay off 'em, Dex," Tory tossed in from where swinging his legs over the edge of the cliff. He stared peacefully ahead, to where the thriving metropolis had been built almost twenty years ago. It looked more packed than ever – obviously because of the Navis now fortifying its ranks. "We do take things for granted, after all."
"After all—" Roll began –
"—it's a Navi's world," I finished.